BSHF - 101(7th Part)

Seventh Part 

Q.  Directive Principles
A----- Part IV of Indian Constitution deals with Directive Principles of our State Policy (DPSP). The
provisions contained in this Part cannot be enforced by any court, but these principles are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these
principles in making laws. The concept of Directive Principles of State Policy was borrowed from the
Irish Constitution. Directive Principles aim to create social and economic conditions under which the
citizens can lead a good life. They also aim to establish social and economic democracy through a
welfare state. Some of the Articles under Directive Principles are -

Article 38 : State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people.
Article 39 : Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State
Article 39A : Equal justice and free legal aid
Article 40 : Organisation of village panchayats
Article 41 : Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases
Article 42 : Provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief
Article 43 : Living wage, etc., for workers
Article 43A : Participation of workers in management of industries
Article 44 : Uniform civil code for the citizen
Article 45 : Provision for free and compulsory education for children
Article 46 : Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and other weaker sections
Article 47 : Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve
public health
Article 48 : Organization of agriculture and animal husbandry
Article 48A : Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wild life
Article 49 : Protection of monuments and places and objects of national importance
Article 50 : Separation of judiciary from executive
Article 51 : Promotion of international peace and security

Q.  - ICT & Education
A----- Education being a necessity today and vital for survival of an individual in society today . The
Indian Constitution too has a provision for it. Article 45 of Directive Principles of State Policy.urges
the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children till the age of 14 years. Several
Programmes for Universal Elementary Education (UEE) was launched by government . Schemes like
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Operation Blackboard , Lok Jumbish, District Elementary Education Program etc. were launched by government to spread education among masses . Midday meals are prepared in government schools to provide nutritious meals to children, a kind of incentive for poor people to send their kids to schools . There were still concerns as education couldn’t cross certain social , religious , physical ,economical barriers , this is when ICT revolution transformed the education scenario . Information and Communications (ICT) has come as a boon to the poor nations and less privileged people because information can be assessed quickly thus making the task of government easy which acts as a facilitator. ICT has revolutionized the field of education as Universities can put the study material online, easier to assess by individuals at their own peril without hindrances. Many physical and cultural impediments can be easily overcome due to ICT revolution. Due to easy availability of knowledge thus has ushered a new dawn of empowering masses through ICT in educational field .

Q.  What do you understand by the term "Renaissance" ?
A----- The term "Renaissance" literally means rebirth or revival, in a narrow sense is used to describe
the revival or interest in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. The Renaissance was a cultural
movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle
Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Renaissance was marked by a series of new
developments in the field of art, literature ,religion ,philosophy , science and politics. Renaissance
period is being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era due to intellectual
transformation that took place during this era.
                Renaissance emphasized on reasoning, a questioning attitude, experimentation and free will. It laid emphasis on exploring , in science and nature .This is in contrast with medieval thought process of faith , authority and tradition. It glorified the individual and approved worldly pleasures, viewing life as worthwhile for living for its own sake , rather then as a preparation for the afterlife. The era led to the creation of secular society rather than the religious society influenced by Church.
Humanism & literature , Art, architecture & science can be added There is a consensus the Renaissance began in Florence, Tuscany in the 14th century due to migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. In the 15th century, Renaissance ideas began to spread from Italy to rest of Europe. Renaissance encouraged all kinds of intellectual,political and social thinking but it is famous for artistic developments and artistic geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".
Ren-aissance was a turning point in the history of Western civilization, scholars of the Renaissance period took keen interest in the individual . They emphasized the worth of man and tried to project the individual as a free agent. The Renaissance spirit can be best summed up in the words of Leon Battista Alberti, "Men can do all things if they will".

Q.  - Is globalization affecting the indian economy comment.
A----- Indian economy was liberalized in 1991 which started the integration of Indian economy into
the global economy. The economic reforms, Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG model) as they were called aimed at making the Indian economy fastest growing economy and globally competitive. The series of reforms undertaken with respect to industrial sector, trade as well as financial sector were aimed at making the economy more efficient.
          The liberalization policy and subsequent integration with global economy transformed Indian mindset . Indian economy was in major crisis in 1991, with reserves of $1 billion, when some of the measures were taken to liberalize and globalize the economy:-

1. Devaluation:  To solve the balance of payment problem Indian currency were devaluated by 18 to 19%.
2. Disinvestment:  To make the LPG model smooth ,many of the public sectors were sold to the private sector.
3. Allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):  FDI was allowed in a wide range of sectors such as Insurance (26%), defense industries (26%) etc.
4. NRI Scheme:  The facilities which were available to foreign investors were also given to NRI's.

1) The benefits of the effects of globalization in the Indian Industry are that many foreign companies set up industries in India, especially in the pharmaceutical, BPO, petroleum, manufacturing, and chemical sectors and this helped to provide employment to many people in the country. This helped reduce the level of unemployment and poverty in the country.
2)  Also the benefit of the Effects of Globalization on Indian Industry are that the foreign companies
brought in highly advanced technology with them and this helped to make the Indian Industry more
technologically advanced.
3) India’s share of world merchandise exports increased to 1.4% over the years.
4) In respect of market capitalization, Indian economy ranks fourth in the world and may overtake
Japan and become third major economic power within 10 years.

Q.-  What are the main environmental challenges we are facing today ? Discuss.
A---- One of the greatest problems we face in the world today is pollution. Air pollution, poor
management of waste, growing water scarcity, falling groundwater tables, water pollution,population,
preservation and quality of forests, biodiversity loss, and land/soil degradation are some of the major
environmental issues we face today.
       Pollution of the air, water & soil is caused by pollutants emanating from industries ,automobiles, oil spills, excessive usage of fertilizers and chemicals , industrial wastes ,over exploitation of groundwater etc. The excessive degradation and pollution of air,water and soil has made life miserable with numerous endemic diseases making survival difficult.
      Overpopulation is another environmental problem, the increase in the population leads to food and water shortages straining our natural resources. Developing countries have already surpassed the population limits, leading to the scarcity of vital resources. Various methods employed to increase agriculture to feed population ends up damaging environment more. For example, the more fertilizer and pesticides added to produce more food damages the environment exponentially.
         Another grave environmental problem facing the world today is global warming. This is caused by emission of greenhouse gases. Global warming increases atmospheric temperatures in the ocean and the surface of the earth causing melting of the polar ice caps. This melting leads the sea levels to rise and the occurrence of unusual weather patterns that cause flash floods and excessive snowing.
Waste management is another grave environmental hazard world is facing ,countries are nowadays disposing of waste either by dumping it in the ocean which harms the ecosystem of the oceans or by burning it in open pits causing air pollution. The waste disposal of nuclear products is another grave environmental problem which threatens the well-being of humans and is a problem that needs urgent attention.

Q.  - What do you understand by the term 'Fundamental Rights' as given in our constitution ?
A----- The rights that are basic to the advancement of the human race are called Fundamental Rights.
All other rights are derived from these rights as direct implications or application of their principles. It is an accepted belief among the philosophers that these rights are nothing but "natural human rights"which distinguish between humans and animals and which have been instrumental in evolving
humans from the stone age to the present age. Among all, the right to life and liberty is considered to
be the most basic.
            The founding fathers of Indian constitution faced innumerable hardships during the freedom struggle at the hands of the colonialists . They thus ensured that certain rights should be provided to the citizenry for their wellbeing. These laws are enforceable by law unlike the Directive principles of State Policy . The Fundamental rights cannot be suspended until emergency is imposed . Even during emergency Article 20 and Article 21 remains in force . In Indian context, Fundamental Rights find place in part 3 of the Constitution of India. These rights gives people protection from oppressive governments and place the onus of protecting citizenry on the government .

Categories of Fundamental Rights
             Seven fundamental Rights were enshrined in our Constitution , however the Right to property was removed from the list by 44th Amendment Act. of the Constitution in the year 1976. Since then , it has been made a Legal Right. It means the property of an individual can be acquired by the state after paying adequate compensation . There are now six Fundamental Right -

1. Right to Equality (Articles 14-18) -  It ensures that all citizens are treated equally irrespective of
Caste, Race, Religion, Sex, and Place of Birth .
2. Right to Freedom (Artticles 19-22) -  It gives freedom of Speech and Expression, freedom of
Assembly, freedom of Association, freedom of Movement, freedom of Residence, and Freedom of
Profession.
3. Right Against Exploitation (Articles 23-24) - It ensures ban on human trafficking , forced labor or employment of children in hazardous conditions .
4. Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28) - Ensures practicing and propagation of any religion out of free will without fear or coercion.
5. Right to Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30) - Ensures protection of interests of
minorities and right to establish and administer educational institutions.
6. Right to Constitutional Remedies (Articles 31-35) - Article 32 is the soul of our constitution. All the talk of rights is useless if there is no recourse against their transgression. Under this article, a
citizen is free to go to the Supreme Court for violation of his rights. By 86th Amendment , the Right to Education has been included in the list of Fundamental Right adding Article 21(A)

