Odisha State Board CHSE Odisha Class 12 Political Science Solutions Unit 3 Democratic Process in India-II Short Answer Questions.
CHSE Odisha 12th Class Political Science Unit 3 Democratic Process In India-II Short Answer Questions
Short Questions With Answers
Question 1.
Name three problems that the newly independent nation of lndia faced.
Answer:
Three problems that the newly independent nation of India faced:
- As a result of Partition, 8 million refugees had come into the country from Pakistan. These people had to be found homes and jobs.
- The Maharajas and Nawabs of the Princely States (almost 500) had to be persuaded to join the New Nation.
- A political system had to be adopted which would best serve the hopes and expectations of the Indian population.
Question 2.
What was the role of the Planning Commission?
Answer:
The Planning Commission was set up to help design and execute suitable policies for the economic development of India.
Question 3.
What did Dr Ambedkar mean when he said that “In politics we will have equality, and in social and economic life we will have inequality”?
Answer:
According to Dr Ambedkar, political democracy had to be accompanied by economic and social democracy. Giving the right to vote would not automatically lead to the removal of other inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper and lower castes. He believed that India needed to work towards eradicating all forms of inequality in the economic and social spheres. Only then would the equality granted by the Constitution in the sphere of politics (i.e., one vote for every adult Indian citizen) be of any value. Otherwise, India would just be a land of contradictions – following the principle of “one man, one vote and one value” in its political life and denying the principle of “one man, one value” in its economic and social lives.
Question 4.
After Independence, why was there a reluctance to divide the country on linguistic lines ? .
Answer:
In the 1920s, the Congress had promised that once the country won independence, each major linguistic group would have its own province. However, after independence, it did not take any steps to honour this promise. There was a reason for this. India had already been divided on the basis of religion. The joy of freedom had come along with the tragedy of Partition. This Partition had led to the killing of a million people in riots. Fresh divisions were not considered to be feasible. Congress leaders believed that any further divisions of the country would only disrupt its unity and progress. They felt that the need of the hour was for India to remain strong and united, and work towards becoming a nation, and anything that hindered the growth of nationalism had to be rejected.
Question 5.
Give one reason why English continued to be used in India after Independence.
Answer:
People of the south those who could not speak Hindi, opposed Hindi as National Language. They threatened to separate from India if Hindi was imposed on them. The Constituent Assembly finally decided that Hindi would be the “official language” of India and English would be used in the courts, the services, and communications between one state and another.
Question 6.
How was the economic development of India visualised in the early decades after Independence?
Answer:
The economic development of India visualised in the early decades after Independence were:
- Objectives: Lifting India and Indians out of poverty, and building a modern technical and industrial base were among the major objectives of the new nation.
- Planning Commission and Five Year Plans: A Planning Commission was set up to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development.
- Mixed-economy: A mixed-economy model was agreed upon. In this economic model, both the State and the private sector would play important and complementary roles in increasing production and generating jobs.
- Focus on heavy industries and dams: In 1956, the Second Five Year Plan was formulated. This focussed strongly on the development of heavy industries such as steel, and on the building of large dams.
- The focus on heavy industry, and the effort at state regulation of the economy (which was to guide the economic policy for the next few decades) had many critics. This approach was criticised because:
(i) It put inadequate emphasis on agriculture.
(ii) It neglected primary education.
(iii) It did not take into account the environmental implications of concentrating. on science and machinery.
Question 7.
Vhat are the challenges India face while building the nation?
Answer:
At the hour of midnight on 14-15 August 1947, India attained independence. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of free India, addressed a special session of the Constituent Assembly that night. This was the famous ‘tryst with destiny’ speech that you are familiar with. This was the moment Indians had been waiting for. You have read in- your history textbooks that there were many voices in our national movement. But there were two goals almost everyone agreed upon one, that after Independence, we shall run our country through democratic government; and two, that the government will be run for the good of all, particularly the poor and the socially disadvantaged groups.
Now that the country was independent, the time had come to realise the promise of freedom. This was not going to be easy. India was born in very difficult circumstances. Perhaps no other country by then was born in a situation more difficult than that of India in 1947. Freedom came with the partition of the country. The year 1947 was a year of unprecedented violence and trauma of displacement. It was in this situation that independent India started on its journey to achieve several objectives. Yet the turmoil that accompanied independence did not make our leaders lose sight of the multiple challenges that faced the new nation.
Question 8.
Write Three Challenges of India face after independence.
Answer:
Broadly, independent India faced three kinds of challenges. The first and the immediate challenge was to shape a nation that was united, yet accommodative of the diversity in our society. India was a land of continental size and diversity. Its people-spoke different languages and followed different cultures and religions. At that time it was widely believed that a country full of such kinds of diversity could not remain together for long. The partition of the country appeared to prove everyone’s worst fears. There were serious questions about the future of India: Would India survive as a unified country ? Would it do so by emphasising national unity at the cost of every other objective? Would it mean rejecting all regional and sub-national identities? And there was an urgent question: How was integration of the territory of India to be achieved?
