NCERT Book Class 7 Civics How the State Government Works

How the State Government Works

Last year, we discussed the fact that government works at three levels – local, state and national – and looked at the work of local government in some detail. In this chapter, we examine the work of the government at the state level. How does this take place in a democracy? What is the role of a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Ministers? How do people express their views or demand action from government? We look at these questions through the example of health.

Who is an MLA?

In the above section, you have read about some events in Patalpuram. You may be familiar with some official names such as Collector, Medical Officer, etc. But have you heard of an MLA and the Legislative Assembly? Do you know the MLA of your area? Can you identify which party she or he belongs to? Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected by the people. They then become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government. In this way we say that the MLAs represent people. The example below will help us understand this better.

Every state in India has a Legislative Assembly. Each state is divided into different areas or constituencies. For example, look at the map below. It shows that the state of Himachal Pradesh is divided into 68 assembly constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). You would have noticed that people stand for elections in the name of different parties. These MLAs, therefore, belong to different political parties.

How do people who are MLAs become ministers or chief minister? A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority. The political party that has the majority is called the ruling party and all other members are called the opposition. For example, the Legislative Assembly of the state of Himachal Pradesh has 68 MLA constituencies.

Candidates from various political parties won the 2003 assembly elections and became MLAs. Since the total number of MLAs in the Legislative Assembly is 68, a political party would have needed to have more than 34 MLAs in order to gain a majority. The Indian National Congress with 43 MLAs had the majority and it became the ruling party. All other MLAs became the opposition. In this case, Bharatiya Janata Party was the major opposition party, since it had the largest number of MLAs after the Indian National Congress. Among the opposition were other parties, including those who had been elected as independent candidates. After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister. In this case, the Congress Party MLAs chose Shri Virbhadra Singh as their leader and he became the chief minister. The chief minister then selects other people as ministers. After the elections, it is the Governor of the state who appoints the chiefminister and other ministers.

EXERCISES

1. Use the terms ‘constituency’ and ‘represent’ to explain who an MLA is and how is the person elected?

2. How did some MLAs become Ministers? Explain.

3. Why should decisions taken by the Chief Minister and other ministers be debated in the Legislative Assembly?

4. What is the difference between the work that MLAs do in the Assembly and the work done by government departments?

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 Civics How the State Government Works