AP 10th Class Social Political Science 4th Lesson Questions and Answers Political Parties

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Political Parties Questions and Answers AP 10th Class Social Political Science 4th Lesson

Question 1.
State the various functions political parties perform in a democracy.
Answer:
Functions of political parties :
1) Parties contest elections :
a) In most democracies, elections are fought among the candidates put up by political parties.
b) In some countries like USA, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
c) In India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.

2) Forming policies and programmes :
a) Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.
b) Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society.

3) Making Laws:
a) When parties come to power, they make laws for the country.
b) Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature.
c) Members of the ruling party follow the directions of party leaders, irrespective of their personal opinions.

4) Parties Form and Run Governments : Parties recruit the leaders – train them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.

5) Role of opposition : The parties who loose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising govt, for its failures or wrong policies.

6) Parties shape public opinion :
a) They raise and highlight issues.
b) Parties have lakhs of members and activists spread all over the country.
c) Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.

7) Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by govt. : Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands.

Question 2.
What are the various challenges faced by political parties?
Answer:
Challenges faced by political parties :
1) Lack of internal democracy:
a) Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the party.
b) In political parties the concentration of power is in one or few leaders at the top.

2) Dynastic succession:
a) In many parties, the top position’s are always controlled by members of one family.
b) Most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning.

3) Money and muscle power:
a) Since parties are focused just on winning decisions. They will quite often utilise alternate ways to win races.
b) Rich individuals and organisations who give assets to the gatherings will generally impact the approaches and choices of the party
c) Sometimes, parties support law=breakers who can win decisions.

4) Meaningful choice to the voters :
a) Sometimes people cannot even elect very different leaders either, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another.
b) Most of the political parties have same fundamental and ideological issues due to which voters do not have many options during elections.

Question 3.
Suggest some reforms to strengthen parties so that they perform their functions well.
Answer:
Some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political parties and its leaders:

1) Anti Defection : The constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. ,
Now the law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.

2) Affidavit: It is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him.

3) The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.

4) Regulate the internal affairs of political parties. It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members and to follow its own constitution.

5) Its mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates.

6) The government should give parties money to support their election expenses. Ex : Petrol, paper, etc.

Question 4.
What is a political party?
Answer:
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. It has three components, the leaders, the active members and the followers.

Question 5.
What are the characteristics of a political party?
Answer:

1. The characteristics of a political party are as follows:
2. The parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society.
3. Parties are a part of society and thus involve partisanship.
4. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
5. Parties try to pursuade people why their policies are better than others.
6. They are formed to promote the collective good through policies and programmes.

Question 6.
A group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government is called a ________
Answer:
Political party.

Question 7.
Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists.

List – I	List – II
1. Congress Party	A. National Democratic Alliance
2. Bharatiya Janata Party	B. State Party
3. Communist Party of India (Marxist)	C. United Progressive Alliance
4. Telugu Desam Party	D. Left Front

A) C A B D
B) C D A B
C) C A D B
D) D C A B
Question 8.
Who among the following is the founder of the Bahujan Samal Party?
A) Kanshi Ram
B) Sahu Maharaj
C) B.R. Ambedkar
D) Jotiba Phule.
Answer:
A) Kanshi Ram.

Question 9.
What is the guiding philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party?
A) Bahujan Samaj
B) Revolutionary democracy
C) Integral humanism
D) Modernity.
Answer:
C) Integral humanism.

Question 10.
Consider the following statements on parties.
A. Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people.
B. Parties are often rocked by scandals involving top party leaders.
C. Parties are not necessary to run governments.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
A) A,B and C
B) A and B
C) B and C
D) A and C
Answer:
C) B and C

Question 11.
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:

Muhammad Yunus is a famous economist of Bangladesh. He received several international honours for his efforts-to promote economic and social development for the benefit of the poor. He and the Grameen Bank that he started jointly, received the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2006. In February 2007, he decided to launch a political party and contest in the parliamentary elections. His objective was to foster proper leadership, good governance and build a new Bangladesh. He felt that only a political party different from the traditional ones would bring about new political culture. His party would be democratic from the grassroots level. “The launching of the new party, called Nagarik-Shakti (Citizens’ Power), has caused a stir among the Bangladeshis. While many welcomed his decision, some did not like it. “Now I think Bangladesh will have a chance to choose between good and bad and eventually have a good government, ” said Shahedul Islam, a government official. ” That government, we hope, would not only keep itself away from corruption but also make fighting corruption and black money a top priority. ’’ But leaders of traditional political parties who dominated the country’s politics for decades were apprehensive. “There was no debate (over him) winning the Nobel, but politics is different – very challenging and often controversial, ” said a senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Some others were highly critical. They asked why he was rushing into politics. “Is he being planted in politics by mentors from outside the country, ” asked one political observer.

Question 1.
Do you think Yunus made a right decision to float a new political party?
Answer:
Yes, I think Yunus made a right decision to float a new political party.

Question 2.
Do you agree with the statements and fears expressed by various people?
Answer:
I agree with the statement of a government official, Shahedul Islam that the launch of this new party may change the political culture of the country. But I do not agree with the view points of a senior leader of the Bangladesh National Party. He expressed his fear about the capability of Muhammad Yunus in the field of politics.

