Q 1. What do you
understand by the word ‘government’? List five ways in which you think the
government affects your daily life.
Answer. A Government is a prominent body which administers and
implements decisions in an organized manner for the benefit of its nation’s
citizens.
Government
affects our daily life in the following ways:
a. The
government protects the boundaries of the country and maintaining peaceful
relations with other countries.
b. It helps in
running the various services, likely postal and railways services.
c. The
government organizes aid and assistance for the people affected by natural
disasters like Flood, Drought, Earthquake and tsunami.
d. It ensures
the welfare of its citizens and provides good health facilities.
e. The
government takes actions on social issues and helps the poor.
Q 2. Why do you think
the government needs to make rules for everyone in the form of laws?
Answer. Government makes laws and everyone who lives in the country
has to follow these. This is the only way governments can function.
Q 3. Name two essential
features of a democratic government.
Answer.
(i)
The main feature of a democracy is that the people have the
power to elect their leaders.
(ii)
Another feature of a democracy is that Government is
accountable to its people.
Q 4. What was the
suffrage movement? What did it accomplish?
Answer. Women’s struggle to vote in Europe and USA during the First
World War is called the women’s suffrage (right to vote) movement.
The suffragettes
demanded the right to vote for all women. Many suffragettes were imprisoned and
went on hunger strikes; they had to be fed by force.
American women
got right to vote in 1920 while women in the UK got to vote on the same terms
as men some years later, in 1928.
Q 5. Gandhiji strongly
believed that every adult in India should be given the right to vote. However,
a few people don’t share his views. They feel that illiterate people, who are
mainly poor, should not be given the right to vote. What do you think? Do you
think this would be a form of discrimination? Give five points to support your
view and share these with the class.
Answer.
(i) Yes, it would be a form of
discrimination on the basis of education. If these are not allowed to
participate in the Government then they might feel neglected and also their
concerns may not get resolved.
(ii) People from all sections of
the society took an active part in the freedom struggle and hence, everybody
should be treated equally before the law.
(iii) Illiteracy and poverty are
not a choice, but a social evil and this can only be eradicated by allowing
these people to come forward and represent themselves.
(iv) Universal Adult Franchise
advocates for granting voting rights to all the citizens irrespective of their
social status.
(v) In a democracy, people are
the king and if some people are not allowed to represent themselves then it
will defeat the purpose of a democracy altogether.