Political Parties in India: SEBA Class 9 Political Science (Social) answers, notes

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SEBA (Assam Board) Class 9 Political Science Chapter 1 “Political Parties in India” talks about how political parties are crucial to the development of a strong democratic state. The Indian National Congress was the country’s first national political party, and Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kajhagam (DMK) was its first regional political party. Regional issues must be brought up in the legislature by regional parties and addressed there. Particularly in nations like the United States and England, the opposition party is crucial to democracy. India’s first alliance government was established in 1977, with Morarji Desai serving as prime minister. Get here the questions, answers, textbook solutions, PDF, MCQs of this chapter.

a person voting, illustrating seba class 9 political science chapter 1 Political Parties in India

Give very short answers

1. Give the name of a country having one party rule.

Answer: China

2. What is the party system that is found in the United States of America?

Answer: The USA has a bi-party system.

3. Mention the two characteristics of political parties.

Answer: Two characteristics of political party are as follows:

a. Political parties contest elections and share power.
b. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society to promote collective good.

4. Mention a chief function of a political party.

Answer: One chief function of a political party is to educate the mass people by giving political instructions.

5. Mention the name of a regional party of Assam.

Answer: AsomGanaParishad is a regional party in Assam.

6. What is the name of the chief regional party of Jharkhand?

Answer: The name of the chief regional party of Jharkhand in Jharkhand MuktiMorcha.

7. Give the full term of UPA.

Answer: The full form of UPA is United Progressive Alliance.

8. Which is the first political party of India?

Answer: The first political party in India is the Indian National Congress.

9. Under whose leadership the Indian Association was formed?

Answer: The Indian Association was formed under the leadership of Surendranath Banerjee in the year 1876.

10. Who was the first President of the Indian National Congress?

Answer: The first President of the Indian National Congress was Woomesh Chandra Banerjee

Give short answers

1. What is the chief characteristic of the Indian political system?

Answer: India follows a democratic parliamentary system of governance. It is the basis of all political activities in a state. The chief characteristics of the Indian political system are as follows: a. Electoral Practice: India has ensured the voting right of the people by the Constitution of India which is considered as the supreme law of the country. b. Multi-Party system: India is known for its multi party system. There are multiple political; parties in India ranging from 6 National Political parties and more than 48 state parties. c. Written Constitution: The Constitution is a written document and also the lengthiest Constitution in the world. It has a total of 395 Articles (divided into 22 parts) and 12 Schedules.

2. Which party system is particularly useful for a democratic state?

Answer: In a democratic state, the two party system is particularly useful since it is said to promote governmental stability. A single party like China can win a majority in the Parliament and govern. But in a multi party system like India, the formation of the government depends on the maintenance of a coalition of parties with enough strength to form a parliamentary majority. But the stability shown by the government of the United States has not been entirely due to its party system, but has also been promoted by the fixed tenure and strong constitutional position of the President. It is also seen that the frequent political crisis which may occur in democratic governance under multi party system is not found in the bi party political party system. Thus, a bi-party system is ideal for a democratic state like the United States.

3. Mention four chief characteristics of political parties.

Answer: A political party can be generally described as an organized body of people designed to share common principles and goals regarding the political system. The chief characteristics of a political party are as follows: a. Political parties are organized groups of people and believe in common principles and goals. b. They seek to implement the policies by winning the support of the people through elections. c. Political parties organize election campaigns and try to win more and more seats in the election. d. Political parties act according to the provisions of the Constitution and rules laid down by the laws of the country.

4. Give the name of five regional political parties of India.

Answer: The names of five regional political parties in India are: 

a. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – It was formally launched on 26 November 2012 and is presently the ruling party of the Capital Territory of Delhi. The current leader of this party is Arvind Kejriwal.
b. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) – It is a regional party in Assam established in the year 1985 with Atul Bora as its President.
c. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – It is a political party particularly of the state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. It was formed in 1949 with M.K. Stalin as its President.
d. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) – It is a regional political party of Jharkhand which was formed in the year 1972 with Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren as its President.
e. Naga People’s Front (NPF) – It is a regional political party of Nagaland and Manipur. Formed in the year 2002, this party was led by T.R. Zeliang as its President.

5. What is meant by the term Alliance government?

Answer: When any single political party fails to form government for not getting absolute majority in the General elections, in such circumstances a few like-minded political parties come together by making an alliance and they form the government. Such a government is known as the Alliance or Coalition government. The political parties forging the alliance to form government may possess different ideals but in order to capture’ ruling power these political parties make a compromise and adjustment to their respective ideals and interests to a common acceptable programme to form government.

Give long answers

1. What is meant by the Alliance government?

Answer: When any single political party fails to form government for not getting absolute majority in the General elections, in such circumstances a few like-minded political parties come together by making an alliance and they form the government. Such a government is known as the Alliance or Coalition government. The political parties forging the alliance to form government may possess different ideals but in order to capture ruling power these political parties make a compromise and adjustment to their respective ideals and interests to a common acceptable programme to form government. There are several reasons as to why the Alliance or the Coalition government system is getting special significance at present. 

i. Due to the increase in the number of political parties.
ii. Due to the decrease in the significance of a single political party.
iii. The proper representation of different regions also gets prominence in forming such an Alliance government or the Coalition government.

