CBSE Class 10 Social Sciences Civics Federalism HOTS
Q.1. Some subjects have been mentioned below. Categorise them into Union List, State List and Concurrent List.
(i) Education (ii) Currency (iii) Police (iv) Forest (v) Banking (vi) Communication
Ans. (a) Union List – Currency, Banking and Communication.
(b) State List – Police
(c) Concurrent List – Education, Forest
Q.2. How is the Indian federal system different from that of Sri Lanka ? Explain by giving three examples.
Ans. (i) Sri Lanka believes in majoritarianism whereas in India equal rights are given to minorities.
(ii) In Sri Lanka, Sinhala is the only official language, whereas in India though Hindi is the official language but along with Hindi, 21 other languages have been recognised as Scheduled Languages.
(iii) In Sri Lanka, the government protects and fosters Buddhism, whereas India is a secular country.
Q.3. Explain how the federal experiment has been successful in the matter of formation of states in India. [CBSE 2011]
Ans. (i) The federal experiment had been successful in matter of formation of states in India because of the nature of the democratic politics of the country.
(ii) Earlier, when the demand for the formation of linguistic states was raised, some national leaders feared that it would lead to the disintegration of the country.
(iii) But the experience has shown that the formation of linguistic states has actually made the country more united.
(iv) It has also made administration easier.
(v) Linguistic States : After independence, the boundaries of many old states of India were changed in order to create new states to ensure that people who spoke the same language, lived in one state. For example, Gujarati-speaking Gujarat and Marathi¬speaking Maharashtra.
(vi) Cultural States : Some states were created to recognize differences of culture, ethnicity and geography, e.g., Nagaland, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.
Q.4. Critically analyse the Centre-State relations prior to 1990 and after. [CBSE 2013]
Ans. (i) Prior to 1990, except for once, the Congress ruled at the centre for about 40 years. These were the years when the single party made the government.
(ii) The government at the centre ruled the states with biased views. It supported those states which had a government formed by the same party. The government at many occasions dismissed the state governments formed by other parties in the name of law and order situations. In other words, the centre dictated the states and the states had no alternative except to follow the centre.
(iii) The rise of regional politics in many states has changed the Centre-State relations significantly after 1990. This was also the beginning of the era of coalition governments at the centre.
(iv) Since, no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many small regional parties. Hence, regional parties do take care of their states.
(v) This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of state government. It became difficult for the central government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner.
Q.5. Why did the makers of our Constitution declare India to be a ‘Union of states’ ? Why were some sub-political units of India given a special status ? [CBSE 2012]
Ans. (1) India became a ‘Union of states’ because it consisted of both British ruled territories as well as many princely states.
(2) Some sub-political units of India have a special status :
(i) All British ruled regions have same status.
(ii) All princely states that have voluntarily joined have the same status as British ruled territory.
(iii) French and Portuguese ruled territories were given the status of Union Territory.
(iu) Jammu & Kashmir joined India on special condition.
Q.6. What is the rationale for decentralization of power ? Describe the functions of Rural Local Government. [CBSE 2013]
Ans. (1) (i) The rationale behind decentralisation is to ensure community participation for proper growth and development of the community itself. It is aimed to ensure social, economic and political development of the community.
(ii) It is also oriented to ensure no or less interferences in the local affairs by the Union and State executive bodies. It has been executed to make village ‘Little Republic’.
(2) Following are the functions of the rural local government :
(i) Supply of water for domestic use.
(ii) Maintaining public health and sanitation.
(iii) Construction and repairing of public roads.
(iv) Lighting on roads and public places.
(v) Construction, repairing and maintaining public buildings, grazing lands, forest, public wells and tanks in good conditions.
