Q 1 – What is society?
Ans. Society is a group of people of the same race, socio, economic background, and cherishes common aspirations. Due to social instinct when they come together and their relationship gets institutionalized, it constitutes a society.
Q 2 – What is Preamble to the Constitution?
Ans. preamble to the Constitution is an introductory part of the Constitution which enables the people to assess and evaluate the performance of government in the light of objectives laid down into the Preamble.
Q 3 – What is the Preamble of the Constitution?
Ans. A preamble is the introductory part of the Constitution which gives the idea of forms of government, values, philosophy, and commitment of the Constitution. Preamble helps in the interpretation of the Constitution.
Q 4 – Why certain rules are necessary for society?
Ans. Certain rules and understandings are very necessary for observance by the members of society so that their relationship is properly maintained. These rules will help in maintaining the discipline and realizing the objectives of the society.
Q 5 – What is Constitution?
Ans. The constitution is a body of rules and regulations, understandings, and modes of behavior on the basis of which the government is constituted and run. The constitution specifies the areas of functions between the organs of the government. It also sets the mode of .relationship between citizens and the state.
Q 6 – Why is the Constitution needed?
Ans. As said the Constitution is the body of rules, regulations, and common understanding, it is very much needed to achieve definiteness in the relations of citizens and different organs of the government. The Constitution may be written or unwritten. Constitution also put the check on rulers.
Q 7 – What is Constitutionalism?
Ans. Constitutionalism stands for the check on arbitrariness and whimsical behavior of the ruler and to ensure rule by rational decisions. It seeks to establish the rule of law for the welfare of the people. The constitution is the product of constitutionalism. Constitutionalism also stands for rule by rational discussion, debate, and consent.
Q 8 – What are the main functions of the Constitution?
Ans. The Constitution is the DQ document whose main function is to demarcate the jurisdiction of organs of the government. It also suggests the composition of the government. It also sets the relationship between the state and citizens. The main function of the Constitution is to limit the powers of the government.
Q 9 – What is Constituent Assembly?
Ans. A constituent assembly is a body of renowned persons who are engaged in discussion debate and decision-making process and then drafting the Constitution. Most of the constitutions of world countries are written by the Constituent Assemblies.
Q 10 – What do you mean by ‘Democratic’ with special reference to India?
Ans.
- Democratic denotes to choose democracy as a way of life and run the administration through democratic institutions like legislatures, executive, free and fair judiciary, etc.
- ‘Democratic’ word in Preamble refers to social and economic democracy except for political democracy.
Q 11 – Mention the four main features of the Indian Constitution.
Ans.
- It establishes a Sovereign, democratic republic in India.
- It establishes India as a secular state.
- It has provisions of fundamental rights as well as fundamental duties to the citizens of India.
- It establishes a parliamentary form of government in India.
Q 12 – India is a secular state”. Justify the statement.
Ans.
- The word ‘Secular’ was put in the Preamble to Constitution through the 42nd Amendment.
- ‘Secular’ refers to that the state has no religion of its own but shows due respect to all religions.
- The state observes complete neutrality in religious matters.
- The 45th Amendment carries equal respect and recognition to all religions.
- No discrimination in India has ever been made against any individual belonging to different communities, religions, castes, etc.
Q 13 – What do you understand by the terms liberty, equality, and fraternity in the Preamble to Constitution?
Ans. Liberty: It is stated in the Preamble as a goal that the people should have the liberty of thought, expression, belief, and faith, jeff the state should remove the obstacles for the individuals to enjoy the freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship.
Equality: The Preamble to the Constitution always emphasizes to remove any sort of discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, color, caste, etc. by making the provisions:
- Article 14— Equality of Justice
- Article 15—Social equality
- Article 16—Equality to achieve administrative services
- Article 17—Untouchability is removed (Social inequality)
- Article 18—All the designations except academic and military were finished.
Q 14 – What do the political and economic justice stand for?
Ans.
- Political Justice: Political justice refers to equal political rights to be enjoyed by all the citizens of the country where every citizen has the right to elect the representatives as well as the right to be elected as representatives.
- Economic Justice: It refers to every citizen to get equal opportunities to earn one’s livelihood as well as equal payment for equal work.
Q 15 – How much time was taken by Constituent Assembly to write the Constitution?
