Class 11 Political Science Short Questions With Answers - Constitution: Why And How?

Q1: Who moved the ‘Objective Resolution’ in the Constituent Assembly?
Ans: Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru moved the ‘Objective Resolution’ in the Constituent Assembly.

Q2: What are the different forms of justice mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution of India?
Ans: There are three forms of justice mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution. 
These are:
(a) Social justice,
(b) Economic justice,
(c) Political justice.

Q3: What is the nature of state according to the Preamble?
Ans: The nature of the state according to the Preamble is Sovereign, Democratic, Secular, Socialist and Republic. 

Q4: Discuss the objectives of our Constitution as embodied in the Preamble.
Ans: Following are the objectives of our Constitution given in the Preamble:
(a) Justice, social, political and economic
(b) Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
(c) Equality of Status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
(d) Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.

Q5: Write down the different forms of liberty mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution.
Ans: The aim of the Preamble is to provide liberty to the people and Preamble mentioned the various types of liberties, such as:
(a) Liberty of Thought. Liberty of thought is given to all citizens of India.
(b) Liberty of Expression. Citizens are guaranteed the liberty of expression.
(c) Liberty of Belief and Faith. Citizens are given liberty of belief and faith.
(d) Liberty of Worship. The Constitution guarantees liberty of worship.

Q6: Mention the kinds of Justice included in the Preamble of the Constitution.
Ans: In the Preamble the idea of achieving Social, Economic and Political Justice for all has been mentioned.

Q7: Discuss the circumstances which led to the formation of the Constituent Assembly.
Ans: Our Constitution was drafted by a Constituent Assembly composed of Indian people.
Mahatma Gandhi mooted the idea of Constituent Assembly in 1922 and the Indian National Congress put the demand in a concrete form in 1935. But this demand of Congress party remained unfulfilled for a number of years. It was incorporated in the Cripps Proposals of 1942 that after the end of the war, a Constitution-making body would be set up to frame a new Constitution. However, for various reasons the Cripps Proposals did not meet the approval of the Indian people. The Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946 proposed the Constitution of an Assembly to frame the Constitution. The elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in 1946 according to the Cabinet Mission Plan. Its first meeting was held on 9th December, 1946.

Q8: Explain the composition of the Constituent Assembly.
Ans: The Constituent Assembly consisted of 389 members: 296 from the British-Indian provinces and 93 from the Indian states. Out of 296, 4 members were taken from the Chief Commissioners’ Provinces. The first meeting of Constituent Assembly was presided over by an experienced and old member Dr. Sachidanand Sinha in which 210 members participated.

Q9: Write a short note on the Constituent Assembly of India.
Ans: 

• The Cabinet Mission, 1946 recommended the setting up of Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly was to consist of 389 members: 296 from the British provinces and 93 from the Indian states. The elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July, 1946. The results of the elections created a sense of frustration in the league. 
• The Constituent Assembly constituted of 299 members after the withdrawal of the Muslim League. The first session of the Constituent Assembly was held on December 9, 1946. The Constituent Assembly adopted the National Flag on 22nd July, 1947. On August 29, 1947 a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was appointed.
• After doing much labour, the Draft Constitution was published in January, 1948. The members of the Constituent Assembly were given full eight months to consider the draft of the Constitution. At last on November 26, 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted the new Constitution of India. The new Constitution came into effect on  January 26, 1950.
  

Q10: Mention four sources of Indian Constitution.
Ans: 
(a) Amendment is the main source of Indian Constitution.  
(b) Acts of Parliament is another source of Indian Constitution.
(c) The Act of 1935 is an important source of Indian Constitution. The Constitution derives a lot from the Government of India Act, 1935.
(d) Constitutional provisions of other countries like France, Britain, USA and Ireland were  the important source of other constitution.

Q11: Why is Indian Constitution bulky?
Ans: Indian Constitution is the lengthiest Constitution in the world. Indian Constitution is very lengthy due to the following reasons: 

Q12: Why do we need a Constitution?

OR

Why does any nation need a constitution?

