What is Government?

Q16. Do you think it is important for people to be involved in decisions that affect them? Give two reasons for your answer.

Ans. Yes, it is important for people to be involved in decisions that affect them because people understand their issues in better way and can suggest better solutions to solve those issues.

Q17. “There was a time when governments did not allow women and the poor to participate in elections”. Comment

Ans. In their earliest forms governments allowed only men who owned property and were educated, to vote. This meant that women, the poor, the property-less and the uneducated were not allowed to vote. The country was governed by the rules and regulations that these few men made.

Q18. Government is responsible for so many different things. How it manages to do all this?

Ans. The government works at different levels: at the local level, at the level of the state and at the national level. The local level means in the village, town or locality, the state level would cover an entire state like Haryana or Assam and the national level relates to the entire country.

Q19. Name two essential features of a democratic government.

Ans. Two essential features of a democratic government are:

                       i.        In a democracy, it is the people who give the government power to make decisions and enforce laws. They do this through elections in which they vote for particular persons and elect them.

                      ii.        In a democracy the government has to explain its actions and defend its decisions to the people.

Q20. What is monarchy system of government?

Ans. Monarchy is a form of government in which the monarch (king or queen) has the power to make decisions and run the government.

The monarch may have a small group of people to discuss matters with, but the final decision-making power remains with the monarch. Kings and queens do not have to explain their actions or defend the decisions they take.

Q21. What was the suffrage movement? What did it accomplish?

Ans. All over Europe and USA, women and the poor have had to fight for participation in government. Women's struggle to vote got strengthened during the First World War. This movement is called the women's suffrage movement as the term suffrage usually means right to vote.

American women got the right to vote in 1920 while women in the UK got to vote on the same terms as men some years later, in 1928.

Q22. What was the voting system in India before Independence? What ideas did Gandhiji express in the journal Young India about voting system?

Ans. In India, before Independence, only a small minority was allowed to vote.

Writing in the journal Young India in 1931, Gandhiji said, "I cannot possibly bear the idea that a man who has got wealth should get the vote but a man who has got character but no wealth or literacy should have no vote, or that a man who honestly works by the sweat of his brow day in and day out should not have the vote for the crime of being a poor man…".

Q23. What are the functions of government?

Ans. Functions of government

                         i.        It takes decisions about where to build roads and schools, or how to reduce the price of onions when they get too expensive or ways to increase the supply of electricity.

                       ii.        It also takes action on many social issues.

                      iii.        It runs postal and railway services.

                      iv.        It protects the boundaries of the country and maintains peaceful relations with other countries.

                       v.        It ensures that all its citizens have enough to eat and have good health facilities.

                      vi.        It provides aid and assistance for the affected people in case of natural disasters like the tsunami or an earthquake.

Q24. What do you understand by the word 'government'? List five ways in which you think the government affects your daily life.

Ans.  The word government refers to a governing body that makes decisions and gets things done for the welfare of its citizens.

Five ways in which the government affects our daily life

                        i.        It takes decisions such as where to build roads and schools, how to reduce the price of onions when they get too expensive etc.

                       ii.        It takes action on many social issues.

                      iii.        It runs postal and railway services.

                      iv.        It is responsible for ensuring that all its citizens have enough to eat and have good health facilities.

                       v.        In case of are natural disasters like the tsunami or an earthquake, government organises aid and assistance for the affected people.