Question 3.
How do you want this new party organised to make it different from other parties?
Answer:
1) I think the party should be democratic from very grass roots level.
2) This party should fight against corruption and the problem of black money in the country, which dominated the country.

Question 4.
If you were the one to begin this political party, how would you defend it?
Answer:
If I were one of them to begin this political party, I would try to develop direct interaction with the people living in the countryside and in towns regular meetings of the party members, seminars, workshops etc., would have been adopted to win the confidence of the people.
I would bring more transparency.

AP 10th Class Social Political Science 4th Lesson InText Questions and Answers Political Parties

Page No. 94

Question 1.
So, you agree with me. Parties are partial, partisan and lead to partitions. Parties do nothing but divide people. That is their real function!
Answer:
The above statement is biased towards anti-political attitude. Generally political parties act as negotiators in decreasing social divisions in the country.

Page No. 96

Question 2.
What is shown in the given cartoon?

Answer:

1. The famous cartoonist R.K.Lakshman is seen reading newspaper which shows that country is facing lot of problems.
2. But politicians are not taking care of them.
3. Politicians are not willing to take responsibility for the peril situation of the country.
4. They are busy in contesting elections.

Question 3.
What issue can be seen being discussed here?
Answer:
One of the major issues that can be seen being, discussed here are the “Mandal Commission” for quota reservations, the Ayodhya Ram Mandir case, the problems of coalition govt. etc.

Page No. 98

Question 4.
Okay, granted that we can’t live without political parties. But tell me on what grounds do people support a political party?
Answer:
1) Political parties came from society only.
2) They simply represent what we are.
3) There is nothing wrong with any of the political parties.
4) It is we people who have everything in our hands in a democracy.
5) Even if they do not work rightly, remember, people have voting power in their hands.

Page No. 100

Let us Revise

Question 5.
Categories these photographs.by the functions of political parties they illustrate. Find one photograph or news dipping from your own area for each of the functions listed above.

1) Activists of B JP Mahila Morcha demonstrate against hike in prices of onions and LPG in Visakhapatnam.
2) Minister distributes ? One lakh cheque to the families of hooch victims at their houses.
3) Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD (S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to protest against POSCO, the Korean steel company ^or being permitted by the State Government to export iron ore from Orissa to feed steel plants in China and Korea.
Answer:

1. Left photograph : Playing the role of opposition.
2. Top (Right) : Implementation of policies and programmes.
3. Bottom (Right): Protest against the activities of government in the state of Odisha.

Page No. 102

Question 6.
I wonder how politicians manage these coalitions. I can’t even remember the names of all the parties.
Answer:
At present several political parties with almost similar agenda come together to form a government and if voted to power, all such parties as a coalition from the government.
The politicians do manage these coalitions by giving proportional representation to all the emerging political parties and their members.

Page No. 102

Let us Revise

Question 7.
Let us apply what we have learnt about party systems to the various states within India. Here are three major types of party systems that exist at the State level. Can you lied the names of at least two States for each of these types?
• Two-party system
• Multiparty system with two alliances
• Multiparty system
Answer:

1. Two-party system Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh.
2. Multiparty system with two alliances: Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Jarkhand, West Bengal.
3. Multiparty system : Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamilnadu.

Page No. 106

Question 8.
Does the cartoon reflect the data graphics shown on the previous page?

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press,

Answer:
Yes.

Page No. 114

Question 9.
Why don’t parties give enough tickets to women? Is that also due to lack of internal democracy?
Answer:
1) Patriarchal society is the reason for men authority in politics.
2) If the parties give tickets to women, steadily the power will go into their hands, which is not acceptable in the Indian society.
3) Yes, this is an example of lack of internal democracy.
4) At least l/3rd of the seats, for which the party is contesting, should be allocated to the women.

Page No. 118

Question 10.
Does this suggest that in democracies people contest elections only to make money? But isn’t it true that there are politicians committed to the well-being of the people?
Answer:
Here it is not correct to say that all politicians participate in elections only for the money. Some politicians contest in the elections to serve the needs. As writen in Artha Shastra by Chanakya, it’s a fact that corruption is invisible like a fish in the water drinking the water or not. It should be controlled by reforms in the politics and behavioural changes of the public.

Page No. 118

Question 11.
Explain the given cartoon.
Answer:
This cartoon shows how a person in India is filling his nomination as a candidate in the election to the Election Commission of India.
It’s now mandatory to show your assets in an affidavit before elections.
The woman is shown to mention 50 crores as her assets and the officer is surprised to see that. He is asking her, if she has so much money, why is the contesting in the elections.
This is because it is a general view that the politicians in India, after winning an election and coming to power, a mass a lot of wealth through corrupt practices instead of working for the welfare of the people.

Question 12.
Can you identify which of the challenges described in this section are being highlighted in these cartoons (on pages 114 to 118)? What are the ways to curb the misuse of money and muscle power in politics?

Page No. 120

Question 13.
Do you agree that this form of reforming political parties will be acceptable to them?

Answer:

1. Election code is good for strengthening democracy.
2. But sometimes political leaders fail to follow election code against whom Election Commission of India takes action.
3. A fair practices is need of the hour’ in India.