Class X - Political Parties (2019-20)

Political parties

Class : X                                                                                  Subject: Political Science

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 programmes 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:
I) The leaders,
II) The active members and
III) The followers

How many parties should we have?

1. In a democracy, any group of citizens is free to form the political party.
2. In this formal sense, there are a large number of political parties in each country.
3. More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of India.
4. In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These are called one-party system.
5. In class IX, we noted that in China, only the Communist Party is allowed to rule.
6. We cannot consider one party system as a good option because this is not a democratic option.
7. 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.
8. In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties.
9. But only the two main parties have a serious chance of winning the majority of seats to form the government. Such a party system is called two-party system.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. The multi-party system often appears very messy and leads to political instability.
13. At the same time, this system allows a variety of interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.

I.            Functions of Political Party:

i.            Contesting Elections: Political parties contest elections. A political party nominates its candidate for the electoral contest in various constituencies.

ii.            Policies: Political parties put forward different policies and programmes so  that  the  voters can choose from them

iii.            Making Law: Political parties play a decisive role in making laws for the country. As most of the parliamentarians belong to political parties, so a political party has direct  say in law making for the country.

iv.            Formation of Government: Political parties form and run governments. The executive body is formed by people from the ruling party

v.            Playing Opposition: A party which does not get majority or come under the majority coalition, needs to play the role of opposition. It keeps an eye on the ruling government.

Criticizes them and mobilizes opposition to ruling party

vi.            Shaping Public Opinion: Political parties shape public opinion. They do so by raising  and highlighting issues in the legislature and in the media.

vii.            Providing Access to Government Machinery: Political parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. Parties need  to be responsive to people’s needs and demands.

QUESTION: Explain the various functions performed by political parties.

II.              Necessity of Political Party

i.            If there were no political party, then each and every candidate would be independent.

ii.            An independent candidate would always be more interested in the specific needs of   his constituency

iii.            Would seldom think about the larger interest of the nation.

iv.            A political party is necessary to bring diverse people on a common platform, so that  bigger issues can be taken care of.

Question: Examine the state of democracy without political parties.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

v.           The democracy which is being practiced all over the world is called representative democracy.

vi.           In this system, governance is done through people’s representative because it is

impossible for each citizen to directly participate in governance.

vii.           The need for representative democracy has given rise to political parties.

viii.         As societies have become more heterogeneous and population of counties have

expanded

ix.          This has created the need for people who can take decisions on people’s behalf.

IVa. PARTY SYSTEM

i.  One party system

a)      In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government, e.g.

China. These are called one-party systems.

b)      It is not considered democratic since a democratic system must allow at least  two parties to compete in elections and provide a fair chance for the competing parties to come to power.

ii.   Two party systems

a)      In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party system is called two-party system.

b)      The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples of two-party system.

iii.   Multi-party system

a)      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 a multi-party system. Thus in India, we have a multi-party system.

b)      After the 1996 general elections, no single party has been able to secure even a simple majority.

c)      Subsequent central governments have thus been formed by coalition of like-minded political parties.

d)      The multi-party system is apparently very messy and it often leads to political instability.

e)      But we should acknowledge the fact that it allows various interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.

IVb. Evolution of party system in any country

a)      A particular party system takes time to evolve in a country.

b)      It depends on the nature of society, social and regional diversities.

c)      It also depends on its history of politics and its system of elections.

d)      India is a country of huge geographical and social diversity. Such diversity may not be easily accommodated by two or even three parties.

e)      It is quite natural that a multi-party system has evolved in India.

f)       We should keep in mind that each system has its pros and cons.

Question: “Each country develops a party system that is conditioned by its special circumstances.”Do you agree with the statement? Give reasons

V.   POPULAR PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL PARTIES

i.            Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people in South Asia.

ii.            Political parties are one of the least trusted institutions all over the world.

iii.            Yet the level of participation in the activities of political parties was fairly high. The proportion of those who said they were members of some political party was higher in India than many advanced countries like Canada, Japan, Spain and South Korea.

iv.            Over the last three decades the proportion of those who report to be members of political parties in India has gone up steadily.

v.            The proportion of those who say they feel ‘close to a political party’ has also gone  up in India in this period.

VI.   RECOGNIZED PARTIES

·      Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission.

·      While the Commission treats all parties equally,

·      It offers some special facilities to large and  established parties. These parties are given  a unique symbol – only the official candidates of that party can use that election symbol.

·      Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognized’ by the Election Commission for this purpose.

·      That is why these parties are called, ‘recognized political parties’.

