1. How does democracy produce an accountable, responsive and legitimate government?
Democracy requires elected representatives to be accountable to the people because they must face elections at regular intervals. Responsive governments address citizens’ needs and grievances, as they risk being voted out otherwise. Democratic governments base their authority on consent, laws, and a constitution, ensuring their legitimacy and general public acceptance. Mechanisms like free press, judicial review, and civil society contribute to greater transparency and accountability.
2. What are the conditions under which democracies accommodate social diversities?
Democracies accommodate social diversity by recognizing and protecting minority rights, ensuring fair representation of diverse groups, and by framing policies that promote tolerance and inclusion (e.g., language, religion, or ethnicity). This works best when people’s identities are allowed expression without undermining national unity, and when majority groups do not impose their will on minorities.
3. Give arguments to support or oppose the following assertions:
- Industrialised countries can afford democracy but the poor need dictatorship to become rich.
Oppose: Democracy enables participation, accountability, and fair resource distribution. Several poor countries have developed within democratic systems, e.g., India, while some dictatorships remain poor and repressive. - Democracy can’t reduce inequality of incomes between different citizens.
Partially support: While democracy alone doesn’t guarantee reduced economic inequality, it empowers people to demand policies of social justice and welfare, which may gradually reduce inequality. - Government in poor countries should spend less on poverty reduction, health, education and spend more on industries and infrastructure.
Oppose: Investment in health, education, and poverty reduction creates a strong foundation for economic growth; neglecting these leads to greater inequality and instability. - In democracy all citizens have one vote, which means that there is absence of any domination and conflict.
Oppose: One person, one vote is foundational, but social, economic, and political domination can still persist through other means; conflict is natural in diverse societies.
4. Identify the challenges to democracy in the following descriptions. Also suggest policy/institutional mechanism to deepen democracy in the given situations:
- Temple in Orissa:
Challenge: Social discrimination based on caste.
Mechanism: Strengthen anti-discrimination laws, promote legal literacy and social awareness. - Farmers’ suicides:
Challenge: Economic insecurity, poor rural support.
Mechanism: Improve rural credit, crop insurance, minimum support prices, and mental health support. - Fake encounter enquiry:
Challenge: State abuse of power and human rights violations.
Mechanism: Strengthen independent judiciary, transparent police enquiry commissions, protection for whistleblowers.
5. In the context of democracies, which of the following ideas is correct – democracies have successfully eliminated:
- D. the idea of political inequality
(Every adult citizen has equal voting rights, even though other inequalities persist.)
6. In the context of assessing democracy, which among the following is the odd one out. Democracies need to ensure:
- C. majority rule
(The basic principle is not just majority rule, but majority with respect to minority rights.)
7. Studies on political and social inequalities in democracy show that:
- B. inequalities exist in democracies.
(Democracy works toward reducing inequalities but does not eliminate them completely.)