Q.  - Discuss the role of Gandhi in national movement.
A----- Mahatma Gandhi was one of the tallest leader in Indian Freedom movement. Gandhi arrived
in India on 9 January 1915 from South Africa where he had fought for the rights of the Indians against the racist regime through Satyagraha, resistance to tyranny through mass civil resistance. He
perfected and propagated the philosophy of truth and ahimsa (nonviolence) as a weapon against
repression .
              From 1919 to 1947,Gandhi remained the foremost leader of the Indian national movement and his philosophy and leadership helped India gain independence and inspired inspired millions of people across the world. The Non-Violence, peaceful methods of Civil Disobedience, boycott of British goods , Non-Cooperation movements etc. adopted by Gandhi played a pivotal role in the freedom struggle of India. He inspired many prominent leaders like Nelson Mandela etc across the world, who applied his principles of peaceful demonstrations in their own countries against the tyrant regimes of the day.
               Gandhi first employed and pioneered successfully Civil Disobedience movement, while working as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa for the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the zeal to win Independence for India. The biggest achievement of Gandhi was to make freedom movement broad based by inclusive approach towards every possible community and religious minorities to protest against the oppressive British Government.
               His political engagement started in 1917-18, when he fought for the cause of Indigo farmers from Champaran in Bihar . Britishers, forced farmers to grow Indigo and then trapped them successfully with loans. Farmers wanted the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice instead of Indigo . After successfully fighting for the cause of the farmers, some other noticeable movements that catapulted Mahatma Gandhi as the prominent National leader were Kheda Satyagraha (1918) where taxes were withdrawn after Gandhi ji’s campaign , Ahmedabad textiles mills workers agitation where wages were increased after campaign . He organized protests by farmers, workers , urban laborers concerning excessive land-tax, deplorable human conditions and discrimination.
             After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity among communities , end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to
unite the countrymen under one roof to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from British
domination through peaceful means.
               In 1930, Gandhi started Civil Disobedience Movement, with the historic Dandi March with his 78 followers. He walked from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a coastal village in Gujrat covering 400km and made salt in violation of the law,as making salt was prohibited by the colonial government. This movement was instrumental in defeating the British as repression of peaceful movement caused world outrage, and successfully receiving sympathetic coverage by world
media blemished British hypocritical moral right to continue their occupation of India. To further the
cause of Independence Gandhi launched Quit India Movement in 1942, demanding immediate
independence of India from tyrannical colonial British occupation. Gandhiji is referred to as Mahatma, an honorific title , firstly applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore. In India, Gandhi is also called Bapu and officially honored in India as the Father of the Nation. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Q.   Compare & Contrast the industrial & the post-industrial society ?
A. -- During the long evolution process of human history, agrarian society gave way to Industrial
society. Industrial society was a slow and unique transformation from agrarian based society.
Industrial society was based on invention and utilization of machines. Fossil fuel based machines were at the center of the industrial society . The inventions powered by steam and electricity transformed the scale and method of manufacturing . In industrial societies exclusive large industrial complexes were constructed with newer modes of transportation and communication . The production of food is shifted to large commercial farms where the products of industry, such as combine, harvesters, tractors etc. Were used to produce crops instead of manual labor. This caused large scale unemployment among rural population who migrated to cities for jobs . This excess labor who was no longer needed for the production of food was accommodated in these factories.
                   Industrial society made urbanization a necessity where workers can reside closer to
industrial complexes. This leads to the rise of very large cities and surrounding suburban areas with a
high rate of economic activity. Many industrial cities are built around rivers as waterways facilitated
movement of raw materials and finished goods simultaneously , thus acting as catalyst to setup
industries on riverside. Industrial society is thus marked as society where large chunks of human population was displaced from their original habitats i.e villages and put into massive industrial towns. The invention and use of energy sources increased the rate and scale of production .Industrial society is marked by new types of raw material( iron ,steel etc.) and new kinds of machines (power loom) leading to increased production with less human energy along with new kind of transportation (steam ships) and communication (team-locomotive,steamship, automobiles, aeroplanes, telegraph and radio) were the central focus of the industrial society.

Post-Industrial Society -      The nature of the industrial society changed dramatically from what it was inthe 13th century to what it became in the 20th century particularly after the Second world war. It has been argued by some scholars that since the 1970’s a new type of society has emerged and begun to replace the Industrial Society. This is called the Post-industrial society.
                  In the middle of the Post-Industrial society is the dawn of new technology in the sphere of information and communication. Industrial society main theme was energy which is replaced by technology in post industrial society. In Post-industrial society new patterns of consumption have emerged and there has been a shift from a production driven economy to a consumption driven economy. The dominant manufacturing sector(Iron & Steel ) has been replaced by a service sector. There had been a rapid growth in the service sector of the economy. This sector comprises transportation, public utilities, wholesale and retail trade,finance, insurance, real estate, government, business and personal services. Jobs and investments in service sector have more then doubled since 1970's signifying its increasing importance and shift from manufacturing towards services in economy. The concentration of workers, managers and implements at one place, so
characteristic of Industrial age society, has been replaced by a decentralization of production where
knowledge has become an extremely vital component of the economic activity. Post-industrial
society replaced society dominated by a manufacturing-based economy to a society based on the
information, innovation, finance, and services.
                  The economy and society undergoes a transition from the production of goods during Industrial phase to the provision of services post-industrial phase. Now, knowledge becomes a
valued form of capital where, producing ideas drives the economy. Due to automation, the value and
importance to the economy of blue-collar, unionized work, including manual labor decline, and those
of professional workers (e.g. scientists, creative-industry professionals, and IT professionals) grow in
value and prevalence.
                  The industrial revolution was marked by an innovation of energy. Inventions based on
steam and electricity transformed the method and scale of manufacturing. The post-industrial society
moves at a very different level here manufacturing is replaced by information and knowledge.

Q.  Classical dance forms
A.  Bharatnatyam is perhaps the oldest among the contemporary classical dance forms of India.
The dance was performed both as a solo dance and in groups. In the villages of Tamil Nadu
Bharatnatyam continued as part of the Bhagvata Mela tradition . Earlier it was performed only by
men, but everything changed in 1936 when Rukmani Devi performed thus starting the new tradition
and leading to revival of Bharatnatyam.

Kathak  is one of the most popular dance forms of North India. It is also called the Natwari dance.
In its present from Kathak was developed and given patronage in the court of the Nawabs of Awadh.
One noticeable deviation from the original structure of Kathak during its growth in Awadh is the
emphasis on sensuous elements. Musical forms such as tappa and thumri provided the rhythmic
base for the dance. Musical instruments to be used in Kathak performances are tabla and pakhawaj .
The costume used in Kathak is sherwani, churidar pajama , a decorated cap and angarakha etc. Kathak has been promoted through three main gharanas - Lucknow, Jaipur, and Banaras. In fact the Jaipur and Banaras gharanas owe their origin to the Lucknow gharana. The kings of Kathak, Lachhu Maharaj and Shambhu Maharaj, belong to Lucknow. This gharana was founded by their grandfather Maharaj Thakur Prasad, who was a courtier and the dance teacher of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. Some of
the other important artists have been Birju Maharaj, Gopi Krishna, Sitara Devi , Damyanti
Joshi, etc.

Kathakali is the dance from the southernmost state of India - its center has been the region of Kerala and Malabar. Kathakali is derived from the two words, Katha and Kali, the literal meaning of which is dance drama. This dance form is performed exclusively by male dancers. Even female roles in the story line are performed to perfection by male artists. In support of the performance of dance, a group of singers keep continuously reciting the poems and epics. The artists who perform Kathkali do not sing the lines themselves. The actions are all executed in silence by the artists, only through the poses and postures of body and face. These dance postures are more complex than those used in Bharatnatyam. This tradition of dance-drama has been popular in the Malabar region primarily in the form of Krishna and Rama ballets. One of the peculiarities of this dance form is its costume and very elaborate makeup of the face. In this respect Kathkali has presented and also kept alive and continued
the ancient dance-dramas of Kerala .

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Gaurav Saini

BSHF - 101(6th Part)

Sixth Part 

The Bronze Age - After stone age came Bronze Age. It came around 5000 years ago or 3000
BC. This period supported an urban population, skilled craftsmen, traders, priests, and writers. Now the principal metals were used for making tools and weapons, this period is described as the Bronze Age. By 3000 B.C. not only was the technique of mixing copper and tin to make bronze known in India, Mesopotamia and Greece, but the wheel also had been discovered. The application of the wheel (with copper nails) revolutionized transportation and two-wheeled and four-wheeled carts were being commonly used by this time for a variety of purposes. By this time wind too was being used as a source of energy primarily to aid water transportation. We find sail boats being used from Polynesia to Egypt. The ruins of Mohenjodaro and Harappa tell us of the application of kiln-fired bricks which
meant a huge expenditure of fuel and the ability of the artisans to control high temperature. In the Bronze Age, there are evidences to suggest that land was systematically reclaimed from swamp and desert and record quantities of food stuffs were being produced Artificial waterways also helped to protect society against the vagaries of the weather.

The Iron Age - Iron Age started at around 1200 B.C. Unlike copper and tin which are quite rare and hence expensive, iron was easily available on earth's crust . In the period of the Bronze Age technology, large empires had emerged in Greece, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Egypt etc. The invention of iron tools and weapons by the barbarians of Eurasia posed a major threat to these empires. Iron was used in India around 1000 B.C. and excavations show that iron weapons such as arrow heads, spearheads were used commonly in Western Uttar Pradesh from about 800 B.C. In the words of Gordon Childe, "Cheap iron democratized agriculture and industry and warfare too. Any peasant could afford an iron axe to clear fresh land for himself and iron ploughs where with to break up stony ground". In the past the superior tools and weapons were rare and expensive. The discovery of iron leveled these differences.

Rise of Nation States -
                       The process of political development and formation of Nation states started during the Renaissance period . It all began with the development of national consciousness among people living in defined territory , the feeling that they are different from others . The rise of vernacular languages aided or helped to spread this feeling . It led to the emergence of two monarchies British and France .
                    The Kings tried to establish their supremacy over the feudal lords and the conflicts between the two lasted over a long period of time. The Kings were helped in their designs by merchants and other urban population. The rise of trade and the middle class in cities had taken place already. To free themselves from interference by feudal lords and to further promote their interests, the cities needed a strong central authority which the kings, by curbing the power of the feudal lords, were trying to establish. The interests of the merchants , middle class could be promoted by strong kings who would put an end to the feudal anarchy and local disorders, remove restriction on trade, build roads, and canals, and enforce law and order. They could, thus, facilitate trade by protecting traders in their countries by removing the competition of merchants from other countries, and support
them with their armed power against their rivals. Thus sense of oneness started due to use of vernacular languages , growth of central authority I.e king.

