Class 9 Civics Chapter 4 Working of

Institutions
Very Short Answer Questions

1. Which institution can make changes to an existing law of the country?

Answer: The Parliament is the final authority for changing laws in our country.

2. What is Lok Sabha?

Answer: Lok Sabha is the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, which is directly
elected by the people and exercises the real power on behalf of the people.

3. Who presides over the joint session of Parliament?

Answer: Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over the joint session of Parliament.

4. Who appoints the Judges of Supreme Court?

Answer: The Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President on the
advice of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court.

5. Which is known as the Apex Court of India?

Answer: The Supreme Court is known as the Apex Court of India.

6. How many members can be nominated by President in Rajya Sabha?

Answer: President can nominate 12 members of Rajya Sabha.

7. Who is the Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha?

Answer: Speaker is the Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha.

8. What does SEBCs stand for?

Answer: SEBCs stands for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes.

9. What is called ‘Upper Chamber’?

Answer: Rajya Sabha is called ‘Upper Chamber’.

10. How are the members of the Rajya Sabha elected?

Answer: The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly by the Legislative
Assemblies of the various States and Territorial Legislatures in accordance with the
system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

11. How many members are presently in Rajya Sabha?

Answer: There are 245 members in Rajya Sabha presently.

12. Who was the first Chairman of Rajya Sabha?

Answer: Dr S Radhakrishanan was the first Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

13. When was the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) first constituted?

Answer: On 3rd April, 1952, the Council of States was first constituted.

14. Who acts as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha?

Answer: The Vice President is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

15. How many members nominated in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively?

Answer: Two members are nominated in Lok Sabha and twelve members are
nominated in Rajya Sabha,

16. How the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha elected?

Answer: The Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha is elected by the members of the
Rajya Sabha.

17. A person who is not a Member of Parliament is appointed as minister. Within

what time he has to get elected to one of the Houses of the Parliament?

Answer: Within six month, he has to get elected to one of the Houses of the
Parliament.

18. In which House of the Parliament a Money Bill can be introduced?

Answer: A Money Bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha.

19. Which House is better placed with regard to control over the Executive?

Answer: Lok Sabha is better placed with regard to control over the Executive.

20. What is the age of retirement for the Judges of the Supreme Court?

Answer: The Judges of Supreme Court hold the office till the age of 65 years.

21. Who is the Real Executive of the Indian Union?

Answer: The Prime Minister is the Real Executive of the Indian Union.

22. In what ways Lok Sabha exercises supreme power over Rajya Sabha?

Answer: Lok Sabha exercises more powers on money matter and during the joint
session final decision is taken by Lok Sabha because of its large number of members.

23. Can the Houses of the Parliament be dissolved?

Answer: Rajya Sabha is a permanent House, so it cannot be dissolved whereas, Lok

Sabha can be dissolved.

24. Which types of Ministers are included in the Union Council of Ministers?
Answer: Union Council of Ministers include Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State
and Ministers of State with independent charges.

25. Why does the Political Executive have more powers than the Permanent
Executive?

Answer: The Political Executive have more powers than the Permanent Executive
because Political Executive consists of the direct representatives of the people.

26. Why is the Prime Minister the most powerful man in the government?
Explain.

Answer: Prime Minister is the most important political figure of the country. He is
the head of the government. All the important decisions regarding the country are
taken by him. He is the real executive head.

27. How is the Prime Minister of India appointed? Explain the composition of the
Union Council of Ministers?

Answer: The President appoints the leader of the majority party or coalition of
parties that commands a majority in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister. The party or
coalition which has the highest number of members in the Lok Sabha elects one of its
member as the leader.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.
37. 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.

38. 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.

39. What is the length of the term of a government in India?

Answer: It is of 5 years.

40. 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.

Short Answer Type Questions

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. What is called as ‘The Judiciary’.

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

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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

21. 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.
22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.
26. What is the role of the two Houses of Parliament?

Answer: (i) In India, the Parliament consists of two Houses.

(ii) The two Houses are known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House
of the People (Lok Sabha).
(iii) The President of India is not a member of Parliament but no Bill can be passed
without the assent of the President.

27. What is the role of the two Houses of Parliament?

Answer: (i) In India, the Parliament consists of two Houses.

(ii) The two Houses are known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House
of the People (Lok Sabha).
(iii) The President of India is not a member of Parliament but no Bill can be passed
without the assent of the President.

