Page 1 56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OVERVIEW Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary. You have already read something about these institutions in earlier classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions? What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the working of the national level government called Central Government, Union Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in your state. CHAPTER 4 Working of Institutions 2020-21 Page 2 56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OVERVIEW Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary. You have already read something about these institutions in earlier classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions? What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the working of the national level government called Central Government, Union Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in your state. CHAPTER 4 Working of Institutions 2020-21 57 4.1 HOW IS A MAJOR POLICY DECISION TAKEN? Pensions, signed the Order. It was quite short, barely one page. It looked like any ordinary circular or notice that you may have seen in school. The government issues hun- dreds of orders every day on differ- ent matters. But this one was very important and became a source of controversy for several years. Let us see how the decision was taken and what happened later. A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order On August 13, 1990, the Government of India issued an Order. It was called an Office Memorandum. Like all government orders, it had a num- ber and is known by that: O. M. No. 36012/31/90-Est (SCT), dated 13.8.1990. The Joint Secretary, an officer in the Department of Person- nel and Training in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS 2020-21 Page 3 56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OVERVIEW Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary. You have already read something about these institutions in earlier classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions? What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the working of the national level government called Central Government, Union Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in your state. CHAPTER 4 Working of Institutions 2020-21 57 4.1 HOW IS A MAJOR POLICY DECISION TAKEN? Pensions, signed the Order. It was quite short, barely one page. It looked like any ordinary circular or notice that you may have seen in school. The government issues hun- dreds of orders every day on differ- ent matters. But this one was very important and became a source of controversy for several years. Let us see how the decision was taken and what happened later. A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order On August 13, 1990, the Government of India issued an Order. It was called an Office Memorandum. Like all government orders, it had a num- ber and is known by that: O. M. No. 36012/31/90-Est (SCT), dated 13.8.1990. The Joint Secretary, an officer in the Department of Person- nel and Training in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS 2020-21 58 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS This Order announced a major policy decision. It said that 27 per cent of the vacancies in civil posts and services under the Government of India are reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). SEBC is another name for all those people who belong to castes that are considered backward by the government. The benefit of job res- ervation was till then available only to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Now a new third category called SEBC was introduced. Only persons who belong to backward classes were eligible for this quota of 27 per cent jobs. Others could not compete for these jobs. T T T T The D he D he D he D he De e e e ecision M cision M cision M cision M cision Mak ak ak ak akers ers ers ers ers Who decided to issue this Memorandum? Clearly, such a big decision could not have been taken by the person who signed that document. The officer was merely implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, of which the Department was a part. We can guess that such a major decision would have involved other major functionaries in our country. You have already read in the previous class about some of them. Let us go over some of the main points that you covered then: < President is the head of the state and is the highest formal authority in the country. <Prime Minister is the head of the government and actually exercises all governmental powers. He takes most of the decisions in the Cabinet meetings. <Parliament consists of the President and two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of Lok Sabha members. So, were all these people involved in this decision regarding the Office Memorandum? Let us find out. ACTIVITY < Which points, other than the ones mentioned above, do you recall about these institutions from the previous class? Discuss in class. < Can you think of a major decision made by your state government? How were the Gover- nor, the Council of Ministers, the state assem- bly and the courts involved in that decision? This Office Memorandum was the culmination of a long chain of events. The Government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1979. It was headed by B.P. Mandal. Hence it was popularly called the Mandal Commission. It was asked to determine the criteria to identify the socially and educationally backward classes in India and recommend steps to be taken for their advancement. The Commission gave its Report in 1980 and made many recommendations. One of these was that 27 per cent of government jobs be reserved for the socially and educationally backward classes. The Report and recommendations were discussed in the Parliament. For several years, many parliamentarians and parties kept demanding the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. Then came the Lok Sabha election of 1989. In its election manifesto, the Janata Dal promised that if voted to power, it would implement the Mandal Commission report. The Janata Dal did form the government after this election. Its leader V. P. Singh became the Prime Minister. Several developments took place after that: Now I can see clearly! That is why they talk of Mandalisation of politics. Don’t they? Is every Office Memorandum a major political decision? If not, what made this one different? 