The second challenge was to -establish democracy. You have already studied the Indian Constitution. You know that the Constitution granted fundamental rights and extended the right to vote to every citizen. India adopted representative democracy based on the parliamentary form of government. These features ensure that the political competition would take place in a democratic framework.
A democratic constitution is necessary but not sufficient for establishing a democracy. The challenge was to develop democratic practices in accordance with the Constitution.
The third challenge was to ensure the development and well-being of the entire society and not only of some sections. Here again the Constitution clearly laid down the principle of equality and special protection to socially disadvantaged groups and religious and cultural communities. The Constitution also set out in the Directive Principles of State Policy the welfare goals that democratic politics must achieve. The real challenge now was to evolve effective policies for economic development and eradication of poverty.
Regionalism
The decade of 1980s also witnessed major developments in the State of Punj ab. The social composition of the State changed first with Partition and later on after the-carving out of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. While the rest of the country was reorganised on linguistic lines in 1950s, Punjab had to wait till 1966 for the creation of a Punjabi speaking State. The Akali Dal, which was formed in 1920 as the political wing of the Sikhs, had led the movement for the formation of a ‘Punjabi suba’. The Sikhs were now a majority in the truncated State of Punjab.Political context.
After the reorganisation, the Akalis came to power in 1967 and then in 1977. On both the occasions it was a coalition government. The Akalis discovered that despite the redrawing of the boundaries, their political position remained precarious. Firstly, their government was dismissed by the Centre mid-way through its term. Secondly, they did not enjoy strong support among the Hindus. Thirdly, the Sikh community, like all other religious communities, was internally differentiated on caste and class lines. The Congress got more support among the Dalits, whether Hindu or Sikh, than the Akalis.
It was in this context that during the 1970s a section of Akalis began to demand political autonomy for the region. This was reflected in a resolution passed at their conference at Anandpur Sahib in 1973. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution asserted regional autonomy and wanted to redefine centre-state relationship in the country. The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh qaum (community or nation) and declared its goal as attaining the bolbala (dominance or hegemony) of the Sikhs. The Resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism, but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation.
The Resolution had a limited appeal among the Sikh masses. A few years later, after the Akali government had been dismissed in 1980, the Akali Dal launched a movement on the question of the distribution of water between Punjab and its neighbouring States. A section of the religious leaders raised the question of autonomous Sikh identity. The more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of‘Khalistan’.
Question 9.
Discuss the North-East regional aspiration.
Answer:
In the North-East, regional aspirations reached a turning point in 1980s. This region how consists of seven States, also referred to as the ‘seven sisters’. The region has only 4 per cent of the country’s population but about twice as much share of its area. A small corridor of about 22 kilometers connects the region to the rest of the country. Otherwise the region shares boundaries with China, Myanmar and Bangladesh and serves as India’s gateway to South East Asia. The region has witnessed a lot of change since 1947. Tripura, Manipur and Khasi Hills of Meghalaya were erstwhile Princely States which merged with India after Independence. The entire region of North-East has undergone considerable political reorganisation. Nagaland State was created in 1960; Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura in 1972 while Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became separate States only in 1986. The Partition of India in 1947 had reduced the North-East to a land locked region and affected its economy. Cut off from the rest of India, the region suffered neglect in developmental terms. Its politics too remained insulated. At the same time, most States in this region underwent major demographic changes due to influx of migrants from neighbouring States and countries. The isolation of the region, its complex social character and its backwardness compared to other parts of the country have all resulted in the complicated set of demands from different states of the North-East. The vast international border and weak communication between the North-East and the rest of India have further added to the delicate nature of politics there. Three issues dominate the politics of North-East: demands for autonomy, movements for secession and opposition to ‘outsiders’. Major initiatives on the first issue in the 1970s set the stage for some dramatic developments on the second and the third in the 1980s.
Question 10.
Write about the Demands for autonomy of states.
Answer:
At independence the entire region except Manipur and Tripura comprised the State of Assam. Demands for political autonomy arose when the non-Assamese felt that the Assam government was imposing Assamese language on them. There were opposition and protest riots throughout the State. Leaders of the major tribal communities wanted to separate from Assam. They formed the Eastern India Tribal Union which later transformed into a more comprehensiveA.il Party Hill Leaders Conference in 1960. They demanded a tribal State to be carved out of Assam. Finally instead of one tribal State, several States got carved out of Assam. At different points of time the Central Government had to create Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh out of Assam. Tripura and Manipur were upgraded into States too.
