Social Science SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS(3 Mark)

The experience gained by Indians in the working of the legislative institutions proved to be very useful for the country in setting up its own institutions and working in them. Many institutional details and procedures from colonial laws like the Government of India Act of 1935 have been referred while drafting the constitution.

The two ways in which the philosophy of the Indian Constitution can be understood are:

1. It can be understood by reading the views of some of the major leaders on the Indian Constitution.
2. We can understand by reading what the Constitution says about its own philosophy.

A Constitution is not merely a statement of value and philosophy. It is mainly about embodying these values into institutional arrangements. Much of the document called Constitution of India is about these arrangements. It is a very long and detailed document. Therefore, it needs to be amended quite regularly to keep it updated. The Constitution makers felt that it has to be in accordance with people's aspirations and changes in society. They did not see it as a sacred, static and unalterable law. So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. These changes are called constitutional amendments.

Main causes were:

1. He felt that the Constitution of South Africa speaks of both past and its future.
2. On one hand, it is a solemn pact in which they, as South Africans, declare to one another that they shall never permit a repetition of their racist, brutal and repressive past.
3. It is also a charter for the transformation of their country into one which is truly shared by all its people—a country which in the fullest sense belongs to all of them, black and white, women and men.

At that time the people of India were emerging from the status of subjects to that of citizens. The country was born through a partition on the religious basis. This was a traumatic experience for the people of India and Pakistan.

1. Gandhiji wanted India to free all thralldom and patronage. There should be no high class and low class. An India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.
2. Two evils from which Gandhiji wanted to keep away his dream India.

1. The curse of untouchability.
2. The curse of the intoxicating drinks and drugs.

3. Gandhiji wanted them women will the same rights as men.

In my opinion second option is best. Making small amendments does not shift whole power in hands of representatives. This does not make total responsibilty on elected representatives what will happen in next years. So, a new and well drafted constitution is right choice.

1. Like most countries in the contemporary world, India too has chosen to begin her Constitution with a Preamble.
2. The Preamble is a short statement of its basic values. It contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built. It is the Preface or the Introduction of the Constitution.
3. 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 the Indian Constitution.

After two years of discussion and debate the blacks and whites came out with one of the finest Constitutions the world has ever had. This Constitution gave to its citizens the most extensive rights available in any country. Together they agreed upon the following points:

1. They decided that, in the search for a solution to the problems, nobody should be excluded, no one should be treated as a demon.
2. They agreed that everybody should become part of the solution, whatever they might have done or represented in the past.

Constitutional history and development. Prior to the constituent assembly that convened in 1948 to draft the Indian constitution adopted in 1950 and still in force to date, the fundamental law of India was mostly embodied in a series of statutes enacted by the British Parliament.

Constitutional amendment refers to changing of parts of the constitutional. This is done by adding or subtracting to the existing literature or completely altering it. this is done in accordance to an existing law that dictates what could necessitate an amendment. It also gives guidelines on how the process should be carried out.

1. Democracies take more time in decision making.
2. Democracies fall short of elections that provide a fair chance to everyone and subjecting every decision to public debate.
3. The routine tales of corruption are enough to convince that democracies are not free of evil.

The following points made the blacks and whites apprehensive at the time of Constitution-making:

1. Both were planning to live together as equals. It was not going to be easy for them to trust each other.
2. They had their fears. They wanted to safeguard their interests. The black majority was keen to ensure that the democratic principle of majority rule was not compromised. They wanted substantial social and economic rights.
3. The white minority was keen to protect its privileges and property.

1. Universal Adult Franchise.
2. Right to freedom and equality.
3. Protecting the rights of minorities.

The Preamble of our Constitution contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built. 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 the Indian Constitution.

1. Inclusion of Universal Adult Franchise by giving all the citizens of India the right to vote and contest elections.
2. Right to freedom and equality to be granted. Since India remained under British control for a long time and being a country of diversities, it needed equality.
3. It also proposed for protecting the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India.

Social equality is a state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in certain respects, including civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights and equal access to certain social goods and services.

The designation taken by Pervez Musharraf for himself when he overthrew the democratic government of Pakistan in 1999 was the following;
Chief Executive of Pakistan.
He was the Chief of Army Staff who announced emergency and declared himself the Chief Executive of the country. He overthrew the government of Nawaz Sharif.

It means that when our country got independence we had power to do anything like a separate country and no one interfering in our matters but great leaders had responsibility on them to keep us the citizens safe.

1. Ideals of French Revolution.
2. Parliamentary democracy of Britain.
3. Bill of Rights in US and.
4. Socialist Revolution in Russia.

Apartheid refers to the official policy of racial separation and illtreatment of blacks followed by the white government of South Africa between 1948 and 1989. This practice of racial discrimination remained for the longest period in South Africa.

The countries which inspired the Indian Constitution were:

1. France: Many Indian leaders were inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution and their resolution on liberty, equality and fraternity.
2. Britain: Indian leaders were inspired by the practice of Parliamentary democracy in Britain.
3. US: Their Bill of Rights was a great inspiration.
4. Russia: The socialist revolution and the socialist economy of Russia also inspired the leaders of India.

The whites agreed to the principle of majority rule and that of oneperson-one-vote. They also agreed to accept some basic rights for the poor and the workers. The blacks agreed that majority rule would not be absolute. They agreed that the majority would not take away the property of the white minority.

As protests and struggles against apartheid had increased, the government realised that they could no longer keep the blacks under their rule through repression. Finally at midnight of 26th April, 1994, the Republic of South Africa got freedom from apartheid.