Geographical discovery and Colonization
                 After the formation of Nation states , the zeal to explore world started .The vast Atlantic Ocean was never crossed or chartered by Europeans. The first great steps to explore the world was taken by the sailors under the patronage of Spanish and Portuguese rulers . The motive was to find sea route to East and get a share of lucrative trade from East which was till then controlled by Italians. Navigational tools like compass, astronomical tables, art of mapping etc. helped the sailors .
                Columbus in 1492 discovered Americas while looking for sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco Da Gama discovered India finally . By the late 15th century almost the whole world came geographically in contact with each other .
                The new geographical discoveries had consequences for the entire world. The discovery of the sea-route to India led to the end of Italian control & the establishment of the Portuguese monopoly over trade . The Portuguese monopoly was subjugated by the British, the Dutch and the French. There was a tremendous increase in the volume of trade as well as in the articles of trade. It also marked the beginning of the colonization of Asia, which in the following centuries was almost entirely subjugated by the European countries.
                 Similarly in Africa , colonization took place only in coastal areas but by 19th century large scale colonization of African continent took place . In America, colonization led to the destruction of the civilizations . Civilization of Incas & Aztec , the indigenous population of America were destroyed by European colonialists . The Europeans plundered the gold and silver of the Incas and the Aztecs and exploited the mines in Peru, Mexico and Bolivia for precious metals. Vast supplies of gold and silver reached Europe.
                     Africa was similarly plundered for precious metals and for supply of slaves that were required in plantation . Plantation was introduced in Brazil , West Indies and North America for growing tobacco ,sugarcane, cotton etc. Thus , geographical discoveries were synonymous with colonization .

Drain Theory -
      According to Nationalists , a significant amount of India’s wealth was exported to Britain without any benefits for India . In other words India was made to pay tribute to Britain indirectly. Salaries to British officers who were posted in India , home charges and profits made on British capital invested in India benefited Britain while sucking India dry of resources .
      After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 British company took control of Bengal , according to estimates wealth drain from Bengal to Britain East India Company constituted 5 to 6 % of its
net Gross . The surplus generated on investments were also siphoned off to Britain while
India remained undeveloped. Exploitation of Indian resources continued through other methods like over taxation, unfavorable trade etc. After gaining the Dewani rights for Bengal , Bihar and Orissa in 1765 , the land revenues were remitted back to Britain.

De-industrialization -
India was a cotton goods exporter when British came to India , gradually it became a cotton goods importer once it came under the British control . Under British rule , artisans , craftsmen and trading centers collapsed . The manufacturing sector collapsed too due to policies adopted by British colonialists . India thus became a net importer of cotton goods almost exclusively from Britain . Indian imports according to estimates were 40% of British exports .
             Thus industrialization of Britain was caused by de-industrialization of Indian manufacturing .
The de-industrialization of India led to the steady decline of population employed in indigenous industries and migration of these workers into agriculture sector which was thus over burdened .

Q. What were the reasons for national consciousness.
A. 1. Printing press
2. Better communication
3. New system of education
4. Racist attitude of British
5. Better Transportation

NON-COOPERATION AND KHILAFAT MOVEMENTS -
                     During the First world war, inflation was skyrocketing with all essential commodities out of reach of common Indians. The colonial government on its part imposed taxes to help the war efforts . This led to lot of resentment among people another reason was the forceful induction of young men in army to fight war. People were agitated and demonstration were held against the British. To quell the protest , Rowlatt act was passed in 1919, under this any person can be arrested without warrant for 2 years .
              There were massive protests and demonstrations led by Gandhi ji who gave the call of satyagraha I.e peaceful demonstration against the act. During this Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred in Punjab which further enraged the people across the country .
              Around the same time, the Indian Muslims were aroused because the Sultan of Turkey was deposed by the British. The Indian Muslims regarded the Turkish Sultan as their Khalifa and they started the Khilafat movement for the restoration of Khalifa in Turkey. Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali were the leaders of the movement.To strengthen the Hindu -Muslim unity, Gandhi and Ali brothers launched a united campaign in 1921 called Non-cooperation movement . The Indian people were asked to boycott foreign goods and adopt Swadeshi, to boycott government school;, colleges and courts and councils, to adopt national schools, arbitration courts and Khadi. The program also included resignation from government services, non-payment of taxes, removal of untouchability and promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity.
              The movement started at an unprecedented level. Thousands of students left schools and colleges, hundreds of lawyers and many government servants left their jobs, most of the people refused to vote in the elections to the legislatures, the boycott of foreign cloth assumed massive proportions, thousands were involved in the picketing of the shops selling foreign cloth and liquor and in many places,peasants and workers were also involved along with students, middle classes and women. Its influence was even more far-reaching. Millions of peasants and urban poor became familiar with the ideology of nationalism. Most sections of the Indian population became politicized and women were drawn to the movement. An anti imperialist feeling spread to wide areas of the country and the movement imbued the Indian people with self-confidence and self-esteem.
             On 5 February 1922, in Chauri-Chaura, a crowd of peasants burnt the police station killing 22 policemen in retaliation to the police firing. Gandhi condemned this incident and withdrew the movement.

Civil Disobedience Movement -
The Simon Commission on 8 November 1927 raised the political temperature of India . This
Commission was constituted to explore the possibility for further constitutional progress in India, but there was not even a single Indian in it. This meant that the British government did not have any faith in the ability of the Indians. This was considered as an insult to the Indians and it was decided to boycott the proceedings of the Commission. The Congress further decided to protest against it. Strikes and demonstrations were held wherever the Commission went. This movement galvanised the country and stirred the youth and created the ground for a new &-India movement.

BSHF - 101(5th Part)

Fifth Part

Q. What do you understand by capability approach?
A.    Amartya Sen has put forward an influential approach to development which he calls the
'capability approach.' The capability approach to development sees human lives as a collection of 'doings' and 'becomings' which, are together called 'functioning'. Functioning denotes the achievement of a person, a persons state ,of what she is able to do . Capability captures the idea of the collection of various combinations of functioning that a person is able to achieve. The idea reflects a person's freedom to choose between different ways of conducting her life and the various opportunities she gets, the various freedoms she has, and to the extent that she is able to realize her potential.

Q.  Explain the significance of human rights.
A.  Human rights are important in the relationships that exist between individuals and the government that has power over them. The government exercises power over its people. However, human rights mean that this power is limited. States have to look after the basic needs of the people and protect some of their freedoms. Social scientists have looked at human rights in terms of their being guaranteed, and their possible violation by the state. Human rights are not merely matters of ethics.
They primarily involve the obligation of the state. The success of human rights depends upon
meeting of these obligations by the duty-holders namely the state. Human rights largely deal with oppression by the state. Human rights endow individuals with a legitimate claim against the state to enjoy an exist and thrive with proper dignity & honor . 'The primary thrust of human rights is on the empowerment of the society, particularly the most vulnerable groups in society, to lay legitimate claims to the institution of the state for a life with dignity and freedom and resources. Human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
Some of the human rights are enshrined in our constitution are right to life , right to freedom , right against exploitation , cultural and educational rights , safe environment , etc. Some of these are enforceable by law to provide environment for well being of the society .

Q.  What’s the difference between human development and human rights.
A.  Human development is concerned with the standard of living and quality of life, while human rights are derived from notions of civil liberties and individual freedom. However, if we look carefully, we find that development can be defined as expansion of people's capabilities and opportunities, and an increase in their freedom of choice to the lives they lead. Similarly human rights are also not merely limited to civil liberties; economic rights and right to development can be brought under this ambit.

Q.  What are the approaches to social security measures?
A.  Social security - Financial assistance provided for those who are unable to cover basic needs, such as food, clothing and housing, due to poverty or lack of income because of unemployment, sickness, disability, or caring for children. Social security is a set of basic public actions to reduce the vulnerability of affected people. Public action is not merely action by the state. It includes actions by the public for itself. During disasters, but also otherwise, the actions of NGOs, charitable and religious institutions must be mentioned here. In many traditional societies in India, the family, too, has acted as a provider of social security.
Governments can adopt two broad approaches to social security measures. The first way is to promote general economic growth and use the general benefits accruing from growth to help vulnerable sections of the population. The second approach is to take public action measures directly in terms of social sectors such as education and health and also promote better income distribution patterns, and generate employment. It is possible to argue that checking inflation also helps in mitigating adverse effects of prices on the vulnerable sections of the population.

Q. Explain Human security and human development.
A.  Human security means freedom from pervasive threats to people's rights, their safety or even their lives. Human security as defined in the UNDP Report consisted of seven components and dimensions: economic , food, health, environmental, personal, community and political.
 Human security has a international dimension, problems of international terrorism,drug trafficking, as well as problems of international migrants spill over comes under its ambit. Democracy and good governance are very important in promoting human security.
Human security provides an enabling environment for human development. Violence or the threat of violence as in cases of civil wars or riots makes meaningful progress on the development agenda impossible, thus ensuring safety for people is a prerequisite. By addressing inequalities that are often the root causes of violent conflict, strengthening governance structures, complementing political, economic, and legal initiatives, can enhance human security.

Q.  Explain the concept of health security.
A.  Health Security means having low exposure to disease and high and proper access to health services. Poor people are vulnerable to disease as they live in degraded areas and have poor access to health services or cannot afford medical care. For example, diarrhea because of-poor water and sanitation services is a major cause of death among children . Malaria and tuberculosis are other diseases that are widespread. In recent years, the threat of AIDS has gone up tremendously and is affecting large sections of the population. For health security, preventive strategies are very important and are closely related to provision of basic services of water supply, sanitation, aid education.
Non-government organizations and voluntary organizations along with government departments are quite active in the health field in developing nations like India. Their efforts have been remarkable in combating and building awareness about deadly diseases like AlDS and in the on-going pulse polio program in India to administer polio drops to children below five years of age to prevent polio.

