Friday 22 April 2016

CBSE Class 8 - Civics - Chapter 1: The Indian Constitution (Questions and Answers)

Chapter: The Indian Constitution

CBSE Class 8 - Civics - Chapter 1: The Indian Constitution (Questions and Answers)

Q & A based on NCERT chapter




       Want to download the latest Constitution of India document (March 4, 2016). Click here.


Q1: What is a constitution?

Answer: A constitution is document consisting of basic rules or principles according to which the people of a country are governed.


Q2: What purposes are served by Indian Constitution?

Answer: The constitution serves several purposes such as:

  (i)  It lays out certain ideals which form the basis of kind of country we aspire to live in.
  (ii) It helps serve basic set of rules to govern the nation.
  (iii) It defines the nature of political system. It provides guidelines how government should be elected and its machinery should work.
  (iv)  It ensures that a dominant group does not use its power against other, less powerful people or groups.


Q3: Name the national goals laid out by our constitution.

Answer: Democracy, Secularism and Socialism.


Q4: In which of the following situations is a minister misusing his power:

a) refuses to sanction a project of his ministry for sound technical reasons;
b) threatens to send his security staff to rough up his neighbour.
c) calls up the police station asking them not to register a complaint that is likely to be filed against his relative.

Answer: Case (b) and (c) where the minister is misusing his power.


Q5: How does Indian constitution guarantees the right to equality to all citizens?

Answer: The Indian Constitution guarantees the right to equality to all persons and says that no citizen can be discriminated against on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender, and place of birth. It is a Fundamental right.




Q6: Define Polity

Answer: It refers to a society that has an organised political structure. e.g. India is a democratic polity.


Q7: "The people of Nepal drafted a new constitution after the success of people’s movement for democracy". What Constitutive Rule they would like to follow?

Answer: The new constitution will lay down ideals that define the kind of the country that we want to live in. Nepal's earlier constitution was in favour of monarchy and did not lay fundamental rules of democracy.


Q8: Who is known as Father of the Indian Constitution?

Answer: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar


Q9: What were the challenges faced by the Constituent Assembly while drafting the Indian constitution?

Answer:
 i. The country was made up of several different communities who spoke different languages, belonged to different religions, and had distinct cultures.

 ii. Due to partition of India, there was considerable turmoil. There was law and order problem and future of Princely States was undecided.

 iii. The socio-economic condition of the vast mass of people appeared dismal.


Q10: Define Federalism in terms of Indian constitution. Or What type of federal structure laid out by Indian constitution.

Answer: Federalism refers to the existence of more than one level of government in the country. Indian federal structure is a three tier governance.
   Tier 1: Central Government
   Tier 2: State Government
   Tier 3: Panchayti Raj



Q11: What do you mean by parliamentary form of government laid down by the Indian constitution?

Answer: The Constitution of India provides a Parliamentary form of government. It is also called cabinet government. In this system the executive is collectively responsible to the legislature. The executive are directly elected by people of India as our constitution guarantees universal adult suffrage to all the citizens.


Q12: What are Fundamental Rights? List these rights.


Answer: Fundamental rights are the natural rights which are protected and guaranteed by the constitution. These rights help in realizing true democracy and ensure equality to all the citizens. The six fundamental rights laid out by the Indian constitution are:

  i. Right to equality
  ii. Right Freedom
  iii. Right against exploitation
  iv. Right to freedom of Religion
  v. Cultural and Educational rights
  vi. Right to Constitutional remedies


Q13: Which Fundamental Rights will the following situations violate:

  (a) If a 13-year old child is working in a factory manufacturing carpets.
  (b) If a politician in one state decides to not allow labourers from other states to work in his state.
  (c) If a group of people are not given permission to open a Telugu-medium school in Kerala.
  (d) If the government decides not to promote an officer of the armed forces because she is a woman.

Answer: (a) Right against exploitation. The Constitution prohibits trafficking, forced labour, and children working under 14 years of age.

(b) Right to Equality: All persons are equal before the law. The State cannot discriminate against anyone in matters of employment.

(c) Cultural and Educational Rights: The Constitution states that all minorities, religious or linguistic, can set up their own educational institutions in order to preserve and develop their own culture.

(d) Right to equality: No citizen can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, caste or gender.


Q14(HOTS): Should a constitution always be a written document?

Answer: Most of the democratic nations have written constitution. However there are exception e.g. most of the British constitution is un-written.


Q15(HOTS): The Preamble of Indian Constitution declares India as "... a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic..." What do you mean by "sovereign" here?

Answer: Here sovereign means having complete political freedom and being the supreme authority.



Q16: What are the salient features of Indian Constitution?

Answer:

(i) Largest Written Constitution
(ii) Fundamental Rights and Duties
(iii) Directive Principles of State Policy
(iv) Integrated Judicial System
(v) Single citizenship
(vi) Universal Adult Franchise
(vii) Federal System and Parliamentary Form of Government


See the blog post on Salient Features of Indian Constitution


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