NIOS Class 10 Social Science Chapter 23 Solution – Challenges To Indian Democracy
NIOS Class 10 Social Science Solution Chapter 23 Challenges To Indian Democracy. NIOS Class 10 Social Science Chapter 23 Question Answers Download PDF. NIOS Class 10 Science Notes.
NIOS Class 10 Social Science Chapter 23 Solution
Board |
NIOS |
Class |
10th (Secondary) |
Subject |
Social Science |
Topic |
Question Answer, Solution, Notes |
INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.1
1. What do you mean by political democracy?
2. Do you think, the definition of democracy is incomplete unless it is defined in social and individual contexts as well? Give reasons for your answer.
3. Write at least two essential conditions of political and social democracy
INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.2
1. How do illiteracy, inequality and poverty adversely affect the functioning of
Indian democracy?
2. Do you agree that the portrayal of women by popular entertainment channels
or films depict gender discrimination? Justify with examples.
3. Explain with two examples as how do casteism or communalism impact our
day to day lives and influence Indian democracy?
4. If regionalism and sub-regionalism are inseparable part of Indian democracy,
why are they considered as challenges?
5. What are the reasons for criminalization of politics in India?
6. What are the reasons of increase of political violence in India?
INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.3
1. Describe the measures undertaken to achieve the goals of universal literacy,
poverty alleviation and removal of gender discrimination?
2. Discuss the steps needed for solving the problem of regional imbalances in
India?
3. What needs to be done to reform administration and judiciary in India?
4. What is sustainable development? How will it strengthen Indian democracy?
INTEXT QUESTIONS 23.4
1. What do you mean by participation of citizens in the democratic process?
2. What are the various forums or tools available to a common citizen for making the government accountable?
3. Fill in the Blanks:
(a) If you have a right to do certain things, you have also …………… to ensure that your actions do not infringe upon the ……………. of others.
(b) Citizens must respect the ……………………. and reject …………………….
(c) Every group has the right to practice its ……………………. and to have some ……………. over its own affairs.
(d) When a citizen expresses his/her ……………………. he/she should also listen to the …………… of other people.
TERMINAL EXERCISES
1. Define democracy. Why democracy cannot be defined only in political
context?
2. Describe the essential conditions for a successful democracy.
3. What are the major challenges the Indian democracy faces? How these challenges are opportunities to make India an effective democratic system.
4. Examine the trends of protest and violence in India. Why do some protests turn
into violent movements?
5. What are the significant corrective measures that are required to meet the
challenges to Indian democracy?
6. Discuss the expected roles of citizens in Indian democracy, especially in the
context of the experiences of Indian society and government.
7. What are the qualities that need to be reflected in an individual to be an
Indian citizen in true sense?
8. Write some qualities of a good citizen.
Answers-
Chapter 23:
IN text questions 23.1
1) Political democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and is exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections. In essence, democracy is a form of government which is run by the elected representatives of the people.
2) Democracy means, (i) a form of government, (ii) a type of state, (iii) a pattern of social system, (iv) a design of economic order, and (v) a way of life and culture. Therefore, when we say Indian democracy, we mean not only that its political institutions and processes are democratic but also that the Indian society and every Indian citizen is democratic, reflecting basic democratic values of equality, liberty, fraternity, secularism and justice in social sphere and individual behaviour.
3)Two essential conditions of political and social democracy are given below:
(a) political conditions as follows: (i) having a Constitution that vests supreme power in the people and protects fundamental rights, such as equality, liberty of thought and expression, belief, movement, communication and association; (ii) having universal adult franchise as the basis of electing representatives.
(b) social and economic conditions as follows: (i) the system ensuring social development that is in tune with democratic values and norms reflecting equality of social status, social security and social welfare; and (ii) the system facilitating a situation where the fruits of economic development reach all and especially the poor and deprived sections of the society.
IN text questions 23.2
1) Illiteracy, inequality and poverty adversely affect the functioning of Indian democracy by:
(i) Illiterate citizens are not able to play their roles effectively and exercise meaningfully their right to vote which is an individual expression of the power of the people. Literacy enables citizens to be aware of various issues, problems, demands, and interests in the country, be conscious of the principles of liberty and equality of all and ensure that the representatives elected by them truly represent all the interests in the society.