Ans. The Constituent Assembly to write the Indian Constitution was constituted in 1946 and it completed the work on 26th November 1949. It took two years, eleven months, and eighteen days to complete the Constitution of India.
Q 16 – What is an unwritten constitution?
Ans. A written Constitution is in the form of a document while an unwritten constitution is based on understandings, traditions, usages, and convention. An unwritten constitution means observance of certain accepted modes of behavior.
Q 17 – Name main countries from where institutions and features are taken for the Indian Constitution.
Ans. It is said that the Indian Constitution is a borrowed bag because this Constitution has many foreign sources. Britain has the maximum impact on the Indian Constitution. Besides Britain, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa are the countries that have influenced the Indian constitution. It is rightly said that the Indian Constitution is a borrowed bag.
Q 18 – How the decisions were taken by Constituent Assembly?
Ans. Taking decisions in the Constituent Assembly was not easy because of thorny issues. There were many people and groups of divergent opinions. But all the members were fired with a high sense of patriotism. Therefore all the decisions were taken by consensus which could be possible by the spirit of accommodation. ,
Q 19 – What was the significance of the Cabinet Mission Plan?
Ans. Cabinet Mission Plan was appointed by the British Government in 1946 to discuss the modalities of the Constituent Assembly with the Indian leaders. With the discussion by Indian leaders, the Cabinet Mission plan gave its recommendations on the basis of which the Constituent Assembly was constituted.
Q 20 – From where the Constitution drew its authority?
Ans. The Constitution drew its authority from the Constituent Assembly which was representative of the people. Therefore ultimately the people are /the source of the authority of the Constitution. In Preamble the stating words are We the people of India, which means to say that people support this Constitution.
Q 21 – How India is Republic?
Ans. India is Republic. It is very much given in the Preamble of the Constitution. India has an elected head in the form of a President. Therefore India is Republic.
Q 22 – What do you mean by Constitution? How does it perform its role for society?
Ans. A Constitution is fundamental law of the land. It can be defined as the body of rules, regulations, and understandings on the basis of which state is’ constituted and governed. The Constitution is also the instrument of realizing the aspirations of the people. It plays a vital role for society as it specifies the basic allocations of power in society. The Constitution of a country indicates the framework of the government with the respective role of each organ of the government. The Constitution influences society and in turn is influenced by society. Indian Constitution represents the ethos, values, and preferences of Indian people and at the same time has successfully given the direction to Indian society to become a liberal, secular, democratic, and modern society. The constitution plays this role in all societies. We can take the example Of the Chinese and Russian Constitutions also.
Q 23 – Discuss the importance of a written constitution.
Ans. The constitution explains the structure of government and the mode of governance. Generally, the constitution is to be taken as a written one but it does not mean that there cannot be an unwritten constitution. British Consti¬tution is the example of the unwritten constitution which is working on the basis of unwritten understandings, traditions, and conventions. But in most of the countries of the world, there are written constitutions which are in the form of a document written by a specially constructed Constituent Assembly. The written constitution has its own utility and importance. The written part of the constitution is a clear indicator of the jurisdiction or powers of a particular organ. There cannot be any ambiguity in a written constitution if it is, it can be explained. A written constitution is generally available in the form of a document that is prepared by continuous discussions and debate and with due process of decision making. It may be the majority method or it can be based on consensus. Therefore a written constitution is more popular.
Q 24 – Write the composition of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Ans. Indian Constitution is written by a specially constituted Constituent Assembly. This Constituted Assembly had a total strength of 389 members, whose composition was as follows:
- 292 members from British ruled states
- 93 members from Princely states
- 4 members of minorities like Sikh and Anglo Indians
The elected members were to be indirectly elected by the state Assemblies which were constituted by the election of 1946 to the states on the basis of the Government of India Act 1935. Therefore this Constituent Assembly was constituted by indirect elections and nomination. It was constituted as per recommendations of the Cabinet Mission Plan 1946 which came to India after the formation of a new government led by Mr. Atlee in Britain. The Constituent Assembly enacted this Constitution on 26 November 1949 by taking the time of two years, eleven months, and eighteen days. The idea of a Constituent Assembly had come to prevail largely as an article of faith in almost all the politically minded classes in the country.
Q 25 – Write important features of the Indian Constitution.
