Civics Flashcards
What is the complex ethnic composition of Belgium in terms of the
percentage each language spoken there?
It has two main languages i.e. Dutch and French. 59% lives in the Flemish
region and speaks Dutch language, 40% people of Belgium live in the
Wallonia region and speak French. Remaining 1% speak German.
● In the capital city Brussels, 80% people speak French while 20% are
Dutch-speaking
● The minority French-speaking people are more rich and powerful than the
Dutch-speaking people.
Describe the ethnic composition of Sri Lanka.
● The major social groups in Sri Lanka are the Sinhala speakers (74%) and the
Tamil speakers (18%).
● Among Tamils, there are two subgroups. Sri Lankan Tamils, or the Tamil
natives of Sri Lanka (13%). Indian Tamils (5%) whose forefather came from
India as plantation workers during colonial period.
● Most of the Sinhala speakers are Buddhists.
● Most of the Tamils are either Hindus or Muslims.
● Christians are about 7%, who are both Tamil and Sinhala.
Give reasons why power sharing is desirable?
Prudential reasons:
● It helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups.
● It is a good way to ensure the stability of political order.
● Imposing the will of the majority community, over others may look like an attractive
option in the short run, but in the long run it undermines the unity of the nation.
Moral reasons:
● Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy.
● People have the right to be consulted on how they are to be governed.
● A legitimate government is one where citizens through participation, acquires a
stake in the system.
What do you understand by the horizontal form of power-sharing?
● In this system power is shared among different organs of the
governments in which each organ of government, i.e. Judiciary,
Legislature, and Executive.
● Each organ checks the others which makes a balance of power
among various institutions.
● Judiciary → Legislature → Executive
Explain vertical form of power-sharing?
● In this system, power is shared among governments at different levels.
● Central/Union Government for the entire country at national level States
Governments/Provincial Or Regional Governments at state level while municipality
and Panchayats at the local level
● This division of powers involving higher and lower levels of government is called
vertical distribution of power sharing. Holds the Spirit of federalism.
What were the reasons for the alienation of Sri Lankan Tamils? What was the effect
of this on the country?
● Government adopted majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala Supremacy. In 1956, an Act was
passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language thus, disregarding Tamil.
● Preferential politics that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government
jobs.
● The state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
● Sri Lankan Tamils felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders
was sensitive to their language and culture
● The relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities strained overtime, and it soon turned
into a Civil War.
Describe the elements of the Belgian model for accommodating diversities.
● The number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central
government.
● State are not made subordinates to the central government.
● Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal
representation.
● A third kind of government, community government has the power regarding
cultural, educational and language related issues.
● Conclusion.
What are the different forms of power sharing in modern democracies? Give an
example of each of these.
● Power Sharing among the Different Organs of Government (i.e. Horizontal
distribution of power) the system of checks and balances.
● Power Sharing among Governments at Different Levels (i.e. Vertical
distribution of power sharing) In this form of power sharing, power is shared
at the different levels of government.
● Power Sharing among Political Parties, Pressure Groups and Movements.
They form a Coalition Government and thus share power.
● Power Sharing Among Different Social Groups In a democracy, especially, in
multi-ethnic society, power is also shared among s social such as religious and
linguistic groups Community government.
Highlight three major distinctions between the federations of ‘coming
together’ type and ‘holding together” type.
Coming together federations Holding together federations
a. In this type, independent states come
together on their own to form a
bigger unit.
b. They can increase their security by
pooling Sovereignty and retaining
identity.
c. Examples are USA, Switzerland and
Australia.
Holding together
a. In this type, a large country decide to
divide power between the
Constituent States and the National
Government.
b. In this, the Central Government tends
to be more powerful vis-a-vis the
states.
c. Examples are India, Spain and
Belgium.
Why has Federalism succeeded in India? Which were the policies
adopted by India that ensured this success? Explain.
● Linguistic States: After Independence, the boundaries of several old states
were changed in order to create new states. The creation of Linguistic States
is the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
● Language Policy: The second test for the Indian Federation is the language
policy. The Indian Constitution did not give the status of National Language to
any one of the language.
● Centre-State Relations: Restructuring the Centre State relations is one more
way in which Federalism has been strengthened in practice.
Describe the steps taken to strengthen local self-governments, by the
Constitutional Amendment, 1992.
● Holding regular elections under the local government bodies has been made
compulsory.
● Reservation of seats for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other
backward classes was introduced in the elected bodies.
● One third i.e., 33% of the seats are reserved for women in all elected bodies.
● An independent institution, called the State Election Commission, was
established in each state to conduct panchayat and municipal election.
● State government is required to share some powers and revenue with local
government bodies.
Describe the division of powers divided between State and Central Governments in
India.
Union List: It includes subjects of national importance, e.g. defence of the country, foreign
affairs, banking, communication and currency. The Central Government alone can make decisions
on these matters. The aim of including these matters in Union List is to ensure uniformity in the
policy of these areas throughout the country.
