Citizens

CITIZENS

Q1. What does the word citizen mean?

Ans: A citizen is not any person who lives in any country not is he just an inhabitant. He does not merely live in any area but actively participates in the process of the government. A citizen has political rights and is protected by the law of the land. If there are not political rights, then there are no citizens.

Historically there were no citizens only the ruler and the ruled. The governments would tell the people what to do and what not to do and would not listen in return. They were basically feudal societies. But with revolutions like the American and the French, the society changed from monarchy to democratic with declarations of equal rights but equal rights were not granted to the local population. Only a person with property could vote and exercise his suffrage. But with many suffrage movements that took place the right meaning to the world citizen was given that is equal right to every person who is living in that country or state.


Q2. How die the word come up?

Ans.: The word citizen has long history. Though the true definition for the word citizen cannot be given in the country which does not have a democratic rule because here the citizen does not have the right to express his opinion. But the true meaning of the citizen came up after the revolution of America and France.

Previously though citizens did exist in the feudal society, only those with property were truly citizens and only they could take active participation in the government process. But with the many movements and wars that came up, a new meaning to the word citizen was given i.e. any person who is living in that country and is protected by the rights of the constitution of that land, is called the citizen of that country.

Q3. How did the politics go on in the feudal societies?

Ans.: In the olden eras, the people were ruled by the rulers. They framed laws and passed it on to the people they ruled. Those who were ruled had duties but they never had any rights. Though England was the first country to become democratic with monarchy being present on the side, still the subjects did not have total rights. Only the noblemen and aristocratic classes had tota rights. Nazi and fascist societies some of the brutal kinds of societies where the dictators dictated and the people had nil rights. France though enjoyed total democracy after French revolution, but still these countries were very ruthless when it came to their colonies.

These feudal societies gave rights to the people with property and those people who belonged to the ruling classes. The peasants and the slaves did not have any ;rights at all. They were always burdened with the taxes while the upper social classes had not burden of taxes at all. Politics in these feudal societies went on with the idea that men were not equal. So the laws framed too were not equal and never really for the welfare of the subjects but only to the aristocracy.

Q4. What is a democratic government?

Ans: A democratic government is one which is elected by the people and therefore has to work for them. It is accountable to the actions that it performs. All the people who live in that country have equal rights and the most fundamental right i..e. the right to vote. History is witness to the fact that todays democratic government has undergone innumerable changes to gain its present form. The rule that only persons with property could vote was changed to one person one vote which changes in the democratic form of government.

A democratic government is an association one cannot escape or be indifferent. It has control over one and one’s action but one has freedom of speech and has freedom to participate in the process of the government. In a democratic government though many rights have been given to the cirizens for their protection but the government expects certain amount of response and responsibility from its citizens.

A democratic state particularly depends on the quality of citizens. Passive citizens cannot form a qualitative democratic state. A democratic government can be a success only when there is equal participation from both the sides. Increased participation of ordinary citizens makes the government more responsive and the citizens more responsible.


Q5. What are rights?

Ans: Rights and duties are always linked. One can define rights as what the citizens can demand from the government. In an actual state the rights are of many different types. They refer to civil, political, social, economic and cultural aspects of life. Rights are meant to be opportunities for the expression of the potentialities in people.

The Indian constitution for instance gives a number of rights to its citizens. These are called the fundamental rights.

The rights enjoyed by the Indian citizens are :

Right to equality
Right to Freedom, cultural and educational rights.
Right to religious freedom.
Right against exploitation.
Right to constitutional remedies.

To begin with the right to property was a fundamental right. Under the 44th amendment this right has been omitted. However, it remains a legal right. There is a right to constitutional remedies through which a citizen can being the government to court and protect his rights. This is a right about rights.

Rights always imply duties. Formerly when the duties of the Indian citizen were not spelt out in the constitution, they were implied. Later it was decided to include them in the constitution explicitly. This has been done to clarify the relationship between rights and duties.


Q6. Relation between democracy and citizenship.

Democracy is a form of government which is formed by the citizens of the country and there cannot be a democratic form of government where there are no citizens. Citizens of a country mean those who have complete rights of the land and the most fundamental right being the right to form government. A democratic government exists only when there are citizens who enjoy complete rights. There can be no complete democracy where the citizens have no rights but only duties to perform as in the olden days where the kings would form laws and pass it on to the subjects and the subjects were expected to follows the laws of the kingdom. The subjects did not have any rights to raise their voice against any law and any voice that would arise would be punished severely. But in a democratic form of government, this is not so. Every citizen without giving consideration to his financial, educational and religious status can raise his voice against any law that may be harmful for the citizens in general. Thus a democratic form of government is formed and does exist only when there are citizens in the country and the citizens exist only when there is a democratic form of government in the country.


Q7. A police state and a welfare state.

In today’s form of democratic government, the government is not just expected to maintain the law and order of the state or to maintain the traffic and punish the criminals. The government of today is expected to make life easier for the general public like building of roads, providing of better means of living and in all providing among other things a better infrastructure. Today’s democracy is a welfare democracy where the government provides for the better life of the people or else it is answerable to the people. The government does have full responsibility of providing security internal as well as external to its citizens with the help of armed forces and also with the help of local law maintaining institutions like the police but it also has the responsibility to provide better standard of living for its citizens. Especially when today’s government is elected by the general public and general public tries to bring a welfare government to power. That government that works for a better standard of living and also provide better life for the people is brought to power by the people. Today’s government is both a police state and a welfare state.




Q8. Relation between rights and duties.

Rights are enjoyed by a citizen of any nation. Even if any person is in a country for a short period of time, then also he has certain rights. Rights are the most fundamental or most basic necessity of any person to live a honourable life and any country is bound to provide such rights to the citizens. Where the citizens donot enjoy any rights then that country cannot be termed a free nation it looses its stand as a democratic state. Enjoying rights are the basic rights of any citizen. As a citizen enjoys certain rights, he too has to perform certain duties which are of utmost importance to the nation and it is unwritten but expected of any citizen of any nation. Duties can also include allowing other citizens to enjoy their rights. Rights and duties go hand in hand in any democratic society and for a democratic society to succeed, the citizens have to enjoy their rights and also side by side perform certain duties for peaceful coexistence.


Q9. Relation between law and liberty.

Law in any nation sees to it that its citizen lead a qualitative kind of life. Law sees to it that the citizens are protected not only from criminals but also have every right to enjoy their rights. The liberty to live a qualitative life is provided by the law of the land. Law and liberty go hand in hand. The citizen has a certain amount of liberty and the law sees to it that he enjoys that liberty. Law is certain sets of do and don’ts that see to it that the nation does not become a lawless nation and liberty gives every citizen a right to lead and enjoy a qualitative life in any part of the land. Law and liberty go hand in hand as without law there is no liberty and without any liberty to enjoy the law the citizens do not enjoy a qualitative life.