Bhagya – Page 27 – Jharkhand Board Solution

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 3 Money and Credit

June 14, 2022June 7, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 3 Money and Credit

→ Money as a Medium of Exchange

A person holding money can exchange it for any commodity or service that he or she might want.
Thus everyone prefers to receive payments in money and then exchange the money for things that they want.
Both parties have to agree to sell and buy each other’s commodities. This is known as Double Coincidence of Wants.
What a person desires to sell is exactly what the other wishes to buy.
In a barter system where goods are directly exchanged without the use of money, the Double Coincidence of Wants is an essential feature.
In an economy where money is in use, by providing the crucial intermediate step it eliminates the need for Double Coincidence of Wants.
Money acts as an intermediate in the exchange process. It is called a medium of exchange. This is known as Barter System.

→ Modern Forms of Money

Money acts as a medium of exchange in transactions.
Before the introduction of coins, a variety of things were used as money.
For example, since the very early ages, Indians used grains and cattle as money.

→ Currency

Modem forms of money include currency – paper notes and coins.
Money is accepted as a medium of exchange because the currency is authorized by the government of the country.
In India, the Reserve Bank of India issues currency notes on behalf of the government of India.
As per Indian law, no other individual or organization is allowed to issue currency.
No individual in India can legally refuse payment made in rupees.

→ Deposits with Bank

The other form in which people hold money is ‘deposits with the bank’.
People deposit money with the banks by opening a bank account in their name.
Banks accept deposits and also pay an amount as interest on the deposits.
People also have the provision to withdraw the money as and when they require.
Since the deposits in the accounts can be withdrawn on demand, these deposits are called demand deposits.
Some payments are made by cheques instead of cash. For payment by cheque, the buyer who has an account with the bank, prepares a cheque for a specific amount.
A cheque is a paper instructing the bank to pay a specific amount from the holder’s account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued.
The facility of cheque against demand deposits makes it possible to directly settle payments without the use of cash.
Since demand deposits are accepted widely as a means of payment, along with currency, they constitute money in the modem economy.
But for the banks, there would be no demand and no payments by cheques against these deposits. The modem forms of money – currency and deposits – are closely linked to the working of the modem banking system.

→ Loan Activities of Banks

Banks keep only a small proportion of their deposits as cash with themselves.
This is kept as a provision to pay the depository who might come to withdraw money from the bank on any given day.
Since, on any particular day, only some of its many depositors come to withdraw cash, the bank is able to manage with this cash.
Banks use the major portion of the deposits to extend loans to the individuals for their requirements.
There is a huge demand for loans for various economic activities.
Banks mediate between those who have surplus funds and those who are in need of these funds.
Banks charge a higher interest rate on loans than what they offer on deposits.
The difference between what is charged from the borrowers and what is paid to the depositors is their main source of income.

→ Terms of Credit

Every loan agreement specifies an interest rate which the borrower must pay to the lender along with the repayment of the principal amount, lenders may demand collateral against the loan.
Collateral is an asset that the borrower owns and uses this as a guarantee to a lender until the loan is repaid.
The interest rate, collateral, documentation requirement, and the mode of repayment is called the terms of credit.

→ Formal Sector Credit in India

People obtain loans from various sources.
The various types of loans can be grouped as formal sector and informal sector loans.
Between these two sectors, former sector includes loans from banks and cooperatives.
The informal lenders include moneylenders, traders, employers, relatives and friends, etc.
The Reserve Bank of India supervises the functioning of formal sources of loans.
For instance, we have seen that the banks maintain a minimum cash balance out of the deposits they receive.
The RBI monitors the banks in actually maintaining a cash balance.
Periodically, banks have to submit information to the RBI on how much they are lending, to whom, at what interest rate, etc.
There is no organization that supervises the credit activities of lenders in the informal sector.
They can lend at whatever interest rate they choose.
There is no one to stop them from using unfair means to get their money back.
Compared to the formal lenders, most of the informal lenders charge a much higher rate of interest on loans.
Thus, the cost to the borrower of informal loans is much higher.
The higher cost of borrowing means that, a large part of the earnings of the borrowers is used to repay the loans.
Cheap and affordable credit is crucial for the country’s development.

→ Formal and Informal Credit

85% of the loans taken by the poor households in the urban areas are from informal sources.
Urban households take only 10% of loans from informal sources, while 90% from formal sources.
The rich households avail a cheap credit from the formal sources whereas the poor households have to pay a large amount of borrowing.
The formal sources still meet only about half of the total credit needs of the rural people.
The remaining credit needs are fulfilled by the informal sources.
Thus, it is necessary that banks and cooperatives increase their lending particularly in the rural areas so that the dependence on informal sources of credit reduces.
While formal sector loans need to expand, it is also necessary that everyone receives these loans.
It is important that the formal credit is distribute^ more equally so that the poor can benefit from the cheaper loans.

