CHAPTER-1 POWER SHARING
QUESTION-1
What are the different forms of power sharing in modern
democracies? Give an example of each of these.
ANSWER:
Four different forms of power sharing among the modern
democracies:
1) Power is divided horizontally among the three branches of the
government to keep a check on each other. The three branches of
government are:
a. Executive,
b. Legislature and
c. Judiciary
e.g., The Parliament of India is the legislative body which keeps a check
on the working of Executive and Judiciary.
2) Power is also shared at the different level of government vertically that
is:
a. At the Union level,
b. At the state level and
c. At the local level
e.g., Maharashtra government is free to make laws on the matter of law
and order because it does not come under the purview of central
government.
3). Power is also shared among the different social groups. India is one of
the most diverse country in the world, and it has various religious and
linguistic groups which shares power among themselves.
e.g., States in India is formed on the linguistic bases after independence.
4) In a democracy, power is also shared among the various political
parties, pressure groups and movements. Democracy ensures that power
should not accumulate in some hands so elections are held regularly to
elect our representatives and every citizen of India has equal political
rights to form a party and to contest elections.
e.g., we have a multi-party system in which we can elect anybody to rule
upon us and various parties of different ideologies can come together to
form the government which is known as the coalition government.