2. Discuss two merits and two demerits of the Coalition or the Alliance government.

Answer: Two merits of Alliance Government are as follows: 

i. Situational: The Alliance government is suitable for the requirement of the situations and time. It is particularly essential in the changing situations and political environment to sustain the political stability in a gigantic state like India.
ii. Safeguarding national unity and integrity: The Alliance government brings various political parties into one platform and therefore, these parties try to accommodate and adjust with other political parties and as such these parties do not strictly stick to their own ideas, ideals and principles. So national unity and national integration is strengthened. 

Two demerits of Alliance Government are: 

i. Unstable and short-lived: The greatest demerit of the Alliance government is its instability. There is the possibility that the parties forming the Alliance to form the government may withdraw their support from the government whenever their party interest is at stake. As a result, the government is sure to collapse even before completing its normal term.
ii. Weak government: Such Alliance government is generally found to be weak. Such a government can’t take bold decisions to surge ahead in any aspect as the interests of the member parties have to be given due consideration to keep them well satisfied.

3. Discuss the role of the opposition in democracy.

Answer: The main functions of the opposition in a democratic state are as follows: 

i. In order to safeguard the interests of the mass people and also the state and to protect the sanctity of the constitution, the opposition party must keep a constant vigil like a watchdog.
ii. The opposition party must keep a sharp watch on the activities of the government, so that the political party in power or the ruling party heading the government machinery can’t and doesn’t indulge in anything against the national interest or anything detrimental to the good of the masses.
iii. The ongoing and upcoming schemes, plans, and programmes of the government are to be scrutinized properly and if found anything not in order, the opposition must bring them to the light on the floor of the Parliament through constructive criticism for necessary rectification of the flaws on the part of the government.
iv. The hopes and aspirations as well as the wants and necessities of the mass people have to be presented in a proper way so that the government takes due notice of them.
v. To remain well prepared to form an alternative government as and when such necessity and situation arise.
vi. To mould public opinion in an effective manner.

4. Discuss the main reasons for the birth of the regional parties.

Answer: The following are the reasons identified as the main factors for the birth of regional political parties in the country:

i. The discriminatory views, attitudes and principles of the All India national parties,
ii. Linguistic and religious diversity of the people living in different parts of the country,
iii. The insecure feelings among the minorities.
iv. The union government’s policy for centralization of power and. to gain the sole rights of the invaluable various resources of the different states,
v. The lack of equal justification of the union government towards all states,
vi. The weaknesses of the regional leaders belonging to the national parties or the union government etc.

5. Write about the necessity of political parties in a democratic state.

Answer: The importance of political parties came into focus just after the emergence of democratic pursuit. In the Monarchy the king was the absolute ruler in the state governance and his words were the laws.In the later years, monarchy became extinct in the world gradually and the concept of democracy assumed particular importance in its place.With the dawn of democracy, the political party came into existence and it became a part and parcel of the system of democratic governance.At present democracy and the political party are complementary to each other. As without the political party democracy is useless, similarly without democracy the political party is meaningless. Political party is the link between the ruler and the public. It brings the common people closer to the administration.

6. Mention the characteristics and the functions of the political party.

Answer: A political party can be generally described as an organized body of people designed to share common principles and goals regarding the political system. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society to promote collective good. The chief characteristics of a political party are as follows:

a. Political parties are organized group of people and believe in common principles and goals.
b. They seek to implement the policies by winning the support of the people through elections.
c. Political parties organize election campaigns and tries to win more and more seats in the election.
d. Political parties act according to the provisions of the Constitution and rules laid down by the laws of the country.

The functions of political parties are:

a. Political Parties Contest Flections: Elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties.Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.
b. Parties Make Laws: Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Laws are debated and passed in the Legislature.
c. Parties Form and Run Governments: The big policy decisions are taken by political executives that come from political parties.
d. Role of Opposition: Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power by voicing different views and criticizing the government for its failures.
e. Parties Shape Public Opinions: They raise and highlight issues. Sometimes they launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.

7. Discuss the reasons for getting special significance by the system of the Alliance government at present.

Answer: When any single political party fails to form government for not getting absolute majority in the General elections, in such circumstances a few like minded political parties come together by making an alliance and they form the government. Such a government is known as the Alliance or Coalition government. The political parties forging the alliance to form government may possess different ideals but in order to capture ruling power these political parties make a compromise and adjustment to their respective ideals and interests to a common acceptable programme to form government There are several reasons as to why the Alliance or the Coalition government system is getting special significance at present.

i. Due to the increase in the number of political parties.
ii. Due to the decrease in the significance of a single political party.
iii. After spending so many thousands of crores of public money holding an election, if no stable government can be formed due to the complexities that arise from not getting the absolute majority by any of the parties taking part, in the election, in such a circumstance, forming an alliance or coalition government is the only alternative left to avoid spending public money again by holding another election.
iv. The proper representation of different regions also gets prominence in forming an alliance government or a coalition government.

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