OR

What are the functions of constitutions?
Ans: All the democratic countries of the world have Constitutions. We need a Constitution due to the following reasons:
(a) Constitution is needed to provide basic rules which assure coordination amongst members of a society.
(b) Constitution is needed to provide fundamental principles and rules on the basis of which government should be run.
(c) Constitution is needed to specify how the government will be constituted.
(d) Constitution puts limitations on the three organs of the government so that no organ  should become absolute and arbitrary.

Q13: “Indian constitution is neither too flexible and nor too rigid” Justify.
Ans: Indian constitution is world's largest written constitution. And in general, changing a written constitution is very difficult. But, Indian Constitution is both rigid and flexible, because the procedure of amendment is neither easy nor difficult. The Constitution has provided a federal structure for India. A special majority of the Union Parliament, i.e., a majority of not less than two-thirds vote is required to amend the Constitution.

Q14: Explain the term Fraternity.
Ans: The dictionary meaning of the term Fraternity is brotherhood. Without fraternity, Liberty and equality are meaningless. It was the main slogan of the French Revolution. The preamble of indian constitution lays special stress upon the promotion of fellow feeling among the people of India. Unless the people become a community of interests, the cohesion into one nation is not possible.

Q15: Bring Out The Significance Of The Terms “sovereign, Democratic Republic” As Mentioned In The Preamble.?
Ans: India is a sovereign state. It means the state in India is the supreme authority over all men and all associations within the country and is absolutely free from any outside control.
India is democratic. It means that in India all governments are formed on the basis of popular support. India is republic. It means all offices of the state from the highest to the lowest are held on the basis of merit and no office of the state is held on the basis of hereditary right.

Q16: What do you mean by Constitution? How it performs its role for society?
Ans: 

• A Constitution is the fundamental law of the land.
• It can be defined as the body of rules, regulations, and understandings on the basis of which the state is constituted and governed.
• The Constitution is the instrument of realizing the aspirations of the people.
• It plays a vital role for society as it specifies the basic allocations of power in society.
• The Constitution of a country indicates the framework of the government with the respective role of each organ of the government.
• The Constitution influences society and in turn is influenced by society.
• Indian Constitution represents the ethos, values, and preferences of Indian people and at the same time has successfully given the direction to Indian society to become a liberal, secular, democratic, and modern society.
• The constitution plays this role in all societies.
• We can take the example of Chinese and Russian Constitutions also.

Q17: Discuss the importance of a written constitution.
Ans:

• The constitution explains the structure of government and the mode of governance.
• Generally, the constitution is to be taken as a written one but it does not mean that there cannot be an unwritten constitution.
• British Constitution is the example of the unwritten constitution which is working on the basis of unwritten understandings, traditions, and conventions.
• In most countries of the world, there are written constitutions which are in the form of a document written by a specially constructed Constituent Assembly.
• The written constitution has its own utility and importance.
• The written part of the constitution is a clear indicator of the jurisdiction or powers of a particular organ.
• There cannot be any ambiguity in a written constitution. If there is, it can be explained.
• A written constitution is generally available in the form of a document that is prepared by continuous discussions and debate and with due process of decision making.
• It may be the majority method or it can be based on consensus.
• Therefore a written constitution is more popular.

Q18: Write the composition of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Ans: Indian Constitution is written by a specially constituted Constituent Assembly. This Constituted Assembly had a total strength of 389 members, whose composition was as follows:

• 292 members from British ruled states
• 93 members from Princely states
• 4 members of minorities like Sikh and Anglo Indians

The elected members were to be indirectly elected by the state Assemblies which were constituted by the election of 1946 to the states on the basis of the Government of India Act 1935. Therefore this Constituent Assembly was constituted by indirect elections and nomination. It was constituted as per recommendations of the Cabinet Mission Plan 1946 which came to India after the formation of a new government led by Mr. Atlee in Britain. The Constituent Assembly enacted this Constitution on 26 November 1949 by taking the time of two years, eleven months, and eighteen days. The idea of a Constituent Assembly had come to prevail largely as an article of faith in almost all the politically minded classes in the country.

