APEEJAY SCHOOL NOIDA

CLASS IX CIVICS
CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

Q1. Explain the system of apartheid.

● Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination.
● The white Europeans imposed this system on South Africa.
● The trading companies from Europe occupied it with arms and force.
● These ‘whites’ settled here and became the local rulers.
● The system of apartheid divided the people and labeled them on the basis of
their skin colour.
● The native people who made about three-fourth of the population were black
in colour .These were called ‘blacks’.
● There were people of mixed races who were called ‘coloured’ and people who
migrated from India.
● The white rulers treated all non-whites as inferiors and they did not have
voting right.

Q2. The apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks. Elaborate.
● The blacks were forbidden from living in white areas.
● They could work in white areas only if they had a permit.
● Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges etc.were all
separate for the whites and blacks, this was called segregation.
● They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped.
● Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.

Q3. How did the native people of South Africa oppose the apartheid system?
● The blacks, coloured and Indians fought against the apartheid sytem since
1950.
● They launched protest marches and strikes.
● The African National Congress (ANC) was the umbrella organization that led
the struggle against the policies of segregation.
● Many worker unions and the Communist Party were also included.
● A number of sensitive whites also joined the ANC to oppose apartheid and
played a lead role in the struggle.
● Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist.

Q4. How did the political situation change in South Africa? What was its outcome?
● The protests and struggles against apartheid increased day by day.
● The whites realized that they could no longer keep the blacks under their
rule through repression.
● They changed their policies, discriminatory laws were repealed.
● Ban on political parties and restrictions on the media were lifted.
● Nelson Mandela after 28 years of imprisonment walked out of jail as a free
man.
● At the midnight of 26thApril 1994 the new national flag of the Republic of
South Africa was unfurled.
● It marked a new born democracy in the world.
● The apartheid government came to an end making way for the formation of
a multi-racial government.
Q5. Describe the main features of the constitution of South Africa.
The main features of the constitution of South Africa are as follows:
● It gave its citizens the most extensive rights available in any country.
● It decided that in search for a solution to the problems nobody should be
excluded, no one should be treated as a demon.
● Everybody should become part of the solution, whatever they might have
done or represented in the past.
● It inspires democrats all over the world.
● According to Nelson Mandela, the constitution speaks of both past and the
future.
● It is a charter for the transformation of South Africa into one, which is shared
by all- a country which belongs to the blacks and whites, men and women.

Q6. Why do we need a constitution?

● When the oppressor and the oppressed plan to live together as equals, it is
not easy to trust each other, they have their fears.
● Each wanted to safeguard their interest.
● The only way to build and maintain trust in such a situation is to write down
some rules that everyone would abide by.
● These rules lay down how the rulers are to be chosen in future.
● They determine the powers of the elected government and what they cannot
do.
● These rules decide the rights of the citizen and will work only if the winners
cannot change them easily.
● All over the world people have difference of opinion and so any association,
cooperative club, a political party or a government needs a constitution.

Q7. What is a constitution? Mention its significance.

● A constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all
living together in a country.
● It is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in
a territory (called citizens).
● It also determines the relationship between the people and the government.

The significance of the constitution are many:

● It generates a degree of trust and coordination necessary for different kind of
people to live together.
● It specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have the power
to take which decistion.
● It lays down limits on the powers of the govt and tells what are the rights of
the citizens.
● It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

Q8. Mention the world experiences that inspired the Indian leaders in the making of
the Indian Constitution?
● The struggle for Indian independence was not merely against the foreign rule
but also a struggle to rejuvenate our country and to transform our society
and politics.
● In 1928 Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted the
constitution of India.
● In 1931 the resolution at the Karachi session of the Congress dwelt on how
India’s constitution should look like.
 ● 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 and the Bill of Rights in the
USA.
● The socialist revolution in Russia inspired Indians to think of a system based
on social and economic equality.

Q9. List down the reasons for which the Indian Constitution was so widely accepted

in the country.
● There has been no large social group or political party that has ever
questioned the legitimacy of the constitution.
● The Constituent Assembly represented the people of India who were elected
by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures.
● It ensured a fair geographical share of members from all regions of the
country.
● The Assembly represented members from different language groups, castes,
classes, religions and occupations.
● The way the Constituent Assembly works gives sanctity to the Constitution.
● It worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner.

Q10. What were the series of events that led to the formation of the Indian
Constitution?
● Some basic principles were decided upon first.
● Then a Drafting Committee chaired by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar prepared a draft
constitution.
● Several rounds of thorough discussions took place on the Draft Constitution
clause by clause.
● More than two thousand amendments were considered
● The members deliberated for 114 days spread over 3 years
● Every document presented and every word spoken in the Constituent
Assembly was recorded and preserved
● These debates provide the rationale behind every provision of the
constitution, used to interpret the meaning of the constitution

Question Bank

Q1. Give the reaction of the people of South Africa after the emergence of the new
democratic South Africa
Q2. How was the experience of the Indian Constitution different from those of other
countries?
Q3. Describe the philosophy of the constitution of India.
Q4. What does the Preamble of the Indian Constitution contain?
Q5. Write 2 points on each element of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution
Q6. What are the basic institutional designs of the Indian Constitution?