Social Studies VSQ (2 Marks)

The following are the reasons to state that India is a federal Country.
● Division of Powers: The Constitution of India clearly demarcates the powers of the Central and State governments, and both have their separate areas of jurisdiction. The Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists the Union List, State List, and Concurrent List, which define the powers and responsibilities of the Central and State governments.
● Independent Judiciary: India has an independent judiciary with the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial authority in the country and has the power to interpret the Constitution and resolve disputes between the Central and State governments.
● Representation of States: The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, represents the States and Union Territories of India. The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States and Union Territories. These factors contribute to India being a federal country where power is divided between the Central and State governments.
(Any two relevant points to be explained)

The principles of democracy can be applied in such a way like:

1. A democratic decisions involves consultation with and the consent of all those who are affected by the decision.
2. Every individual irrespective of his wealth, status and power has the same right in decision-making.

This can equally apply to a government, a family or any other organization.

The best laws are those which empower people to carry out democratic reforms.
The Right to Information Act empowers the people to find out the role of government and makes its functioning more transparent.
The citizens have the right to ask what happened and how it happened. It helps them check corruption, malpractices, etc.a

The financial accounts of every political party should be examined by government auditors. There should be state funding of elections. Citizens should be encouraged to give more donations to parties and to political workers. Such donations should be exempted from income tax.

Democracy has many challenges like challenge of expansion, challenge of deeping, challenge of dictatorship, foundation challenge, etc. But all these challenge can be met by taking different political reforms.

Democratic principles should be reformed in practical form by strengthening the democratic practices and traditions. There is a need to enhance the value of political involvement by common citizens. The efforts of political organisations, parties and movements can do this.