The reorganisation of the North-East was completed by 1972. But this was not the end of autonomy demands in this region. In Assam, for example, communities like the Bodos, Karbis and Dimasas wanted separate States. They worked for this demand by
f mobilising public opinion and popular movement as well as through insurgency. Often the , same area was claimed by, lore than one community. It was not possible to go on making | smaller and yet smaller States. Therefore, some other provisions of our federal set up were
used to satisfy their autonomy demands while remaining in Assam. Karbis and Dimasas have been granted autonomy under District Councils while Bodos were recently granted Autonomous Council.
Question 11.
Write about ‘Mandal Commission’.
Answer:
In the 1980s, the Janata Dal brought together a similar combination of political groups with strong support among the OBCs. The decision of the National Front government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission further helped in shaping } the politics of ‘Other Backward Classes’. The intense national debate for and against reservation in jobs made people from the OBC communities more aware of this identity. Thus, it helped those who wanted to mobilise these groups in politics. This period saw the emergence of many parties that sought better opportunities for OBCs in education and employment and also raised the question of tlje share of power enjoyed by the OBCs. These parties claimed that since OBCs constituted a large segment of Indian society, it was only democratic that the OBCs should get adequate representation in administration and have their due share of political power.
Question 12.
Political fallouts of Dalits. explain.
Answer:
The 1980s also saw the rise of political organisation of the Dalits. In 1978 the L Backward and Minority Classes Employees Federation (BAMCEF) was formed. This ’organisation was not an ordinary’ trade union of government employees. It took a strong OBC and minorities. It was out of this that the subsequent Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti and later the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) emerged under the leadership of Kanshi Ram. The BSP began as a small party supported largely by Dalit voters in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. But in 1989 and the 1991 elections, it achieved a breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh. This was the first time in independent India that a political party supported mainly by Dalit voters had achieved this kind of political success.
In fact, the BSP, under Kanshi Ram’s leadership was envisaged as an organisation based on pragmatic politics. It derived confidence from the fact that the Bahujans (SC, ST, OBC and religious minorities) constituted the majority of the population, and were a formidable political force on the strength of their numbers. Since then the BSP has emerged as a major political player in the State and has been in government on more than one occasion. Its strongest support still comes from Dalit voters, but it has expanded its support now to various other social groups. In many parts of India, Dalit politics and OBC politics have developed independently and often in competition with each other.
Question 13.
What is the meaning of Regionalism?
Answer:
Regionalism means love for ones local or regional interests and values over and above the national interests and values.
Question 14.
What have been the main causes of Regionalism?
Answer:
The main causes of Regionalism have been
(1) Localism
(2) Religious fundamentalism
(3) Linguistic Regionalism
(4) Parochial approach
(5) Illiteracy and ignorance.
Question 15.
What major steps should be adopted for checking Regionalism?
Answer:
The steps should be adopted for checking regionalism are:
(1) Spread of education
(2) Rapid economic development in all parts of the country.
(3) Adoption of secularism as the way of life.
(4) Use of mass media for promoting rational integration.
Question 16.
What is Casteism?
Answer:
Casteism is the principle of giving caste undue importance in social and political relations. Caste based behaviour is casteism.
Question 17.
What is Caste?
Answer:
Caste is a kinship group in which every member is either an actual or a potential kin of another.
Question 18.
What is the role of casteism in Indian politics?
Answer:
Caste has been a factor in Indian politics. Some caste-based attempts atforcible imposition of particular demands and interests over other communities are at work. Caste has been a factor of party politics, voting behaviour and leadership behaviour.
Question 19.
What has been the most disturbing and inhuman impact of casteism?
Answer:
Caste based violence, murders, riots and mass killings constitute the biggest and most disturbing facts of our social and political life.
Question 20.
What is communalism?
Answer:
Communalism is the exploitation of Indian social pluralism for narrow and selfish ends by some groups. It involves communal tensions, communal violence and communal riots.
Question 21.
What are the forms of Communalism?
Answer:
The forms of Communalism are:
(1) Religious Communalism.
(2) Linguistic Communalism.
(3) Regional Communalism.
(4) Ethnic Communalism.
Question 22.
What is Communalisation of history?
Ans. It means attempts at presenting a distorted, nonobjectiv; and sectarian account as historical events and facts. Projection of our rational heroes as members of a particular region or community constitutes attempts at communalisation of history.
Question 23.
What is Terrorism?
Answer:
Terrorism begins with acts of violence designed to ‘violate’ the legal basis of the state and to injure permanently the instruments on which it depends for order.
Question 24.
What are the major factors which act as reasons behind the emergence of terrorism in a society?
Answer:
Terrorist violence and terrorism find a place in a society which is characterised by the socioeconomic, Underdevelopment, illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, sub-nationalism j and preserve of anti-national fundamentalist and bigotic elements.
Question 25.
What is son’s of the soil principle?
Answer:
Another form of regionalism in India has been the popularity of the principle of the sons of the soil. Acting under it, the states impose residential and domicile conditions for appointments within their respective administrations. This principle has a constitutional basis which empowers the legislatures to make residence within their states a qualification for employment.
Question 26.
What has been the role of Caste in Indian Politics?
Answer:
Caste continues to be a major determinant of Indian Politics. It has been acting as a big limiting factor of the process of national integration. Presence of caste and casteism has been adversely affecting the process of national integration. Unfortunately, caste continues to be a major determinant of electoral politics, political participation, voting j behaviour of Indian Politics.
Question 27.
What steps can be taken for checking casteism in our society and politics?
Answer:
The step can be taken for checking casteism in our society and politics are:
(1) Popularisation of secularism as the best way of life.
(2) Spread of Education. .
(3) Making education value-based;
(4) Use of mass media, particularly TV and films to highlight the uselessness of , caste distinctions and casteism.
(5) To promote and develop free flow of trade, commerce and business.
(6) To discourage the political parties from using caste as a basis of getting votes.
Question 28.
What is meant by Communalism of history?
Answer:
Communalism involves the exploitation of social pluralism of Indian Society by various fundamentalist groups, organisations and sects for securing their respective narrowly conceived political, religious and sectarian goals. Communalism has been showing its ugly presence in several forms, fanaticism, bigotism etc.
Question 29.
What are the major factors behind the emergence of terrorism in the world?
Answer:
(1) Religious fundamentalism and Jihadi terrorism.
(2) Presence of some elements of sub-nationalism.
(3) Ethnic nepotism and conflict.
(4) Availability of weapons in the international illegal arms market.
(5) Hostile neighbourhood activity as a source of cross-border terrorism.
Question 30.
Suggest some steps for meeting the challenge of terrorism.
Answer:
(1) Some groups resort to terrorism and violence for securing their narrow interests. The need is to prevent the organization and activities of such groups.
(2) The terrorists always use violence and terror as a means to create fear among the people.
(3) Efforts for encouraging the process of peaceful conflict-resolution in society must be consistly made.
Question 31.
What is Environmental Laws?
Answer:
The Government has enacted several laws for creating a legal framework capable of empowering the public authorities engaged in the works of environment protection and prevention and control of pollution. These have empowered and assigned the responsible for continuously working for securing a state, clean, green, healthy and sustainable environment in India.
Question 32.
What is the Environment Act. 1986?
Answer:
1986—The environment Act: It authorizes the Central government to protect and improve environmental quality, control and reduce pollution from all sources and prohibit or restrict the setting or operation of any industrial facility on environmental grounds.
Question 33.
What is 1989 Environmental Law?
Answer:
1989 – The manufacture, storage and important of hazardous Rules. These define the terms used in this context and sets up. an authority to inspect, once a year, the industrial activity connected with hazardous chemicals and isolated storage facilities.
Question 34.
What is the Environment Rules 1999?
Answer:
These lay down detailed provisions relating to areas to be avoided for siting of industries, precautionary measures to be taken for site selecting as also the aspects of environmental protection which should have been incorporated during the implementation of the Industrial Development Projects.
Question 35.
What is Noise Pollution Rules?
Answer:
2002- The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Amendment Rules. These lay down such terms and conditions as are necessary to reduce noise pollution, permit use of loud speakers or public address systems during night hours (between 10..00 p.m. to 12.00 midnight) on or during any cultural or religious festive occasion.
Question 36.
What is the Laws relating to Water Resources of India?
Answer:
- 1882 – The Essement Act.
- 1897 – The Indian Fisheries Act.
- 1956 – The river boards Act.
- 1970 – The Merchant Shipping Act.
- 1974 – The Water (Prevention and control of pollution) Act.
- 1977 – The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act.
- 1978 – The Water Cess Rules.
- 1991 – The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification.
Question 37.
What is the Easement Act. 1882 which relates to Water Resources of India.
Answer:
1882- The Easement Act. It allows private rights to use a resource that is, groundwater, by viewing it as an attachment to the land. It also states that all surface water belongs to the state and is a state property.
Question 38.
What is the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974?
Answer:
1974- The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution Act. It establishes an institutional structure for preventing and abating water pollution. It establishes standards for water quality and effluent. Polluting industries must seek permission to discharge waste into effluent bodies. The CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) was constituted under this Act.
Question 39.
What is the laws for securing the purity of Air?
Answer:
The laws for securing the purity of air are:
- 1948 – The factories Act and Amendment in 1987.
- 1981 – The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
- 1982 – The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules.
- 1982 – The Atomic Energy Act.
- 1987 – The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment.
- 1988 – The Motor Vehicles Act.