Class 10 Civics All Chapters Summary / Short Summary

Power Sharing

Belgium and Sri Lanka

Belgium and Sri Lanka showcase their different approach to power sharing, the nature of various conflicts in the countries which rose out of language diversity and how they dealt with it. While Sri Lanka applied Majoritarianism, Belgium used Accommodation.

The Sri Lankan Tamils began an upheaval with the objectives of acknowledging Tamil as an official language, social and political equality and regional sovereignty. In contrast to the above Belgium took up the approach of Accommodation as positive steps to resolve their differences.

Belgium ensured stability through its policy of Accommodation; Whereas in Srilanka, majoritarianism continues to be a threat to the unity and growth.

The Different Types of Power Sharing

Power Sharing is desirable as it lessens conflicts, ensures stability and unity and enhances citizen’s participation.

There are two major reasons that make power sharing in a democracy desirable – Prudential and Moral reasons. Prudential means the constancy of political order is increased by reducing clashes between social groups.

Moral emphasises that the very act of Power Sharing is valuable. It forms the very basis of democracy. Power Sharing among different organs of government – legislature, executive and judiciary. This is called Horizontal Distribution of power. Each organ which holds parallel position checks the other resulting in a balance of power among different institutions. This is also called a system of checks and balances.

Power Sharing in governments is at different levels –National, state or a regional government and as in India, there is a self governing body like the Panchayats in rural areas and Municipalities in urban areas. Power sharing in India is not limited to government but also among different social groups including linguistic and religious groups. This higher and lower division of power is also called Vertical Division of power.

In our country many alienated groups are given reservations in the administration and in government. Under these reservations minority and socially weaker sections are accommodated. When a party fails to get a majority in legislature, different parties come together to form a coalition government and share power. 

Federalism

Types of Federalism

Holding Together Federation is one where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent states and the national government like India, Belgium and Spain. Coming Together Federation involves independent states coming together to form a bigger unit all constituent units have equal power like in USA.

There are two types of federation: Coming together Federation and Holding together Federation.

Federalism has dual objectives of safeguarding and promoting unity of the country and recognizing regional diversity by way of mutual trust and agreement of living together.

Every level is free in its own way to impose taxes and raise funds through remunerative enterprises. Independent Judiciary is the very essence of federalism where the courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of the different levels of government.

Federalism provides constitutional guarantees for the existence and authority of each tier of government. The jurisdiction of each tier is vividly specified in the Constitution.

In specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration, in federalism each tier has its own jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is the legal authority and can be defined in terms of geographical area or subject-matter to which such authority applies. There are two or more tiers or levels of Government: The Central government, The State government and the local self-government.

The key features of Federalism are:

In federal system a state government has power of its own and is not answerable to the central government.

State governments have no separate powers and are answerable to the central government.

There may also be subunits which are under absolute subordination of the central government.

Under Unitary system, there is only one level of government.

Federalism is a system in which the governmental power is divided between a central authority and its various constituent units.

What Makes India A Federal Country?

The Indian Union is based on the ideology of ‘Holding Together Federation’ i.e. the union to the unit and not the units to the union. India is a federal system with striking unitary features called a Quasifederal country.

This Quasifederal nature of federalism is due to the power sharing ways in our country. The Constitution provides three fold distribution of legislative power between the central and the state government. Three folds are the Union List, State List and the Concurrent List.

Union List includes subjects of national importance having 97 subjects. Defence, atomic energy, foreign affairs, railways, banking, posts and telegraphs are some of the major Union List subjects. State List consists of subjects of state and local importance and has 66 subjects. Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to Union and State government and are forests, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.

There are some subjects that do not fall under any of the lists or came up after the Constitution was made. These are known as the Residuary.

Indian federation is ‘Holding together federation. It does not give equal powers to its constituent units. It is very difficult to make changes in India’s power sharing arrangement as any change has to be approved by one third majority in both the Houses of the Parliament. Then it has to be approved by the legislatures of half of the total states. The Judiciary administers both Union and State laws. 

Success of Federalism in India

The most important tests for the success of Federalism were the creation of Linguistic States, Language Policy and Centre- State Relations.

Under the State Reorganization Commission in 1956, the states were created on the basis of language. Out of these 114 major languages, our Constitution recognizes 22 languages including Hindi as scheduled languages. Official Language Act provides that English would remain the official language of the country so long as non – Hindi speaking states desire.