Ans. The main features of the Indian Constitution are as under:-
- Written Constitution
- Flexible and rigid Constitution
- The preamble of the Constitution
- Liberal Constitution.
- Parliamentary form of government
- Federal system of government
- Republican system
- Fundamental Rights
- fundamental Duties
- Directive Principles of State Policy
- Secularism
- Bicameral Legislature of center
- Adult Franchise
- Multi-Party System
- Power of Judicial Review to the Judiciary
- Mixed economy
- Single citizenship
- Supremacy of Constitution
Q 26 – How the powers are demarcated in Indian Constitution?
Ans. The important base of the effectiveness of a constitution is a balanced arrangement of the distributions of power and allocation of areas of work (jurisdiction) among the institutions and organs of the government. The basic principle on which the constitution worked was that the government must be democratic and committed to the welfare of the people. The constitution-makers, for the purpose of evolving the right balance among the various institutions like the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, adopted parliamentary form government and federal-arrangement between the center and states. This will lead to the distributions of power between the legislature and executive on the one hand and between the central government and the state governments. For this purpose, the powers were distributed on the basis of three lists as under.
- Union list 96 subjects
- State list 66 subjects
- Concurrent list 47 subjects. The residual powers rest with the center
Q 27 – What goals are set in the Indian Constitution?
Ans. Indian society inherited inequality, discrimination, illiteracy, and injustices as a legacy of British imperialism. After independence, the people of India had high hopes. Constitution makers were aware of these needs and aspirations of the people. Therefore new goals for the society were set to be realized through the governmental machinery. These objectives were incorporated in the Preamble of the Constitution. The framers of the Indian constitution thought that each individual in the society should have all that which is necessary for them to lead a life of minimum dignity and social self-respect and also minimum material well-being. Therefore to achieve egalitarianism is the first goal of the Constitution. To achieve these goals, related values like justice equality, liberty, the dignity of the individual, fraternity among the people of the country are incorporated. National integrations are also the goal of the Constituent..
Q 28 – Write four important functions of the Constitution.
Ans. As the constitution is a framework of Government and embodiment of ethos, values, goals, and commitments of the people, it performs a number of functions for the society and the rulers i.e. government. Its main functions are as under:
1. The first function of a constitution is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimum coordination and assurance amongst members of society. Constitutions provide authority to the government for framing rules, regulations, and their issuance and implementation for the purposes of main co-ordination among the people of the people and to establish discipline.
2. the Second function is to provide the framework of government and decide the area of jurisdictions of each organ of the government to make the decisions, about the people. It also decides, how the government will be constituted.
3. The third function of a constitution is to set some limits on what a government can impose on its citizens. These limits are not to be violated by the organs of the government and the people. Citizens are given four Fun-damental Rights that cannot be violated by the government. So these fundamental rights are given protections.
4. The fourth important function of the constitution is to ensure the fulfillment of the aspiration of the people and the governmental system.
Q 29 – How far you agree that the Indian Constituent Assembly was a representative body?
Ans. Although members of the Constituent Assembly were not directly elected by the people there was a serious effort and intention to make the Assembly a representative body. In fact, at that time adult franchise’ was not prevailing, and also the situation k that time was conducive to hold the elections directly. Therefore it was decided that members of the Constituent Assembly be elected by the members of legislative Assefnblies of the states. Besides this through the process of nomination efforts were made to give representation to all shades and opinions. In the election also members of all religions were given due representation.
In terms of Political parties, the Congress party which dominated -the- political scene at that time, also dominated the composition of the Constituent Assembly. The Congress itself was such a party that managed to accommodate almost all sections of the society. Therefore we can conclude that CoristituenK Assembly was a representative body.
Q 30 – How Parliament is subordinate to that of the Constitution in India?
Ans. In India, Parliament is certainly subordinate to the Constitution because Parliament is the product of the Constitution which has set the composition and jurisdiction of the Parliament. In India, we have the supremacy of the Constitution and not of Parliament. Parliament will discharge its duty on the areas, assigned by the Constitution. Parliament can make laws on the issues which are given in the centralized and sometimes on the issues of stateliest also. But its laws are open for judicial review. Therefore we can say that in India, Parliament is subordinate to Constitution which can be altered only by the Constituent Assembly.