Science Notes # 5

• Everything in this universe is made up of material named matter.
• Early Indian Philosophers classified matter in the form of 5 basic elements - the Panch Tatva.

1. air
2. earth
3. water
4. fire
5. sky

• The matter around us exist in 3 different states - solid, liquid and Gas

Solids:

• Have a definite shape, distinct boundaries and fixed volume.
• have tendency to maintain their shape when subjected to outside force.
• they are rigid

Liquids:

1. have no fixed shape
2. have a fixed volume
3. they can be called fluids as they are not rigid.
4. solids, liquids, gases can diffuse into liquids.

Gaseous state:

• Gases are highly commpressible as compared to solids and liquids.
• In the Gaseous state, the particles move about randomly at high speed.

• Water can exist in 3 states of matter

1. solid as Ice
2. Liquid as water
3. Gas as water vapour

• The melting point of a solid is an indication of the strength of the force of attraction between its particles.
• The temperature at which a solid melts to become a liquid at the atmospheric pressure is called its melting point.
• The melting point of Ice is 273.16K
• The process of melting,i.e. change of solid state into liquid is also known as fusion.
• The amount of heat energy that is required to change 1kg of a solid into liquid at atmospheric pressure at its melting point is known as the latent heat of fusion.
• The temperature at which a liquid state starts boiling at the atmospheric pressure is known as its boiling point.
• A change of state directly from solid to gas without changing into liquid state ( or vice versa) is called sublimation.
• change of state from solid to liquid is fusion.
• Change of state from liquid to gas is vaporisation.
• Change of state from gas to liquid is condensation.
• The phenomenon of change of liquid into vapours at any temperature below its boiling point is called Evaporation.
• Humidity is the amount of water vapour present in air.
• Now scientists are talking about 2 other states of matter. They are - Plasma and Bose Einstein condensate.
• Plasma is the state consists of super energetic and super excited particles.
• The S.I unit of Volume is cubic meter.
• The S.I unit of temperature is Kelvin.
• The S.I unit of weight is Newton
• The S.I unit of Density is Kilogram per cubic meter.
• The S.I unit of Pressure is Pascal.

Source: Science IX NCERT chapter 1
 

Indian Polity Notes # 5

Source:  Polity 9th NCERT chapter VI

Citizen’s Rights in Saudi Arabia:

• The country is ruled by a hereditary king and the people have no role in electing or changing their rulers.
• The king selects the legislature as well as the executive. He appoints the judges and can change any of their decisions.
• Citizens cannot form political parties or any political organisations. Media cannot report anything that the monarch does not like.
• There is no freedom of religion. Every citizen is required to be Muslim. Non-Muslim residents can follow their religion in private, but not in public.
• Women are subjected to many public restrictions. The testimony of one man is considered equal to that of two women.

• Rights are claims of a person over other fellow beings, over the society and over the government.
• Rights are reasonable claims of persons recognised by society and sanctioned by law.
• The Constitution says that the government shall not deny to any person in India equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws. It means that the laws apply in the same manner to all, regardless of a person’s status. This is called the rule of law.
• Rule of law is the foundation of any democracy. It means that no person is above the law.
• Freedom means absence of constraints. In practical life it means absence of interference in our affairs by others – be it other individuals or the government. We want to live in society, but we want to be free. We want to do things in the way we want to do them.   under the Indian Constitution all citizens have the right to
• Freedom of speech and expression
• Assembly in a peaceful manner
• Form associations and unions
• Move freely throughout the country
• Reside in any part of the country, and
• Practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.     
  
•  The fundamental rights in the Constitution are important because they are enforceable. We have a right to seek the enforcement of the above mentioned rights. This is called the Right to Constitutional Remedies. This itself is a Fundamental Right. This right makes other rights effective.
• When any of our rights are violated we  can seek remedy through courts. If it is a Fundamental Right we can directly approach the Supreme Court or the High Court of a state. That is why Dr.Ambedkar called the Right to Constitutional Remedies, ‘the heart and soul’ of our Constitution.
• Under the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) any citizen or group of citizens can approach the Supreme Court or a High Court for the protection of public interest against a particular law or action of the government. One can write to the judges even on a postcard. The court will take up the matter if the judges find it in public interest.
• Amnesty International: An international organisation of volunteers who campaign for human rights. This organisation brings out independent reports on the violation of human rights all over the world.
• Covenant: Promise made by individuals, groups or countries to uphold a rule or principle. It is legally binding on the signatories to the agreement or statement.

Indian Polity Notes # 4

Source: Polity 9th NCERT chapter V

• The Government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1979. It was headed by B.P. Mandal. Hence it was popularly called the Mandal Commission. It was asked to determine the criteria to identify the socially and educationally backward classes in India and recommend steps to be taken for their advancement. The Commission gave its Report in 1980 and made many recommendations. One of these was that 27 per cent of government jobs be reserved for the socially and educationally backward classes.
• Parliament exercises political authority on behalf of the people in many ways:

1  Parliament is the final authority for making laws in any country. This task of law making or legislation is so crucial that these assemblies are called legislatures. 

