Grade X : Fedralism
Q1 What is
the real reason for the successes of federalism in India?
1. The constitutional provisions are laid out very clearly
2) The nature of democratic politics has ensure its success
3) There is respect for diversity
Q.2 What happened to the centre state
relations when different parties ruled at the centre and state levels till
1990?
When different parties ruled at the
centre and state levels the parties at the centre tried to undermine the power
of states. The central government misused the constitution often to dismiss the
state governments that were controlled by other parties. This is against the
spirit of federalism
Q.3 Give the key features of
federalism.
1. There is two or more level of govt.
2. Each tier has its own jurisdiction.
3. Any change in the fundamental provisions of the constitution requires
consent of both levels of the govt.
4. Sources of revenue for each level are specified.
Q.5
Which major steps taken in 1992 towards decentralization?
A three tier democracies were introduced
in 1992. A step was taken towards creating rural local self govt.
1)
Regular elections to be held for
panchayat.
2) Seats reserved for SC’s and ST s OBC s.
3) One third seats reserved for women
4) State govt to share power and revenue with local bodies.
Q6. Examine the holding together nature
of Indian Federalism.
1) States have been not been given identical powers with union government.
2) Few states have been given special status-like Jamm u and Kashmir and
North eastern states in order to protect and preserve the ir custom, tradition,
culture and linguistic diversity.
3) Apart from these some territories of the Indian union like Chandigarh,
Lakshadweep or the capital city of Delhi are administered by union government hence
known as Union Territories.
Q7.Write down the features of Coming
together federations.
A. Coming Together Federation involves independent states coming together on
their own to form a bigger unit.
B. In coming together units tries to increase their security by pooling
sovereignty and retaining identity.
C. In this category of federations, all the constituent t units usually have
equal power and are strong vis-à-vis the federal government.
D. USA, Switzerland and Australia are Coming Together Federations.
Q8.Is it right to say that India is
federal country but why the word federalism is not used anywhere in the
constitution? Explain.
A. India had emerged as an independent nation after a painful
and bloody partition.
B. Soon after independence several princely states become a
part of the country.
C. The constitution declared India as a Union of States.
D. Although it did not use the world federation, the Indian
Union is based on the principles of federalism.
E. India is fulfilling all the requirements which are
required for a federal country.
Q9.Why the exact balance of power
between the central and State Governments does vary from one federation to
other federations? Explain with example.
Ans.The balance of power between the central and the state government varies
from one federation to another due to the nature of route ad opted by the
country like: Coming Together Federations and Holding Together Federation.
A. Coming together Federation: In
this type of federation independent units come together on their own to form a
union or federation. Their main aim is to form a bigger unit, so that by
pooling sovereignty and retaining their identity they can increase their
security. Federations of USA, Switzerland and Australia are examples.
B. Holding Together Federations: Under
this type of federation, the federal government decides to divide its power
between the constituent states and the national government. In this, type of
government the central government tends to be more powerful vis-a-vis states. Holding
together sometimes gives unequal power to constitute states. Some states are
granted special powers. India, Spain and Belgium federations are the examples
of Holding Together Federations.
Q10.Critically examine the concept of
Decentralization in India.
Ans. The need of decentralization is very much recognized in Indian
constitution and various attempts have been made to decentralize power to
village and towns. Panchayats in villages and municipalities in towns have been
set up in all the states of the country.
A. But in all practical the concept of decentralization is
not very much applied in all the state.
B. The local bodies are directly under the control of state government.
C. The elections to these local bodies are not held regularly.
D. Local governments do not have any powers or resources of their own,
like Agriculture and commerce.
Q11.“Local people know the local
problems and its solutions better”. Explain
A. The local governments take up some of the responsibilities of the Central
and State governments.
B. They share some of their burdens and allow them time to
concentrate on matters of the state importance and national importance.
C. Much of their time which was hitherto wasted on local problems
could now be devoted to much more important issues.
Q13.Discuss the duel objective of
federalism?
Federalism has two or more levels of governments it has duel
objectives:
A. To safeguard and promote unity of the country.
B. And to accommodate regional diversity.
C. The above two aspects are crucial for the institution and
practice of federalism. The government at different levels should agree to some
rules of power sharing.
D. They should also trust that each would abide by its part
of agreement.
Q14.If agriculture and commerce are
state subjects why do we have ministers of agriculture and commerce in the
Union Cabinet?
A. Although agriculture and commerce are the state subjects we have
ministers of agriculture and commerce at the union cabinet because the wider
prospect of these subjects regarding inter-state trade.
B. A uniform policy has to be legislated for all the states.
C. The agriculture and economic experts are part of the planning commission. So
we require agriculture and commerce ministers in the Union for policy making.
