1. The Council of States or Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and it is not subject to dissolution. After every two years, one-third of its members retire and its same numbers of seats are filled up by new members. The Lok Sabha is not a permanent House. It is dissolved after the expiry of its term of five years. But it can be dissolved before the period of five years by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers. New Lok Sabha is elected and constituted within a period of 6 months from the date of its dissolution.
2. The total membership of the Rajya Sabha is 250. It is a representative House of States but the States are not represented equally in the Rajya Sabha. Seats in the Rajya Sabha are allocated to different States on the basis of population. Out of the total members of the House, twelve members are nominated by the President from amongst the persons having special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art and social service. The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha can be 552 members. Out of this, 530 members are elected from the States and 20 members are elected from the Union Territories. The remaining two members are nominated by the President from among the Anglo-Indian community.
3. The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the Legislative Assemblies of the respective States on the basis of proportional representation. The members of the Lok Sabha are elected by the people directly on the basis of secret vote and universal franchise. For the purpose of election, the population is divided into various constituencies.
4. The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is not a member of this House. The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. But the Deputy-Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is elected by the members of the Rajya Sabha from amongst its members. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha are the members of the House and are elected by the members of the Lok Sabha themselves.
5. The Money Bills cannot be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. The Money Bills can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha.

The period from 1793 to 1794 was referred to as the ‘Reign of Terror’ because of the following reasons:

• Maximilian Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment. Any person who did not agree with his policies was guillotined.
• Robespierre’s government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices. Peasants were forced to sell their grains at prices fixed by the government.
• Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address. Robespierre followed his policies so obstinately that he began to loose support of the people.

Discretionary power of the President :
1. In appointing the Prime Minister from among the contenders when no single party attains majority after elections to the Lok Sabha.
2. A Council of Ministers is voted out and after resigning advises the President to dissolve, the Lok Sabha and hold fresh elections (or resigns and advises so without being voted out).
3. The President is expected to exercise his discretion in such circumstances as much of the Lok Sabha's life may still be intact and it is worthwhile to explore the possibility of forming an alternative Government.
4. Disqualifying members of the legislature when the Council's advice is not taken.
5. Can return the advice of the Council of Ministers once for its reconsideration.

In 1979, the Government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission headed by B.P. Mandal, that was popularly called the Mandal Commission. The commission gave its report in 1980. One of its recommendations was that 27% of government jobs be reserved for the socially and educationally backward classes. <ii> On 6 August, 1990, the Union Cabinet took a formal decision to implement the recommendations. As a, result, this became hotly debated issue in the country. <iii> People reacted strongly because this decision affected thousands of job opportunities. <iv> It led to widespread protests and counter-protests, some of which were violent. People felt that this was unfair as it would deny equality of opportunity to those who did not belong to backward communities.</iv></iii></ii>

In all modem democracies, several arrangements are made to attend to all these tasks. Such arrangements are called institutions. Political institution refers to a set of procedures for regulating the conduct of government and political life in the country. In democracy three institutions — Legislature, Executive and Judiciary play a key role in the decision making process. A Democracy works well when these institutions perform functions assigned to them. The constitution of any country lays down basic rules on the powers and functions of each institution. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are the institutions that take all important policy decisions. <ii> The Civil Servants, working together, are responsible for taking steps to implement the ministers’ decisions. <iii> Supreme Court is an institution where disputes between citizens and the government are finally settled.</iii></ii>

There maybe some citizens who wish to contest the elections but may not be able to due to lack of resources. The influential people may prevent them from winning elections. As a result there might be no representative of the weaker section at the parliament. For this reason reserved constituencies have been created for weaker and backward sections so that each and every person gets a fair chance to contest the elections.

After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans (a majority of the population) would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities, and contact between the two groups would be limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years. In 1991, the government of President F.W. de Klerk began to repeal most of the legislation that provided the basis for apartheid.

The Central Highlands lies to the north of the Narmada river. It covers the major portion of the Malwa plateau. The rivers in this region flow from southwest to northeast; which indicates the slope of this region. It is wider in the west and narrower in the east. Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand mark the eastward extension of this plateau. The plateau further extends eastwards into the Chhotanagpur plateau.

The Northern Plain is located in the southern part of the Himalayan range. The plain is formed from the flood plains of three big river systems:

• The Indus,
• The Ganga and
• The Brahmaputra

The Northern Plain is also called the Indo-Gangetic plain. The soil cover in this plain is rich and fertile, and water is found in plenty, combined with a favourable climate for growing several major crops, the Northern Plain is one of the world’s most intensively farmed areas and hence very densely populated.

The Great October Socialist Revolution, known more commonly as theOctoberRevolution or the Bolshevik Revolution, occurred in 1917 in Russia, and the revolt resulted in a leftist government coming to power. The uprising started in the then-capital city of St. Petrograd, now St. Petersburg, and spread nationwide. Headed by Vladimir Lenin of the Bolshevik party, theOctoberRevolution was the firstcommunistrebellion of the 20th century and was founded on the beliefs of Karl Marx. The events of theOctoberRevolution helped lay the groundwork for Stalinism and the Cold War.
In 1917, Russia endured two revolutions. In February, the tsarist government under the rule of Tsar Nicholas II was defeated and replaced with a liberal provisional government during the February Revolution. This government consisted of bankers, lawyers, and industrialists who were disheartened with Nicholas II for forcing millions of peasants to fight in World War I.

Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic movement in Germany and a moderate socialist, who was a leader in bringing about the constitution of the Weimar Republic, which attempted to unite Germany after its defeat in World War I.