1 Marks Questions | 2 Marks Questions | 4 Marks Questions | 6 Marks Questions
1 Mark Questions
Question 1 : Name the two alliances-fronts that formed the government at the centre in 1989 and 1996 respectively.
Answer : Two alliances-fronts that formed the government at the centre are
(i) National Front – 1989
(ii) United Front – 1996
Question 2 : From which year did the era of coalition government at the centre begin in India?
Answer : The era of coalition government at the centre begin in India since 1989.
Question 3 : Mention any two incidents of violence against the minority community which are a threat to democracy?
Answer : The two incidents of violence against the minority community which are a threat to democracy are
(i) Anti-Sikh riots – 1984
(ii) Anti-Muslim riots – 2002
Question 4 : In which year did the Congress party win 415 Lok Sabha seats? Who became the Prime Minister at that time?
Answer : Congress party won 415 seats in the Lok Sabha election in 1984. And Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister at that time.
Question 5 : Why was Babri Masjid demolished?
Answer : Some organisations were supporting the construction of temple at the place of Babri Masjid and the voluntary service for building the Ram temple was known as Karseva. Thousands of people gathered at Ayodhya and finally they demolished the Babri Masjid to clear land for construction of Lord Ram Temple.
Question 6 : Name the founder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Answer : The name of founder of Bahunjan Samaj Party was ‘Kanshi Ram’.
Question 7 : Which two diametrically opposite political groups supported the National Front Government in 1989?
Answer : The two political groups who supported National Front Government in 1989 were the BJP and Left front.
Question 8 : Since 1989 until the election of 2004 which party has been gaining strength in Lok Sabha?
Answer : The party which was gaining strength in Lok Sabha since 1989 was Bhartiya Janata Party.
Question 9 : What was the Mandal Commission? When was it appointed?
Answer : The Mandal Commission was set-up on 1st January, 1979 to determine the criteria of identifying the socially and educationally backward class.
Question 10 : What was the Ayodhya dispute?
Answer : Adyodhya dispute was a dispute between the Hindu and the Muslims over a mosque in Ayodhya known as Babri Masjid.
Question 11 : Correct and Re-write the following :
In 1987 the Backward and Minority Federation (BAMCEF) was formed.
Answer : In 1978, the ‘Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) was formed.
2 Mark Questions
Question 1 : Who was the chairperson of Mandal Commission? State any one recommendation made by him/her.
Answer : Mandal Commission was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government. Under the Prime Minster Morarji Desai. The two recommendations of the Mandal Commission were as follows:
(i) 27 per cent of the posts in public services should be reserved for other backward classes.
(ii) Welfare programmes specially meant for OBCs should be financed by the Government of India.
Question 2 : Highlight any two effects of the Election 1989 on the politics of India.
Answer : Two effects of Election of 1989 on Indian Politics are:
(i) The end of ‘Congress system’ i.e. loss of the kind of centrality it enjoyed in the party system earlier.
(ii) The beginning of coalition politics in Indian political system.
Question 3 : What does a coalition government mean? Mention any one example of such a government.
Answer : When two or more parties join hands together to form a government is known as coalition government, e.g. UPA, NDA government was formed.
Question 4 : What was the change in the electoral performance of the Congress party and BJP from 1984-2004?
Answer : The change in the electoral performance of the Congress and BJP from 1984-2001 is as under:
(i) The BJP had gained in the electoral performance from two seats to 138 seats.
(ii) The political competition during the 1990s is divided between the coalition led by BJP and Congress. Congress lost its seats from 415 to 145.
Question 5 : Political equations in coalition governments are unstable. How was this concept reflected in the formation of National Front Government in 1989 and United Front Government in 1996?
Answer : In 1989, the coalition government began in India and many political parties shared the government at the centre. This political phenomena clearly reflects political instability and uncertainty.
United front was formed to keep out Congress from government. It was formed in 1996 with the support of BJP and Left front. HD Deva Gowda was Prime Minister United front and after him IK Gujral became the Prime Minister.
Question 6 : Give any two arguments in favour of reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs in higher education institutions in India.
Answer : The two arguments in favour of reservation for SCs. STs and OBCs in higher education institutions in India are as follows:
(i) The backward classes had very low representation in educational insitutions.
(ii) The employment in public offices also had very low representation of the backward classes.
Question 7 : What is Ayodhya dispute? Explain.
Answer : On 6th December, 1992 the disputed structure of Ayodhya i.e. Babri Masjid was demolished. The BJP government of Uttar Pradesh was dismissed and a case was registered against the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in Supreme Court for contempt of court.
Question 8 : What was the main reason for the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002?
Answer : In February-March 2002 large scale violence took place against Muslims in Gujarat because :
(i) At Godhra station a bogey of Sabarmati Express train was set on fire which was full of Karsevaks. They were returning from Ayodhya.
