CLASS X POLITICAL SCIENCE IMPORTANT CARTOON BASED QUESTIONS 2020-2021 Exam

1) What does the cartoon represent?

Ans. The cartoon refers to the problems of running a coalition government. If any one party fails to get a majority, they are left with no option but to form a coalition government. In a coalition government, conflicts are maximum, decision making becomes slow and they generally result in fall of the government as all the parties want to have the charge of the key areas (steering wheel as depicted in this cartoon). There cannot be two steering wheels in car, as it will make it directionless.


2) Which country is represented here?

Ans. The country represented and talked here is Germany. The two major parties of the country, namely the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party formed a coalition. The two parties are historically rivals to each other. They had to form a coalition government because neither of them got clear majority of seats on their own in the 2005 elections. They take divergent positions on several policy matters, but still jointly run the government.

1) What does the cartoon represent?

Ans. In 2005, some new laws were made in Russia giving more powers to its President. During the same time the US President visited Russia. Here, Putin can be seen advising Bush that they got to keep their rein tight, i.e. they should have the maximum control.

2) Identify the two main leaders shown here.

Ans. George W. Bush of USA and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

3) What, according to this cartoon, is the relationship between democracy and concentration of power?

Ans. The very idea of democracy is against the concept of concentration of power. The cartoon explains how the US and the Russian President have given them more powers in having a final say with regard to any policy decision and are controlling the democratic regimes of their respective country.

4) Can you think of some other examples to illustrate the point being made here?

Ans. Any other country where power distribution is not fair and is uneven can be cited as an example here. For example- when Sheikh Mujib Ur Rahman did the same thing by declaring Bangladesh as a one party democracy and making his own party ( Awami League) more dominant and powerful.

1) What does the cartoon reflect?

Ans. This cartoon shows the relations between centre and states when it comes to division of powers. Central government has a say in the allocation of funds, resources and powers to the states in India. States feel that this has made the central government more dominant. The centre is seen here as very selective in distributing powers to the states.

2) Identify the leader shown in the above cartoon.

Ans. The leader shown above is the first woman Prime Minister of India- Mrs. Indira Gandhi. She was the Prime Minister of India from 1967 to 1977 and 1980-1984.

3) What kind of powers can the states be seen demanding here?

Ans. Power to run their governments independently without control, to get more resources, authority to change boundaries and form new states or may be separatists’ demands.

4) Has Centre misused this power

Ans. Central government was made stronger by the constitution makers as it was very clear that states cannot be given equal powers as it may lead to conflicts and at the end disintegration of the country. Nehru too was a strong and ardent supporter of a strong central government. Sometimes central governments have misused this power by using Article 356 of the Indian Constitution by imposing President’s Rule in some states. For e.g.: In 1957 CPI party was dismissed by the Congress by using this Article as Congress failed to form government there.

5) How can you say India has a strong central government?

Ans. Central government has the power to frame laws on important functions like defence , finance , external affairs etc; Centre has overriding authority over concurrent list and also residuary powers ;it has unilateral power to change the area , boundaries of states; Power to amend Constitution under provisions of article 368 , the power states doesn't have ;All India services like IAS, IPS , IFS are recruited and trained by centre; Emergency provisions , central government will becomes all powerful and states go into the total control of centre; Appointing Governors to states.

1) Identify the leader shown in the above cartoon.

Ans. Atal Bihari Vajpayee

2) What is being shown in this cartoon?

Ans. The concept of coalition government has been shown here in the cartoon. Vajpayee’s government could not garner support in the 1996 elections and his government fell in just 13 days. So to overcome this, in the 1998 elections, BJP formed an alliance before the elections known as NDA- National Democratic Alliance.

3) Identify the year which has been shown here.

Ans. 1998- when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of India.

4) Why is the man on the chair holding a lotus?

Ans. Atal Biahri Vajpayee belonged from the Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP) and their electoral symbol is lotus. That is why he is seen holding one as it marks the victory of lotus in the 1998 elections.

5) What is his chair made up of?

Ans. His chair is made up of bombs as the main issue with a coalition government is that it can explode/ break at any point of time due to conflicts and differences. There is always a fear that the smaller parties will withdraw support from the government.

6) Mention one advantage and one disadvantage of a coalition government.

Ans. ADVANTAGE: A smaller party, state level parties also gets a chance to form a government at the centre.

DISADVANTAGE: It is risky as any party can withdraw support suddenly and it might lead to fall of such government.

