Q8 of 10 Page 239

Why is it said that the making of the Indian Constitution was unrepresentative? Does that make the Constitution unrepresentative? Give reasons for your answer.

Making of Indian Constitution was unrepresentative:

1. The representatives of the constituent Assembly were elected from restricted regions and not by universal suffrage.


2. The constituent assembly was not a sovereign body, as it was created by the proposals made by the British Government.


3. The assembly was dominated by the Congress party.


No, the above made criticism did not made the Constitution unconstitutional because it contains the ideas and aspiration of every section of people. The constitution provided the nation democracy with a head elected by the citizens.


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6

Match the following.

 7

This discussion was taking place in a class. Read the various arguments and state which of these do you agree with and why.

Jayesh: I still think that our Constitution is only a borrowed document.


Saba: Do you mean to say that there is nothing Indian in it? But is there such a thing as Indian and western in the case of values and ideas? Take equality between men and women. What is western about it? And even if it is, should we reject it only because it is western?


Jayesh: What I mean is that after fighting for independence from the British, did we not adopt their system of parliamentary government?


Neha: You forget that when we fought the British, we were not against the British as such, we were against the principle of colonialism. That has nothing to do with adopting a system of government that we wanted, wherever it came from.

 9

One of the limitations of the Constitution of India is that it does not adequately attend to gender justice. What evidence can you give to substantiate this charge? If you were writing the Constitution today, what provisions would you recommend for remedying this limitation?

 10

Do you agree with the statement that “it is not clear why in a poor developing country, certain basic socio-economic rights were relegated to the section on Directive Principles rather than made an integral feature of our Fundamental Rights”? Give reasons for your answer. What do you think are the possible reasons for putting socio-economic rights in the section on Directive Principles?