→ Self-Help Groups for the Poor

Poor -households are still dependent on informal sources of credit.
Banks are not present everywhere in rural India.
Even when they are present, getting a loan from a bank is much more difficult than getting a loan from informal sources.
The absence of collateral is one of the major reasons which prevents the poor from getting bank loans.
Informal lenders such as moneylenders, know the borrowers personally and are often willing to give a loan without collateral.
However, the moneylenders charge very high rates of interest, keep no records of the transactions and harass the poor borrowers.
In recent years, people had tried out some newer ways of providing loans to the poor like Self Help Groups (SHGS), Grameen Banks, etc.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 2 Sectors of Indian Economy

June 14, 2022June 7, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 2 Sectors of Indian Economy

→ Economy is best understood when the different economic activities are classified in different sectors.

→ Primary, secondary, tertiary, private, public, organized and unorganized are different sectors of economy in which economic activities are grouped.

→ Primary sector produces products that forms the base of other industries. This sector is also called agriculture and related sector.

→ In secondary sector those activities are covered in which through ways of manufacturing natural products are changed into other forms. This sector is also called as industrial sector.

→ The third sector is the tertiary sector. In this activities that help in the development of the primary and secondary sectors are grouped. This sector is also called service sector.

→ To know the contribution of each sector in an economy the value of final goods and services produced by each sector in a particular year is considered.

→ The total production in three sectors in a year is what is known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country. The value of GDP indicates the size of the economy.

→ In India, GDP is calculated by Central Government ministry.

→ Historically, it has been observed that countries, which are developed today had strong primary sector in the initial stage of development and eventually the manufacturing and service sectors developed.

→ In India, more people are engaged in agricultural sector than secondary and tertiary sector, however the contribution of secondary and tertiary sector in GDP is more than the primary sector. This is mainly because more people in agriculture sector are underemployed. Underemployed is also known as disguised unemployment because as those underemployed may work but not to their full capacity and earn very less. Besides primary, secondary and tertiary sector, economic activities can be grouped under organized and unorganized sectors. Organized sector covers those activities, enterprises or places of work where the terms of employment are regular and people have assured work. They are registered by the government and have to follow its rules and regulations.

→ Unorganized sector covers those activities, which generally are outside the control of government. Jobs here are often irregular and low paid. Employment is not secure in this sector.

→ Mostly people from backward communities, scheduled tribes and castes work in unorganized sector.

→ Another way of classification of economic activities is on the basis of ownership such as private and public sectors. In the public sector, the government owns most of the assets and the services. In the private sector, the ownership of assets and delivery of services is in the hands of private individuals or companies. Such as railways are under public sector and Reliance Industries is a private sector entity.

→ There are many activities, which are government’s responsibility and government needs to spend on them for human development.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 1 Development

June 14, 2022June 7, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Economics Chapter 1 Development

→ Development has many aspects. Development goal and aspiration for everyone is different.

→ Every person can have different developmental goals. What may be development for one may not be development for the other. It may even be destructive for the other. Two people may have same but conflicting goals.

→ Earning better income, may be the aspiration of many; however people also seek things like equal treatment, freedom, security, and respect of others. They resent discrimination. All these are also important goals. People look for mix of goals.

→ Even the notion of national development could be different for every individual, different person could have different as well as conflicting notions of a country’s development.

→ National development means development for all sections of the society.

→ To compare development of different countries or a state’s per capita income is considered to be one of the most important attribute.. Per capita income is calculated on the basis of total income of the country divided by the total population.

→ In 2006, World Bank in its World Development report classified the countries as devejoped or less developed on the basis of the average income or per capita income of the country. Countries with per capita income of US $ 12,056 per annum and above in 2017, are called rich countries and those with per capita income of US $ 955 or less are called low-income countries. India comes in the category of low middle income countries because its per capita income in 2017 was just US $ 1820 per annum.

→ While average incomes are useful for comparison, but they also hide disparities within the country or a state. Even though the level of income is important, yet it is an inadequate measure of the level of development. Besides income, quality of life, education status, infant mortality rate, health standard, security, freedom and sustainability of environment are some basic criteria, to access development of an area or a region.

→ Human Development Report published by UNDP compares countries based on the educational levels of the people, their health status and per capita income. It is the people, their health, their well-being, that is most important aspect of human development. The other important aspect is sustainability of development. Sustainable development means to meet the demand of the current generation without compromising on the of the future generation resources.

