CBSE NCERT Class 10 Political Science Chapter 7 Outcomes of Democracy

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NCERT Notes for Class 10 Social Science (Political Science) Chapter 7 – Outcomes of Democracy

This chapter will teach you how to evaluate democratic results. You will learn about democracy’s predicted and actual consequences in a variety of areas, including government quality, economic well-being, inequality, social divisions and conflict, and lastly, freedom and dignity. In “CBSE Notes Class 10 Political Science Chapter 7 – Democracy’s Outcomes,” we have discussed all facets of democracy in a succinct manner. Peruse these CBSE Notes to have a better understanding of this chapter.

CBSE Class 10 Social Science notes will assist students in studying the topic thoroughly and clearly.

These CBSE Class 10 Social Science notes were written by subject experts who made the study material very basic, both in terms of language and format.

Assessment Of Outcomes Of Democracy

The quality of governance, economic well-being, inequality, social diversity, freedom, and dignity all serve as indicators of democracy’s anticipated and actual achievements.
After examining the results of democracy, it is clear that democracy is a type of governance capable of creating the circumstances necessary for attaining its objective.
Citizens may take use of these situations to accomplish their objectives.

Democracy has always been seen as a superior form of governance than other options because it:

fosters equality among people.
raises the quality of decision-making.
provides for the correction of errors.
boosts an individual’s dignity.
offers a mechanism for resolving problems.

Political Outcomes –

Accountable And Responsive Government

Responsible and attentive government is one that is responsible to its constituents in a democracy.
It is accountable for making all decisions on behalf of and in accordance with its residents’ needs and expectations.
The government is responsible for following processes prior to making any decision. If the government has made a mistake, it must admit it and swiftly remedy it.
By contrast, non-democratic regimes are unconcerned with public complaints. Additionally, they are unconcerned about public opinion. It makes snap decisions that are unpopular with residents.
As a result, democracy produces a government that adheres to established procedures and is responsible to the people.
A democratic government establishes means for people to hold government officials responsible and to participate in decision-making.

Transparency And Decision-Making

Transparency refers to the government’s openness, communication, and accountability.
This implies that government should be run in such a manner that individuals may easily observe the activities taken during decision-making.
Transparency is often seen to be lacking in non-democratic governments.
However, democratic governments also have a poor track record of sharing information about decision-making with their public.

Legitimate Government

In a democracy, a legitimate government is one that is legal, where all of the country’s laws apply equally to all citizens and where people are ruled without fear or favour.
A legitimate government should be responsive to the needs and desires of its citizens, and citizens should be ruled without fear or favour.
A democratic government may be sluggish, inefficient, and even unresponsive, but it is the people’s government. Thus, it is unquestionably a more superior and lawful form of governance.

Economic Outcomes

Economic growth, development, poverty reduction, and inequality reduction are all significant economic effects of democracy.

Economic Growth And Development

A government is meant to promote economic growth and development.
However, many democracies throughout the globe are unable to live up to this promise due to factors such as population size, global situation, international collaboration, and economic objectives.
There are some notable discrepancies in economic growth rates between dictatorship and democratic nations.

Reduction Of Inequality And Poverty

Democracy is founded on political equality, and all citizens have an equal right to vote for their representative.
However, with this (political equality), we are seeing an increase in economic inequality among people.
A tiny group of ultra-wealthy individuals own a disproportionate percentage of wealth and income.
As a result, their percentage of the country’s overall revenue is growing. On the other hand, the poor’s income is decreasing.
At times, they (the poor) struggle to satisfy their most basic necessities, such as food, clothes, housing, education, and health. Though the impoverished make up a sizable number of voters, democratic administrations are unwilling to address the issue of poverty.
In several other nations, the situation is far worse.
As is the case in Bangladesh, where over half of the population lives in poverty.
Even the poorest nations’ citizens are increasingly reliant on wealthier countries for food supply.

Social Outcomes

A democracy’s “social” outcomes should be to accommodate social variety and to provide people with dignity and freedom.

Accommodation Of Social Diversity

Democracies often create a method for resolving societal divides.
This decreases the likelihood of social tensions escalating into violence.
No civilization is capable of resolving disputes between diverse groups completely and permanently.
However, democracy is the finest system for resolving societal disagreements, divisions, and conflicts.

To succeed as a democracy, the following two requirements must be met:

(i) It is critical to recognise that democracy does not operate just on the basis of majority opinion. Because the majority is always required to preserve the minority’s interests, the government’s job is seen as one of representation of the public interest.
(ii) It is also necessary to avoid majority rule devolving into majority community rule in terms of religion, race, or linguistic group, for example. Rule by majority implies that diverse individuals and organisations may and may create a majority in any decision or election.
(iii) Thus, democracy exists only as long as each person has a possibility of attaining majority status at some point in time. If someone is excluded from the majority on the basis of their birth, democratic government becomes inhospitable to that individual or group.

Non Democratic governments often ignore or repress internal socioeconomic divisions.

Dignity And Freedom Of The Citizens

Democracy is much better than any other form of governance in terms of supporting individual dignity and liberty.
Every person desires respect from their fellow humans.
The desire for respect and liberty is the bedrock of democracy.
Democracies across the globe have recognised and accomplished varying degrees of this (respect and freedom). However, recognising that all persons are equal is not straightforward.

Dignity And Freedom Of Women

Consider the issue of women’s dignity. Decades of struggle by women have instilled a sense today that women’s dignity and equality are fundamental components of democratic society.
That is not to say that women are always treated with dignity. However, once the idea is recognised, it becomes simpler for women to fight against what is now legal and ethically acceptable.
In a non-democratic system, this intolerability would be without legal justification, since the value of individual liberty and dignity would lack legal power.

Dignity And Freedom Of Disadvantaged Groups

In India, democracy has boosted underprivileged and discriminating castes’ desires for equality of status and opportunity.
There are still instances of caste-based injustices and atrocities, but they lack moral and legal justification. It is this acknowledgement that instills a sense of importance in ordinary persons towards their democratic rights.

Conclusion

The most distinguishing quality of democracy is that it is always under investigation. As people get advantages, they want more and work to improve democracy.
As a result, individuals constantly have higher expectations and more complaints.
It demonstrates that individuals have acquired a sense of self-awareness and the capacity to anticipate and examine power holders critically.
Democracy elevates individuals from the position of subjects to that of citizens.
Today, the majority of people feel that their ‘precious’ vote makes a significant difference in how the government is governed in their own self-interest.=

NCERT Question Answer Class 10 Political Science (Civics) Chapter 7 – Outcomes of Democracy

Question 1. How Does Democracy Produce An Accountable, Responsive And Legitimate Government?

Answer: Democracy produces an accountable, responsive and legitimate government in the ways as mentioned below :

Accountability: In a democracy, rules and procedures are used to make decisions. A citizen might know the steps that were taken to make a decision. It’s called “transparency.” So, the people can hold the government accountable. The government can set up ways for people to make the government answer to them. In India, a process like this is called “Right to Information.” In a government that is not democratic, there is no such thing as accountability. But democratic governments do not have a very good track record overall. when it comes to giving citizens information. But no matter what, we can say that democratic governments are better than those that aren’t.

Responsive government: In general, people expect a democratic government to pay attention to the needs and wants of the people and to be mostly free of corruption. But in real life, it’s not true. Democracies often don’t meet the needs of the people and often ignore the wants of the majority of the people who live there. So it’s not fully responsive. There are cases of corruption even in democratic countries. At the same time, there is nothing to show that non-democratic governments are less corrupt or more caring about the people.

Legitimate government: In this way, democracy is better than other kinds of government that aren’t democratic. It is a government run by the people. People want to be ruled by people they voted for. Also, they think democracy is good for their country.

So, most people all over the world agree with the idea of democracy. In addition to this, the fact that democracy can create its own support is a result that can’t be ignored.

Question 2. What are the conditions under which democracies accommodate social diversities?

Answer: Democracies accommodate social diversities in the ways as mentioned below :

Most democracies come up with a way to run their competition. The leaders of Belgium understood that there were differences between regions and between cultures. For example, the constitution says that there should be the same number of Dutch-speaking and French-speaking ministers in both the central government and the government in Brussels.
Different opinions must be respected, and there should be a way to talk about them. Democracy is the best way to stop this from happening. Only in democracies are people able to deal with social differences, divisions, and conflicts. But for this to happen, democracy must meet the following two conditions:
The majority and the minority must always work together so that governments can work to represent the general view.
Rule by majority should not become rule by majority community based on religion, race, or language. Democracy only stays democracy as long as every citizen has a chance to be in the majority at some point.

Question 3. Give arguments to support or oppose the following assertions :

(a) Industrialised countries can afford democracy but the poor need dictatorship to become rich.

Answer: It is not correct.

In a democracy, elections cost a lot of money, but regular, fair, and free elections make democracy a popular form of government.
Again, it’s not true that the poor need a dictatorship to become rich. For example, in African countries where military dictatorships have been set up, the poor have not become rich.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, too, the lives of the poor are far from good.
A poor country can be a democracy, like India, where democracy has worked well since it got its independence.

(b) Democracy can’t reduce inequality of incomes between different citizens.

Answer: It is correct to say that democracy can’t make people’s incomes more equal. Democracy gives everyone the same political rights, like the right to vote and other rights, but the ultra-rich get a much bigger share of wealth and incomes than the rest of the population. Not only that, but their share of the country’s total income has been growing. On the other hand, the poor are getting poorer, and it’s getting harder for them to meet their basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing.

So, democracies have not been able to reduce economic inequality in real life. For example, in India, a lot of our voters are poor, and no party would want to lose their votes. But democratically elected governments don’t do enough to solve the problem of poverty. As a result, things are very bad in some countries. In Bangladesh, for example, more than half of the people live in poverty. People in several poor countries now have to get their food from rich countries.