Q. Explain food security.
A.  "Food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is
Achieved ] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".
Food security as a concept originated in the mid-1970s during World Food Conference of 1974, when the world faced a global food Crisis. Focus of attention was primarily on problems of food supply, of ensuring the availability and the price stability of basic food items at the national and international level. The issues of Famine, hunger and food crisis were also being extensively examined,following the events of the mid 1970s.

Q.  'What are the views of Swami Vivekananda on education?
A.  Swami Vivekananda considered that education leads to the manifestation of the divine potential already existing in human beings. Thus the function of education is not merely to fill up an individual's mind with information but to draw out and develop the inherent potential.

Q.  What is the importance of education for nurturing democracy?
A.  Democracy is a form of governance that involves people right from the grass roots level. It makes the society egalitarian by providing the right of adult franchise to every citizen. It empowers the citizens and is rule by the people. It is synonymous with freedom and rights for the citizens.
     Education develops tolerance for divergent views, respect for the life of individuals and liberate mind from the narrow beliefs of communalism , superstitions etc. the qualities that are the prerequisites of democracy. The abilities to think critically, objectively and in an unbiased manner are to be developed through education . The education imparted today determines the political set up of tomorrow. Dr. Radhakrishnan was of the opinion that democracy depends for its very existence on high standards of general, vocational and professional education. This makes the role of education clear for nurturing democracy.

Q.  How can education develop 'International Understanding?
A.  Education develops the right attitude necessary for peaceful co-existence and cooperation among nations. Awareness against racism, desire for peace, respect for world heritage, and world wise eradication of diseases, poverty and illiteracy can be achieved only through education.
    The preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO declared that since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. It implies that the thinking is to be shaped in such a way that there is desire for peace which is only possible through education.

Q.  Name the schemes launched by government to eradicate illiteracy.
A.   In the recent years, programmes like Operation Blackboard, District Primary Education Programme, Sarva Shiksha Ablhiyan, Lok Jumbish, Shiksha Karmi etc., have been initiated to achieve universalisation of education.

Q.  Discuss the different roles of ICT.
A.  ICT performs three major roles in the social sector These arc of knowledge provider ,
employment provider and education provider .

ICT as Knowledge provider -
ICT has come as a boon to the poor nations and less privileged people because world wide,
identical information can be accessed with in seconds. The information available on the Internet can be accessed from any part of the world. Even the best libraries in any region cannot afford to procure all the books published. Earlier there have been difficulties in accessing information. With the advent of Internet, now everyone can get identical and up-to-date information. As soon as a piece of information is uploaded on the Internet everyone gets access to it. It was a common complaint earlier that the most recent books could be afforded by only the most affluent, but with the coming of the Internet everyone is able to get the information.

ICT as Employment provider -
ICT has made it possible for people to work from one part of the world to employ from other parts of the world. We have often come across the term 'call centers' where people start work at late hours and finish working only during the early hours of the day.These offices undertake assignments from overseas and work for foreign countries.

ICT as education provider -
One of the major implications of ICT is witnessed in the field of education. Now a days, learners have started taking courses offered on-line. This means course contents are put on the Internet & learners access the site and study the course material on their own. Providing latest content is very easy through on-line courses as making changes in print- based courses not only requires a lot of resources but also immense efforts. ICT is very useful if updated information thus improving the quality of education. Traditional campus- based education requires learners to devote a substantial amount of time to the study of course material ,but in ICT based courses people can learn on their own by devoting time between working hours thus due to flexibility in learning hours , learning can become a habit for people .

Q.  What do you understand by digital divide?
A.  ICT has divided the whole world into two parts -
 first those who possess the wealth and so can afford the ICT gadgets and services and second group of those who do not have the required wealth to acquire/posses the gadgets and the services. As it would be apparent from above, the rich countries and the rich people even in the poor countries can
afford to make use of the ICT services and would be able to survive in the technological era but those who cannot afford would slowly lag behind in the race towards development. In other words, those who are wealthy would become wealthier and those who are poor would continue to become poorer. This will have implications on individuals, families, societies and even nations. It is generally believed that ICT may have created a new class of untouchables living in information poverty at one level & a new cadre of high technology entrepreneurs on the other. A report released by World Economic Forum (2002) concluded that India had the widest digital divide. According to the report, though the Internet was increasingly popular, there were only 4.5 million Internet users and 43 Internet service providers. Urban areas mainly have benefited by ICT. New Delhi, for example accounts for more than 70 per cent of India's Internet connections.

Q.  What is the impact of ICT on traditional technologies?
A.  The overemphasis on ICT can lead to its displacing low-cost traditional technological devices, which are still being used by the poor for their livelihoods. Wherever possible, modern ICT needs to be combined with traditional means of communication.

Q.  What are the factors preventing effective functioning of the UN System in preserving
Peace?
A.  The UN's success in management of conflicts has been limited and there are many
reasons for UN failure -
(a) the member states conflicting behavior among themselves and
(b) US'S creating obstacles to UN's functioning.
                  A serious reason is the USA's disrespect to, and withdrawal from the UN system so that it makes a point to the rest of the world about 'American exceptionalism’. Inconsistencies and selfcenterdness' is the America's approach towards UN bodies and other international regulatory instruments. As a signatory of the treaty of Organization of American States (OAS) in 1948, USA never observed the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the states in that hemisphere. Internationally, it had propped up governments that were notorious for repression and systematic violation of human rights (Chile's Pinochet, Iran's Shah, Pakistan's repressive governments). Globalization and MNC’s are also indirectly responsible for sprucing up conflicts.

Q.  How does globalization aid in conflict escalation?
A.  Globalization has led to wealth inequality gaps rising within countries and within societies. Mnc’s have corrupted policy makers and exploited natural resources leaving large vulnerable communities in despair leading to social unrest. in the wake of globalisation which has set in during the 1980s.                          According to Larry Elliot, "the statistics today are alarming: more than 13 million children have died through diarrhea diseases in the past decade (1990s). Each year over half a million women, one for every minute of the day, die in pregnancy and child birth. More than 800 million suffer from
malnutrition." For many countries, the 1990s were a decade of despair. Some 54 countries are poorer now than in 1990. Countries such as the US, Norway, Japan, Germany and France have per capita GDPs which are 20 to more than 100 times greater than countries like Ethiopia, Malawi, Afghanistan and Bolivia. Whereas global population is a little over 6 billion, we have according to an estimate, 3 billion living under conditions of food insecurity, one billion without access to clean water, 2 billion without electricity and 2.5 billion with no sanitation . In India, the media periodically highlight how the poor starve as the surplus food grains rot in government godowns. 'The latest is the starvation deaths of Sahariya tribal population in the Baran district of Rajasthan, and the poor people of the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra. Despite this admission of facts, the World Bank insists that globalization promotes social justice.

Q.  What are the effects of people's protests against globalization?
A.  The US hegemony is now being protested by people affected in different countries, more so in Russia and few other former Soviet Republics in Central Asia and Eastern Europe and in South America as late as September and October 2004. It indicates that the US'S agenda of globalization is increasingly meeting with resistance from a wider section of people. Democracies are now forced to re-look at the reforms pursued and make it people-friendly, particularly those along the margins of the society socially and economically.
               Under attack , The World Bank too has been considering a review of reforms for the benefit
of wider sections of the society. People in the rural areas in India, now benefited by the painstaking work of the NGOs and the media, have become articulate on questions of environmental degradation by the Transnational Corporations' dumping of hazardous wastes and people-to-people friendship across the boundaries.

Q.  What do you understand by environment?
A.  The world of human beings, the flora and the fauna, living in and around us are the natural resources, which constitute Panch Mahabhuta. These are the five elements of nature, land, water, fire, air and sky, which provide daily needs of life. As Gandhiji had observed, "Nature has enough to meet our needs but not our greed (which is always insatiable)." But unfortunately, exploitation of nature for commercial benefits has disturbed this precious balance which has held our humanity together. What passes off as "economic development" has largely been a consequence of ecological degradation which has been unequally caused all over the world. Actually, the main fuel which made industrial development possible during the last couple of centuries is fossil-based and that is also the major source of pollution of water and air. The benefits of such development, as we know, are reaped by the
rich and the industrially developed countries while the consequences of plollution are borne by the poor and the developing counties.

Q.  List important environmental initiatives taken in India.
A.  To safeguard the environment , Government took several initiatives. Some of them are -
1.   42nd amendment to constitution in 1976 as Arlticle 48-A in the Chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy, which reads as below:
Protection and improvement of Environment and Safeguarding of Forests and Wildlife -
The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests
and wildlife of the country.
2. Apart from this provision, a new provision in the form of "Fundamental Duties' as Article
51A which was also incorporated by the 42nd Constitution Amendment, it states - "It shall be
the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including
forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures."
3. The Wild life protection .act was followed by the water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Forest (Conservation Act, 1980 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. There is no dearth of legal enactments to protect the environment, but the implementation of legislative provisions has either been slow or a non-starter.
4.  It was the Bhopal Gas disaster of 3 December 1984 (in which over 3,500 people were killed and as many as 2 lakhs were injured and the victims are fighting till date for health care facilities and compensation) that precipitated the passage of the Environment (Protection) Act in 1986. Even this Act including other related ones) finds it difficult to provide relief to the affected people.

Q.  Evaluate the post-Rio progress in meeting the environment challenges.
A.  Two major steps have already been taken by the global community to preserve and
promote environment.
Firstly the UN system has realized the importance of clean environment. The UN Commission on Human Rights has for the first time in 2001 has clearly declared that every individual has a right to live in clean environment.
Secondly, environment sustainability has been accepted by the global community as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals to be specifically attended to by all the governments of the world on top priority.