● State List: It includes subjects of state and local importance such as police, trade, commerce,
agriculture and irrigation. The State Government alone can make laws and decisions on these
areas.
● Concurrent List: It includes those subjects which are of common interest to both the Central as
well as State Governments. It includes matters like education, forests, marriage and trade unions.
Both the State and Central Government can make decision on these matters.
What makes India a federal country?
Three tier of Government.
● Different areas of Jurisdiction ( Union list, State list and Concurrent list ).
● Some states gave special power, whereas some states are union territories.
● Any Amendment required the majority of two third members of the both the houses, then it has
to be ratified by the legislature of at least half of the total states. Fundamental provisions cannot
be changed unilaterally.
● The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional
provisions and procedures. In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts
and the Supreme Court make a decision.
Mention any three features of ‘secularism’ described in the Indian
Constitution.
There is no official religion for the Indian state. Unlike the status of Buddhism
in Sri Lanka, that of Islam in Pakistan and that of Christianity in England, our
Constitution does not give a special status to any religion.
● The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to
prefers, practice and propagate any religion or not to follow any.
● The Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in
order to ensure equality within religious communities.
Describe any three factors that are responsible for breaking down the
Caste system in India?
● Political leaders and social reformers like Jyotiba Phule, Gandhiji, B. R.
Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker advocated and worked to
establish a society without caste inequalities.
● With economic development, large scale urbanisation, growth of literacy and
education, occupational mobility and the weakening of the position of
landlords and Zamindars in the villages, the old rigid notions of Caste
hierarchy are dying.
● The Constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid
the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system.
How caste can take several form in politics? Explain.
● While choosing candidates for election, political parties consider the caste
composition of the voters to win support.
● Political parties make an appeal to the caste sentiments to win votes.
● Some political parties are known to favour some particular caste.
● Universal Adult Franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote have
compelled the political leaders to bring caste sentiments into politics to
muster support.
“In India, women still lag behind men despite some improvement since
Independence.” Support the statement with examples.
As India is still dominated by Patriarchal society, gender discrimination is prevalent at present.
Parents prefer to spend money for boy’s education.
● Girls perform as well as boys in school, but the literacy rate among women in only 54 percent
compared with 76 percent among men.
● The proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs is still very little.
● In almost all areas of work, women are paid less than the men, even when both works exactly
the same.
● Women still face harassment, exploitation and violence in our society.
Explain the status of women’s representation in India’s legislative bodies. What can
be done to improve the situation.
The status of women’s representation in India’s legislative bodies is as follows:
● Central Legislature: touched 12 percent of its total members in 2014.
● State Legislature: Less than 5 percent of its total members are women.
● Panchayati Raj: One-third of the seats are reserved for women.
➔ It should be legally binding to have a fair proportion of women in the elected bodies.
➔ There should be the reservation of at least one third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state
legislative assemblies for women.
Define communalism. Explain any three forms of communalism in the Indian
politics.
Belief that people belonging to the same religion should form a nation, and in this process the power of
state is used to establish domination of one religious group over the other.
● The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These routinely involve religious
prejudices, the stereotype of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over
other religions.
● A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community. For
those belonging to the majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those
belonging to the minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
● Political mobilisation on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use
of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of
one religion together in the political arena.
● Sometimes, communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre.
Describe any five features of the caste system in India.
It was a hierarchical occupational division of the society, special to India .
● Caste system is both hierarchical and segmented.
● Most important aspect of caste system is ‘untouchability’.
● In caste system, the members of the same caste group formed a social community that followed
similar occupation, married within the caste and did not mingle with other castes.
● Caste system was based on the exclusion of and discrimination against the ‘outcaste’ groups.
The focus on caste in politics can sometimes give an impression that elections are
all about caste and nothing else. Do you agree? Explain.
● Introduction
● No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste. So, every
candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and community to win
elections.
● No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. When people say that a caste is a
‘vote bank’ of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the voters from the caste vote for
the party.
● Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste (if that caste is believed to dominate
the electorate in a particular constituency). Some voters have more than one candidate from their caste,
while many voters have no candidates from their caste.
● The Ruling Party of the sitting MP or MLA frequently loses elections in our country. That could not have
happened if all castes or communities were frozen in their political preferences.
What do you understand by political parties? Explain three components of a
political party.
● A political party is a political organization of people who come together to
contest election and control political power.
The three components of political party are -
1. The leaders
2. The active members
3. The followers
What is the role of “Opposition” in democracy?
● Intro Losing party play the role of opposition.
● Check on the role of the government.
● It provides alternative options and mobilise opposition
to the government.
Explain multi party system. What are its advantages and why India adopted it?
● If several parties compete for power and more than two parties have a
reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in
alliance with others, we call it a multi party system.
● Accommodative of diversity.
● Due to the diversity in country.
