CBSE Class 9 Social Science Political Science Revision Notes Chapter 4

Class 9 Political Science Chapter 4 notes

CBSE Class 9 Political Science (Civics) Chapter 4 notes- Working of Institutions: 

Class 9 Political Science Chapter 4 notes highlight how the government functions and who takes the major decisions in the government. In this Class 9 Chapter 4 Political Science notes, students will learn the major details of the chapter that are important for their final examination. Along with Chapter 4 Political Science Class 9 notes, Extramarks will provide students with important questions from selected NCERT books of CBSE syllabus that can help them prepare for CBSE board exams. Moreover, these Class 9 Political Science Chapter 4 notes will work as CBSE revision notes, providing all the necessary information in a nutshell, to revise the entire syllabus quickly and easily.

Class 9 Political Science (Civics) Chapter 4 Working of Institutions notes

Access Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4- Working of Institutions notes

Class 9 Political Science Chapter 4 – Working of Institutions

In this Chapter, you will get a brief introduction to how the Indian government works with the help of key institutions -legislative, executive and judiciary, who decides about the policies and laws, how these major decisions are taken and implemented in our country, how disputes regarding various decisions are resolved and how do the new laws come about and what is the process to enforce laws. The basic objective is to understand how these institutions carry on the work of the government at the national level also called the Central Government, Union Government or just the Government of India.

Working of Institutions and Policies: 

Working of Institutions refers to how the government works, who are the supreme decision makers in a democratic nation, and who decides the policies and laws which will be enforced, the ideas of participation in decision making and how conflicts are resolved.

Government Orders: 

These CBSE revision notes of Chapter 4 will highlight in detail how the institutions work and the working of the Indian government. The government of India issued an order named Office Memorandum on August 13, in the year 1990. The Joint Secretary signed the order in the Department of Personnel and training in the personnel ministry. Although the order was just a one-page document, it raked various controversies among the youth and the common people. This order simply stated that 27 per cent of the seats in the civil services under the government of India are reserved for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). Previously the reservation only included people of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. However, due to the issuance of this order, it was now open to anyone from the backward class who was eligible for this quota.

Decision Makers of India: 

Who decided to issue and implement this Memorandum? Such a groundbreaking decision would have included the other major rulers and functionalities in India, which is concluded in the following points:

1. The highest formal authority and the head of the state are the President of India.
2. The Prime Minister is the supreme head of the Government of India who takes all the major decisions in the cabinet meetings by using all governmental powers.
3. Parliament consists of two houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including the President of India. The Prime Minister should have the support of the majority of Lok Sabha members to pass a memorandum.

When the Office Memorandum was issued in India, it was a topic of hot debate and discussion which continued for several years. Some people felt this was unfair because it would deny equal opportunity to people of the general category who did not belong to the backward classes. While on the other hand, some people felt that this would give a fair chance or an opportunity to those communities who had so far not adequately been represented in government employment. The Supreme Court of India finally resolved this dispute by listening to all the cases. This case was called the ‘Indira Sawhney and others Vs the Union of India. The Supreme Court judges in the year 1992 declared that this order passed by the Government of India was legitimate and valid. Thus, the dispute and controversies ended, and the policy of the Office Memorandum has been followed since then.

The Government of India: 

The Indian Constitution states the President is the supreme signatory authority in the country. But as the head and the leader, the Prime Minister has multiple governmental powers. . The Prime Minister is the one who chairs all the cabinet meetings, takes most of the decisions in the cabinet meetings and handles disputes and disagreements between various departments and authorities. In case any problem arises, the Prime Minister will take the final call. Moreover, being the nation’s leader, he exercises supreme control and power over the ministers and different ministries, also taking care of the distribution and redistribution of work. Furthermore, if the Prime Minister has to resign due to any controversy, then the whole ministry and the cabinet will fall. He has the power to dismiss any minister according to his will. However, the rise of the coalition form of government was seen in recent decades and in this type of government, the ministers cannot take decisions on their own, as they have to consult the coalition party.

Additionally, while the Prime Minister is the head of Government, the President is the head of state and exercises nominal and basic powers. However, the President as the highest formal authority attends to all the functioning of the political institutions so that the government can operate in harmony.

The Role of Political Institutions: 

Several arrangements are made in modern democracies that are referred to as Institutions. Democracy works well and fine when these institutions perform their functions and tasks.

1. Political institutions involve various meetings, many committees and routines. This often leads to delays in the work and creates complications.
2. Some of the complications introduced by the political institutions are very useful and mandatory as they provide an opportunity for a more comprehensive view and a massive set of people and groups to be consulted.
3. Institutions do make it difficult to have a decision taken quickly. But, they also make it equally difficult to rush through a bad decision because it provides an opportunity for a wide set of people to be consulted.

The Parliament: 

Decisions are not taken in the Parliament directly. But the parliamentary discussions on the report influence and shape the decision of the government. These discussions bring pressure on the government to act. If the Parliament is not in favour of the decision, then the government cannot go ahead and cannot implement the decision.

The Role of the Parliament: 

An assembly of elected leaders or representatives is known as a Parliament, which exercises supreme and complete political authority on behalf of the ordinary people. At the state level, this is known as the Legislature or the Legislative Assembly. The name varies in different countries, but such an assembly of leaders exists in every democratic nation.

Parliament takes decisions and makes laws  on behalf of the people in several ways, as mentioned below:

1. Parliament is the final and supreme authority for making or changing laws in the country.
2. Those who govern and run the Government can take the decisions only when they get the backing and support of Parliament.
3. Parliaments control and supervise all the money that the Governments have..
4. Parliament is the highest and largest forum of discussion and debate, wherein many public issues and national issues are discussed in the country.

Houses of the Parliament

Most large countries divide or segment the role and powers of the Parliament into two or more parts which are known as Chambers or Houses.

1. One house of Parliament is directly elected by the people and sits on behalf of the people to exercise real power.
2. The Second House of Parliament is usually elected indirectly and performs some special functions. The most common work of the second house is to look after the interests of various federal units, states and regions.

The Parliament of India consists of two houses. The two houses of the Parliament are known as:

1. The Rajya Sabha is known as the Council of State
2. The Lok Sabha, which is known as the House of People

The President of India is part of the Parliament. However, he/she is not a member of any of the two Houses. Therefore, all the laws decided and made in the houses come into effect after receiving the consent of the President.

The Indian Constitution gives the Rajya Sabha, which is the state council, some special and specific powers over the states. But on most matters, Lok Sabha exercises supreme power. Here are some of the points illustrating this:

1. Any ordinary or common law has to be passed and approved by both houses of Parliament. But if there is any dispute or differences between the two houses, the full and final decision is taken in a joint meeting or session in which the members of both houses sit and discuss together. The view of the Lok Sabha is most likely to prevail in such a meeting since there are many members from the Lok Sabha.
2. Lok Sabha has more powers in money matters.
3. Lok Sabha controls the Council of Ministers.

While going through these notes students will know how to answer questions with varying levels of difficulty and some of them are tweaked to test the understanding level of the students, certain concepts are also repeated to strengthen their understanding and even provide enough practice to improve their understanding and help them get excellent grades in the examination. These notes will help students grasp the CBSE syllabus of Chapter 4, Political Science, with ease and in less time span and help in frequent revisions. Extramarks also provide NCERT book notes, including formulas and CBSE previous year question papers. Make sure you have the right notes and sets of question papers to foolproof your preparation for the exams and stay ahead of the competition.