NCERT Textbook: Working of Institutions | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

 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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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?
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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?
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25
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?
2024-25
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
2024-25
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
2024-25