Class 11th

Notes of Chapter 3 Interior of the Earth Class 11th Geography

Sources of Information about the Interior

• The earth’s radius is 6,370 km.

• As no one can reach the centre of the earth, most of our knowledge about the interior of the earth is largely based on estimates and inferences.

• There are two types of source of information available:

→ Direct Sources

→ Indirect Sources (Analysis of materials)

Direct Sources

• Surface rock or the rocks we get from mining areas.

→ Example: Gold mines in South Africa which are as deep as 3-4 km.

• Scientists have taken up a number of projects to penetrate deeper depths to explore the conditions in the crustal portions.

→ Example: “Deep Ocean Drilling Project” and “Integrated Ocean Drilling Project”. The deepest drill at Kola, in Arctic Ocean, has so far reached a depth of 12 km.

• Volcanic eruption.

→ As and when the molten material (magma) is thrown onto the surface of the earth, during volcanic eruption it becomes available for laboratory analysis.

Indirect Sources

• We know through the mining activity that temperature and pressure increase with the increasing distance from the surface towards the interior in deeper depths.

→ Moreover, it is also known that the density of the material also increases with depth.

→ Knowing the total thickness of the earth, scientists have estimated the values of temperature, pressure and the density of materials at different depths.

• Another source of information are the meteors that at times reach the earth.

→ However, it may be noted that the material that becomes available for analysis from meteors, is not from the interior of the earth but the material and the structure observed in the meteors are similar too that of the earth.

→ They are solid bodies developed out of materials same as, or similar to, our planet.

• The other indirect sources include gravitation, magnetic field, and seismic activity.

→ The gravitation force (g) is not the same at different latitudes on the surface. It is greater near the poles and less at the equator.

→ Magnetic surveys also provide information about the distribution of magnetic materials in the crustal portion, and thus, provide information about the distribution of materials in this part.

→ Seismic activity is one of the most important sources of information about the interior of the earth.

Earthquake

• An earthquake in simple words is shaking of the earth.

• It is caused due to release of energy, which generates waves that travel in all directions.

Why does the earth shake?

• Rocks along a fault tend to move in opposite directions. 

• As the overlying rock strata press them, the friction locks them together. However, their tendency to move apart at some point of time overcomes the friction. 

→ As a result, the blocks get deformed and eventually, they slide past one another abruptly. This causes a release of energy, and the energy waves travel in all directions. 

• The point where the energy is released is called the focus of an earthquake, alternatively, it is called the hypocentre.

• The point on the surface, nearest to the focus, is called epicentre. It is the first one to experience the waves.

Earthquake Waves

• All natural earthquakes take place in the lithosphere (depth up to 200 km from the surface of the earth.)

• An instrument called ‘seismograph’ records the waves reaching the surface.

• Earthquake waves are basically of two types

→ Body waves 

→ Surface waves.

• Body waves are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and move in all directions travelling through the body of the earth.

• The body waves interact with the surface rocks and generate new set of waves called surface waves. → These waves move along the surface.

• Body Waves are of two types – P-Waves and S-Waves

P-Waves

• These waves move faster and are the first to arrive at the surface and are also called ‘primary waves’.

• These are similar to sound waves and travel through gaseous, liquid and solid materials as sound.

• P-waves vibrate parallel to the direction of the wave.

S-Waves

• These waves arrive at the surface with some time lag and are called secondary waves.

• These waves can travel only through solid materials which has helped scientists to understand the structure of the interior of the earth.

• Reflection causes waves to rebound whereas refraction makes waves move in different directions.

• These waves are more destructive as they cause displacement of rocks, and hence, the collapse of structures occurs.

• The direction of vibrations of S-waves is perpendicular to the wave direction in the vertical plane. Hence, they create troughs and crests in the material through which they pass.

Shadow Zone

• Earthquake waves get recorded in seismo-graphs located at far off locations. However, there exist some specific areas where the waves are not reported. Such a zone is called the ‘shadow zone’.

• A zone between 105° and 145° from epicentre was identified as the shadow zone for both the types of waves.

• The entire zone beyond 105° does not receive S-waves. The shadow zone of S-wave is much larger than that of the P-waves.

• The shadow zone of P-waves appears as a band around the earth between 105° and 145° away from the epicentre.

Types of Earthquakes

• Tectonic Earthquakes: generated due to sliding of rocks along a fault plane.

• Volcanic Earthquakes:  A special class of tectonic earthquake. These are confined to areas of active volcanoes.

• Collapse earthquakes: In the areas of intense mining activity, sometimes the roofs of underground mines collapse causing minor tremors.

• Explosion earthquakes: Ground shaking may also occur due to the explosion of chemical or nuclear
devices.

• Reservoir induced earthquakes: The earthquakes that occur in the areas of large reservoirs.

Measuring Earthquakes

• The earthquake events are scaled either according to the magnitude or intensity of the shock.

Richter Scale

• The magnitude scale is known as the Richter scale. The magnitude is expressed in absolute numbers, 0-10.

Mercalli Scale

• The intensity scale is named after Mercalli, an Italian seismologist. The range of intensity scale is from 1-12.

Effects of Earthquakes

(i) Ground Shaking
(ii) Differential ground settlement
(iii) Land and mud slides
(iv) Soil liquefaction
(v) Ground lurching
(vi) Avalanches
(vii) Ground displacement
(viii) Floods from dam and levee failures
(ix) Fires
(x) Structural collapse
(xi) Falling objects
(xii) Tsunami

• The first six listed above have some bearings upon landforms, while others may be considered the effects causing immediate concern to the life and properties of people in the region.

• The effect of tsunami would occur only if the epicentre of the tremor is below oceanic waters and the magnitude is sufficiently high.

Structure of the Earth

The Crust

• It is the outermost solid part of the earth.

• It is brittle in nature.

• The thickness of the crust varies under the oceanic and continental areas. Oceanic crust is thinner as compared to the continental crust.