2020-21 Page 4 56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OVERVIEW Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary. You have already read something about these institutions in earlier classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions? What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the working of the national level government called Central Government, Union Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in your state. CHAPTER 4 Working of Institutions 2020-21 57 4.1 HOW IS A MAJOR POLICY DECISION TAKEN? Pensions, signed the Order. It was quite short, barely one page. It looked like any ordinary circular or notice that you may have seen in school. The government issues hun- dreds of orders every day on differ- ent matters. But this one was very important and became a source of controversy for several years. Let us see how the decision was taken and what happened later. A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order On August 13, 1990, the Government of India issued an Order. It was called an Office Memorandum. Like all government orders, it had a num- ber and is known by that: O. M. No. 36012/31/90-Est (SCT), dated 13.8.1990. The Joint Secretary, an officer in the Department of Person- nel and Training in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS 2020-21 58 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS This Order announced a major policy decision. It said that 27 per cent of the vacancies in civil posts and services under the Government of India are reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). SEBC is another name for all those people who belong to castes that are considered backward by the government. The benefit of job res- ervation was till then available only to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Now a new third category called SEBC was introduced. Only persons who belong to backward classes were eligible for this quota of 27 per cent jobs. Others could not compete for these jobs. T T T T The D he D he D he D he De e e e ecision M cision M cision M cision M cision Mak ak ak ak akers ers ers ers ers Who decided to issue this Memorandum? Clearly, such a big decision could not have been taken by the person who signed that document. The officer was merely implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, of which the Department was a part. We can guess that such a major decision would have involved other major functionaries in our country. You have already read in the previous class about some of them. Let us go over some of the main points that you covered then: < President is the head of the state and is the highest formal authority in the country. <Prime Minister is the head of the government and actually exercises all governmental powers. He takes most of the decisions in the Cabinet meetings. <Parliament consists of the President and two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of Lok Sabha members. So, were all these people involved in this decision regarding the Office Memorandum? Let us find out. ACTIVITY < Which points, other than the ones mentioned above, do you recall about these institutions from the previous class? Discuss in class. < Can you think of a major decision made by your state government? How were the Gover- nor, the Council of Ministers, the state assem- bly and the courts involved in that decision? This Office Memorandum was the culmination of a long chain of events. The Government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1979. It was headed by B.P. Mandal. Hence it was popularly called the Mandal Commission. It was asked to determine the criteria to identify the socially and educationally backward classes in India and recommend steps to be taken for their advancement. The Commission gave its Report in 1980 and made many recommendations. One of these was that 27 per cent of government jobs be reserved for the socially and educationally backward classes. The Report and recommendations were discussed in the Parliament. For several years, many parliamentarians and parties kept demanding the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. Then came the Lok Sabha election of 1989. In its election manifesto, the Janata Dal promised that if voted to power, it would implement the Mandal Commission report. The Janata Dal did form the government after this election. Its leader V. P. Singh became the Prime Minister. Several developments took place after that: Now I can see clearly! That is why they talk of Mandalisation of politics. Don’t they? Is every Office Memorandum a major political decision? If not, what made this one different? 2020-21 59 were full of different views and opinions on this issue. It led to widespread protests and counter- protests, some of which were violent. People reacted strongly because this decision affected thousands of job opportunities. Some felt that existence of inequalities among people of different castes in India necessitated job reservations. They felt, this would give a fair opportunity to those communities who so far had not adequately been represented in government employment. Others felt that this was unfair as it would deny equality of opportunity to those who did not belong to backward communities. They would be denied jobs even though they could be more qualified. Some felt that this would perpetuate caste feelings among people and hamper national unity. In this chapter we won’t discuss whether the decision was good or not. We only take this example to understand how major decisions are taken and implemented in the country. Who resolved this dispute? You know that the Supreme Court and the High Courts in India settle disputes arising out of governmental decisions. Some persons and associations opposed to this order filed a number of cases in the courts. They appealed to the courts to declare the order invalid and stop its implementation. The Supreme