2. Parliaments all over the world can make new laws, change existing laws, or abolish existing laws and make new ones in their place.

3. Parliaments all over the world exercise some control over those who run the government. In some countries like India this control is direct and full. Those who run the government can take decisions only so long as they enjoy support of the Parliament.

Parliaments control all the money that governments have. In most countries any the public money can be spent only when the Parliament sanctions it

4. Parliament is the highest forum of discussion and debate on public issues and national policy in any country. Parliament can seek information about any matter.

• In our country, the Parliament consists of two Houses. The two Houses are known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). The President of India is a part of the Parliament.
• Prime Minister is the most important political institution in the country. 
• The President appoints the Prime Minister. But the President cannot appoint anyone she likes.
• The President appoints the leader of the majority party or the coalition of parties that commands a majority in the Lok Sabha, as Prime Minister. In case no single party or alliance gets a majority, the President appoints the person most likely to secure a majority support. 
• The Prime Minister does not have a fixed tenure. He continues in power so long as he remains the leader of the majority party or coalition.
• After the appointment of the Prime Minister, the President appoints other ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister.
• The Prime Minister is free to choose ministers, as long as they are members of Parliament. Sometimes, a person who is not a member of Parliament can also become a minister. But such a person has to get elected to one of the Houses of the Parliament within six months of appointment as minister.
• Cabinet Ministers are usually top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties who are in charge of the major ministries. Usually the Cabinet Ministers meet to take decisions in the name of the Council of Ministers. Cabinet is thus the inner ring of the Council of Ministers. It comprises about 20 ministers.
• Since it is not practical for all ministers to meet regularly and discuss everything, the decisions are taken in Cabinet meetings. That is why parliamentary democracy in most countries is often known as the Cabinet form of government. The Cabinet works as a team. The ministers may have different views and opinions, but everyone has to own up to every decision of the Cabinet.
• The President is the head of the State.
• The President is not elected directly by the people. The elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and the elected Members of the Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) elect her. A candidate standing for President’s post has to get a majority of votes to win the election. This ensures that the President can be seen to represent the entire nation.
• At the same time the President can never claim the kind of direct popular mandate that the Prime Minister can. This ensures that she remains only a nominal executive
• The President is the supreme commander of the defence forces of India.
• The Supreme Court and the High Courts have the power to interpret the Constitution of the country. They can declare invalid any law of the legislature or the actions of the executive, whether at the Union level or at the state level, if they find such a law or action is against the Constitution. Thus they can determine the Constitutional validity of any legislation or action of the executive in the country, when it is challenged before them. This is known as the judicial review.
• The Supreme Court of India has also ruled that the core or basic principles of the Constitution cannot be changed by the Parliament.

Indian Polity Notes # 3

(Source: IX NCERT Polity Chapter 4)

• A simple list of the minimum conditions of a democratic election: 

First, everyone should be able to choose. This means that everyone should have one vote and every vote should have equal value. 

Second, there should be something to choose from. Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer

some real choice to the voters. 

Third, the choice should be offered at regular intervals. Elections must be held regularly after every few years.

Fourth, the candidate preferred by the people should get elected. 

Fifth, elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they really wish.

• For Lok Sabha elections, the country is divided into 543 constituencies. 
• The representative elected from each constituency is called a Member of Parliament or an MP.
• One of the features of a democratic election is that every vote should have equal value. That is why our Constitution requires that each constituency should have a roughly equal population living within it.
• Currently, in the Lok Sabha, 84 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47 for the Scheduled Tribes (as on 1 September 2012). This number is in proportion to their share in the total population. Thus the reserved seats for SC and ST do not take away the legitimate share of any other social group. 
• In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is prepared much before the election and given to everyone. This list is officially called the Electoral Roll and is commonly known as the Voters’ List. 
• In our country elections are conducted by an independent and very powerful Election Commission (EC). It enjoys the same kind of independence that the judiciary enjoys.
• The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India. 
• But once appointed, the Chief Election Commissioner is not answerable to the President or the government.

Indian Polity Notes # 2

Source: IX NCERT Polity Chapter 1 to 3

Chapter - I

• Salvador Allende was the founder leader of the socialist party of chile. He became president of Chile in the year 1970. He introduced various reform measures in Chile. He was opposed to foreign companies taking away natural resources like copper from the country.
• On 11 september 1973 the military bombed the president's house and Allende died in the attack.  An Army general took over presidency of the country. This is Known as Military coup.
• In 1973 military coup in chile was led by General Augusto Pinochet. He became President in Chile and ruled it for 17 years.
• In 1988, Pinochet decided to hold a referendum in which the people of Chile voted a decisive NO to Pinochet. He lost his power.
• In 1976 Lech walesa, an electrician at Lenin Shipayard in the city of Gdanak, Poland was dismissed from service for demanding higher pay.
• In 1980, the workers of Lenin Shipyard went on strike with a demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker, who was unjustly dismissed.
• Lech Walesa joined the strikers and soon emerged as a leader. they wanted the right to form independent trade unions. Finally the Government had to give in. A new trade union called solidarity was formed.
• In 1989 solidarity made an agreement with the government to conduct free elections.
• The Universal Adult Franchise was adopted in