→ Sustainable development is possible when we judiciously utilize the natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable) without impacting the ecological balance. Sustainability is important to enjoy the benefits of development in future as well.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 8 Challenges to Democracy

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 8 Challenges to Democracy

→ Thinking about challenges

Democracy is the dominant form of government in the contemporary world. It does not face a serious challenge or rival.
The promise of democracy is far realized anywhere in the worlds
Democracy does not have a challenger, but that does not mean that it does not face any challenges.
A challenge is not just any problem. We usually call only those difficulties a ‘challenge’ which is significant and which can be overcome.
A challenge is a difficulty that carries within it an opportunity for progress.
The first challenge is a foundational challenge, of making the transition to democracy and then instituting democratic government.
The second challenge is the challenge of expansion. This involves applying the basic principle of democratic government across all the regions, different social groups and various institutions.
The third challenge is of deepening of democracy is faced by every democracy in one ‘form or another. This involves the strengthening of the institutions and practices of democracy.

→ Thinking about political reforms

Generally, all the suggestions or proposals about overcoming various challenges to democracy are called ‘democratic reform’ or ‘political reform’.
If all the countries do not have the same challenges, it follows that everyone cannot follow the same recipe of political reforms.
We can develop some proposals for reforms at the national level.
But the real challenge of reforms may not lie at the national level.
Instead of that let us think of some broad guidelines that can be kept in mind while devising ways and means for political reforms in India:
It is very tempting to think of legal ways of reforming politics, to think of new laws to ban undesirable things. But this temptation needs to be resisted.
Any legal change must carefully look at what results it will have on politics. Sometimes the results may be counter-productive.
Democratic reforms are to be brought about principally through political practice. Therefore, the main focus of political reforms should be on ways to strengthen democratic practice.
Any proposal for political reforms should think not only about what is the good solution but also about who will implement it and how.
Let us keep these general guidelines in mind and look at some specific instances of challenges to democracy that require some measure of reform.

→ Redefining democracy

We began this tour of democracy last year with a minimal definition of democracy.
We then looked at many cases and expanded the definition slightly to add some definitions:
- The rulers elected by the people must take all the major decisions;
- Elections must offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers;
- This choice and opportunity should be available to all the people on an equal basis; and
- The exercise of this choice must lead to a government limited by basic rules of the Constitution and citizens’ right.
You may have felt disappointed that the definition did not refer to any high ideals that we associate with democracy.
You may have noticed that in the course of our discussions of various aspects of democratic government and politics, we have gone beyond that definition:
We discussed democratic rights at length and noted that these rights are not limited to the rights to vote, stand in elections and form political organizations.
We have taken up power sharing as the spirit of democracy and discussed how power sharing between governments and social groups is necessary for a democracy.
We saw how democracy cannot be the brute rule of the majority and how a respect for minority voice is necessary for democracy.
Our discussion of democracy has gone beyond tfie government and its activities.
Finally, we have had some discussion about some outcomes that one can expect from democracy.
In doing so, we have not gone against the definition of democracy offered last year. We began then with a definition of what is the minimum a country must have to be called a democracy.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 7 Outcomes of Democracy

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 7 Outcomes of Democracy

→ How do we assess democracy’s outcomes?

Democracy is a better form of government when compared with dictatorship or any other alternative.
Democracy is better because it promotes equality among the citizens; enhances the dignity of the individual; improves the quality of decision-making; provides a method to, resolve conflicts; and allows room to correct mistakes.
Over a hundred countries of the world today claim and practise some kind of democratic politics.
The first step towards thinking carefully about the outcomes of democracy is to recognise that democracy is just a form of government. It creates conditions for achieving something, the advantage of which the citizens have to take and achieve those goals.

→ Accountable, responsive and legitimate government

• The most basic outcome of democracy should be {hat it produces a government that is accountable to the citizens, and responsive to the needs and expectations of the citizens.
Democracy is based on the idea of deliberation and negotiation.
Non-democratic rulers do not have to bother about deliberation in assemblies or worry about majorities and public opinion. Hence, they can be very quick and efficient in
• On the other hand, in democracy, it will take more time to follow procedures. As it has followed procedures, its decisions may be both more acceptable to people and more effective.
In a democratic government, a citizen has the right and the means to examine the process of decision making. This is known as transparency. This factor is often missing from a non-democratic government.
Democratic government develops mechanisms for citizens to hold the government accountable and mechanisms for citizens to take part in decision making whenever they think fit.
Democracy holds regular, free and fair elections; open public debate on major policies and legislation; and citizens have the right to information about the government and its functioning.
A democratic government is attentive to the needs and demands of the people and is largely free of corruption.
Democratic government is a legitimate government. It may be slow, less efficient, not always very responsive or clean, but it is people’s own government. That is why there is overwhelming support for the idea of democracy all over the world. People wish to be ruled by representatives elected by them.

→ Economic growth and development

Dictatorships have slightly higher rate of economic growth. This cannot be the only reason to reject democracy.
Economic development depends on several factors, such as country’s population, size,
global situation, cooperation from other countries, economic priorities adopted by the country, etc.
The difference in the rates of economic development between less developed countries with dictatorships and democracies is negligible.