1) What does the above cartoon represent?

Ans. The given cartoon represents how a woman is perceived by various sections of the society. For a TV show maker, a woman is seen a housewife who sits idle and just watches TV whole day. For the fashion industry, an ideal woman is the one who is beautiful and slim figure. For society, a housewife is supposed to be a multi-tasker, who should work all day without complaining. For a potential groom and in laws, the ideal bride is the one who can bring lots of dowry.

2) How is a woman perceived by the male employees and the employer?

Ans. For an employer and the fellow male colleagues of a female employee, a woman can only be seen as a show piece, a flower vase that is just there to beautify the office and nothing else. She should not ask for equal salary, equal rights. She is just there for the decoration. This is the most harmful perception of women.

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1) Identify the building shown in the above cartoon.

Ans. The Indian Parliament House is shown here.

2) What is shown in the above cartoon?

Ans. The cartoon shows male politicians blocking the gates of the Parliament for women. The Women’s Reservation Bill is pending since 2008 and it has not been passed. It is a lapsed bill. It asks for reserving 33 % seats for women in the Parliament.

3) What is the status of Women’s Reservation Bill?

Ans. It is a lapsed bill. It has not been passed yet. Though women have got reservation in the local government by the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, 1992.

1) What does the cartoon represent?

Ans. The cartoon shows how a special chair has been made for the new Chief Minister to prove his secular credentials. The chair has all religious symbols. But the irony is, a chair having all the symbols won’t make a politician secular. They have to be secular from within and needs to prove during their tenure that they are impartial towards any particular religion.

2) Which concept is shown here?

Ans. Secularism. It means that all the religions are equal and that the government and religion are separate entities.

3) Give example of the events in India when there was a threat to secularism.

Ans. In 2002, after the Godhara Riots in Gujarat, the then CM- Narendra Modi was allegated of his involvement in provoking actions against the Muslim community. Later, he was also advised by the then

1) What is shown in the cartoon?

Ans. It is shown that how some political parties influence a particular caste based group, a community and focus on them so that they become their loyal voters.

2) Identify any 2 leaders.

Ans. L.K Advani, Atal Bihar Vajpayee, V.P Singh

3) What is Vote Bank politics?

Ans. Vote bank politics is the practice of creating and maintaining vote banks through divisive policies. As it encourages voters to vote on the basis of narrow communal considerations, often against their better judgement, it is considered harmful to the principles of representative democracy.

4) Do you think that political leaders are right to treat people belonging to a caste as ‘vote banks’?

Ans. I think that political leaders are not right in treating people belonging to a caste as vote banks. The reason is that making a vote bank based on caste will divide the velocity into different groups by dirty game of politicians and political parties during elections to win the election. It can create tension among different castes as a result there may be blood sheds on the occasion of polling.

1) What is shown in the given cartoon?

Ans. The famous cartoonist R. K Laxman is seen holding and reading a newspaper which shows that when the nation is in peril and facing lots of difficulties and the politicians are nowhere to be seen. Politicians are only active when there are elections. Another case can be seen here that nobody is willing to take any responsibility for the problems being faced.

2) What issue can be seen being discussed here?

Ans. One of the major issues that can be seen discussed here is the Ayodhya case, as one man is holding a banner which has a temple made on it. Religious matters can be the core issue discussed here.

1) Identify the country and the leader.

Ans. Berlusconi , the Prime Minister of Italy.

2) What is the cartoon trying to depict?

Ans. This cartoon shows the then Prime Minister of Italy- Berlusconi. He was also one of the top businessmen in Italy. He was the leader of the Forza Italia founded in 1993. His company owns TV channels, the most important publishing company, a foot ball club (AC Milan) and a bank. This cartoon was made during the last elections and is portraying how is using the media as a puppet to serve his vested interests.

1) Identify the country represented in this cartoon.

Ans. United States of America.

2) What does this cartoon represent?

Ans. This cartoon was drawn during the Presidency of George Bush of the Republican Party in the USA. The party’s symbol is elephant. The cartoon seems to suggest that the Corporate America controls all major institutions of the country.

3) What are the major institutions shown here?

Ans. Senate, The Supreme Court, Media, White House.

1) Explain the given cartoon.

Ans. This cartoon shows how a person in India is filing his nomination as a candidate in elections to the Election Commission of India. It is now mandatory to show your assets in an affidavit before elections. The woman is shown to mention 50 crores as her assets, and the officer is surprised to see that. He is seen asking her, if she has so much money, why she is even contesting the elections, as the politicians in India tend to get corrupted and make money except for doing well for people.