28. What is the role of the Prime Minister in a coalition government?

Answer: (i) The Prime Minister of a coalition government cannot take decisions as he
likes.
(ii) He has to accommodate different groups and functions in his party, as well as
among alliance partners.
(iii) He also has to heed to the views and positions of the coalition partners and other
parties on whose support the survival of the government depends.

29. How is the President of India elected?

Answer: (i) The President is not elected directly by the people.

(ii) All the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of State Legislative
Assemblies (MLAs) elect the President.
(iii) A candidate contesting for the President’s post has to get a majority of votes to
win the elections. This ensures that the President can be seen to represent the entire
nation.

30. Does the President exercise his powers on the advice of the Council of
Ministers?

Answer: (i) The President can ask the Council of Ministers to reconsider his or her
advice. But if the same advice is given again, he or she is bound to act according to it.
(ii) A Bill passed by the Parliament becomes a law only after the President gives
assent to it. If the President wants, he or she can send back the Bill to the Parliament
for reconsideration. But if the Parliament passes the Bill again, he or she has to sign
it.

31. What does ‘independence of judiciary’ mean?

Answer: (i) The Judiciary is not under the control of the Legislature or the Executive.
(ii) The judges do not act on the directions of the government or according to the
wishes of the party in power.
(iii) That is why, all modern democracies have units that are independent of the
Legislature and the Executive.

32. Who forms the cabinet?

Answer: (i) Cabinet is formed by the top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties
who are in charge of the major ministries.
(ii) Usually the cabinet meets to take decisions in the name of the Council of
Ministers. (iii) Cabinet is thus the inner ring of the Council of Ministers. It comprises
about twenty ministers.

33. What is Impeachment Motion?

Answer: (i) A judge can be removed only by an impeachment motion passed

separately by two-third members of the two Houses of the Parliament.
(ii) Similarly, with impeachment, even President of India can be removed. It is passed
by both the Houses of Parliament by two-third members majority.

34. Describe the functions and powers of the Parliament.

Answer: Functions and powers of the Parliament:

(i) Final Authority for making laws. (ii) Power to amend the Constitution.
(iii) Controls and checks the Council of Ministers.
(iv) Can remove the President from office through the process of impeachment.
(v) Controls all the money that governments have.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. In what ways does the Lok Sabha exercise more powers than the Rajya
Sabha?

Answer:(i) Any ordinary law needs to be passed by both the Houses. But if there is a
difference between the two Houses, the final decision is taken in a joint session.
However, since the number of members in the Lok Sabha are more; their view or
decision is more likely to prevail.
(ii) The 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 only by 14 days or can suggest changes
in it. The Lok Sabha may or may not accept the change.
(iii) The Lok Sabha controls the Council of Ministers. If the majority of the Lok
Sabha members say that they have ‘no confidence’ in the Council of Ministers; all the
ministers including the Prime Minister, have to quit. The Rajya Sabha does not have
this power.

4. Which two categories constitute the executive in a democratic country?

Answer: (i) Political Executive: One that is elected by the people for a specific period
is called the ‘political executive’. Political leaders who take big decisions fall in this
category.

(ii) Permanent Executive: In this category, people are appointed on a long-term basis.
This is called the permanent executive or civil services. They are the civil servants.
They remain in office even when the ruling party changes. These officers work under
ministers and assist them in carrying out the day-to-day administration.

5. What is the importance of civil servants in running the government?

Answer: (i) The civil servants are usually more educated and have more expert
knowledge of the subject.
(ii) The advisors working in the Finance Ministry know more about economics than
the Finance Minister.
(iii) Sometimes, ministers may know very little about the technical matters that come
under their ministry, but they are supported in all these matters by the civil servants.
This could easily happen in ministries like the Defence, Industry, Health, Science and
Technology, Mining, etc.

6. How are the Council of Ministers categorised?

Answer: The Council of Ministers are classified as follows:

(i) Cabinet Ministers: They are usually top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties
who are in charge of the major ministries. Usually, the Cabinet Ministers meet to take
decisions in the name of the Council of Ministers.
(ii) Ministers of State with Independent Charge: They are usually in charge of smaller
ministries. They participate in the cabinet meeting only when they are specially
invited.
(iii) Ministers of State: They are attached to and are required to assist the Cabinet
Ministers.

7. What powers rest with the Prime Minister of India?

Answer: As head of the government, the Prime Minister has wide-ranging powers.
(i) He chairs the Cabinet meetings.
(ii) He coordinates the work of different departments.
(iii) He supervises different ministries.
(iv) decisions are final in case disagreements arise between departments.
(v) He distributes and redistributes work to the ministers.
 (vi) He also has the power to dismiss ministers. When the Prime Minister quits, the
entire ministry quits.

8. What are the discretionary powers of the President?

Answer: (i) The President appoints the Prime Minister. When a party or coalition of
parties secures a clear majority in the elections, the President has to appoint the leader
of the majority party or the coalition that enjoys majority support in the Lok Sabha.
(ii) When no party or coalition gets a majority in the Lok Sabha, the President
exercises his or her discretion. The President appoints a leader who, in her opinion,
can muster majority support in the Lok Sabha. In such a case, the President can ask
the newly appointed Prime Minister to prove a majority support in the Lok Sabha
within a specified time.

9. What does ‘integration of judiciary’ mean?

Answer: It means that the Supreme Court controls the judicial administration in the
country. Its decisions are binding on all the other courts of the country. It can take up
any dispute:
(i) between the citizens of the country;
(ii) between citizens and the government;
(iii) between two or more state governments; and
(iv) between the union and state governments. It is the highest court of appeal in civil
and criminal cases. It can hear appeals against the decisions of the high courts.

10. What do you understand by Public Interest Litigation?

Answer: (i) In recent years, the courts have given several judgements and directives
to protect public interest and human rights.
(ii) Anyone can approach the courts, if public interest is hurt by the actions of the
government. This is called Public Interest Litigation.
(iii) The courts intervene to prevent the misuse of the government’s power to make
decisions. They check malpractices on the part of the public officials.

11. Which of the two Houses is more powerful?

Answer: (i) It might appear that the Rajya Sabha has more power, for it is called
‘Upper Chamber’ and the Lok Sabha the ‘Lower Chamber’.
(ii) But this does not mean that Rajya Sabha is more powerful than Lok Sabha. This is
just an old style of speaking and not the language used in our constitution.
(iii) Our constitution does give the Rajya Sabha some special powers over the states.
But on most of the matters the Lok Sabha exercises supreme power.

12. What does executive mean?

Answer: (i) At different levels of any government, we find functionaries who take
day-to-day decisions but do not exercise supreme powers on behalf of the people.
(ii) All those functionaries are collectively known as executive.
(iii) They are called executive because they are in charge of the ‘execution’ of the
policies of the government. Thus, when we talk about ‘the government’ we usually
mean ‘executive’.

13. How are ministers appointed?

Answer: (i) The ministers are usually from the party or the coalition that has the
majority in the Lok Sabha.
(ii) The Prime Minister is free to choose ministers as long as they are members of
Parliament.
(iii) Sometimes, a person who is not a member of Parliament can also become a
minister. But such a person has to get elected to one of the Houses of Parliament
within six months of appointment as minister.

14. What is the ‘Office Memorandum’? Give example.

Answer: (i) This order announced a major policy decision.

(ii) According to this, the Mandal Commission gave a recommendation for 27 per cent
of the government jobs to be reserved for the Socially and Economically Backward
Classes (SEBC) in India. (iii) SEBC is another name for all those people who belong
to castes that are considered backward by the government.
(iv) The benefit of job reservation was till then available only to scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes.
(v) Now a new third category called SEBC was introduced. Only persons who
belonged to backward castes were eligible for this quota of 27 per cent government
jobs. Others could not compete for these jobs.

15. Why was the Mandal Commission appointed by the Indian government?
Answer:(i) The government of India had appointed the Second Backward Classes
Commission in 1979. It was headed by B.P. Mandal.
(ii) Hence, it was popularly called the Mandal Commission.
(iii) 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.
(iv) The Commission gave a report in 1980 and made many recommendations. One of
these was that 27 per cent of the government jobs to be reserved for the socially and
economically backward classes.

16. What developments took place after the recommendations of the Mandal
Commission?

Answer: (i) The President of India in his address to the Parliament announced the
intention of the government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal
Commission.
(ii) On 6 August 1990, the Union Cabinet took a formal decision to implement the
recommendations.
(iii) Next day, the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh informed the Parliament about this
decision through a statement in both the Houses of Parliament.
(iv) 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 called the ‘Office Memorandum’.

17. Who resolved the dispute of the Mandal Commission? How did it materialise
later on?

Answer: (i) Some persons and associations opposed this order and filed a number of
cases in the courts.
(ii) They appealed to the court’s to declare the order invalid and stop its
implementation. (iii) The Supreme Court of India bunched all these cases together.
This case was known as ‘Indira Sawhney and others Vs Union of India case’.
(iv) Eleven judges of the Supreme Court heard the arguments of both sides.
(v) By a majority, the Supreme Court judges in 1992 declared that this order of the
Government of India was valid.
(vi) At the same time, the Supreme Court asked the government to modify its original
order.
(vii)It said that well-to-do persons among the backward classes should be excluded
from getting the benefit of reservation.
(viii) Accordingly, the Department of Personnel and Training issued another
Memorandum on September 8, 1993. The dispute thus came to an end and this policy
has been followed since then.

18. Why should ministers have the final say in technical matters?

Answer: (i) In a democracy, the will of the people is supreme.

(ii) The minister is elected by the people and is thus, empowered to exercise the will
of the people on their behalf.
(iii) The minister is finally answerable to the people for all the consequences of the
decision taken by him or her. That is why, the minister takes all the final decisions.
(iv) The minister decides the overall framework and objectives in which decisions on
a policy should be made.
(v) The minister takes the advice of experts on all the technical matters. But very
often, experts hold different opinions or place before the minister more than one
option. Depending on what the overall objective is, the minister decides.

19. How is the Prime Minister elected?

Answer: (i) The Prime Minister is the most important institution in the country; yet
there is no direct election to the post of the Prime Minister.
(ii) The President appoints the Prime Minister. He appoints the leader of the majority
party or coalition of parties that commands a majority in the Lok Sabha, as the Prime
Minister.
(iii) In case no single party or alliance gets a majority, the President appoints the
person who is most likely to secure a majority support.
(iv) The Prime Minister does not have a fixed tenure. He continues in power so long
as he remains the leader of the majority party or coalition.

20. What is the role of the Cabinet Ministers in a democracy?

Answer: (i) Parliamentary democracy in most countries is often known as the Cabinet
form of government.
(ii) The Cabinet works as a team.
(iii) The ministers may have different views and opinions, but everyone has to own up
to every decision of the Cabinet.
(iv) No minister can openly criticise any decision of the government even if it is about
another ministry or department.
(v) Every ministry has secretaries who are civil servants. The secretaries provide the
necessary background information to the ministers to take decisions.
(vi) The Cabinet as a team is assisted by the Cabinet Secretariat. This includes many
senior civil servants who try to coordinate the working of different ministries.

21. ‘The Prime Minister is the real executive head of our country.’ Elucidate.

Answer: (i) As political parties have come to play a major role in politics, the Prime
Minister controls the Cabinet and the Parliament through the party.
(ii) In India, we have a tendency towards the concentration of powers in the hands of
the Prime Minister.
(iii) The President, who is the executive head of India, also takes decision as per the
advice of the Prime Minister.
(iv) The extent of power wielded by a PM also depends on the personality of the
person holding that position. For example, Indira Gandhi was a very powerful leader
compared to her colleagues in the Cabinet.

22. State the powers of the President.

Answer: (i) All government activities take place in the name of the President.
(ii) All laws and major policy decisions of the government are issued in her name.
(iii) 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 High
Courts of the states, the governors of the states, the Election Commissioners, and
ambassadors to other countries, etc.
(iv) All international treaties and agreements are made in the name of the President.
(v) The President is the supreme commander of the defence forces of India.

23. How are the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts appointed and
how can a judge be removed?

Answer: Appointment:
(i) The judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed by the President
on the advice of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court.
(ii) The senior most judge of the Supreme Court is usually appointed by the Chief
Justice.

Removal:
(i) Once a person is appointed as judge’ of the Supreme Court or the High Court, it is
nearly impossible to remove him or her from that position. It is as difficult as
removing the President of India.
(ii) A judge can be removed only by an impeachment motion passed separately by
two-third members of the two Houses of the Parliament.

24. Explain any five powers of the Supreme Court of India.

Answer: (i) The Supreme Court can take up disputes between governments, citizens
and government, governments at the union and state level.
(ii) Highest Court of justice and hears appeals against High Court decisions, civil and
criminal cases.
(iii) Guardian of our constitution and fundamental rights.
(iv) It can declare any law of the legislature or executive invalid.
(v) People can approach Supreme Court if their rights are violated.

25. A teacher has to organise a mock parliament. She can either hold a mock
parliament of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. Which one should the teacher choose
and why?

Answer: The teacher should choose to hold a session of Lok Sabha as it is the House
of People. It represents people’s interests directly. The government enjoys majority in
Lok Sabha and is responsible to it. The government can be removed by passing a no-
confidence motion or rejecting a budget. These are rational grounds for conducting a
mock session of Lok Sabha instead of Rajya Sabha.