Chapter One CONSTITUTION: WHY AND HOW?
WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?
What is a constitution?
What are its functions?
What role does it perform for a society?
How does a constitution relate to our daily existence? Answering these questions is not as difficult as you might think. Constitution allows coordination and assurance Imagine yourself to be a member of a reasonably large group. Further imagine that this group has the following characteristics. The members of this group are diverse in various ways. They have different religious allegiances: some are Hindus, some are Muslims, some Christians and some perhaps profess no religion at all. They are also varied in many different respects: they pursue different professions, have different abilities, have different hobbies, different tastes in everything from films to books. Some are rich and some are poor. Some are old, some young. Imagine further that members of this group are likely to have disputes over various aspects of life: How much property should one be allowed to own? Should it be compulsory that every child be sent to school or should the parents be allowed to decide? How much should this group spend on its safety and security? Or should it build more parks instead? Should the group be allowed to discriminate against some of its members? Every question will elicit a variety of answers from different people. But, for all their diversity, this group has to live together. They are dependent upon each other in various ways. They require the cooperation of each other. What will enable the group to live together peacefully?
One may say that perhaps members of this group can live together if they can agree on some basic rules. Why will the group need certain basic rules? Think of what would happen in the absence of some basic rules. Every individual would be insecure simply because they would not know what members of this group could do to each other, who could claim rights over what. Any group will need some basic rules that are publicly promulgated and known to all members of that group to achieve a minimal degree of coordination. But these rules must not only be known, they must also be enforceable. If citizens have no assurance that others will follow these rules, they will themselves have no reason to follow these rules. Saying that the rules are legally enforceable gives an assurance to everybody that others will follow these, for if they do not do so, they will be punished. The first function of a constitution is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal coordination amongst members of a society.
विकास Chapter 10 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
शांति Chapter 9 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
धर्मनिरपेक्षता Chapter 8 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
राष्ट्रवाद Chapter 7 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
नागरिकता Chapter 6 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
अधिकार Chapter 5 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
सामाजिक न्याय Chapter 4 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
समानता Chapter 3 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
स्वतंत्रता Chapter 2 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science - II
राजनीतिक सिद्धांत - एक परिचय Notes (CH-1) Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science-II
स्थानीय शासन Chapter 8 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
संघवाद Chapter 7 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
न्यायपालिका Chapter 6 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
विधायिका Chapter 5 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
कार्यपालिका Chapter 4 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
चुनाव और प्रतिनिधि Chapter 3 Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
भारतीय संविधान में अधिकार (CH-2) Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
संविधान - क्यों और कैसे (CH-1) Notes in Hindi Class 11 Political Science
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 1 Constitution - Why and How?
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 2 Rights and Duties in the Indian Constitution
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 3 Election and Representation
Chapter Two RIGHTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF RIGHTS In 1982 during the construction work for Asian Games the government engaged a few contractors. These contractors employed a large number of very poor construction workers from different parts of the country to build the flyovers and stadiums.
These workers were kept in poor working conditions and were paid less than the minimum wages decided by the government. A team of social scientists studied their poor condition and petitioned the Supreme Court. They argued that employing a person to work for less than the minimum prescribed wage amounts to begar or forced labour, which is a violation of the Fundamental Right against exploitation. The court accepted this plea and directed the government to ensure that thousands of workers get the prescribed wages for their work. Machal Lalung was 23 when he was arrested.
A resident of Chuburi village of Morigaon district of Assam, Machal was charged of causing grievous injuries. He was found mentally too unstable to stand trial and was sent as under trial to Lok Priya Gopinath Bordoloi Mental Hospital in Tejpur for treatment. Machal was treated successfully and doctors wrote twice to jail authorities in 1967 and 1996 that he was fit to stand trial. But no one paid any attention. Machal Lalung remained in “judicial custody.’’ Machal Lalung was released in July 2005. He was 77 then. He spent 54 years under custody during which his case never came up for hearing. He was freed when a team appointed by the National Human Rights Commission intervened after an inspection of undertrials in the State. Machal’s entire life was wasted because a proper trial against him never took place.