A constitution does many things to make a country a democratic one:

1. It generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together.
2. It specifies how the government will be constituted and who will have the power of taking which decisions.
3. It lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.
4. It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

1. The Constituent Assembly completed the Constitution on 26 November, 1949.
2. But it was imposed on 26 January, 1950 to give due importance to the date, 26th January.
3. To mark this day we celebrate it as the Republic Day every year.

Jawaharlal Nehru declared Independence Day of India on 26th January, 1931.

Discriminatory laws were repealed. Ban on political parties and restrictions on media was lifted. After 28 years of imprisonment Nelson Mandela came released from Jail. The apartheid government came to an end.

In his concluding speech to the Constituent Assembly Dr.Ambedkar said that India was entering a life of ‘contradictions’ on 26th Jan 1950. By this he meant that in politics Indians would have equality but in social and economic life, there would be inequality. In politics India would be recognising the principle of one man one vote, with one value, but in social and economic life, the principle of one man one value would be denied.

Democracy is based on a fundamental principle of political equality. That gives us the third feature of democracy: in a democracy, each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one value.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party(Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) is a Mexican political party founded in 1929 that held power uninterruptedly in the country for 71 years from 1929 to 2000, first as the National Revolutionary Party

Some reasons for accepting the same Constitution till today are:

1. The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time.
2. The Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. There was no Universal Adult Franchise at that time. So, the Constituent Assembly could not have been chosen directly by all the people of India but it was elected mainly by the members of Provincial Legislatures, which ensured a fair share of all the regions of the country.
3. The Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner.

1. The rules should lay down how the rulers are to be chosen in future.
2. These rules should also determine what the elected governments are empowered to do and what they cannot do.
3. These rules should decide the rights of the citizens.
4. It must also contain the guidelines for the government as how to frame and implement policies and programs for the general welfare of people.

Integration after Independence and role of Gandhi. As the first Home Minister, Patel played the key role in the integration of the princely states into the Indian federation. In the elections, the Congress won a large majority of the elected seats, dominating the Hindu electorate.

All the aforesaid provisions came into force from the day We the people of India gave to overselves this Constitution that is from 26th day of November 1949.
And the remaining provisions came into force on 26th of January 1950.
So the Constitution came into force on 26th Of January 1950., while its different provision came into force at two different dates. But since the majority of provisions came into force on 26th of January 1950, the same is the date of coming into force of the Constitution.

Citizens have complete freedom to follow any religion. But there is no official religion. Government treats all religious beliefs and practices with equal respect.

Compromises made by the blacks:

1. They agreed that majority rule would not be absolute.
2. They agreed that the majority would not take away the property of the white minority. Compromises made by the whites:
3. They agreed to the principle of majority rule and that of one person one vote.
4. They also agreed to accept some basic rights for the poor and the workers.A

1. Dr. Ambedkar was the chairman of the Drafting Committee.
2. He was a social revolutionary, thinker and agitator against caste divisions and caste-based inequalities.
3. Dr. Ambedkar played a key role in the making of the constitution but had a different understanding of how inequalities could be removed.
4. He often bitterly criticised Mahatma Gandhi and his vision.

The republic of Zimbabwe was proclaimed at a ceremony in Salisbury (now Harare) on 18 April 1980, at which Robert Mugabe was sworn in as prime minister.

Preamble is a short statement to the constitution. south africans were facing the aparthied system which increased the gap between blacks and whites and the end of aparthied system was clearly mentioned in the preamble. that is why it is said that "the preamble to the south african constitution sums up a spirit".

1. The Constitution describes the institutional arrangements in a very legal language. Like any constitution, the Indian Constitution lays down a procedure for choosing persons to govern the country.
2. It defines who will have how much power to take which decisions.
3. And it puts limits to what the government can do by providing some rights to the citizens that cannot be violate.

The documents taken to form the Indian Constitution were:

1. The Indian Constitution was drafted by Motilal Nehru and eight other leaders in 1928.
2. The resolution at the Karachi Session of the INC on how independent India’s Constitution should look like in 1931.
3. Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of universal adult franchise right to freedom and quality and protecting the right of minorities in the constitution of independent India.

1. The South African constitution inspires democrats all over the world.
2. A state denounced by the entire world till recently as the most undemocratic one is now seen as a model of democracy.
3. What made this change possible was the determination of the people of South Africa to work together to transform bitter experiences into the binding glue of a rainbow nation.

1. Dr. Rajendra Prasad (President).
2. Jaipal Singh (A sportsman and educationist later founder of Jharkhand Party).
3. Baldev Singh (An entrepreneur and a leader of the Panthic Akali Party).
4. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman Drafting Committee).
5. JawaharLal Nehru (Prime Minister of the Interim Government).
6. Sarojini Naidu (Poet, writer and political activist).
7. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Minister for industry and supply in the interim Government Educationist and lawyer).

Many sensitive whites also joined the African National Congress to oppose apartheid. Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist. But the white racist government continued to rule by torturing and killing black and coloured people.

The blacks agreed that majority rule would not be absolute. They agreed that the majority would not take away the property of the white minority.

1. The Preamble of the constitution contains the philosophy on which the entire constitution has been built.
2. It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of the government to find out whether it is good or bad.
3. It is the soul of Indian constitution. It reads like a poem on democracy.

Whites in South Africa are natives as opposed to those in India. South African whites were born there, that is their motherland just because they are whites in Africa but that is their home which is not the case with whites in India. Most of these in India either went there for work, intermarriages or just relocated there.

1. Values that inspired and guided the freedom struggle and were in turn nurtured by it, formed the foundation for India’s democracy.
2. These values are embedded in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
3. They guide all the articles of the Indian Constitution.
4. The Constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values. This is called the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theaters, beaches, swimming pools, public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks in South Africa. This was called ‘Segregation’.

After the country was divided into India and Pakistan. The Constituent Assembly was also divided into the Constituent Assembly of India and Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.