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What would have happened in South Africa of the black Minority had decided to take revenge on the whites for all their oppression and exploitation?
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(i) Make a poster on the life and struggle of Nelson Mandela.
(ii) If available, read some portions of his auto-biography. The Long Walk to Freedom, in the classroom.
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The image Raptures the spirit at South Africa today. South Africans call themselves a 'rainbow nation'. Can you guess why?
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Does the story of South African struggle for freedom remind you of the Indian national movement?
Make a list of similarities and dissimilarities between the two on the following points
•Relationship between different communities
•Nature of colonialism
•Leadership: Gandhi/Mandela
•Party that led the struggle: African National Congress/Indian
•National Congress
•Method of struggle
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This is not fair! What was the point in having a Constituent Assembly in India if all the basics were already decided?
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Read the information about the makers of the Indian Constitution given in the side columns here. You don't need to memories this information. Just give examples from these to support the following statements
1. The Assembly had many members who were not with the Congress.
2. The Assembly represented members from different social groups.
3. Members of the Assembly believed in different ideologies.
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Read the three quotations above carefully.
On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter a life of contradictions. In politics we Will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradiction? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril.
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Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, When an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.
Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom We have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.
That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfils the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.
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(i) Can you identify one idea that is common to all these three quotations?
(ii) What are the differences in their ways of expressing that common idea?
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Compare the Preambles to the Constitutions of the United States of America, India and South Africa.
(i) Make a list of ideas that are common to all these three.
(ii) Note down at least one of the major differences among them.
(iii) Which of the three makes a reference to the past?
(iv) Which of these does not invoke God?
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Here are some false statements. Identify the mistake in each case and rewrite these correctly based on what you have read in this chapter.
(a) Leaders of the freedom movement had an open mind about whether the country should be democratic or not after independence.
(b) Members of the Constituent Assembly of India held the same views on all provisions of the Constitution.
(c) A country that has a Constitution must be a democracy.
(d) Constitution cannot be amended because it is the supreme law of a country.
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Which of these was the most salient underlying conflict in the making of a democratic Constitution in South Africa?
(a) Between South Africa and its neighbours
(b) Between men and women
(c) Between the white majority and the black minority
(d) Between the coloured minority and the black majority
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Which of these is a provision that a democratic Constitution does not have?
(a) Powers of the head of the state
(b) Name of the head of the state
(c) Powers of the legislature (d) Name of the country
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Match the following leaders with their roles in the making of the Constitution
(a)
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Moti lal Nehru
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(i)
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President of the Constituent Assembly
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(b)
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BR Ambedkar
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(ii)
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Member of the Constituent Assembly
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(c)
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Rajendra Prasad
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(iii)
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Chairman of the Drafting Committee
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(d)
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Sarojini Naidu
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(iv)
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Prepared a Constitution for India in 1928
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Read again the extracts from Nehru's speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’ and answer the following:
(a) Why did Nehru use the expression "not wholly or in full measure" in the first sentence?
(b) What pledge did he want the makers of the Indian Constitution to take?
(c) "The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye". Who was he referring to?
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Here are some of the guiding values of the Constitution and their meaning. Rewrite them by matching them correctly.
(a)
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Sovereign
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(i)
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Government will not favour any religion
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(b)
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Republic
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(ii)
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People have the supreme right to make decisions.
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(c)
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Fraternity
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(iii)
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Head of the state is an elected person.
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(d)
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Secular should live like brothers and sisters
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(iv)
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People
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A friend from Nepal has written you a letter describing the politics situation there. Many political parties are opposing the rule of the king. Some of them say that the existing Constitution given by the monarch can be amended to allow more powers to elected representatives. Others are demanding a new Constituent Assembly to write a Republican Constitution. Reply to your friend giving your opinions on the subject.
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Here are different opinions about what made India a democracy. How much importance would you give to each of these factors?
(a) Democracy in India is a gift of the British rulers. We received training to work with representative legislative institutions under the British rule.
(b) Freedom struggle challenged the colonial exploitation and denial of different freedoms to Indians. Free India could not be anything but democratic.
(c) We were lucky to have leaders who had democratic convictions.
The denial of democracy in several other newly independent countries shows the important role of these leaders.
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Read the following extract from a conduct book for ‘married women', published in 1912. 'God has made the female species delicate and fragile both physically and emotionally, pitiably incapable of self-defence. They are destined thus by God to remain in male protection - of father, husband and son - all their lives. Women should, therefore, not despair, but feel obliged that they can dedicate themselves to the service of men'. Do you think the values expressed in this para reflected the values underlying our Constitution? Or does this go against the constitutional values?
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Read the following statements about a Constitution. Give reasons why each of these is true or not true.
(a) The authority of the rules of the Constitution is the same as that of any other law.
(b) Constitution lays down how different organs of the government will be formed.
(c) Rights of citizens and limits on the power of the government are laid down in the Constitution.
(d) A Constitution is about institutions, not about values.
Follow the newspapers for any report on a discussion on any Constitutional Amendment or demand for any Constitutional Amendment. You could, e.g., focus on the demand for Constitutional Amendment for reservation for women in legislatures. Was there a public debate? What reasons were put forward in favour of the amendment? How did different parties react to Constitutional Amendment? Did the amendment take place?
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