The Constitution of India made provisions for division of powers between Centre and States. After 1990 when coalition government was formed at the Centre, Regional parties became more powerful in the states. Since no single party was able to secure majority, different parties formed alliance. Under this arrangement the culture of power sharing and respect for autonomy of state governments spread in India. 

Decentralization in India

Power shared between Central and State governments to local government is called the Decentralization of government. It is also called third tier of the government.

The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing however varies from state to state. Rural Local Government is popularly known as the Panchayati Raj. It consists of Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayats.

There is a gram panchayat in each village or group of villages. It is a council of several ward members called panch and a president called Sarpanch. It works under the overall supervision of Gram Sabha.

A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form a Panchayat Samiti also known as a Block or Mandal. The members of this body are elected by all the members of the Panchayats in that area. All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals in a district constitute a body of elected members to form the Zilla Parishad. The political head of Zilla Parishad is called the Chairperson.

Urban Local Government or Nagar Palika comprises the Municipalities or Municipal Committees in towns and Municipal Corporations in big cities. The political head of Municipal committees is the Municipal Chairperson and the chairperson of Municipal Corporation is called a Mayor.

Gender, Religion and Caste

Gender Division and Politics

Religious differences are expressed in politics. Mahatma Gandhi believed that politics must be guided by religious ethics.

Human rights activists believe that the government should take special steps to protect minority groups. Women want the government should take special steps to make women’s laws more equitable. Communalism is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis for social community.

Communalism revolves around the belief that people following the same religion must belong to the same community. Political parties are known to take advantage of communal feelings. Politicians try to appeal to the voters by using sacred symbols and religious leaders, and by making emotionally charged statements.

Communalism at times takes very ugly form of violence, riots and massacre. The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is a specialized wing of the Indian CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), which was established to deal with riots and related unrest due to communal violence.

The Indian Constitution gives the freedom to profess and practise any religion to all individuals. Individuals and communities may choose not to follow any particular religion. The Indian Constitution allows for State intervention in religious matters only to ensure equality in all communities. The Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion. 

Popular Struggles And Movements

Popular Struggles And Movements

Democracy often involves conflict of interests and viewpoints of the people. An ordinary citizen can play a vital role in a democracy through pressure groups and movements that can influence decisions made by those in power.

In April 2006, Nepal witnessed a popular movement which was aimed at regaining popular control over the government from the king. Political parties joined hands and a new coalition was formed, the Seven Party Alliance (SPA).

In Bolivia the World Bank pressurized the government to give up control of municipal water supply in favour of multi nationals. The government hence sold the water rights for the city of Cochabamba to a multinational company who immediately increased the price of water by four times and people received monthly water bill of Rs 1000 in a country where average income is about Rs 5000 a month.

Mass scale protest by the people started in the country and a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders was formed in January 2000. The movement in Nepal was to establish democracy while in Bolivia it involved accountability of a democratically elected government.

The struggle in Nepal was about the foundation of the country’s politics whereas the movement in Bolivia was about one specific policy.
Both these struggles were successful through popular movements and struggles but their impact was at different levels.

Pressure Groups

Pressure groups are organizations that influence government policies by putting pressure on the ruling government. Unlike political parties, pressure groups do not aim directly to control or share political powers.

Pressure groups are of two types; Sectional interest groups and Public interest groups. The sectional interest groups seek to promote the interests of a particular section or group of society.
Their main concern is the betterment and well-being of their members and not the people in general. Public Interest Groups are organizations that represent common interests for the betterment of people in general or even a common cause that needs to be defended. A public interest group or a promotional group can also work in self-interest along with others.

Movement groups can be broadly classified under two types. An issue specific movement which seeks to achieve a single purpose usually within a specified time like the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The other type of movement is more generic that seek to achieve a broad ranging goal in the long term like the women’s movement. Sometimes there is an alliance between all these broad movements which can have an umbrella organization like the National Alliance for Peoples movement.

Influence Of Pressure Groups on Politics

The objective of pressure groups and movements is to pressurize the government to agree to their demands. These groups try to get public support and sympathy for their objectives by carrying out campaigns, and some unconventional methods like organizing protests.