Important -
Millennium Development Goals :- These have been adopted by the Millennium Declaration
of the UN General Assembly in 2000 to mark the coming of the second millennium and prepare a fresh strategic vision for the United Nations. All 19 1 United Nations Member states made a commitment to achieve these goals by 2015. These goals are to:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Achieve universal primary education.
Promote gender equality and empower women.
Reduce child mortality.
Improve' maternal health.
Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Ensure environmental sustainability.

Important -
Washington Consensus : The term was coined by John Williamson in 1989 to refer to the policy advice given by the Washington-based institutions such as IMF, World Bank, US treasury, to latin American Countries. These policies included those relating to fiscal discipline, tax responses, trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation etc.

Important -
American Exceptionalism : America is above other countries in the world for reasons of its
excellence. Critics dub it as 'holier than thou' approach.

Important -
Structural Adjustment : During 1980s and 1990s, a need was felt for Program bringing about
structural changes in many countries to enable market forces play a key role. This comprises the reform measures promoted by IMF, World Bank, US Congress etc., that aimed to address the economic crises especially in Latin American countries. This program aimed to stabilize the economy through some structural measures in the areas of trade and finance by privatization and deregulation of domestic markets. The reforms were introduced to correct the balance of payments, government budgets, money supply etc.

BSHF- 101 (4th Part)

Fourth Part

Q. What was the rationale for economic reforms ? What kind of economic strategy was followed till 1991 with consequences .
A.    The industrial policy announced in 1991 provided following rationale for introducing economic reforms:
# to de-control the Indian industrial economy from unnecessary bureaucratic controls;
# to introduce liberalization with a view to integrate the Indian Economy with the world
economy;
# to remove the restrictions on foreign direct investment;
# to remove the restrictions of MRTP Act; and
# to shed the load of public sector enterprises which have shown a very low rate of return and incurring losses over the years.

Since the inception of planning, growth with social justice and self-reliance have remained
the central objectives of development strategy. Import-substitution, licenses and controls
coupled with dominant role of public sector in economic activities were the peculiar features
of development strategies till July, 1991. License - permit - quota raj led to widespread
corruption. The bureaucracy was the principal beneficiary of this system. The Government
officials in collusion with the political bosses earned huge money via corruption. Hence, it
was increasingly felt to dismantle the system of licensing and controls. Quite a large number
of public enterprises which played crucial role in setting up heavy and basic industries; social
and economic infrastructural development were king problem of inefficiency and high cost
of operation. Further, there was a high pressure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to
expose Indian industry to face world competition. The performance of the Indian Economy
was not up to expectations. All these factors made the Government to introduce the
economic reforms.

Q. What do you understand by the liberalization of the economy ?
A.   liberalization refers to shifting of license dominated regime to de-licensing, deregulation
& de-bureaucratization. India has taken follow. measures towards liberalizing the economy.
Removal of Industrial Licensing: Except 18 industries relating to security and strategic
concerns, social reasons, hazardous chemicals and over-riding environmental, all industrial
licensing was abolished. Subsequently, this list was reduced to a small group of five
industries.
Dereservation of SSI Items: The items earlier reserved for SSI sector are gradually being
de-reserved. In the budget 2003-04,75 items and in 2005-06, 108 items have been
de-reserved forcing the small scale industries to face competition both domestic and
international

Withdrawing MRTP Restrictions 

Q. Name the various forms of privatisation .
A.    Privatization in the narrow sense can take the following forms:
a)  Total De-nationalization:   This implies complete transfer of ownership of a public enterprise to private hands. Some examples of total de-nationalisation are: Allwyn Nissan - was handed over to Mahindra; Mangalore Chemical and Fertilizers - to UB Group and Maharashtra scooters - to Bajaj Auto (India).
b) Joint Venture: This implies partial induction of private ownership from 25 to 50 per cent or even more in a public sector enterprise depending upon the nature of the enterprise and state policy in this regard.
c) Workers' Co-operative: Transfer of ownership of a loss-making concern to the workers is another form of privatization. The basic logic of the proposal is that workers besides receiving wages for work, would also be entitled to a share in ownership dividend. Since workers' personal interest is linked to the interest of the enterprise, the workers are likely to work hard to increase productivity so that they can earn more. Such schemes were introduced in Kamani Tubes, Central Jute and Mewar textiles, etc.
d) Token Privatization:  The sale of 5 per cent to 10 per cent shares of a profit-making public sector enterprise in the market is known token privatization. The objective of such privatization is to obtain revenue to reduce budget deficit. Out of the various forms of privatization, the most acceptable is the joint venture in which the share of the private sector is kept at either 49 per cent or'74 percent.

Q.  Why is privatization opposed by trade unions in India?
A.  In spite of having a strong case for privatization of certain PSUs, it has become increasingly difficult to push though proposals of privatization in reality due to following reasons:-
First, with the emergence of strong trade unions in India, privatization in the sense of total
de-nationalisation is not acceptable to trade unions. The trade unions of all shades - left, center and right - are all opposed to privatization of profit making PSUs. Consequently, the Government is forced to slowdown its pace of disinvestments.
Secondly, using book value of net assets in disinvestrnents by the State results in gross under valuation of assets. As a result of it, the assets are transferred to big businesses at low prices.
Third, the State's intention of encouragement of corporatization and thereby providing benefit to big business houses is also opposed. It is argued that instead Economic Reforms of total de-nationalization, the workers' cooperative forms of privatization should be adopted as was done in the case of Kamani Tubes.
Fourthly, in the privatization process, workers' retrenchment through the route of Voluntary
Retirement Scheme (VRS) in respect of sick units of PSUs is also opposed by the workers.
Lastly, the absence of a social security system in India is another major cause of opposition to privatization.
   Unless the problems associated with privatization are taken care of in a proper and honest manner, the resistance to privatization will continue

Q.  List the four components of globalization of the Indian economy
A.  Globalization helps in removing inefficiency. In the absence of globalization prolonged protection of domestic industry has serious damaging effects on cost structure. Industries habitually fall asleep under protective umbrellas and become careless about cost.

#  Globalization serves to give a boost to the long-run average growth rate of the economy by:
(i) improving the allocative efficiency of resources; 
(ii) reducing the capital output ratio;
and (iii) inmasing the labour productivity.

#  Globalisation helps to restructure the production and trade pattern in favour of labour-intensive goods and labour-intensive techniques.
#  Foreign capital is attracted to exploit the professional export opportunities along the above lines. With the entry of foreign capital, updated technology also enters the country.
#  with the entry of foreign cooperation and the removal of import tariff barriers, domestic industry will be subject to price reducing and quality-improving effects in the domestic economy.
#  Uneconomic import substitution will slowly disappear and cheaper imports, particularly of capital goods, will reduce the capital-output ratio in manufacturing. Lower prices of manufactured goods will improve the terms of trade in favour of agriculture.
#  The main effect of globalization is felt in the consumer goods industries. As there is a large domestic demand for these goods, employment opportunities would expand and over a period of time, the trickle down effect will operate and the proportion of people below the poverty line will go down.
#  It is also believed that the efficiency of banking and financial sectors will increase with the opening up of these areas to foreign capital and foreign banks.

Q. What are the disadvantages of globalization on Indian economy. 
A. #  Globalization process is in essence a tremendous redistribution of economic power at the world level. This will increasingly translate into redistribution of economic power. Economically weak nations my be dominated by economically powerful nations.
#  Globalization process challenges some familiar assumptions. Until now, for instance, it was
conventional wisdom that technological change and increases in productivity would translate into more jobs and higher wages. But in the last few years, technological changes have eliminated more jobs than they have created.
#  It is becoming harder in the industrially developed democratic countries to ask the public to go through the pains and uncertainties of structural adjustment for the sake of benefits yet to come.
#  Globalization has sounded the death-knell of village and small industries. These cannot stand up to competition against the well-organised MNCs.

Q. What were the measures taken towards globalization of the Indian economy. 
A.   Automatic approval for direct foreign investment up to 5 1 per cent foreign equity ownerships in a wide range of industries. Earlier, all foreign investments were limited to 40 per cent.
2)  Automatic permission for foreign technology agreements royalty payments up to 5 percent of domestic sales or 8 per cent of export sales or lump sum payment of Rs. 10 million. Automatic approval for all other royalty payments will also be given if the projects can
generate internally the foreign exchange
3)  With a view to provide access to international markets, majority foreign equity holdings
up to 51 per cent equity would be allowed for trading companies primarily engaged in
export activities.
4) As apart of shift in policy orientation from import substitution export promotion, tariff rates were reduced and quantitative controls over imports were removed. Quantitative restrictions were replaced by price-based system. Other measures include setting up of special economic zones, aligning EXIM procedures with WTO norms, removal of.disincentives, export promotion through import entitlement.

BSHF -101 (3rd Part)

Third Part

Q. Bring out the important features of the Indian economy.
A.  The important features of the Indian economy are as follows :
1) The Indian economy is a developing economy. It hasn’t yet reached the level of economic development seen in America and Europe.
2) The Indian economy is a mixed economy in the sense that both private sector and public sector coexist and participate in the production process.
3) It is characterized by high population density and population growth.
4) About one-third of the population live below poverty line. 'Vicious cycle of poverty' operates in many sectors of the economy.
5) There is high level of unemployment and underemployment In addition, there is 'disguised unemployment' in the agricultural sector.
6) The level of technology used in production process is low in many sectors. Modern technology has not been adopted in all sectors of the economy.
7)  There is a shortage of physical and economic infrastructure . Transport (Road, railways, airlines), power (electricity, gas), and communication (telephone,Internet) have not reached all parts of the country. Even some parts of the country do not have provisions for schools, colleges, hospitals, and safe drinking-water supply.

