Q16 of 27 Page 1

‘The question of indigenous people brings the issue of environment, resources and politics together’. Explain the statement.

The UN defined the indigenous population as compromising the descendants of people who inhabited the present territory of a country at the time when persons of a different place or culture or ethnic origin arrived there from different parts the of the world and succeeded over them.

‘The question of indigenous people brings the issue of environment, resources and politics together’. This statement can be explained by the following points:


a) Indigenous people speak of their rights, agenda and struggles, just like a social movement.


b) Many of the present day islands of the Oceanic region including Australia and New Zealand were inhabited by many indigenous people for many years.


c) Approximately 30 crore population of indigenous people are spread across all the world.


d) Although they live in different geographical areas, most of their lifestyle is the same.


e) But the loss of the land is the biggest threat to their survival.


f) They depend on the subsistence on the land cultivation.


g) They have appealed to the government to create indigenous nations with a separate identity of their own.


h) They also have a strong say in the political field to treat them as equals. They have been granted constitutional protection as well.


i) Some of them are displaced from their homeland in the name of developmental projects.


j) The World Council of indigenous people was formed in 1975.


k) This council became the first of 11 indigenous NGOs to receive consultative status in the UN.


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Examine the key controversies over the strategy of economic development in the early years of independence.

 15

Highlight the political and social aspects of the Soviet system prior to 1991.

 17

Read the following passage and answer the following questions.

The process of nation building did not come to an end with the partition and integration of princely states. Now the challenge was to draw the internal boundaries of the Indian states. The boundaries had to be drawn in a way so that the linguistic and cultural plurality of the country could be reflected without affecting the unity of the nation.


a. Which commission was appointed to look into the question of redrawing of boundaries of the states on the lingual basis?


b. Why did the lingual issues become the basis of the formation of Andhra Pradesh?


c. How is democracy associated with plurality?

 18

Read the following passage and answer the following questions.

The emergency and the period around it can be described as a period of the constitutional crisis because it had its origins in the constitutional battle over the jurisdiction of the Parliament and the judiciary. On the other hand it was also a period of political crisis. The party in power had an absolute majority and yet, its leadership decided to suspend the democratic process.


a) Why is the period of emergency described as a period of political crisis?


b) what were the issues of dispute between judiciary and parliament during the 1970s?


c) how did the role of mass protest during emergency reflect the attributed aspiration of people?