POWER SHARING
Worksheets
1) QP -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ht-ZhcyYJs0Al8E9j_KhbcRdhqUnMpXl/view?usp=drivesdk
Answer key-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H3mcDM1Y8WENHFPfaltSqhNEoCRyr6MI/view?usp=drivesdk
2) QP -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VxPDVjSk4cCMnqU6WWmQOeDba6m_dyqL/view?usp=drivesdk
AK -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14CM1A4fM775upYdd6vXTDJcshQM6YcEZ/view?usp=drivesdk
3). QP -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rBITyU5XvY_ImoDHxfkm-rWRebA-C-gM/view?usp=drivesdk
AK-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eq1hzUpWX2rIPNLw7-PPxEOVabEV_GBG/view?usp=drivesdk
Questions/ Answers
Very Short Answer Type Question [1 Mark]
1) After independence, Sri Lanka witnessed the supremacy of which community?
Answer: After independence in 1948, Sri Lanka witnessed the supremacy of Sinhala
community.
2) What is the official religion of Sri Lanka?
Answer:Buddhism is the official religion of Sri Lanka.
Short Answer Type Questions [3 Marks]
3) Do you think that the steps taken by Sri Lankan Government to establish the
supremacy of Sinhalas were justified and long lasting? Give your view point.
Answer:
The steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to establish Sinhalas’ supremacy cannot be
justified as long lasting because of the following reasons.
-These steps ignored the interests of a minority community. Even the basic rights were not given
to them.
-Discrimination based on religion and language further deprived other communities in Sri
Lanka.
- Repeated denial of the demands further developed distrust and ignited the situation that
resulted in a civil war causing terrible setback to Sri Lankan social, cultural and economic life.
4) Sharing of powers makes a country more powerful and united’. Justify the statement.
Answer:
Sharing of power makes a country more powerful and united because of the following reasons.
-Power sharing ensures that all people have stake in government.
-Power sharing ensures maximum participation. It upholds the concept of people’s rule. It
always brings better outcomes in democracy. It ensures the political stability in democracy.
- Power sharing accommodates diverse groups. It helps to reduce the possibility of conflict
between social groups.
5) Describe any three ‘majoritarian measures’ taken by the Sri Lankan Government to
establish Sinhala supremacy.
Answer:
The following are the majoritarian measures adopted by the Sri Lankan government to establish Sinhala supremacy.
- In the year 1956, an act was passed, which established Sinhala as the official language to be
used in Sri Lanka disregarding the minority group of Tamils. The passing of this act created a
feeling of alienation among the minority group, i.e. Sri Lankan Tamils and they started to feel
left-out from the society.
-The government then started adopting and formulating government policies that favoured the
Sinhala people in government jobs and for university positions, which made the Sri Lankan
Tamils feel ousted.
- The Sri Lankan Government further proclaimed that they shall foster and protect only
Buddhism as their Sate religion and refused to cater to any other religion disregarding the
religion of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
6) Bring out any two sharp contrasts between Belgium and Sri Lankan democracies.
Answer:
-Sri Lanka and Belgium are both democratic countries yet have a very diverse social set-up.
Both the countries have adopted very different approaches when it comes to power sharing.
- Belgium produced an ideal example of democratic system. It adopted the policy of
accommodation of social and ethnics divisions. On the other hand, Sri Lanka also adopted
democratic system but followed majoritarian policies.
-Under the Belgium model of democracy, power was shared among two ethnic groups. Sri
Lanka favoured the interests of the majority Sinhala community.
- In Belgium, both the groups had equal share in working of government but in Sri Lanka the
minority community was isolated.
To maintain political stability and unity, equal representation was provided to both the groups.
Apart from that, community government of both the ethnic groups also existed at the local level.
Sri Lanka, however, had no such arrangement.
- Belgium constitution was amended four times before arriving at a final draft to prevent civil
strife. In Sri Lanka, majoritarianism led to civil war for twenty long years.
(Any 2)
7) Sharing of powers makes a country more powerful and united. Do you agree with the
statement? Why?
Answer:
Yes, I agree with the statement. Power sharing makes a country more united.
- Power sharing helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups.
It is a good way to ensure the stability of political order as social conflict often leads to violence and political instability.
- Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy. The concept of democracy is a system of
government of the people, by the people and for the people, which emphasizes on distribution
of power among people.
- It involves sharing powers with those affected by its exercise and who have to live with its
effects, so that the people would be consulted on how they are to be governed.
8) Explain two reasons as to why power sharing is desirable.
Answer:
There are many reason as to why power sharing is important in a democracy. The following are
the two main sets in which the reasons can be broadly divided.
Prudential reason:
- Power sharing helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social
groups.
It is a good way to ensure the stability of political order as social conflict often leads to violence
and political stability.
Moral Reason:
-;Power sharing is the very spirit of democracy. The concept of democracy is a system of
government of the people, by the people and for the people, which emphasizes on distribution
of power among people.
It involves sharing powers with those affected by its exercise and who have to live its effects, so
that the people would be consulted on how they are to be governed.
10) Explain how power is shared among different organs of government.
Answer:
- In democracy, power is shared among different organs of government, i.e. legislature,
executive and judiciary through the horizontal distribution of power. It is so because it allows
different organs of government to be placed at the same level to exercise different powers.
- horizontal division, different organs exercise their power based on the concept of separation
of powers such as legislature makes laws, executive enforces these laws and judiciary
interprets these laws. This results in balance of power among different organs of government.
No organ can exercise unlimited power as each organ checks the other. Hence, in horizontal
division the concept of checks and balance is followed.
The power is shared between different organs of the government in horizontal form of power
sharing.
Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]
11) Highlight the measures adopted by the Belgium Constitution for the prevention of
conflicts in Belgium.
Answer:
-When the Belgian leaders recognized the existence of regional differences and cultural
diversities, they amended their constitution four times in order to accommodate these
differences.
The following are the ways in which Belgium has accommodated the existing regional
differences and cultural diversities.
- Equal number of ministers: The Government of Belgium has equal number of Dutch- and
French-speaking ministers. This has been done to give equal power to the majority and the
minority language speaking groups.
- Setting up of Community Government: A third kind of government, named the community
government, is introduced in addition to the Central and the State Government. This
government has the power regarding cultural, educational and lingual issues. This government
comprises members from all the three communities—Dutch-speaking, French-speaking and
German-speaking.
- Fair share of power: Many powers of the Central government have been given to the state
governments of the two regions of the country. The state governments are not subordinate to
the Central government but are independent.
- Equal representation: In the State Government of Brussels—the capital city—both the French-
and Dutch-speaking communities have equal representation.
12) Q.1. Describe with examples the way in which power can be shared among different social and linguistic groups?
Ans. Power may also be shared among different social groups, such as religious and linguistic
groups, for example, Belgium. In Belgium, this different social group is known as community
government.
In some countries there are constitutional and legal arrangements whereby socially weaker
sections and women are represented in the legislature and administration. This
type of arrangement is meant to give space in the government and administration to diverse
social groups who otherwise would feel alienated from the government.
