NCERT Solutions Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10: Grassroots Democracy — Part 1: Governance

Answers to the Big Questions, every Let’s Explore activity and the “Questions, activities and projects” of Chapter 10, Grassroots Democracy — Part 1: Governance, in Exploring Society: India and Beyond. Many of these are discussion questions, so the answers below are model answers and ideas: use them to prepare, then add examples from your own school, family and town. Short notes: Chapter 10 notes.

The Big Questions (page 149)

1. What is the meaning of ‘governance’?

Governance is the process of taking decisions, organising the life of a society with different sets of rules, and making sure the rules are followed. The group of people or the system that does this is the government, and its more important rules are called laws. Governance is not fixed once and for all: citizens also have a say in the laws and rules that govern society.

2. Why do we need a government?

When many people live together, there can be disagreements and disorder, so rules are needed to keep order and harmony. Without anyone to make and enforce rules, society could not function. A government:

• makes rules and laws, and changes them when needed;
• makes sure the laws are followed, through the police and other agencies, and punishes those who break them, through the courts;
• provides services that people cannot easily arrange alone, such as roads, railways, defence, hospitals, schools, the post and rescue during disasters;
• deals with problems at the right level, from a village to the whole country.

3. What is the meaning of ‘democracy’? Why is it important?

‘Democracy’ comes from the Greek words dēmos, ‘people’, and kratos, ‘rule’ or ‘power’, so it means the ‘rule of the people’. Since all the people cannot rule directly, citizens elect representatives, such as MLAs and MPs, who discuss laws and problems on their behalf. Democracy is important because:

• the people choose who governs them, and can choose differently at the next election;
• citizens have a say in the decisions that affect their lives;
• differences of opinion are settled through dialogue and debate, not force;
• every adult citizen’s vote counts equally.

Let’s Explore activities

Two pictures and our rules (pages 150–151)

• Differences between the two pictures in Fig. 10.1: In the first, a road crossing has traffic lights, zebra crossings, lane markings and a no-entry sign; vehicles stay in their lanes and people walk on the footpaths and cross at the zebra crossing. In the second, there are no lanes or signals; cars, vans, cycles and people are mixed up and go in every direction, and it looks crowded and unsafe.
• Connection with rules: The first picture shows what happens when everyone follows rules: movement is smooth and safe. The second shows the disorder when there are no rules or no one follows them: jams, delays and accidents. Rules are needed for society to function.
• Rules in your school and who made them: For example, coming on time, wearing the uniform, attending the morning assembly, keeping the classroom clean, not running in the corridors and returning library books on time. Such rules are usually made by the school’s management, the principal and the teachers, sometimes with ideas from a student council, and some come from the education board or the government.

Public services in Fig. 10.2 (page 153)

• The ten pictures and the government’s role:
  1. Road building: the government builds and repairs roads.
  2. A train: the government runs the railways.
  3. Soldiers at a border fence: the government guards the country’s borders (defence).
  4. A doctor and patient in a hospital: the government runs hospitals and health programmes.
  5. A rescue team carrying an injured person from fallen buildings: the government sends fire and rescue services in disasters.
  6. A traffic policeman: the government controls traffic and keeps law and order.
  7. The Supreme Court building: the government provides courts and justice.
  8. A classroom: the government runs and supports schools.
  9. A postman at a post box: the government runs the postal service.
  10. People at bank counters: the government oversees banking and money.
• Other parts of daily life where the government plays a role: electricity and water supply, buses, garbage collection and clean streets, ration shops, parks, vaccination, weather warnings, the money in our pockets, and documents such as birth certificates.

The cyber criminals (page 154)

The legislature saw a new kind of crime and passed laws against cybercrime. The executive, through the cyber police, investigated the cases and arrested the criminals. The judiciary, the courts, heard each case, decided that the law had been broken and convicted the criminals, who were usually fined and jailed. Each organ stepped in at a different stage: making the law, enforcing it and judging under it.

If one group controlled all three organs (page 155)

If the same group of people made the laws, enforced them and also judged every case, there would be no checks on its power. It could make laws that favour itself, arrest anyone it disliked, and declare itself right in every case, and ordinary people would have no one to turn to. It would be like a game in which one player makes the rules, plays and is also the referee. In history, many kings and dictators held all these powers together, and people often suffered injustice. That is why the separation of powers, with checks and balances, matters.

The table and the adults around you (page 156)

• Functions that affect your life the most: For a student, education (in both the Central and State lists), public health, police and law and order, and communications usually matter most; for a farming family, agriculture and irrigation; and currency affects everyone who buys or sells anything.
• Asking adults about their contact with the government: Answers will differ. For example: getting a birth certificate or paying property tax at the local body (local level); getting a ration card or a driving licence (State level); applying for a passport (Central level); voting in elections at all three levels. Note each answer with its level and its purpose, and compare with your classmates.

Questions, activities and projects (page 161)

1. What is the meaning of democracy? What is the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy?

Democracy means the ‘rule of the people’ (from the Greek dēmos, people, and kratos, rule). In a direct democracy, every person votes on each decision themselves, as when a class chooses a picnic place by a show of hands. In a representative democracy, people elect representatives who discuss and decide on their behalf, as when a class elects a monitor to speak to the principal. Direct democracy works for small groups; a country as large as India, with some 970 million voters in 2024, is a representative democracy in which citizens elect MLAs and MPs.

2. Recall the three organs of government. What are their different roles?

• Legislature: makes new laws and updates or removes old ones. It is an assembly of the people’s representatives: the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha nationally, and the Vidhan Sabha in a State.
• Executive: implements the laws. It includes the head of the government (the Prime Minister or a Chief Minister), the ministers and agencies such as the police; the President and Governors are its nominal heads.
• Judiciary: the system of courts, from the Supreme Court to the High Courts. It decides whether a law has been broken and what should follow, and checks whether executive decisions and laws are fair.

The three are kept separate but work together, so that each can check the others.

3. Why do we need three tiers of government?

Different problems need to be handled at different levels. Local matters are handled most easily by a local government close to the people; matters of a whole State, such as police, public health and agriculture, by the State government; and matters of the whole country, such as defence, foreign affairs and currency, by the Central government. A problem moves up when it grows: a small flood is handled locally, a bigger one by the State, and a massive one with help from the Centre. Three tiers also let ordinary citizens take part close to home, which is the idea of grassroots democracy.

4. Project: the COVID-19 lockdown

A model plan for the project. Talk to adults at home and note what you remember.

Actions taken at that time: a lockdown in which people stayed at home and only essential shops opened; travel stopped; schools and offices closed and classes moved online; masks and distancing were made compulsory; testing, quarantine and hospital beds were arranged; food and rations were given to people in need; and later, vaccination was organised.

Tiers of government involved:

• Central government: announced the nationwide lockdown and rules for the whole country, arranged supplies and later the vaccines.
• State governments: enforced the lockdown through the police, ran hospitals and testing, and distributed rations.
• Local governments: cleaned and disinfected streets, set up quarantine centres, helped distribute food, and spread awareness in villages and towns.

Role of each organ:

• Legislature: passed or changed laws needed in the emergency. (Extra: in 2020 a law was amended to punish violence against health workers.)
• Executive: made and enforced the lockdown rules, ran health services and relief, and organised vaccination.
• Judiciary: courts kept working, many through online hearings, and heard cases about people’s problems during the lockdown.