2) Which reform of the Election Commission of India is discussed here?

Ans. The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. The new system has made a lot of information available to the public. But there is no system of check if the information given by the candidates is true. An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding her personal information

1) What kind of political reform has been discussed here?

Ans. The Election Commission of India has issued a code of conduct which needs to be strictly followed before and during the elections.

2) What is the “ Election Code” as shown in the cartoon?

Ans. Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, election manifestos, processions and general conduct. Its main purpose is to ensure that ruling parties, at the Centre and in the States, do not misuse their position of advantage to gain an unfair edge. It is designed to avert practices which are deemed corrupt under model code of conduct. For example, politicians should not make hate speeches, putting one community against another or make promises about new projects that may sway a voter.

3) Why are people shown disinterested about it?

Ans. Politicians in India do not take this code of conduct seriously sometimes. And there are adverse consequences of it too. It may lead to ban on their rallies, promotion and even cancellation of ticket.

1) What is shown in the given cartoon?

Ans. The cartoon throws a light on the issues faced in a democracy. It includes the Indian examples- language dispute, separatist movements, students’ demands, border disputes with different countries, excesses made by the police and bureaucrats.

2) Identify the man sitting on the rock named democracy.

Ans. This is the famous cartoonist R.K Laxman who gave Indian politics a new dimension by releasing political cartoons which commented on all relevant issues. He is seen worried here due to an array of problems faced by India.

Q. Which of the following option best signifies this cartoon?

(CBSE SAMPLE PAPER 2019-20) 1 MARK

A. Demand for separate state from Democratic Government

B. Democratic Government is facing territorial issues with the bordering states

C. Democratic Government is coping with multiple pressures through accommodation

D. Democratic Government accepts demands based on separate state

1) What is shown in this cartoon?

Ans. It shows how the government is keeping an eye on the citizens through a lens/ telescope and knows each and every detail about the but the citizens on the other hand do not have any such information about the government.

2) Can you think of what and how the government knows about you and your family?

Ans. The government of India has various tools through which information about the citizens can be taken, for example – Aadhar cards, ration cards and voter identity cards etc. Every ten years, the government conducts census. In this census, there are records of each adult member of the family along with his /her sex, age and education. There is a provision of registering birth, marriage and death of the family members with the government institutions.

3) What are the sources of information for you about the government?

Ans. Right to Information, information on government websites, newspapers etc. Political leaders either local or national are the main sources information to the common people. They make them aware of the polices and decisions taken by the government.

1) What does these cartoons represent?

Ans. It tells us about the disparities between the rich and poor. The rich is getting richer and poor are getting poorer. The economic gains are distributed in society in such a way that this inequality fails to disappear.

2) Should the gains of economic growth be evenly distributed?

Ans. Yes up to a certain extent it should be. Even Marxism supports this idea.  Of course, the gains of economic growth should be equally distributed among the citizens so as to make an economically even society. Also this would be as per one of the basis causes of democracy i.e., economic justice.

3) How can the poor get a voice for a better share in a nation?

Ans. The poor will get better share in democratic nation when they will be given proper representation and also they get a chance to participate in a decision making.

4) What can the poor countries do to receive a greater share in the world’s wealth?

Ans. They should get united to fight for the cause. Only then, they will be able to get their share. At the same time, they will have to take initiatives to strengthen their internal democracy and exploit their own available natural resources

(i) Democratic politics when make race, religion, caste or any other existing social division, as its base, it further divides the society and give an impetus to the conflict. This is not healthy for democracy itself.

(ii) Contrary to it, when the existing divisions are minimized through democratic means on the basis of moral and prudential reasons, it leads to the solid ration of the country. It also contributes in the development of each and every class of the society. It makes an environment where people can grow and prosper together.

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1) What does this cartoon represent?

Ans. The cartoon relates to inequality that women face today all over the world. This reflects insecurity to women’s dignity.

2) What does this graph represent?

Ans. The graph shows that even after many complaints against it, democracy has been the most acclaimed form of government in the South Asian nations.

3) Why there is a mention of Rosa Parks in the cartoon? Why is a scene of a bus shown?

Ans. Rosa Parks was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has called her "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".  In1955,   in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected bus driver James F. Blake's order to relinquish her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation.