DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL RUBY PARK
DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE
CIVICS
CLASS-VI
STUDY MATERIAL
SESSION-2025-26
Topics to be covered:
• What is a Government?
• Types of Government
• The Need for Government
• Organs of Government of India and Their Functions
• Levels of Government of India
• Decision Making in a Democracy
• Importance of Democracy
INTRODUCTION;
➢ Government refers to a body that exercises ruling authority.
➢ The word government is derived from the latin word gubernare which means to
govern or to guide
➢ It organizes affairs of the state, regulates administrative functions, fulfils the
needs and demands of the people and resolves their problems.
➢ It functions on behalf of the people of a country by exercising
leadership, taking decisions and implementing these decisions.
TYPESOFGOVERNMENT
Types of Government Features
• People elect their own representatives
Democracy through elections, who, in turn, form the
government.
• In representative democracy, people
participate in the decision making and
functioning of the government through the
elected representatives.
• A democratic government is answerable to the
people and cannot take arbitrary decisions.
• Power is not hereditary and people may
change the representatives (government)in
the next election if they are dissatisfied.
• Periodic elections are held at fixed intervals.
• Each adult citizen has the right to vote in a
democracy. The right to vote is called
suffrage or franchise.
• Universal Adult Franchise is an important
aspect of any democracy. It means that all adult
citizens have the right to vote irrespective of
their social, cultural or economic backgrounds.
• In India, every adult citizenwhois18yearsor
above has the right to vote.
Eg: India
• There are two types of monarchy in the world.
Monarchy A. Absolute Monarchy
• King or the queen rules the country, heads the
government and takes all important decisions.
• Power is hereditary.
• People cannot change or choose the ruler even
if they are dissatisfied. Eg. Ashokan Empire
B. Constitutional Monarchy
• The monarch acts as the head of state within the
parameters of the constitution.
•The constitution hold the sovereign power to
regulate the functions of the government. Eg.
United Kingdoms.
• It is an authoritarian form of government.
Dictatorship • Here a single individual or a group heads the
government, assumes absolute power and his/her
words become the laws.
• No elections are held.
•Interests and demands of the people are not
taken care of here.
• Eg: Germany under Adolf Hitler
THE NEED FOR GOVERNMENT
➢ Maintenance of Law and Order
• Government helps in maintaining law and order within the country.
• Provides protection to the people within the country.
• Police forces are responsible for maintaining law and order within India.
➢ Defence
•Government maintains armed force for the defense of the country against external
threats.
•It also maintains friendly relations with other countries.
• Indian Army, Air Force and Navy together are responsible for protecting India against
external threats.
➢ Resolution of Socio–economic Problems
• Government take decisions and measures to deal with problems like poverty
malnutrition, unemployment, discrimination, etc.
• Government takes measures to protect the poor, needy and the other underprivileged
groups of the society.
➢ Health Services and Other Infrastructures
• One of the important functions of the government is to provide cheap (affordable) and
quality healthcare facilities to the people. For this purpose, government often establishes
The government also is responsible for providing other amenities like good roads, postal
system, public transport services, electricity, safe and clean drinking water, etc. to the
people.
➢ Provision of Educational Facilities
•Government is responsible for educating them asses and removing illiteracy.
• In India, government is responsible for providing free and compulsory elementary
education to every child who is below 14 years of age.
• The Indian Government also establishes and runs institutions for higher learning to
promote higher education.
ORGANS OF GOVERNMENT: There are three organs of government. They are:
ORGANS OF GOVERNMENT
JUDICIARY
LEGISTLATURE EXECUTIVE The organ that
The organ that makes interprets, defend and
The organ that executes applies law.
new laws and
law.
sometimes updates or It includes the system
eliminates old laws. It includes the head of of court and police.It
the state (president, evaluates and takes
In India it is done by an
prime minister ot chief action someone has
assembly of people's
minister) depending on broken the laws and
representatives.
the legislature, the punishment is given.
ministers concerned and
the agency responsible
for enforcing law and
order
• In any good system of governance these three organs of government must be kept
separate. Although they should interact with each other and work together, this is called
separation of power.
