The Indian Constitution Class 8th Civics Lesson 1st

NOTES PREPARED BY 

Tawseef  Ahmad

Public School

TEACHER 

   Civics  chapter 1 -  

'The Indian Constitution'

Q .1  Why does democratic country need a Constitution?  

Ans.  A democratic country needs a Constitution because: 

1.  It serves as an asset of rules and principles as the basis by which the country has to be governed 

2.  It defines the nature of a country’s political saturation

3.  It lays out the important guidelines that govern decision making within various societies of the country. 

4.  It provides rules to safeguard the interests of less powerful people or groups by any dominant group. 

5.  It  protects minorities against wrongful decisions of majorities. 

6. It lays down rules that guard against the misuse of power by any political leader. 

Q 2: Look at the wordings of the two documents given in your textbook The first column is from the 1990 Nepal Constitution. The second column is from the more recent interim Constitution of Nepal. What is the difference in who exercises 'Executive Power' in the above two Constitutions of Nepal? Keeping this in mind, why do you think Nepal needs a new Constitution today? 

Ans .The difference in who exercises "Executive Power" in the given two Constitutions of Nepal is that in the 1990 Constitution, this power was vested in the King , while in the 2007 Interim Constitution of Nepal, "Executive Power" changed hands to being vested only in the Council of Ministers, thereby making Nepal a democracy from being a monarchy.  Nepal needs a new Constitution today because it is no longer a monarchy. The older Constitution vested power in the King, but when the country is now a democracy, a new Constitution is needed to reflect the “democratic" ideals of Nepal that the people's movement desired and fought for.   

Q. 3 .What would happen if there were no restrictions on the power of elected representatives? 

Ans.If there are no restrictions on the power of the elected representatives, the leaders might misuse the powers given to them, leading to gross injustice. The Constitution provides safeguards against this misuse of power by our political leaders. Many of the safeguards are contained in the Section on Fundamental Rights. 

 Q 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, 20 of them are male. 

Ans (a) Female teachers are in minority. The female teachers must be allowed space to voice their opinion so that their efforts at teaching are not hindered by their minority status  

(b) In a city,5 percent of the population are Buddhists. 

Ans Buddhists are in minority. Every individual has the right to follow the religion of his/her choice. People of other faith must respect the religion other than their own.  

(c) In a factory mess for all employees,80 per cent are vegetarians 

Ans. Non-vegetarians are in minority.  It is important that the food prepared in the factory mess must be prepared to fulfil the diet requirements of both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.  

(d) In a class of 50 students,40 belong to more well-off families. 

Ans.  Poor students are in minority. Citizens can not be discriminated on the basis of their birth so their views have to be respected and make sure that there is no kind of distinction or discrimination based on the financial backgrounds of students in the class 

 Q 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:

Federalism ,
Separation of Powers ,
Fundamental Rights,
Parliamentary Form of, Government.    

  .

 Ans . Federalism:   

Federalism refers to the existence of more than one level of government in the country. It ensures national unity and at the same time allows individual progress. The three tier government in India that includes the Panchayati Raj ( local government),  the state government and the Central Government, is important because of diverse cultural and religious composition of its citizens. 

Separation of powers: 

According to the Constitution, the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary are the three separate organs of the  government . This serves two purposes: firstly, tyrannical use of power is avoided since power is not vested in any single authority. Secondly, the three organs of power also work as a check on each other, thereby maintaining a good balance of power.

 Fundamental Rights: 

The Fundamental Rights are a set of rights that the Constitution offers to all citizens of the country. These rights are important to protect the citizens against arbitrary and absolute use of power by the State. These rights give every citizen of the country  an equal status  irrespective of their caste, religion or community

 Parliamentary Form of Government :

 It upholds universal adult franchise. It is the one where the citizens of the country have the right to elect their representatives.         5. Write down the names of the Indian states which share borders with the following neighbouring nations. a) Bangladesh:  West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram b) Bhutan:  Arunachal Pradesh,Assam,,West Bengal, Sikkim c) Nepal:  Uttar Pradesh,Uttrakhand,Sikkim,West Bengal, Bihar