HOW THE STATE GOVERNMENTS WORKS
1. Who is an MLA?
Answer –
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected by the people. They then become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government. In this way we say that the MLAs represent people.
2. What is a constituency?
Answer –
A particular area from which all the voters living there choose their representatives is called a constituency.
3. When a party is said to be in majority?
Answer –
A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in
a state can be said to be in a majority.
4. What is ruling and opposition party?
Answer –
The political party that has the majority is called the ruling party and all other members are called the opposition.
5. Who appoints the Chief Minister and ministers of a state?
Answer –
The Governor of the state who appoints the chief minister and other ministers of the state.
6. What is a Legislative Assembly?
Answer-
A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs, whether from the ruling party or from the opposition meet to discuss various things.
7. Who is Chief Minister?
Answer –
The Chief Minister is the executive head of the state. He or she is chosen by the MLAs of the ruling party to be their leader and the CM of the state. The chief minister then selects other MLAs as ministers.
8. Who are legislature?
Answer –
All the MLAs who gather together (assemble) in the legislative assembly are called the
Legislature. They are the ones who authorise and supervise the work of the government.
9. What is a Press Conference?
Or
What is the purpose of a press conference?
Answer –
A Press Conference is a gathering of journalists from the media who are invited to hear about and ask questions on a particular issue and are then expected to report on this to the larger public.
10. What is a coalition and a coalition government?
Answer –
At times, the ruling party may not be a single party but a group of parties working together. This is called a coalition and the government formed by this coalition is called a Coalition government.
11. Who is Governor of a state?
Answer –
The Head of the State is the Governor. She/he is appointed by the Central Government to ensure that the State Government works within the rules and regulations of the Constitution.
12. Use the terms ‘constituency’ and ‘represent’ to explain who an MLA is and how is the person elected?
Answer –
An MLA is a representative chosen by the people to represent the people of that constituency.
In the State Legislative Assembly election the voters of the constituency votes to choose a candidate to become the MLA of that constituency.
13. How did some MLAs become Ministers? Explain.
Answer –
After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister. The chief minister then selects other people as ministers. After the elections, it is the Governor of the state who appoints the chief minister and other ministers.
14. Why should decisions are taken by the Chief Minister and other ministers be debated in the Legislative Assembly?
Answer –
The decisions taken by the Chief Minister and other ministers should be debated in the Legislative Assembly because whatever the decision would be taken it must be in the welfare of all the people at large. It will help the government to rectify the mistakes and help in making better decisions.
15. What was the problem in Patalpuram? What discussion/ action was taken by the following?
Fill in the table.
Public meeting |
Legislative Assembly |
Press conference |
Chief Minister |
Answer –
Patalpuram was receiving water once in three days and huge number of patients were suffering from acute diarrhoea and most of them were children.
Public meeting | Oppositions blaming the MLA of the constituency and the government for the situation and demanding the immediate actions to bring the public health situation under control. |
Legislative Assembly | Debated the issue and discussed the course of action needed to be taken. |
Press conference | The minister explained the steps the government had taken. |
Chief Minister | The chief minister and the minister for health visited Patalpuram district. They went to visit the families who had lost their relatives and also visited people in the hospitals. The government announced a compensation for these families and announced to set-up a high-level enquiry committee to look into the needs of the district to provide sanitation facilities and ensured to solve the problem of water supply in the region. |
16. What is the difference between the work that MLAs do in the Assembly and the work done by government departments?
Answer –
In the Assembly the MLAs have to discuss an issue and have to take decisions regarding the issue. They can make laws on certain issues in the Legislative Assembly.
Then the governmental departments have to implement these laws in their respective fields.