Class 9 Civics Chapter 4 Extra Question Answers - Working of Institutions

1) What is SEBC?

Answer:SEBC is initially and Economically Backward classes. SEBC is another name. for all those people who belong to castes that are considered backward by the government.  

2)   What is the role of the President in India?

Answer:  President is the Executive head of the state and is the highest formal authority in the country. 

3)   What are the Prime Minister's powers in India?

Answer: Prime Minister is the head of the government and actually exercises all governmental powers. He takes most of the decisions in the cabinet meetings. 

4)   What do you know about Mandal Commission?

Answer:Mandal Commission 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. 

5) Who agreed to the recommendations of Mandal Commission?

Answer:  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. 

6) Who all were against Mandal Commissions Recommendations?

Answer: There were people who 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. 

7) What is the role of government in a citizen's life?

Answer: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 on administration, defence and development programmes.  

8) Why do democratic governments insist on Institutions?

Answer: Institutions make it difficult to have a good decisions taken very quickly. But they also make it equally difficult to rush through a bad decisions. That is why democratic governments insist on institutions.  

9) What is an assembly of elected representatives called in India?

Answer:  In India such a national assembly of elected representatives is called Parliament. At the state level this is called Legislature or Legislative Assembly.  

10) What is the role of Parliament in law making?

Answer:Parliament is the final authority for making laws in any country. Parliaments all over the world can make new laws, change existing laws or abolish existing laws and make new ones in their place. 

11) Which two houses form the parliament of one country?

Answer:The two houses are known as Council of States or Rajya Sabha and the House of People or Lok Sabha. The President of India is a part of the parliament, although he or she is not a member of either houses. 

12) What is the length of the term of a government in India?

Answer:It is of 5 years.  

13) Can the houses be dissolved or is it permanent?

Answer:  The Lok Sabha can be dissolved if no-confidence motion is passed against it but, Rajya Sabha cannot be dissolved as it is a permanent house.  

14) How does Lok Sabha exercise money powers?

Answer: Lok Sabha exercises more powers in money matters. Once the Lok Sabha passes the budget of the government or any other money related law, the Rajya Sabha cannot reject it. The Rajya Sabha can delay it by 14 days or suggest changes in it. The Lok Sabha may or may not accept these changes. 

15) How does Lok Sabha exercise control over the Council of Ministers?

Answer:Lok Sabha controls the council of ministers. If the majority of the Lok Sabha members say they have 'no confidence' in the council of ministers including the prime minister, have to quit. The Rajya Sabha does not have this power.  

16) What is an executive?

Answer:At different levels of any government we find functionaries who take day-to- day decisions but do not excessive supreme power on behalf of the people. All those functionaries are collectively known as the executive.  

17) Why are they called as the Executive?

Answer:They are called the executive because they are in-charge of the execution of the policies of the government 

18) What do you understand by the term 'Political Executive'?

Answer:The executive which is elected by the people for a specific period is called political executive. Political leaders who take the big decisions fall in this category. 

19) Who is called 'Permanent Executive'?

Answer:Permanent Executive members are appointed on a long term basis. They are called permanent executive or civil services. They remain in office even when the ruling party changes. These officers work under political executive and assist them in carrying out day-to-day administration. 

20) Why does the political executive have more power than the non-political executive?

Answer:  The civil servant is usually more educated and has more expert knowledge of the subject. The advisors working in the Finance Ministry know more about economies than the Finance Minister. Sometimes, the ministers may know very little about the technical matters that come under their ministry.  

21) Why should the minister have final say on important matters?

Answer:  In a democracy the will of the people is supreme. The minister is elected by the people and thus empowered to exercise the will of the people on their behalf. He or she is finally answerable to the people for all the consequences of his/her decisions.  

22) How is the Prime Minister appointed?

Answer: The President appoints the Prime Minister. The President appoints the leader of the majority party or the coalitions of parties that commands a majority in the Lok Sabha as Prime Minister. 

23) How are Ministers chosen by the Prime Minister?

Answer: The ministers are usually from the party or the coalition that has the majority in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister is free to choose ministers, as long as they are members of parliament.  

24) What is a Council of Ministers?

Answer: Council of Ministers is the official name for the body that includes all the ministers. It wholly has 60 to 80 ministers of different ranks. 

25) Who are the Cabinet Ministers?