• The continental crust is thicker in the areas of major mountain systems.

• The type of rock found in the oceanic crust is basalt. The mean density of material in oceanic crust is 2.7 g/cm³.

The Mantle

• The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called the mantle.

• It extends from Moho’s discontinuity to a depth of 2,900 km.

• The upper portion of the mantle is called asthenosphere.
→It is the main source of magma that finds its way to the surface during volcanic eruptions.

• The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle are called lithosphere.
→ Its thickness ranges from 10-200 km.

• The lower mantle extends beyond the asthenosphere. It is in solid state

The Core

• The core-mantle boundary is located at the depth of 2,900 km.

• The outer core is in liquid state while the inner core is in solid state.

• The density of material at the mantle core boundary is around 5 g/cm³3

• The core is made up of very heavy material mostly constituted by nickel and iron.

• It is sometimes referred to as the nife layer.

Volcanoes and Volcanic Landforms

• A volcano is a place where gases, ashes and/or molten rock material – lava – escape to the ground.

• A volcano is called an active volcano if the materials mentioned are being released or have been released out in the recent past.

• Volcanoes are classified on the basis of:
→ Nature of eruption
→ Form developed at the surface.

Types of Volcanoes

Shield Volcanoes

• Barring the basalt flows, the shield volcanoes are the largest of all the volcanoes on the earth.

• The Hawaiian volcanoes are the most famous examples.

• These volcanoes are mostly made up of basalt, a type of lava that is very fluid when erupted.

• They become explosive if somehow water gets into the vent; otherwise, they are characterised by low-explosivity.

Composite Volcanoes

• These volcanoes are characterised by eruptions of cooler and more viscous lavas than basalt.

• These volcanoes often result in explosive eruptions.

• The Deccan Traps from India, presently covering most of the Maharashtra plateau, are a much larger flood basalt province.

Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanoes

• These volcanoes occur in the oceanic areas.

• There is a system of mid-ocean ridges more than 70,000 km long that stretches through all the ocean basins.

• The central portion of this ridge experiences frequent eruptions.

Volcanic Landforms

Intrusive Forms

• The lava that is released during volcanic eruptions on cooling develops into igneous rocks.

• The cooling may take place either on reaching the surface or also while the lava is still in the crustal portion.

• Depending on the location of the cooling of the lava, igneous rocks are classified as volcanic rocks (cooling at the surface) and plutonic rocks (cooling in the crust).

• The lava that cools within the crustal portions assumes different forms and these forms are called intrusive forms.

Caldera

• These are the most explosive of the earth’s volcanoes.

• They are usually so explosive that when they erupt they tend to collapse on themselves rather than building any tall structure.

• The collapsed depressions are called calderas.

Flood Basalt Provinces

• These volcanoes outpour highly fluid lava that flows for long distances.

• Some parts of the world are covered by thousands of sq. km of thick basalt lava flows.

Batholiths

• Batholiths are the cooled portion of magma chambers.

• They appear on the surface only after the denudational processes remove the overlying materials.

• They cover large areas, and at times, assume depth that may be several km. These are granitic bodies.

Lacoliths

• These are large dome-shaped intrusive bodies with a level base and connected by a pipe-like conduit from below.

• It resembles the surface volcanic domes of composite volcano, only these are located at deeper depths.

• It can be regarded as the localised source of lava that finds its way to the surface.

Lapolith, Phacolith and Sills

• As and when the lava moves upwards, a portion of the same may tend to move in a horizontal direction wherever it finds a weak plane.

• It may get rested in different forms. In case it develops into a saucer shape, concave to the sky body, it is called lapolith.

• A wavy mass of intrusive rocks, at times, is found at the base of synclines or at the top of anticline in folded igneous country. Such wavy materials have a definite conduit to source beneath in the form of magma chambers (subsequently developed as batholiths). These are called the phacoliths.

• The near horizontal bodies of  the intrusive igneous rocks are called sill or sheet, depending on the thickness of the material. The thinner ones are called sheets while the thick horizontal deposits are called sills.

Dykes

• When the lava makes its way through cracks and the fissures developed in the land, it solidifies almost perpendicular to the ground.

• It gets cooled in the same position to develop a wall-like structure. Such structures are called dykes.

• These are the most commonly found intrusive forms in the western Maharashtra area.

Notes of Chapter 2 The Origin and Evolution of the Earth Class 11th Geography

Origin of the Earth

Nebular hypothesis

• Proposed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant.

• Mathematician Laplace revised it in 1796.

• Nebular Hypothesis considered that the planets were formed out of a cloud of material associated with a youthful sun, which was slowly rotating.

• Later in 1900, Chamberlain and Moulton considered that a wandering star approached the sun.

• As a result, a cigar-shaped extension of material was separated from the solar surface.
→ As the passing star moved away, the material separated from the solar surface continued to revolve around the sun and it slowly condensed into planets.

Binary Theories

Later, the arguments considered of a companion to the sun to have been coexisting.

Revised ‘Nebular hypothesis’

• Given by Otto Schmidt in Russia and Carl Weizascar in Germany in 1950.

• They considered that the sun was surrounded by solar nebula containing mostly the hydrogen and helium along with what may be termed as dust.

• The friction and collision of particles led to formation of a disk-shaped cloud and the planets were formed through the process of accretion.

Modern Theories

Origin of the Universe

Big Bang Theory

• Also called expanding universe hypothesis.

• Edwin Hubble, in 1920, provided evidence that the universe is expanding.

• This theory considers the following stages in the development of the universe:

→ In the beginning, all matter forming the universe existed in one place in the form of a “tiny ball” (singular atom) with an unimaginably small volume, infinite temperature and infinite density.

→ At the Big Bang the “tiny ball” exploded violently. This led to a huge expansion. It is now generally accepted that the event of big bang took place 13.7 billion years before the present. The expansion continues even to the present day. As it grew, some energy was converted into
matter. There was particularly rapid expansion within fractions of a second after the bang. Thereafter, the expansion has slowed down. Within first three minutes from the Big Bang event, the first atom began to form.