→ Reduction of inequality and poverty

Democracies are based on political equality. However, there are economic inequalities. The share of the total income enjoyed by the ultra-rich has been increasing. Those at the bottom of the society have very little to depend on.
Democracies do not appear to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities.

→ Accommodation of social diversity

Democracies accommodate various social divisions/ Belgium has successfully negotiated differences among ethnic populations. Democracies usually develop a procedure to conduct their competition.
Ability to handle social differences, divisions and conflicts is a plus point of democratic regimes. Democracy must fulfil two conditions in order to achieve this outcome:
- The majority always needs’ to work with the minority so that governments function to represent the general view.
- Rule by the majority does not become rule by majority community in terms of religion or race or linguistic group, etc.
Democracy remains a democracy only as long as every citizen has a chance of being in majority at some point in time.

→ Dignity and freedom of the citizens

Democracy promotes dignity and freedom of the individual. The passion for respect and freedom is the basis of democracy. This has been achieved in various degrees in various democracies.
Long, struggles by women have created some sensitivity today that respect to and
equal treatment of women are necessary ingredients of a democratic society.
What is most distinctive about democracy is that its examination never gets over.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties

→ Why do we need political parties?

Political parties are one of the most easily visible institutions in a democracy.
Parties have become identified with social and political divisions.
About hundred years ago there were a few countries of the world that had any political party. Now, there are few that do not have parties.

→ Meaning

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
They agree on some policies and programes for the society with a view to promote the collective good.
Parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are a part of the society and thus involve PARTNERSHIP.
A political party has three components:
(a) The leaders,
(b) The active members, and
(c) The followers.

→ Functions
Political parties fill political offices and exercise political power. Parties do so by performing a series of functions:
(a) Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by the political parties.
(b) Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.
(c) Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature.
(d) Parties form and run the government. As we noted last year, the big policy decisions are taken by the political executives that come from the political parties.
(e) Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticizing the government for its failures or wrong policies.
(f) Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Parties have lakhs of members and activists spread all over the country.
(g) Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by the governments.

→ Necessity

We need political parties because they perform all these functions.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As we have seen, large scale societies need representative democracies.
Political parties fulfil these needs that every representative government has.

→ How many parties should we have?

In a democracy, any group of citizens is free to form a political party.
There are a large number of political parties in each country.
More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of India.
In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These are called one-party system in China, only Communist Party is allowed to rule.
We cannot consider one party system as a good option because this is not a democratic option.
Any democratic system must allow at least two parties to compete in the election and provide a fair chance for the competing parties to come to the power.
In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties.
But only the two main parties have a bright chance of winning the majority of seats to form the government. Such a party system is called two-party system.
If several parties compete for power, and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with others, we call it multi-party system.
When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or a front.
The multi-party system often appears very messy and leads to political instability.
This system allows a variety of interests and opihions to enjoy political representation.

→ National parties

Democracies that follow a federal system all over the world tend to have two kinds of-politicitl parties: parties that are present in only one of the federal units and parties that are present in several or all units of Federation.
Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. While the Election Commission treats all parties equally, it offers some special facilities to large and established parties.
Parties that get this privilege and special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission are called, ‘recognised political parties’.
According to this classification, there were seven national recognised parties in the country in 2018. These are:
(a) Indian National Congress
(b) Bharatiya Janta Party
(c) Bahujan Samaj Party
(d) Communist Party of India-Marxist
(e) Communist Party of India
(f) Nationalist Congress Party
(g) All India Trinamool Congress

→ State party

Other than these seven parties, most of the major parties of the country are classified by the Election Commission as ‘State parties’.
Parties like
(a) Samajwadi party,
(b) Samata party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have national level political organization with units in several States.
Some of these parties like Biju Janata Dal, Sikkim Democratic Front and Mizo National Front and Telangana Rashtra Samithi are conscious of their State identity.
Over the last three decades, the number and strength of these parties has expanded.

→ Challenges to political parties

All over the world, people express strong dissatisfaction with the failure of political parties to perform their functions as well.
The first challenge is lack of internal democracy within parties. All over the world there is a tendency towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
The leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.
Since one or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue in the party.
The second challenge of the dynastic ‘ succession is related to the first one. Since
most political parties do not practise open and transparent procedures for their functioning, there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party.
The third challenge is about the growing role of money and muscle power in parties, especially during elections.
Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend to have influence on the policies and decisions of the parties.
In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections.
The fourth challenge is that very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters.

→ How can parties be reformed?
Let us look at some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political parties and its leaders:
(a) The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in DEFECTION in order to become ministers or for cash rewards.
(b) The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals.
(c) The Election Commission passed an . ordermaking it necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their income tax returns.

→ Besides these, many suggestions are often made to reform political parties:
(a) A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties. It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members.