Answer:  Cabinet Ministers are usually top level leaders of the ruling party or parties who are in-charge of the major ministries. Cabinet actually represents the Council of Ministers. 

26) Who are Ministers of State with independent charge?

Answer: Ministers of State with independent charge are usually in-charge of smaller ministers. They participate in the cabinet meetings only when specially insisted. 

27)  Why is parliamentary democracy in most countries often known as the cabinet form of government?

Answer: The cabinet works as a team. The ministers may have different views and opinions but everyone has to own upto every decision of the cabinet.  

28) How does the President act as Executive Head?

Answer: The president is the head of the state. In our political system the head of the state exercises only nominal powers. The president of India is like the queen of Britain whose functions are to a large extent ceremonial. The president supervises the overall functioning of all the political institutions in the country so that they operate in harmony to achieve the objectives of the state.  

29)  How does President give his assent to a bill?

Answer:  A bill passed by the parliament becomes a law only after the President gives assent to it. If the president wants he/she can delay this for some time and send the bill back to the parliament for reconsideration. But if the parliament passes the bill again, she/he has to sign it.  

30) What is called as 'The Judiciary'.

Answer:All the courts at different levels in a country put together are called the Judiciary.  

31)  Which courts are covered under Indian Judiciary?

Answer: The Indian Judiciary consists of a supreme court for the entire nation, high courts in the states and District courts and the courts at the local level. 

32) How is the chief justice of India appointed?

Answer: The senior most Judge of the supreme court is usually appointed the chief justice. Once a person is appointed as the Judge of the Supreme Court or the High Courts it is nearly impossible to remove him or her from that position.  

33) How can a Judge be removed?

Answer:A Judge can be removed only by an impeachment motion passed by two- thirds members of the two houses of the parliament. It has never happened so far in the history of Indian democracy 

34) What is Judicial review?

Answer: Supreme court can declare invalid any law of the legislative. They can determine the constitutional validity of any legislation or action of the executive in the country, when it is challenged before them. This is known as Judicial review. 

35) How does Judiciary act as guardian of the Fundamental Rights? 

Answer: The citizens have the right to approach the courts to seek remedy in case of any isolation of their rights.

36) Who are the major functionaries in India?

Answer:The major functionaries of our country are: (i) The President who is the head of the state and is the highest formal authority in the country. (ii) The Prime Minister who is the head of the government and one who actually exercises all the government powers. He takes most of the decisions in the cabinet meetings. (iii) The Parliament which consists of two Houses?Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of the Lok Sabha members.  

37)  Why had the Mandal Commission become a debatable issue in India?

Answer:  (i) The newspapers and magazines were full of different views and opinions on this issue.
(ii) It led to widespread protests and counter-protests, some of which were violent.
(iii) People reacted strongly because this decision affected thousands of job opportunities.
(iv) Some felt that the existence of inequalities among people of different castes in India necessitated job reservations.
(v) Others were of the view that this was unfair as it would deny equality of opportunity to those who did not belong to a backward community.
(vi) Some felt that this would hamper national unity.

38) What is the need for political institutions?

Answer: (i) The government is responsible for ensuring security to the citizens and providing facilities for education and health to all.
(ii) It collects taxes and spends the money thus raised on administration, defence and development programmes.
(iii) It formulates and implements several welfare schemes. To attend to all these tasks, several arrangements are made in all modern democracies. Such arrangements are called Political Institutions.  

39) What are the basic powers and functions of each institution in India?

Answer: (i) The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are institutions that take all important policy decisions.
(ii) The Civil Servants, who work together with the ministers, are responsible for taking steps to implement the ministers' decisions.
(iii) The Supreme Court is an institution where disputes:
(a) between citizens of the country,
(b) between citizens and the government,
(c) between two or more state governments and
(d) between union and state governments are finally settled.  

40)   State how working with institutions is not an easy task.

Answer: (i) Institutions involve rules and regulations. This can bind the hands of the leaders.
(ii) Institutions involve meetings, committees and routines. This often leads to delays and complications. Therefore, dealing with institutions can be frustrating.
(iii) Some of the delays and complications introduced by the institutions are very useful. They provide an opportunity for a wider set of people to be consulted in any decision-making.
(iv) Institutions make it difficult to take good decisions very quickly, but they also make it equally difficult to rush through a bad decision.