Picture Based Questions-Political Science Grade X

 

Picture Based Questions-Political Science

1. Power-sharing

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	§  European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium
	§  The photograph here is of a streetaddress in Belgium. §  that place names and directions in twolanguages – French and Dutch. §  The Frenchspeaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because §  the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the Central Government.
	§  The ethnic composition of this small country is very complex. §   59 per cent lives in the Flemish region and speaks Dutchlanguage. §  40 per cent people live in the Wallonia region and speak French. §  Remaining one per cent of the Belgians speak German. §  In the capital city Brussels, 80 per cent people speak French while 20 percent are Dutch-speaking.
	§  Democratically elected government adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy. §  In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregardingTamil.
	§  The cartoon at the left refers to the problems of running the Germany’s grand coalition government that includes thetwo major parties of the country, namelythe Christian Democratic Union and theSocial Democratic Party. §  The two partiesare historically rivals to each other. Theyhad to form a coalition governmentbecause neither of them got clearmajority of seats on their own in the 2005elections. §  They take divergent positionson several policy matters, but still jointlyrun the government.
	§  In 2005, some new laws were made in Russia giving more powers toits president. During the same time, the US president visited Russia. §  In the given cartoon, the horse pulling the cart represents the democracy. §  The cartoon clearly imparts that the people suffer when there is concentration of power. §  The government behaves like an autocracy and the say of people decreases considerably. §  For example, Pakistan is a democratic country but the government often works like an autocracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Federalism

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	§  Though only 25 of the world’s 193 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 per cent of the world’s population. §  China is an exception. Being the second most populous country of the world, it still has unitary form of government.
	§  The States Plead for More Powers §  Our Constitution has already classified the powers to state and central government. §  Therefore, there is no need to go to the Centre with a begging bowl for more power.
	§  Perils of Running a Coalition Government §  Our Constitution has already classified the powers to state and central government. §  The leader of coalition should have a balanced approach of governance. §  He should take decisions after discussion and consent of supporting parties.
	§  The news in the clippings are about Panchayats. §  It indicates following things about the local body i.ePanchayat: §  Participation of women in Elections. §  Corruption in Panchayat Elections. §  Opposition of State government on the issue of direct funding of Panchayats. §  These indicate that decentralization require many steps to ensure corruption-less system. §  Participation of women is a good indication.`

 

 

 

 

 

3. Gender,Religion andCaste

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	§  A poster from Bengal affirming women’sstrength.
	§  Stereotypes perpetuate inequalities and limit women’s capacity to develop their abilities, pursue careers, and make choices about their lives. §  It’s essential to combat wrongful gender stereotyping to promote equality and protect human rights. Therefore, women should not be tied to any image of 'ideal women'.
	§  campaign on violence against women
	§  Some reasons why women’s representation is so low in India are: §  Stereotyping career opportunities for women. §  Low literacy rate of women in India. §  Women do not get equal opportunity in politics. §  America and Europe have not achieved a satisfactory level of women’s representation in legislature. With 29.5 % and 26.4 %, they are far behind in providing equal opportunity to women politicians.
	§  Population of different religiouscommunities in India, 2011
	§  Treating people solely as "vote banks" based on their caste is ethically questionable and undermines the principles of democracy. §  While it may be a common tactic in some political contexts to target specific demographics for electoral gain, it perpetuates divisions within society and reduces individuals to mere instruments for political power.

 

4. Political Parties

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	§  The famous cartoonist R. K Laxman is seen holding and reading a newspaper which shows that when the nation is in peril and facing lots of difficulties and the politicians are nowhere to be seen. Politicians are only active when there are elections.
	§  1. Activists of BJP MahilaMorcha demonstrate against hike in prices of onions and LPG inVisakhapatnam. §  2: Minister distributes ` One lakh cheque to the families of hooch victims at their houses. §  3: Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD (S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to protest againstPOSCO, the Korean steel company for being permitted
	§  Political parties are facing a crisis because they are very unpopular and the citizens are indifferent to political parties.
	§  Berlusconi was the PrimeMinister of Italy. §  He is alsoone of the top businessmenin Italy. §  He is the leader ofthe Forza Italia founded in1993. §  His company owns TVchannels, the most importantpublishing company, a football club (AC Milan) and abank. §  One or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership are generally not heard.
	§  This cartoon was drawn during the Presidency of George Bush of theRepublican Party in the USA. §  The party’s symbol is elephant. §  The cartoonseems to suggest that the Corporate America controls all major institutionsof the country §  It is about the growing role of money and muscle power in parties.
	§  It is also about growing role of money in parties. Parties tend to nominate those candidates who have or can raise lots of money.
	§  The Election Commission ensures that elections are conducted in a transparent and unbiased manner. §  It oversees the implementation of electoral rules and regulations to prevent malpractices such as electoral fraud, bribery, and coercion. §  The political leaders fail to follow election codes sometime against whom action is taken by the Election Commission.

 

5. Outcomes ofDemocracy

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	§  Democracy is often described as a system that recognizes and attempts to balance the various interests, demands, and pressures within a society. §  It’s about governance through dialogue, negotiation, and compromise to accommodate the diverse needs and aspirations of different groups and individuals. §  But still it is the best form of government present as it ensures that peoples voice will be heard and their concern will be of ultimate importance. §  Democracy ensures that decision making will be based on norms and procedures and there will be transparency.
	§  Government can invade the privacy of people but not vice versa.
	§  The gains of economic growth should be equally distributed among the citizens so as to make an economically even society. §   Also this would be as per one of the basis causes of democracy i.e., economic justice. §  The poor can get a voice for a better share in a nation only when this group is given proper representation and chances to participate in the decision making. §  The poorer countries should get united to fight for the cause. Only then, they will be able to get their share. §  At the same time, they will have to take initiatives to strengthen their internal democracy and exploit their own available natural resources.
	§  (i) Democratic politics when based on race, religion, caste or any other existing social division further divides the society and leads to bloodshed. This is not healthy for democracy itself. §  (ii) On the contrary, when the existing divisions are minimized through democratic means on the basis of moral and prudential reasons, it contributes in the development of each and every class of the society. §  It makes an environment where people can grow and prosper together.
	§  The cartoon relates to inequality that women face today all over the world. §  This reflects insecurity to women’s dignity. §  The sentences from this section which connect to the cartoon: §  Most societies across the world were historically male dominated societies. §  But once the principle is recognised, it becomes easier for women to wage a struggle against what is now unacceptable legally and morally.
	§  Even after many complaints against it, democracy has been the most acclaimed form of government in the South Asian nations.   §  The sentence from this section which connects to the graph: §  Most individuals today believe that their vote makes a difference to the way the government is run and to their own self-interest.