Std IX chapter 1
DEMOCRACY IN THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Page 2 and 4
Introduction
The chapter tells us how democracy expanded during last hundred years to more and more countries in the world. The chapter also deals with the v arious world organizations like UNO, IMF and World Bank.
1.1 Two tales of Democracy
Chile
Q1. Who was Allende?
Ans: Chile, a country in South America ruled by Salvador Alende (called Ayen – they) from 1970 to 1973. He was the founder and leader of the Socialist Party of Chile and led the Popular Unity coalition and became the president of Chile.
Q2. What were the popular policies and programmes of Salvador Alende?
Ans: Soon after becoming the President of Chile Alende had taken several policy decisions to help the poor. Some of them were:
· Reform of educational system.
· Free milk for poor children.
· Redistribution of land to the landless farmers.
· He was opposed to foreign companies taking away natural resources like copper from the country.
The landlords, the rich and the church and politicians opposed his policies
Q3. “I have certainty that my sacrifice, that at the least, I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony, cowardice, and treason.” What message does the person wants to convey?
Ans: The above lines are addressed by President Alende of Chile to his people on a radio before he was killed by a military coup. He gave the message to his people that his sacrifice will not go a waste, one day the Chileans would enjoy freedom and democracy.
Q. Why was Alende punished?
Ans: Allende offended the rich people, politicians and some foreign countries by his policies (ref. Q2). On 11th Sep 1973, A military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet supported by US surrounded Alende’s residence and bombed.
Q4. How long did General Pinochet rule over Chile? Were the people happy and did they enjoy freedom in his rule?
Ans:
General Pinochet ruled over for 17 years. He led a military government His government was funded by USA.
People could not do any thing they wished and no one could question the government.
Military dictatorship was established that tortured and killed people who supported Allende and those who wanted a democracy.
Q5. Who was General Alberto Bachelet ?
Ans: General Alberto Bachelet was an officer in the Chilean Air force. He was killed by Pinochet as he refused to join the coup. His wife and daughter Michelle Bachelet were put in prison and tortured. More than 3000 people were killed and many reported missing.
Page 5
Restoration of democracy
Q6. What is referendum?
Ans: An election conducted to either accept or reject a government.
Q7. Who conducted referendum? What was the result?
Ans: General Pinochet conducted referendum in 1988. He was confident that people would say yes to his continuing power. But people had not forgotton their democratic traditions. Their vote was a decisive ‘no’ to Pinochet. This led to the fall military government .
Q8. How did Chile acquire Democracy?
Ans. In 1988 Pinochet conducted a referendum in which people rejected his government. People did not enjoy any freedom in his government. They over threw his government and established democracy.
Q9. Who formed the government after Pinochet?
Ans: Michelle Bachelet, a democrat formed the government. She was elected as the President of Chile in January 2006.
Q10. Who was Michelle Bachellet?
Ans: Michelle Bachellet was the daughter of General Bachellet , an Air force officer. She was medical doctor and a moderate socialist, She became the first woman to be a Defence Minister in Latin America. In the Presidential elections she defeated one of Chile’s richest men.
Page 5 - 6
Democracy in Poland
Q11. Who ruled over Poland in 1980?
Ans: United Worker’s Party ruled over Poland. It was a communist party. This party was supported by USSR. In this government no other political party was allowed to function. The people could not freely choose the leaders of the communist party or the government. Those who spoke against the leaders or the party or the government were put in prison.
Q12. Describe the strike of Lenin ship yard.
Ans. On 14th August 1980, the workers of Lenin shipyard in the city of Gdansk went on a strike. The shipyard was owned by the government. The strike began with a demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker, who was unjustly dismissed from service. This strike was illegal, because trade unions independent of the ruling party were not allowed in Poland.
A former electrician of the shipyard joined the strike. He was also dismissed from the yard for demanding high wages. He soon emerged as a powerful leader and led the strike.
The strikers demanded right to form independent trade unions and the release the political prisoners and an end to censorship on press.
As a result the government had to give in. The govt signed 21 point agreement with the strikers.
