Q19 of 27 Page 1

Read the passage given below and answer the following questions:

The Emergency and the period around it can be described as a period of constitutional crisis because it had its origin in the constitutional battle over the jurisdiction of the parliament and the Judiciary…The emergency at once brought out both the weaknesses and strengths of Indian democracy. These critical years of emergency taught the most valuable and lasting lessons for the generations to come.


a. On what ground did Indira Gandhi impose National emergency in India?


b. Which two developments further added tensions between Judiciary and executive other than a constitutional battle over the jurisdiction of the Parliament and judiciary?


c. State any two important lessons learnt from the emergency period in India.

a. The response of the government was to declare a state of emergency. On 25 June 1975, the government declared that there was a threat of internal disturbances and therefore, it brought into effect Article 352 of the constitution. Under the provision of this article, the government could declare a state of emergency on the grounds of external threat or a threat of internal disturbances.


b. The decision in 1973 in the Keshavananda Bharati case, a vacancy arose for the post of the Chief Justice of India. These both developments have added tension to the executive. The judgment in the Keshavananda Bharathi case was for the amendment of the fundamental rights. And the appointment became politically controversial because all the three judges who were superseded had given rulings against the stand of the government. Thus, constitutional interpretations and political ideologies were getting mixed up rapidly


c. • An emergency is that it is extremely difficult to do away with democracy in India.


• It brought out some ambiguities regarding the Emergency provision in the Constitution that have been rectified since.


• The Emergency made everyone more aware of the value of civil liberties. The Courts too, have taken an active role after the emergency in protecting the civil liberties of the individuals.


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17

Read the passage and answer the following questions:

The growing focus on environmental issues within the arena of global politics was firmly consolidated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992. This was also called the Earth Summit…What was obvious at the Rio summit was the rich and the developed countries of the first world generally referred to as the ‘Global North' were pursuing a different environmental agenda than the poor and the developing countries of the III world called the ‘Global South…The differences in their approach culminated into the adoption of the principle called "Common but differentiated responsibilities”.


a. Why was the environmental concern of the first world different from that of the III world?


b. In what ways the principle of ‘Common but differentiated responsibilities’ helped in addressing and overcoming the


differences between the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’?

 18

Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions:

The first general election was the first big test of democracy in a poor & illiterate country. Till then democracy had existed only in prosperous countries, mainly in Europe andNorth America, where nearly everyone was literate. By that time, many countries in Europe had not given voting rights to all women. In this context, India's experiment with universal adult franchise appeared to be very bold and risky. An Indian editor called it "the biggest gamble in history". Organiser, a magazine wrote that Jawaharlal Nehru "would live to confess the failure of universal adult franchise in India"…but when the general elections were held it was admired equally by the observers outside India also. TheIndian experiment had proved the critics wrong. In fact, become a landmark in the history of democracy all over the world.


1. How the first general elections of 1952 became a major landmark in the history of democracy all over the world?


2. What problems did election commission confront while holding the first general elections in the country?

 20

On the basis of your interpretation of the cartoon given below, answer the following questions:

a. Do you consider China effective enough to challenge the pre-eminent position of in the world? Evaluate China's role as an alternative centre of power to the US in this direction.


b. Suggest any two effective strategies to deal with US hegemony in the contemporary world order

 21

In the given political map of India, five places are marked as A, B, C, D and E.

Identify them with the help of information given below and write their correct name in the answer book along with their serial numbers and the alphabet concerned.


i. A state which declared its Independence from India in 1951


ii. A state that was carved out of Assam in 1972


iii. A state where the Chipko movement was carried out


iv. The latest state of Indian Union


v. A state where an organization of Dalit Panthers was formed.