What is Democracy? Why Democracy? with notes in hindi || Class 9 Chapter 2 Politics ||
Chapter 2
What is Democracy? Why Democracy?
WHAT IS
DEMOCRACY
1.
Democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are
elected by the people.
2. This is a useful definition for the democracy.
3. The army rulers of Myanmar are not elected by the people.
4. Those who control the army become the rulers of the country.
7. The kings of Nepal and Saudi Arabia rule not because the people
have chosen them but because they born into the royal family.
10. But if we use this definition without thinking then we would have
to calling almost every government democratic that holds an election.
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FEATURES OF DEMOCRACY
1. Democracy is
a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people.
2. This raises many questions:
3. Who are the rulers in this definition?
5. Which decisions may be taken by nonelected officials in a
democracy?
7. What conditions (शर्त) must be fulfilled (पूरा करना) for an election to be considered democratic?
8. Who are the people who can elect the
rulers or get elected as rulers?
9. Should every citizen include on an equal basis?
10. Finally, what kind of a form of government is democracy?
11. Can elected rulers do
whatever they want in a democracy?
12. Or must a democratic government work with some limits?
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Major decisions by elected leaders
2. He overthrew (पद से निकालना) a democratically
elected government and declared himself the ‘Chief Executive’ of the country.
3. Later he changed his post to President and in 2002 held a
referendum (जनमत-संग्रह) in the country that
granted him a 5 year extension.
4. Pakistani media, human rights organisations and democracy
activists said that the malpractices (अपराध) and fraud (धोखा) included in referendum.
5. In August 2002 he issued a ‘Legal Framework Order’ that amended
(संशोधन करना) the Constitution of
Pakistan.
6. According to this Order, the President can dismiss (हटा देना) the national and
provincial assemblies.
7. After passing this law, elections were held (आयोजन करना) to the national and provincial assemblies.
8. So elected representatives have some powers
9. But the final power had with military officers and General
Musharraf himself.
10. Clearly, there are many reasons why Pakistan under General
Musharraf should not be called a democracy.
12. They cannot take the final decisions.
13. The power to take final decision had with army officials (अधिकारी) and with General
Musharraf, and none of them are elected by the people.
15. This cannot be called people’s rule.
16.
In a democracy the final decision making power must be with
those elected by the people.
Free and fair electoral competition
1. In China, elections are regularly held after every 5 years for
electing the country’s parliament, called Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui
(National People’s Congress).
2. The National People’s Congress has the power to appoint the
President of the country.
3. It has nearly 3,000 members elected from all over China.
4. Some members are elected by the army.
5. Before contesting (चुनाव लड़ना) elections, a
candidate needs the approval of the Chinese Communist Party.
6. Only the members of the Chinese Communist Party or 8 smaller
parties allied (मित्र) to it were allowed
to contest elections held in 2002-03.
7. The government is always formed by the Communist Party.
8. Since its independence in 1930, Mexico holds elections after
every 6 years to elect its President.
9. The country has never been under a military or dictator’s rule.
10. But until 2000 every election was won by a party called PRI
(Institutional Revolutionary Party).
11. Opposition parties did contest elections, but never win.
12. The PRI was known to use many dirty tricks to win elections.
13. All those who were employed in government offices had to attend
its party meetings.
14. Teachers of government schools used to force parents to vote for
the PRI.
15. Media ignored the activities of opposition political parties
except (छोड़ कर) to criticise (आलोचना करना) them.
16. Sometimes the polling booths were shifted from one place to
another in the last minute & create difficulty for people to cast (डालना) their votes.
18. Should we consider the elections described above as examples of
people electing their rulers?
19. There are many problems here.
20. In China the elections do not offer the people any other choice.
21. They have to choose the ruling party and the candidates approved
by it.
22. Can we call this a choice?
24. These are not fair elections.
25. We can thus add a second feature to our understanding of
democracy.
26. So, a democracy must be based on a
free and fair election where those
currently in power have a fair
chance of losing.
One person, one vote, one value
1. In the previous chapter we read how the struggle (संघर्ष करना) for democracy was
linked to the demand for universal adult franchise.
2. This principle has now come to be accepted almost all over the
world.
4. In Saudi Arabia women do not have the right to vote.
5. Estonia has made its citizenship rules in different way that to
get the right to vote for the people belonging to Russian minority is very
difficult.
6. In Fiji, the value of a vote of an indigenous (मूल निवासी) Fiji has more than
that of an Indian-Fijian.
8. That gives us the third feature of democracy:
9. In a democracy, each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one
value.
Rule of law and respect for rights
1. Zimbabwe attained independence from White minority rule in 1980.
2. Since then the country has been ruled by ZANU-PF, the party that
led the freedom struggle.
3. Its leader, Robert Mugabe, has been ruling the country since
independence.
4. Elections have been held regularly and always won by ZANU-PF.
5. President Mugabe is popular but also uses dirty tricks in
elections.
6. Over the years his government has changed the constitution
several times to increase the powers of the President and make him less accountable
(जवाबदेह).
8. Public protests (विरोध करना) and movements (आन्दोलन) against the
government are declared illegal (ग़ैरक़ानूनी).
9. Television and radio are controlled by the government.
10. There are independent newspapers but the government harasses (तंग करना) those journalists
who go against it.