(b) It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates.

(c) There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support their election expenses.

These suggestions have not yet been accepted by political parties.
There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed.
One people can put pressure on political parties. This can be done through petition, publicity, and agitation.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 5 Popular Struggles and Movements

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 5 Popular Struggles and Movements

→ Popular struggles in Nepal and Bolivia Movements for democracy in Nepal

Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006. The movement was aimed at restoring democracy.
The movement of April 2006 was aimed at retaining popular control over the government from the king.
All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for four-day strike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.
The number of protesters reached between three to five lakhs on 21 April and they served an ultimatum to the king.
The leader of the movement rejected the half-hearted concessions made by the king.
They stuck to their demand for restoration of parliament, the power to an all party government and a new constituent assembly.
On 24 April 2004, the last day of the ultimatum; the king was forced to concede all the three demands.
The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new Prime Minister of the interim government.
This struggle came to be known as Nepal’s second movement for democracy.

→ Bolivia Water War

Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America.
World Bank pressurized the government to give up the control of water supply. So, the government to sell the rights of water supply to M.N.C.
As soon as they get the right of water supply, they increased the price of water by four times.
This bought troubles in lives of common people and led to a popular protest.
In January 2000, an alliance of labour human rights organizations called for a four day strike in city. Hence, the government agreed to negotiate but nothing happened.
The agitation was started again in February and April, but the government tried to suppress the movement.
But the power of people forced the M.N.C. to flee the city and made the government to accept all the demands.
The contract with M.N.C. was cancelled and water supply was restored to Municipality.

→ Democracy and popular struggles

What are differences between Bolivia and Nepal?
The movement in Nepal was to establish democracy but movement in Bolivia was against the policy of an elected democratic government.
The popular struggle in Bolivia was about one specific policy while the struggle in Nepal was about the foundation of country’s politics.

→ What are similarities between Bolivia and Nepal?

Both of these are instances of political conflicts that led to popular struggles.
In both cases, the struggle involved mass mobilization.
Public demonstration of mass support clinched the dispute.

→ Conclusion

Democracy evolves through popular struggles.
Democracy involves conflict between those who are in power and those who aspires for power.
Democratic conflicts are resolved through mass mobilization.
If the conflicts cannot be resolved by parliament the solution will come from people. ,
These conflicts and mobilization are based on new political organization.

→ Mobilization and organizations

The protest against water privatization in Bolivia was not led by any political party.
It was led by an organization called FEDECOR.
This organization comprised of local professionals, including engineers and environmentalists.
The movement was supported by the socialist party. In 200.6, this party came to power in Bolivia.
From both these examples, we can see that in a democracy several different kinds of organizations work behind any big struggle.
These organizations play their role in two ways:
- One-way of influencing the decisions in a democracy is direct participation in competitive politics.
- There are many indirect ways in which people can get governments to listen to their demands or their points of view.

→ Pressure groups and movements

Pressure groups are organizations that attempt to influence government policies.
These organizations are formed when people with common occupation, interest, aspirations or opinions come together in order to achieve a common objective.

→ Sectional interest groups and public interest groups

Interest groups seek to promote the interests of a particular section or group of society.
Their principal concern is the betterment and well-being of their members, not society in general.
Sometimes these organizations are not about representing the interest of one section of society. They represent some common or general interest that needs to be defined. These type of groups are called promotional groups or public interest groups.
They promote collective rather than selective goods. They aim to help groups other than their own members.

→ Movement groups

As in the case of interest groups, the groups involved with movements include a very wide variety.
Most of the movements are issues specific movements that seek to achieve a single objective within a limited time frame.
The movement started with the specific issues of the people displaced by the creation of Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada River. Its objective was to stop the dam from being constructed.
These single-issue movements can be contrasted with movements that are long terms and involve more than one issue.
Pressure groups and movements exert influence on politics in a variety of ways:
- They try to gain public support and sympathy for their goals and their activity by carrying out information
  campaigns, organizing meetings, file petition, etc.
- They often organize protest activity like strikes or disrupting government programs.
- Business groups often employ professional lobbyists or sponsors expensive advertisements.
- In some instances, the pressure groups are either formed or led by the leaders of political parties or act as extended arms of political parties.
- Sometimes political parties grow out of movements.
- In most cases, the relationship between parties and interest or movement groups is not so direct.

→ Is their influeqce healthy?

