Class 10 Civics Chapter 2 Federalism - Important Questions
1. Give examples of Coming together and Holding together federation
Ans.
Coming together USA, Switzerland, Australia and Holding together India, Belgium and Spain.
2. What is federalism?
Ans.
Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
Usually, a federation has two levels of government. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest. The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.
Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.
3. What are the key features of federalism?
Ans.
There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own jurisdiction in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So the existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government. Such changes require the consent of both the levels of government.
Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government. The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between different levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.
Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
4. Examine the language policy adopted by the Government of India.
Ans.
Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language. Hindi was identified as the official language. But Hindi is the mother tongue of only about 40 per cent of Indians. Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect other languages. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognized as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution. States too have their own official languages. According to our Constitution, the use of English as official language was to stop in 1965 and to use Hindi in its place. However, it was extended on the request of non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu.
5. What is the basic idea behind the decentralization of power?
Ans.
India is a vast country with a huge population. It is not possible to rule the country by a single Government or state governments.
Even the States in India are bigger than many of the European countries. They are internally very diverse. There is a need for power sharing within the state too. Large number of problems and issues are best solved at the local level.
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