Question 1:
Here are some false statements. Identify the mistake in each case and rewrite these correctly based
on what you have read in
this chapter.
(a)
Leaders of the freedom
movement had an open mind about whether the country should be democratic or not after independence.
Answer: Leaders of the freedom movement had a consensus that after independence, India will be democratic nation.
(b)
Members of the Constituent Assembly
of India held the same views on all provisions of the Constitution.
Answer: Members of the Constituent Assembly of India held the same views on the basic principles of the Constitution.
(c) A country that has a constitution must be a
democracy.
Answer: A country that is a democratic country must have a constitution.
(d)
Constitution cannot be amended because
it is the supreme law of a country.
Answer: Constitution can be amended
to keep up with the changes in aspirations of the society.
Question 2:
Which of these was the most salient underlying conflict in the making of a democratic constitution in
South Africa?
(a) Between South
Africa and its neighbours
(b) Between men and
women
(c) Between the white majority and the black minority
(d) Between the coloured
minority and the black
majority
(d) Between the coloured minority
and the black majority
Which of these is a
provision that a democratic constitution does not have?
(a) Powers of the head
of the state
(b) Name of the head of the state
(c) Powers of the legislature
(d) Name of the country
(b) Name of the head of the state
Match the following leaders with their roles in the making
of the Constitution:
Column I |
Column II |
(a) Motilal Nehru |
1. President of the Constituent Assembly |
(b) B R Ambedkar |
2. Member of the Constituent Assembly |
(c) Rajendra Prasad |
3. Chairman of the Drafting Committee |
(d) Sarojini Naidu |
4. Prepared a Constitution for India in 1928 |
Answer: (a) - 4, (b) - 3, (c) - 1, (d) - 2
Read again the extracts from Nehru’s speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’ and answer the following:
(a) Why did Nehru use the expression “not wholly or in full measure” in the first sentence? Answer: Jawahar Lal Nehru in his speech, ’Tryst with Destiny’ used the expression, ’nor wholly or in full measure’ as for him nation-building was a challenging task which can’t be achieved overnight. Hence, he wanted nation building to be gradual process.
(b) What pledge did he want the makers of the
Indian Constitution to take?
Answer: He wanted them to take the pledge of building a nation in which there would not be a single person with tears in his eyes. He wanted them to understand the huge responsibility which destiny had thrust upon them.
(c) “The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every
eye”. Who was he referring to?
Answer: He was referring to Mahatma Gandhi.
Here are some of the guiding values of the Constitution and their
meaning. Rewrite them by matching them correctly.
Column I |
Column II |
(a) Sovereign |
1. Government will not
favour any religion |
(b) Republic |
2. People have the supreme right to make decisions. |
(c) Fraternity |
3. Head of the
state is an elected person. |
(d) Secular |
4. People should live
like brothers and sisters. |
Answer 6: (a) - 2, (b) - 3, (c) - 4, (d) - 1
How did your school celebrate Constitution Day on November 26th? Prepare a brief report.
Answer
7: The Constitution day, also called as ’national law day’, was
celebrated in my school on November
26 this year. The Indian constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, and celebrated as the ’constitution day’
in Indian since 2015.
In my school, the story of the formation of the constitution was told and
the lecture on the salient feature of
the constitution was held by our teachers. Students were encouraged to find out details of the constitution via essay
competition and prizes were distributed on the consti- tution day. Our seniors presented a very important issue of equality
through their drama on this occasion.
It was a knowledgeable and exciting day.
Here are different opinions
about what made India a democracy. How much importance would you give to each of these factors?
(a)
Democracy in India
is a gift of the British rulers.
We received training
to work with
representative legislative institutions
under the British rule.
Answer: Through
many good things were learned from the British rulers and democracy be- ing one of the, I wouldn’t say that democracy was gift given
by them. Indians
had to struggle a lot and make many sacrifices to attain
freedom from British rule.
(b)
Freedom Struggle challenged the colonial exploitation and denial of different freedoms
to Indians. Free India could not be
anything but democratic.
Answer:
Freedom struggle was important in spreading the idea of nationalism
in India and inculcating the practice of making decisions by consensus.
(c)
We were lucky to have leaders who had democratic
convictions. The denial of democracy
in several other newly independent countries shows the important role of these leaders.
Answer: We were indeed lucky that we did not have leaders who were autocratic. India’s freedom struggle is the only example of a bloodless freedom struggle in the contemporary history. This could be possible because our nationalist leaders had the maturity to listen to others’ views.
Read the following extract from a conduct
book for ‘married
women’, published in 1912. ‘God has
made the female species delicate and fragile both physically and emotionally,
pitiably incapable of self-defence.
They are destined thus by God to remain in male protection – of father,
husband and son – all their lives.
Women should, therefore, not despair, but feel obliged
that they can dedicate themselves to the service of men’. Do you think
the values expressed in this para reflected the values underlying our constitution? Or does this go against
the constitutional values?
Answer 9: The constitution treats every citizen equally irrespective of gender distinction. Hence this paragraph does not reflect the underlying value in our constitution.
Read the following statements
about a constitution. Give reasons
why each of these is true or not true.
(a) The authority of the
rules of the constitution is the same as that of any other law.
(b) Constitution lays down how different organs
of the government will be formed.
(c)
Rights of citizens
and limits on the power of the government are laid down in the constitution.
(d) A constitution is about institutions, not about values.
(a)
This is not a true statement since the authority
of the rules of the Constitution is much more than
that of any other law.
(b)
This is true as the constitution lays down the
framework for government formation. It defines
in detail the composition and functions of different organs of government
namely the ex executive, the
judiciary and the legislature.
(c)
This is a correct statement
since in our Constitution rights of citizens
and limits on the power of the government have been
clearly laid down.
(d)
This is not true as the Constitution holds values on
which all institution work. Our pream ble
states about values - justice, liberty, fraternity and equality.