It may initially appear that it is not healthy for groups that promote the interest of one section to have influence in democracy.
It may seem that these groups wield power without responsibility.
Pressure groups and movements may not get their funds and support from the people.
Putting pressure on the rulers is not unhealthy activity in a democracy as long as everyone gets this opportunity.
Public interest groups and movements perform a useful role in countering this useful role or countering this undue influence and reminding the government of the needs and concerns of ordinary citizens.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Gender Religion and Caste

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 4 Gender Religion and Caste

→ Gender and Politics Public/private divisions

Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children.
This is reflected in a SEXUAL DIVISIONS OF LABOUR in most families: women do all work inside the home.
When jobs are paid for, men are ready to take up works live. Most tailors or cooks in hotels are men.
In urban areas, poor women work as a domestic helper in middle-class homes, while middle-class women work in offices.
The result of this division of labour is that although women constitute half of the humanity, their role in public life, especially politics, is minimal in most societies.
Women in different parts of the world organised and agitated for equal rights.
More radical women’s movements aimed at equality in personal and family life as well. These movements are called FEMINIST movements.
We now find women working as scientists, doctors,-.engineers, lawyers, managers and college and university teachers which were earlier not considered suitable for women.
In Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, the participation of women in public life is very high.
In our country, women still lag much behind men despite some improvement since independence.
Ours is still a male-dominated, PATRIARCHAL society.

→ Women face disadvantage, discrimination and oppression in various ways

The literacy rate among women is only 54% compared with 76% of men.
On an average an Indian woman works one hour more than an average man every day. Yet much of her work is not paid and therefore often not valued.
In almost all areas of work, from sports and cinema to factories and fields, women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.
In many parts of India, parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have the girl child aborted before she is bom.
Urban areas have become unsafe for women.
They are not safe even within their own home from beating, harassment and other forms of domestic-violence.

→ Women’s political representation

Yet issues related to women’s well-being or otherwise are not given adequate attention.
One way to ensure this is to have more women as elected representatives.
In India, the proportion of women in the legislature has been very low.
The percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha has never reached even 10% of its total strength.
In the government, cabinets are largely all male even when a woman becomes the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.
One way to solve this problem is to make it legally binding to have a fair proportion of women in the elected bodies. This is what the Panchayati Raj has done in India.
There is more than 10 lakh elected women representatives in rural and urban local bodies.
Women’s organizations and activists have been demanding a similar reservation of at least one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women.
A bill with proposal has been pending before the Parliament for more than a decade.
Gender division is an example of some form of social division needs to be expressed in politics. ,

→ Religion, communalism and politics

The division based on religious differences:
Many countries including India have in their population, followers of different religions. Consider the following:
- Gandhiji used to say that religion can never be separated from politics. He meant politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.
- Human rights groups in our country have argued that most of the victims of communal riots in our country are people from religious minorities.
- Women’s movement has argued that FAMILY LAWS of all religions discriminate against women.

→ Communalism

The problem begins when religion is seen as the basis of the nation.
Communal politics is based on the ideas that religion is the principal basis of a social community.

→ Communalism can take various forms in politics

The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs.
A communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of one’s own religious community.
Political mobilization on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism.
Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre.
Communalism was and continues to be one of the major challenges to democracy in our country.
There is no official religion for the Indian state. The constitution provide freedom to profess any religion and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion.

→ Caste and politics
We have seen two instances of the expression of social divisions in the arena of politics, one largely positive and the other largely negative.

→ Caste inequalities

Unlike gender and religion, caste division is special to India.
In most societies, occupations are passed on from one generation to another.
Caste system was based on the exclusion and discrimination against the ‘outcaste’ groups.
Partly due to efforts of social reformers and partly due to other socio-economic changes, castes and the caste system in modem India have undergone great changes.
Large scale URBANISATION, the growth of literacy and education, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY and old notions of CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.
Now, in urban areas it does not matter much who is walking along the next to us on a street or eating at the next table in a restaurant.
Yet caste has not disappeared from contemporary India. Some of the older aspects of caste have persisted.
Effects of centuries of advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt today.

→ Caste in politics

As in the case of communalism, casteism is rooted in the belief that caste is the sole basis of social community.
Caste is one aspect of our experience but it is not the only relevant or the most important aspect.

→ Caste can take various forms in politics

When governments are formed, political parties usually take care that representatives of different castes and tribes find a place in it.
Thus, it is not politics that gets caste-ridden; it is the caste that gets politicized.

→ This takes several forms

Each group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it neighbouring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.
Various caste groups are required to enter into a dialogue and negotiation.
New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste group.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 Democracy and Diversity

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 3 Democracy and Diversity

→ A Story from Mexico Olympics

The story depicts an important landmark in the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
The two men standing with clenched fists upraised and head bowed are the US athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
The International Olympics Association held Carlos and Smith guilty of violating the Olympic spirit by making a political statement.
Their medals were taken back.
Back home, they were subjected to a lot of criticism, even Peter Norman, who wore a badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights in support of Tommie Smith and John Carlos had also suffered a lot, he was not included in the 1972 summer Olympics.
But their action gained attention for the Civil Rights Movements in the US.