VII.   CRITERION GIVEN BY EC

State Party: A party that secures at least 6 per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognized as a State party.

National Party: A party that secures at least six per cent of total votes in Lok Sabha elections  or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok  Sabha  is recognized as a national party

According to this classification, there were six national recognized parties in the country in 2006.

QUESTION: Mention the criteria given by EC for the recognition of state and national party.

VIII.   NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES

i.  Indian National Congress (INC):

·         This is popularly known as the Congress Party.

·         Oldest party - formed in 1885

·         Involved in the freedom struggle

·         Centrist in its ideology

·         Espouses secularism

·         Welfare of weaker sections and minorities

·         Emerged as largest party in 2004 Lok Sabha elections- completed two terms in office,

i.e. ten years

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP):

·         Founded in 1980 by reviving the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

·         Goal- to build strong and modern India

·         Promotes cultural nationalism (or ‘Hindutva)

·         Wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

·         Demands uniform civil code

·         Party came to power in 1998 and remained in power till 2004 ( NDA )

·         This party stormed back to power in centre in 2014.

.iii. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP

·         Formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.

·         Seeks to represent and secure power for the bahujan Samaj which includes the dalits, adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities.

·         Inspired by teachings of Mahatma Phule,Periyar Ramaswami Naicker and B.R Ambedkar

·         Has good presence in Uttar Pradesh and has been in power in UP for a couple of terms.

iv.  Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M):

·         This party was founded in 1964.

·         Main philosophy- Marxism-

·         It supports socialism, secularism.

·         enjoys strong support in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura,

·         Famous among the poor, factory workers, farmers, agricultural labourer and the intelligentsia.

v.   Communist Party of India (CPI):

·         Formed in 1925.

·         Same philosophy as CPI (M). ( Marxist )

·         After the split in the party in 1964 it led to the formation of the CPI (M).

·         Significant presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

·           Advocates the coming together of all left parties to build a strong left front.

vi.  Nationalist Congress Party (NCP):

·         This party was formed in 1999 following a split in the Congress party.

·         The party espouses democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and federalism.

·         Wants high office in government to be confined to natural born citizens of the  country

·         This is a major party in Maharashtra and has a significant presence in Meghalaya,  Manipur and Assam

Question: Compare the ideology and working of Congress and BJP.

IX.       RISE of REGIONAL PARTIES and THEIR CONTRIBUTION

·       Many regional parties have grown in prominence over the last three decades.

·       Has made Indian parliament politically more diverse

·       Gives support to national parties to form government

·       Every state party has got a chance to enter into national level alliance

·       Has strengthened federalism and democracy

·       This is a sign of expansion and deepening of democracy in India.

·       Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK, DMK, etc. are examples of regional parties

Question: Discuss the role of regional parties in strengthening federalism.

X.   CHALLENGES TO POLITICAL PARTIES

Some of the challenges which the political parties face are as follows:

i.  Lack of Internal Democracy:

·         The power is concentrated in the hands of one or a handful of leaders.

·         Membership registers are not maintained

·         Do not conduct internal elections regularly

·         Ordinary members of the party do not get a chance to come up.

·         The top leadership is often disconnected with the grassroots workers.

·         Loyalty to the policies and principles of the party has less value than the loyalty to the top leadership.

ii.   Dynastic Succession:

·         The top positions in many political parties are usually controlled by members of one family.

·         A person born in a particular family becomes the leader by virtue of his birth;

·         Not the sign of a healthy democracy.

·         This tendency is present in most of the political parties in India.

·         This is not the case in India alone, but in many other countries as well.

iii.   Money and Muscle Power:

·         a political party leaves no stone unturned to win elections

·         Spends huge sum of money on electioneering.

·         Nominates candidates who can raise money

·         Rich people who give funding often influence the decisions and policies

·         Parties often take help of criminals and gives them ticket

iv.  Being a Meaningful Choice

·         Decline in the ideological difference amongst different parties

·         Most of the political parties sound similar to one another.

·         People have no choice than choosing the better of the two evils.

·         In some states, the party in power just changes every five year but people seldom experience change on the ground.

Question: Highlight the major challenges faced by political parties in today’s time.

XI.   WAYS TO REFORM POLITICAL PARTIES:

i.  Anti-defection Law:

·         The law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties,  he or she will lose the seat in  the legislature.

·         This new law has helped bring defection down.

·         It has made any dissent even more difficult.

·           MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.

ii.   Details of Property and Criminal Proceedings during Nomination:

·         It is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him.

