NCERT Solutions For Class 10 Civics Chapter 7 Outcomes of Democracy. Question and Answer.
Question 1.
How does democracy? Producing accountable, responsive and legitimate
government.
Answer:
(a) (i) In a democracy, free and fair elections are held regularly.
(ii) open public debates are held on major issues and legislation are
made.
(iii) people have the right to
information about the government and its functioning. Thus Democracy produces
an accountable government.
(b) A Democratic government is formed by the elected representatives of the people, such as government, tries its best to solve the problem of the public. So policies and programs are made accordingly.
(c) Democracy is legitimate government because it is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. The citizens form and run the government through the representatives.
Question 2.
What arc the conditions under
which democracies accommodate social diversities?
Answer:
(i) It is necessary to understand
that democracy is not simply ruled by majority opinion. The majority always
needs to work. With the minority. So that government function to represent the
general view. Majority and minority opinion are not permanent.
(ii) It is also necessary that rule by majority does not become rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic group, etc. Rule by majority means that in case of every decision or in case of every election, different persons and groups may and can form a majority. Democracy remain democracy only as long as every citizen has a chance of being in majority at some point of time. If someone is barred from being in majority on birth, then the democratic rule ceases to be accommodative that person or group.
Question 3.
Give arguments to support or
oppose following assertions:
•
Industrialized countries can afford democracy but poor need dictatorship to
become rich.
• Democracy can’t reduce
inequality of incomes between different citizens
• Government in poor countries should spend less on poverty reduction,
health, education and spend more on industries and infrastructure.
• In democracy all citizen have one vote. This means that there is absence
of any domination andconnict.
Answer:
If we compare democracy and dictatorship regimes between 1950 and 2000, we
find countries under dictatorship to be more- economically advanced. But if we
compare them only in poor countries, there is virtually no difference.
This leads us the conclusion that any set-up of the government, democratic or non-democratic, is not a guarantee the economic development of a nation. Several other factors also needed the economic advancement of a country. So dictatorship cannot be supported at cost of other positive aspect such as Freedom, dignity etc. that can be provided by democracy only.
Democracy aims to provide a fair share to every citizen in .the natural resources of country. It aims for almost , equitable distribution of product and income. So, it becomes reasonable for us to expect that countries under democracy will have very low income inequality.
However in reality find growing income inequalities in democracies. There is a wide gap between the rich and the poor. A small proportion of population enjoys a high share in income and a large proportion of population has to live on a very small share .in income. In South Africa, the top 20% people have more than 60% share in income and the bottom 20% people have less than 3% share in total income. In Bangladesh, more than half of the population lives in poverty. People in several poor countries are now dependent on the rich countries even for food supplies.
Industry and infrastructure are vital inputs for the economic development of a nation. But they are not the only inputs needed for the economic development of a country’. Human resource is the most important resource for any country. The human resource .decides the use of any other material resource of a country. A population with high literacy and wide knowledge and skills is an asset for the country. On the other hand, a population with low literacy rate and widespread unawareness is a burden for the country.
We cannot say that conflicts are totally absent in a democracy. They can happen if the demands of one social group are against the demands of the other social group. Democracy only avoids the possibility of such conflicts by giving everyone equal rights and freedom in the society. There is a conflict of interest and domination of one group over the other, but democracy has ways and means to negotiate and resolve them.
Question 4.
Identify the challenges to
democracy in following descriptions. Also suggest policy / institutional
mechanism to deepen democracy in the given situations:
• Following a High Court directive a temple in Orissa that had separate
entry door for dalits and non-dalits allowed entry for all from the same
door.
• A large number of farmers are
committing suicide in different states of india.
• Following allegation of killing of three civilians in Gandwara in a fake
encounter by Jammu and Kashmir police, an enquiry has been ordered.
Answer:
- It was a case of discrimination on the basis of birth in a particular caste. In this case, people were denied the democratic principle of equality.
- This is a case of failure on the part of democratic government as far as policies and- programmes are concerned. In a democracy, the government is duty bound to safeguard the interests of every citizen.
- It shows the failure of democracy to ensure the security; safety, dignity and freedom of the citizens of the country.
-
Following policies/institutional mechanism can deepen democracy:
(a) Disputes should be resolved through peaceful negotiations.
(b) People should be tolerant and show respects to others tradition, culture and faith etc.
(c) People must pay taxes honestly to help in the development of nation.
(d) Local self governments should be given more powers and allocated of disadvantaged classes.
(e) The progammes and policies should be implemented in the right earnest and must be evaluated time to time.
Question 5.
In the context of democracies,
which of the following idea is correct-democracies have successfully
eliminated
(a) conflicts among people
(b) economic inequalities among people
(c)
differences of opinion about how marginalized sections are to be treated
(d) the idea of political inequality.
Answer:
(c) differences of opinion about
how marginalised sections are to be treated.
Question 6.
In the context of assessing
democracy which among the following is odd one out. Democracies need to
ensure:
(a) free arid fair elections
(b) dignity of the individual
(c) majority
rule
(d) equal treatment before law.
Answer:
(c) Majority rule
Question 7.
Studies on political and social
inequalities in democracy show that
(a)
democracy and development go together
(b)
inequalities exist in democracies
(c)
inequalities do not exist under dictatorship
(d) dictatorship is better than democracy
Answer:
(b) Inequalities exist in
democracies
Question 8.
Read the passage below
Nannu is a daily wage earner. He lives in Welcome Mazdoor Colony, a slum
habitation in East Delhi. He lost his ration card and applied for a duplicate
one in January 2004. He made several rounds of the local Food & Civil
Supplies office for the next three months. But the clerks and officials would
not even look at him, leave alone do his job or bother to tell him the status
of his application. Ultimately, he filed an application under the Right to
Information Act asking for the daily progress made on his application, name of
the officials who were supposed to act on his application and what action
would be taken against these officials for their actions. Within a week of
filing application under Right to Information Act, he was visited by an
inspector from the Food Department, who informed him that the card had been
made and he could collect it from the office. When Nannu went to collect his
card next day, he was given a very warm treatment by the Food & Supply
Officer (FSO), who is the head of a Circle. The FSO offered him tea and
requested him to withdraw his application under Right to Information, since
his work had already been done.
What does Nanu’s example show? What impact did Nanu’s action have on
officials? Ask your parents their experiences when they approached government
officials to attend to their problems?
Answer:
In this case Nanu used his right
of information and created pressure on government officials to address his
concern. After that the officials swang into action and did their job. Now,
they are requesting Nanu to withdraw his application so that they can save
their skin.