RBSE Class 9 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Constitutional Design

These comprehensive RBSE Class 9 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Constitutional Design will give a brief overview of all the concepts.

RBSE Class 9 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Constitutional Design

→ Meaning of Constitution:
There are some fundamental laws in democracy that the citizens and the government have to follow. All such rules (laws) together are called constitution. As the supreme law of the country, the constitution determines the rights of citizens, the powers of the government and how the government should function.

→ Democratic Constitution in South Africa
Struggle against apartheid: Struggle against apartheid- Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa imposed on the black people by the white Europeans. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the trading companies from Europe occupied South Africa, with arms and forces, similar to the way they had occupied India. But unlike India, a large number of “whites’ had settled there and became the local rulers.

The system divided the people and labelled them on the basis of their skin colour. In South Africa, the black people made up about three-fourth of the population but the apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks. As a result, since 1950, the blacks, coloured (mixed breeds other than white and black) and Indians fought against the apartheid system. But the white racist government continued to rule by detaining, thousands of black and coloured people. As a result protests and struggles against apartheid had increased. South Africa finally got independence on 26 April 1994, and after 28 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela walked out of the jail as a free man.

→ Making of the Constitution: After independence black leaders appealed to fellow blacks to forgive the whites for the atrocities they had committed and to build a new South Africa based on equality of all races and men and women, on democratic values, social justice and human rights. Both the Whites and the Blacks sat together to draw up a common constitution and after two years of discussion and debate they came out with one of the finest constitutions the world has ever had. This constitution gave to its citizens the most extensive rights.
The South African constitution inspires democrats all over the world.

→ Why do we need a Constitution?
The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. It is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in a territory (citizens) and also the relationship between the people and government. A constitution does many things:

• It generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together.
• It specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have power to take which decisions.
• It lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.
• It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.
• All countries that have constitutions are not necessarily democratic. But all countries that are democratic will have constitutions.

→ Making of the Indian Constitution
Difficulties in framing Constitution: India’s Constitution was drawn up under very difficult circumstances. Along with the Independence, India faced the fate of partition. Lakhs of people were killed on both sides of the border in partition related violence. The British had left it to the rulers of the princely states to decide whether they wanted to merge with India or with Pakistan or remain independent. The merger of these princely states was a difficult and uncertain task.

→ The path to Constitution:

• Much of the consensus about what a democratic India should look like had evolved during the freedom struggle.
• In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted a constitution for India. In 1931, the resolution at the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution should look like. Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality and to protecting the rights of minorities.
• The familiarity with political institutions of colonial rule also helped develop an agreement over the institutional design. The Indian constitution adopted many institutional details and procedures from colonial laws like the Government of India Act, 1935.
• Many of our leaders were inspired by the ideals of French Revolution, the practice of parliamentary democracy in Britain, the Bill of Rights in the US and the socialist revolution in Russia.

All these factors contributed to the making of our Constitution.
The Constituent Assembly: Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946. Its first meeting was held in December 1946. Soon after, the country was divided. After the partition, the Indian constitution had 299 members. The Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on 26 January 1950.

→ We accepted the Constitution made by this Assembly more than six decades ago for the following reasons:

• It expresses a broad consensus of its time.
• The Constituent Assembly represented the people of India.
• The Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Constituent Assembly and Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee.

→ Guiding Values of the Indian Constitution
The Preamble of the Indian Constitution lays down the basic values of the Constitution. These are -

• We, The People Of India
• Sovereign
• Socialist
• Secular
• Democratic
• Republic
• Justice
• Liberty
• Equality
• Fraternity

→ Institutional design:
A constitution is not merely a statement of values and philosophy. A constitution is mainly about embodying these values into institutional arrangements. The Constitution of India is about these arrangements. The Indian Constitution felt that it has to be in accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society. So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. The Indian Constitution lays down a procedure for choosing persons to govern the country, power to take decisions and providing rights to the citizen.