Thursday, 12 July 2018

Power Sharing and Federalism - Democrati Politics


Std:10                                       Democratic Politics

Simplified study material

1. Power Sharing

1.Case study of Belgium

Ø In Belgium 59% of people speak Dutch and 40% of people speak French.

Ø In capital Brussels 80% of people speak French While 20% of people speak Dutch.

Ø Minority French speaking people was relatively rich and powerful

Ø So rulling government schemes were in favour of Dutch speaking people.

Ø It led to tensions between Dutch and French speaking communities.

 

2.Accommodation/solution in Belgium.

Ø Between 1970 and 1993 four times constitution was amended.

Ø Central government ministry was shared by French and Dutch communities equally.

Ø Central governemt shared its power with the regional governments.

Ø Community government was setup to look at the issues of language, education and culture.

Ø Separate government for Brussels and French shared ministry with Dutch.

 

3.Case study of Sri Lanka / Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka.

Ø In Sri Lanka 74% of people speak Sinhala.

Ø Tamil speaking population was 18%.

Ø In that Sri Lankan Tamils or Native Tamils were 13% and Indian Tamils were 5%.

Ø 1956 the Only Sinhala Act made Sinhala as the only official Language.

Ø Reservation policies were made in favour of Sinhala and against of Tamils.

Ø Tamil people raised their demands which was ignored by the government.

Ø So Tamil people demanded Separate state called Tami Eelam.

Ø The civil war took place in Sri Lanka and ended in favour in Sinhala

Ø Thousands of innocent Tamil people were killed in the war.

 

4.Why power sharing is desirable? Why do we need power sharing?

Prudential Reasons:

Ø Power sharing can reduce the conflict between two communities.

Ø Power sharing may increase the stability of the government.

Ø Power sharing can reduce the violence between two communities.

 

Moral Reasons: 

Ø Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy.

Ø People have a right to be consulted.

 

5.Forms of Power sharing / Kinds of power sharing:

Horizontal power sharing:

Ø Power sharing among the organs of the government.

Ø Power sharing between Legislative, Executive and Judiciary.

Ø None of the organ is having unlimited powers.

Ø Each organ can check others.

Vertical power sharing

Ø Power sharing among the different levels of the government

Ø Central government for overall country.

Ø There will be regional government or state government.

Ø The central government shares its powers with state government.

Ø The state government shares powers with the local government.

Ø There will be federal setup of multi-level governance.  

Ø Ex: India and Belgium

Power sharing with different social groups

Ø Power sharing with weaker section of the society.

Ø In India reservation has been given to the SC/ST and women.

Ø Powers sharing with minorities and weaker section of the people.

Ø Ex: Community government in Belgium.

Power sharing with Political parties, pressure groups and movements

Ø Two or more parties form an alliance and share power.

Ø Interest groups like farmers, traders can also share the power by influencing the government in their favour.

 

Ethnic:A Social division based on culture. People have similarities in physical looks and culture. Need not always have same religion and nationality.

 

Majoritarianism: A belief of the majority community dominate or rule over the minority community. Disregarding the needs and wishes of the minority.

 

Civil war: A violent conflict between two groups within the nation.

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2. Federalism

1.What is federalism?

Ø In a federal system a country have two or more level of government.

Ø There will be a central or union government for entire country.

Ø There will be regional governments at regional level.

 

2.What are the key features of  federalism?

Ø There are two or more level of government.

Ø Each level of government has its own jurisdiction.

Ø Jurisdictions are specified in the constitution.

Ø Basic rights of the constitution cannot be changed by one level of government.

Ø Court have the power to interpret the constitution.

Ø Sources of revenue has been shared between the different levels of the government.

 

3. What are two objectives of the federal government?

Ø To safeguard and promote the unity of the country.

Ø To accommodate the regional diversity.

 

4.DifferentiateCOMING TOGETHER FEDERATION AND HOLDING TOGETHER FEDERATION

COMING TOGETHER FEDERATION:

Ø A.Independent states coming together on their own and form big unit.

Ø B.Ex:USA and Australia

HOLDING TOGETHER FEDERATION:

Ø A.A large country divided into smaller divisions.

Ø B.Ex: India and Belgium.

 

5.What makes India a federal country?

Ø The constitution of India declared that India is an Indian Union.

Ø Earlier we started with two tier government now we have three tier administration.

Ø Union list: subjects of national importance. Ex: Banking and Currency etc.,

Ø State list: subjects of local importance. Ex: Police, agriculture and irrigation etc.,

Ø Concurrent list: These are common subjects where both level of government can make laws. Ex:Education, forest and marriage.

 

6.Linguistic states

Ø Lanuage based states were formed to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same state. Exception to Nagaland, Uttarkhand and Jharkhand.

Ø Some national leaders had a fear that linguistic states can separate the nation but now it made our country more united.

 

7.Language policy

Ø Our constitution did not gave the status of National Language to any one language.

Ø Hindi was identified as the official language of central government.

Ø Hindi is the mother tongue of 40% of the Indians.

Ø In 1965  the use of English for official purpose was stop, but non Hindi states demanded English to continue.

Ø particularly in Tamil nadu the Anti Hindi Movement took violent form.

Ø So the Central Government agreed to continue the use of English for official purpose.

Ø In this issue national leaders shown great flexibility which avoided the conflict like Srilanka.

 

8.Centre – State relationship

Ø When same party ruling in the Central and State government than the state get more favours.

Ø When State and Centre governments were ruled by different party, the Central Government undermine the State government.

Ø In those days central government misuse the powers and dismiss the state government.

Ø After 1990 we could able to sew a rise of regional parties.

Ø The era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS has strengthened the federal set up.

 9.What is decentralization?

Ø When power is taken away from the Central and State governments and given to the Local government is called decentralization.

 
10 Why decentralization of power is needed?

Ø Large number of problems are local in nature.

Ø Most of the  problems can be solved at local level, need not taken to the higher level.

Ø local people have the better understanding of the issue and they can come out with best solution.

Ø It give the sense to the people that they are in decision taking process.

 

11.What was the major step took in decentralization  in  1992

Ø Local government elections became mandatory.

Ø Seats are reserved SC/ST.

Ø One third seats are reserved for Women

Ø State Election commission was set up in all states to look after the election process.

Ø The State government need to share its power and money to the local government.

 

Jurisdiction:  The area over which someone has legal authority.

 

Coalition government: A government formed by at least two political parties.
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