The relationship between political parties and pressure groups can take different forms. This can be either directly or indirectly. The pressure groups are either formed or led by leader of political parties or act as the extended form of political parties.

In most cases the relationship between parties and interest groups or movement groups is not direct. They often take positions that are opposed to each other, yet they are in dialogue and negotiation. Pressure groups with small public support backed by individuals willing to spend for the cause can hijack public discussion in favour of their narrow agenda.

In such scenarios the public interest groups and movements perform useful role of countering these undue influence.

Political Parties

Political Parties - An Introduction

Parties are necessary to represent the people of a country. They help to conduct elections in an organized functioning of the legislature.

A political party is a group of people with a definite agenda and who intend to acquire power in the government. Political parties reflect political divisions in a society; so parties are a part of the society and thus involve Partisanship. A political party has three components: The Leaders, the active members and the keen followers.

Political parties play an important role in making laws for a country. Though laws are debated and passed by the legislature, they go by the direction of the ruling party leader irrespective of personal agenda. Political parties are necessary in a democracy as they unite like-minded people from diverse background. Political parties form a two-way link between government and people bringing them close to each other.

Types of Political Parties

There are three major types of Party system in use in various countries: Mono party system, Bi party or two party system and Multi-party system.

Mono-party system is a political system in which only one party controls and runs the government. Mono-party system is not expensive. There is also stability in this type of a system as there is no opposition and there is no chance of being voted out of power. There is no choice to the voter.

A Bi party system is a type of system in which power alternates between two parties only. The party that gets the majority forms the government and the other party forms opposition. There is stability in this system as it comes to power having won a majority. Thus there is continuity of policies and programs.

There is a strong opposition as only one party forms the opposition. The choice is however limited between two parties. Hence public opinion cannot be expressed properly.

A Multi-party system is a system in which several parties compete for power and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coming into power either on their own or in alliance with others.

It is a democratic system of representative government where the opinions of the people are represented adequately. There is a wide spectrum of choice for the voters.

In this system the coalition government works keeping inmind the interest of the people. A coalition government is generally a multi party system when no single party wins a majority of seats many parties get together based on compromise and tolerance.

National And Regional Parties

India is a Federal democracy with two kinds of political parties i.e. Regional and National Parties.

Regardless of their status all parties have to register with the Election Commission. Once the commission recognises these parties they are known as ‘recognized political parties’.

A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in Lok Sabha elections or wins four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognized as a national party.

As per the classification of Election Commission in 2006, there are six national parties in India. 

The Indian National Congress,

Bharatiya Janata Party,

Bahujan Samaj Party,

Communist Party of India

Nationalist Congress Party 

The recently added 7^th party is the Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD.

The AIADMK or All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiromani Akali Dal, TDP or Telugu Desam Party and Shiv Sena are some of the popular regional parties.

Challenges And Reforms

Political parties are the most visible force of democracy.

In order to function properly and remain effective instruments of democracy, a political party must overcome the following four challenges:

Lack of internal democracy within parties

Dynastic succession or other unfair advantages

Money and muscle power

Absence of meaningful choices to the voters

As political parties face these challenges, there is a growing need to reform the system. Some of the reform measures taken by the government are: Anti-defection law, affidavit requirement and organisational meetings for political parties.

The anti-defection law was introduced to curb the growing trend of elected representatives who changed political parties to become ministers or to get cash rewards.

The affidavit requirement was an order passed by the Supreme Court as a measure to curb the challenge of money and muscle power.

The third reform measure was made by the Election Commission where for all political parties it was mandatory to hold regular elections and also file their income tax returns.

Political parties can also be reformed in two other ways. One is to pressurise political parties through pressure groups, movements and media and the other is to include reformers in the political parties.

Outcomes of Democracy

How Do We Assess Democracy's Outcomes?

Democracy is preferred over dictatorship because it:

Promotes equality among citizens

Enhances the dignity of the individual

Improves the quality of decision-making

Provides a method to resolve conflicts

Allows room for correction

Democracy is followed differently across the world on the basis of their social situations, economic achievements and cultures.

Outcomes out of every democracy:

As a political outcome of democracy, we expect an accountable, responsive and legitimate government.

As an economic outcome, we expect that democracies produce economic growth and development, and reduce poverty and inequality.