Court of India bunched all these cases together. This case was known as the ‘Indira Sawhney and others Vs Union of India case’. Eleven judges of the Supreme Court heard arguments of both sides. By a majority, the Supreme Court judges in 1992 declared that this order of the Government of India was valid. At the same time the Supreme Court asked the government to modify its WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS <The President of India in his address to the Parliament announced the intention of the government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. <On 6 August 1990, the Union Cabinet took a formal decision to implement the recommendations. < Next day Prime Minister V.P. Singh informed the Parliament about this decision through a statement in both the Houses of Parliament. <The decision of the Cabinet was sent to the Department of Personnel and Training. The senior officers of the Department drafted an order in line with the Cabinet decision and took the minister’s approval. An officer signed the order on behalf of the Union Government. This was how O.M. No. 36012/ 31/90 was born on 13 August 1990. For the next few months, this was the most hotly debated issue in the country. Newspapers and magazines Reservation debate was such an impor tant issue during 1990-91 that advertisers used this theme to sell their products. Can you spot some references to political events and debates in these Amul Butter hoardings? ©GCMMF India r r r r re e e e ea a a a ad d d d d t t t t the he he he he ima ima ima ima image ge ge ge ge 2020-21 Page 5 56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OVERVIEW Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary. You have already read something about these institutions in earlier classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions? What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the working of the national level government called Central Government, Union Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in your state. CHAPTER 4 Working of Institutions 2020-21 57 4.1 HOW IS A MAJOR POLICY DECISION TAKEN? Pensions, signed the Order. It was quite short, barely one page. It looked like any ordinary circular or notice that you may have seen in school. The government issues hun- dreds of orders every day on differ- ent matters. But this one was very important and became a source of controversy for several years. Let us see how the decision was taken and what happened later. A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order A Government Order On August 13, 1990, the Government of India issued an Order. It was called an Office Memorandum. Like all government orders, it had a num- ber and is known by that: O. M. No. 36012/31/90-Est (SCT), dated 13.8.1990. The Joint Secretary, an officer in the Department of Person- nel and Training in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS 2020-21 58 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS This Order announced a major policy decision. It said that 27 per cent of the vacancies in civil posts and services under the Government of India are reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). SEBC is another name for all those people who belong to castes that are considered backward by the government. The benefit of job res- ervation was till then available only to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Now a new third category called SEBC was introduced. Only persons who belong to backward classes were eligible for this quota of 27 per cent jobs. Others could not compete for these jobs. T T T T The D he D he D he D he De e e e ecision M cision M cision M cision M cision Mak ak ak ak akers ers ers ers ers Who decided to issue this Memorandum? Clearly, such a big decision could not have been taken by the person who signed that document. The officer was merely implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, of which the Department was a part. We can guess that such a major decision would have involved other major functionaries in our country. You have already read in the previous class about some of them. Let us go over some of the main points that you covered then: < President is the head of the state and is the highest formal authority in the country. <Prime Minister is the head of the government and actually exercises all governmental powers. He takes most of the decisions in the Cabinet meetings. <Parliament consists of the President and two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of Lok Sabha members. So, were all these people involved in this decision regarding the Office Memorandum? Let us find out. ACTIVITY < Which points, other than the ones mentioned above, do you recall about these institutions from the previous class? Discuss in class. < Can you think of a major decision made by your state government? How were the Gover- nor, the Council of Ministers, the state assem- bly and the courts involved in that decision? This Office Memorandum was the culmination of a long chain of events. The Government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1979. It was headed by B.P. Mandal. Hence it was popularly called the Mandal Commission. It was asked to determine the criteria to identify the socially and educationally backward classes in India and recommend steps to be taken for their advancement. The Commission gave its Report in 1980 and made many recommendations. One of these was that 27 per cent of government jobs be reserved for the socially and educationally backward classes. The Report and recommendations were discussed in the Parliament. For several years, many parliamentarians and parties kept demanding the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. Then came the Lok Sabha election of 1989. In its election manifesto, the Janata Dal promised that if voted to power, it would implement the Mandal Commission report. The Janata Dal did form the government after this election. Its leader V. P. Singh became the Prime Minister. Several developments took place after that: Now I can see clearly! That is why they talk of Mandalisation of politics. Don’t they? Is every Office Memorandum a major political decision? If not, what made this one different? 