1893 - NewZealand
1917 - Russia
!918 - Germany
1928 - Britain
1931 - SriLanka
1944 - France
1945 - Japan
1950 - India
1962 - Australia
1965 - USA
1978 - Spain
1994 - South Africa

• Ghana used to be a British colony named Gold Coast. It became independent in 1957. Kwame Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister and then the president of Ghana. In 1966, he was overthrown by Military.
• Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained freedom from colonial rule in 1948 and became a democracy. But the democratic rule ended in 1962 with a military coup.
• United Nations General Assembly cannot take any decision about what action should be taken in a conflict between different countries. Only UN security council can take such crucial decisions.
• Martial Law - A system of rules that takes effect when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of Justice.
• Referendum - A direct vote in which an entire electorate to either accept or reject a particular proposal.

Chapter - II

• Democracy can be simply defined as a form of government in which the rules are elected by the people.
• Features of the democracy:

1. The final decision making power must rest with those elected by the people.
2. Democracy must be based on a free and fair elections where those currently in power have a fair chance of losing.
3. In a democracy, each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one value.
4. A democratic government rules within limits set by constitutional law and citizens' rights.

Chapter -III

• Nelson Mandela and seven other leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for daring to oppose the apartheid regime in his country.
• Nelson Mandela spent 28 yea rs in South Africa's most dreaded prison, Robben Island. 
• During the 17th and 18th centuries many whites from Europe had settled in South Africa and became the local rulers. They imposed the Apartheid system on south Africa.
• Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa. 
• Nelson Mandela's autobiography " The Long walk to freedom".
• The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all the people living together in a country.
• Constitution is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in a territory and also relationship between the people and the government.
• A constitution does many things 

1. it generate a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together.
2. it specifies how the government to be constituted, who will have the power to take which decisions.
3. it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are; and 
4. it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

• In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other congress leaders drafted a constitution for India.
• In 1931, the resolution at the Karachi session of the Indian national congress dwelt on how independent India's constitution look like.
• The drafting of Indian constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the constituent assembly.
• The elections to this assembly were held in July 1946.
• The constituent assembly that wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members.
• The assembly adopted the constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on 26 January 1950.

Indian history Notes # 17

Source: XII NCERT History Part II Chapter 4

• Major sources for the agrarian history of the 16^th and early 17^th centuries are chronicles and documents from the Mughal court.
• Ain-i-Akbari authored by the Akbar's court historian Abu’l Fazl.
• Ain-i-Akbari recorded the arrangements made by the state to ensure cultivation, to enable the collection of revenue by the agencies of the state and to regulate the relationship between the state and rural magnates, the Zamindars.
• The term which Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was Raiyat.
• Sources of the 17^th century refer to two kinds of peasants –     Khud Kashta & Pahi Kashta.
• Khud Kashta were residents of the village in which they held their lands.
• Pahi Kashta were non residents cultivators who belonged to some other village, but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis.
• Tobacco plant arrived first in the Deccan, spread to Northern India in the early years of the 17^th century.
• Maize was introduced into India via Africa and Spain and by the 17^th century it became major crop of western India.

There were three constituents of village community –

1. The Cultivators
2. The Panchayat
3. The village Headman (Muqaddam or Mandal)

• Agricultural laborers were called Majur.
• In Muslim communities menials like Halalkhoran (Scavengers) were housed outside the boundaries of the village.
• The chief function of the village headmen was to supervise the preparation of village accounts, assisted by he accountant or patwari of the panchayat.
• Pargana was an administrative subdivision of the Mughal province.
• Peshkash was a form of tribute collected by the Mughal state
• The Zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat, meaning property.
• The Mughal land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages

1. Assessment (Jama) 
2.  Actual collection (hasil)

• Amin was an official responsible for ensuring that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces.
• The Emperor Akbar classified the lands and fixed different revenue to be paid by each.

1. Polaj is land which is annually cultivated for each crop in succession
2. Parauti is land left out of cultivation for a time that is may recover its strength
3. Chachar is land that has lain follow for 3 or 4 years.
4. Banjar is land Uncultivated for 5 years or more.

• The Mughal administrative system had at its apex a military cum bureaucratic apparatics (mansabdari) which was responsible for looking after the civil and military affairs of the state.
• The testimony of an Italian traveler, Giovanni careri, who passed through India in 1690, provides a graphic account about the way silver travelled across the globe to reach India.
• The Ain-i-Akbari is made of 5 books (Daftars).

1. Manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance.
2. Sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the establishment of servants.
3. Mulk-abadi, deals with the fiscal side of he empire and provides rich quantitative information on revenue rates.
4. 4^th & 5^th books deal with the religious, literarty and cultural traditions of the people.

• Ain-i-Akbari was edited & translated to English by Henry Blochman.
• Asiatic Society of Bengal published the Ain-i-Akbari in its Bibliotheca India Series.