Q. Distinguish between growth and development
A.  Economic development is a broader term than economic growth Economic growth usually means the growth in production of an economy. On the other hand, economic development includes other factors such as literacy, health, child mortality rate, equality, regional balance, infrastructure, etc

Q. What are the reasons for the government to enter into production activities?
A.  The reasons for the government to enter into production activities are -
1) Infrastructure such as road, ports, dams, etc., require huge investment but the rate of return is very low in the short run. Thus no private entrepreneur would be interested in providing roads, which prompts the government to come forward.
2) There are natural monopolies such as electricity generation, railways, etc., where a single producer can serve the entire market.
3) There are certain production activities which have so much social benefits that the government should produce these goods and services (e.g., schools and colleges, hospitals, banks, etc.)
4) The government may enter into production activities to fulfill some other social objectives instead of profit motive. These objectives could be employment generation, regional balance and social uplift of the downtrodden.

Q. Explain the three stages of demographic transition
A.  Change in the size of population takes place through three demographic events: birth, death and migration. In the Indian economy migration has played a negligible role in population growth. Thus population growth is largely due to higher birth rate than death rate. In an economy there is a pattern in which demographic transition takes place. Such transition can be divided into three stages. It has been observed that when the level of development is low in an economy both birth rate and death rate are high. As a result population growth rate is not that high. This is the first stage of demographic transition. When economic development takes place the economy moves on to the second stage -
death rate declines due to availability of health facilities and medicines but birth rate continues to remain high. This is the stage when there is a wide gap between birth rate and death rate, and population increases sharply. With more economic development, the economy moves on to the third stage -both birth rate and death rate are low. Consequently, population growth rate is again low in the third stage. All the developed economies are in the third stage of demographic transition. In case of India , till 60s both birth rate and death rate were quite high, thus population grew at a lower rate. However, population growth rate accelerated afterwards and reached a peak during 1980-81. A positive sign is that in the recent census the annual population growth rate has come down below 2 per cent. Some of the states such as Kerala, Tamilnadu and Punjab have reached a reasonably lower birth rate. However, in some of the major states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh population growth rate is very high.

Q. What are the changes observed in the sectoral composition of GDP-in India?
A.     The important changes are decline in share of primary sector( agriculture,forest and logging, fishing) , increase in share of secondary(mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, and construction) and tertiary or service sectors( trade, hotels and restaurant, transport (railways,road, air, waterways), storage, communication,banking and insurance, real estate, and public administration and defense).

Q. Explain the concept of disguised unemployment.
A.      Disguised employment means when too many people were employed to do a job which far less hands can achieve without affecting the output. This term is often used in agriculture sector where more number of people are employed for output that can be achievable through less people .

Q. What are the modes of transfer of funds from Center to the States?
A.      There are three modes of transfer of funds from the Center to the states. First, the center collects certain taxes (particularly, personal income tax and excise duties) and allocates a share of the tax proceeds to the states. In order to streamline such allocation the constitution provides for setting up of a Finance Commission every five years, which suggests criteria of such sharing between the Center and the states on the one hand, and amongst different states on the other.
The second mode of transfer of funds from the Center to the states is the grants and loans extended to states for implementing development plans. The states receive grants and loans from the Center which supplement the revenue generated at the state level. The Planning Commission allocates funds to states as per formula devised by the National Development Council.
The third mode of transfer of funds from the Center to the states is the grants given by central ministries to their counterparts in different states for specified projects. Such projects are wholly Med by the Center (under ‘central schemes’)or the states are asked to contribute a proportion of the cost (in the case of 'centrally sponsored schemes').

Q. Outline the basic objectives of Indian planning.
A.       The basic objectives of planning in India were envisaged as of economic growth, employment, self-reliance and social justice. As given in the Second Five Year Plan (FYP) document there are four basic objectives of planning in India, viz.,
# A sizeable increase in the national income so as to raise the level of living in the country.
# Rapid industrialization with particular emphasis on the development of basic and heavy
industries;
# a large expansion of employment opportunities; and
# reduction of inequalities in income and wealth and a more even distribution of economic power.

Q. Bring out the important aspects of the new development strategy in plan strategy in
the Indian planning process.
A.   Some of the changes are -
# Greater flexibility in fiscal and monetary policies;
# Shift in the policy from the focus on national targets to taking cognizance of the performance of different states in the country and efforts towards bridging interstate inequality;
# Ensuring equity and social justice;
# Bringing full capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector;
# Reduction in the gestation lags of industrial and infrastructural investments;
# Rationalization of labor laws and regulations;
# Introducing financial sector reforms so that the viability and stability of financial institutions improves financial sector in India should be able to and willing to finance a range of activities that are of crucial importance both for growth and development.
# Re-examination of the subsidies provided to agricultural sector,
# Revival of public investment in irrigation and water management;
# Removal of the reservation policy for small scale industries in a phased manner, without adversely affecting employment opportunities;
# Development of telecommunications, energy, and housing sector on a priority basis;
# Making an decisive impact on the quality of life of the majority of people especially poor and marginalized, and
# Settling socio-economic targets by making social interventions.

Q. Outline the changes in plan strategy in the Indian planning process.
A.   During the early phase (1951-60) the emphasis was mainly on growth, that is, to raise the level of output in the economy. There were three main aspects such as
i) developing sound base for initiating the long term growth of the economy,
ii) a comparatively high priority to industrialization, and
iii) emphasis on the development of capital goods
The Second Five Year Plan was built on a strategy of long term development of the economy. Since the draft of this Plan was prepared by P. C. Mahalanobis & Nehru was the PM of the country this strategy is often called Nehru-Mahalanobis growth strategy which emphasised on industrialization of the economy, particularly heavy industries.
With the beginning of the Third Plan (1961-66) it was felt that the Indian economy has entered the 'take off stage and the first two FWs generated the necessary institutional mechanism for rapid economic development. Consequently in the Third FYP a goal of 'self reliance' was set. Leaning from the experience of the first two FYPs, the Third FYP accorded a high priority to agriculture along with the emphasis on the development of the basic industries.
India observed a 'plan holiday' during 1966-69.
In 1969 when the FYP was resumed the objective of economic growth and self reliance was not given up. But the main emphasis got shifted from heavy industry to quick yielding projects and small scale industry. Similarly creation of infrastructure including roads was given priority. For development of agricultural sector high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds and chemical fertilizer were given priority as compared to community development.
The Fourth FYP set before itself two principal objectives: rapid growth in gross domestic product
(GDP) and progressive achievement of self-reliance.
The Fifth FYP (1974-79) was introduced at a time when India was in deep economic crisis due to global hike in crude oil prices. Since the planners were interested in the slogan of 'garibi hatao' and attainment of self-reliance it was envisaged to achieve these objectives through better distribution of income, higher rates of growth & by direct attack on the problem of unemployment, underemployment and acute poverty.
The Fifth Plan was terminated by the new Janata Party government one year before its completion and the Sixth FYP was adopted. In fact, India had two Sixth FYPs practically (1978-83 and 1980-85). The Sixth FYP adopted by the Janata Party (1978-83) was discarded in 1980 with the change in government at the center. The Sixth Plan (1978-83) admired the achievements of earlier
Plans in India but criticized the Nehru-Mahalanobis growth strategy holding it responsible for unemployment, growing poverty, concentration of economic power in the hands of few and widening of income and wealth inequalities. The focus of the Sixth Plan (1978-83) was increasing the employment potential in agriculture and allied activities, was introduced by the congress government, planners rejected the approach of Janata Party and brought back the earlier model of growth. In order to tackle the problem of poverty there was direct attack on poverty by adopting programmes like Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and National Rural Employment Programme (NREP).
The Seventh FYP (1985-1990) was introduced with a change in the development strategy. It was envisaged to bring down the rate of population growth because the gains of growth often got neutralized by fairly high growth rates of population.There were four basic elements that signify a change in the strategy in this Plan. First, it gave importance to higher agricultural production by relying more on new technology. Second, it undermined the role of public sector and induced promotion of private sector through industrial deregulation. Third, with liberalization of imports,
it aimed at raising efficiency in the manufacturing sector. Fourth, necessary changes in
industrial and export-import policies were made so that the role of the state changes from a
regulatory to facilitatory authorities.
The Eighth (1992-97), Ninth (1997-02) & Tenth(2002-07) are guided by the measures of
improving the performance and increasing the efficiency of the economy. The focus in these FYPs is different compared to earlier Plans, where people are not mere beneficiaries of development; they are active participants in the development process. Unlike earlier Plans where a centralized approach is followed, the Plans after 1990 have stressed more on decentralized and participatory approach of development.
Eleventh (2007-12) envisions an economy and provides for an opportunity to restructure existing policies with inclusive growth. It aimed at putting the economy on a sustainable grow the trajectory with as growth rate of the per cent. The key element of the strategy for inclusive growth is to provide access to basic facilities such as health, education, clean drinking water.