→ Within 300,000 years from the Big Bang, temperature dropped to 4,500 K (Kelvin) and gave rise to atomic matter. The universe became transparent.

• The expansion of universe means increase in space between the galaxies.

The Star Formation

• A galaxy contains a large number of stars.

• Galaxies spread over vast distances that are measured in thousands of light-years.

• A galaxy starts to form by accumulation of hydrogen gas in the form of a very large cloud called nebula.

→ Eventually, growing nebula develops localised clumps of gas.

• These clumps continue to grow into even denser gaseous bodies, giving rise to formation of stars.

• The formation of stars is believed to have taken place some 5-6 billion years ago.

Formation of Planets

• The stars are localised lumps of gas within a nebula. The gravitational force within the lumps leads to the formation of a core to the gas cloud and a huge rotating disc of gas and dust develops around the gas core.

• The gas cloud starts getting condensed and the matter around the core develops into small-rounded objects. These small-rounded objects by the process of cohesion develop into what is called planetesimals.

• Larger bodies start forming by collision, and gravitational attraction causes the material to stick together. Planetesimals are a large number of smaller bodies.

• These large number of small planetesimals accrete to form a fewer large bodies in the form of planets.

Our Solar System

• Our solar system consists of the sun (the star), 8 planets, 63 moons, millions of smaller bodies like asteroids and comets and huge quantity of dust-grains and gases.

• Out of the eight planets, mercury, venus, earth and mars are called as the inner planets as they lie between the sun and the belt of asteroids the other four planets are called the outer planets.

• Alternatively, the first four are called Terrestrial, meaning earth-like as they are made up of rock and metals, and have relatively high densities.

• The rest four are called Jovian or Gas Giant planets which means jupiter-like.

• All the planets were formed in the same period sometime about 4.6 billion years ago.

The difference between terrestrial and jovian planets:

• The terrestrial planets were formed in the close vicinity of the parent star where it was too warm for gases to condense to solid particles. Jovian planets were formed at quite a distant location.

• The solar wind was most intense nearer the sun; so, it blew off lots of gas and dust from the terrestrial planets. The solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar removal of gases from the Jovian planets.

• The terrestrial planets are smaller and their lower gravity could not hold the escaping gases.

The Moon

• The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth.

Origin Theory

• In 1838, Sir George Darwin suggested that initially, the earth and the moon formed a single rapidly rotating body.

• The whole mass became a dumb-bell-shaped body and eventually it broke.

• It was also suggested that the material forming the moon was separated from what we have at present the depression occupied by the Pacific Ocean.

Giant Impact or The Big Splat Theory

• A body of the size of one to three times that of mars collided into the earth sometime shortly after the earth was formed.

• It blasted a large part of the earth into space.

• This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually formed into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.

Evolution of Earth

• The planet earth initially was a barren, rocky and hot object with a thin atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.

• The earth has a layered structure.

• From the outermost end of the atmosphere to the centre of the earth, the material that exists is not uniform.

• From the surface to deeper depths, the earth’s interior has different zones.

Evolution of Lithosphere

• During its primordial stage, the earth was mostly in a volatile state.

• Due to gradual increase in density the temperature inside has increased.

• As a result the material inside started getting separated depending on their densities.

• This allowed heavier materials (like iron) to sink towards the centre of the earth and the lighter ones to move towards the surface.

• With passage of time it cooled further and solidified and condensed into a smaller size.

• This later led to the development of the outer surface in the form of a crust.

• During the formation of the moon, due to the giant impact, the earth was further heated up. It is through the process of differentiation that the earth forming material got separated into different
layers.

• Starting from the surface to the central parts, we have layers like the crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.

• From the crust to the core, the density of the material increases.

Evolution of Atmosphere and Hydrosphere

• The present composition of earth’s atmosphere is chiefly contributed by nitrogen and oxygen.

• There are three stages in the evolution of the present atmosphere.
→ The first stage is marked by the loss of primordial atmosphere.
→ In the second stage, the hot interior of the earth contributed to the evolution of the atmosphere.
→ Finally, the composition of the atmosphere was modified by the living world through the process of photosynthesis.

• The early atmosphere, with hydrogen and helium, is supposed to have been stripped off as a result of the solar winds.

• During the cooling of the earth, gases and water vapour were released from the interior solid earth which started the evolution of the present atmosphere.

• Continuous volcanic eruptions contributed water vapour and gases.

• As the earth cooled, the water vapour released started getting condensed.

• The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere got dissolved in rainwater and the temperature further decreased causing more condensation and more rains.

• The rainwater falling onto the surface got collected in the depressions to give rise to oceans.

Class 11 Geography Notes Chapter 1 Geography as a Discipline

We depend on the resources to sustain ourselves in the surrounding areas. Primitive societies subsisted on ‘natural means of subsistence’, i.e. edible plants and animals.

Importance of Geography: Geography helps us to understand the diversity and the causes and factors that have created it. Through geography we understand how spherical earth is presented through a map and we get information about soil, minerals, weather, climate, population, means of transport and communication, local landscape, etc. It also tells us about rivers, mountains, plateaus, plains, deserts, seas, lakes and cultural facts.

The term geography was first coined by Eratosthenese, a Greek scholar (276-194 BC.). The word has been derived from two roots from Greek language geo (earth) and graphos (description). Put together, they mean description of the earth. The earth has always been seen as the abode of human beings and thus, scholars defined geography as, “the description of the earth as the abode of human beings”.

Geographers do not study only the variations in the phenomena over the earth’s surface (space) but also study the associations with the other factors which cause these variations. For example, cropping patterns differ from region to region but this variation in cropping pattern, as a phenomenon, is related to variations in soils, climates, demands in the market, capacity of the farmer to invest and technological inputs available to her/him.

