One-liners — Power Sharing
Chapter 1 · Class 10 Polity
Key Facts (20) — One-liner Revision
Mentor-curated facts for last-mile revision. Each line is exam-grade — dates, names, and turning points you can quickly memorise.
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Belgium is a small country in Europe and shares its borders with Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg.
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Of Belgium's population, 59 per cent lives in the Flemish region and speaks Dutch.
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About 40 per cent of Belgium's population lives in the Wallonia region and speaks French.
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The remaining 1 per cent of Belgians speak German.
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In Brussels, the capital of Belgium, 80 per cent speak French and 20 per cent Dutch.
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Between 1970 and 1993, Belgian leaders amended their Constitution four times to work out an arrangement to enable everyone to live together within the same country.
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In the central government of Belgium, equal number of ministers come from the French and Dutch speaking communities.
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Belgium has a Community Government elected by people belonging to one language community to deal with cultural, educational and language related issues.
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Brussels has a separate government in which both communities have equal representation in Belgium.
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Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948.
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The major social groups of Sri Lanka are the Sinhala-speakers (74 per cent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 per cent).
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Among Sri Lankan Tamils, the Sri Lankan Tamils are natives of the country while the Indian Tamils are descendants of plantation workers from India.
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In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregarding Tamil; this is known as the Sinhala Only Act.
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The Constitution of Sri Lanka also stated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism as the state religion.
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The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and struggles for the recognition of Tamil as an official language, regional autonomy and equality of opportunity.
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The conflict in Sri Lanka turned into a civil war that caused thousands of deaths and damaged the social, cultural and economic life of the country.
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Power sharing is desirable for prudential reasons because it reduces the possibility of conflict between social groups.
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Power sharing is desirable for moral reasons because it is the very spirit of democracy.
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Horizontal distribution of power allows different organs of government, placed at the same level, to exercise different powers, ensuring checks and balances.
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Federal government is an example of vertical division of power between higher and lower levels of government.