(ii) Suspecting the hand of Muslims in setting fire to the bogey large-scale violence against Muslims began in Gujarat from the next day.
Question 9 : What is meant by ‘coalition’? During which period did this type of government gain popularity for the first time at the center in India.
Answer : When two or more political parties join their hands together from a government, that type of government is called a Coalition Government. In 1977 coalition government gain popularity for the first time.
4 Mark Questions
Question 1 : In what way do the coalition governments prove to be more democratic than the one-party governments?
Answer : When two or more parties join hands together to form a government is known as coalition government e.g. UPA, NDA, etc.
Two advantages of coalition government are as follows:
(i) Dominance of one party is minimised.
(ii) More than one ideologies come together and gives strength to democracy.
Two disadvantages of coalition government are as follows:
(i) It gives unstable government.
(ii) It slows the process of policy-making.
Question 2 : When was the Mandal Commission set-up? Describe any two recommendations of this commission.
Answer : Mandal Commission was set-up by the new National front government in 1990.
The two recommendations of the Mandal Commission are as follows:
(i) 27 per cent of the posts in public services should be reserved for other backward classes.
(ii) Welfare programmes specially meant for OBCs should be financed by the Government of India.
Question 3 : Describe the era of multi-party system in India after 1989.
Answer : Elections in 1989 led to the defeat of the Congress party but did not result in a majority of any other party. Though the Congress was the largest party in Lok Sabha, it did not have a clear majority.
The defeat of the Congress party marked the end of Congress dominance over the Indian party system.
Way back in the late sixties, the dominance of the Congress party was challenged; but the Congress under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, managed to re-establish its predominant position in politics.
The nineties saw yet another challenge to the predominant position of the Congress. It did not, however, mean the emergence of any other single party to fill in its place. Thus, began an era of multi-party system.
To be sure, a large number of political parties always contested elections in our country. Our Parliament always had representations from several political parties. What happened after 1989 was the emergence of several parties in such a way that one or two parties did not get most of the votes of seats.
This also meant that no single party secured a clear majority of seats in any Lok Sabha election held since 1989. This development initiated an era of coalition governments at the Centre, in which regional parties played a crucial role in forming ruling alliances.
The nineties also saw the emergence of powerful parties and movements that represent the Dalit and backward castes (Other Backward Classes or OBC). Many of these parties represented powerful regional assertion as well.
Question 4 : Describe any four major developments in the Indian politics since 1989.
Answer : Towards the end of the 1980s, country saw the major development which are as follows (any four):
(i) End of Congress system : Congress system mean dominance of Congress for two decades. But the most important event was the defeat of Congress party in the 1989’s elections. The party had won only 197 seats, which was very low in comparison to 1984 elections where party won 415 seats.
The Congress boosted up its performance and finally it came back to power in 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. But the elections of 1989 marked the end of what political scientists have called the ‘Congress system’, congress remained as major party but it lost its dominance as its enjoyed in the party system.
(ii) Mandal Issue : The Mandal issue started with the National Front government’s decision to implement the recommendations of Mandal Commission in 1990.
The recommendation was that 27 per cent of job in the Central Government should be reserved for other backward classes’s candidates only. Thus, it brought widespread dismay and anger. This conflict between supporters and opponents of OBC reservation was popularly called ‘Mandal issue’. It played a crucial role in shaping politics since 1989.
(iii) New Economic Reforms : The new economic reforms were announced as the structural adjustment programme. These reforms were initiated by Rajiv Gandhi, but these were more visible in Narsimha Rao’s Government in the year 1991. These reforms faced many criticism, but the upcoming governments have continued to follow these.
(iv) Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi : There was a change in leadership due to assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. He was assassinated during his election campaign in Tamil Nadu by a Sri Lankan Tamil linked to the LTTE. The elections of 1991 witnessed Congress party emerging as the single largest party. Though death of Rajiv Gandhi led to the appointment of Narsimha Rao as the Prime Minister.
(v) Ayodhya Issue : The Ayodhya issue was started with the demolition of Babri Masjid is December, 1992. This, incident led to violence and many questions were raised about the nature of Indian nationalism and secularism. This issue exemplified and provoked various changes in the politics of the country and guided the rise the BJP and the politics of Hindutva.
Question 5 : Rewrite the names of any of the following Prime Minsters in the chronological order keeping in mind the period of their Prime Ministership.
(i) Chandrashekhar
(ii) Narsimha Rao
(iii) HD Deve Gowda
(iv) IK Gujral
(v) VP Singh
Answer : Chronological order for the period of their Prime Ministership
(i) VP Singh
(ii) Chandrashekhar
(iii) Narsimha Rao
(iv) HD Deva Gowda
(v) IK Gujral
Question 6 : ‘In the new era of coalition politics political parties are not aligning on the basis of ideology’. Explain.