Our Constitution gives every citizen the right to ‘life and liberty’: this means that every citizen must also have the right to fair and speedy trial. Machal’s case shows what happens when rights granted by the Constitution are not available in practice.
In the case of the first instance also there was violation of rights provided in the Constitution. But it was challenged in the court. As a result, workers could get what was due to them in the form of their rightful wages. The constitutional guarantee of the right against exploitation ensured justice to these workers. Bill of Rights Both these examples show the importance of having rights and of the actual implementation of these rights.
A democracy must ensure that individuals have certain rights and that the government will always recognise these rights. Therefore it is often a practice in most democratic countries to list the rights of the citizens in the constitution itself. Such a list of rights mentioned and protected by the constitution is called the ‘bill of rights’. A bill of rights prohibits government from thus acting against the rights of the individuals and ensures a remedy in case there is violation of these rights. From whom does a constitution protect the rights of the individual? The rights of a person may be threatened by another person or private organisation.
In such a situation, the individual would need the protection of the government. So, it is necessary that the government is bound to protect the rights of the individual. On the other hand, the organs of the government (the legislature, executive, bureaucracy or even the judiciary), in the course of their functioning, may violate the rights of the person. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION During our freedom struggle, the leaders of the freedom movement had realised the importance of rights and demanded that the British rulers should respect rights of the people. The Motilal Nehru committee had demanded a bill of rights as far back as in 1928. It was therefore, natural that when India became independent and the Constitution was being prepared, there were no two opinions on the inclusion and protection of rights in the Constitution. The Constitution listed the rights that would be specially protected and called them ‘fundamental rights’. The word fundamental suggests that these rights are so important that the Constitution has separately listed them and made special provisions for their protection. The Fundamental Rights are so important that the Constitution itself ensures that they are not violated by the government.
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 4 Executive
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 5 Legislature
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 6 Judiciary
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 7 Federalism
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 8 Local Governments
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 1 Political Theory - An Introduction
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 2 Freedom
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 3 Equality
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 4 Social Justice
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 5 Rights
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 6 Citizenship
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 7 Nationalism
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 8 Secularism
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 9 Peace
Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 10 Development
संविधान - क्यों और कैसे Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 1
भारतीय संविधान में अधिकार Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 2
चुनाव और प्रतिनिधित्व Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 3
कार्यपालिका Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 4
Chapter Three ELECTION AND REPRESENTATION
ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY
Let us begin by asking ourselves two simple questions about elections
and democracy.
± Can we have democracy without holding elections?
± Can we hold elections without having democracy?
Let us have a discussion in the classroom on both these questions by using examples from whatever we have learnt so far in the previous classes.
The first question reminds us of the necessity of representation in a large democracy. All citizens cannot
take direct part in making every decision. Therefore, representatives are elected by the people. This is how elections become important. Whenever we think of India as a democracy, our mind invariably turns to the last elections. Elections have today become the most visible symbol of the democratic
process. We often distinguish between direct and indirect democracy. A direct democracy is one where the
citizens directly participate in the day-to-day decision making and in the running of the government. The ancient city-states in Greece were considered examples of direct democracy. Many would consider local governments, especially gram sabhas, to be the closest examples of direct democracy. But this kind of direct democracy cannot be practiced when a decision has to be taken by lakhs and
crores of people. That is why rule by the people usually means rule by people’s representatives.
In such an arrangement citizens choose their representatives who, in turn, are actively involved in governing and administering the country. The method followed to choose these representatives is referred to as an election. Thus, the citizens have a limited role in taking major decisions and in running the administration. They are not very actively involved in making of the policies.
Citizens are involved only indirectly, through their elected representatives. In this arrangement, where all major decisions are taken by elected representatives, the method by which people elect their representatives becomes very important.
The second question reminds us of the fact that not all elections are democratic. A large number of nondemocratic countries also hold elections. In fact nondemocratic rulers are very keen to present themselves as democratic. They do so by holding election in such a way that it does not threaten their rule. Can you think of some examples of such non-democratic elections? What do you think would distinguish a democratic from a nondemocratic election? What can be done to ensure that elections in a country would be conducted in a democratic way?