11. The government has ignored some court judgments that were
against it and has pressurised judges.
12. The example of Zimbabwe shows that popular approval of the
rulers is necessary in a democracy, but it is not sufficient.
14. If we want to understand a democracy, it is important to look at
the elections.
15. But it is equally important to look before and after the
elections.
16. State should also respect some basic rights of the citizen.
17. They should be free to think, to have opinions (विचार), to express these in public, to form associations (मण्डली), to protest and
take other political actions.
18. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of law.
19. These rights must be protected by an independent judiciary (न्यायपालिका) whose orders are
obeyed by everyone.
20. A democratic government cannot do whatever it likes, simply
because it has won an election.
21. It has to respect some basic rules.
23. Each of these is accountable (जवाबदेह) not only to the
people but also to other independent officials (अधिकारी).
24. Both these aspects give us the fourth and final feature of
democracy: a democratic government rules within
limits set by constitutional law and
citizens’ rights.
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WHY DEMOCRACY?
Arguments against democracy
1. Leaders keep changing in a democracy. This leads to lack of
balance.
2. Democracy is all about political competition and power play.
There is no scope for morality (नैतिकता).
3. So many people have to be consulted (विचार करना) in a democracy that
it leads to delays (देर करना).
4. Elected leaders do not know the best interest (दिलचस्पी) of the people. It
leads to bad decisions.
5. Democracy leads to corruption because electoral competitions are
very costly.
6. Ordinary people don’t know what is good for them; they should
not decide anything.
7. Clearly, democracy is not a magical solution for all the
problems.
8. It has not ended poverty in our country and in other parts of
the world.
9. It is also true that democracy leads to frequent changes in
leadership.
10. Sometimes this can set back (रुकावट) big decisions and
affect (प्रभावित करना) the government’s
efficiency.
11. These arguments show that democracy of the kind we see may not
be the ideal (आदर्श) form of government.
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Arguments for democracy
2. Nearly 3 crore people died in this famine.
3. During those days, India’s economic condition was not much
better than China.
4. Economists think that this was a result of different government
policies in the 2 countries.
6. If China too had multiparty elections, an opposition party and a
press free to criticise (आलोचना करना) the government,
then so many people may not have died in the famine.
7. This example shows that why democracy is considered the best
form of government.
8. Democracy is better than any other form of government in
responding (जवाब देना) to the needs of the people.
9. A nondemocratic government may or may not respond to the
people’s needs, but it all depends on their wishes.
10. A democratic
government is a better
government because it is a more accountable (जवाबदेह) form of government.
11. There is another reason why democracy should lead to better
decisions than any non-democratic government.
13. A democratic decision always involves many persons, discussions
and meetings.
14. When a number of people say yes to any decision, then the
chances of the mistakes are very less.
15. This takes time & there is a big advantage in taking time
over important decisions.
16. Thus democracy improves the quality of decision-making.
17. This is related to the third argument i.e. Democracy
provides a method to deal
with differences and conflicts (झगड़ा).
19. In India, people belong to different regions (क्षेत्र), speak different
languages, practise different religions (धर्म) and have different
castes (जाति).
25. In democracy, no one is a permanent winner or loser.
26. Different groups can live with one another peacefully.
28. Even if democracy does not bring about better decisions and
accountable government, it is still better than other forms of government.
30. Finally, democracy is better than other forms of government because it allows us to
correct its own mistakes.
31. It offers better chances of a good decision, respect people’s
own wishes and allows different kinds of people to live together.
32. That is why democracy is considered the best form of government.
BROADER MEANINGS OF DEMOCRACY
1. We have understood democracy as a form of government.
2. In the countries, all the people do not rule but the majority is
allowed to take decisions on behalf of all the people.
3. This majority of people rule through their elected
representatives.
4. This become necessary because:
·
Modern democracies
involve such a large number of people that it is physically impossible for them
to sit together and take a collective decision.
·
Even if they could,
the citizen does not have the time, the desire (इच्छा करना) or the skills to take part in all the decisions.
7. Sometimes we use the word democracy not to describe any existing
government but to set up an ideal standard that all democracies must aim to
become:
·
“True democracy will come to this
country only when no one goes hungry to bed.”
·
“In a democracy every citizen must be
able to play equal role in decision making.
8.
For this you don’t need just an equal right to vote.
9. Every citizen needs to have equal
information, basic education, equal resources and a lot of commitment (ज़िम्मेदारी).”
10. If we take these ideals seriously, then
no country in the world is a democracy.
11. The most common form of
democracy in today’s world is
rule through people’s elected
representatives.
12. But if the community is small, there can
be other ways of taking democratic
decisions.
13. All the people can sit
together and take decisions directly.
14. This is how Gram Sabha should work in
a village.
15. What we do as citizens can make a
difference to making our country
more or less democratic.
16.
This is the strength
and the weakness of democracy: the fate (किस्मत) of the
country depends not just on what the rulers do,
but mainly on what we, as
citizens, do.
17. Other forms of government like monarchy,
dictatorship or one-party rule do not require
all citizens to take part in politics.
18.
In fact most
nondemocratic governments would
like citizens not to take part in politics.
19. But democracy depends on active political
participation by all the citizens.
20. That is why a study of democracy must focus
on democratic politics.
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