·         The new system has made a lot of information available to the public.

·         But there is no system of check if the information given by the candidates is true.

iii.   Mandatory Organizational Elections and IT Returns:

·         It necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their

income tax returns.

·         The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality.

iv.  Suggestions for Future:

1.      A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.

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

3.      There should be state funding of  elections. The government should give parties money  to support their election expenses. This support could be given in kind: petrol, paper, telephone etc. Or it could be given in cash on the basis of the votes secured by the party   in the last election.

4.      People can put pressure on political parties and this can be done through petitions, publicity and agitations.

5.      Ordinary citizens, pressure groups and movements & media can play an important role in this.

6.      . Political parties can improve if those who want this join politics. As the quality of democracy depends upon the degree of participation.

Question: Suggest some features which can further help in strengthening political parties and their functioning.

Class X- AGE OF INDUSTRIALISATION CLASS NOTES (2019-20)

CH:5  AGE OF INDUSTRIALISATION

CLASS NOTES

A. Before the Industrial Revolution

 Proto-industrialisation: There was large-scale industrial production for an international market not based on factories. It was controlled by merchants and the goods were produced by a vast number of producers working within their family farms, not in factories.

 17th and 18th century: Merchants from the towns of Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market. Merchants offered advances for producing clothes for them at a time when open fields were disappearing and commons were being enclosed. Income from proto-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation.

B. The Coming Up of the Factory

 1730s: The earliest factories in England came up.

 First symbol of the new era was cotton.

 Inventions in the 18th century increased the efficacy of each step of production (carding, twisting, spinning and rolling). The output per worker also rose.

  Richard Arkwright invented the cotton mill. Mill production of cotton started, which allowed a more careful supervision over the production process.

 Cotton became the leading sector in the first phase of industrialization.

C. The Pace of Industrial Change

 The expansion of railways in England and its colonies rapidly increased the demand for iron and steel.

 The new, technologically advanced industrial sectors could not easily displace the traditional industries. Textiles were still produced within domestic units and not in factories.

 The high cost of machines and the uncertainty of their performance made technological changes slow. Merchants and industrialists were cautious about accepting and using the new technology.

 1781: James Watt improved the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the new engine.

D. Importance of Hand Labour

  Introduction of machines required large capital investment. Hence, cheap labour was preferred over the use of machines.

 Manual labour was also preferred in the industries where production fluctuated with seasons.

 Goods with intricate designs and specific shapes were in great demand in the European markets. This was possible only with hand labour and not machine outputs.

 The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie in Victorian Britain preferred the refined and carefully handmade products; machine made goods were for the colonies.

E. Life of the Workers

 Large scale migrations to towns and cities from countryside in search of jobs.

 Many job-seekers had to wait weeks, spending nights under bridges or in night shelters.

 Workers became jobless after the busy season of work got over.

 Some returned to the countryside when the demand for labour in the rural areas opened up.

 Most people looked for odd-jobs, which till the mid-19th century were difficult to find.

 The fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new technology. Women who survived on hand-spinning began protesting when the Spinning Jenny was introduced.

F. The Age of Indian Textiles

 Before the age of machines, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international textile market.

 Armenian and Persian merchants took goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia and Central Asia.

 Surat on Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and the Red Sea ports.

 Masulipatam on the Coromandel Coast and Hooghly in Bengal had trade links with Southeast Asian ports.

 A variety of Indian merchants and traders were involved in this network of export trade, financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters. They gave advances to the weavers, procured the woven cloth from weaving villages and carried the supply to the ports.

  The European companies gradually gained power and monopoly rights.

  Trade through the new ports of Calcutta and Mumbai came to be controlled by the European companies.

G. Plight of Weavers

  The East India Company gained monopoly rights over the Indian textile trade. It tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade and established direct control over the weavers.

 A paid servant called the gomastha was appointed for supervising weavers, collecting supply and examining the quality of cloth.

 The Company prevented the weavers from dealing with other buyers.

 Once the order was placed, the weavers were given loans for purchasing raw material for production. The produced cloth was to be handed over to the gomastha.

 The new gomasthas had no social link with the village. They acted arrogantly, marched into villages with sepoys and peons and punished weavers for delays in supply.

 The price received by weavers from the Company was miserably low and the loans that they had accepted tied them to the Company.

 In Carnatic and Bengal weavers deserted villages and migrated, setting up looms in other villages where they had some family relation. Elsewhere, the weavers along with the village traders revolted, opposing the Company and its officials.

 Weavers began refusing loans, closing down their workshops and taking to agricultural labour.