Q19: Write important features of the Indian Constitution.
Ans: The main features of the Indian Constitution are as under:-

• Written Constitution
• Flexible and rigid Constitution
• The preamble of the Constitution
• Liberal Constitution.
• Parliamentary form of government
• Federal system of government
• Republican system
• Fundamental Rights
• fundamental Duties
• Directive Principles of State Policy
• Secularism
• Bicameral Legislature of center
• Adult Franchise
• Multi-Party System
• Power of Judicial Review to the Judiciary
• Mixed economy
• Single citizenship
• Supremacy of Constitution

Q20: How the powers are demarcated in Indian Constitution?
Ans: The important base of the effectiveness of a constitution is a balanced arrangement of the distributions of power and allocation of areas of work (jurisdiction) among the institutions and organs of the government. The basic principle on which the constitution worked was that the government must be democratic and committed to the welfare of the people. The constitution-makers, for the purpose of evolving the right balance among the various institutions like the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, adopted parliamentary form government and federal-arrangement between the center and states. This will lead to the distributions of power between the legislature and executive on the one hand and between the central government and the state governments. For this purpose the powers were distributed on the basis of three lists as under :

• Union list 96 subjects
• State list 66 subjects
• Concurrent list 47 subjects. The residual powers rest with the center

Q21: Write four important functions of the Constitution.
Ans: As the constitution is a framework of Government and embodiment of ethos, values, goals, and commitments of the people, it performs a number of functions for the society and the rulers i.e. government. Its main functions are as under:

• The first function of a constitution is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimum co-ordination and assurance amongst members of society. Constitutions provide authority to the government for framing rules, regulations, and their issuance and implementation for the purposes of main co-ordination among the people of the people and to establish discipline.
• The Second function is to provide the framework of government and decide the area of jurisdictions of each organ of the government to make the decisions, about the people. It also decides, how the government will be constituted.
• The third function of a constitution is to set some limits on what a government can impose on its citizens. These limits are not to be violated by the organs of the government and the people. Citizens are given four Fun-damental Rights that cannot be violated by the government. So these fundamental rights are given protections.
• The fourth important function of the constitution is to ensure the fulfillment of the aspiration of the people and the governmental system.

Q22: How far you agree that the Indian Constituent Assembly was a representative body?
Ans: 

• Although members of the Constituent Assembly were not directly elected by the people there was a serious effort and intention to make the Assembly a representative body. In fact, at that time adult franchise’ was not prevailing, and also the situation k that time was conducive to hold the elections directly. Therefore it was decided that members of the Constituent Assembly be elected by the members of legislative Assefnblies of the states. Besides this through the process of nomination efforts were made to give representation to all shades and opinions. In the election also members of all religions were given due representation.
• In terms of Political parties, the Congress party which dominated -the’- political scene at that time, also dominated the composition of the Constituent Assembly. The Congress itself was such a party that managed to accommodate almost all sections of the society. Therefore we can conclude that CoristituenK Assembly was a representative body.
  
  

Q23: How Parliament is subordinate to that of the Constitution in India?
Ans: In India, Parliament is certainly subordinate to the Constitution because Parliament is the product of the Constitution which has set the composition and jurisdiction of the Parliament. In India, we have the supremacy of the Constitution and not of Parliament. Parliament will discharge its duty on the areas, assigned by the Constitution. Parliament can make laws on the issues which are given in the centralized and some times on the issues of stateliest also. But its laws are open for judicial review. Therefore we can say that in India, Parliament is subordinate to Constitution which can be altered only by the Constituent Assembly.

Q24: What goals are set in the Indian Constitution?
Ans: 

• Indian society inherited inequality, discrimination, illiteracy, and injustices as a legacy of British imperialism.
• After independence, the people of India had high hopes.
• Constitution makers were aware of these needs and aspirations of the people.
• New goals for the society were set to be realized through the governmental machinery.
• These objectives were incorporated in the Preamble of the Constitution.
• The framers of the Indian constitution thought that each individual in the society should have all that which is necessary for them to lead a life of minimum dignity and social self-respect and also minimum material well-being.
• Therefore to achieve egalitarianism is the first goal of the Constitution.
• To achieve these goals, related values like justice, equality, liberty, the dignity of the individual, fraternity among the people of the country are incorporated.
• National integrations are also the goal of the Constituent.

