Important Questions (1 Mark): Power-sharing - Class 10

The Indian Tamils  are descendants of bonded labourers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work on tea plantations. Most Sri Lankan Tamils live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital Colombo, and most Indian Tamils live in the central highlands.

Most of the Sinhalese follow the Theravada school of Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhalese speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Buddhists include various religious elements from Hinduism in their religious practices and ancient traditions of godlings and demons, which are native to the island. Sinhalese Buddhists worship Hindu gods such as Vishnu, who has a special place in their religious practices, since he is entrusted with both protecting Buddhism in the island and the island itself. He is also recognised as bodhisattva, or "awakening being" to Sinhalese Buddhists.

The capital of Belgium is the City of Brussels, which is the largest of the 19 municipalities within the Brussels-Capital Region. This city also serves as the administrative center of the European Union. It covers a total area of 12.59 square miles and has a population size of 178,552. The metropolitan area, which includes the Brussels-Capital Region, has a population of 1.8 million.

Belgium has three official languages. Dutch is spoken by 59% of the population, French 40%, and German 1%. Even though English isn’t an official language of Belgium, it is still spoken by 55% of its people.

Around 80 per cent of the 1 million population of Brussels have French as their first language, while around 59 per cent claim to be bilingual in French and Flemish (Dutch). Belgian French is distinct from standard French as it contains many Germanic and Romance dialect words and syntax.

The two main social groups in Sri Lanka are:
• Sinhala-speakers - 74%
• Tamil-speakers - 18 %. Among Tamils there are two subgroups;
• Tamil natives or the ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ - 13 %.
• ‘Indian Tamils’- 87 % of the Tamil-speakers. Their forefathers came from India as plantation workers during colonial period.

The Sinhala Only Act, formally the Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956, was an act passed in the Parliament of Ceylon in 1956. The act replaced English as the official language of Ceylon with Sinhalese. The act failed to give official recognition to Tamil, which had not received official recognition before.
 

Buddhism became the official religion of Sri Lanka. The Sacred Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka in 4th century by Prince Danta and Princess Hemamala. Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism of any Buddhist nation.

Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948. The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure dominance over government by virtue of their majority.

The correct answer is d) All of the above.

a) A legitimate government is one where citizens, through participation, acquire a stake in the system: This statement is true because a legitimate government should involve the active participation of its citizens, allowing them to have a say in decision-making processes and ensuring that their interests are taken into account.

b) Prudential reasons stress that power-sharing will bring out better outcomes; moral reasons emphasize the very act of power sharing as valuable: This statement is also true. Prudential reasons argue that power-sharing is beneficial because it allows for a diversity of perspectives and expertise, leading to better decision-making and outcomes. Moral reasons, on the other hand, emphasize power-sharing as a valuable act in itself, promoting principles of equality, fairness, and respect for individuals and their rights.

c) A democratic rule involves sharing power with those affected by its exercise and who have to live with its effects: This statement is true because democracy is based on the idea that power should be distributed among the people, and decisions should be made collectively, taking into account the opinions and interests of those affected by them. Democratic rule involves the participation of citizens and the sharing of power with them.

Therefore, all of the statements are true, highlighting different aspects and justifications for the importance of power-sharing and citizen participation in a legitimate and democratic government.

D- In the above given statements the options B, C and D are correct because in both the countries the government works as the community government for its citizens. And we know that community government is that form of government which is for a particular language or culture and has the power regarding cultural, educational and other language related issues. Hence, option (d) is correct

The minority community which was relatively rich and powerful in Belgium were the French.

The demands of Tamils in Sri Lanka were as follows.
(i) Recognition of Tamil as an official language.
(ii) More autonomy to provinces populated by Tamils. Equality of opportunity in securing education and jobs.
(iii) Later, they demanded formation of an independent Tamil Elam (state) in Northern and Eastern part of Sri Lanka.

Non-sharing of power led to tyranny of the majority and oppression of minority and negation of the very spirit of democracy.

Prudentially power sharing helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups. Since social conflict often leads to violence and political instability, power sharing is a good way to ensure the stability of political order. Imposing the will of majority community over others may look like an attractive option in the short run, but in the long run it undermines the unity of the nation. Tyranny of the majority is not just oppressive for the minority; it often brings ruin to the majority as well.

When the power in a country is divided into the Central and the State government, it is called a federal division of power. In a federal set up, while the Central government looks after the administration of the entire country, the state governments look into the administration of their respective states.

There is division of powers among various organs of the government and that is called federal system.This system is in India and Belgium

Power is shared among different organs of government, such as the legislature, executive and judiciary. This type of distribution can be called the horizontal distribution of power. This type of power sharing allows different organs of government placed at the same level to exercise different powers.

Horizontal distribution of power contains the role of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. These always keeps a check on each other to prevent then from being over powerful. Hence the separation is referred as 'checks and balances'

Between 1970 to 1993 the constitution of Belgium constitution was amended for four times.