Test: Democratic Politics - Software Development MCQ

The Correct Answer is Option 3 i.e India.

• India:
  • It shares a border with seven countries, namely China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
  • India shares the longest border with Bangladesh.
  • It is the largest democracy in the world, the representative with the most number of votes gets the power.
  • New Delhi is the capital of India.
  • Droupadi Murmu is the current President of India and Narendra Modi is the current PM of India.
• Sweden:
  • It is a country in Europe.
  • Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy.
  • Stockholm is the capital of Sweden.
  • Incumbent Magdalena Andersson is the current PM of Sweden.
• Iceland:
  • It is an Island country in Europe.
  • Iceland is a constitutional republic with a multi-party system and is considered as the worlds' oldest parliamentary democracy.
  • Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland.
  • Guoni Thorlacius Johannesson is the current President of Iceland.
• Norway:
  • It is located in Northwestern Europe.
  • It is a constitutional monarchy.
  • Jonas Gahr Støre is the current Prime Minister of Norway.
  • Oslo is the capital city of Norway.

The correct answer is option 4, i.e. Kanshi Ram.

• The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), English Majority People’s Party, national political party in India.
• It was formed on the birth anniversary of B. R. Ambedkar, 14 April 1984, by Kanshi Ram.
• It represents the lowest level of peoples at the Hindu social system.
• The designated members are of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes as well as other religious and social minorities.

• Local Self-Government refers to “management of local affairs by the natives of the area itself or their representatives.
• Lord Ripon was known as the father of local self-government in India as he introduced local self-governance in the year 1882. 
• After independence increasing workload and communication gap between governments and citizens of the country gave rise to the third tier of the government, i.e. the Panchayati Raj or precisely, the local self-government system.
• The local government got constitutional recognition through the 73rd and 74th amendment.
• In India, it is usually of two types of local government : 
  • rural self-government
  • urban self-government.

• In a rural area, it is recognized as Panchayati raj and in Urban areas, Municipality or Municipal Corporation. 

Important Points

• Federal power-sharing in India needs another tier of government, below that of the State governments.
• This is the rationale for the decentralisation of power.
• Thus, resulted in a third-tier of government, called local government.
• When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to the local government, it is called decentralisation.

The correct answer is Divided.

• Federalism is a system of government in which the powers are divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
• A federation has two levels of government.
  • A government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest.
  • Governments at the level of provinces or states look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.
• Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.
• The central government can pass on orders to the provincial or the local government.
• In a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something.
• The state government has powers of its own, independent of the central government.
• Both these governments are separately answerable to the people.
• Key features of federalism are:
  • There are two or more levels of government.
  • Each level has its own Jurisdiction in specific matters of legislation, taxation, and administration.
  • Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government.
  • Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
  • Accommodate regional diversity.

The correct answer is the Nationalist Congress Party.

Nationalist Congress Party:

• Founded- 25 May 1999.
• Founder- Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar.
• Party Philosophy- Progressivism, Populism, Secular democracy, Gandhian secularism, Egalitarianism, Social justice, Federalism, Social conservatism, Nationalism.
• Election Symbol- Clock.
• Student wing- Nationalist Student Congress.

All India Trinamool Congress:

• Founded- January 1998
• Founder- Mamata Banerjee
• Party Philosophy- Secularism and populism.
• Election Symbol- Twin flowers in the grass.
• Student wing- Trinamool Chhatra Parishad.

Indian National Congress:

• Founded- 1885.
• Founder- Allan Octavian (A.O) Hume.
• Party Philosophy- Indian Nationalism (Liberal nationalism), Social democracy, Democratic socialism, Gandhian socialism, Progressivism.
• Student wing- National Students Union of India (NSUI).
• Election Symbol- The hand.

Bahujan Samaj Party:

• Founded- April 14, 1984.
• Founder- Kanshi Ram.
• Party Philosophy- Human rights, Social equality, Secularism, Social justice, Self-respect.
• Election Symbol- Elephant.

The correct answer is KC Wheare.

Key Points

• Federalism can be formed by way of integration (US) or disintegration (Canada). 
• Indian federalism resembles “CANADIAN MODEL”.
• The word federalism is nowhere mentioned in the Indian Constitution. 
• Article 1 describes India as a UNION of states.
• It is not a result of an agreement between states and states have no right to secede from the federation. 
• It’s an Indestructible union of destructible states.
• KC Wheare described it as “Quasi federalism”.
• Granville Austin called it “Cooperative federalism” (need for national integrity and unity).
• Morris Jones defined it as 'Bargaining Federalism'.
• 'Federalism with Centralizing tendency' by Ivor Jenning.
• Unitary bias (dominance of centre in financial powers, central grants, Niti Aayog).

Important Points

• In SR Bommai case SC characterized “Federalism” as part of “Basic structure”.

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.

• Usually, a federation has two levels of government. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest.
• The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.
• Both these levels of government enjoy their power independent of the other.

Important Points

Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.

• Both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list. If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union Government will prevail.

Thus, on trade union subject both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws.

Additional Information

• Union List includes subjects of national importance such as the defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
  • They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy on these matters throughout the country.
  • The Union Government alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List. 
• State List contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
  • The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List.

In modern democracies, power-sharing arrangements can take many forms.

Important Point
Power is shared among different organs of government, such as the legislature, executive and judiciary are called horizontal distribution of power.

• Because it allows different organs of government placed at the same level to exercise different powers.
• Such separation ensures that none of the organs can exercise unlimited power.
• This system is also known as the system of checks and balances. 
• Each organ checks the others. This results in a balance of power among various institutions.

Thus, in the Horizontal form of power-sharing, we find the arrangement of the system of checks and balances.

The Rule of Law is the essential foundation of democracy. 

• The Constitution says that the government shall not deny to any person in India equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws.
• It means that the laws apply in the same manner to all, regardless of a person’s status. This is called the rule of law.
• Rule of law is the foundation of any democracy. It means that no person is above the law.
• There cannot be any distinction between a political leader, government official and an ordinary citizen.
• Every citizen, from the Prime Minister to a small farmer in a remote village, is subjected to the same laws.
• No person can legally claim any special treatment or privilege just because he or she happens to be an important person. 
  • For example, a few years ago a former Prime Minister of the country faced a court case on charges of cheating.
  • The court finally declared that he was not guilty. But as long as the case continued, he had to go to the court, give evidence and file papers, just like any other citizen.

The correct answer is The people.

Key Points

• Democracy comes from the Greek word, “Demo" means "people" and “Kratos” means “rule”.
• Democracy is a government in which power and civic responsibility are exercised by all citizens, directly or through their freely elected representatives.
• A democratic system of government is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections.
• A system can be termed as a genuine and comprehensive democracy only when it fulfills both political and socio-economic aspects of people’s participation and satisfaction.
• Challenges to democracy are as follows:-
  • Leaders keep changing in a democracy. This leads to instability.
  • Democracy is all about political competition and power play. There is no scope for morality.
  • Elected leaders do not know the interests of the people.
  • Democracy leads to the expansion of democratic values.
  • Vast countries like India have different cultural, ethnic, and religious groups. so, it is difficult to fulfill the demands of all the groups.
  • So many people have to be consulted in a democracy which leads to its delay.