The Indian constitution is the world's longest. At its commencement, it had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It is made up of approximately 145,000 words, making it the second largest active constitution in the world. In its current form (September 2012), it has a preamble, 25parts with 448 articles, 12schedules, 5 appendicesand 101 amendments, the latest of which came into force on 8 September 2016.
Question : Who said these words in his fight against White government in South Africa?
Answer : “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. ------ But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Question : Define: Apartheid
Answer : The official policy of racial separation and ill treatment of blacks followed by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1989.
Question : Evaluate the features of ‘apartheid’ practiced in South Africa between 1948 and 1989.
Answer : 1. Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa. The system of apartheid divided the people and labelled them on the basis of their skin colour.
2. The apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks. They were forbidden from living in white areas.
3. They could work in white areas only if they had a permit.
4. Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theatres, beaches, swimming pools, public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks. This was called segregation.
5. They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped. Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.
Question : Analyse the working and composition of ANC.
Answer : 1. Since 1950, the blacks, colored and the Indians fought against the apartheid system. They launched protest marches and strikes.
2. The African National Congress (ANC) was the umbrella organisation that led the struggle against the policies of segregation.
3. This included many workers’ unions and the Communist Party. Many sensitive whites also joined the ANC to oppose apartheid and played a leading role in this struggle.
Question : What efforts were made to form a new constitution after independence in South Africa?
Answer : 1. After the emergence of the new democratic South Africa, black leaders appealed to fellow Blacks to forgive the whites for the atrocities they had committed while in power.
2. They said let us build a new South Africa based on equality of all races and men and women, on democratic values, social justice and human rights.
3. The party that ruled through oppression and brutal killings and the party that led the freedom struggle sat together to draw up a common constitution.
Question : What is a ‘constitution’?
Answer : 1. The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country.
2. Constitution is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in a territory (called citizens).
3. It also the relationship between the people and government.
Question : What documents were taken by the Constituent Assembly to form the Indian Constitution?
Answer : 1. The Constitution was drafted by Motilal Nehru and eight other leaders in 1928.
2. The resolution was framed at the Karachi Session of the INC on how independent India’s Constitution should look like, in 1931.
3. The Indian Constitution adopted many institutional details and procedures from colonial laws like Government of India Act of 1935.
Question : What were the basic values accepted by all leaders much before the Constituent Assembly met to deliberate on the Constitution?
Answer : (i) Universal adult franchise (ii) right to freedom and equality (iii) to protect the Rights of the minorities in the Constitution of independent India.
Question : “Indian leaders were inspired by the ideals of other countries when they made our constitution, but on our own terms”. Name the countries and examine their ideals that that followed by Indian Constitution makers.
Answer : 1. France: Many Indian leaders were inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution and their and their resolution on liberty, equality and fraternity.
2. Britain: Indian leaders were inspired by the Parliamentary democracy in Britain.
3. US: Bill of Rights.
4. Russia: Socialist Economy and equality.
Question : What is a ‘Constituent Assembly’?
Answer : • An Assembly of elected representatives to draft a document called constitution is referred as a ‘Constituent Assembly’.
Question : Give a brief note on the ‘Constituent Assembly of India’.
Answer : 1. The Constituent Assembly was also divided into the Constituent Assembly of India and that of Pakistan.
2. The Constituent Assembly that wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members.
3. The Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on January 26, 1950.
Question : Give reasons for accepting the constitution made by the Constituent Assembly more than 50 years ago.
Answer : 1. The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time.
2. The second reason for accepting the Constitution is that the Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. There was no universal adult franchise at that time. So the Constituent Assembly could not have been chosen directly by all the people of India.
3. It was elected mainly by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures, which ensured a fair share of members from all the regions of the country.
Question : 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: This is a true statement.
(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 had different opinions on various provisions of the constitution.
(c) A country that has a constitution must be a democracy.
Answer: This cannot be said with surety; in the context of information given in this chapter.
(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 : 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
Answer: (d) Between the coloured minority and the black majority
Question : 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
Answer: (b) Name of the head of the state
Question : Match the following leaders with their roles in the making of the Constitution:
Answer: (a) - 4, (b) - 3, (c) - 1, (d) - 2
Question : 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: The task of building a nation is a gargantuan task which cannot be fulfilled in one’s lifetime. Hence Nehru had used the expression, “not wholly or in full measure, but substantially”.
(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.
Question : Here are some of the guiding values of the Constitution and their meaning. Rewrite them by matching them correctly.
Answer 6: (a) - 2, (b) - 3, (c) - 4, (d) - 1
Question : A friend from Nepal has written you a letter describing the political exercises situation there.
Many political parties are opposing the rule of the king. Some of them say that the existing constitution given by the monarch can be amended to allow more powers to elected representatives. Others are demanding a new Constituent Assembly to write a republican constitution. Reply to your friend giving your opinions on the subject.
Answer : Both the options are plausible. If the existing constitution is proper then it can be amended to include more powers to elected representatives. If the existing constitution is full of loopholes, then a new constitution should be drafted. For this, a Constituent Assembly
should be formed by including the elected representatives and they should collectively decide about a particular option.
Question : 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: The importance of this fact cannot be ignored. We should acknowledge that we learnt many good things from the British rulers and democracy was one of them.
(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.
Question : 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 : The constitution treats every citizen equally irrespective of gender distinction.
Hence this paragraph does not reflect the underlying value in our constitution.
Question : 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.
Answer :
(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) No, it is not correct because our Constitution lays down how different organs of the Government will be formed.
(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) A constitution is about institutions through which different values are being inculcated.
Please click on below link to download CBSE Class 9 Social Science Constitutional Design Worksheet Set B