Geography as a discipline is concerned with three sets of questions:

• Some questions are concerned with the identification of the patterns of natural and cultural features as found over the surface of the earth. These are the questions about “what”?
• Second type of questions are related to the distribution of the natural and human/ cultural features over the surface of the earth. These are the questions about where?
• The third question is related to the explanation or the causal relationships between features and the processes and phenomena.

Many disciplines from natural sciences such as geology, pedology, oceanography, botany, zoology and meteorology and a number of sister disciplines in social sciences such as economics, history, sociology, political science, anthropology, etc. study different aspects of the earth’s surface.

A geographer is required to have a broad understanding of all the related fields, to be able to logically integrate them. A geographer should have some proficiency in mathematics and art, particularly in drawing maps. Geography is very much linked with the study of astronomical locations and deals with latitudes and longitudes. The cartographic and quantitative techniques require sufficient proficiency in mathematics, statistics and econometrics.

All the social science disciplines, viz. sociology, political science, economics and demography study different aspects of social reality. The branches of geography, viz. social, political, economic and population and settlements are closely linked with these disciplines as each one of them has spatial attributes.

The major approaches to study geography have been

• Systematic and
• Regional.

The systematic geography was introduced by Alexander Von Humboldt, a German geographer (1769-1859) while regional geography approach was developed by another German geographer and a contemporary of Humboldt, Karl Ritter (1779-1859).

Class 11 Geography Notes Chapter 1 Important Terms:

• Geography: Geography is concerned with the description and explanation of the areal differentiation of the earth’s surface. (Richard Hartshome); In other words, Geography studies the differences of phenomena usually related in different parts of the earth’s surface. (Hettner) GEOGRAPHY-XI
• Geo-morphology: It is concerned with the study of land forms, their evolution and related processes.
• Climatology: It is concerned with the study of structure of atmosphere and elements of weather and climates and climatic types and regions.
• Hydrology: It studies the realm of water over the surface of the earth including oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies and its effect on different life forms including human life and their activities.
• Soil Geography: It is concerned with the study the processes of soil formation, soil types, their fertility status, distribution and use.
• Social/Cultural Geography: It is concerned with the study of society and its spatial dynamics as well as the cultural elements contributed by the society.
• Population Geography: It studies population growth, distribution, density, sex ratio, migration and occupational structure etc.
• Settlement Geography: It studies the characteristics of rural and urban settlements.
• Economic Geography: It studies economic activities of the people including agriculture, industry7, tourism, trade, and transport, infrastructure and services, etc.
• Historical Geography: It studies the historical processes through which the space gets organised. In other words, it studies how history has influenced the geography of a region.
• Political Geography: It studies the impact of political events and studies boundaries, space relations between neighboring political units, delimitation of constituencies, election scenario and develops theoretical framework to understand the political behavior of the population.
• Bio-geography: It has emerged as a result of the interface between physical geography and human geography. It has three branches: Plant Geography, Zoo Geography and Ecology.
• Plant Geography: It studies the spatial pattern of natural vegetation in their habitats.
• Zoo Geography: It studies the spatial patterns and geographic characteristics of animals and their habitats.
• Ecology: It is concerned with the scientific study of the habitats characteristic of species.
• Environmental Geography: It is concerned with environmental problems such as land gradation, pollution and environment conservation.

Notes of Ch 10 The Philosophy of the Constitution| Class 11th Political Science

What is meant by Philosophy of the Constitution?

We have three things in mind.

• First, we need to understand the conceptual structure of the constitution. What does this mean? It means that we must ask questions like what are the possible meanings of terms used in the constitution such as rights’, citizenship, minority or democracy?

• Furthermore, we must attempt to work out a coherent vision of society and polity conditional

upon an interpretation of the key concepts of the constitution. We must have a better grasp of the set of ideals embedded in the constitution.

• Our final point is that the Indian Constitution must be read in conjunction with the Constituent Assembly Debates in order to refine and raise to a higher theoretical plane, the justification of values embedded in the Constitution. A philosophical treatment of a value is incomplete if a detailed justification for it is not provided. When the framers of the Constitution chose to guide Indian society and polity by a set of values, there must have been a corresponding set of reasons. Many of them, though, may not have been fully explained.

Why in Need?

• A political philosophy approach to the constitution is needed not only to find out the moral content expressed in it and to evaluate its claims but possibly to use it to arbitrate between varying interpretations of the many core values in our polity.

Constitution as Means of Democratic Transformation

• Provide peaceful, democratic means to bring about social transformation. Moreover, for a hitherto colonized people, constitutions announce and embody the first real exercise of political self-determination.

• The Indian Constitution was designed to break the shackles of traditional social hierarchies and

to usher in a new era of freedom, equality and justice.

• Constitutions exist not only to limit people in power but to empower those who traditionally

have been deprived of it. Constitutions can give vulnerable people the power to achieve collective good.

What is the Political Philosophy of our Constitution?

• It is hard to describe this philosophy in one word.

• It resists any single label because it is liberal, democratic, egalitarian, secular, and federal, open to community values, sensitive to the needs of religious and linguistic minorities as well as historically disadvantaged groups, and committed to building a common national identity.

• In short, it is committed to freedom, equality, social justice, and some form of national unity.

• But underneath all this, there is a clear emphasis on peaceful and democratic measures for putting this philosophy into practice.

Individual freedom
• The first point to note about the Constitution is its commitment to individual freedom.

• Remember Rammohan Roy protested against curtailment of the freedom of the press by the

British colonial state.

• It is not surprising therefore that freedom of expression is an integral part of the Indian Constitution. So is the freedom from arbitrary arrest.

• The infamous Rowlatt Act, which the national movement opposed so vehemently, sought to deny this basic freedom.

Social Justice

Classical liberalism always privileges rights of the individuals over demands of social justice and community values.

The liberalism of the Indian Constitution differs from this version in two ways.

• First, it was always linked to social justice. The best example of this is the provision for

reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution. The makers of the Constitution believed that the mere granting of the right to equality was not enough to overcome age-old injustices suffered by these groups or to give real meaning to their right to vote.

• Special constitutional measures were required to advance their interests. Therefore the constitution makers provided a number of special measures to protect the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes such as the reservation of seats in legislatures. The Constitution also made it possible for the government to reserve public sector jobs for these

groups.

Respect for diversity and minority rights

• The Indian Constitution encourages equal respect between communities.

• This was not easy in our country, first because communities do not always have a relationship of

equality; they tend to have hierarchical relationships with one another (as in the case of caste).

• Second, when these communities do see each other as equals, they also tend to become rivals (as

in the case of religious communities).

• It was important to ensure that no one community systematically dominates others. This made

it mandatory for our Constitution to recognize community based rights.

• One such right is the right of religious communities to establish and run their own educational institutions.

• Such institutions may receive money from the government. This provision shows that the Indian

Constitution does not see religion merely as a private matter concerning the individual.

Secularism

• The term secular was not initially mentioned; the Indian Constitution has always been secular.

• The mainstream, western conception, of secularism means mutual exclusion of state and religion

in order to protect values such as individual freedom and citizenship rights of individuals.

• The term mutual exclusion means this: both religion and state must stay away from the internal affairs of one another. The state must not intervene in the domain of religion; religion likewise should not dictate state policy or influence the conduct of the state. In other words,

mutual exclusion means that religion and state must be strictly separated.

• To protect religious freedom of individuals, therefore, state must not help religious

organizations. But at the same time, state should not tell religious organisations how to manage their affairs.

Rights of Religious Groups
• The Indian Constitution grants rights to all religious communities such as the right to establish and maintain their educational institutions. Freedom of religion in India means the freedom of religion of both individuals and communities.

State’s Power of Intervention
• The state simply had to interfere in the affairs of religion.

• The state could also help religious communities by giving aid to educational institutions run by them.

• The state may help or hinder religious communities depending on which mode of action promotes values such as freedom and equality.

Procedural Achievements

• First, the Indian Constitution reflects a faith in political deliberation. We know that many groups and interests were not adequately represented in the Constituent Assembly. But the debates in the Assembly amply show that the makers of the Constitution wanted to be as inclusive in their approach as possible. This open-ended approach indicates the willingness of people to modify their existing preferences, in short, to justify outcomes by reference not to self-interest but to reasons. It also shows a willingness to recognize creative value in difference and disagreement.

• Second, it reflects a spirit of compromise and accommodation. These words, compromise and accommodation, should not always be seen with disapproval. Not all compromises are bad.

Criticisms

• The Indian Constitution can be subjected to many criticisms of which three may be briefly mentioned:

• First, that it is unwieldy
• Second, that it is unrepresentative and
• Third, that it is alien to our conditions.

1st Criticism

• The criticism that it is unwieldy is based on the assumption that the entire constitution of a

country must be found in one compact document.

• The fact is that a country’s constitution is to be identified with a compact document and with

other written documents with constitutional status.

• In the case of India, many such details, practices and statements are included in one

single document and this has made that document somewhat large in size.

• Many countries for instance, do not have provisions for election commission or the civil service commission in the document known as constitution.

• But in India, many such matters are attended to by the Constitutional document itself.

2nd Criticism

Here we must distinguish two components of representation, one that might be called voice and the other opinion.

• The voice component of representation is important. People must be recognised in their

own language or voice, not in the language of the masters. If we look at the Indian Constitution from this dimension, it is indeed unrepresentative because members of the Constituent Assembly were chosen by a restricted franchise, not by universal suffrage.

• However, if we examine the other dimension, we may not find it altogether lacking in representativeness. The claim that almost every shade of opinion was represented in the Constituent Assembly may be a trifle exaggerated but may have something to it. If we read the debates that took place in the Constituent Assembly, we find that a vast range of issues and opinions were mentioned, members raised matters not only based on their individual social concerns but based on the perceived interests and concerns of various social sections as well.

3rd criticism

• It alleges that the Indian Constitution is entirely an alien document, borrowed article by article from western constitutions and sits uneasily with the cultural ethos of the Indian people. This criticism is often voiced by many. Even in the Constituent Assembly itself, there were some voices that echo this concern.

The limitations of the Constitution

• First, the Indian Constitution has a centralised idea of national unity.

• Second, it appears to have glossed over some important issues of gender justice, particularly within the family.

• Third, it is not clear why in a poor developing country, certain basic socio-economic rights were relegated to the section on Directive Principles rather than made an integral feature of our fundamental rights.

Notes of Ch 9 Constitution as a Living Document| Class 11th Political Science

Are Constitutions Static?

• The Soviet Union had four constitutions in its life of 74 years In 1991, the rule of the Communist

Party of Soviet Union came to an end and soon the Soviet federation disintegrated. After this political upheaval, the newly formed Russian federation adopted a new constitution in 1993.

• The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949. Its implementation formally started from 26 January 1950. More than fifty-five years after that, the same constitution continues to function as the framework within which the government of our country operates.

• Lot of questions will came in our mind that is it that our Constitution is so good that it needs no change? Was it that our Constitution makers were so farsighted and wise that they had foreseen all the changes that would take place in the future?

• The answer to the above questions is yes we have inherited a very robust Constitution.

• The basic framework of the Constitution is very much suited to our country.

• The Constitution makers were very farsighted and provided for many solutions for future

Situations Yes our constitution provides the solution for many problems but can it provide for all

eventualities?

Then how does the same Constitution continue to serve the country? The answer to this question is:

• Our Constitution accepts the necessity of modifications according to changing needs of the society.

• In the actual working of the Constitution, there has been enough flexibility of interpretations. Both

political practice and judicial rulings have shown maturity and flexibility in implementing the

Constitution.

