What is Democracy? Why Democracy? Class 9 Civics Chapter 1 Extra Questions and Answers covers various types i.e. Very short, Short and Long questions, related to the topic so as to help the students with their preparation by helping them do an in-depth study of the topic.
- The chapter defines democracy and talks about its features in details.
- It distinguishes between the different forms of governments and tries to give students a justification of the statement why democracy.
- The Chapter also presents a number of case studies of different countries and their forms of government and tries to create awareness about the true meaning of the notion.
- The chapter also points out the arguments against the notion and proceeds with an aim to state the real and broader meaning of democracy.
Class 9 Civics Chapter 1 Extra Questions are Answered in detail by our team of experts which includes teachers and professionals. These solutions have been compiled in an easy to understand manner, keeping in mind, the perspective of strong, and weak students. We are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 9 all subjects which can be accessed by clicking here.
Class 9 Civics Chapter 1 Extra Questions and Answers – Very Short Type Questions: [1-2 marks]
1. In which country there was a law that limited the right of the citizens to criticize the president? In which year did it gain Independence from the white minority? Name the party and the ruler of this country.
Ans) Zimbabwe, 1980, ZANU-PF, Robert Mugabe
2. Everyone should be ______ in the eyes of law and these rights must be protected by an ______ where orders are obeyed by everyone.
Ans) Equal, Independent Judiciary
3. Which government blocked the free flow of information by placing restrictions on popular websites like ‘Google’ and ‘Yahoo’?
Ans) Chinese Government
4. Which country has made its citizenship rules in such a way that people belonging to Russian community find it difficult to get the right to vote?
Ans) Estonia
5. Since Independence in 1930 this country holds elections after every 6 years to elect its presidents. Name the country.
Ans) Mexico
6. In China, elections are held after every 5 years for electing the country’s parliament called ___, ____, ____, _____ or National People’s Congress.
Ans)Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui
7. _______ is the smallest west Asian country where the ruling party and some of its allies are the only parties allowed in the country.
Ans) Syria
8. In Pakistan ______ led a ______ in the October 1999.
Ans) General Pervez Musharraf, Military Coup
9. Till 2015, who did not have the Right to Vote in the country Saudi Arabia?
Ans) Women
10. Which country witnessed the worst recorded famine in the world history and during which period or years?
Ans) China, 1958-1961
11. Who gave the definition of democracy as of the people, by the people and for the people?
Ans) Abraham Lincoln
12. ______ is a direct vote in which the entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal.
Ans) Referendum
Class 9 Civics Chapter 1 Extra Questions and Answers – Short Type Questions: [2-4 marks]
1. What is meant by legal framework order? Who issued it?
Ans) A legal framework order refers to an order issued by the Chief Executive of Pakistan which gave him the power to terminate the national and provincial assemblies of the country. It was issued by General Pervez Musharraf.
2. What is PRI and what do you know about it?
Ans)PRI was a political party of Mexico, named Institutional Revolutionary Party which won every election till the year 2000 by using a number of malpractices like forcing candidates to vote for them with the help of various means like appealing with the help of government teachers etc., spending huge sums on election campaigns, shifting polling booths at last moment etc.
3. Give two arguments against democracy or list two disadvantages of having a democracy.
Ans) Even though democracy is considered one of the best forms of government still it has got a few disadvantages.
a) In a democracy, the power of election lies with the people.As a result, owing to a number of causes a leader is removed.As a result, changing the leaders regularly creates instability and the development processes are hampered.
b) In a democratic form of government, it is a race for power among different parties.As a result, it often leads to corruption.
4. Why is democracy considered as one of the best forms of government?
Ans) Democracy is considered to be one of the best forms of government because in this form people rule themselves or can choose their own leaders by the process of elections. It also checks the power of the ruling party as they have the fear of losing power since elections are regularly held and the power is in the hands of the people.
5. Universal Adult Franchise is the right of the people. Name two countries and mention how they denied this right to their citizens.
Ans) Universal adult franchise means that all adults above the age of 18 should be given the right to vote without any discrimination.However, many countries for a long period of time did not conform to this. One of them is Saudi Arabia who denied voting rights to women till 2015. Even Estonia can be considered as one of the nation doing this injustice as rules were made in such a manner that the minority community of Russians found it difficult to vote.
