Working Of Institutions Class 9 Notes Political Science (Civics) Chapter 4

Chapter: 4

What are Working Of Institutions ?

How Is A Major Policy Decision Taken?

The Decision Makers

  • 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 along with two Houses i.e., Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of Lok Sabha members.

Need for Political Institutions

  • The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are those institutions that take all important policy decisions.
  • The Civil Servants, working together, are responsible for taking steps to implement the minister’s decisions.
  • Supreme Court is an institution where disputes between citizens and the government are finally settled.

Parliament

  • Parliament is the final authority for making laws in any country.
  • Parliaments all over the world exercise some control over those who run the government..
  • Parliaments control all the money that governments have.
  • Parliament is the highest forum of discussion and debate on public issues and national policy in any country.
  • Two Houses of Parliament:

(a) In our country, the Parliament consists of two Houses. The two houses, one is upper house that is Council of State (Rajya Sabha) and second is lower house that is House of People (Lok Sabha).

(b) The total number of elected members of Lok Sabha is 543.

(c) The total number of members of Rajya Sabha is 238+12 nominated members.

(d) Any ordinary law needs to be passed by both the Houses.

Political Executive

  • At different levels of any government there are various functionaries who take day-to-day decisions and implement those decisions on behalf of the people.
  • All those functionaries are collectively known as the executive..

Political and Permanent Executive

  • The one which is elected by the people for only a specific period of time is called the Political Executive. It signifies the government of a country.
  • The one where people are appointed on a long-term basis is called the Permanent Executive or the Civil Services.
  • People working for the civil services are called the civil servants.

Prime minister and Council of minister

  • Prime Minister is the most important political institution in the country.
  • Council of Ministers is the official name for the body that includes all the Ministers.
  • It usually has 60 to 80 Ministers of different ranks.
  • Cabinet Ministers are usually top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties they are in charge of the major ministers.
  • Ministers of State with independent charge are usually in-charge of smaller Ministries.
  • Ministers of State or Deputy ministers are attached to and required to assist Cabinet Ministers.

Powers of the Prime minister

  • He chairs Cabinet meetings.

• He coordinates the work of different Departments.

  • His decisions are final in case disagreements arise between Departments.
  • He exercises general supervision of different ministries. All ministers work under his leadership.
  • The Prime Minister distributes and redistributes work to the ministers.
  • He also has the power to dismiss ministers. When the Prime Minister quits, the entire ministry quits.

The President

  • The President is the head of the State.
  • 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.
  • The President is not elected directly by the people. The elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and the elected Members of the Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) elect President.
  • All major appointments are made in the name of the President. These include the appointment of the Chief Justice of India, the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts of the states, the Governors of the states, the Election Commissioners, ambassadors to other countries, etc.
  • All governmental activities take place in the name of the President.
  • All laws and major policy decisions of the government are issued in her name.
  • All international treaties and agreements are made in the name of the President.
  • The President is the supreme commander of the defense forces of India.
  • However, President exercises all these powers only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Judiciary

  • All the courts at different levels in a country put together are called the judiciary.
  • The Indian judiciary consists of a Supreme Court for the entire nation, High Courts in the states, District Courts. The Supreme Court is the top legal organization.

Independence of the judiciary

  • Independence of the judiciary means that it is not under the control of the legislature or the executive.