Q13. What was the terms of 21 point or the Gdansk agreement?
Ans: The Gdansk agreement ended the strike.
The govt agreed to recognize the worker’s party.
It gave the right to form independent trade unions and right to strike.
A new trade union named Solidarity was formed.
Q14. Who led the government of Polish worker’s party ?
Ans: General Jaruzelski.
Q15. What was the reaction of the government after the formation of Solidarity? What was the result?
Slowly the corruption in the government came into light.
The govt imposed strict laws on the people.
Jaruzelski imposed martial law in December 1981. Thousands of solidarity members were put in prison.
Freedom to organize, protest and express opinions was once again taken away.
Another strike was organized in 1988. This time the government became weak.
Finally it resulted in the fall of the government and walesa won the election in April 1989 and became the president of Poland.
Page 6 and 7
Two features of Democracy
Q16. What are the two features of Democracy?
· The people could not choose or change their rulers.
· There was no real freedom to express one’s opinions, form political associations and organize protests and political action.
Q17. Compare the two non – democratic governments in stories of chile and Poland.
(ref. above answers and compare the non democratic stories of Poland and Chile)
Q18. Compare the democratic governments of chile and Poland under Alende, Bachellet and Walesa respectively.
Ans: Alede: Alende preferred government control on all big industries and economy.
Walesa: wanted the market to be free of govt interference.
Michelle: stands somewhere in the middle on this issue.
Q19. What is true democracy?
Only leaders elected by people should rule the country.
People have the freedom to express views. Freedom to organize and freedom to protest.
The changing map of democracy (read from text book – page 8 and 9)
Qus. Write about the struggle for Independence in Ghana?
1. Ghana was a British colony called Gold Coast. It became Independent in 1957.
2. The first Prime Minister and then the President was Ghana Nkrumah.
3. In 1966 he was overthrown by the military.
Qus. Explain the developments in Pakistan , Nepal in 1990’s?
Pakistan : 1. It made a transition from army rules to democracy in 1990’s.
2. in 1999 general Musharraf brought back army rule in Pakistan.
Nepal : 1. The king gave up many of his powers to the elected government and thus Nepal became a constitutional monarchy.
2. In 2005 the new king dismissed the elected government and took back the political freedom.
Qus. Describe the struggle for democracy in Myanmar ?
1. It gained Independence in 1948 and became a democracy.
2. In 1962 there was a military coup.
3. In 1990 elections were held after 30 years.
4. The National League for democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the elections. The military leaders did not recognized the election results and Suu Kyi was put under house arrest.
5. Despite being under house arrest Suu Kyi continued to campaign for democracy.
6. She was also awarded the Nobel Peace Price.
Qus. How democratic is the UN?
1. The UN general assembly has 192 members. All the discussions takes place here. This makes the UN to be democratic.
2. The security council of the UN has 5 permanent members and 10 other members who are elected by the general assembly for 2 years. The permanent member have veto power which means that the council cannot take a decision if any permanent member says no. in this respect we may say that UN is not democratic.
Qus. Why did US attack Iraq ?
1. Saddam ran a dictatorial government in Iraq. He killed a number of political opponents and minorities.
2. The US and its allies like Britain alleged that Iraq possessed secret nuclear weapons.
3. The UN team could not find any such weapons.
4. In 2003 US invaded Iraq and removed Saddam and an interim government was installed.
5. The UN Security Council, the UN secretary general Kofi annan said that the US war on Iraq was illegal.
Political science
Standard – IX Chapter 3
Constitutional Design
1. What is a constitution?
Certain basic rules that the citizens and the government have to follow. Constitution determines the rights of citizens, the powers of the government and how the government should function. A constitution is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. It contains supreme laws that one must abide by it.
2. Who was Nelson Mandela?
Nelson Mandela was a freedom fighter of South Africa who struggled hard against apartheid. He was tried for treason for making an attempt to overthrow the existing government in S.Africa. He and 7 other leaders were imprisoned in 1964 for opposing apartheid. He was imprisoned for 28 years in a most dreadful prison named Robben Island. After independence he became the President of South Africa.
