Q 1 – At how many levels does the government work?
Ans. Government works at three levels-local, state and national.
Q 2 – Who represents the people of an area?
Ans. MLA of the area represents the people.
Q 3 – Who elects the MLAs?
Ans. MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly)is elected by the people of the constituency.
Q 4 – On which level are Legislative Assemblies formed?
Ans. Legislative Assemblies are formed at State level.
Q 5 – What do you understand about independent candidates?
Ans. Independent candidates are those who contest elections without the support of any party.
Q 6 – What is meant by party candidate?
Ans. Party candidates are those who contest in the elections by the parties on their symbol.
Q 7 – What does majority means?
Ans. A political party whose MLAs win more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority.
Q 8 – What do you understand about ruling party?
Ans. The ruling party is that which makes the government.
Q 9 – How do Chief Minister and ministers get elected?
Ans. The MLAs belonging to the ruling party elect their leader who becomes the chief minister. The chief minister then selects other people as ministers.
Q 10 – Who approves the decision of the Legislative Assembly?
Ans. The decisions taken in the Legislative Assembly have to be approved by the members of the Legislative assembly on the basis of majority.
Q 11 – How is the government formed in the state?
Ans. A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can said to be in a majority. The majority of a single party or groups of parties together can form the government.
Q 12 – What is the role of Governor in the State?
Ans. It is the responsibility of the Governor to ensure ruling by the ruling party as per constitution. Apart from this, the Governor of the state appoints the chief minister and on the advice of chief minister the other ministers. The Governor is considered as a patron of the constitution.
Q 13 – What do you understand about ‘Legislative Assembly’?
Ans. A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs meet to discuss various issues. They express their opinions and ask questions related to the issue or give suggestions. The concerned minister then replies to the questions and tries to assure the Assembly that adequate steps are being taken.
Q 14 – How does the government implement its plan?
Ans. The government takes action through various departments like the Public Works Department (PWD), the Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department, and so on. Ministers are heads of these departments, who are also members of the Legislative Assembly and elected by the people.
Q 15 – How does government form committees?
Ans. On any matter, which affects at large, the government may form a committee. After looking at various aspects of the problem or issue in detail, the committee submits its report to the government. The government may adopt it as a whole or partially. Accordingly, the action is taken on the report of the committee.
Q 16 – What are the key works of a government?
Ans. The main work of the government is to implement its laws, rules, regulations, and policies made in various fields. The government may amend, modify the laws, rules, regulations and policies or can make new ones so that an effective system may run and most of the people can get the benefit of government policies.
Q 17 – What is an opposition? How does opposition play its role in the Assembly?
Ans. All members who do not support or participate in the government are called opposition. The role of the opposition party in India is as important as that of the ruling party. The role of opposition party is not to oppose every decision of the ruling party. Rather, it is the duty of the opposition party to support the ruling party for the acts that are in the interest of the nation.
Members of opposition roles can be enlisted as under:
- The opposition ensures that the ruling political parties have a definite programme and policy to offer to the people and who can show progressive path by action and not just by propaganda.
- The opposition’s role is to question the government and hold them accountable to the public.
- The opposition carefully watches on the activities of the government, if there is any discrimination,
- Concentrating on the issues that matter.
Q 18 – Briefly describe the ways through which views are expressed.
Ans. n a democracy, there are various ways through which people express their views. Not only in the Legislative Assembly but also the TV channels, newspapers, periodicals, and other organizations regularly discuss the government functioning, policies etc.
The organization of ‘press conference’ is also a medium to express the policies and functioning of a department or ministry of government. In a ‘press conference,’ a press note is issued to the print and electronic media for wide circulation to the mass.
Q 19 – What issues are being discussed by the characters in the story?
Ans. The girls are reading the newspaper article about the shortage of water and people falling sick. In many places in the state drinking water is not clean, streams and tanks have dried. At Patalpuram people especially children are suffering from acute diarrhoea.
Q 20 – Why were they stopped on their way back from school?
Ans. They were stopped on their way due to road blockage. People with opposition party workers were angry and were protesting against the local MLA. People wanted the government to take action to improve the water and health situation.
Q 21 – Who is an MLA?
Ans. MLA’s are elected by the people. They become the members of the Legislative Assembly and form the government or opposition. Thus they represent the people.
Q 22 – Which party is called the ruling party?
Ans. The political party that gets more than half of the seats of the Legislative Assembly is the majority party. This party is called the ruling party and all other members are called opposition.
- For example: In 2003 in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, The Indian National Congress won 43 seats (required no. was 34) and became the ruling party. All the other MLAs became the opposition. Here BJP was the major opposition party having the largest number of MLAs after INC. There were independent MLAs as well.
Q 23 – How do MLAs become a minister or Chief Minister?
Ans. The MLAs of the ruling party elect their leader who becomes the Chief Minister. For Example, Congress MLAs choose Sh. Virbhadra Singh as their leader.
The Chief Minister then selects other people as ministers. The Governor appoints the Chief Minister and other ministers.
Q 24 – What are the responsibilities of the chief minister and other ministers?
Ans. They have the responsibility of running various government departments or ministries. They have separate offices though all the decisions are discussed in the Assembly.
In the Assembly, all the MLAs discuss various things. Thus, some MLAs have dual responsibilities as an MLA and as a Minister.
Q 25 – Why were Afreen and Sujata excited?
