Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy - Part 1: Governance - Exercises and Activities

Chapter 10: Grassroots Democracy - Part 1: Governance

Solutions for In-text Questions, Activities, End-of-Chapter Questions, and Projects

Standard 6 Social Science

1. Page No. 149: Important Questions

1. What is the meaning of 'Governance'?

Answer: Governance is a systematic process of managing the administration of a country, state, or any institution. The method of formulating policies, making laws, and implementing them systematically in the interest of the people in society is called governance.

2. Why do we need a government?

Answer: A government is needed to maintain peace, security, and order in any country or society. The government makes laws and enforces them. In addition, the government is essential to provide infrastructure facilities (such as roads, education, and health) for the country's development, protect the country's borders, and safeguard the fundamental rights of the citizens.

3. What is the meaning of Democracy? Why is it important?

Answer: Democracy means government of the people, for the people, and by the people. In this system, the citizens of the country elect their representatives by voting, and those representatives run the government.

Its Importance: Democracy is most important because the supreme power lies in the hands of the people. It gives every citizen the right to equality and freedom. If the government does not work properly, the people can change it in the next election.

2. Page Nos. 150 and 151: Let's Find Out (Activity based on Picture 10.1)

1. Describe the pictures given in Figure 10.1 on page 151. What difference do you see in them?

Answer/Outline: Figure 10.1 shows two different scenes of the traffic system. In the first (top) picture, vehicles and people are seen properly following signals and traffic rules, maintaining order. Whereas in the second (bottom) picture, traffic rules are being violated, there is no discipline, and terrible chaos and the danger of accidents can be seen.

2. How will you connect this picture with our discussion on rules?

Answer: This picture shows that just as traffic rules are necessary to prevent accidents and run traffic smoothly on the road, similarly, laws and rules (government) are very necessary to run society and the country peacefully and safely. Without rules, chaos spreads in society.

3. How many rules are there in your school? Who made those rules?

Activity Outline: Students should make a list of rules from their school diary (e.g., wearing the proper uniform, reaching prayer on time, maintaining discipline, etc.). These rules are made by the school principal and the school management committee for the smooth administration of the school.

3. Page No. 153: Let's Find Out (Activity based on Picture 10.2)

1. Can you identify the categories of public service or the activities depicted in the ten pictures shown in Figure 10.2 on page 152?

Answer/Outline: The following public services can be seen in the pictures given on page 152:

  1. Judiciary / Supreme Court
  2. Disaster Management and Rescue Operations
  3. Postal Service / Post Office
  4. Protection of the country's border / Army
  5. Infrastructure / Road construction
  6. Traffic Police Service
  7. Education / School
  8. Banking or Government Office service
  9. Health Service / Hospital
  10. Public Transport / Railway Service

2. What role does the government play in each of these activities? State your opinion on it.

Answer: All these services are essential for the daily life of citizens and an ordinary citizen cannot create these services alone. The government allocates a budget for these services using public tax money, builds proper infrastructure, and appoints officials to ensure that these services are easily accessible to every citizen.

3. Can you think of other aspects of your daily life where the government plays an important role?

Answer: Yes, apart from these pictures, the government plays a very important role in our daily lives by providing pure drinking water, street light arrangements on public roads, sanitation and waste disposal, maintenance of public parks, and fire brigade services, etc.

4. Page No. 155: Let's Find Out (Class Activity)

1. As a class activity, can you imagine a situation where the power of all three organs of the government comes under the control of a single group? What kind of chaos will arise in such a situation? Can you describe any similar situation you have heard of in real life?

Activity Outline and Answer: If all three organs of the government (Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary) fall into the hands of a single person or group, a situation of 'Dictatorship' will arise. Due to the lack of decentralization of power, that group will make its own arbitrary laws, ruthlessly enforce them, and there will be no place to seek justice against them. The freedom and fundamental rights of the citizens will be completely destroyed.

Real-life Example: Hitler's rule in Germany in history, or the governance system of North Korea in the present can be given as examples where all powers are concentrated with the ruler and the citizens there do not have democratic rights.

5. Page No. 157: Let's Find Out (Table and Interview-based Activity)

1. Look at the table given in Figure 10.5. Highlight the tasks and responsibilities that most affect your life.

Guidance: Students should study Figure 10.5 and make notes. Mostly, student life is most affected by basic responsibilities like educational services, health services provided at the local level, roads, and sanitation.

2. Ask two or three adults about their work-related contacts or visits with the government or their experiences - at what level and for what purposes were these visits made?

Project Outline: Students should prepare notes as below by asking their parents or elders around them:

  • Example 1: A person visited the Mamlatdar office to add or correct a name in the ration card (This visit is said to have occurred at the local/taluka level).
  • Example 2: Visit to the RTO to get a driving license (This visit is said to have occurred at the state government's transport department level).
  • Example 3: Visit to get a passport (This visit is said to have occurred at the central government's Ministry of External Affairs level).

6. Page No. 161: Questions, Activities, and Projects (Exercises)

1. Check yourself - What is the difference between Direct Democracy and Representative Democracy?

Answer:

  • Direct Democracy: In this system, all citizens of the country participate directly in making laws and taking day-to-day decisions of the government. This is possible where the population is small. (Such as in the city-states of ancient Greece).
  • Representative Democracy: Since the population of the country is very large nowadays, citizens elect their representatives (like MLAs or MPs) through elections. These elected representatives make laws and run the government on behalf of the people. India is an excellent example of a representative democracy.

2. What are the three organs of the government? And state their different roles.

Answer: The government is mainly composed of three organs:

  1. Legislature: Its main function is to formulate laws for the country or state.
  2. Executive: The executive performs the task of actually implementing the laws formulated by the legislature. (It includes the cabinet of ministers and administrative officials).
  3. Judiciary: The judiciary performs the task of punishing those who break the law and protecting the interests of the citizens to provide justice.

3. Why do we need a three-tier government in the context of India?

Answer: Geographically and demographically, India is a very large and diverse country. A single government sitting in the country's capital, Delhi, cannot properly and quickly solve the local problems of thousands of villages and cities across the entire country. For the ease of administration and quick resolution of problems, a three-tier government is essential here:

  • (1) National level: Central Government (for issues of the entire country).
  • (2) State level: State Government.
  • (3) Local level: Panchayati Raj or Municipalities/Municipal Corporations.

4. Collect the following information with the help of your elders or teachers. You must remember the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. Make a list of the steps taken by the government at that time and which levels of government were involved to deal with this situation? And what was the role of each organ of the government in it?

Detailed Project Outline:

  • List of steps taken by the government: Implementing a nationwide lockdown, making rules for social distancing, making the use of masks and sanitizers mandatory, conducting nationwide corona testing and later a free vaccination campaign, distributing free grains to the poor during the lockdown.
  • Levels of government involved: All three levels of government (Central Government, State Government, and Local Government) worked together to tackle this pandemic. The Central Government issued guidelines for the entire country and made vaccines available, the State Governments arranged hospitals in their respective states, while the Gram Panchayats and Municipalities took up the local responsibility of door-to-door surveys, spraying medicine, and quarantining.
  • Role of each organ of the government:
    • Legislature: Approved emergency rules and economic packages (funds) to combat the pandemic (e.g., implementing the Epidemic Diseases Act).
    • Executive: Police, doctors, and the administrative machinery strictly enforced the lockdown and rules at the ground level and treated the patients.
    • Judiciary: To protect the health and right to life of citizens during the pandemic, the judiciary often intervened itself and gave necessary orders to the government to maintain a proper supply of hospital beds and oxygen.