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UNIT - II

A cartoonist's business in a democracyis to exercise his right to criticise,ridicule, find fault with... politicalleaders, through cartoons...

- R.K.Laxman

Not bad! One of the taps inthe nearby village must begetting water!

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Chapter 3

very country needs a governmentto make decisions and get things

done. These can be decisions aboutwhere to build roads and schools, orhow to reduce the price of onionswhen they get too expensive or waysto increase the supply of electricity.The government also takes action onmany social issues, for example it hasseveral programmes to help the poor.It does other important things such asrunning postal and railway services.

You must have heard the word 'government'mentioned several times. In this chapter youwill learn about what a government is and theimportant role it plays in our lives. What dogovernments do? How do they decide what todo? What is the difference between differenttypes of governments such as monarchies anddemocracies? Read more and find out….

Look at the newspaper headlines aboveand list the different kinds of activitiesthat the government is reported to bedoing in these newspaper headlines.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Isn't this a wide range of activities?

What do you think government is?Discuss in class.

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What isGovernment?

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The government also has the job ofprotecting the boundaries of thecountry and maintaining peacefulrelations with other countries. It isresponsible for ensuring that all itscitizens have enough to eat and havegood health facilities. When there arenatural disasters like the tsunami oran earthquake it is the governmentthat mainly organises aid andassistance for the affected people. Ifthere is a dispute or if someone hascommitted a crime you find people ina court. Courts are also part of thegovernment.

Perhaps you are wondering howgovernments manage to do all this.And why it is necessary for them to doso. When human beings live and worktogether, there needs to be someamount of organisation so thatdecisions can be made.

Some rules have to be made thatapply to everyone. For example, thereis a need to control resources andprotect the territory of a country, sopeople can feel secure. Governmentsdo this on behalf of their people byexercising leadership, takingdecisions and implementing theseamong all the people living in theirterritory.

Levels of Government

Now that you know that thegovernment is responsible for so

Can you list three things thatthe government does whichhave not been mentioned.

1.

2.

3.

Some examples ofinstitutions that arepart of the government:The Supreme Court,The Indian Railwaysand Bharat Petroleum.

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many different things, can you thinkof how it manages to do all these? Thegovernment works at different levels:at the local level, at the level of thestate and at the national level. Thelocal level means in your village, townor locality, the state level would meanthat which covers an entire state like

Haryana or Assam and the nationallevel relates to the entire country (seethe maps). Later in this book, you willread about how local level governmentfunctions, and when you go into thenext few classes you will learn abouthow governments function at the stateand central levels.

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Source: www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/maps/atlas/00part1.pdf

Note: Telangana became the 29th State of India on the 2nd June, 2014 after the reorganisation of the State of Andhra Pradesh.Since 31 October 2019, the state of Jammu & Kashmir was divided into two union territories — Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

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Laws and the Government

The government makes laws andeveryone who lives in the country hasto follow these. This is the only waygovernments can function. Just likethe government has the power tomake decisions, similarly it has thepower to enforce its decisions. Forexample, there is a law that says thatall persons driving a motor vehiclemust have a licence. Any personcaught driving a vehicle without alicence can either be jailed or fined alarge sum of money. Without theselaws the government's power to makedecisions is not of much use.

In addition to any actions thatgovernments can take, there are alsosteps that people can take if they feelthat a particular law is not beingfollowed. If a person feels, forexample, that they were not hired fora job because of their religion or caste,he or she may approach the court andclaim that the law is not beingfollowed. The court can then giveorders about what should be done.

Types of Government

Who gives the government this powerto make decisions and enforce laws?

The answer to this questiondepends on the type of governmentthere is in a country. In a democracy

it is the people who give thegovernment this power. They do thisthrough elections in which they votefor particular persons and elect them.Once elected, these persons form thegovernment. In a democracy thegovernment has to explain its actionsand defend its decisions to the people.

Another form of government ismonarchy. The monarch (king orqueen) has the power to makedecisions and run the government.The monarch may have a small groupof people to discuss matters with, butthe final decision-making powerremains with the monarch. Unlike ina democracy, kings and queens do nothave to explain their actions or defendthe decisions they take.

Discuss

Think of an example of anotherlaw. Why do you think it isimportant that people abide bythis law?