Ans. Afreen, Sujata, and other students were excited because they were traveling to the state capital to visit the Legislative Assembly. Assembly was housed in an impressive building.
After the security checks, children were taken upstairs to the visitor gallery. From there they saw the large hall with rows of desks for the MLAs.
Q 26 – What is the role of different parties in the legislature?
Ans. The ruling party members form the government and some members are appointed as ministers. These ministers are in charge of various departments such as health. The work done by these departments has to be approved by the Assembly.
Q 27 – How does Assembly work?
Ans. Current issues are discussed in the Assembly and decisions are taken on various issues.
During this time MLAs can express their opinion and ask questions related to the issues. They may give suggestions about running of the government.
Those who wish can respond to the same. The concerned ministers replies to the questions and assure the assembly about the step taken by the government about an issue.
Q 28 – What else the government did to improve health situations?
Ans. The government decided to make new laws for the state regarding sanitation and health facilities. Like, it made it compulsory for municipal corporations to ensure adequate toilet facilities in urban areas. Ensuring appointment of health workers in villages.
Q 29 – Who is responsible for making laws?
Ans. The Assembly collectively makes laws. These are implemented by the government departments. Laws for the country are made in Parliament.
Q 30 – Who takes the decisions about running of the government?
Ans. The chief minister and other ministers have to take the decisions about running the government. JjThese decisions have to be approved by the members of the Assembly.
In democracy, these members (MLAs) can ask questions, debate an issue or take decisions about spending the money. They have the joint authority. We see or listen about these discussions from the newspapers or news channels.
Q 31 – Where else work of government is discussed other than the legislature?
Ans.
- Besides Legislative Assembly there are other places {means) where opinions are expressed about the work of the government and action is demanded.
- The newspapers, T.V. channels and other organisations regularly talking about the government.
- In a democracy there are various ways through which people express their views and also take action.
- One such way is the Press Conference.
- Large numbers of people from different newspapers come to the Press Conference.
- The minister and some government officials explain the steps that the government has taken.
- There were many questions asked by news reporters at this meeting. These discussions were then reported in different newspapers.
Q 32 – Who has the main authority in the democracy?
Ans. Democracy is of the people, by the people and for the people.
- It is the people who elect their representatives. They can change them in the next election.
- It is people’s representatives in the assembly. So, people are the main authority.
Q 33 – What did the Chief Minister and the Minister for Health do in the next week of the Assembly Session?
Ans.
- During the next week the Chief Minister and the Minister for Health went to
Patalpuram district to visit the families who had lost their relatives. - They also visited people in the hospitals. They announced a compensation for these families.
- The Chief Minister thought the problem was not only one of sanitation but also one of a lack of clean drinking water.
- He announced a high-level enquiry committee to suggest ways to provide sanitation facilities. He also requested the Minister for Public Works to care for proper water supply in the region.
Q 34 – How does government in a state function?
Or
How do Chief Minister and cabinet work?
Ans. The government in a state is headed by Chief Minister. He appoints ministers at various levels.
- These ministers head different departments like public works, agriculture, health etc.
- The bureaucracy is responsible for the functioning of the departments.
- The Chief Minister and cabinet is answerable to the people. They do so in the Assembly by answering the questions and through media by holding press conferences.
- Laws are made in the Legislative and the government departments implement these.
Q 35 – What is a wall-paper project? Discuss its various aspects.
Ans. A wallpaper project is a research activity done on various topics.
- The class is divided into groups. Children work in pairs or individually.
- Discussion on topic is held.
- Children collect information and write their observations or experiences.
- This may be in form of photographs, poems, stories, case studies etc.
- Each group finalises the layout for the wall-paper and present it to the class.
- Each group is allotted same time. More than one member presents their group’s work.
- After presentation there is a feedback session on what more could have been done.
Q 36 – How do the people in power like the chief minister and the minister take action?
Ans. They do so through various departments like the Public Works Department, the Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department and so on. They also have to answer questions that are asked in the Legislative Assembly and convince people asking the questions that proper steps are being taken. At the same time, newspapers and the media widely discuss the issue and the government has to respond, for example, by holding the press conferences
Q 37 – How did some MLAs become Ministers? Explain.
Ans . After the elections, a political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority. The political party that has the majority is called the ruling party and all other members are called the opposition. The MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister. The chief minister then selects other people as ministers. After the elections, it is the Governor of the state who appoints the chief minister and other ministers.
Q 38 – What is the process of formation of government in a state?
Ans. Every state in India has a Legislative Assembly. Each state is divided into different areas or constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). People stand for elections in the name of different parties. These MLAs, therefore, belong to different political parties. A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority. The political party that has the majority forms the government. In case no party gains the majority, in that case the party with maximum elected members tries to get support from different parties or
candidates. The party that proves to have maximum supporters is allowed to form the government. If no party proves the majority then there would be re-election.
Q 39 – Use the terms ‘constituency’ and ‘represent’ to explain who an MLA is and how is
the person elected?
Ans. Every state in India has a Legislative Assembly. Each state is divided into different areas or constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). People stand for elections in the name of different parties. These MLAs, therefore, belong todifferent political parties.
Q 40 –How is MLA elected?
Ans. Every state has a Legislative Assembly. Each state is divided into constituencies. For example, Himachal Pradesh is divided into 68 constituencies.
From each constituency, one representative is elected by the people who then become a MLA.
Candidates belong to different political parties or may be independent.