• Separation of power intended to provide a system of check and balances. This means
that each of the organs of government can check what others are doing to restore balance
if any organ acts beyond its expected role.
LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
• India is divided into 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
• In India, there exist three levels of government.
• Each level of Government has separate sets of powers and takes decisions pertaining
to that level.
• Central/Union Government is the highest level of government and is responsible for
the administration of the entire country.
• Every state has its own government called the State Government which is responsible
for the governance of that specific state. It is the second highest level of government
Local self-government like those in cities (Municipalities in cities) and villages
(Panchayats in villages) form the lowest level of government in India.
• The organs of government have different functions in national and state levels of
governance.
Organs of National level State Level
Government
Judiciary Supreme Court of India High Court of each states.
Legislature Two Houses- Lok Sabha and One State Assembly or
Rajya Sabha- formulates Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan
national laws. Parishad. (Most states have a
single assembly. Only the
states of Andhra Pradesh,
Telengana,Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh.)
Executive It is led by the President if It is led by the Governor, the
India. He is the nominal head nominal head of the state.
and the supreme commander Chief Minister is the
of the Indian armed force. executive head of the state.
The Prime Minister is the
executive head of the nation.
(head of the Government)
Functions and • Defence • Police law and order
Responsibility • Foreign Affairs • Adaptation and
of Executive • Atomic Energy implementation of law
(the list is not • Communication made by the Central
exhaustive) • Currency government at the
• Interstate Commerce State level.
• Education • Public Health
• Formulation of National • Education
Policies. • Agriculture
• Irrigation
• Local Government.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam:
• He was born in a humble family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu in 1931.
• He was renowned scientist, nicknamed ‘Missile Man of India’.
• He played a crucial role in the development of India’s space programme , missile
programme and nuclear capabilities.
• He was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
• He remained in close touch with the youth and the common people though being
the president.
• He has inspired millions of life.
• Though his position as the President was nominal but he could lay an important
role impacting thousand live.
DECISION MAKING IN A DEMOCRACY
Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people
and for the people.
• For the efficient functioning of a democracy, often the people directly do not take the
decisions related to administration. Rather the people elect representatives who, in
turn, take all the important decisions related to administration on behalf of the people
and are answerable to the people. This form of democracy is called representative
democracy
• Universal Adult Franchise, therefore, forms an important aspect of any democracy. It
means that all adult citizens have the right to vote irrespective of their social, cultural or
economic backgrounds.
• India follows the policy of Universal Adult Franchise that is every adult Indian
citizen who is 18 years or above has the right to vote.
• Right to Vote is also called suffrage or franchise.
• Through the elections people choose their representatives and who becomes the elected
members of their representative democracy. Same principles are followed at the state
and national levels. The representatives who were elected in the state legislature is called
the ‘ Members of Legislative Assembly’ ( or MLAs) and the representatives elected at
the Lok Sabha are called the ‘Members of Parliament’(or MPs).
•Besides, representative democracy, there is also direct democracy that we find in
present-day Switzerland. In a direct democracy, people directly participate in the
decision-making process. In ancient Greece, we had direct democracy.
• The term grassroot democracy refers to a system that enables and encourages the
participation of ordinary citizens. In such a system the citizens can have a say in decision
which affect them.
IMPORTANCE OF DEMOCRACY
• Democracy is often considered the most suitable form of government.
• It is peoples government as in a democracy people elected representatives who form the
government.
• People also have the right to change the government if the people are dissatisfied with its
functioning.
• Therefore, in a democracy, the government is always accountable to the people and
derives its power from the people.
• Democratic government ensures that the people’s needs and demands are taken care of.
• Democracy enables the citizens to realize their true potential by providing them rights and
freedom.
• Transition from one government to the other is a peaceful process in a democracy.