3. Define Aparthied.
The system of racial discrimination between black and white people is called apartheid. South Africa had white rule, where discrimination of black people and coloured people was done. There were separate toilets, trains, buses, taxis, hotels, libraries, cinema halls etc.. for the black and coloured people
.
4. Who were coloured people?
Indians and non white people were called coloured people in South Africa.
5. Discuss the role of African National Congress in South Africa.
African National Congress was an organization which opposed segregation. Several
countries opposed apartheid. Several white people also joined the movements of ANC.
The organization launched protest marches and strikes. This also included worker’s
union and communist party as supporters.
6. When did S.Africa became free?
Due to struggle and its severity by the S.Africans, the white government removed discriminatory laws and restrictions on the media. Finally south Africa became independent in 26th April 1994. After 28 years of imprisonment Nelson Mandela They walked out of jail as a free man. On 26th April 1994 new national flag of the Republic of S.Africa was unfurled marking the newly born democracy in the world.
After 2 years of discussion and debate a constituition was drawn up on the basis of equality. The people determined to work together i.e.. the oppressor and oppressed planned to live together.
7. What were the agreements that took place between the black and white people after independence
According to the new constitution the oppressor and the oppressed decided to live together. But it was not an easy task. Both had their fears. The black majority did not want to compromise for any reason while the white minority was keen to protect their privileges and property.
Agreement:
· The whites agreed the majority rule with one person one vote. They also agreed some basic rights for poor and workers.
· The blacks agreed that they would not take away the property of the white minority.
· Even if they trust each other, what was the guarantee.
· So a constitution was written to ensure the rights.
8. Why do we need a constitution?
We need a constitution as it does many things.
Firstly it generates a degree of trust and co-ordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together.
Secondly it specifies how the government will be constituted who will have power to take which decisions.
Thirdly it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.
Fourthly it expresses the aspiration of the people about creating a good society.
9. ‘Making of the Indian constitution was not easy’ Discuss.
Due to diversity in India making of the constitution is not an easy task.
The newly independent people had emerged from subjects to citizens.
The country was born through a partition on the basis of religious differences.
10 lakh people were killed on the borders of India and Pakistan.
India was not united into one from princely states during the making of the constitution.
10. Discuss some of the initiative towards the making of Indian constitution.
In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other congress leaders drafted a constitution for India.
At the resolution in the Karachi session in 1931 the congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution should look like.
Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality and to protecting the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India.
Thus some basic values were accepted by all leaders much before the Constituent assembly met to deliberate on the constitution.
11. How did the constituent Assembly work?
The Constituent Assembly worked in systematic manner:
The basic principles were decided. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Constituent Assembly.
The Drafting Committee was set under Dr.B.R. Ambedkar.
Discussion took place clause by clause.More than 2000 amendments were considered. Members deliberated for 114 days.
Every document spoken and written were recorded and preserved. These were called the ‘Constituent Assembly Debated’. These were printed in 12 bulky volumes. These help to interpret the meaning of constitution.
(Note: Read page 47 to 49 – 3.4 Guiding values of the Indian constitution)
12. What is a preamble? Evaluate the Indian preamble.
The constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values. This is called the Preamble to the Constitution. Taking inspiration from American model, most countries in the contemporary world have chosen to begin their constitutions with a preamble.
In India the preamble reads like a poem on democracy. It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of government, to find out whether it is good or bad. It is the soul of Indian Constitution.
( Note:for further information and meaning for the Indian preamble read page 51 of text book)
13. Who comprised the Constituent Assembly of India?
Constituent assembly represented the people of India. The members of the existing provincial legislatures elected the members of the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
The first meeting was held in December 1946. Since India – Pakistan was divided, the constituent Assembly was also divided into 2.
The assembly had 299 members. Assembly was dominated by the Indian National Congress.
The Assembly represented members from different language groups, castes, classes, religions and occupations.
The constitution was adopted on 26th Nov. 1949. This came into effect on 26th Jan 1950. We celebrate 26th January as Republic Day every year. Indian constitution is the country wide accepted one.
