In This Post we are providing CHAPTER 18 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIAN POLITICS NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 POLITICAL SCIENCE PART-B POLITICS IN INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter.
NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIAN POLITICS
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 differences between major national political parties emergence of new consensus is being viewed with interest in the light of statement as following :
1. 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.
2. Role of state-level parties
The role of state-level parties in governance of the country has been recognised. The gap between centre and state level parties decreased. State level parties are sharing power at central level and have become crucial for the survival of country’s politics in the last two decades.
3. 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 in spite of BJP Hindutva. The NDA government lasted for its full term in office.
Question 2.
Which three major developments took place in Indian politics during the last decade of the 20th century? Describe.
Answer:
For major development in Indian politics towards the end of 1980s, country saw five major development which are as follows (any four) :
1. End of 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 comparision 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 it enjoyed earlier in the party system.
2. 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.
3. New Economic Reforms The new Ans 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.
4. 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.
5. Ayodhya Issue The Ayodhya issue was started with the demolition of Babri Masjid in December, 1992. This, incident led to violence and many questions were raised about the nature of Indian nationalism and secularsm. This issue exemplified and provoked various changes in the politics of the country and guided the rise of the BJP and the politics of Hindutva.
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 :
- 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-by-day.
- Spirit of adaptation Coalition politics has shifted the focus of political 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.
- 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:
- 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 governments as well.
- Political opportunism Government which is formed on the basis of coalition becomes selfish as opportunist power hungry and unscrupulous politicians emphasise on their self-interest only.
- 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 issues viz OBC, Dalit etc. These parties formed government through alliances. Such alliance were United Front, National Front in 1996 and 1989 respectively.
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 the 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, AIADMK, RJD, NCP, TRS and left from Andhra Pradesh etc.
The 2004 elections also saw the partial revival of Congress party as it increased its seats compared to 1996 elections. However, there was a little bit difference between the votes polled by the Congress and its allies 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:
- The Congress supporting parties that made coalition with Congress.
- The BJP allying parties
- Left front parties
- 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 parities”. 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
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.
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 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’s 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 Narismha 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:
Undoubtly, in 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 leftists 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.
For features of coalition government on the basis of ideologies
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 :
- 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 of various fronts, but of governments as well.
- Political opportunism Government formed on the basis of coalition becomes selfish, as opportunist, power hungry and unscrupulous politicians focus on the self interest only.
- 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 7.
A 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:
- No place for 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.
- 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.
- 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 diversity of culture, language are noticeable in Parliament.
- 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, mulit-party system is comparatively stable.
- 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.
- Check the division of the two camps 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 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 :
- In absence of clear majority, the largest party has to join hands with a regional party in order to form government. This is where the importance of the regional parties comes into play.
- Most of the regional parties have agenda furthering certain culture dominant within that state.
- The regional parties for their benefits divide the people of different states on the line of language, culture, traditions etc.
- Sometimes serious issues like India’s foreign policy’ are influenced and compromised by regional parties. This affects India’s credibility in international politics.
- They also work as a pressure groups in Indian politics.
- Sometimes regional parties influence the central government to divert more annual budget funds to their states at the expense of other states.
Question 9.
What was Godhra episode? What were its after-effects?
Answer:
In February-March 2002 large scale violence took place against Muslims in Gujarat because :
- At Godhra station a bogey of Sabarmati Express train was set on fire which was full of Karsevaks. They were returning from Ayodhya.
- 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 these riots were :
- This violence continued for almost a whole month. Nearly 1100 persons, mostly Muslims were killed.
- The National Human Rights Commission criticised the Gujarat Government’s role in failing to control this communal violence, providing relief to the victims and prosecute the perpetrators of this violence.
- The Election Commission of India ordered are assembly elections to be postponed.
Question 10.
The National Front Government led by VP Singh was supported by the Left (represented here by Joyti Basu) as well as the BJP (represented by LK Advani)
Look at the cartoon given above carefully and answer the following questions
(i) Does the cartoon refer to a puppet government?
(ii) Describe the role of such a government in the Indian democratic setup.
(iii) What is meant by ‘Support the Government from outside’?
Answer:
(i) Yes, the cartoon refers to a puppet government.
(ii) The role of a puppet government in the Indian democratic set-up can be
- The government may become unstable.
- It will weaken the functioning of democratic set-up.
- Generally compromises are made on the policy decisions.
(iii) Support from outside means to support the functioning and process of the government without joining or becoming a part of the government.
