Page 167 - SST Class 06

4. The executive comprises of __________ ,
Info Bits
Info Bits
The President is the head of the state and the
Prime Minister is the head of the central
government. In the states, the governor is the
head of the state and the chief minister is the
head of government.
Decision-making and Participation
The legislature is a representative body, the
members of which are elected by the people in
elections from time to time. It is we, the people,
who have given these members authority to make
laws on our behalf. This is the reason that the
Preamble to the Constitution opens with these
lines : “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA...”.
The members make laws and formulate policy on
our behalf. They are elected for a limited time.
The members of the Lok Sabha and state
assemblies are elected for a five-year term, while
the members of the Rajya Sabha are elected for a
six-year term. Similarly, at the local level, the
members are elected for three to five years.
If the people think that these members are not
working properly, they elect new representatives
in their place. Thus, the ultimate power rests with
the people.
Thus, participation of the people in the
government is ensured with the mechanism of
elections. The people express their will by casting
their votes.
F ind Outind Out
How does a democratic government works for the
welfare of the people?
Quiz Time
Fill in the blanks :
1. The members make laws and __________ policy
on our behalf.
2. Territory is the total earth’s __________ which
is under a particular __________ .
3. The Parliament has made a law that __________
is a crime.
__________ and other staff __________ .
5. __________ is the most important component
of a state.
Awkwardness of Decision-making and
Participation
The mechanism of decision-making and
participation is a democratic process. It was put in
place to ensure that the legislators will look after
the welfare of the people. However, many people
vote with some selfish interests in mind; for
example, on caste basis, on religious basis, on
regional basis etc. The legislators thus elected try
to look after the interests of the group which
elected them, and forget the well-being of all
people. Thus, when a railway minister belongs to
particular state, he tries to introduce maximum
trains in that state; and when a law minister
belongs to a certain caste, he tries to make laws
favourable to that caste.
At the time of independence, some classes of
people were deprived and downtrodden. So,
reservations were introduced for these classes for
different posts in order to help them. In the
beginning, the reservations were meant only for
ten years, but they have been extended from time
to time and they continue to exist. Ideally, those
classes of people should be excluded from this
reservation which have already been benefited
and, in their place, other deprived classes should
be included which have not been benefited. But,
this is not done in view of dirty caste-politics.
Also, merit is sacrificed for admission to an
educational course in many cases, in which a
student with mere 35 percent marks is admitted
over a student with 80 percent marks, only
because he belongs to a reserved category. All this
has led to corruption. Now, corruption is a serious
problem which is hindering our progress.
Just Think!
How should we protest against the decisions of
government?
The Government and Suffrage
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