B-2 Ch-5 Parties and the Party Systems - Test Papers

 CBSE Test Paper 01

Class 12 - Political Science (B-2 Ch-5 Challenges to the Congress System)
  1. How many seats won by Congress in 1984 In Lok Sabha?
    1. 415
    2. 405
    3. 400
    4. 425
  2. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words Indira Gandhi had to deal with the......., a group of powerful and influential leaders from within the.............
  3. Write the names of the two successive Presidents of India after the death of Dr Zakir Hussain.
  4. Which theoretical argument did Ram Manohar Lohia give in defence on non- Congressism?
  5. Correct and rewrite the statement given below: Gaya Lal, an MP from the Haryana Legislature in 1967, changed his party twice in a fortnight.
  6. Mention any two problems which were faced by the Government of Indira Gandhi during 1969 - 1971.
  7. 'Coalition governments proved to be a boon for democracy in India.' Support this statement with any two suitable arguments.
  8. Why was the year 1967 considered as landmark year in India’s political and electoral history? Explain.
  9. What is meant by ‘Privy Purses’? Why did Indira Gandhi insist on abolishing them in 1970?
  10. Explain reasons for the popularity of Indira Gandhi during 1971 elections.
  11. Study the map given below and answer the questions that follow:
    1. Which are the states where Congress got majority in 1967 assembly polls?
    2. Which are the states where Congress did not get majority in 1967 Assembly polls?
    3. Name the state where a non-Congress party secured a majority of its own.
    4. Why were the non-Congress parties governments called SVD governments?
    5. How the coalition parties were ideologically incongruent? Give example
  12. Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions:
    But does it mean that the Congress system was restored? What Indira Gandhi had done was not a revival of the old Congress party. In many ways, she had re-invented the party. The party occupied a similar position in terms of its popularity as in the past. But it was a different kind of party. It relied entirely on the popularity of the supreme leader. It had a somewhat weak organisational structure. This Congress party now did not have many factions, thus it could not accommodate all kinds of opinions and interests. While it won elections, it depended more on some social groups: the poor, the women, Dalits, Adivasis and the minorities. This was a new Congress that had emerged. Thus Indira Gandhi restored the Congress system by changing the nature of the Congress system itself.
    Questions
    1. Had Indira Gandhi revived Congress?
    2. How did Indira Gandhi restore the Congress system?
    3. Why did Congress not have all kinds of opinions and interests?
  13. Which four main challenges were faced by India at the time of its independence? Explain.

CBSE Test Paper 01
Class 12 - Political Science (B-2 Ch-5 Challenges to the Congress System)
Answer