Q15.What are the demerits of local self
government?
A. Irregular elections.
B. Dominance of Upper Caste people.
C. Ignorance, illiteracy and poverty of the villagers.
D. Excessive official control.
E. Lack of Adequate funds.
Q16.What are the powers and
responsibilities of village Panchayat?
A. Preparation of plan for economic development and social justice for the
village.
B. Implementation of schemes for economic development for the village.
Q17.Describe the language policy
of India?
A. The constitution of India does not give the status of national language
to any of the language.
B. Though Hindi was identified as the official language but the central
government has not imposed Hindi on states where people speak a different
language.
C. Besides Hindi there are twenty one other languages recognized as Scheduled
languages by the constitution.
D. Most of the states have their own official languages which are used in the
offices.
E. Since independence Indian Leaders have adopted a very cautious
attitude in spreading the use of Hindi.
F. According to constitution the use of English for official
purposes was to stop in 1965 which was not liked by some of the states. So the Central
government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with
Hindi as official language.
Q18.Explain the role of Judiciary,
Executive and Legislature
Ans. Judiciary:
A. Judiciary plays an important role in ensuring the implementation of various
laws and procedure.
B. The supreme court of India has the exclusive authority of settling
disputes between the government of India and one or more states or between two
states.
C. The high court stands at the head of state’s judicial administrations.
D. Union Territories come under the jurisdiction of different state high
courts.
Legislature:
A. Legislature is our country’s law making body
B. It is an assembly of people’s representation with the power to enact laws
for our country.
C. The members of the legislature are elected by the people.
D. In addition to enacting laws legislature have the authority to raise taxes, and adopt the
budget and other money bills.
Executive:
A. At different organs of government we find functionaries who take day-to-day
decisions, but do not exercise the supreme power on behalf of the people. All
those functionaries are collectively known as the executive.
B. Executive is law implementing body.
C. It is a body of persons having major policies, make decisions, and
implementing them on the basis of the constitution and laws of the country.
Q19. State any two differences between
the local government before and after the Constitutional amendment in
1992.
Ans.
|
Local Govt Before 1992
|
Local Govt after 1992
|
|
Elections Were Controlled by the state and
not held regularly.
|
An independent is responsible to conduct
elections regularly.
|
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Local governments did not have any powers
or resources of their own.
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The State governments are required to share
some powers and revenue with local government bodies.
|
Q20.What
policies strengthened the federalism of India?
A. Linguistic States:
Since 1947 many changes have been done in the political map of India. Many old
states have vanished and many new states have been created. Areas, boundaries
and names of the states have been change d. In 1947, the boundaries of several
old states of India were changed in order to create new states. This was done
to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same state. Some
states were created to recognize differences based on culture, ethnicity or
geography.
B. Centre-state relations in India:
Earlier in India for a long time, the same party ruled both at centre and state.
This meant the state government did not exercise their rights as autonomous
federal units. As and when ruling party at state level was different, the parties
that ruled at the Central tried to undermine the powers. But after 1990
significant changes occurred. There was rise of regional political parties in
many states of the country. This was also the beginning of the era of coalition
governments at the centre.
C. Language Policy: The
constitution of India does not give the status of national language to any of the
language. Though Hindi was identified as the official language but the central
government has not imposed Hindi on states where people speak a different
language. Besides Hindi there are twenty one other languages recognized as
Scheduled languages by the constitution. Most of the states have their own
official languages which are used in the offices. Since independence Indian
Leaders have adopted a very cautious attitude in spreading the u se of Hindi.
According to constitution the use of English for official purposes was to stop
in 1965 which was not liked by some of the states. So the central government
responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi as official
language
Q21.Explain the organization of the
local government bodies of urban areas.
A. Local Government bodies exist in urban areas also. In Towns there are
municipalities and in big cities there are municipal corporations.
B. Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by
elected bodies consisting of people’s representatives.
C. Municipality is headed by the chairman and Municipal Corporation is
headed by the Mayor.
Q22.What are the causes
responsible for very slow progress of Panchayat Raj System in India?
A. Lack of awareness: Some people
treat it just as an administrative agency, some as an intention of democracy at
grass root level and some treat it as a charter of rural, local government.
There for lack of awareness and conceptual clarity is one of the reasons of
slow success of Panchayat Raj.
B. Irregular election: Election
should held after a gap of five years, but still irregularity is there to hold
the elections.
C. Relationship of government officials
and elected representatives: All work of the Panchayat Raj System is being
done by the government officials, but contradiction always comes in between
government officials and elected representatives and then it progresses very
slowly.