As a social outcome, we expect democracy to accommodate the social diversity in a society, and provide dignity and freedom to all citizens.

Democracy is just a form of government; it can only create suitable conditions for us. As citizens, we have to take advantage of those conditions and achieve our goals.

Political Outcome

As the decision-making process is based on norms and procedures, citizens have the rights and means to examine the decisions. Thus, the government is accountable to its citizens. The government needs to be attentive to the needs of its people and be free of corruption. The expected political outcome of democracy is an accountable, responsive and legitimate government.

Measures of accountability are:

Regular, free and fair elections

Open public debate on major policies and legislations

Citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning

Democracies have displayed a mixed record on each measure. The Right to Information (RTI) Act is a law enacted by the Parliament of India giving citizens the right to access the records of the Central government and the state governments. Under the provisions of the act, any citizen may request information from a public authority, who is required to reply expeditiously or within 30 days.

Democracies are often non-responsive to its people. A democratic government is a legitimate government, the people's own government. Democracies often ignore the needs and wants of its citizens.

Democracy is the most preferred form of government based on its political outcome of accountability, responsiveness and legitimacy, despite its shortcomings. 

Economic Outcomes

When we compare the growth rate of all democracies and dictatorships, it shows that democratic countries have underperformed as compared to dictatorial.

Within democracies there exists a high rate of economic inequality. The poor constitute a larger proportion of the voters and every party focuses on them while campaigning. Yet, the problems of the poor are never addressed.

People in several countries depend upon the rich countries even for their food supplies. Though democracies cannot remove inequality completely, the degree of disparity can be minimized by progressive planning. Democracies have not fulfilled the expected economic outcome of democracy – economic growth and development, and reduction of poverty and economic inequality.

Social Outcomes

Democracy is best suited to produce the social outcome of accommodation of social diversity.

To achieve this social outcome, a democracy must fulfil two conditions:

The majority needs to work with the minority to help the government represent a general view of all citizens.

Rule by majority does not mean rule by a certain religion, race or linguistic group that is in majority.

Majority rule means that in every decision or election, different persons and groups can form a majority. Democracy also stands superior in the second social outcome - promoting dignity and freedom of the individual. All citizens should be equal before the law, and have equal access to power.
One of the chief elements of a democratic society is respect to and equal treatment of women. In a democracy, the disadvantaged and discriminated castes can also claim their right to equal status and equal opportunity.

Democracy has been largely successful in transforming people from mere bystanders into responsible citizens. Democratic regimes are more successful than non-democratic ones in promoting dignity and freedom of the individual. Democracy has been successful in transforming people into responsible citizens.

Challenges To Democracy

Challenges and Reforms to Democracy

Democracy is the predominant form of government in the contemporary world but it has also faced many challenges. There are three types of challenges faced by democratic countries i.e. foundational challenge, challenge of expansion and deepening of democracy.

Foundational Challenge is meant for the non-democratic countries of the world.

The challenge of expansion is faced by most established democracies like India and the United States of America.

Deepening of democracy involves strengthening of practices and institutions of democracy through the control and participation of the people.

Every challenge of democracy is linked with the possibility of reforms. Broad guidelines like legal and political practice and legislative measures can be kept in mind while devising ways for political reforms.

The right to Information Act is a successful example of a law that has enabled people to carry out democratic reforms. Democratic reforms can be carried out by political parties, pressure groups and above all the people.

Challenges To Indian Democracy

Some of the major challenges to the Indian democracy are casteism, communalism, political violence and corruption.

When there are challenges, there are also many possible reforms too. Commonly democracy is a form of government in which rulers are elected by the people.

Elections should be held in a free and fair manner with equal choice and opportunity to all. Democratic rights should not be limited to voting, contesting and forming political parties. Democracy should grant some social and economic rights to the citizens.

The very spirit of power sharing should be extended to power sharing between governments and social groups. Modern democracy should respect the voice of the minority with the majority.

The democracy should also extend its scope from mere government and its activities to eliminating discrimination of all kinds. Democracy is also the best form of government on the basis of Accountability, Consultation and Discussion, Accommodates and Social Diversities.

Good Democracy is a form of government in which rulers are elected by the people and ensure that every citizen participates in decision making process directly or indirectly through elected representatives in a free and fair manner.