Think and Answer

1. India does not have an official religion. Its Constitution does not favour any one particular
religion. In this way, it is different from Sri Lanka.
2. Free response; answers vary

Picture study
1. Right to Education
2. This Fundamental Right ensures free and compulsory education for all children between 6 and
14 years of age.
3. It was added to the Constitution to ensure that all children get an opportunity to go to school.
Children who get educated will help bring about progress and development when they grow
up. Thus, this right is important for the future of India.

DEMOCRACY IN INDIA
Stop and check
1. The Parliament 2. Upper House 3. The President of India

Exercies
A. 1. monarchies 2. federal, unitary 3. legislature, executive, judiciary 4. Parliament
5. President 6. Chief Minister, Council of Ministers

B. 1. False. The legislature is responsible for making and passing laws.

2. False. The head of the executive is the Prime Minister.
3. False. The judiciary ensures that the law is correctly understood and followed by the people.
4. True
5. False. The Supreme Court is the highest court in India.

C. 1. c. representative 2. c. Parliament 3. b. impeach 4. a. Governor

5. d. Lieutenant Governor 6. c. law and order
D. 1.
STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

Democracy Monarchy Dictatorship

A democracy is a system of Monarchies are usually When a country is ruled by a
governance in which the hereditary (power passes on single person or a small
power lies with the people. A from the parent to the child). group with absolute power
democratic country is ruled In a monarchy, the monarch over the people, it is known
either directly or indirectly by has absolute power over the as a dictatorship. In a
the people people. dictatorship, the people have
no rights or freedom.

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 2. T he key features of a democracy are participation, accountability, conflict resolution, equality
and justice, Fundamental Rights and separation of powers.
Participation of the people: In a democracy, the people participate in the formation of the
government. Thus, elections are an important feature of democracy. After the elections, the
people continue to participate in the governance through various legal processes, protests,
rallies and so on.
Accountability: Accountability means being responsible or answerable for one’s actions. In a
democracy, the elected leaders are answerable to the people. If they are corrupt, inefficient,
incompetent or dishonest, they can be replaced or punished.
Conflict resolution: In a diverse country like India, there are often many disagreements among
the different regions and communities. Sometimes, these disagreements can lead to conflicts.
In such cases, it is the responsibility of the government to step in and try to resolve the
conflicts.
Equality and Justice: Equality is the most important feature of a democracy. In a democracy,
everyone is equal before the law and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender (whether
you are male, female or transgender), race, religion, wealth or language is not allowed.
However, many social and economic inequalities continue to exist in our country. Inequality
often leads to injustice. In a democracy, it is the duty of the government to take steps to
address inequality and ensure justice.
Fundamental Rights: A democracy ensures that all citizens have certain basic or fundamental
human rights, such as the Right to Equality, Right to Education, and Right to Freedom of
Speech. These Fundamental Rights are protected by law.
Separation of Powers: In a democratic government, power is not concentrated in one body.
For example, in India, the power is divided between the three branches—the legislature, the
executive and the judiciary. This is done to ensure that the branches keep a check on one
another and to ensure that none of them misuse their powers. This division is called the
separation of powers. (any three)
3. In India, the centre has the power to make laws on subjects that concern the whole country
like defence and finance, while the states have the power to make laws on certain other
subjects. That is why India is said to have a system of government that is partly federal and
partly unitary.
4. T he legislature in the Central Government is the Parliament. The Parliament is composed of
the President and the two Houses—the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Its members are
called Members of Parliament (MPs).
The President: The President of India is the nominal head of the Indian state. The President is
elected for a period of five years by the members of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the
STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

state legislative assemblies.

The Lok Sabha: The Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the Parliament is also called the House
of the People as members of this house are elected directly by the people of the country.
The Rajya Sabha: The Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of the Parliament is also known as the
Council of States. Its members are elected indirectly by the members of the Lok Sabha and
state legislative assemblies
The powers and functions of the legislature are as follows.
• The Parliament of India has the power to make laws and also amend them.