DEMOCRACY IN THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Page 2 and 4
Introduction
The chapter tells us how democracy expanded during last hundred years to more and more countries in the world. The chapter also deals with the v arious world organizations like UNO, IMF and World Bank.
1.1 Two tales of Democracy
Chile
Q1. Who was Allende?
Ans: Chile, a country in South America ruled by Salvador Alende (called Ayen – they) from 1970 to 1973. He was the founder and leader of the Socialist Party of Chile and led the Popular Unity coalition and became the president of Chile.
Q2. What were the popular policies and programmes of Salvador Alende?
Ans: Soon after becoming the President of Chile Alende had taken several policy decisions to help the poor. Some of them were:
· Reform of educational system.
· Free milk for poor children.
· Redistribution of land to the landless farmers.
· He was opposed to foreign companies taking away natural resources like copper from the country.
The landlords, the rich and the church and politicians opposed his policies
Q3. “I have certainty that my sacrifice, that at the least, I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony, cowardice, and treason.” What message does the person wants to convey?
Ans: The above lines are addressed by President Alende of Chile to his people on a radio before he was killed by a military coup. He gave the message to his people that his sacrifice will not go a waste, one day the Chileans would enjoy freedom and democracy.
Q. Why was Alende punished?
Ans: Allende offended the rich people, politicians and some foreign countries by his policies (ref. Q2). On 11th Sep 1973, A military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet supported by US surrounded Alende’s residence and bombed.
Q4. How long did General Pinochet rule over Chile? Were the people happy and did they enjoy freedom in his rule?
Ans:
General Pinochet ruled over for 17 years. He led a military government His government was funded by USA.
People could not do any thing they wished and no one could question the government.
Military dictatorship was established that tortured and killed people who supported Allende and those who wanted a democracy.
Q5. Who was General Alberto Bachelet ?
Ans: General Alberto Bachelet was an officer in the Chilean Air force. He was killed by Pinochet as he refused to join the coup. His wife and daughter Michelle Bachelet were put in prison and tortured. More than 3000 people were killed and many reported missing.
Page 5
Restoration of democracy
Q6. What is referendum?
Ans: An election conducted to either accept or reject a government.
Q7. Who conducted referendum? What was the result?
Ans: General Pinochet conducted referendum in 1988. He was confident that people would say yes to his continuing power. But people had not forgotton their democratic traditions. Their vote was a decisive ‘no’ to Pinochet. This led to the fall military government .
Q8. How did Chile acquire Democracy?
Ans. In 1988 Pinochet conducted a referendum in which people rejected his government. People did not enjoy any freedom in his government. They over threw his government and established democracy.
Q9. Who formed the government after Pinochet?
Ans: Michelle Bachelet, a democrat formed the government. She was elected as the President of Chile in January 2006.
Q10. Who was Michelle Bachellet?
Ans: Michelle Bachellet was the daughter of General Bachellet , an Air force officer. She was medical doctor and a moderate socialist, She became the first woman to be a Defence Minister in Latin America. In the Presidential elections she defeated one of Chile’s richest men.
Page 5 - 6
Democracy in Poland
Q11. Who ruled over Poland in 1980?
Ans: United Worker’s Party ruled over Poland. It was a communist party. This party was supported by USSR. In this government no other political party was allowed to function. The people could not freely choose the leaders of the communist party or the government. Those who spoke against the leaders or the party or the government were put in prison.
Q12. Describe the strike of Lenin ship yard.
Ans. On 14th August 1980, the workers of Lenin shipyard in the city of Gdansk went on a strike. The shipyard was owned by the government. The strike began with a demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker, who was unjustly dismissed from service. This strike was illegal, because trade unions independent of the ruling party were not allowed in Poland.
A former electrician of the shipyard joined the strike. He was also dismissed from the yard for demanding high wages. He soon emerged as a powerful leader and led the strike.
The strikers demanded right to form independent trade unions and the release the political prisoners and an end to censorship on press.
As a result the government had to give in. The govt signed 21 point agreement with the strikers.