This is where constitution comes in. The constitution of a democratic country lays down some basic rules about elections. The details are usually left to be worked out by laws passed by the legislatures. These basic rules are usually about
± Who is eligible to vote?
± Who is eligible to contest?
± Who is to supervise elections?
± How do the voters choose their representatives?
± How are the votes to be counted and representatives elected?
विधायिका Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 5
न्यायपालिका Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 6
संघवाद Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 7
राजनितिक विज्ञान Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8
राजनीतिक सिद्धांत - एक परिचय Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 1
स्वतंत्रता Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 2
समानता Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 3
सामाजिक न्याय Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 4
अधिकार Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 5
नागरिकता Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 6
राष्ट्रवाद Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 7
धर्मनिरपेक्षता Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8
शांति Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 9
विकास Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 10
Constitution - Why and How? Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 1
Constitution as a Living Document Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science
Election and Representation Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 3
Chapter Four EXECUTIVE
WHAT IS AN EXECUTIVE? Who is in charge of the administration of your school? Who takes important decisions in a school or a university? In any organisation, some office holder has to take decisions and implement those decisions.
We call this activity administration or management. But administration requires a body at the top that will take policy decisions or the big decisions and supervise and coordinate the routine administrative functioning. You may have heard about the executives of big companies, banks or industrial units. Every formal group has a body of those who function as the chief administrators or the executives of that organisation.
Some office holders decide the policies and rules and regulations and then some office holders implement those decisions in actual day-to-day functioning of the organisation. The word executive means a body of persons that looks after the implementation of rules and regulations in actual practice. In the case of government also, one body may take policy decisions and decide about rules and regulations, while the other one would be in charge of implementing those rules.
The organ of government that primarily looks after the function of implementation and administration is called the executive. What are the principal functions of the executive? Executive is the branch of government responsible for the implementation of laws and policies adopted by the legislature. The executive is often involved in framing of policy. The official designations of the executive vary from country to country. Some countries have presidents, while others have chancellors. The executive branch is not just about presidents, prime ministers and ministers.
It also extends to the administrative machinery (civil servants). While the heads of government and their ministers, saddled with the overall responsibility of government policy, are together known as the political executive, those responsible for day to day administration are called the permanent executive.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXECUTIVE? Every country may not have the same type of executive. You may have heard about the President of the USA and the Queen of England. But the powers and functions of the President of the USA are very different from the powers of the President of India. Similarly, the powers of the Queen of England are different from the powers of the King of Bhutan.
Both India and France have prime ministers, but their roles are different from each other. Why is this so? Activity Procure a photograph of the SAARC summit meeting or the meeting of G-7 countries and list those who attended the meeting. Can you imagine why those people and not some others are attending the meeting? To answer this question we will briefly outline the nature of executive existing in some of these countries.
The USA has a presidential system and executive powers are in the hands of the president. Canada has a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy where Queen Elizabeth II is the formal chief of state and the prime minister is the head of government. In France, both the president and the prime minister are a part of the semi presidential system. The president appoints the prime minister as well as the ministers but cannot dismiss them as they are responsible to the parliament.
Japan has a parliamentary system with the Emperor as the head of the state and the prime minister as the head of government. Italy has a parliamentary system with the president as the formal head of state and the prime minister as the head of government.
Russia has a semi-presidential system where president is the head of state and prime minister, who is appointed by the president, is the head of government. Germany has a parliamentary system in which president is the ceremonial head of state and the chancellor is the head of government. In a presidential system, the president is the Head of state as well as head of government. In this system the office of president is very powerful, both in theory and practice.
Executive Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 4
Legislature Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 5
Judiciary Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 6
Federalism Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 7
Local Governments Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8
Political Theory - An Introduction Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 1
Freedom Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 2
Equality Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 3
Social Justice Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 4
Rights Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 5
Citizenship Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 6
Nationalism Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 7
Secularism Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8
Peace Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 9
Development Important Question Answers Class 11 Political Science Chapter 10
CBSE Class 11 Political Science Sample Paper-Vikas Bharti School
Class 11 Political Science Question Paper Annual Exam-Apeejay
Class 11 Political Science Question Paper Annual Exam-Apeejay
Class 11 Political Science Periodic Test Paper 2-Apeejay School
Class 11 Political Science Question Paper First Term Exam - Amity
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