NCERT Book Class 9 Social Science (Civics) Chapter 4 Working Of Institutions

CHAPTER 4

Working of
Institutions

OVERVIEW
Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracy
the rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work
with and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of such
institutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at the
manner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in our
country. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions are
resolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a key
role in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary.
You have already read something about these institutions in earlier
classes. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to asking
larger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does this
institution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions?
What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objective
here is to understand how all these institutions together carry on the
work of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutions
in other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from the
working of the national level government called Central Government, Union
Government, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, you
can think of and discuss examples from the working of the government in
your state.

56 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS