Textbook: Challenges faced by Indian Democracy | History and Political Science Class 10 (Maharashtra Board) PDF Download

 Page 1


97
As we have said earlier, democracy 
is a continuous living process.  Mere 
adoption of democracy does not bring 
democracy into practice. Alert and 
conscious efforts are required to sustain 
democracy. It is necessary to understand 
threats to democracy in time and deal 
with them in a democratic manner. In this 
chapter we will primarily focus on 
challenges before democracy in India. But 
before that let us have a look at challenges 
before democracy at the global level.   
 Today every nation in the world 
claims to be democratic. But in reality 
very few nations in the world have 
democracy that protects the rights and 
freedom of people and gives priority to 
the welfare of people. Many democracies 
are facing the challenge of military take 
over. Spread of democratic values at the 
global level and adoption of true 
democracy by all nations is a major 
challenge at global level.
inclusion of all social components, 
autonomy to social institutions, 
empowerment of citizens, protection of 
human values need to be adopted for real 
cultivation of democracy. 
 Another challenge before democratic 
nations is to ensure that democracy 
becomes deep rooted. Freedom, equality, 
fraternity and justice, peace, development 
and humanitarianism are the values that 
should be practiced at all levels of the 
society. The mass support for this purpose 
can be gathered only through democratic 
means.  
Challenges before Indian Democracy
To make democracy more meaningful 
the government of India decentralised 
power and adopted the policy of 
reservation for women and weaker sections 
of the society. But we should think 
whether such measures really gave power 
in the hands of citizens?
Which democratic institutions need 
to be established for transformation 
from non-democratic system to a 
democratic system ?
Questions in my mind
China adopted economic reforms 
and also became a member of the 
World Trade Organisation. But China 
continues to have a one party system.  
Is China a democratic nation ?
5. Challenges faced by Indian Democracy
 Democratic values are found to be 
very weak even in those nations where 
democracy appears to be deep-rooted. In 
nations like India, democracy appears in 
the form of voting, elections, governmental 
structure, judiciary etc. However this is 
only a political form of democracy.  To 
become a way of life democracy must be 
practiced in each and every aspect of 
social life. Several measures such as 
In democracy, to get power, political 
parties contest elections. But do political 
parties organise internal elections ? It is 
necessary that political parties should 
hold elections at the organisational 
level. Are such elections held ?
Can you tell ?
Page 2


97
As we have said earlier, democracy 
is a continuous living process.  Mere 
adoption of democracy does not bring 
democracy into practice. Alert and 
conscious efforts are required to sustain 
democracy. It is necessary to understand 
threats to democracy in time and deal 
with them in a democratic manner. In this 
chapter we will primarily focus on 
challenges before democracy in India. But 
before that let us have a look at challenges 
before democracy at the global level.   
 Today every nation in the world 
claims to be democratic. But in reality 
very few nations in the world have 
democracy that protects the rights and 
freedom of people and gives priority to 
the welfare of people. Many democracies 
are facing the challenge of military take 
over. Spread of democratic values at the 
global level and adoption of true 
democracy by all nations is a major 
challenge at global level.
inclusion of all social components, 
autonomy to social institutions, 
empowerment of citizens, protection of 
human values need to be adopted for real 
cultivation of democracy. 
 Another challenge before democratic 
nations is to ensure that democracy 
becomes deep rooted. Freedom, equality, 
fraternity and justice, peace, development 
and humanitarianism are the values that 
should be practiced at all levels of the 
society. The mass support for this purpose 
can be gathered only through democratic 
means.  
Challenges before Indian Democracy
To make democracy more meaningful 
the government of India decentralised 
power and adopted the policy of 
reservation for women and weaker sections 
of the society. But we should think 
whether such measures really gave power 
in the hands of citizens?
Which democratic institutions need 
to be established for transformation 
from non-democratic system to a 
democratic system ?
Questions in my mind
China adopted economic reforms 
and also became a member of the 
World Trade Organisation. But China 
continues to have a one party system.  
Is China a democratic nation ?
5. Challenges faced by Indian Democracy
 Democratic values are found to be 
very weak even in those nations where 
democracy appears to be deep-rooted. In 
nations like India, democracy appears in 
the form of voting, elections, governmental 
structure, judiciary etc. However this is 
only a political form of democracy.  To 
become a way of life democracy must be 
practiced in each and every aspect of 
social life. Several measures such as 
In democracy, to get power, political 
parties contest elections. But do political 
parties organise internal elections ? It is 
necessary that political parties should 
hold elections at the organisational 
level. Are such elections held ?
Can you tell ?
98
Communalism and terrorism : 
Religious conflict and the resultant 
terrorism is one of the major challenges 
before Indian democracy. Social stability 
gets hampered due to increasing religious 
hostility. People’s participation in 
democratic process reduces to a great 
extent due to terrorism.
Left extremists - Naxalism : Naxalism 
is a major problem in India. Naxalism 
began as a movement to remove injustice 
against aggressive landless farmers and 
tribal people. But today Naxalism has 
become a violent struggle. In the Naxalite 
movement the importance of the problems 
of farmers and tribal people has reduced. 
Instead, violent measures to oppose the 
government policies, attacking the police 
forces and such other tactics are used by 
the Naxalite groups.
Corruption : In India the extent of 
corruption is  said to be very high in the 
public sector. Government’s working 
capacity is reduced due to corruption at 
the political and administrative levels. 
People develop distrust and dissatisfaction 
about the entire governmental system due 
to delay in governmental work, poor public 
services and facilities and different 
financial blunders. Corruption in the 
electoral process, bogus voting, bribing the 
voters, abducting the voters and such other 
things reduces people’s confidence in the 
democratic process.
process is another serious problem for 
democratic systems. Sometimes political 
parties give candidature to people having 
a criminal background, facing  criminal 
allegations and allegations of corruption. 
This increases the role of money and 
muscle power in politics. This may also 
lead to violence during elections. 
Social challenges : Apart from the 
challenges mentioned above, Indian 
democracy faces other social challenges. 
The problems like unemployment, unequal 
distribution of resources, increasing gap 
between rich and poor, caste based issues, 
need to be resolved.
What steps should be taken to make 
Indian Democracy successful?
(1) Majority opinion has a lot of 
importance in Democracy. In a democracy, 
Political party getting majority of votes 
comes to power. Parliament takes all 
decisions by majority. Democracy aims at 
the welfare of majority of people. When 
the importance is given to majority it is 
possible that injustice may be done to 
those who are marginal and who are in 
minority. Though democracy is a 
government by majority, minorities should 
also be included in the process of decision- 
making. It is the duty of government to 
take into consideration the interests of 
minorities. In short, in democratic 
government everyone’s opinion should be 
considered important. Similarly majority 
government should not be the government 
of majority community. All religious, 
linguistic, ethnic and caste groups should 
get equal opportunity to participate in the 
decision-making process. 
(2) Judiciary in India is seen to be 
making conscious efforts to make political 
process transparent. To prevent 
criminalisation of politics, judiciary has 
adopted measures like strict punishment 
What do you think ?
Family monopoly in politics is a major 
problem before democracy in India. 
Monopoly of just one family in politics 
reduces democratic space. Common people 
cannot participate in the public sector. 
Criminalisation of politics : Increased 
participation of criminals in political 
Page 3


97
As we have said earlier, democracy 
is a continuous living process.  Mere 
adoption of democracy does not bring 
democracy into practice. Alert and 
conscious efforts are required to sustain 
democracy. It is necessary to understand 
threats to democracy in time and deal 
with them in a democratic manner. In this 
chapter we will primarily focus on 
challenges before democracy in India. But 
before that let us have a look at challenges 
before democracy at the global level.   
 Today every nation in the world 
claims to be democratic. But in reality 
very few nations in the world have 
democracy that protects the rights and 
freedom of people and gives priority to 
the welfare of people. Many democracies 
are facing the challenge of military take 
over. Spread of democratic values at the 
global level and adoption of true 
democracy by all nations is a major 
challenge at global level.
inclusion of all social components, 
autonomy to social institutions, 
empowerment of citizens, protection of 
human values need to be adopted for real 
cultivation of democracy. 
 Another challenge before democratic 
nations is to ensure that democracy 
becomes deep rooted. Freedom, equality, 
fraternity and justice, peace, development 
and humanitarianism are the values that 
should be practiced at all levels of the 
society. The mass support for this purpose 
can be gathered only through democratic 
means.  
Challenges before Indian Democracy
To make democracy more meaningful 
the government of India decentralised 
power and adopted the policy of 
reservation for women and weaker sections 
of the society. But we should think 
whether such measures really gave power 
in the hands of citizens?
Which democratic institutions need 
to be established for transformation 
from non-democratic system to a 
democratic system ?
Questions in my mind
China adopted economic reforms 
and also became a member of the 
World Trade Organisation. But China 
continues to have a one party system.  
Is China a democratic nation ?
5. Challenges faced by Indian Democracy
 Democratic values are found to be 
very weak even in those nations where 
democracy appears to be deep-rooted. In 
nations like India, democracy appears in 
the form of voting, elections, governmental 
structure, judiciary etc. However this is 
only a political form of democracy.  To 
become a way of life democracy must be 
practiced in each and every aspect of 
social life. Several measures such as 
In democracy, to get power, political 
parties contest elections. But do political 
parties organise internal elections ? It is 
necessary that political parties should 
hold elections at the organisational 
level. Are such elections held ?
Can you tell ?
98
Communalism and terrorism : 
Religious conflict and the resultant 
terrorism is one of the major challenges 
before Indian democracy. Social stability 
gets hampered due to increasing religious 
hostility. People’s participation in 
democratic process reduces to a great 
extent due to terrorism.
Left extremists - Naxalism : Naxalism 
is a major problem in India. Naxalism 
began as a movement to remove injustice 
against aggressive landless farmers and 
tribal people. But today Naxalism has 
become a violent struggle. In the Naxalite 
movement the importance of the problems 
of farmers and tribal people has reduced. 
Instead, violent measures to oppose the 
government policies, attacking the police 
forces and such other tactics are used by 
the Naxalite groups.
Corruption : In India the extent of 
corruption is  said to be very high in the 
public sector. Government’s working 
capacity is reduced due to corruption at 
the political and administrative levels. 
People develop distrust and dissatisfaction 
about the entire governmental system due 
to delay in governmental work, poor public 
services and facilities and different 
financial blunders. Corruption in the 
electoral process, bogus voting, bribing the 
voters, abducting the voters and such other 
things reduces people’s confidence in the 
democratic process.
process is another serious problem for 
democratic systems. Sometimes political 
parties give candidature to people having 
a criminal background, facing  criminal 
allegations and allegations of corruption. 
This increases the role of money and 
muscle power in politics. This may also 
lead to violence during elections. 
Social challenges : Apart from the 
challenges mentioned above, Indian 
democracy faces other social challenges. 
The problems like unemployment, unequal 
distribution of resources, increasing gap 
between rich and poor, caste based issues, 
need to be resolved.
What steps should be taken to make 
Indian Democracy successful?
(1) Majority opinion has a lot of 
importance in Democracy. In a democracy, 
Political party getting majority of votes 
comes to power. Parliament takes all 
decisions by majority. Democracy aims at 
the welfare of majority of people. When 
the importance is given to majority it is 
possible that injustice may be done to 
those who are marginal and who are in 
minority. Though democracy is a 
government by majority, minorities should 
also be included in the process of decision- 
making. It is the duty of government to 
take into consideration the interests of 
minorities. In short, in democratic 
government everyone’s opinion should be 
considered important. Similarly majority 
government should not be the government 
of majority community. All religious, 
linguistic, ethnic and caste groups should 
get equal opportunity to participate in the 
decision-making process. 
(2) Judiciary in India is seen to be 
making conscious efforts to make political 
process transparent. To prevent 
criminalisation of politics, judiciary has 
adopted measures like strict punishment 
What do you think ?
Family monopoly in politics is a major 
problem before democracy in India. 
Monopoly of just one family in politics 
reduces democratic space. Common people 
cannot participate in the public sector. 
Criminalisation of politics : Increased 
participation of criminals in political 
99
to criminals and prohibiting criminals 
from participating in political process.
(3) To make democracy successful in 
India, it is not just sufficient to make 
efforts at the level of government, 
administration and judiciary. Everyone at 
social and individual level should make 
conscious efforts towards it. Sarva Shiksha 
Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Gram 
Samruddhi Yojana, Self-help Groups, 
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme and such 
other projects are undertaken at the level 
of Government and Administration. To 
increase political participation of women, 
50% seats are kept reserved in local self-
governing institutions. 
(4) To make Indian democracy truly 
successful, it is essential to increase 
participation of people at all levels. If 
such participation increases especially at 
the level of the government it will help 
in changing public policies. Public polices 
are made through interaction with the 
people. Interaction with those who are not 
in power is also important for the success 
of democracy. 
The values of equality, liberty, social 
justice, secularism should be respected 
and implemented even in our personal 
life. For the success of democracy, 
everyone should keep in mind that we are 
responsible citizens of the nation. 
1. Choose the correct option from the given 
options and complete the sentences.
 (1) In a democracy ............ participate in 
elections and get political power.
 (a) political parties     (b) courts
 (c) social organisations
 (d) none of the above
 (2) The major challenge faced by all 
democratic nations in the world is 
............  .
 (a) Religious conflicts
 (b) Naxal activities 
 (c) Deepening the roots of democracy
 (d) Importance to muscle power 
2. State whether following statements are 
true or false. Give reasons for your 
answer.
 (1) Alertness is required to sustain 
democracy.
 (2) Importance of the problems of farmers 
and tribals has increased in the left 
extremist movement.
 (3) People may lose confidence in the 
democratic process due to corruption 
during elections.
3. Explain the concept.
 (1) Left-extremism  (2) Corruption
4. Answer the following questions in brief.
 (3) Which factors are required for the 
success of democracy in India ?
 (2) What are the effects of criminalisation 
of politics ?
 (3) What efforts are undertaken to bring 
transparency in political process ?
Project 
 (1) What measures will you suggest to 
control corruption? Make a list of it.
 (2) Organise a group discussion in your 
class on the problem of terrorism in 
India.
 (3) Present a street play on ‘how to get 
rid of addiction ?’.
Exercise
Page 4


97
As we have said earlier, democracy 
is a continuous living process.  Mere 
adoption of democracy does not bring 
democracy into practice. Alert and 
conscious efforts are required to sustain 
democracy. It is necessary to understand 
threats to democracy in time and deal 
with them in a democratic manner. In this 
chapter we will primarily focus on 
challenges before democracy in India. But 
before that let us have a look at challenges 
before democracy at the global level.   
 Today every nation in the world 
claims to be democratic. But in reality 
very few nations in the world have 
democracy that protects the rights and 
freedom of people and gives priority to 
the welfare of people. Many democracies 
are facing the challenge of military take 
over. Spread of democratic values at the 
global level and adoption of true 
democracy by all nations is a major 
challenge at global level.
inclusion of all social components, 
autonomy to social institutions, 
empowerment of citizens, protection of 
human values need to be adopted for real 
cultivation of democracy. 
 Another challenge before democratic 
nations is to ensure that democracy 
becomes deep rooted. Freedom, equality, 
fraternity and justice, peace, development 
and humanitarianism are the values that 
should be practiced at all levels of the 
society. The mass support for this purpose 
can be gathered only through democratic 
means.  
Challenges before Indian Democracy
To make democracy more meaningful 
the government of India decentralised 
power and adopted the policy of 
reservation for women and weaker sections 
of the society. But we should think 
whether such measures really gave power 
in the hands of citizens?
Which democratic institutions need 
to be established for transformation 
from non-democratic system to a 
democratic system ?
Questions in my mind
China adopted economic reforms 
and also became a member of the 
World Trade Organisation. But China 
continues to have a one party system.  
Is China a democratic nation ?
5. Challenges faced by Indian Democracy
 Democratic values are found to be 
very weak even in those nations where 
democracy appears to be deep-rooted. In 
nations like India, democracy appears in 
the form of voting, elections, governmental 
structure, judiciary etc. However this is 
only a political form of democracy.  To 
become a way of life democracy must be 
practiced in each and every aspect of 
social life. Several measures such as 
In democracy, to get power, political 
parties contest elections. But do political 
parties organise internal elections ? It is 
necessary that political parties should 
hold elections at the organisational 
level. Are such elections held ?
Can you tell ?
98
Communalism and terrorism : 
Religious conflict and the resultant 
terrorism is one of the major challenges 
before Indian democracy. Social stability 
gets hampered due to increasing religious 
hostility. People’s participation in 
democratic process reduces to a great 
extent due to terrorism.
Left extremists - Naxalism : Naxalism 
is a major problem in India. Naxalism 
began as a movement to remove injustice 
against aggressive landless farmers and 
tribal people. But today Naxalism has 
become a violent struggle. In the Naxalite 
movement the importance of the problems 
of farmers and tribal people has reduced. 
Instead, violent measures to oppose the 
government policies, attacking the police 
forces and such other tactics are used by 
the Naxalite groups.
Corruption : In India the extent of 
corruption is  said to be very high in the 
public sector. Government’s working 
capacity is reduced due to corruption at 
the political and administrative levels. 
People develop distrust and dissatisfaction 
about the entire governmental system due 
to delay in governmental work, poor public 
services and facilities and different 
financial blunders. Corruption in the 
electoral process, bogus voting, bribing the 
voters, abducting the voters and such other 
things reduces people’s confidence in the 
democratic process.
process is another serious problem for 
democratic systems. Sometimes political 
parties give candidature to people having 
a criminal background, facing  criminal 
allegations and allegations of corruption. 
This increases the role of money and 
muscle power in politics. This may also 
lead to violence during elections. 
Social challenges : Apart from the 
challenges mentioned above, Indian 
democracy faces other social challenges. 
The problems like unemployment, unequal 
distribution of resources, increasing gap 
between rich and poor, caste based issues, 
need to be resolved.
What steps should be taken to make 
Indian Democracy successful?
(1) Majority opinion has a lot of 
importance in Democracy. In a democracy, 
Political party getting majority of votes 
comes to power. Parliament takes all 
decisions by majority. Democracy aims at 
the welfare of majority of people. When 
the importance is given to majority it is 
possible that injustice may be done to 
those who are marginal and who are in 
minority. Though democracy is a 
government by majority, minorities should 
also be included in the process of decision- 
making. It is the duty of government to 
take into consideration the interests of 
minorities. In short, in democratic 
government everyone’s opinion should be 
considered important. Similarly majority 
government should not be the government 
of majority community. All religious, 
linguistic, ethnic and caste groups should 
get equal opportunity to participate in the 
decision-making process. 
(2) Judiciary in India is seen to be 
making conscious efforts to make political 
process transparent. To prevent 
criminalisation of politics, judiciary has 
adopted measures like strict punishment 
What do you think ?