    1. 415
      Explanation: Congress won 415 seats in lok sabha in 1984 under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi.
  2.  
    1. Syndicate.
    2. Congress.
  3. N. Sanjeeva Reddy and V.V. Giri were the two successive Presidents of India after the death of Dr Zakir Hussain.
  4. Ram Manohar Lohia, Socialist leader, produced that " Congress rule was undemocratic and opposed to the interest of ordinary poor people. Therefore, the coming together of the non-Congress parties was necessary for reclaiming democracy for the people”.
  5. Gaya Lal, an MLA from the Haryana legislature in 1967, changed his party thrice in a fortnight from Congress to United Front, back to Congress and then within nine hours to United Front again.
  6. Two problems faced by Indira Gandhi government during 1969-1971 were as:
    1. The factional rivalry between the Syndicate and Indira Gandhi came in the open in 1969 when after the death of President Zakir Hussain's, the post of President of India fell vacant that year. The Presidential candidate was to be elected.
    2. Various non-congress parties came together to form joint legislative parties.
  7. Coalition governments proved to be a boon for democracy in the following ways:
    1. A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which many or multiple political parties cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party within that coalition. Coalition government provides an alternative to forming a government, whenever there is a case of hung Parliament.
    2. The usual reason for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament. At the time of national difficulty, it gives a government a high degree of perceived collective identity. It gives small and regional parties to have opportunities for representation in government.
  8. The fourth general election held in 1967 was the first election to be held without Nehru. Congress was a dominant party before 1967 but the scenario was likely to change after 1967's election. Several non-Congress parties joined together to bring Congress down.
    They realised that their disintegration kept Congress in power. So, they joined to form a big alliance called Samyukt Vidhayak Dal.
    Congress still managed to win in Lok Sabha election, but with the poorest performance ever. Congress lost in many states. Influential leaders of Congress lost their position.
    Many Congress leaders left the party in order to join the other party. Local politics gained momentum. In Tamil Nadu, a non-congress party won on its own for the first time. 1967 elections showcased the new element which never came into light. The election of 1967 brought picture the phenomenon of coalitions. Another important feature of the political after the 1967 election was the role played by defection in the making and unmaking of government. This situation could not have remained isolated from party politics in the country. Opposition parties were in the forefront of organising public protests and pressurising the government. Thus parties that were different and disparate got together to from anti-Congress fronts in some states and entered into electoral adjustments of sharing seats in others. This strategy was given the name of non-Congress by Ram Manohar Lohia. He also produced a theoretical argument in its defence: Congress rule was undemocratic and opposed to the interests of ordinary poor people; therefore, the coming together of the non-Congress parties was necessary for reclaiming democracy for the people.
  9. After the dissolution of princely rule, the then rulers' families would be allowed to retain certain private property and given in heredity or government allowance, measured on the basis of the extent, revenue and potential of the merging state. This grant was called the Privy purse.
    1. Privy purses were criticised, the privileges given to princely states at the time of accession, integration and consolidation were protested.
    2. Hence, some leaders like Indira Gandhi supported the demand that the government should abolish privy purses because hereditary privileges were not constant with the principle of equality, social and economic justice laid down in the Constitution of India.
    3. Hence in the elections of 1971, Indira Gandhi made this a major election issue and got a lot of public support and along with a massive victory in 1971 election, the constitution was amended to remove legal obstacles for the abolition of privy purses.
  10. The reasons for the popularity of Indira Gandhi during 1971 election were as:
    1. She focused on the growth of the public sector and imposed ceiling on rural land holdings and urban property.
    2. She ended her dependence on other political parties by strengthening her party's position and recommended the dissolution of Lok Sabha in December 1970.
    3. The crisis in East Pakistan and Indo-Pak war to establish Bangladesh as an independent one, also enhanced the popularity of Indira Gandhi.
    4. She abolished princely privileges and put forth the popular slogan 'Garibi Hatao', remove poverty.
    1. In 1967 Assembly polls the Congress got the majority in following states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur and Tripura.
    2. In 1967 Assembly polls, the Congress did not get a majority in following states: Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Goa, Kerala and Madras. In Rajasthan, it did not get the majority but formed the government with help from others.
    3. Madras State (Now Tamil Nadu).
    4. In some States, no single party had got the majority. Various non-Congress parties came together to form joint legislative parties that supported non-Congress governments. Joint legislative parties are called ‘Samyukt Vidhayak Dal’ in Hindi. So these governments were called SVD governments.
    5. The coalition parties were ideologically incongruent. For example, the SVD government in Bihar included the two Socialist Parties-SSP and the PSP- along with the CPI on the left and Jana Sangh on the right. In Punjab, it was called the ‘Popular United Front’. It comprised of the two rival Akali Parties-Sant groups and the Master group-with both the Communist Parties-the CPI and CPI(M), the SSP, the Republican Party and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
    1. No, Indira Gandhi had done was not a revival of old Congress party but it was a re-invention of party. The party occupied a similar position in terms of its popularity as in the past.
    2. Indira Gandhi restored the Congress system by changing the nature of Congress system itself, to be dependent more on poor, women, Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities.
    3. It had a somewhat weak organisational structure and it did not have many factions also to accommodate all kinds of opinions and interests.
  13. Following were the four main challenges faced by India at the time of its independence:
    1. To shape a united nation: Just after independence, the immediate challenge was to shape a nation that was united, yet accommodative of the diversity in our society. The diversities of regions, religions, languages, cultures raised serious questions about the future of India. The biggest challenge was - would India survive as a unified country?
    2. To establish democracy: As we know that India adopted representative democracy based on the parliamentary form of government. However, the challenge was to evolve democratic norms, values, practices and principles in accordance with the constitution.
    3. To ensure the development and well-being of the whole society: The constitution clearly laid down in its preamble, “We, The People of India solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist Secular Democratic Republic....”. The principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity were adopted to develop an egalitarian society. The Directive Principles of State Policy were laid down to evolve a welfare state. However, the towering challenge was to develop effective policies for economic development and eradication of poverty and illiteracy.
    4. Integration of Princely States: The British left a fractured India with a plethora of problems. Just before independence, it was declared by the British that with the end of their rule over India, suzerainty of the British crown over princely states would also lapse. This declaration made the whole situation very confusing and uncertain. It meant that all the Princely States (as many as 565) would become legally independent. This was, certainly, a very serious and dangerous knotty problem and could endanger or threaten the very existence of a United India.