(ii) Poverty is perhaps the greatest bane of democracy. It is the root cause of all kinds of deprivations and inequalities and is the state of denial of opportunities to people to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.
2) Yes, I agree that the portrayal of women by popular entertainment channels or films depict gender discrimination. It is true that a few of them question the traditional roles, but those also somehow reflect gender discrimination.
3)Two examples of casteism or communalism impact our day to day lives and influence Indian democracy are given below:
Caste System: The most detrimental and inhuman example of the prevailing caste system is the practice of untouchability which is continuing in different covert and overt ways in spite of the constitutional ban imposed on it. The Dalits still bear the brunt of discrimination and deprivation. This has led to segregation of so called low castes, depriving them of education and other social benefits. The second example relates to politicization of caste system. Casteism has become notorious as a strategy of exploitation of caste consciousness for narrow political gains. The caste system acts against the roots of democracy.
Communalism: It disrupts quite often the smooth process of co-existence in a multi-religious Indian society. Communal riots happening in the country since independence have been dangerous for peace order and social harmony. Secondly the misuse of religion by fundamentalist people during elections and even in other situations has always been proved to be counter-productive.
4) Existence and continuation of regional inequalities in terms of differences in per capita income, literacy rates, state of health and educational infrastructure and services, population situation and levels of industrial and agricultural development both among States and within a State create a feeling of neglect, deprivation and discrimination.
5)The reasons for criminalization of politics in India are the influence of muscle power in Indian politics has been a fact of life for a long time. Political parties and candidates do not hesitate in seeking the help of criminal elements to dominate the election scene in India. Earlier in the 1960’s, the criminals were content by covertly helping the politician win the election so that they could in turn get protection from him. But the roles have now been reversed. It is the politicians who now bank on the support of the criminals for protection.
6)The reasons of increase of political violence in India are the emergence of serious conflict of interests between higher and middle castes as an outcome of agricultural development, abolition of zamindari system, and developments like green revolution and white revolution. These have led to aggressive competition for political power which many a time leads to violence. Another reason is the backlash of the higher castes against the growing awareness and assertion of their rights by the lower castes, particularly the Scheduled Castes and the lowest backward castes. Moreover, violence has been associated with demands for separate States, re-organization of States or adjustment of State boundaries. As we observe, the Telangana Movement in Andhra Pradesh and Bodo Movement in Assam often turned violent. Violence has also been used quite frequently during industrial strikes, farmers’ movements, students’ agitations, and a number of other civil disobedience campaigns.
IN text questions 23.3
1)The measures undertaken to achieve the goals of universal literacy, poverty alleviation and removal of gender discrimination are to attain the goal of universal literacy a nation-wide programme known as Saakshar Bharat is being implemented. Moreover, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a flagship programme for the universalization of elementary education for children between 6-14 years of age. Besides, the Parliament of India in 2009 passed Right to Education Act through which education has become a fundamental right of all children in the age group of 6-14 years. For poverty alleviation, two kinds of programmes are being implemented: (i) Programmes to lift beneficiaries above poverty line by providing them with productive assets or skills or both so that they can employ themselves usefully and earn greater income, and (ii) Programmes to provide temporary wage employment for the poor and the landless. Public Distribution System (PDS) contributes towards meeting people’s basic food needs, the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) provides rural households below the poverty line with credit to purchase income-generating assets, the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), provides more than 700 million person days of work a year. Moreover, TRYSEM (Training Rural Youth for Self-Employment) was started to provide technical skills to the rural youth and to help them to get employment.
2)The steps needed for solving the problem of regional imbalances in India are: (i) the Tribal Development Programme, (ii) the Hill Area Development Programme, (iii) the Border Area Development Programme, (iv) the Western Ghats Development Programme, (v) the Drought Prone Area Programme, and (vi) the Desert Development Programme.
