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The Indian Constitution Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 1

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 1 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. The society has Constitutive rules that make it what it is and differentiate it from other kinds of societies.

2. In large societies different communities of people live together and rules are formulated through consensus, and in modern countries, this consensus is usually available in written form.

3. A written document where one finds, such rules is called a Constitution.

4. Most countries of the world in present-day have a Constitution.

5. The Constitution serves purposes:

Ist purpose:

6. It lays out certain ideals that form the basis of the kind of country that the citizens of that country aspire to live in.

7. A Constitution tells us about the fundamental nature of the society.

8. A Constitution helps serve as a set of rules and principles that all persons in a country can agree upon as the basic way in which they want the country to be governed.

9. It not only tells us about the type of government but it also explains about an agreement on certain ideals that the citizens of the country believe and should uphold.

10. The best example for the Ist purpose in Nepal.

11. Nepal that was monarchial country in past adopted its previous Constitution in 1990 reflected with the fact that the final authority rested with king.

12. In 2006 with the constant struggle and the people’s movement for several decades the establishment of Democracy was seen putting an end the powers of the king.

13. Now in Nepal there was a definite need for the framing of the new Constitution as the people of the country did not want to continue with the previous Constitution which did not reflect the ideals of the country. The ideals that were wanted by the people of that country.

14. Nepal and its people are involved in the process of writing a Constitution for the country.

IInd purpose:

15. The IInd most important purpose of Constitution is to define the native of a country’s political system.

16. The countries which have adopted it, in those countries, Constitution plays a crucial role in laying out important guidelines that govern decision making within these societies.

17. In democratic societies the Constitution often lays down rules guarding against the misuse of authority by the political leader as in democratic societies the people of choose their leaders, and the leaders exercise power responsibly on the people behalf.                                                       ,

18. Right to Equality is one of Fundament Right guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

19. Constitution even functions to ensure that the dominant group does not use its power against less powerful group or people in a democracy.

20. The Constitution usually contains of rules ensuring that minorities are not excluded from anything that is routinely available to the majority.

21. The Constitution prevents tyranny or domination by the majority of a minority.

22. The Constitution also helps us ‘to save us from ourselves’. This means that the Constitution helps to protect us against certain decisions that we might take that could have an adverse effect on the larger principle that the country believes in.

23. A good Constitution never allows any whims to change its basic structure.

24. Key features of the Indian Constitution itself carries the struggle that was faced under the British, the dreams that how free India would be, the ill treatment of British towards Indians, all these with the long experience of authoritarian rule under the colonial rule convinced the Indians that the free India should be a democracy in which every one should be treated equal and allowed to participate in government.

25. Then the work was started for the ways in which a democratic government should be set up in India and the rules that would determine its functioning.

26. A Constituent Assembly comprised of 300 members, was founded in 1946. The 300 members met periodically for the next 3 yrs for the purpose of writing the Indian Constitution.

27. Various issues were kept in mind while the framing up of the Constitution for the country that was made up of several communities and that comprised of several different languages speakers, the people belonged to different religions and had different cultures. The Constituent Assembly drafted the Indian Constitution by giving this country a visionary document that reflects a respect and maintains diversity while preserving national unity.

28. The final document also reflects their concern for eradicating poverty through socio-economic reforms as well as emphasizing the crucial role the people can play in choosing their representatives.

29. The Indian Constitution has several number of features that are:

1. Federation: The term refers to the existence of more than one level of government in the country.

  • In India, the governments are at the state level and at the centre and Panchayati Raj is the 3rd tier of government.
  • Under Federalism the states are not merely agents of the federal government but draw their authority from the Constitution as well.
  • In short, the Indian Constitution defines the power of each government at each level and at every tier.

2. Parliamentary Form of government: The Indian Constitution guarantees universal adult suffrage for all citizens as at the time of making the Constitution, the members of Constituent Assembly felt that freedom struggle had prepared the masses for universal adult suffrage and that this would encourage a democratic mindset and break the clutches of traditional caste, class and gender hierarchies. This means the people of India have a direct role in electing their representatives.

  • Also, every citizen of the country, irrespective his/her social background, can also contest in elections.
  • The representatives are accountable to the people.

3. Separation of power: As per the Indian Constitution there are 3 organs of the state. That are

  • The Legislative
  • The Executive
  • The judiciary.
  • The legislative refers to our elected representatives.
  • The Executives are the groups of people who are responsible for the implementation of laws and run­ning of the government.
  • The Constitution states that each of these organs should exercise different powers.
  • Each organ acts as a check on the organs of the state and this ensures the balance of Power between the 3 organs.

4. Fundamental Rights: This section of the India Constitution has often been referred to as the ‘conscience’. The Fundamental Rights protect the citizens against any arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the state.

  • The Indian Constitution guarantees the Fundamental Rights of individuals against the state as well as against other individuals.
  • Various minorities communities have expressed the need for the Constitution to include the rights that would protect their group. Therefore the Indian Constitution also guarantees the rights of minorities against the majority.
  • In addition to Fundamental Rights, the Constitution of India also consists of a section called The Directive Principle of State Policy.
  • The Directive Principle of State Policy (D.P.S.P) was designed to ensure greater social and economic reformers and also to serve as a guide to the independent Indian state to institute laws and policies that would help in reducing the poverty of the masses.

5. Secularism: A secular state is a state which never officially promotes any type of religion as the state religion and India is one of the secular states that officially does not have any religion.

  • The Constitution plays crucial role in laying out ideas that citizens would adhere to including the representatives that we elect to rule us.
  • Often a major change in the Constitution means a change in the fundamental nature of the country.

The Indian Constitution Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Arbitrary: Arbitrary is a functioning which based on a desire or idea only rather than reason. Our Con­stitution is prevented arbitrary functioning.

Ideal: A goal or a principle in its most excellent or perfect form.

Polity: A society has an organized political structure. India is a democratic polity.

Sovereign: Possessing supreme or ultimate power.

Tyranny: The cruel and unjust use of power or authority.

Trafficking: The practice of the illegal buying and selling of different commodities across the National boundaries.