Q 2 Read the extract and do all the activities given below
Born Babasaheb Pandurang Adhav in 1930 in Pune, Baba, as he is known in every side-alley of Pune’s working class areas, is a child of the freedom struggle. After a maternal uncle took him to a Seva Dal meeting while he was still in school, Baba became a committed activist, involved in many of the country’s major political upheavals. In 1952, he joined a satyagraha against high prices and food rationing during a drought, and went to jail – for three weeks – for the first time. “I have been (to jail) 52 or 53 times after that,” he says with a toothy chuckle. His most recent incarceration was in May 2008 when he served 14 days in judicial custody for protesting against, yet again, rising prices.
Trained as an Ayurved Doctor, Baba began his practice in Pune’s Nana Peth, where he saw firsthand the hardships faced by hamals (head loaders) who had no legal protections. Hamals, mainly from backward casts, came from all over rural Maharashtra to Pune’s markets, unloading heavy sacks of grains or cement on their backs all day, with barely enough time off to find food and know house which meant they would sleep in the same market. Political parties worked only with organized labour, leaving hamals with no protection from exploitation. Baba organized them into the “Hamal Panchayat”. Navnath Binawade came to Pune from a drought-prone part of Solapur as a young boy, and recalls the days when he could not get work as hamal. “Once the Hamal Panchayat came into force, the whole system was streamlined and every one had equal opportunity for work,” says Binawade, now the panchayat’s secretary. In 1956, the hamals went on their first-ever strike demanding decent wages. There were satyagrahas and arrests after which it was finally recognized as a Trade Union and minimum wages were fixed. After year of struggle, in 1969, the state government passed the Maharashtra Mathadi, Hamal and Other Manual Worker’s Act, the country’s first piece of legislation for the social security of unorganized labour. It has become the rallying point for dozens of other unorganized labour movements seeking social security legislation.
In the decades since, Baba has been actively involved in similar struggles for auto-drivers, rag-
pickers, hawkers, domestic workers and construction labours. Each such collective has registered
itself as a separated trade union.
A – 3) Complete :
Baba is called a Working Class Hero because ……..______
A – 4) Personal Response:
Do you think there should be a strong legislation to protect the rights of waste collectors and domestic servants? If yes, how will it help to eradicate the ‘child labour’ problem?
A – 5) Language study: (Do as directed)
i) Baba began his practice in Pune’s Nana Peth.
(Frame a Wh-question to get the underlined part as an answer.)
ii) Political parties worked only with organized labour, leaving hamals with no
protection from exploitation.
(Make a compound sentence and rewrite).
Answers
Answer:
where baba began his practice
A3) Baba is called a working class hero because he stood for the unorganised working class of India post freedom.
A4) Yes, a strong legislation to protect the rights of waste collectors and domestic servants should be passed as it will uplift and aid these working class of people to earn their daily bread and secure minimum wages and save them from exploitation. The legislation, if enforced thoroughly will surely put out the flame of 'child labour' by adequately punishing the offenders, if found guilty.
A5)
1) Where did Baba begin his practice?
2) Political parties worked only with organised labout that left hamals with no protection from exploitation.
A3) Baba is called a working class hero because he stood for the unorganised working class of India post freedom.
As inferred from the extract, Baba was an activist for the representation and rights of the lower working class in the newly free India and his efforts helped put up the Maharashtra Mathadi, Hamal and Other Manual Worker’s Act in 1969.
A4) This answer is personal response and can be modified according to what you feel about the question asked.
A5)
1) To answer a question as a place, "Where" questions have to be asked. Hence, Where did Baba begin his practice?
2) The addition of the conjunction 'that' makes the sentence compound.