IX Civics Ch-2 Constitutional Design
IX Civics Ch-2
Constitutional Design
Topic: Constitution: Meaning & Importance
Constitution : Meaning
*A constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all the people living in a country.
*The constitution is a fundamental (basic ,violation ), living, legal document .
*It is a set of rules and laws according to which a country is governed .
*It constantly grows according to the needs, requirement and wishes of the people.
*Constitution is the supreme law that determines the relationship between and among the people living in a territory and also the relationship between the citizens and the government.
Need of constitution
*All Democratic countries have their constitutions as for proper functioning of democracy, constitution is essential.
The constitution is a important legal document
1. It defines composition, powers and functions of the government .
It is essential for the smooth functioning of the administrative system.
It clearly explains the powers of central and state government .
2. It defines the country’s political system .
3. It tells us about the fundamental nature of the society.
4. It is source of our fundamental rights .
5. It contains safeguards against the misuse of political power.
6. It reflects the ideals that make the philosophy of the state .
7.It develops coordination ,trust as all follow it.
Every country has diverse groups of people. All over the world people have differences of opinion and interests. Whether democratic or not, most countries in the world need to have some basic rules to generate a trust and coordination which is necessary to live together.
8.These fundamental rules are essential for the stability and development of the country.
9. the Constitution helps to protect us against certain decisions that we might take that could have an adverse effect on the larger principles that the country believes in.
10 . Constitution protects the minorities .
Constitution : Making of the Indian Constitution
The Constituent Assembly
*Under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946 a Constituent Assembly was constituted in 1946 for framing the Indian Constitution.
*The drafting of the constitution was done by the Constituent assembly.
*Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946.
*The Constituent Assembly was elected mainly by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures.
*This ensured a fair geographical share of members from all the regions of the country. Congress, which was the dominant party in the Assembly, itself included a variety of political groups and opinions.
* It represented members from different languages, castes, religions, classes and occupations.
* Its first meeting was held in December 1946. It had 299 members.
6 dec 1946-
9 dec 1946
*Dr. Sachidanand Sinha, the senior most member of the assembly, was elected as the temporary president of the assembly.
* Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent president of the Assembly.
* The assembly adopted(commencement of the Constitution
the constitution on 26 November 1949
* It came into force on 26 January 1950. To mark this day we celebrate January 26 as Republic Day every year.
* Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is considered the father of the Indian Constitution.
*The Constituent Assembly took almost 3 years (2 years, 11 months& 18 days) to draft the Constitution for Independent India.
Challenges before the constituent Assembly
*India’s Constitution was also drawn up under very difficult circumstances. Following were the challenges before the Assembly.
*The making of the constitution for a huge and diverse country like India was not an easy affair.
*The country was born through a partition on the basis of religious differences. At least ten lakh people were killed on both sides of the border in partition related violence.
* The merger of these princely states was a difficult and uncertain task.
Operation polo-hyderabad (usman ali vii)
* The makers of the constitution had anxieties about the present and the future of the country
Sources of Indian Constitution
Our leaders gained confidence to learn from other countries, but on our own terms. India constitution has borrowed its provisions from following sources.
1. Government of India Act, 1935- Federal System
2. United Kingdom - Parliamentary system
3. USA-Oldest Written Constitution(7Arti
4. Australia- Concurrent list- 7 schedule 52
5. USSR- Fundamental duties(harmony brotherhood , 11 duties, 1976, 42nd 86th 11 2002
6. Canada- Federal system.
7. South Africa- Procedure of constitutional amendment
8. Ireland- Concept of directive principles of state policy.
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Topic: Philosophy of the Constitution
Acceptance of the Indian Constitution-
*The first reason for accepting the Constitution is that the
Constituent Assembly represented the people of India.
*It included a variety of political , social groups and opinions.
*The Assembly represented members from different language
groups, castes, classes, religions and occupations.
* The Second reason The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time. Over the last half century no large social group or political party has ever questioned the legitimacy of the Constitution itself.
* Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner. This gives sanctity to the Constitution.
Preamble
*Values that inspired and guided the freedom struggle formed the foundation for India’s democracy.
*These values are embedded in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
*Preamble is a short statement of the basic values of the constitution.
*Constitution begins with Preamble.
* It contains the philosophy on which the entire constitution has been built.
*These values in the preamble guide all the articles of the Indian Constitution.
* It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of government, to find out whether it is good or bad.
*It is the soul of the Indian Constitution.
Topic: Struggle of democracy in
South Africa
Apartheid System
*Apartheid was a system of racial discrimination imposed White Europeans in South Africa.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Dutch and British occupied it with arms and force.
*Apartheid divided the people and labelled them on the basis of their skin colour.
In Apartheid system there three basic racial categories -
1.Blacks 2. Coloured 3.White
* The native people of South Africa are black in colour.
They made up about three-fourth of the population and were called ‘blacks’.
*Besides This groups, there were people of mixed races
who were called ‘coloured’ and people who migrated from India.
The white rulers treated all nonwhites as inferiors. The non-whites did not have voting rights.
Policies of Segregation
*The apartheid system was oppressive for the blacks.
*They were forbidden from living in white areas.
*They could work in white areas only if they had a permit.
*There were separate Public facilities and public places for blacks and coloured.
*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.
They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped.
Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.
Struggle against apartheid
*Since 1950, the blacks, coloured and Indians fought against theapartheid system.
*They launched protest marches and strikes.
*The African National Congress (ANC) was the umbrella organisation that led the struggle against the policies of
segregation.
*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.
White racial government imposed Ban on political parties and restrictions on the media.
Prominent leaders who fought for the liberation of the country were suppressed imprisoned and killed like
*Nelson Mandela (Imprisoned for 28 years)
*Steve Biko (Tortured and Brutally killed by police in prison)
*Hector Pieterson 12 year old boy who protested was captured and killed by police.
*Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist. But the white racist government continued to rule by detaining, torturing and killing thousands of black and coloured people.
*In the second half of the 20th century struggle against apartheid became stronger British government realized that they could no longer keep the blacks under their rule through repression. The white regime changed its policies. Discriminatory laws were repealed.
Finally in April 1994 , This led to the freedom and formation new constitution in South Africa
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