State Government

CIVICS

Unit –I

State Government

Learning Objectives

• Recognise the difference between Parliament and State Legislature

• Understand the election procedures

• Know the powers and functions of Governor and Chief Minister

• Wonder how the Government works

• Identify the three main organs of the government – the legislative, executive, and judiciary

Teacher: Good Morning my dear students.

Students: Good morning teacher / sir.

Teacher: (after taking attendance) All are present today. Very good. Coming Monday we have a function in our school. All Should be present on that day without fail.

Yogitha: Do we have any cultural programme?

Teacher: Yes. We are going to open the new building of our school.

Students: Yeah! We are going to a new class room!

Muthu: Who will be the Chief guest?

Teacher: We have invited our MLA as the chief guest for the opening ceremony.

Rahim: MLA. I have heard. But I don’t know who is he?

Teacher: MLAs are representatives of the people. He is one among us. He is the Member of Legislative Assembly.

Saran: What is Legislative Assembly? Will you explain in detail?

Teacher: Sure. (showing pictures of fort St. George, Assembly session, Chief Minister and other ministers)

Meena: What is that building? Where is it? It looks like a fort.

Teacher: Yes. You are correct. It is a fort inChennai. First English fortress inIndia. The fort currently houses theTamil Nadu legislative assembly and Secretariat of Tamilnadu.Legislative Assembly has the lower house where all the MLAs meet to discuss various matters related to the welfare of the state.

Kayal: Who will be there in that Legislative Assembly?

Teacher: Listen! India has separate system of administration for the Union, States and Union territories. Do you know how many states and union territories are there in India?

Ravi: Shall I tell? 29 states and 7 union territories including our capital territory Delhi?Am I right teacher?

Teacher: Exactly. As I said already power is divided between two sets of governments one at the central in Delhi and separate governments for all the states. This is called as federal system. India is a Parliamentary democratic republic where the President of India is the Head of Indian Union and the Prime Minister and all the Ministers are responsible for smooth running of the government. This is called central government.

Nila: Do we have a separate government for states?

Teacher: Yes. All the states and union territories have separate governments to run its own administration. Governor, Chief Minister and all the ministers constitute the Government. The member of the Parliament is called MP whereas the member of theLegislative Assembly is called MLA. Both the Central and State Governments work according to our constitution.

John: Oh! Is MLA going to inaugurate the function? Who appoints him?

Teacher: No my child. MLAs are not appointed. They are elected by the people through general election. In the previous lesson we have studied about the political parties. Do youremember? These political parties play a vital role in election. For election, the entire state is divided into several constituencies on the basis of the population. Political parties nominate their candidates to each constituency. All the people residing in that constituency who has completed 18 years of age cast their vote. The candidate who gets the more number of votes is declared as elected and becomes MLA. The Election Commission of India conducts and monitors the elections. After the election the party which gets the more number of MLAs is declared as the majority party. The Governor calls the leader of the majority party to form the state government. In simple words a party whose MLAs has won more than half the number of constituencies inthe state are called ruling party and forms the government. And the party which gets the total number of seats next to the majority party, acts as an opposition party in the legislature. But all the MLAs of other political parties who do not belong to the ruling party are called opposition party.

Shanmi: It’s very interesting to hear. Who are all included in the State Government?

Teacher: The Governor, the Chief Minister, Council of Ministers. The Governor is appointed by the president of India for the term of five years. The leader of the majority party is appointed as the Chief Minister by the Governor. The Chief minister in consultation with the Governor, constitutes a cabinet which includes members ofhis party as ministers. The term of the office is five years.

Laya: Teacher! Shall I become the Governor? Or Chief Minister?

Teacher: Why not? My child! That is very simple. To become a Governor, you should be the citizen of India and should have completed 35 years of age and should have sound mind. And should not hold any public office of profit.

To become a Chief Minister, youshould have completed 25 years of age and should be an MLA or in case of an MLC should have completed 30 years of age.

Arya: Who is an MLC? I never heard.

Teacher: Usually a state Legislature has two houses. Upper House and Lower House. This is called Bi-cameral Legislature. Upper House is called Legislative Council. The members are called MLCs and they are not elected directly by the people. The Lower House is called Legislative Assembly. The members are called MLAs. As I said earlier they are directly elected by the people.

In India some of the states have two houses in their state legislature. But in Tamil Nadu we have Lower House only. This is called unicameral Legislature.

Ammar: Oh! Now can you please tell me the powers and functions of Governor and Chief Minister?

Teacher: Sure. The Governor is an integral part of the State Legislature. Governor is the head of the state executive and he has enormous powers. All the administration is carried on in his name. He is the chancellor of Government universities in the state. All bills become law only after his assent. He appoints important officials of the state government such as advocate General, Chairman and members of State Public Service Commission, State Election Commissioner, Vice chancellors of state universities etc.

The Chief Minister is the real executive head of the state administration. He allocates the portfolios among the ministers. The Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the State Legislature. All the ministers work as a team under the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister formulates programmes and policies for the welfare of the people of the state. The council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the state.The three main organs of government are the legislative, executive and judiciary. The legislative branch makes laws, the executive branch enforces the laws, and the judiciary interprets the laws.

Nandhu: Judiciary. Are you saying about the courts teacher?

Teacher: Yes. The High courts are the highest judicial organ at the State level. It is an independent body.

As per the constitution there shall be a High Court in each state. The state high court consists of a Chief Justice and other judges. The number of Judges in the high court is not uniform and fixed. President appoints the Chief Justice and can hold the office until he completethe age of 62 years. Apart from High court there are district courts and tribunals. They ensure justice to the people without any bias. Apart from this, Family Courts are established to settle the disputes relating to marriages and family affairs.

Lok Adalat (people’s court) also have been established by the Government of India to settle dispute through conciliation and compromise.

Children: This topic is very interesting to hear. Thank you very much teacher.

Teacher: Thank you children. A cultural programme is being allotted to our class for the inaugural function. So let us think. We have to practice and perform well.

Summary

1. India is divided into 29 states and 7 Union territories. Each state has a legislative assembly.

2. State executive comprises the Governor and the Chief Minister with his Council of Ministers.

3. The head of the state is the Governor. And he is appointed by the President for a period of five years. He is an integral part of the State Legislature.

4. The real executive power in a state in India vests with the Chief Minister. The leader of the majority party is appointed as Chief Minister.

5. The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the State Legislature.

6. The High courts are the highest judicial organ at the state level. State High courts have jurisdiction over the whole state.

Glossary

1. Legislative: law making body சட்டமன்றம்

2. Cabinet: the committee of senior ministers மந்திரிசபை

3. Executive: administrative நிர்வாகம் சார்ந்த

4. Judiciary: a system of courts of law நீதித்துறைற

ICT CORNER

State Government

Let’s know about our state government departments

PROCEDURE :

Step 1: Type the following URL http://www.tn.gov.in or scan the QR code given below to view the home page of the Government of Tamilnadu website.

Step 2: Click ‘Departments’ which is listed below the title ‘Government’.

Step 3: You can see the list and link of various departments of our Government.

Step 4: Click on a particular department to know about its Minister’s name with image, Secretary to.

Government, their contact numbers, department profile..etc…

State Government URL:

http://www.tn.gov.in or scan the QR

*Pictures are indicative only

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