3)To reform administration and judiciary in India the following recommendations need to be implemented: (i) to make administration accountable and citizen friendly, (ii) to build its capacity for quality governance, (iii) to orient administration for promoting peoples’ participation, decentralization and devolution of powers, (iv) to make administrative decision-making process transparent, (v) to improve the performance and integrity of the public services, (vi) to reinforce ethics in administration, and (vii) to inculcate readiness for e-governance. For judicial reforms, the steps that are to be taken are as follows: (a) Simplification of Rules and Procedures, (b) Repealing Out-dated Laws, (c) Increase in the Judge Population Ratio, (d) Time-bound filling of Vacant Posts in Judiciary, (d) Transparency in Appointment, Promotion and Transfer of Judges, (e) Judicial Accountability, and (f) Transparency of Court Proceedings.
4) Sustainable development is defined as a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for the future generations. When the development is human-centred and directed towards improvement of quality of life of all the people, it has to be focused on removal of poverty, ignorance, discrimination, disease and unemployment.
IN text questions 23.4
1)Participation of citizens in the democratic process is not confined simply to participation in elections. A vital form of participation comes through membership of political parties and more importantly, active membership in independent non-governmental organizations, that are known as “civil society organizations.” Civil Society Organizations represent a variety of interests of different groups: women, students, farmers, workers, doctors, teachers, business owners, religious believers and human rights activists.
2)The various forums or tools available to a common citizen for making the government accountable are citizens have to make the democratic system responsive and responsible. They are needed to ensure that the Parliamentarians, Members of State Legislatures and their representatives in Panchayati Raj and Municipal Institutions are accountable. The instruments created by Right to Information Act, 2005 in our country enable citizens to play their role effectively. Citizens must watch carefully how their political leaders and representatives use their powers, and to express their own opinions and interests.
3) (a) responsibility, rights; (b) law, violence; (c) culture, control; (d) opinion, views.
Terminal Exercises:
1) Democracy is defined as a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections. When you examine the definitions of democracy, as suggested above, you will find that most of those definitions define democracy as a form of government which is run by the elected representatives. This statement defines democracy in the political context.
2) A system can be termed as a genuine and comprehensive democracy only when it fulfils both political and socio-economic aspects of people’s participation and satisfaction. Let us identify those. There may be two major categories: (a) political conditions, and (b) social and economic conditions – the fulfilments of the first leads to political democracy and the second as social democracy.
3) India is a very large country full of diversities – linguistically, culturally, and religiously. At the time of independence it was economically underdeveloped. There were enormous regional disparities, widespread poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and shortage of almost all public welfare means. Citizens had enormous expectations from independence. As mentioned above, India has changed a lot. Yet, there are various challenges that the country faces in terms of fulfilments of expectations of various sections of society. The challenges come both from prevailing domestic and international conditions as well as lack of adequate prerequisites for a smooth functioning of democracy.
4) Violence has been with us for long, but use of violence for political end is dangerous for the existence of any system. In India we have been witnessing various forms of violence. Communal violence, caste violence and political violence in general have attained serious proportion. Communal riots are engineered by vested interests for political, religious and economic reasons. Caste violence in various shapes has been increasing. Despite agricultural development, abolition of zamindari system, and developments like green revolution and white revolution, there are still powerful feudal elements in the society. A serious conflict of interests has emerged between higher and middle castes and this has led to aggressive competition for political power which many a time leads to violence.
5) Democracy in India faces certain serious challenges. These are causes of serious concern to all. In fact, the leadership of the freedom movement and especially the framers of the Indian Constitution themselves were very much aware of these issues. They made a number of constitutional provisions to address the same. Since independence governments have taken various measures to respond too many of these challenges. There have been significant improvements in some of these. However, lots still have to be done. For that, efforts have been going on. There is need for collaboration among governmental agencies, political parties, civil society and citizens in general. There are certain significant corrective measures that have been adopted.
6) The corrective measures to meet the challenges can be actualized only when citizens play a proactive role. The citizens must respect the law and reject violence. Every citizen must respect the rights of his or her fellow citizens, and their dignity as human beings. No one should denounce a political opponent as evil, just because of holding different views. People should question the decisions of the government, but not reject the government’s authority. Every group has the right to practice its culture and to have some control over its own affairs, but each group should accept that it is a part of a plural society and democratic state.
7) Do it yourself.
8) Do it yourself.