BharatNotes Democratic Politics — II is the Class X Political Science NCERT on how power is shared, contested and held to account in a democracy. The current book, Reprint 2026-27, has five chapters: Power-sharing, Federalism, Gender, Religion and Caste, Political Parties, and Outcomes of Democracy. The 2020-21 edition had eight. These pages follow NCERT's order and keep the site's original numbering, so pages 01, 02, 04, 06 and 07 are NCERT's chapters 1 to 5 and each says so in its opening paragraph; pages 03, 05 and 08 keep the 2020-21 edition's chapters on democracy and diversity, popular struggles and movements, and challenges to democracy, labelled, because the current chapters still lean on them (the Gender, Religion and Caste chapter still sends readers to Northern Ireland "in Chapter 3") and the exam still asks them. Every page prints NCERT's statement first and the dated record beside it.
For UPSC the book is the base of GS2's polity and governance questions: federalism and local government, the role of parties and pressure groups, women's representation, and how democracies are judged. GS1 draws on its chapters on social divisions, communalism and caste, and Prelims on its constitutional provisions, its tables and its definitions.
The chapters
| Site page | NCERT chapter (Reprint 2026-27) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Power Sharing | Chapter 1 | Belgium and Sri Lanka as NCERT's two stories, the Belgian model's four elements, majoritarianism, prudential and moral reasons for power sharing, its four forms, Lebanon's rules, and Sri Lanka's Constitution today against NCERT's account |
| 2. Federalism | Chapter 2 | Federal and unitary systems, NCERT's seven features, coming together and holding together, the three Lists of the Seventh Schedule, the Article 371 family, the language policy and NCERT's Census 2011 language table, Centre-State relations, and local government before and after 1992 |
| 3. Democracy and Diversity | Not in the current book (the 2020-21 edition's Chapter 3), kept here | The 1968 Olympic protest and the record of what followed, origins of social differences, overlapping and cross-cutting differences, the range of outcomes from Northern Ireland to Yugoslavia, and NCERT's three determinants |
| 4. Gender, Religion and Caste | Chapter 3 | The sexual division of labour, women's representation from panchayats to Parliament and the 106th Amendment, communalism and the secular state, caste inequalities and caste in politics, with NCERT's tables beside Census 2011 and the latest official figures |
| 5. Popular Struggles and Movements | Not in the current book (the 2020-21 edition's Chapter 5), kept here | Nepal's movement for democracy and Bolivia's water war, pressure groups and movements, sectional and public interest groups, how they influence politics, and their relationship with parties |
| 6. Political Parties | Chapter 4 | The seven functions of a party, party systems, recognition by the Election Commission, the six national parties with NCERT's figures beside the 2024 result, the challenges parties face and the reforms made and suggested |
| 7. Outcomes of Democracy | Chapter 5 | Accountable, responsive and legitimate government, economic growth, inequality and poverty, accommodation of social diversity, dignity and freedom, with NCERT's tables beside India's place on the international indices |
| 8. Challenges to Democracy | Not in the current book (the 2020-21 edition's Chapter 8), kept here | The foundational, expansion and deepening challenges, NCERT's fourteen cases, its four guidelines for political reform, and India's election record and reforms |
How to read the book for the exam
- Follow the argument. Chapter 1 sets out the forms of power sharing; chapter 2 takes up one of them, the division of power between levels of government; chapters 3 and 4 turn to the social divisions and the parties that carry them into politics; chapter 5 asks what democracy delivers. The kept chapters supply the diversity, the struggles and the challenges the book argues about.
- Keep NCERT's figures and the official ones side by side. NCERT's counts belong to its own setting; the Constitution, the Election Commission, the Census and the Press Information Bureau give today's. Answer keys follow NCERT; Prelims statements can test either, so every page prints both with the date.
- Read the Constitution's own words. The Seventh Schedule's Lists, Article 368 on amendments, Part IX on panchayats, Articles 15, 17 and 25 on the secular state, the Tenth Schedule on defection: each page quotes the text where notes usually paraphrase it.
- Date the live items. The 106th Amendment (in force from 16 April 2026, with the reservation waiting for delimitation), the 131st Amendment Bill (defeated in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026), the six national parties, the Code on Wages (in force from 21 November 2025): each page gives the status as of October 2026.
Sources used across the book
- NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Reprint 2026-27 (whole-book zip) and the 2020-21 edition (Wayback copy of 9 October 2021).
- The Constitution of India as on 11 November 2025 (Legislative Department), the Gazette of India for the 106th Amendment and its commencement, and the texts of the Code on Wages, 2019 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
- Government records: the Election Commission of India, Press Information Bureau releases, the Census of India 2011, PRS Legislative Research, and the Central Information Commission.
- Foreign and international records for foreign facts: the Constitution of Sri Lanka (Parliament of Sri Lanka), Statbel (Belgium), NISRA (Northern Ireland), the UK government's text of the Belfast Agreement, the International Court of Justice, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the World Bank and the World Inequality Report 2026, each with its own date.