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Democratic Governments

India is a democracy. Thisachievement is the result of a longand eventful struggle of the Indianpeople. There are other places in theworld where people have alsostruggled to have democracies. Younow know that the main feature of ademocracy is that the people have thepower to elect their leaders. So in asense a democracy is rule by thepeople. The basic idea is that peoplerule themselves by participating in themaking of these rules.

Democratic governments in ourtimes are usually referred to asrepresentative democracies. Inrepresentative democracies people do not participate directly but,instead, choose their representatives through an election process. Theserepresentatives meet and make

Discuss1. Do you think it is important for peopleto be involved in decisions that affectthem? Give two reasons for your answer.2. Which type of government wouldyou prefer to have in the place you livein? Why?3. Which of the statements below iscorrect? Correct those sentences thatyou think need correction.a. In a monarchy the country's

citizens are allowed to elect whomeverthey want.b. In a democracy a king has

absolute powers to rule the country.c. In a monarchy people can raise

questions about the decisions themonarch takes.

Nowhere in theworld have gover-nments willinglyshared power.All over Europeand USA,women andthe poor havehad to fight forparticipationin government.Women'sstruggle to vote

got strengthenedduring the First World

War. This movement is called thewomen's suffrage movement asthe term suffrage usually meansright to vote.

During the War, many men wereaway fighting, and because of thiswomen were called upon to dowork that was earlier consideredmen's work. Many women beganorganising and managingdifferent kinds of work. Whenpeople saw this they began towonder why they had created somany unfair stereotypes aboutwomen and what they werecapable of doing. So womenbegan to be seen as being equallycapable of making decisions.

The suffragettes demanded theright to vote for all women and toget their demands heard theychained themselves to railings inpublic places. Many suffragetteswere imprisoned and went onhunger strikes,and they had to befed by force. American women gotthe right to vote in 1920 whilewomen in the UK got to vote onthe same terms as men someyears later, in 1928.

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decisions for the entire population.These days a government cannot callitself democratic unless it allows whatis known as universal adult franchise.This means that all adults in thecountry are allowed to vote.

But it was not always like this.Can you believe that there was a timewhen governments did not allowwomen and the poor to participate inelections? In their earliest formsgovernments allowed only men whoowned property and were educated, tovote. This meant that women, thepoor, the property-less and theuneducated were not allowed to vote.The country was governed by therules and regulations that these fewmen made!

In India, before Independence, onlya small minority was allowed to voteand they therefore came together todetermine the fate of the majority.Several people including Gandhijiwere shocked at the unfairness of thispractice and demanded that all adultshave the right to vote. This is knownas universal adult franchise.

Writing in the journal Young India in1931, Gandhiji said, "I cannot possiblybear the idea that a man who has gotwealth should have the vote, but that aman who has got character but nowealth or literacy should have no vote, orthat a man who works honestly by thesweat of his brow day in and day outshould not have the vote for the crime ofbeing a poor man…".

Voting in a rural area: A mark is put on the finger tomake sure that a person casts only one vote.

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QUESTIONS

1. What do you understand by the word 'government'? List five ways in which youthink the government affects your daily life.

2. Why do you think the government needs to make rules for everyone in the formof laws?

3. Name two essential features of a democratic government.4. What was the suffrage movement? What did it accomplish?5. Gandhiji strongly believed that every adult in India should be given the right tovote. However, a few people don't share his views. They feel that illiteratepeople, who are mainly poor, should not be given the right to vote. What do youthink? Do you think this would be a form of discrimination? Give five pointsto support your view and share these with the class.

r The decision of the Government of India tomaintain peaceful relations with Russia.

r The decision of the Government of West Bengal onwhether to have Board exam in Class 8 for allgovernment schools.

r Introduction of two new trains between Dibrugarhand Kanyakumari.

r The decision to locate a common well in aparticular area of the village.

r Decision to construct a big children's park inPatna.

r The decision of the Government of Haryana toprovide free electricity for all farmers.

r Introduction of a new 1000 rupee note.

Exercise: Look at the statements in the column on the left. Canyou identify which level they belong to? Place tick marks againstthe level you consider most appropriate.

Local State Central

Look at the maps on Pages 29 and 30. They show the States, Union Territoriesand Districts of India. Find out the following information from these maps andvarious other resources. l Names of the neighbours of Indial Names of your State or Union Territory and its neighbours l Names of your District and its neighboursl Routes from your District to the National Capital

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