(c) Government in poor countries should spend less on poverty reduction, health, education and spend more on industries and infrastructure.

Answer: I don’t agree with the idea that governments in poor countries should spend more on industries and infrastructure and less on reducing poverty, health care, and education.

The government should spend more on reducing poverty, health care, and education for the following reasons:

The programmes to end poverty help the poor in a direct way. For instance, programmes like NREGA that help people get out of poverty help them directly.
By opening health centres, the poor will be able to get medical care close to home. When someone is healthy, they can earn more money, which raises their standard of living.
Education will also make the lives of the poor better. A person with more education, like an engineer, doctor, lawyer, or IT professional, can not only make more money but also help the economy of the country.
On the other hand, if more money is spent on industries and infrastructure, it might help the industrialists more than the poor.

(d) In democracy, all citizens have one vote, which means that there is absence of any domination and conflict.

Answer: It is true that all citizens have one vote in a democracy, which means that there is no dominance or conflict. In a democracy, every adult citizen has the right to vote, regardless of caste, creed, or religion. This is called “universal adult franchise.” Numbers matter in elections. The candidate who gets the most votes wins. Whoever voted for him, rich or poor, doesn’t matter. So, voters from the upper class don’t have more

power than voters from the lower classes.

Question 4. Identify the challenges to democracy in the following descriptions. Also suggest policy/institutional mechanism to deepen democracy in the given situations :

(a) Following a High Court directive a temple in Orissa that had separate entry doors for dalits and non-dalits allowed entry for all from the same door.

Answer: In a democracy, there are usually different social groups based on caste, which can cause problems. The current problem has to do with different types of people. The High Court has said that everyone must enter through the same door. Before, there were separate doors for dalits and other people. To strengthen democracy, there should be a law that makes it illegal to treat people differently because of their caste, religion, or other factors.

(b) A large number of farmers are committing suicide in different states of India.

Answer: There is a challenge of poverty. A large number of farmers are committing suicide in different states of India due to the following factors :

They can’t pay back the loan they took out because they didn’t get enough rain or irrigation and their crops failed.
Government help wasn’t available when it was needed.
In this case, the government should set up a group to look out for the farmers’ needs. They should be given money or loans with low interest rates. They should have access to irrigation and other services.

(c) Following allegation of killing of three civilians in Gandwara in a fake encounter by Jammu and Kashmir police, an enquiry has been ordered.

Answer: In this case, the citizens’ dignity and freedom have been threatened. In most cases, fake encounters are reported in the news. In a democracy, things like this shouldn’t happen because a democracy is built on a passion for freedom and respect. All individuals are equal.

To stop these kinds of fake encounters, all government departments, including the police department, should work in an open way. The people who did it should be punished, even if they are in a higher position in a government department.

Question 5. In the context of democracies, which of the following ideas is correct – democracies have successfully eliminated :

conflicts among people.
economic inequalities among people.
differences of opinion about how marginalised sections are to be treated
the idea of political inequality

Answer: (D) the idea of political inequality.

Question 6. In the context of assessing democracy which among the following is odd one out. Democracies need to ensure :

free and fair elections.
dignity of the individual,
majority rule.
equal treatment before law.

Answer: (D) equal treatment before law.

Question 7. Studies on political and social inequalities in democracy show that

democracy and development go together.
inequalities exist in democracies.
inequalities do not exist under dictatorship.
dictatorship is better than democracy.

Answer: (B) inequalities exist in democracies.

Question 8. Read the passage below :

Nannu is a daily wage earner. He lives in Welcome Mazdoor Colony, a slum habitation in East Delhi. He lost his ration card and applied for a duplicate one in January 2004. He made several rounds to the local Food and Civil Supplies office for the next three months. But the clerks and officials would not even look at him, leave alone do his job or bother to tell him the status of his application. Ultimately, he filed an application under the Right to Information Act asking for the daily progress made on his application, names of the officials, who were supposed to act on his application and what action would be taken against these officials for their inaction. Within a week of filing application under the Right to Information Act, he was visited by an inspector from the Food Department, who informed him that the card had been made and he could collect it from the office. When Nannu went to collect his card next day, he was given a very warm treatment by the Food and Supply Officer (FSO), who is the head of a Circle. The FSO offered him tea and requested him to withdraw his application under the Right to Information, since his work had already been done.

What does Nannu’s example show ? What impact did Nannu’s action have on officials ? Ask your parents their experiences when they approach government officials to attend to their problems.

Answer:

Nannu’s case shows that regular people should be aware of their rights. They should use those rights without fear, as Nannu has done.
Nannu’s action has a big effect on the officials who not only made his ration card but also gave him a cup of tea at the office of the Food and Supply Officer. He was treated with proper respect. But the Food and Supply Officer told him to withdraw his application because his ration card was already made.
Most of the time, government officials don’t care about the requests of poor and disadvantaged people. People like Nannu keep going to government offices without getting anywhere. Their problems aren’t solved. But now, with the Right to Information, things would change. There will be more efficiency and openness in how the government departments work.