Q. 1) Which sector got the highest priority during the First and Second Five Year
Plans?
a) Transport and communication
b) Industry
c) Irrigation and Flood Control
A. b) Industry

Q. Third Five Year plan gave priority to which sector?
a) Transport and Communication
b) Power
c) Village and Small Scale Industries
A. b) Power

Q. Seventh Plan onwards, which sector got prominence by a sizeable percentage
of resource allocation?
a) Energy
b) Transport, industry and minerals
c) Agriculture and Allied services
A. a) Energy

Q. What were the basic features of the Second Five-Year Plan Strategy?
A.  The Second Five Year Plan, launched in 1956-57, was part of a general strategy of development. The framework of the Second Five-Year Plan, with minor modifications, remained the mainstay of all future plans and policies till the beginning of the 1990s. Heavy industry, import substitution and placing of key industries with the public sector were the key features of the Second Five Year Plan.
The architect of the Second Five Year Plan was P. C. Mahalanobis. The central idea behind the Second Five Year Plan was that to raise the standard of living of the people, the economy needed to grow very fast. And for the economy to grow very fast, the planners felt that industrialization was the key. Industrialization meant that plants and machinery had to be set up which produce output. The Second Five Year Plan stressed the production of those machines that produce other machines as output. These industries where machines produce other machines and equipment are called heavy industry. Thus the basic idea was that the productive capacity of the economy itself had to be increased. Consumer goods, being goods that are used up for consumption,do not increase productive capacity. So the argument was that while those machines that produce cars or shirts or watches are important, even more important are the machines that would produce the machines that would produce cars or shirts or watches. Heavy industry was thus one of the central features of the Second Plan. The other key idea in the Second Plan was the desire to conserve foreign exchange, as well as to put into operation the idea that imports of machinery and equipment from abroad had to be curtailed. This strategy where imports are substituted by domestically produced version of the same thing is called import substitution strategy. No doubt, this was prompted by the experience of India as a colonized nation and subsequent mistrust of foreign trade. Since the planners relied on heavy industry, it was recognized that huge investments would be required. The policymakers felt that the private sector would neither be willing nor able to make these huge investments. Hence these heavy industries, infrastructure like power, and areas of strategic interests like Defence production were kept with the Public sector.

Q. Discuss some broad sources of the thinking that went into formulating a strategy for development immediately after Independence.
A.  National leader, specially Left-wing ones like Nehru and Subhas Bose were not the only proponents of planning. As early as 1934, noted industrialist Sir M. Visveswaraya wrote his book Planned Economy for India. He argued that for India to prosper, industrialization is a must. And to industrialize rapidly, the process must be organized and planned. Similarly, the so called Bombay Plan (1944) by a group of industrialists also emphasized industrialization. After Independence,first the Congress party in 1953, and then the Parliament in 1954 accepted 'socialistic pattern of society' as the objective of economic and social policy.

Q. Describe some fundamenti1 instruments of controls in the economy which were in operation in the period 1951-9 1.
A.       Industries in the private sector were regulated by the provisions of the Industries (Regulation and Development) Act, 1951. Secondly, to prevent the growth of private monopolies and the concentration of economic power, the government enacted the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act in 1969. Thirdly, in order to regulate the import of inputs and final goods,the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) was enacted in 1973. Government regulations were not only for industry, but also for agriculture, finance and foreign trade sectors. The government kept with itself key infrastructure, core and heavy industries. For private industry, an entrepreneur had to obtain a license to invest, or expand capacity, or change output mix, or relocate his industry. In the external sector, there was the exchange control system under which exporters had to surrender export earnings to the Reserve Bank of India at the official exchange rate and take earnings in domestic currency. There was import licensing under which a firm had to obtain permission to import raw materials or capital inputs or consumer goods. For the capital markets (markets for financial assets like equity shares and debentures), if a company wanted to float shares or borrow funds by offering debt instruments, there was capital issues control under which access to debt and equity markets was regulated. Other than this, there was price control on several consumption goods and key inputs such as coal, iron, petroleum, etc. There were several types of control that were put in place: industrial licensing system; exchange control system; import licensing; capital issues control price controls; and other ad-hoc measures and controls for 'priority sectors'. After nationalization, banks were subjected to directed and selective credit controls, controls on deposit and lending rates, and various types of reserve requirements.

Q. Describe the.performance of the agricultural and industrial sectors in India in the period since Independence till the end of the 1980s.
A.              Agriculture - Agricultural Production as a whole has grown at a fairly constant rate of 2.6 percent per annum over the period 1951 - 1990. In the 1950s, much of the increased production came through the expansion of cultivated area. Later on, the scope for bringing in additional area under cultivation decreased. Then in the mid- 1960s the New Agricultural Strategy, popularly known as the 'Green Revolution', was launched. This entailed the use of four complementary inputs
i) High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds,
ii) chemical fertilizers,
  iii) machineries such as tractors and harvester-threshers, and
  iv) irrigated water facilities.
India achieved self-sufficiency in food grains during the mid-1970s, that is India no longer resorts to massive imports of food grains but sustained use of high yielding seeds and intensive cultivation has led to deteriorating soil fertility. Ground-water has been over exploited, so that there is a depletion in water-table.
Industry -  The share of manufacturing in the country's GDP increased six-fold between the 1951-55 and 1 985-90. Growth in manufacturing was faster in the first three plans than during the late 1960s and 1970s. The late 1980s saw a revival of industrial growth. Over the period 195 1-90 medium and large industry grew faster than small and cottage industries. Also within the small sector, household type industries sing traditional techniques declined sharply. In 1950 about 65 per cent of industrial output consisted of consumer goods, about 25 per cent was intermediate goods and the rest capital goods. By the late 1980s, the three categories had roughly equal shares in factory sector output. Another characteristic of Indian industry has been the rise in indigenous enterprise and the emergence of several new centers of manufacturing.

Q. Discuss the concept of economic reforms.
A. Economic reform means certain necessary changes in economy are undertaken to
improve the performance of economy and strengthen it with such measures.
In country like India with its 'mixed economy’, with a large private sector, but with pervasive
state presence in the economy, and a host of controls and regulations economic reforms
were initiated. It began to be felt by the late 1970s, that the performance was not matching
the promise. So, in almost all countries, the state began to lessen its control over the
economy and open more areas of economic activity to the private sector. In some cases the
process of privatization was imitated with selling part, or sometimes all, of ownership of
state-owned companies. Another important feature of these reforms has been increased
integration of the nation with the international economy.

Q. What was the rationale for the economic reforms which were launched in India in 1991 And describe some measures taken for reforms in the domestic sector of the economy since 1991.
A.             In June 1991, foreign exchange balance was down to $ 1 billion, which was just enough
to pay for six weeks' imports. The economy was in a severe balance-of-payments crisis. At the same time, there was a severe fiscal crisis. Although the economy had grown by over 5 per cent per annum in the second half of the 1980s - this rate of growth was higher than in previous time-periods - this growth was achieved at the cost of considerable fiscal extravagance and wastefulness. In order to tackle the crisis, India had to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for loans. In return, the IMF and the World Bank suggested certain structural adjustments such as reduction in fiscal deficit, devaluation of currency and opening up of the economy. Under the Structural Adjustment scheme , the World Bank suggested reforms which called for changes in the basic structure of the economy. It necessitated replacement of quantitative restrictions and resource
allocation processes with market-based price signals and incentives. The overall objective
conditionalities was of IMF to bring in Macroeconomic Stabilization, which required reduction in fiscal deficits (broadly, the difference between government expenditure and revenues) and balance of payments deficit (the difference between payments made to foreign countries and earnings from foreign countries). We now discuss some measures towards domestic liberalization adopted in India since 1991. In July and August 1991, the government announced a new Trade Policy (here 'trade' means foreign trade). On 24'" July 1 99 1, the government made a statement on Industrial Policy.
The 1991 reform did away with industrial licensing, except for a few industries for location-related reasons or for environmental considerations. The reforms also removed the requirement of import Licenses, except for most consumer goods. Restrictions were eased for foreign direct investment ad portfolio investment (investment in financial markets). Sectors where private (both domestic and foreign) investments were earlier prohibited, such as power, saw private investments being allowed. Steps were taken for disinvestment of equity in public sector enterprises (called privatization).

BSHF-101 (2nd Part)

Second Part 

Q. Explain the meaning of Constitution.
A.             Constitution of a country is summary of its fundamental aspirations, values, framework of
governance and laws usually in the form of a document (written Constitution). No other law ,
document etc.. can supersede it or go against the Constitution, otherwise the judiciary exercising its power of review (judicial review) can strike them down as unconstitutional. Constitution can be written as in case of India , or unwritten one as in case of Britain. An unwritten Constitution is based on conventions and practices. By its very nature, it tends to be less rigid than a written Constitution and can arguably, respond better to the changing needs of the time.

Q. Trace the historical background of the Indian Constitution.
A.   The Indian Constitution reflect the legacy of the national movement for freedom. It laid emphasis on pluralism, secularism, opposition to all types /forms of discrimination, provision of equal opportunities to all for self-development and many other similar concerns epitomize values that came to the forefront during the country's struggle for freedom against colonial rule. The Indian Constitution also reflects some prominent features of American Declaration of Independence (1776), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), as well as the Constitution of the Irish Republic. The French revolutionary slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity finds an echo in the Preamble of our Constitution.

Q. Write a note on the composition and working of the Constituent Assembly that
drafted the Indian Constitution
A.     The Constituent Assembly was headed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad who later on became India's first President, Jawaharlal Nehru the first PM of free India .Among the other famous names, the Assembly comprised of luminaries like B.R.Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pattabhi Sita Ramaiya and J.B. Kriplani. A good number of the members had strong legal background which facilitated the task of Constitution making. The total strength of the Assembly was 381and the membership of the Assembly was drawn from different political parties including Muslim League. In addition, independent members, representatives from the Governor's Provinces and the Princely states were also part of the Constituent Assembly. Based on the deliberations in the Assembly, the Drafting Committee prepared the draft text of the Constitution. The final document, after amendments, was signed on November 26, 1949 and came into force two months later January 26, 1950.

Q. Write a short note on the Preamble of the Constitution.
A.    The French revolutionary slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity finds an echo in the Preamble of our Constitution. The Preamble, or the beginning of the Constitution is also known as its soul or spirit which sets out the tone and tenor of the entire Constitution. It declares India to be a sovereign, secular,democratic republic assuring liberty of thought, expression and belief to all its citizens, equality and justice to all the citizens.

