NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science, Political Science Chapter 1 - Power Sharing

This chapter continues the discussion on Democracy as discussed in Class 9. This chapter focuses on Belgium and Sri Lanka and how these countries handle power-sharing.

Belgium is a European country with a population of over one crore. Of the country's total population, 59% speak the Dutch language, four-hundredth of individuals speak French, and the remaining speak German. However, the minority French-speaking community was made powerful. Therefore they got the advantage of economic development and education. This created tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities during the 1950s and 1960s. In Belgium, the government handled the community distinction by providing equality between all communities. Between 1970 and 1993, Belgian leaders amended their constitution fourfold and came up with a replacement model to run the government.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka is an island nation having a population of 2 crores. Sri Lanka has 74% Sinhala-speakers and 18% Tamil-speakers. Moreover, there are two subgroups, "Sri Lankan Tamils" and "Indian Tamils", among Tamils. In Srilanka, the Sinhala community enjoyed the larger majority. Majoritarianism could also be a belief that the majority community of a nation ought to frame rules in whichever means it desires, albeit it ends up irrespective and ignoring the wants and desires of the minority communities. After Srilanka became free of colonial rule in 1948, it had two major communities, the Sinhalese (74 per cent) and so the Tamilians (18 per cent). As a result of the Sinhalese were in the majority, and they appoint themselves to power. They appointed Sinhalese folks to discriminatory positions. This created a dissent among the Tamilian community that, with time, strained the relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities. The distrust between each of the communities finally culminated into a war, with Tamils demanding autonomy.

It is assumed that each ability of a government should reside in one person or cluster of persons set at one place. Otherwise, it would be terribly tough to make fast choices and to enforce them. However, these notions have been modified with the emergence of Democracy. Throughout a democracy, folks rule themselves through establishments of self-rule. Everybody has a voice in the shaping of public policies. Therefore, throughout a democratic country, political power ought to be distributed among all.