→ Differences, Similarities, Divisions

The athletes above were responding to social divisions and social inequalities.
Social diversity can take different forms in different societies.

→ Origins of Social Differences
These social differences are mostly based on an accident of birth.

We don’t choose to belong to our community.
But all kinds of social differences are not based on our birth.
Some of the differences are based on our choices.
For example, some people are atheists. They don’t believe in God or any religion.
Every social difference does not lead to social divisions.
In the instances above, Carlos and Smith were similar in one way and thus different from Norman who was White.
But they where also all similar in another way – they were all athletes who stood against racial discrimination.
We all have more than one identity and can belong to more than one social group.
We have different identities in different contexts.

→ Overlapping and Cross-Cutting Differences

Social division takes place when some social differences overlap with other differences.
In the US, the Blacks tend to be the poor, homeless and are discriminated against.
In our country, Dalits tend to be the poor and landless.
They often face discrimination and injustice.
The group that shares a common interest on one issue is likely to be in different issues.
Overlapping social differences create possibilities of deep social divisions and tensions.
Cross-cutting social differences are easier to accommodate.

→ Politics of Social Divisions

At first sight, it would appear that the combination of politics and social divisions is very dangerous and explosive.
Political parties can make social divisions into political divisions and lead to conflict, violence or even disintegration of a country.
This has happened in many countries.

→ Range of Outcomes

Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom has been for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflicts.
Such examples lead some people to conclude that politics and social divisions must not be allowed to mix.
But if social divisions do exist in a country, they must never be expressed in politics.
At the same time every expression of social divisions in politics does not lead to such disasters.
In a democracy, it is. only natural that political parties would talk about these divisions, make different promises to different communities.
Social divisions affect voting in most countries.
In many countries, there are parties that focus only on one community.

→ Three Determinants

Three factors are crucial in deciding the outcome of politics of social divisions.
(a) Outcome depends on how people perceive their identities.
(b) It depends on how political leaders raise the demands of any community.
(c) It depends on how the government reacts to demands of different groups.
Thus the assertion of social diversities in a country need not be seen as a source of danger.
Expression of various kinds of social divisions in politics often results in their cancelling one another out and thus reducing their intensity.
People who feel marginalised, deprived and discriminated have to fight against the injustices.
Sometimes social differences can take the form of unacceptable level of social inequality and injustice.
History shows that democracy is the best way to fight for recognition and also to accommodate diversity.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Federalism

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Federalism

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

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

→ Key features of federalism:
(a) There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
(b) Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
(c) The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So the existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
(d) The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government. Such changes require the consent of both levels of government.
(e) Courts have the local power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government. The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between different levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.
(f) Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
(g) The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversity.

→ Types of Federation:

Coming Together Federations: Independent states come together on their own to form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security, e.g., the USA, Switzerland, and Australia. All the constituent States usually have equal powers vis-a-vis the federal government.
Holding Together Federations: A large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. Very often, different constituent units of the federation have unequal powers. Some units are granted special powers.
Federalism in India

→ The Indian Union is based on the principles of federalism. The Constitution has clearly provided a threefold distribution of legislative powers between the Union government and the State governments.
Thus, it contains three lists:
(a) Union List includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency. They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy on these matters throughout the country. The Union government alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List.

(b) State List contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The State governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List.

(c) Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both Union government and State governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession. Both Union and State governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list. If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union government will prevail.

(d) The Union government has the power to make laws for the subjects that are not included in any of the three lists. These are termed as ‘residuary subjects’.

All States in the Indian Union do not have identical powers. Some States enjoy a special status. Many provisions of the Indian Constitutioh are not applicable to some states without the approval of the State Assembly. Special provisions exist for Assam and the hill states of North-East India.
Union Territories do not have the powers of a State. The Central government has special powers of governing the Union Territories.
The power sharing arrangement provided by the Constitution is difficult to change.
Any change to it has to be first passed by both Houses of Parliament with at least two- thirds majority. Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.

→ Role of Judiciary:

It plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures. In case of any dispute between the Centre and the States regarding the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court have the right of adjudication.
The Union and the State governments have the power to raise resources by levying taxes in order to carry on the government and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.

→ Linguistic States

New States were created on linguistic basis in 1947 for recognizing the linguistic and cultural differences of various parts of the country.
The formation of linguistic States has united the country and has made administration easier.

→ Language Policy

Hindi was identified as the official language. But Hindi is the mother tongue of only about 40 per cent of Indians. Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect other languages. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.
Examinations for the Central government posts may be taken by the candidates in any of the scheduled languages.
Each State has its own official language.
According to the Constitution, English as an official language was supposed to be discontinued in 1965. However, due to opposition by non-Hindi speaking States, both English and Hindi are being continued for official purposes.