Q25: On which philosophy our Constitutions is based?
Ans: The preamble of the Indian Constitution explains the philosophic basis. It is based on socialist, secular, and democracy: Constitution seeks to build the society on the socialistic pattern which means the availability of minimum needs of everyone and the removal of disparity among people. Socialism means each according to his ability and to each according to, his needs. This philosophy of socialism seeks to build an egalitarian society. Another philo¬sophic base is secularism which means freedom to citizens in matter or religion. It stands for no state religion because religion is a personal matter of man.
Another philosophy that seeks to achieve is democracy i.e. full participation of the people on the matter of administration and decision-making process.

Q26: How our constitution is an instrument of socio-economic change?
Ans: 

• Keeping in view the socio-economic fabric of society which we inherited from the British Raj over Constitution makers set the objectives of the Constitution is the Preamble of the constitution and chapters like of Fun¬damental Right and Directive Principles of State Policy were added in the Constitution.
• On close observation and study of the performance of the working of the Constitution, we find that there is a vast change in the socio-economic scenario. Liberal and democratic cultures seem to be pervasive. The literary percentage is increased many folds. There is an appreciable improvement in health, housing, and drinking water. quality of life is improved. Social evils like untouchability and sense of high and low status are diminishing. Per Capita income has increased and employment opportunities are also increased. Democracy is mattering. It is definitely because of the triple mentality constitutional provisions.

Q27: How the Constitution make the people one collective entity?
Ans:

• In fact, a constitution expresses the fundamental identity of people, and people as a collective entity comes into being only through the basic constitutions. It is by agreeing to a basic set of norms about how one should be governed and who should be governed that one forms a collective identity.
• One has many sets of identities on the basis of race, caste, color, language, and the area which exists prior to the constitution, but by agreeing to certain basic norms and principles, one assumes one's basic political identity. Values and norms set in the constitution provide a framework within which one pursues individual aspirations, goals, and freedom.
• Therefore constitution provides social, political, and also ethical identity to the people. It is therefore through the constitution people get collective identities. Institutions like the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary.
• It means that all above institutions will draw their authority and Jurisdiction from the constitution. They will discharge their powers as had been given and allowed by the constitution. The Judiciary will have the final word on the interpretation of the constitution. Judiciary will also work as per provisions of the constitution.
• No one is above the constitution. Parliament will make law as per area and subjects allowed by the constitution. The basic structure of the constitution cannot be changed by Parliament.
• However, it can be changed by Constituent Assembly only. The supremacy of the constitution means that no person or authority or institution is above the constitution.

Q28: What features we have borrowed from the USA and Britain for our constitution.
Ans: As said the Indian Constitution is a borrowed bag because our constitution is indebted to many countries from we have a number of features. From the USA we have borrowed the following features: 

• Written Constitution
• The preamble of the Constitution
• Fundamental Rights
• The post of Vice-President
• Power of Judicial review for our Judiciary.

Britain: From Britain, we have borrowed the following features:

• Single citizenship
• Bureaucracy
• The parliamentary system of Government
• Rule of law
• Integrated judiciary
• Bicameral legislative

Q29: How we can ensure the success of a Constitution?
Ans: 

• For the success and faithful obedience of the constitution, there should be some kind of internal mechanisms that no group of the society or no organ of the government become so powerful who could think of subverting the Constitution.
• For example, American Constitution has such a mechanism as American Constitution is based on the theory of separation of power with a check and balance system which ensures that no organ will become arrogant and monopolistic in its jurisdiction because there is another organ to check it.
• Indian Constitution also has fragmented the powers across different institutions like the legislature, executive, judiciary, and even some other constitutional independent bodies like the Election commission.
• Secondly, to obtain the regular support of the people, the constitution must strike the right balance between certain values, norms, and procedures as authoritative and at the same time allow enough flexibility in its operation to adopt the changing needs and circumstances.

Q30: Write some features of the Cabinet Mission Plan?
Ans: The Constituent Assembly which framed the Indian Constitution was constituted on the basis of the cabinet mission plan’s recommendations. Its main recommendations are as under:

• Each province and princely state Were allowed seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of 1: 10,00,000. Which divided 292 members from British states and 93 seats from the Princely states.
• Seats in each province were distributed among the three main com¬munities i.e. Muslims, Sikhs, and general.
• Members of each community in the Provincial Legislative Assembly
• elected their own representatives.
• The method of selection was to be determined by consultation.