6. Discuss how till the year 2000 Mexico cannot be considered as a democratic country.
Ans) Till the year 2000 Mexican people did not seem to have a real choice as all the elections were won by a party named PRI or Institutional Revolutionary Party. A number of malpractices were carried out, freedom of press was curbed and people could never vote this party out of power.As a result, even though regular elections took place and it was portrayed that choice was available, in reality it was the rule of one single party which ruled in an authoritarian way and left people with no real choice.
7. What is meant by the term of Rule of law?
Ans)Rule of law proposes that no one should be considered above the law and administrative decisions must be made only by keeping in mind the known legal and moral principles. The Rule of Law restricts the powers of Government by judicial defense of laws and the Constitution which is established on standard legal values.
8. What are the three important aspects of democracy?
Ans) Three important aspects of democracy are social, political and economic. Where in case of political aspect it talks about how free, fair and regular elections are to be held.In case of social, it talks about the equality of justice to all without discrimination and in case of economic it talks about welfare schemes for the under-privileged.
9. Pervez Musharraf’s government was far away from democracy.Explain.
Ans) Pervez Musharraf led a military coup in Pakistan in the year 1999 and started ruling the country according to his own wishes. He changed his designation from General to President, held a referendum,and issued a legal framework order. He changed the rules and laws and dominated every sphere. He made the final decision, powers lay entrusted with the army officials and ruled the country like a military dictator.
Class 9 Civics Chapter 1 Extra Questions and Answers – Long Type Questions: [4-6 marks]
1. Give 4 essentials features of a democratic government. Give two examples of democracies.
Ans) Democracy is a type of government where people elect their own representatives and rule themselves. Few essential features of a democracy are as follows:
- Free and fair elections to be held under the concept of Universal adult franchise in a regular manner i.e. after every 5 years or 6 years as the case may be.
- In a democracy, the final decision-making power should vest with the people of the country and not with the ruling party.
- In a democracy, equality is the key norm and hence people should not be discriminated on any basis and everybody should have a fair chance in the election process.
- In a democracy there should be a system of checks and balances and no unit or body should have unlimited powers to prevent it from becoming authoritarian. For example, a strong independent judiciary.
India, America, Britain are few examples of democratic nations.
2. Point out 4 features of a non-democratic government. Also name two countries who portray themselves as democracies but actually are far away from the concept.
Ans)
- In a non-democratic country people are either ruled by a dictator or a monarch and they are often not given the freedom to choose their own representatives.
- People often do not have even the basic rights like, freedom to practice one’s own religion, or the freedom of speech to raise voice against the government.
- In a non-democratic country, people often do not have the right to choose their own ways of living lives and are often forced to live according the wishes of the government.
- In a non-democratic country, regular change of ruling parties does not take place and a party rules till it wishes to or is removed by another with the help of violence.
Countries like China and Mexico who portrays themselves as democracies are actually not because they do not offer any real choice to the people of the nation to choose their representatives.
3. Describe the faults of the Chinese government system. And discuss what happened during the Chinese famine of 1958-61.
Ans) China is among those democratic countries in the world which does not really provide its people with an actual choice but runs on a mono-party system where people have to choose the ruling party and the candidates approved by it. The party is Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui or National people’s congress.
China is also one of the communist countries where the freedom of speech of people is curbedand the government has blocked the free flow of information by placing restrictions on popular websites like ‘Google’ and ‘Yahoo.’
In 1958 China was hit by world’s worst famine in history owing to which almost three crore people died and its economy was severely affected.
The Chinese government was proved to be failure in food security measures during the famine as according to the economists.Owing to the freedom of press and speech curtailed by the government the failure of the government was not highlighted and due to the lack of a strong opposition the ruling party never took seriously the conditions of the people,due to which many were forced below the poverty line after the famine.
4. Mention 4 steps in which Robert Mugabe controlled the nation to remain in power?
Ans) Robert Mugabe was the ruler of Zimbabwe and he took a number of steps to remain in power.
- He curbed the freedom of protest by people and declared public demonstrations, protests, rallies etc. as illegal.
- He made laws to curb the freedom of speech of people and the right to criticize government.
- The freedom of press was withdrawn and the media people were harassed and threatened and were forced to work for the government.
- Development of an opposition possessed to be a threat to him and as a result it was strictly prohibited and any opposition party members or leaders were severely harassed
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