Page 165 - SST Class 06
P. 165
The Government
and Suffrage 25
q Need for government q Difference between state and government
q Organs of government q Franchise
Introduction These players will represent their respective
classes. The government is just like this.
Every country needs a government to get the things
done in an organised manner. Government is a
Info Bits
body that governs, makes laws and has the power Info Bits
to enforce these laws. It makes and implements
various rules and principals that help in running the The word government comes from the Latin word
country smoothly. People participate in the guber are which means to steer a ship or to guide.
government by electing their representatives who The government is a representative body of the
work on their behalf which is the essential aspect of people. We have diverse needs—food, shelter,
governance in the modern polity. transport, electricity, medical treatment, security
and many more. We cannot meet all these needs
NEED FOR GOVERNMENT ourselves. We can grow food ourselves, but we
need land for this. If we want a food grown in a
The first question is : Why do we need a distant part, we need transport. All of us cannot
government?
arrange transport. An individual cannot construct
Your group of 20 friends is planning a picnic. You roads and railways himself. An individual cannot
are the organiser. Now you make a list of the produce electricity for his house. An individual
things that have to be done—buying foods, cannot construct a hospital for himself. Moreover,
arranging utensils, planning games and arranging we need to defend ourselves from any crimes
things, arranging transport etc. Now, you assign within the country and from external aggression
two friends for buying foods, two for arranging by enemy country. All these needs require
utensils, two for planning games, two for collective effort. We as individuals cannot arrange
arranging transport and so on. You can see that these things. All these things are done by the
you have not used all of your friends. Even on the government, which acts in the representative
picnic day, all of your friends capacity of the people.
do not need to work. Some
will clean the area, some will DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STATE AND GOVERNMENT
cook food and others will
India is divided into 28
play and enjoy themselves. provinces or states. These
Thus, only some of them
are parts of the country.
work as representatives for However, in civics, the word
the entire group.
‘country’ is called ‘state’. So,
Let us take another example. Class VI and Class now when we say ‘state’, we
VII are playing a cricket match. Will all students of shall mean the country. A crowded street
these two classes play? No, only some of them.
The Government and Suffrage
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