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Constitutional Design

How did your school celebrate the Constitution Day on November exercises 26th? Prepare a brief report.

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Constitutional Design

Here are some of the guiding values of the Constitution and theirmeaning. Rewrite them by matching them correctly.
a Sovereign i Government will not favour any religion.
b Republic ii People have the supreme right to make decisions.
c Fraternity iii Head of the state is an elected person.
d Secular iv People should live like brothers and sisters.

Constitutional Design

Read again the extracts from Nehru’s speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’and answer the following:
a Why did Nehru use the expression “not wholly or in full measure” in the first sentence?
b What pledge did he want the makers of the Indian Constitution to take?
c “The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye”. Who was he referring to?

Constitutional Design

Match the following leaders with their roles in the making of the Constitution:
a Motilal Nehru i President of the Constituent Assembly
b B.R. Ambedkar ii Member of the Constituent Assembly
c Rajendra Prasad iii Chairman of the Drafting Committee
d Sarojini Naidu iv Prepared a Constitution for India in 1928

Constitutional Design

Which of these is a provision that a democratic constitution does not have?
a Powers of the head of the state
b Name of the head of the state
c Powers of the legislature
d Name of the country

Constitutional Design

Which of these was the most salient underlying conflict in the making of a democratic constitution in South Africa?
a Between South Africa and its neighbours
b Between men and women
c Between the white majority and the black minority
d Between the coloured minority and the black majority

Constitutional Design

Here are some false statements. Identify the mistake in each case and rewrite these correctly based on what you have read in this chapter.
a Leaders of the freedom movement had an open mind about whether the country should be democratic or not after independence.
b Members of the Constituent Assembly of India held the same views on all provisions of the Constitution.
c A country that has a constitution must be a democracy.
d Constitution cannot be amended because it is the supreme law of a country.

What is democracy and why democracy?

In 2004 a report published in USA pointed to the increasing inequalities in that country. Inequalities in income reflected in the participation of people in democracy. It also shaped their abilities to influence the decisions taken by the government. The report highlighted that:
< If an average Black family earns $ 100 then the income of average White family is $ 162. A White family has twelve times more wealth than the average Black family.
< In a President’s election ‘nearly 9 out of 10 individuals in families with income over $ 75,000 have voted. These people are the top 20% of the population in terms of their income. On the other hand only 5 people out of 10 from families with income less than $ 15,000 have voted. They are the bottom 20% of the population in terms of their income.
< About 95% contribution to the political parties comes from the rich. This gives them opportunity to express their opinions and concerns, which is not available to most citizens.

< As poor sections participate less in politics, the government does not listen to their concerns – coming out of poverty, getting job, education, health care and housing for them. Politicians hear most regularly about the concerns of business persons and the rich. Write an essay on ‘Democracy and Poverty’ using the information given in this report but using examples from India.

What is democracy and why democracy?

Consider the following facts about a country and decide if you would call it a democracy. Give reasons to support your decision.

a All the citizens of the country have right to vote. Elections are held regularly.
b The country took loan from international agencies. One of the conditions for giving loan was that the government would reduce its expenses on education and health.
c People speak more than seven languages but education is available only in one language, the language spoken by 52 percent people of that country.
d Several organisations have given a call for peaceful demonstrations and nation wide strikes in the country to oppose these policies. Government has arrested these leaders.
e The government owns the radio and television in the country. All the newspapers have to get permission from the government to publish any news about government’s policies and protests.