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 • The functioning of the executive is checked by the legislature.
• The Parliament of India also prepares the budget each year.
5. At the central level, the executive is composed of:
• The President: The President is the nominal head of the Central Government.
• The Prime Minister: The Prime Minister is the actual head of the central executive, and thus
of the Central Government, and all powers rest in his or her hands. The Prime Minister
heads the Council of Ministers, and is involved in all the important decisions of the
government.
• The Council of Ministers: The Prime Minister is helped in the discharge of his or her
functions by a specially chosen group of ministers. The Prime Minister and these ministers
make up the Council of Ministers. Each minister is in charge of a particular department, like
defence, home affairs and finance.
At the state level, the executive is composed of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the
Council of Ministers. The Governor is the nominal head, while the Chief Minister is the actual
head of the state. The Chief Minister and the ministers of the state together form the Council
of Ministers at the state level. Each minister is in charge of a particular department.
The powers and functions of the central executive are as follows:
• T he executive decides on the policies of the government and advises the legislature on the
laws that need to be made.
• The executive aids and advises the President in his or her functions.
• The executive has the power to impeach (remove from office for misconduct) the President
and judges and make amendments (changes) to the Constitution.
6. T he judiciary in India consists of three levels—the national level, the state level and the
district level. The Supreme Court works at the national level with the Chief Justice of India as
its head. The judiciary at the state level consists of the High Courts, and at the district level it
consists of the District Courts.
The judiciary is the branch of the government whose main functions are to uphold the law
and protect the rights of the citizens.
7. T he Constitution clearly spells out the distribution of legislative powers and functions
between the union government and the state governments in three lists—the Union List, the
State List and the Concurrent List. The central government makes laws on subjects in the
Union List, such as defence, finance and foreign affairs which are of national importance. The
state governments make laws on subjects in the State List, such as law and order, public
health and so on. The Concurrent List has subjects on which both the central and state
governments can make laws, such as economic and social planning and education. However, if
STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

there is a conflict between the union and state governments on any subject, the will of the
union government will prevail.

Think and Answer

• T he separation of powers helps prevent misuse of power by any of the three branches of
government. Without this feature, the executive branch, for example, might become more
powerful than the legislature and the judiciary. In such a case, the democracy may turn into a
dictatorship where a single person or a small group of people have absolute power over the
citizens.
• The Central Government of India
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 Picture study
1. He is the President of India.
2. The position is nominal.
3. The person in this position has legislative powers and executive powers.

ELECTIONS IN INDIA
Stop and check
1. five 2. constituencies

Exercies
A. 1. Election Commission 2. citizens 3. campaigning 4. 48 hours 5. manifesto
6. secret ballot

B. 1. F alse. The constituencies must have more or less the same number of people in each
constituency. So their sizes vary from state to state.
2. False. General elections are held every five years.
3. False. Regional parties need to get at least 6% of the votes from a single state, and at least
two seats in the State Legislative Assembly
4. False. People in a political party share an idea of how a country should be governed.
5. False. Most elections in India are conducted using Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs today.

C. 1. Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs 2. Constituencies 3. 543

4. Voter identity card 5. Political parties

D. 1. T he Election Commission of India is an independent constitutional body that is responsible for

conducting fair and impartial elections in India. It is headed by the Chief Election
Commissioner. The Election Commission announces the schedule for the elections.
2. E lectronic Voting Machines or EVMs are machines used for voting. The EVMs of a constituency
display the names of all the candidates from that constituency. There are buttons alongside
the names of these candidates. In order to vote, a voter presses the button for the candidate
of his or her choice.
In the secret ballot method, on the other hand, the voters mark their choice on the ballot
paper. They then fold the ballots and drop them into a common ballot box. Thus, in this STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY
method, nobody can know who a person has voted for.
3. T he election process takes place in three stages—campaigning, polling and counting of
votes—after which the results are declared
Campaigning: • In this stage, the candidates try to build support for their party or themselves.
• They do so in a number of ways. They hold public meetings and rallies, coin slogans and
release advertisements in the newspapers. Television and radio shows are also used by
political parties to draw the attention of the public to their manifestos and to ask for their
votes. • Campaigning has to end 48 hours before the polling day.

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