Family monopoly in politics is a major 
problem before democracy in India. 
Monopoly of just one family in politics 
reduces democratic space. Common people 
cannot participate in the public sector. 
Criminalisation of politics : Increased 
participation of criminals in political 
99
to criminals and prohibiting criminals 
from participating in political process.
(3) To make democracy successful in 
India, it is not just sufficient to make 
efforts at the level of government, 
administration and judiciary. Everyone at 
social and individual level should make 
conscious efforts towards it. Sarva Shiksha 
Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Gram 
Samruddhi Yojana, Self-help Groups, 
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme and such 
other projects are undertaken at the level 
of Government and Administration. To 
increase political participation of women, 
50% seats are kept reserved in local self-
governing institutions. 
(4) To make Indian democracy truly 
successful, it is essential to increase 
participation of people at all levels. If 
such participation increases especially at 
the level of the government it will help 
in changing public policies. Public polices 
are made through interaction with the 
people. Interaction with those who are not 
in power is also important for the success 
of democracy. 
The values of equality, liberty, social 
justice, secularism should be respected 
and implemented even in our personal 
life. For the success of democracy, 
everyone should keep in mind that we are 
responsible citizens of the nation. 
1. Choose the correct option from the given 
options and complete the sentences.
 (1) In a democracy ............ participate in 
elections and get political power.
 (a) political parties     (b) courts
 (c) social organisations
 (d) none of the above
 (2) The major challenge faced by all 
democratic nations in the world is 
............  .
 (a) Religious conflicts
 (b) Naxal activities 
 (c) Deepening the roots of democracy
 (d) Importance to muscle power 
2. State whether following statements are 
true or false. Give reasons for your 
answer.
 (1) Alertness is required to sustain 
democracy.
 (2) Importance of the problems of farmers 
and tribals has increased in the left 
extremist movement.
 (3) People may lose confidence in the 
democratic process due to corruption 
during elections.
3. Explain the concept.
 (1) Left-extremism  (2) Corruption
4. Answer the following questions in brief.
 (3) Which factors are required for the 
success of democracy in India ?
 (2) What are the effects of criminalisation 
of politics ?
 (3) What efforts are undertaken to bring 
transparency in political process ?
Project 
 (1) What measures will you suggest to 
control corruption? Make a list of it.
 (2) Organise a group discussion in your 
class on the problem of terrorism in 
India.
 (3) Present a street play on ‘how to get 
rid of addiction ?’.
Exercise
100
Studying Political Science...
Every citizen in India, whether he lives in village, district or in 
city has to face numerous social and political problems every day. 
Whom to approach to get domicile certificate, caste certificate, Aadhar 
Card ? Whom should we meet ?  Regarding water problems, public 
cleanliness ? From where can we get documents about our house, 
etc.  ?
We can get to know about all such things from the study of 
Civics and Political Science. This study helps us to become a good 
citizen and to be aware of our rights and duties as a citizen of this 
country.  This subject also helps us to get information of India and 
also the outside world. 
The subject of Political Science will also help you when you plan 
for your future after finishing your school education. The subject of 
Indian government and politics is included in the syllabus of the 
examination for Union Public Service Commission, Maharashtra 
Public Service Commission and recruitment in banking services. 
Political science is the basis of any field you choose as a profession. 
Similarly we cannot study international politics, public administration, 
peace and conflict without studying political science. Many employment 
opportunities are available in the above fields. Opportunities are 
available not only in the field of teaching and research but 
opportunities are also available in the fields of information technology, 
policy analysis and advisory bodies of political leaders. 
Globalisation has created many opportunities for the practical use 
of political science. Political parties, pressure groups, non-governmental 
organisations, voluntary organisations need researchers and mediators 
who have the knowledge of government and politics. In today’s world 
people having knowledge of the political process and complexities of 
bureaucracy and special knowledge skills are essential.