2020-21 59 were full of different views and opinions on this issue. It led to widespread protests and counter- protests, some of which were violent. People reacted strongly because this decision affected thousands of job opportunities. Some felt that existence of inequalities among people of different castes in India necessitated job reservations. They felt, this would give a fair opportunity to those communities who so far had not adequately been represented in government employment. Others felt that this was unfair as it would deny equality of opportunity to those who did not belong to backward communities. They would be denied jobs even though they could be more qualified. Some felt that this would perpetuate caste feelings among people and hamper national unity. In this chapter we won’t discuss whether the decision was good or not. We only take this example to understand how major decisions are taken and implemented in the country. Who resolved this dispute? You know that the Supreme Court and the High Courts in India settle disputes arising out of governmental decisions. Some persons and associations opposed to this order filed a number of cases in the courts. They appealed to the courts to declare the order invalid and stop its implementation. The Supreme Court of India bunched all these cases together. This case was known as the ‘Indira Sawhney and others Vs Union of India case’. Eleven judges of the Supreme Court heard arguments of both sides. By a majority, the Supreme Court judges in 1992 declared that this order of the Government of India was valid. At the same time the Supreme Court asked the government to modify its WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS <The President of India in his address to the Parliament announced the intention of the government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. <On 6 August 1990, the Union Cabinet took a formal decision to implement the recommendations. < Next day Prime Minister V.P. Singh informed the Parliament about this decision through a statement in both the Houses of Parliament. <The decision of the Cabinet was sent to the Department of Personnel and Training. The senior officers of the Department drafted an order in line with the Cabinet decision and took the minister’s approval. An officer signed the order on behalf of the Union Government. This was how O.M. No. 36012/ 31/90 was born on 13 August 1990. For the next few months, this was the most hotly debated issue in the country. Newspapers and magazines Reservation debate was such an impor tant issue during 1990-91 that advertisers used this theme to sell their products. Can you spot some references to political events and debates in these Amul Butter hoardings? ©GCMMF India r r r r re e e e ea a a a ad d d d d t t t t the he he he he ima ima ima ima image ge ge ge ge 2020-21 60 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS Who did what in this case of reservations for backward classes? Made formal announcement about this decision Implemented the decision by issuing an order Took the decision to give 27% job reservations Upheld reservations as valid CHECK YOUR PROGRESS original order. It said that well-to- do persons among the backward classes should be excluded from getting the benefit of reservation. Accordingly, the Department of Which institutions are at work in the running of your school? Would it be better if one person alone took all the decisions regarding management of your school? Personnel and Training issued another Office Memorandum on 8 September 1993. The dispute thus came to an end and this policy has been followed since then. N N N N Nee ee ee ee eed f d f d f d f d for P or P or P or P or Political Institutions olitical Institutions olitical Institutions olitical Institutions olitical Institutions We have seen one example of how the government works. Governing a country involves various such activities. For example, the government is responsible for ensuring security to the citizens and providing facilities for education and health to all. It collects taxes and spends the money thus raised on administration, defence and development programmes. It formulates and implements several welfare schemes. Some persons have to take decisions on how to go about these activities. Others have to implement these decisions. If disputes arise on these decisions or in their implementation, there should be someone to determine what is right and what is wrong. It is important that everyone should know who is responsible for doing what. It is also important that these activities keep taking place even if the persons in key positions change. So, to attend to all these tasks, several arrangements are made in all modern democracies. Such arrangements are called institutions. A democracy works well when these institutions perform functions assigned to them. The Constitution of any country lays down basic rules on the powers and functions of each institution. In the example above, we saw several such institutions at work. <The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are institutions that take all important policy decisions. <The Civil Servants, working together, are responsible for taking steps to implement the ministers’ decisions. <Supreme Court is an institution where disputes between citizens and the government are finally settled. Can you think of some other insti- tutions in this example? What is their role? Working with institutions is not easy. Institutions involve rules and regulations. This can bind the hands of leaders. Institutions involve meetings, committees and routines. This often leads to delays and complications. Therefore dealing with institutions can be frustrating. One might feel that it is much better to have one person take all decisions without any rules, procedures and meetings. But that is not the spirit of democracy. Some of the delays and complications introduced by institutions are very useful. They provide an opportunity for a wider set of people to be consulted in any decision. Institutions make it Supreme Court Cabinet President Government Officials 2020-21Read More
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