D. Lack of money and other support:
The Panchayat Raj institutions lack enough money, administrative support and
help from the government officials. That’s why its success rate is very slow.
Q23.Highlight the two types of routes
through which the federations are formed. Give example.
A. When independent states come together and form a fe deration is coming
together route. Example: USA, Switzerland and Australia
B. When a country decides to divide its power between the constituent state and
the national government that is holding together route. Example: India, Spain
and Belgium.
Q24.Contrast a federal system of
government with a unitary set - up with examples.
A. Federalism has at least two levels of government.
B. The central government is responsible for subjects
of national importance.
C. The state government looks after the daily
administration of the states.
D. In Unitary system there is only one level of government
and if any subunits are there that remains subordinate to the central government
Q25.Why is the central government of
India not compelling states to adopt Hindi as their official language?
A. India is multilingual country. According to the census of 1991 recorded more
than 1500 distinct languages, people mentioned their mot her tongues.
B. Hindi is mother tongue of only 40% of the people of India.
C. There are 21 languages recognized by the constitution.
D. In states of Southern India there has been violent opposition to Hindi.
Q26.What is significance of Panchayat
Raj?
A. It is the third level of Indian Federal System.
B. This level gives a chance to the people to become the representatives of
people.
C. There is reservation for women, SCs and STs.
D. They strengthen the democratic system
of India.
Q27.How is the Federal government
better than a Unitary Government? Explain with the example of Belgium and Sri
Lanka.
A. If we study the main difference between the federal and the unitary
governments, in the present times the federal governments certainly score over
the unitary governments, especially when people of different religions, castes
and cultures resides in one and same country.
B. In chapter Power Sharing we have seen how a unitary form of government has
proved a failure in Sri Lanka while a federal type of government has proved a
great success in Belgium.
C. In Sri Lanka Unitary government fails to solve the dispute of different
sections of the society but in Belgium the federal government gives equal
respect to the demands of different sections of the society.
D. In Belgium all types of people have been accommodated while in
Majoritarianism has been thrust upon the people especially over the minority
community in Sri Lanka.
Q28.Discuss why the special status has
been given to a few states in India? Explain with the example of Jammu and
Kashmir.
A. A few states in India have been given a special status in the
constitution due to diverse population and regions within the state itself.
B. Special status to Jammu and Kashmir is due to the history of conflict
over the state with Pakistan.
C. The state was given to the Indian Union under very special terms,
which provided the state with a unique position in the Indian Union.
D. This state has its own constitution.
Q29.What was the Amendment in regard to
decentralization?
A. In 1992, 72nd Amendment Act gave constituent status to the
Panchayati Raj institution.
B. It created the third tier of federalism in India below the central
government level and the state government level.
C. The Objective of this Amendment was to make democracy more powerful and
effective by giving power to the grassroots units of self government.
30.How far is it correct to say
that federalism works only in big country?
A. Federalism means sharing power among the central
and non-central authorities.
B. It works in big countries where the area of country
is very large and it makes it difficult to be effective managed through only
one level of government.
C. In Such cases different levels of the government
are formed to have broad based participation of the people.
Q31.Explain how power is shared
among different organs of the government.
A. Union List: Subjects
of national importance like defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy, banking,
post and telegraph are included in the Union List. Only the central government
can pass laws on the subjects mentioned in the union list because we need a
uniform policy on important or national issues throughout the country. The
union list has 97 subjects.
B. State List: It
comprises those important subjects on which the state government can pass laws.
Subjects like police, local government, trade and commerce, agriculture are
within the state included in the State list. The state list has 66 subjects.
C. Concurrent List: The
concurrent list comprises the subjects which are of common concern for both - the
centre and state government. Both the centre and state governments can frame
laws on these subjects. However, if there is a conflict between the central law
and state law, over a subject in the Concurrent list, the central law would be
effective. The concurrent list has 47 subjects.
D. Residuary Powers: Matters
which are not included in the division of powers are known as residuary powers.
It was felt that there can be subjects which are not mentioned in either of
these lists. The central government has been given the power to legislate on
the residuary subjects.
Q32.Explain the features of third tier
of the rural government.
A. Rural local government is popularly known by the name Panchayat Raj. Each
Village or group of villages in some state has a Gram Panchayat.
B. This is a council consisting of members called Panchs and a president called
Sarpanch. They are directly elected by the adult population living in the ward
or village.
C. The Panchyat works under the supervision of the Gram Sabha. All the voters
of the village are the members of Gram Sabha.
D. The local government structure goes right up to the district level. A
few Gram panchayat are grouped together to form Block Samiti . The members of
all the Block Smities are elected by the panchayat members of the area.
E. All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals in a district together constitute
the Zila Parishad.
