What is Government? NCERT Exercise Solution

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

Answer: The system by which a state or community is governed is called the government. Five ways in which the government affects our daily life are as follows:

Government ensures proper supply of drinking water.
Government ensures proper supply of electricity.
Government makes schools so that most of the children can study. The government also regulates the functioning of private schools.
Government makes hospitals which treat patients either free of cost or at nominal cost.
In case of natural calamity, government provides relief to affected people.

Question 2: Why do you think the government needs to make rules for everyone in the form of laws?

Answer: Laws are needed to ensure people can lead a normal life without being disturbed by others. Laws also ensure that nobody is able to disturb the life of another without due reasons. To understand this, let us take a simple example of the traffic rule that every vehicle must stop at the red signal. If nobody will stop at the red signal, it will result in chaos. Nobody will be able to drive smoothly. Everyone would reach his destination after suffering for long hours. Laws are necessary to properly manage the administration. Hence, government needs to make rules for everyone.

Question 3: Name two essential features of a democratic government.

Answer: Two essential features of a democratic government are as follows:

People elect their representatives who; in turn; elect the government.
People get the choice of electing a new government after certain intervals.

Question 4: What was the suffrage movement? What did it accomplish?

Answer: The suffrage movement was related to ensuring equal voting rights for all. During those days, women did not have voting rights in Europe and the USA. When the World War began, all the men became busy in war. It was left to the women to shoulder other responsibilities; like working in offices and factories. Then many people began to realize that women should also be given voting rights. After many years of continuous struggle, women could get voting rights. This ensured that women too got equal say in power.

Question 5: Gandhiji strongly believed that every adult in India should be given the right to vote. However, a few people don't share his views. They feel that illiterate people, who are mainly poor, should not be given the right to vote. What do you think? Do you think this would be a form of discrimination? Give five points to support your view and share these with the class.

Answer: Gandhiji was right in believing that every adult was a responsible person. He believed that if a person was mature enough to shoulder the responsibility of running a family, he must be mature enough to elect a government of his/her choice. Gandhiji was of the view that if a person was poor or illiterate, it did not mean that the person was not wise enough to elect a government. Depriving the poor and the illiterates of voting rights would have been a form of discrimination. Following points support this view:

A person does not become poor because of choice but because of circumstances.
Person remains illiterate because he does not get enough opportunity to become literate.
A poor person need not be a foolish person and rich person may not always be intelligent.
Dishonesty and criminality can develop in any person; whether he is literate or illiterate.
Every adult develops certain level of maturity which gives him enough wisdom to think about the government.

EXTRA QUESTIONS

Question 1: Why do we need a government?

Answer: Government is needed to make decisions and to get things done.

Question 2: What are the two main levels of government?

Answer: The two main levels of government are:

National Government
Local Government

Question 3: Write a brief note on Central Government.

Answer: This is the topmost level of government. The Central Government looks after topics of national interest. The Prime Minister is the head of the Central Government. The Central Government operates from the national capital New Delhi.

Question 4: Write a brief note on State Government.

Answer: Different states have their own level of government. The State Government is headed by the Chief Minister of that state. The State Government looks after the state subjects.

Question 5: What is monarchy?

Answer: When the head of the government is a king, this is called a monarchy. The king enjoys supreme power. In monarchy, power is inherited which means that the son or daughter of a king becomes the ruler. People have no choice in selection of the ruler.

Question 6: What is democracy?

Answer: In a democratic government, the rulers are elected by people. Democracy is defined as the government by the people, for the people and of the people.

In a democracy, the ruler is elected by people. People have a choice to change the ruler after certain interval. Any adult citizen can become the ruler if he/she is elected by people.