RIGHTS

Q 1. What do you mean by Rights?

Answer: Rights are the claims, demands, circumstances, facilities and demands of the
people which they make on families, institutions, societies and state and to whom they
consider very necessary for their around the development. A right is essentially an
entitlement or a justified claim. Rights are those conditions which we consider as our
dues. Every expectation cannot be called as the right. These are primarily those facilities
which are regarded as necessary for leading a decent, respected and dignified life. Right,
are facilities which are accepted by society and granted by the state.
Q 2. What are the characteristics of the state?
Ans. On the basis of definitions and understanding of the rights, followings are the main
characteristics of the rights:
1. Rights are necessary conditions.
2. Rights are necessary for the development,
3. Right, are claims on society and state.
4. Rights are allowed by society.
5. Rights put limits on the sovereignty of the state.
6. Rights of the people and their duties are linked with each other.
7. Rights are variable from place to place and from time to time.
Q3. Write the main essential features of rights.
Ans. Rights are universally accepted as the socio, economic conditions, circumstances in
the form of claims and demands, which are necessary .for human development and
welfare. These are to be accepted by society and state. Followings are the main essential
features of Rights:
1. Rights are available in collective or group life only.
2. Rights are the socio, economic or environmental conditions.
3. Rights are necessary for man’s development and welfare.
4. Rights cannot be absolute in collective life.
5. Rights are not stationary, they are changeable from time to time and place.
6. Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin.
7. Rights are obligations on the state.
Q4. Discuss the importance of Rights.
Ans. As discussed earlier the rights are conditions of life demands and expectations,
which a person has from the family, society and state. v Without these rights man’s
development is not possible. We can understand the importance of rights in the following
points:
1. Rights are necessary for man’s personality development.
2. Rights are necessary for the welfare of the people.
3. Rights keep the man’s moral high and strengthen him psychologically also.
4. Rights put check on the state.
5. Rights evoke duties on others.
Q5. Where do Rights come from? Explain the origin of rights?
Ans. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, political theorists argued that rights are given
to us by nature or God. This meant that rights were not conferred by a ruler or a society, rather
we are born with them. In recent years, the term human rights is being used more than the term
natural rights because the idea of there being a natural law, or a set of norms that are laid down
for us by nature, or God, appears unacceptable today.
Rights are increasingly seen as guarantees that human beings themselves seek or arrive at
in order to lead a minimally good life. This conception of a free and equal self is increasingly
being used to challenge existing inequalities based on race, caste, religion and gender.
The notion of universal human rights has been used by oppressed people all over the world to
challenge laws which segregate them and deny them equal opportunities and rights.
The list of human rights which people have claimed has expanded over the years as
societies face new threats and challenges. For example, people are very conscious today of the
need to protect the natural environment and this has generated demands for rights to clean air,
water, sustainable development, and the like.
Q6. What do you mean by Human Rights? What is its importance?
Ans. Mode of behavior, facilities, living conditions and working conditions which are
expected, demand and claim for being a human being are called the Human Rights. The
assumption behind human rights is that all persons are entitled to certain things simply
because they are human beings. As a human being, each person is unique and equally
valuable. Therefore human beings irrespective of their caste, colour and sex need humane
treatment. All persons should be given equal opportunities and proper working conditions
for the expression and exploitation of the potentials. Development and promotion of
Human Rights have become an international concern and the UN is playing a very useful
role in promoting awareness about Human Rights for leading a life of dignity and
self-respect.
Q. Discuss the role of UN in the promotion of Human, Rights.
Ans. With the development of democracy and education, the concern for the realization
of Human Rights has become a global issue. Urge for a better life and better living is on
increase. UN has become the instrument of strengthening the demand and urge for
Human Rights.
I. UN has passed an international Human Rights Declaration-1948 in which it has set
up certain norms for the cause of Human Rights.
II. All the signatories of the declaration are supposed to provide necessary conditions
for the realizations of norms of Human Rights. International Human Rights
Commission has been set up to promote and monitor the level of Human Rights in
different parts of the world.
III. The important areas in which the human conditions are expected and demanded
are N employment, working conditions, health, food, housing, drinking water and
other environmental and ecological order.
IV. UN has become the forum of international discussion, debate and
recommendations and follows up actions.
Q7. What are the different kinds of Rights?
Ans. The different kinds of Rights :
Political Rights
• Political rights give to the citizens the right to equality before law and the right to
participate in the political process.
• They include such rights as the right to vote and elect representatives, the right to
contest elections, the right to form political parties or join them.
• Political rights are supplemented by civil liberties.
• Collectively, civil liberties and political rights form the basis of a democratic system of
government.
• Political rights protect the well-being of the individual by making the government
accountable to the people, by giving greater importance to the concerns of the individual
over that of the rulers and by ensuring that all persons have an opportunity to influence
the decisions of the government.
Economic Rights
• Basic needs, of food, shelter, clothing, health are essential parts of Economic Rights.
• Democratic societies are beginning to provide economic rights.
• In some countries, citizens, particularly those with low incomes, receive housing and
medical facilities from the state; in others, unemployed persons receive a certain
minimum wage so that they can meet their basic needs.
• In India the government has recently introduced a rural employment guarantee scheme,
among other measures to help the poor.
Cultural Rights
• More and more democracies are recognising the cultural claims of their citizens.
• The right to have primary education in one’s mother tongue, the right to establish
institutions for teaching one’s language and culture, are today recognised as being
necessary for leading a good life.
Rights and Responsibilities
• Rights not only place obligations upon the state to act in a certain way but they also
place obligations upon each of us.
• Firstly, they compel us to think not just of our own personal needs and interests but to
defend some things as being good for all of us.
• Secondly, they require that an individual respect the rights of others. If an individual say
that I must be given the right to express my views the he must also grant the same right to
others.
• Thirdly, we must balance our rights when they come into conflict. For example, my
right to freedom of expression allows me to take pictures; however, if I take pictures of a
person bathing in his house without his consent and post them on the internet, that would
be a violation of his right to privacy.
• Fourthly, citizens must be vigilant about limitations which may be placed on their
rights. A currently debated topic concerns the increased restrictions which many
governments are imposing on the civil liberties of citizens on the grounds of national
security.
• Even though rights can never be absolute, we need to be vigilant in protecting our rights
and those of others for they form the basis of a democratic society.