Q13. What was the terms of 21 point or the Gdansk agreement?
Ans: The Gdansk agreement ended the strike.
The govt agreed to recognize the worker’s party.
It gave the right to form independent trade unions and right to strike.
A new trade union named Solidarity was formed.
Q14. Who led the government of Polish worker’s party ?
Ans: General Jaruzelski.
Q15. What was the reaction of the government after the formation of Solidarity? What was the result?
Slowly the corruption in the government came into light.
The govt imposed strict laws on the people.
Jaruzelski imposed martial law in December 1981. Thousands of solidarity members were put in prison.
Freedom to organize, protest and express opinions was once again taken away.
Another strike was organized in 1988. This time the government became weak.
Finally it resulted in the fall of the government and walesa won the election in April 1989 and became the president of Poland.
Page 6 and 7
Two features of Democracy
Q16. What are the two features of Democracy?
· The people could not choose or change their rulers.
· There was no real freedom to express one’s opinions, form political associations and organize protests and political action.
Q17. Compare the two non – democratic governments in stories of chile and Poland.
(ref. above answers and compare the non democratic stories of Poland and Chile)
Q18. Compare the democratic governments of chile and Poland under Alende, Bachellet and Walesa respectively.
Ans: Alede: Alende preferred government control on all big industries and economy.
Walesa: wanted the market to be free of govt interference.
Michelle: stands somewhere in the middle on this issue.
Q19. What is true democracy?
Only leaders elected by people should rule the country.
People have the freedom to express views. Freedom to organize and freedom to protest.
The changing map of democracy (read from text book – page 8 and 9)
Qus. Write about the struggle for Independence in Ghana?
1. Ghana was a British colony called Gold Coast. It became Independent in 1957.
2. The first Prime Minister and then the President was Ghana Nkrumah.
3. In 1966 he was overthrown by the military.
Qus. Explain the developments in Pakistan , Nepal in 1990’s?
Pakistan : 1. It made a transition from army rules to democracy in 1990’s.
2. in 1999 general Musharraf brought back army rule in Pakistan.
Nepal : 1. The king gave up many of his powers to the elected government and thus Nepal became a constitutional monarchy.
2. In 2005 the new king dismissed the elected government and took back the political freedom.
Qus. Describe the struggle for democracy in Myanmar ?
1. It gained Independence in 1948 and became a democracy.
2. In 1962 there was a military coup.
3. In 1990 elections were held after 30 years.
4. The National League for democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the elections. The military leaders did not recognized the election results and Suu Kyi was put under house arrest.
5. Despite being under house arrest Suu Kyi continued to campaign for democracy.
6. She was also awarded the Nobel Peace Price.
Qus. How democratic is the UN?
1. The UN general assembly has 192 members. All the discussions takes place here. This makes the UN to be democratic.
2. The security council of the UN has 5 permanent members and 10 other members who are elected by the general assembly for 2 years. The permanent member have veto power which means that the council cannot take a decision if any permanent member says no. in this respect we may say that UN is not democratic.
Qus. Why did US attack Iraq ?
1. Saddam ran a dictatorial government in Iraq. He killed a number of political opponents and minorities.
2. The US and its allies like Britain alleged that Iraq possessed secret nuclear weapons.
3. The UN team could not find any such weapons.
4. In 2003 US invaded Iraq and removed Saddam and an interim government was installed.
5. The UN Security Council, the UN secretary general Kofi annan said that the US war on Iraq was illegal.
Political science
Standard – IX Chapter 3
Constitutional Design
1. What is a constitution?
Certain basic rules that the citizens and the government have to follow. Constitution determines the rights of citizens, the powers of the government and how the government should function. A constitution is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. It contains supreme laws that one must abide by it.
2. Who was Nelson Mandela?
Nelson Mandela was a freedom fighter of South Africa who struggled hard against apartheid. He was tried for treason for making an attempt to overthrow the existing government in S.Africa. He and 7 other leaders were imprisoned in 1964 for opposing apartheid. He was imprisoned for 28 years in a most dreadful prison named Robben Island. After independence he became the President of South Africa.