• These above factors have made our Constitution a living document rather than a closed and static rulebook.

Challenging Issue of Constitution and Solutions

• The provisions of the constitution would naturally reflect efforts to tackle the problems that the society is facing at the time of making of the constitution.

• The constitution must be a document that provides the framework of the government for the future as well.

• The constitution has to be able to respond to the challenges that may arise in the future.

• The constitution will always have something that is contemporary and something that has a more durable importance.

• A constitution is not a frozen and unalterable document.

• The constitution is a framework for the democratic governance of the society.

• Thus from the above the Indian Constitution is a combination of both the approaches mentioned above that the constitution is a sacred document and that it is an instrument that may require changes from time to time or we can say that; our Constitution is not a static document, it is not the final word about everything, it is not unalterable.

How to Amend the Constitution?

• Article 368 deals with the amending power of the parliament i.e. Parliament may in exercise of its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in this article.

Balancing approach of our Constitution

• The Constitution must be amended if so required. But it must be protected from unnecessary
and frequent changes.

• In other words, the Constitution to be flexible and at the same time rigid’.

• Flexible means open to changes and rigid means resistant to changes. A constitution that can be very easily changed or modified is often called flexible.

• In the case of constitutions, which are very difficult to amend, they are described as rigid.

• The Indian Constitution combines both these characteristics.

If Faults or Mistake in our Constitution?

• Whenever such mistakes would come to light, the Constitution to be easily amended and to be
able to get rid of these mistakes.

• Then there were some provisions in the Constitution that were of temporary nature and it was decided that these could be altered later on once the new Parliament was elected.

• But at the same time, the Constitution was framing a federal polity and therefore, the rights and powers of the States could not be changed without the consent of the States.

• Note that all amendments to the Constitution are initiated only in the Parliament. Besides the special majority in the Parliament no outside agency like a constitution commission or a separate body is required for amending the Constitution.

• An amendment bill, like all other bills, goes to the President for his assent, but in this case, the President has no powers to send it back for reconsideration.

• These details show how rigid and complicated the amending process could have been.

• Only elected representatives of the people are empowered to consider and take final decisions on the question of amendments.

• Thus, sovereignty of elected representatives (parliamentary sovereignty) is the basis of the amendment procedure.

Special Majority

Amendment to the Constitution requires two different kinds of special majorities

• In the first place, those voting in favour of the amendment bill should constitute at least half

of the total strength of that House.

• Secondly, the supporters of the amendment bill must also constitute two-thirds of those who actually take part in voting.

• Both Houses of the Parliament must pass the amendment bill separately in this same manner (there is no provision for a joint session). For every amendment bill, this special majority is required.

• The basic principle behind the amending procedure is that it should be based on broad support among the political parties and parliamentarians.

Ratification by States

• For some articles of the Constitution, special majority is not sufficient.

• When an amendment aims to modify an article related to distribution of powers between the States and the central government, or articles related to representation, it is necessary that the States must be consulted and that they give their consent.

• The Constitution has ensured this by providing that legislatures of half the States have to pass the amendment bill before the amendment comes into effect.

• Apart from the provisions related to federal structure, provisions about fundamental rights are also protected in this way.

• The Constitution of India can be amended through large-scale consensus and limited participation of the States.

Why have there been so many Amendments?

• There is always a criticism about the number of amendments. It is said that there have been far too many amendments to the Constitution of India.

• On the face of it, the fact that ninety-three amendments took place in fifty-five years does seem to be somewhat odd. Amendments are not only due to political considerations.

• Barring the first decade after the commencement of the Constitution, every decade has witnessed a steady stream of amendments.

• This means that irrespective of the nature of politics and the party in power, amendments were required to be made from time to time.

Was this because of the inadequacies of the original Constitution? Is the Constitution too flexible?

• The anti-defection amendment (52nd amendment), this period saw a series of amendments
in spite of the political turbulence.

• Apart from the anti-defection amendments (52nd and 919) these amendments include the amendment bringing down the minimum age for voting from 21 to 18 years, the 73rd and the
74th amendments, etc.

• In this same period, there were some amendments clarifying and expanding the scope
of reservations in jobs and admissions.

• After 1992-93, an overall consensus emerged in the country about these measures and therefore, amendments regarding these measures were passed without much difficulty (77th, 81st, and 82nd amendments).

Controversial Amendments

• In particular, the 38th, 39th and 42 amendments have been the most controversial amendments so far.

• These three amendments were made in the background of internal emergency declared in the country from June 1975.

• They sought to make basic changes in many crucial parts of the Constitution.

42nd Amendment: An Overview

• An attempt to override the ruling of the Supreme Court given in the Kesavananda case.

• Even the duration of the Lok Sabha was extended from five to six years. In the chapter on Rights, you have read about fundamental duties.

• They were included in the Constitution by this amendment act. The 42nd amendment also put restrictions on the review powers of the Judiciary.

• This amendment made changes to the Preamble, to the seventh schedule of the Constitution and to 53 articles of the Constitution.

Basic Structure and Evolution of the Consitution

Most famous case: Kesavananda Bharati

• It has set specific limits to the Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.

• It says that no amendment can violate the basic structure of the Constitution.

• It allows the Parliament to amend any and all parts of the Constitution (within this limitation).

• It places the Judiciary as the final authority in deciding if an amendment violates basic structure and what constitutes the basic structure.

The theory of basic structure

• There is no mention of this theory in the Constitution.

• It has emerged from judicial interpretation.

• The Judiciary and its interpretation have practically amended the Constitution without a formal amendment.

Examples of how judicial interpretation changed our understanding of the Constitution.

• Reservations in jobs and educational institutions cannot exceed fifty per cent of the total seats.

• Reservations for other backward classes, the Supreme Court introduced the idea of creamy layer and ruled that persons belonging to this category were not entitled to benefits under reservations.