H. British Textiles in India

 The British industrialists pressurized the government to impose duties on cotton textiles so that Manchester goods could sell in Britain without any outside competition.

 The industrialists also persuaded the East India Company for selling the British manufactures in the Indian markets.

 Exports of British cotton goods increased dramatically in the early 19th century.

 The export market of the Indian cotton weavers collapsed and the local market shrank, being glutted with cheap Manchester imports.

 The weavers could not get sufficient supply of good quality raw cotton. Weavers in India were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices.

 By the end of the 19th century, factories in India began production, flooding the markets with machine-made goods. Consequently, the weaving industry decayed and died.

I.Factories in India

  1854: First cotton mill came up in Bombay

 1855: The first jute mill came up; and another one in 1862

 1860s: The Elgin mill was started in Kanpur

 1861: The first cotton mill of Ahmadabad was set up

 1874: The first spinning and weaving mill of Madras began production

J. The Early Entrepreneurs

 The British in India began exporting opium to China and took tea from China to England. Many Indians participated in this trade by providing finance, procuring supplies and shipping consignments.

 In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade and established six joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s.

 In Bombay, Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata built huge industrial empires in India. They accumulated their initial wealth partly from exports to China and partly from raw cotton shipments to England.

 Merchants from Madras traded with Burma, Middle East and East Africa.

 Other trading activities included carrying goods from one place to another, banking, transferring funds between cities and financing traders.

 However, Indian traders were barred from trading with Europe in manufactured goods and had to export raw materials and food grains required by the British. They were also gradually edged out of the shipping business.

K. Workers

 In most industrial regions, workers came from the nearby districts

 The job-seekers were always more than the jobs available.

 Industrialists employed a jobber for getting new recruits. He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city and provided them money in times of crisis.

L. The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth

 The European Managing Agencies established tea and coffee plantations, acquiring land at cheap rates from the colonial governments. They also invested in mining, indigo and jute.

 Since yarn was not an important part of British imports into India, the early cotton mills in India produced coarse cotton yarn rather than fabric. The yarn produced in Indian spinning mills was used by handloom weavers in India or exported to China.

 Nationalists during the Swadeshi movement mobilized people to boycott foreign cloth.

 Industrial groups organized themselves to protect their collective interests, pressurizing the government to increase tariff protection and grant other concessions.

 From 1906, the export of Indian yarn to China declined since produce from Chinese and Japanese mills flooded the Chinese market.

 1900 and 1912: Cotton piece goods production in India doubled

 With British mills busy with war production to meet the needs of the army, Manchester imports into India declined. As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs including jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse and mule saddles and a host of other items.

 Industrial production boomed owing to the increase in the working hours and the establishment of new factories.

  Unable to modernize and compete with the US, Germany and Japan, the British economy crumbled after the war. Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically.

 Within the colonies, local industries substituted the foreign manufactures and captured the home market.

M. Small-scale Industries

 Large industries formed only a small segment of the economy. Most of them were located in Bombay and Bengal.

 Most of the workers worked in small workshops and household units.

 While cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century, the weavers survived. Handloom cloth-production expanded steadily between 1900 and 1940.

 Technological changes and other small innovations made the handloom clothproduction rise. By the second decade of the 20th century, weavers used looms with a fly shuttle.

 Amongst weavers, some produced coarse cloth while others wove finer varieties. The coarser cloth was bought by the poor and its demand fluctuated violently along with the fluctuations in their incomes.

The finer ones were bought by the rich and its demand was constant.

N. Market for Goods

 New consumers were created through advertisements. Advertisements expanded the markets for products and shaped a new consumer culture.

 The label was needed for making the name and the place of manufacture and the name of the company familiar to the buyer.

 Images of Indian gods and goddesses were imprinted on goods for making a foreign product familiar to the Indian masses.

 Calendars were used for advertisements.

 Figures of important personages adorned advertisements and calendars.  Advertisements became a vehicle of the nationalist message of Swadeshi.

SPECIAL ASSEMBLY

STUDENTS PERFORMING IN SPECIAL ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHTING MONUMENTS OF COUNTRIES IN FOCUS

INTER HOUSE QUIZ ON MONUMENTS

COUNTRIES IN FOCUS

USA, UAE, FRANCE AND INDIA

MAGNIFICENT MONUMENTS

Class IV & V Students studied  the monuments of India, UAE, France and USA

Display Board Making

The Students created a Display Board on the Monuments of the country allotted to them. The display board included information on the history, architecture , creator and other significant aspects of the monuments.