3. Define Aparthied.
The system of racial discrimination between black and white people is called apartheid. South Africa had white rule, where discrimination of black people and coloured people was done. There were separate toilets, trains, buses, taxis, hotels, libraries, cinema halls etc.. for the black and coloured people
.
4. Who were coloured people?
Indians and non white people were called coloured people in South Africa.
5. Discuss the role of African National Congress in South Africa.
African National Congress was an organization which opposed segregation. Several
countries opposed apartheid. Several white people also joined the movements of ANC.
The organization launched protest marches and strikes. This also included worker’s
union and communist party as supporters.
6. When did S.Africa became free?
Due to struggle and its severity by the S.Africans, the white government removed discriminatory laws and restrictions on the media. Finally south Africa became independent in 26th April 1994. After 28 years of imprisonment Nelson Mandela They walked out of jail as a free man. On 26th April 1994 new national flag of the Republic of S.Africa was unfurled marking the newly born democracy in the world.
After 2 years of discussion and debate a constituition was drawn up on the basis of equality. The people determined to work together i.e.. the oppressor and oppressed planned to live together.
7. What were the agreements that took place between the black and white people after independence
According to the new constitution the oppressor and the oppressed decided to live together. But it was not an easy task. Both had their fears. The black majority did not want to compromise for any reason while the white minority was keen to protect their privileges and property.
Agreement:
· The whites agreed the majority rule with one person one vote. They also agreed some basic rights for poor and workers.
· The blacks agreed that they would not take away the property of the white minority.
· Even if they trust each other, what was the guarantee.
· So a constitution was written to ensure the rights.
8. Why do we need a constitution?
We need a constitution as it does many things.
Firstly it generates a degree of trust and co-ordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together.
Secondly it specifies how the government will be constituted who will have power to take which decisions.
Thirdly it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.
Fourthly it expresses the aspiration of the people about creating a good society.
9. ‘Making of the Indian constitution was not easy’ Discuss.
Due to diversity in India making of the constitution is not an easy task.
The newly independent people had emerged from subjects to citizens.
The country was born through a partition on the basis of religious differences.
10 lakh people were killed on the borders of India and Pakistan.
India was not united into one from princely states during the making of the constitution.
10. Discuss some of the initiative towards the making of Indian constitution.
In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other congress leaders drafted a constitution for India.
At the resolution in the Karachi session in 1931 the congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution should look like.
Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality and to protecting the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India.
Thus some basic values were accepted by all leaders much before the Constituent assembly met to deliberate on the constitution.
11. How did the constituent Assembly work?
The Constituent Assembly worked in systematic manner:
The basic principles were decided. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Constituent Assembly.
The Drafting Committee was set under Dr.B.R. Ambedkar.
Discussion took place clause by clause.More than 2000 amendments were considered. Members deliberated for 114 days.
Every document spoken and written were recorded and preserved. These were called the ‘Constituent Assembly Debated’. These were printed in 12 bulky volumes. These help to interpret the meaning of constitution.
(Note: Read page 47 to 49 – 3.4 Guiding values of the Indian constitution)
12. What is a preamble? Evaluate the Indian preamble.
The constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values. This is called the Preamble to the Constitution. Taking inspiration from American model, most countries in the contemporary world have chosen to begin their constitutions with a preamble.
In India the preamble reads like a poem on democracy. It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of government, to find out whether it is good or bad. It is the soul of Indian Constitution.
( Note:for further information and meaning for the Indian preamble read page 51 of text book)
13. Who comprised the Constituent Assembly of India?
Constituent assembly represented the people of India. The members of the existing provincial legislatures elected the members of the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
The first meeting was held in December 1946. Since India – Pakistan was divided, the constituent Assembly was also divided into 2.
The assembly had 299 members. Assembly was dominated by the Indian National Congress.
The Assembly represented members from different language groups, castes, classes, religions and occupations.
The constitution was adopted on 26th Nov. 1949. This came into effect on 26th Jan 1950. We celebrate 26th January as Republic Day every year. Indian constitution is the country wide accepted one.
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