Answer the following questions:
1. Why does a democratic country need a constitution?
Ans: A democratic country needs a constitution for the following purposes :
a) It is not always necessary that all countries that have a constitution are democratic. A constitution lays out certain ideals that form the basis of the kind of country that the citizens want to be governed. Constitution tells the fundamental nature of the society.
b) A country is usually made up of different communities of people who share certain beliefs but may not necessarily agree on all issues.
c) A constitution helps serve as a set of rules and principles that all persons in a country can agree upon as the basis of the way in which the citizens want country to be governed. This include not only the type of government by also an agreement on certain ideals that they want all to believe the country should uphold .
d) The second important purpose of a constitution is to define the nature of a country’s political system .
e) In countries that have adopted a democratic forms of government or polity, the constitution plays a crucial role in laying out creation important guidelines that govern decision- making within these societies .
f) The constitution lays down rules that guard against misuse of power by political parties or leaders .
g) The constitution also guarantees “The Right to Equality” as one of the fundamental rights to the citizens.
h) The constitution also seeks that it plays a dominant role to ensure that a dominant group does not use its power against other, less powerful people or groups .
i) The other reason why we require constitution is to save us from ourselves .
2. Look at the wordings of the two documents given below. The first column is from the 1990 Nepal constitution .The second column is from the more recent Interim constitution of Nepal.
Ans :
| 1990 constitution of Nepal
Part 7: Executive |
2007 Interim constitution
Part 5: Executive |
| Article 35: Executive power: The executive power of the kingdom of Nepal shall be exercised exclusively by his majesty. | The executive power of Nepal shall, pursuant to this constitution and other laws, be vested in the council of ministers. |
| The executive functions of Nepal shall be taken in the name of the prime minister. |
i) What is the difference in who exercises ‘Executive power’ in the above two constitution of Nepal? Keeping this in mind, why do you think Nepal needs the new constitution today?
Ans: Difference according to the 1990 constitution of Nepal :
Part 7: Executive power reflected the fact that the final authority rested with the king .He could exercise these powers as he desired.
-On the other hand, according to the Interim constitution of 2007 part 5: Executive, the executive power of Nepal shall be pursuant to this constitution and other laws of Nepal should be vested in the council of ministers. It means that democracy will function in Nepal .All executive functions of that land will be taken in the name of the prime minister.
-Keeping this in mind the above mentioned points I think Nepal needs a new constitution today to decide the position of the king as well as powers and functions of the three organs of the government that is the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. In the new constitution the fundamental rights, fundamental duties, and ownership of land can be written clearly.
3. What would happen if there were no restrictions on the power of elected representatives?
Ans: In a democracy, we choose leaders so that they can exercise power responsibility on our behalf. However if there are no restrictions on the power of elected representatives there would be always the possibility that those representatives might misuse their authority and the constitution usually provides safeguards against this. The misuse can result in gross injustice.
4. In each of the following situations, identify the minority. Write one reason why you think it is important to respect the views of the minority in each of these situations.
a) In a school with 30 teachers, 2o of them are male
b) In a city, 5 percent of the population are Buddhists
c) In a factory mess for all employees, 80 percent are vegetarian
d) In class of 50 students, 40 belong to more well off families
Ans:
a) Minority of female teachers:
-There should be equality of thoughts between male and female teachers because of less numbers in particular school. Women performance in job, house work is in society. Some bar with men. India is a country where since ancient times women in majority has been worshiped with men. In these world of technology women are in par with male in the society
b) Buddhists are in minority :
-The people of other religions and caste are in majority of 95 percent.Most Buddhists are peace loving and non-violent people.Our country is secular and our constitution gives a guarantee to the minority to provide freedom of complete physical, emotional, religious protection as well as equal opportunities to live with honour and freedom.The religious minorities will definitely strengthen the unity of our society.
c) Non- vegetarian are in minority:
-Food of each one’s liking helps to maintain diet and also depends upon vegetation of each area.Factory messes cater to non-vegetarian food for 20% employees.A healthy atmosphere will create greater mutual trust and respect among each other. Special arrangement can be made as per the requirements of the employees for vegetarians as well as for non-vegetarians.
d) Lower class are in minority:
– 20% of the students are poor and in minority,according to financial status of an individual.They have less economic facilities.The majority of students nearly 80 percent belong to better financial status.There should be no bias between lower and higher class of the society.Teacher should encourage the feeling of unity and support among each students.Which will help to develop better studying environment for economically weaker sections of the society.
5. The column on the left lists some of the key features of the Indian constitution.
In the other column write two sentences , in your own words, on why you think this feature is important:
| Key Feature | Significance |
| i) Federalism | |
| ii) Separation of powers | |
| iii) Fundamental rights | |
| iv) Parliamentary form of government |
Ans:
i) Federalism :
1. This refers to the existence of more than one level of government in the country.In India we find government at the state as well as central level, and panchayati Raj is the third tier of the government .
2. A part from taking only decision in centre that is New Delhi it was also required for the state government to take their decisions, at state level.
3. The constitution also specifies where each tier of government can get the money from for the work that it does .
4. The states are the agents of central government, they enjoy autonomy in exercising powers on certain issues, subject to central permissions .
ii) Separation of powers:
1. According to the constitution of India there are three organs of the state.these are the legislature,the Executive and the judiciary.
2. In the legislature elected members are representative through elections .
3. The executive is smaller group of representatives who are responsible for implementing laws and running the government .
4. The system of courts in the country refers to judiciary .
iii) Fundamental Rights:
a) Fundamental rights protect citizens against the arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the state . The constitution thus guarantees the rights of individual against the state as well as against other individuals.
1. Right to Equality .
2. Right to Freedom .
3. Right to Freedom of Religion .
4. Right to Constitutional Remedies .
b) The various minority also expressed the need for providing rights to minority communities.The constitution therefore guarantees the right to minorities against other majority communities of the society.
c) The Father of Indian constitution Dr.B.R. Ambedkar that fundamental rights has two aspects when it was formed .The first aspect is that every citizen should known his/her right and claim them.Second aspect that the right should oblige upon every authority that has got the power to make laws.
iv) Parliamentary Form of Government:
1. When the constitution was prepared by the eminent personalities , the members of the constituent Assembly felt that the freedom struggle had prepared the masses for universal adult to be bold and revolutionists which enabled them to have more democratic mindset and break the barriers of traditional caste,class and gender hierarchies.
2. Every citizen of the country ,irrespective of his or her social background ,gender bias, financial status as so on can contest for elections. After selection these representatives are accountable to the people of the country.
6. Colour the following countries in this map:
(i) Colour India in red, (ii) Colour Nepal in green,
(iii) Colour Bangladesh in yellow.
Ans: Do using colouring pen .