Q. Enumerate the basic features of the Indian Constitution.
A.   The basic features are:
(a) A Written Constitution; (b) Parliamentary Democracy; (c) Independence of
the Judiciary; (d) Cooperative Federalism (e) Fundamental Rights and Duties; and
(f) Directive Principles of the State Policy.

Q. Write a note on Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties
A. Fundamental Rights-  Bearing the high handedness of British colonialists, the Founding Fathers of Indian Constitution put strong emphasis on Fundamental Rights guaranteeing certain rights to its citizens considered fundamental for their well-being. These rights are enforceable by the courts of law (unlike the Directive Principles of State Policy). They are the mainstay of an Indian citizen's life, liberty and property. The various Fundamental Rights are:
(i) Right to Equality; (ii) Right to Freedom; (iii) Right Against Exploitation;
(iv) Right to Religion; (v) Cultural and Educational Rights; and
(vi) Right to Constitutional Remedies.
The Right to Property was earlier a Fundamental Right, but was made a legal right through the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act.It means that the property belonging to any person can be acquired by the government by paying appropriate compensation. Except during an emergency, Fundamental Rights cannot be suspended. But even in such a situation, Articles 20 and 21 remain in operation.
Article 20 states that 'No person shall be punished on the basis of laws that are enacted after a crime has been committed , protection from being punished more than once for the same offence (protection from double jeopardy), and protection from standing trial against oneself' (protection from self-incrimination). Article 21 ensures protection of personal life and liberty'.

Fundamental Duties - These were not part of original Constitution adopted in 1950 but were adopted in 1970. The concept of Fundamental Duties were included as increasing number of Indians started taking Fundamental Rights for granted without feeling any obligation towards country or each other leading to increasing situations of 'social and civil anarchy . Some of the important Fundamental Duties are: protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India, respect for the national flag, emblem, promotion of a clean environment etc. Failure to perform the various Fundamental Duties may invite punitive action as per the various provisions of law.

Q. What is the significance of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976?
A. Fundamental Duties were added to the Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment Act of 1976.

Q. Bring out the importance of the Kesavanand Bharati Case.
A.      Supreme Court declared that the basic structure of the Constitution could not be changed in the famous Kesavananda Bharati Case (also known as the Fundamental Rights Case) of 1973. The Supreme Court gave the ruling that while the Parliament could amend the Fundamental Rights also, it was not competent to change the 'basic structure' or 'framework' of the Constitution.

Q. Write a short note on the Venkatchaliah Commission
A.   National Commission was established on January 27,2003 with the then Chief Justice Venkatachaliah as its chairman to review the working of the Constitution. The commission was setup to examine in the light of the last sixty years. as to how far the existing provisions of the Constitution are capable of responding to the needs of efficient smooth and effective system of governance and socio-economic development of modern India and to recommend changes, if any, that are required to be made in the Constitution within the framework of Parliamentary Democracy without interfering with the basic structure of features of the Constitution. The Commission identified ten areas for review and made 248 recommendations pertaining to them. However, the Commission's report did not result in any substantive political action. Largely, because of the apathy of the political class, as well as the vested interests involved.

Q. Write a note on the structure of the Central Government of India.
A.    The head of the government at the Centre (New Delhi) is the Prime Minister who has a Council of Ministers reporting to him and assisting him in the task of administration. The head of the State is the President. He is a symbolic, nominal executive wielding real and substantive powers only in emergency situations. All administration is carried on in his name by the Prime Minister and the Ministerial Council. The legislature, the judiciary and the executive (comprising the political establishment and the bureaucracy) comprise the three organs or branches of the government. This structure of government, like in parliamentary democracies is based on the principle of fusion of powers between the different government arms.
              The above governmental structure in New Delhi, the capital of the country and the seat of
the central government, is replicated in the constituent units-the states of the Indian Union. Thus, corresponding to the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers at the Center, we have the Chief Minister heading a Ministerial Council in a state. Similarly, corresponding to the President at the Center, we have the Governor as the symbolic, nominal executive in a state government. Like the figurehead President at the Center, the Governor exercises substantial powers only in situations of emergency.

Q. Write a short note on Election Commission
A.          The Election Commission is a statutory, fully autonomous body established by the Constitution of the land to oversee the elections for the Indian Parliament and the State Assemblies. Its independence of functioning has been ensured by a number of provisions. The Election Commission was established by the Constitution to ensure the citizens' popular/political participation without fear or favour. A series of activities such as preparing updating of voters' list, preparing electoral rolls, ballot papers etc. is entrusted to EC. The vital task of ensuing that the various persons contesting in elections as people's representatives don’t violate the ‘Modal Code of Conduct ‘laid down by EC is ensured by EC.

Q. Write a note on : NGOs, Pressure Groups/Lobbies
A. NGOs (Non-governmental Organisations) -
NGOs or non-governmental organizations, as the very name indicates, are organizations outside the formal governmental domain. They work in opposition to as well as in support of the government. (This varies from NGO to NGO). Ever since independence, NGOs have facilitated the government in its vital function of developmental administration. They have also resisted the government's authoritarian tendencies (wherever exhibited). There are NGOs, which even though outside the formal governmental structure, get funds from the government for their day-to-day functioning. However, such NGOs obviously have not been able to expose the governmental malfeasance, the way those NGOs who have their own independent sources of funds have over the years.

Pressure Groups and Lobbies
Pressure groups and lobbies are crucial components of the civil society and play their due role in the democratic process. These groups/ lobbies are distinguished from political parties by the fact of not holding elective political office. While parties are in the forefront, groups and lobbies work behind the scenes, so to say, and often wield more influence on policy-making/implementation than the recognized political parties. Pressure groups of lobbies generally work towards the promotion of certain specific interests. In a modem liberal democracy such as India, the press, business, students, women are some of the important groups /lobbies.

Q. Examine and appraise the democratic process in India in the post-independence
period.
A. a) In the post-independent period, the governments of the day, both at the Center and in the states, have enacted several legislations towards equality and liberty of the citizens. Evil social practices continuing for centuries such as untouchability have been banned through various Acts. Seats have been reserved in educational institutions/ employment for weaker/marginalized sections of the population such as the Scheduled Caste/tribes (SC/STs) as well as the Other Backward Castes (OBCs). These sections have also been granted various types of scholarships, as well as reimbursement in fees for pursuing their education at various levels. They have also been granted relaxation in age for competing for government jobs.
b)  As for the women who constitute nearly half of the population, the practice of dowry was banned way back in 1961. In several states of the Indian Union,measures have been taken to provide free education to girls up to a certain level in government - run schools. The practice of sex determination tests has been banned. A lot of advocacy and campaigning has been undertaken to promote the girl child. In the arena of political participation, 33 per cent of seats have been reserved for female candidates in elections to the panchayats.
c)   Regarding the bureaucracy, its record in the arena of development administration can at best be termed average. The majority of civil servants in India have had elitist , superior attitude ,distancing themselves from masses whom they are supposed to serve .In the post-globalization period, as the power of the civil servants is being curtailed due to disinvestment there has been an improvement in atmospherics. Now one often hears a lot about citizen friendly administration and of becoming facilitators.
d) As for the political leadership and the political parties, they have been more democratic than those in India's neighbourhood, as well as those in many other African, latin American nations, but still not really at par with liberal democracies of the West.
e) NGO’s ,, Pressure groups /lobbies

Q. What do you understand by the term "state"?
A.    The state is a political institution that establishes sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders and exercises authority through a set of permanent institutions such as parliament, judiciary, ministries, departments etc. It has representative as well as bureaucratic institutions and has government functioning at various levels i.e., central, state and local. The state provides rights and responsibilities to the citizens.

Q. Highlight the basic functions of government
A.   a) Providing basic goods and services to the citizens.
b)  Ensuring equity through appropriate policies aimed at reducing the income
inequalities amongst citizens.
c)  Formulating appropriate tax and monetary policies to provide stability in the
economy.
d) Regulating the private sector activities.

Q. Distinguish the state from the government
A.    The concept of state is wider, as it includes all institutions, be it public, private sector and citizens. Government is a part of the state.
The state is a permanent institution while the government is temporary.
The state's authority is exercised through the government. The policies and programmes of
the state are implemented by the government.
The state is said to represent the common interests of the society, while the government
can at times represent the interests of party in power.

Q. How is the present notion of 'governance' different from the traditional notion of
governance?
A.    The present day notion of governance is wider, as it includes not just government but also the market and civil society organizations. Unlike the traditional approach of excessive reliance on bureaucracy. hierarchy, rules and regulative mechanism, the notion of governance, has now blurred the boundaries between public and private sectors with exercise of lesser control by government.

Q. Identify the key components of governance as propounded by the World Bank Governance: Issues and Strategies in 1989.
A.  The main components of governance as propounded by the World Bank in 1989 include:
a) Public sector management, b) Accountability, c) Legal framework for development. d)
Transparency and information accessibility.

Q. What do you understand by good governance'?
A.  Good governance is a holistic concept that aims at economic, human and institutional development. It attempts at efficient and effective governance, which is accountable.
democratic and responsive to people's needs.

Q. Discuss the important characteristics of governance
A. Participation
Rule of law
Transparency
Responsiveness
Equality
Effectiveness and Efficiency
Accountability

Q. What are Citizens' Charters?
A.  Citizens Charters are statements formulated by public organizations. They provide information to the public about the nature of service being provided by the organization, procedure, costs involved, mechanism for redriessal of grievances and so on.

Q. Throw light on the objectives of Right to Information Act.
A.  The Right to Information Act aims to bring about greater transparency in administrative
decisions by making them known to the people. Its objective is to bring about openness in government operations by enabling the people to access the information except those relating to national defense and security.

Q. List some measures for promoting good governance
A. Ensuring proper investment in meeting human needs.
Strengthening the institution of State.
Building new partnership with civil society.

Developing a new framework for government - business cooperation.