→ Centre-State Relations

The Central government in India has the power to dissolve any State government on the grounds of inefficiency and impose the 1 President’s rule in that State.
Before 1990, the Central government often misused the Constitution to dismiss the State governments that were controlled by the rival parties.
After 1990, the era of coalition governments at the Centre started. The major National Parties had to enter into alliances with many regional parties to form the government.
This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Governments.

→ Decentralisation in India

When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation. The basic idea behind decentralisation is to solve a large number of problems and issues at the local level.
People have better knowledge of problems in their localities. They also have better ideas on where to spend money and how to manage things more efficiently.
Besides, at the local level it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision making. This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation. Local government is the best way to realise one important principle of democracy, viz., local self-government.
A major step towards decentralization was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
Now it’s constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State.

→ Rural local government is popularly known by the name Panchayati Raj. Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a Gram Panchayat. This is a council consisting of several ward members, often called Panch, and a President or Sarpanch. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village. It is the decision-making body for the entire village.

The Panchayat works under the overall supervision of the Gram Sabha. All the voters in the village are its members. It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the Gram Panchayat and to review its performance. The local government structure goes right up to the district level. A few Gram Panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called a Panchayat Samiti or Block or Mandal. The members of this representative body are elected by all the Panchayat members in that area.
All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals in a district together constitute the Zilla (district) Parishad. Most members of the Zilla Parishad are elected. Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its members.
Zilla Parishad chairperson is the political head of the Zilla Parishad. Local government bodies exist for urban areas as well. Municipalities are set up in towns. Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations.
Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by the elected bodies consisting of people’s representatives.
Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality. In a municipal corporation such an officer is called Mayor.
Constitutional status for local government has helped to deepen democracy in our country.
Most State governments have not transferred significant powers to the local governments. Nor have they given adequate resources. We are thus still a long way from realising the ideal of self-government.

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes

JAC Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 Power Sharing

June 14, 2022June 6, 2022 by Bhagya

JAC Board Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 1 Power Sharing

→ Through the case studies of Belgium and Sri Lanka, the chapter explains the importance of power sharing in a democracy.

→ Belgium and Sri Lanka

Belgium is a small country in Europe, smaller in area than the state of Haryana in India. It shares its borders with France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. It has a population over one crore.
Ethnic composition of this country is very complex. The minority French speaking people was relatively rich and powerful. This was resented by the Dutch-speaking community who got the benefit of economic development much later. Tensions between the two communities arose between the 1950s and 1960s. Tensions were more acute in Brussels as the Dutch-speaking were a majority in the country but a minority in the capital.
Sri Lanka has a diverse population. The major social groups are Sinhala speakers (74%) and Tamil speakers (18%). There are LVo sub-groups of Tamils—Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils. Most of the Sinhala-speaking people are Buddhists, while most of the Tamils are either Hindus or Muslims. There are about 7 per cent Christians, who are both Tamil and Sinhala.

→ Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948. The democratically elected government adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.
An Act was passed in 1956 to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, disregarding Tamil. The government followed preferential policies that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs. A new constitution stipulated that the State shall protect and foster Buddhism.
There was an increased feeling of alienation among the Tamils as they were discriminated and denied every opportunity. Also, their demands and interests were ignored and refused.
The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and struggles. They demanded an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict and then into a civil war. It caused a terrible setback to the social, cultural and economic life of the country. It ended in 2009.

→ Accommodation in Belgium:
The Belgian leaders recognised the existence of regional differences and cultural diversities. Between 1970 and 1993, they amended their constitution four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live together within the same country.

→ The Belgian model has following elements:
Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government; the state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government; Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. It has a third kind of government called the ‘community government’, which has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues.

→ Why power sharing is desirable?
There are two reasons why power sharing is desirable:

Prudential reason: Power sharing reduces the possibility of conflict between social groups. It ensures the stability of political order.
Moral reason: Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy. A legitimate government is one where citizens, through participation, acquire a stake in the system.

→ Forms of power-sharing:

In modem democracies, power sharing arrangements can take many forms’.
Power is shared among different organs of the government, such as the legislature, executive and the judiciary. This is known as horizontal distribution of power. Each organ exercises a different power. This ensures that none of the organs exercises unlimited power. Each organ checks the other. This arrangement is called a system of checks and balances.
Power can be shared among governments at different levels. A general government for the entire country and governments at the provincial or regional level. This is known as vertical distribution of power. In India, the general government is the Central or Union
government and the regional government refers to the State governments. Lower than State government is the municipality and panchayat.
Power can be shared among different social groups, such as the religious and linguistic groups. For example, the ‘community government’ in Belgium. India has ‘reserved constituencies’ in assemblies and the parliament.
Power is also shared among various political parties, pressure and interest groups, etc. For example, when two or more parties come together to form a coalition government, power is shared. Similarly, industrialists, farmers, traders and businessmen form interest groups and play an active role in the functioning of the government.