Answer : Three features of coalition government has been given in which we have to understand the not aligning and re-aligning on the basis of ideologies. These are:
(i) Unstable government : The coalition government has its own interest and they fight for their own self interest. This leads to the breakup of not only various fronts, but of governments as well.
(ii) Political opportunism : Government formed on the basis of coalition becomes selfish, as opportunist, power hungry and unscrupulous politicians focus on the self interest only.
(iii) Lack of polarisation : The coalition government are formed not on the basis of poliarisation of political forces, but for the sake of capturing power and vested interest. There have been no sincere urge among the parties of same ideology for political polarisation.
Question 7 : What was Godhra episode? What were its after-effects?
Answer : In February-March 2002 large scale violence took place against Muslims in Gujarat because:
(i) At Godhra station a bogey of Sabarmati Express train was set on fire which was full of Karsevaks. They were returning from Ayodhya.
(ii) Suspecting the hands of Muslims in setting fire to the bogey , large-scale violence against Muslims began in Gujarat from the next day.
The outcomes of the these riots were:
(i) This violence continued for almost a whole month. Nearly 1100 persons, mostly Muslims were killed.
(ii) The National Human Rights Commission criticised the Gujarat Government’s role in failing to control these communal violence, providing relief to the victims and prosecute the perpetrators of this violence.
(iii) The Election Commission of India ordered the assembly elections to be postponed.
6 Mark Questions
Question 1 : Describe any three points of consensus that emerged among most political parties in India in spite of severe competition and conflicts.
Answer : Inspite of serious difference between major national political parties emergence of new consensus is being views with interest in the light of statement as following:
(i) Acceptance of political and social claims of the backward castes : Most of the political parties accepted the adequate representation. As a result, all political parties supported reservation for OBCs in education and employment. Political parties even want to ensure that OBCs get their due share of power.
(ii) Role of state level parties : The role of state level parties in governance of the country has been recognised. The gap between center and state level parties decreased. State level parties are sharing power at central level and have become crucial to the survival of country’s politics in the last two decades.
(iii) Focus on pragmatic consideration : Coalition politics has shifted political alignments from ideological differences to power sharing agreements. Governance is based on pragmatic consideration and political alliances take no rigid ideological positions. Thus, the alliance with BJP was formed called NDA inspite of BJP Hindutva. The NDA government lasted for its full term in office.
Question 3 : Coalition government is a bane or boon for democracy in India. Explain any three arguments in support of your answer.
Answer : Coalition government is a boon because:
(i) Participation of regional parties at national level : State level parties played a crucial role in the country politics for last twenty years. Therefore the differences between state level parties and central parties is decreasing day-bay-day.
(ii) Spirit of adaptation : Coalition politics has shifted the focus of politics parties from ideological distinctions to power sharing accommodation. We can see in the government of NDA that most of the parties did not agree with the ideology of Hindutva of BJP. However they allied with BJP to form a government for a full term completion.
(iii) Inclined towards one consensus : Various radical parties opposed the new economic policies, but some parties came to support new economic policies because they believed that these policies would lead the country towards prosperity and raise its status all over the world. Coalition government is a bane for democracy in India because of three reasons:
(a) Unstable government : The coalition government has its own interest and they fight for their own self interest. This leads to the breakup not only of various fronts but of government as well.
(b) Political opportunity : Government which is formed on the basis of coalition becomes selfish as opportunity power hungry and unscrupulous politicians emphasise on their self interest only.
(c) Lack of polarisation : THe coalition governments are formed not on the basis of polarisation of political forces, but for the sake of capturing power and vested interest. There have been no sincere urge even among the parties of same ideology for political polarisation.
Question 4 : From 1989 to 2004, there have been nine coalition governments in India. Analyse the rise and fall of any two such coalition governments.
Answer : The era 1990s witnessed the emergence of strong political parties, regional parties through several parties, regional parties through several issues viz OBC, Dalit etc. These parties formed government through alliances. Such alliances were United Front, National Front in 1996 and 1989.
Coalition from 1989 to 2004
Some parties had Congress support and formed alliance in 1996 called United Front. In 1989, BJP and Left supported National front.
In 1989, BJP and Left wanted to keep the Congress out of power, hence, both supported National Front and later in 1996, Congress wanted to keepout BJP from power. Therefore, it supported United front and Left supported Congress in 1996. The alliance government did not succeed for long because BJP continued to strengthen its position in the elections of 1991 and 1996. The BJP was the single largest party in 1996 parliamentary election.
In 1996, BJP was invited to form the government , but most of the political parties opposed its policies consequently it could not secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.