• The Judiciary has contributed to an informal amendment by interpreting various provisions concerning right to education, right to life and liberty and the right to form and manage minority educational institutions.

Parliamentary Democracy

• In a parliamentary democracy, the Parliament represents the people and therefore, it is expected

to have an upper hand over both Executive and Judiciary.

• At the same time, there is the text of the Constitution and it has given powers to other organs of

the government.

• Therefore, the supremacy of the Parliament has to operate within this framework.

• Democracy is not only about votes and people’s representation.

• It is also about the principle of rule of law.

• Democracy is also about developing institutions and working through these institutions.

All the political institutions must be responsible to the people and maintain a balance with each other.

Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 8 Local Governments

• Local government is the government at the village and district level involving the day- to-day life and problems of ordinary citizens.
• Local government ensures people’s participation in the meaningful manner to run the administration.
• The development at any place can be done through the cooperation of the people living at that particular place only.
• Earlier the self-governing village communities existed in the form of ‘Sabhas’ (Village assemblies) and later on it was converted into ‘Village Panchayat’ (an assembly of five members)
• Under the Government of India Act 1979, Village Panchayats were established in a number of provinces and continued after the Government of India Act, 1935.
• During India’s freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi strongly pleaded for decentralization of economic and political power to ensure local involvement to be successful.
• The Central or State Governments cannot tackle the problems faced by people in such a large country, hence the involvement of local authorities was felt to sort out the local problems known as local self-government.
• Local self-government manages the local affairs by the representatives who knows the best about local needs and aspiration of people.
• In the big cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai, the Municipal Corporation look after the interests of the people and in small cities, Municipal Committees look after the interest of the people.
• In 1882, the Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, created the local boards in the form of local government.
• In 1992, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were passed by the parliament.
• The 73rd amendment is about rural local governments known as PanchayoU Raj institutions, it demarcated the levels of Panchayati Raj in Gram Panchayat the base, Iviandal (Block) intermediary and the Zila Panchayat apex.
• The 73rd amendment included the three tier structure (mentioned above), elections at every regular interval of five years, reservations for SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s and 29 subjects from state list in eleventh schedule of constitution were transferred to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI).
• The 74th Amendment dealt with the Urban local bodies or Nagarpalikas. This is a repetition of the 73rd amendment except that it applies to the Urban areas only.
• Sometimes, the formation of the local bodies is criticized on the ground not to change the way in which decisions are taken at the central and state level and the people at the local level do not enjoy much power of choosing allocation of resources.
• The dependence of local bodies on the state governments and Central Government for financial support has greatly eroded their capacity to operate effectively.

Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 7 Federalism

• Federalism is a distribution or share of power or an institutional mechanism to accommodate two sets of politics one at the regional level and the other at the national level.
• A culture of trust, cooperation, mutual respect and restraint helps federation to function smoothly.
• Federation is an instrument to bind various states into one bond, i.e. it appeals unity in diversity.
• The constitution of India has made provisions for unitary and federal forms of government.
• The one government is created for the entire nation, i.e. national government and other for each unit known as the state government.
• The federal features of constitution are written constitution, partly rigid and partly flexible, Division of powers between the central and state governments and Bicameral Legislature.
• The constitution of India has provided the division of power on the basis of matters and lists of the subjects, i.e. the union list, the state list and the concurrent list.
• On the subjects of union list, the central government enjoys the power to pass the laws and the subjects are of national importance, i.e. defense of the country, foreign affair, currency, etc.
• The state government can legislate the laws on the subjects in the state list which are important for a state, i.e. police, local government, to maintain law and order, etc.
• On concurrent list, both the central and state governments can legislate laws which include education, marriage, divorce, economic planning, etc.
• The relationship between the center and state can be classified into the legislative, administrative and financial relation.
• The finance commission of India is an independent commission created by the constitution of India, to make recommendations on the distribution of finances between the center and the states.
• The most extra-ordinary feature of federal arrangements created in India is that many states get a differential treatment, i.e. Jammu and Kashmir where the central government enjoys only limited powers and other powers listed in the union list and concurrent list can be used only with the consent of state government. (Art. 370)
• Division of powers in the constitution of India has been referred as follows:
  • Union list-Defense, Atomic Energy, Foreign Affairs, War and Peace, Banking, Railways, Post and Telegraph, Airways,  Ports, Foreign Trade, Currency and Coinage to be made laws by union legislature only.
  • State list-Agriculture, Police, Prison, Local Government, Public health, Land, Liquor, Trade and Commerce, Livestock  and Animal Husbandry, State public services to be made laws by the State legislature.
  • Concurrent list-Education, Transfer of property other than Agricultural land, Forests, Trade unions, Adulteration, Adoption and succession to be made laws by both the union and State legislature.
  • Residuary powers include all other matters not mentioned in any of the lists,
    i. e. Cyber law, hence, union legislature alone has power to legislate laws on such matters.
• The Indian constitution has created a strong central government to handle the social-economic problems of the counting in cooperation with the state governments.
• Many states as well as the political parties have demanded that states should have more autonomy.
•  The role of governor has always been a controversial issue between the central and state governments especially when two different parties are in power at the centre and the state, his role becomes more controversial.
• There are the disputes when states demand more autonomy from the centre and on the issues like share in revenue resources as well as disputes have been arisen between two states and among more than two states.
• The constitution has some special provisions for some states given their peculiar social and historical circumstances,
  i.e. the eastern states like Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, etc.

Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 6 Judiciary

• Judiciary is an independent body to settle down the disputes arisen between the individuals or groups or government on the basis of the rule of law.
• The rule of laws ensures supremacy of law which safeguards the rights of individuals, settles disputes and ensures that democracy does not give way to individual or group dictatorship.
• A judiciary should be independent means executive or legislature should not interfere either in the functioning or decisions of the judiciary as well as judges could perform their duties without any fear or favour.
• The constitution of India has the provision for single integrated judicial system.
• The provisions for Supreme Court of India have been made consisting a Chief Justice and 25 other judges.
• The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President after consultation with such of judges of the Supreme Court and of the high courts in the states as the President may deem necessary for the purpose.
• The judges of the Supreme Court holds the office till the age of 65 years.
• The judges’ salaries (Supreme Court) are determined by the Parliament by law, which are specified in the second schedule.
• A judge of the Supreme Court or the high court can be removed only on the ground of misbehaviour or incapacity. If some charges are imposed against the judges, it must be approved by special majority in both the houses.
• When the office of Chief Justice falls vacant, the duties may be performed by the other judge of the same category to whom the President may appoint for the same purpose.
• Supreme Court exercises its jurisdiction in the form of Original, Writ, Appellate, Advisory and Special Powers.
  • Original: To settle disputes between the union and the states and among states.
  • Writ: Can issue constitutional writs to protect fundamental rights of the people.
  • Appellate: Tries appeals in civil, criminal and constitutional cases.
  • Advisory: Advises the President on the matters of public importance and law.
  • Special powers: Can grant special leave to an appeal from any judgement or matter passed by any court in the territory  of India.
• The decisions of Supreme Court are binding on all courts. It can transfer the judges of high courts, can move cases from any court to itself or can transfer cases from one high court to another.
• High court hears appeals from lower courts, can issue writs to resort fundamental rights, can deal with the cases within jurisdiction of the states and exercise control and superintendence over its subordinate courts.
• District court deals with the cases arising in the district, consider Appeals on decisions given by lower courts and decides cases involving serious criminal offences.
• Subordinate courts to Supreme Court and high courts consider cases of civic and criminal nature.
• The Supreme Court is considered as the guardian of the constitution.
• Judicial review stands for the power of the Supreme Court to examine the constitutionality of any law.
• Public Interest Litigation or Social Action Litigation is to hear cases where case is not filed by aggrieved person but by others on their behalf or consideration of an issue of public interest.

Important terms:

• PIL or SAL: Public Interest Litigation or Social Action Litigation.
• Lok Adalats: The popular courts to decide cases at quicker speed.
• Original Jurisdiction: A power granted to a court to hear cases in first instance.
• Appellate Jurisdiction: A power granted to a higher court to hear appeals against judgement of lower court.
• Election Petition: To request to a court to reconsider the fairness of election’s results.

Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 5 Legislature

• In India, the parliamentary form of government is adopted at the centre by adopting bicameral legislature.
• The legislature helps people in holding the representatives accountable.
• In India, there are two houses of parliament Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• The Lower House of Parliament is called the Lok Sabha which consists of 545 members.
• The members of the Lok Sabha are called Members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected on the basis of universal adult franchise.
• Two Anglo-Indians are nominated by the president if he feels that Anglo-Indians have not been represented suitably in the parliament.
• The Lok Sabha has a speaker who presides over its session.
• The Upper House of Parliament is called the Rajya Sabha having 250 members out of which 238 are elected by State Legislative Assemblies and 12 members are nominated by the President.
• The Vice President of India is the ex-office Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
• The Lok Sabha enjoys the powers of making laws, to enact Money or non-Money Bills, approves taxation, budgets and annual financial statement, amends constitution, etc.
• Rajya Sabha enjoys the powers to suggest amendments to Money Bills, exercise control over executives and can give power to make laws on matters included in the state list.
• The Parliament uses the various devices to have a parliamentary control over its executives as financial control, deliberation and discussion, approval or refusal of laws and no confidence motion, etc.

Important terms:

• Bill: A bill is a draft of the proposed law, which can be of different types.
• Defection: If a member remains absent in the House, when asked by the party leadership to remain present or votes against the instructions of the party or voluntarily leaves the membership of the party.
• Budget: It is the detail of income and expenditure of a country’s income from taxes and how it will be spent, i.e. on annual government statement.
• Deadlocks: A statement in mutual negotiations.
• Ordinance: An order, rule of law made by government or authority who is entitled for the same.
• Question Hour: A period of time to put up with the questions by members of parliament to the ministers.
• Zero hour: It starts at twelve noon immediately after the question hour.

Class 11 Political Science Notes Chapter 4 Executive

• In a democracy, the Government is divided into three organs:
  • The Legislative
  • The Executive
  • The Judiciary
•  The legislature and the executive are interdependent in a parliamentary system. The legislature frames the laws and the executive enforces them to run the administration.
• In such a manner, the legislature controls the executive and in turn it is controlled by the executive.
• Different types of executives are Parliamentary, Semi-Presidential, Presidential, Monarchical or Ceremonial, etc.
• A distinction can be made between the parliamentary and the presidential executives.
• In a parliamentary system, the real head of executive is the Prime Minister and the President is the nominal head.
• The Prime Minister is assisted by the Council of Ministers and advises the President.
• The President enjoys the right to be informed of all important matters and functioning of the council of ministers.
• The Vice President is the ex-office Chairman of Rajya Sabha and acts for the President when the office of the President falls vacant.
• The council of minister is responsible collectively to the house of the people and it shall not exceed 15% of total number of members of the house of the people.
• The President appoints the Prime Minister who is the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha.
• The executive, thus, includes the Prime Minister, the ministers and large administrative machinery. 13. The bureaucrats implement the decisions of ministers.
• These bureaucrats are skilled and trained officers who work as a permanent employees of the government and assist the government in formulating and implementing the policies.

Important terms:

• Electorate: The people who elect the representatives using votes.
• Constituency: An area comes under parliament and a member is elected from there.
• Components: Parts or organs
• Insolvent: The one who is unable to pay one’s debts.
• Harmonious: Balanced.
• Tenure: A fixed period of office.
• Impeachment: An act of officially accusing for a serious crime or offence.
• Minimum Wages Act, 1948: An Act to provide for fixing minimum rates of wages in certain employment.
• Nominate: To propose formally that somebody should be chosen for a position, an office, etc.