Lok Sabha Elections, 2004
In 2004 elections, the Congress party came to power with the new alliance known as United Progressive Alliance. This was a coalition in a big way. NDA was defeated and installation of another coalition led by DR. Manmohan Singh occurred. The UPA received support from DMK, PMK, AIADML, RJD, NCP, TRS and left from Andhra Pradesh etc.
The 2004 elections also saw the partial revival of Congress party as its increased its seats compared to 1996 elections. However, there was a little bit difference between the votes polled by the Congress and its alliances and the BJP and its allies in 2004 elections. Thus, the party system has taken another form suddenly from what it was till the seventies.
After the 1990s, the political process has been changed and it led to emergence of broadly four groups of parties:
(i) The Congress supporting parties that made coalition with Congress.
(ii) The BJP allying parties.
(iii) Left front parties.
(iv) Some other parties which were not part of the above three.
Question 5 : “The end of Eighties of the 20th century witnessed developments which made a long lasting impact on Indian parties”. Assess any three such developments.
Answer : The end of eighties of the 20th century witnessed major development which have lasting impact on Indian politics, are as follows:
(i) End of Congress system : Congress system mean dominance of Congress for two decades.
But the most important even was the defeat of Congress party in the 1989’s elections.
The party had won only 197 seats, which was very low in comparison of 1984 elections where party won 415 seats.
The Congress boosted up its performance and finally it came back to power to 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. But the elections of 1989 marked the end of what political scientists have called the ‘Congress system’. Congress remained as major party but it lost its dominance as it enjoyed earlier in the party system.
(ii) Mandal issue : The Mandal issue started with the National Front Government’s decision to implement the recommendations of Mandal Commission in 1990. The recommendation was that 27 per cent of job in the Central Government should be reserved for other backward classes’ candidates only. Thus, it brought widespread agitation and anger. This conflict between supporters and opponents of OBC reservation was popularly called ‘Mandal issue’. It played a crucial role in shaping politics since 1989.
(iii) New economic reforms : The new economic reforms were announced as the structural adjustment programme. These reforms were initiated by Rajiv Gandhi, but these were more visible in Narsimha Rao’s Government in the year 1991. These reforms faced many criticism, but the upcoming governments have continued to follow these reforms.
Question 6 : Describe the emergence of the coalition government in India.
Answer : Undoubtedly, the new era of coalition politics, political parties are not aligning or re-aligning on the basis of ideology. The main basis of their aligning with one or the other party is to safeguard their own interest and to frustrate their opponents.
The best example was of Dr Manmohan Singh’s government where the leftist supported the UPA but in state both are opponents. The main interest was to keep out BJP from government. Same condition occurred in Bihar, when BJP and Janata Dal formed government to keep out RJD.
At the centre, UPA and NDA generally do these things and hence, it could be said that political parties are not aligning or realigning on the basis of ideology.
Question 7 : Two-party system is considered as the best form for a democratic system. India, on the other hand, has a multi-party system. Assess the advantages of the multi-party system in India.
Answer : Two party systems is required for successful democracy . However, the multi-party system have the following advantages:
(i) No place of dictatorship : Even if a party enjoys full majority , it can not function as dictator. The multi-party system provided a democratic government. Hence, if the largest party try do so then other parties will withdraw their support.
(ii) Multiple choice of voters : Since 1989 elections, voters have choices about whom they want to cast their votes. This is another advantage of multi-party system.
(iii) True reflection of public opinion : Parliament is the reflection of people. In case of multi-party systems, Parliament becomes a true reflector of people because noticeable in Parliament.
(iv) Possibility of stable government : There is government majority in Parliament and Council of Ministers work according to the majority. This restricts Parliament not to pass no-confidence motion. Hence, multi-party system is comparatively stable.
(v) Passing of bills : Bills favouring people are passed by the Parliament and it is a coalition government which always asks its member parties to do so.
(vi) Check the division of the two camp : The two party system leads to two camps. But the multi-party system checked the two hostile camps. It is rather a cementing force between groups of divergent loyalties.
Question 8 : “The regional parties have started playing an important role in the Indian politics”. Comment.
Answer : India as a democracy has the multi-party system which means there are several political parties competing for power. Apart from the primary parties, each state has their own local political parties that rule and compete in their region.
Regional parties play following roles in Indian politics:
(i) In absence of clear majority, the largest party has to join hands with the regional party in order to form government. This is where the importance of the regional parties comes into play.
(ii) Most of the regional parties have agenda furthering certain culture dominant within that state.
(iii) The regional parties for their benefits divide the people of different states on the line of language, culture, traditions etc.
(iv) Sometimes serious issues like India’s foreign policy’ are influenced and compromised by regional parties. This affects India’s credibility in international politics.
(v) They also work as a pressure groups in Indian politics.
(vi) Sometimes regional parties influence the central government to divert more annual budget funds to their states at the expense of other states.