NCERT Solutions Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy part 1 Governance

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 6 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 10: Grassroots
Democracy – Part 1: Governance

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

149 – 162 10 25 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 41 pages

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 6 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 10: Grassroots Democracy
– Part 1: Governance
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1:
Governance from the NCERT textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond. Every question of the chapter is
answered — The Big Questions, all five LET’S EXPLORE boxes, the in-text questions on pages 150 and 159,
Before we move on … and all four Questions, activities and projects — with flow charts of how a rule is
made and how the three organs acted in the cybercrime case, and with the two road pictures of Fig. 10.1, the
ten public-service pictures of Fig. 10.2, the ‘separation of powers’ wheel of Fig. 10.3, the pyramid of Fig. 10.4
and the whole table of Fig. 10.5 read off the printed page.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 6) 149 – 162

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

10 25

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 149
Chapter opening

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 What is the meaning of ‘governance’?

Governance is the whole work of running a society by rules. The chapter defines it in one
sentence on page 150:

“The process of taking decisions, organising the society’s life with different sets of rules,

and ensuring that they are followed, is called governance.”

So governance has three parts, and all three must be there:

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PART OF WHAT IT MEANS AN EVERYDAY EXAMPLE
GOVERNANCE

1. Taking decisions Deciding what should be done about a Deciding that a village needs a new water
problem or a need pipeline

2. Organising life with Making rules so that people know what Traffic rules, school rules, examination rules,
sets of rules to do, and so that things are shared rules an employer and employees agree to
fairly

3. Ensuring they are Seeing that the rules are actually A traffic police officer at the signal; a court
followed obeyed, and acting when they are not punishing a cyber criminal

The chapter is careful to separate three words that students often mix up.

WORD THE BOOK’S OWN DEFINITION KIND OF THING

Governance The process of taking decisions, organising society by rules, and A process — an activity
ensuring they are followed

Government “The group of individuals or the system that makes the rules and A group or system — people
ensures that they are followed” and institutions

Laws “Some of the more important rules are called laws” The rules themselves

Governance — how a decision becomes a rule people live by

A problem or a need LEGISLATURE EXECUTIVE
representatives discuss, ministers and agencies
in society
debate and make the law carry the law out

the loop never stops — this whole cycle is governance

CITIZENS JUDICIARY
have a say, and can ask courts decide if it was
for a rule to be changed broken, and if it is fair

Governance is the complete loop: a need, a rule made by representatives, the rule carried out,
disputes decided, and citizens asking for changes.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why society needs this process at all: the chapter’s opening argument is very
simple. “When a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements
and disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony in the
society.” You already live under several sets of rules — at home, in school, in the
examination hall, on the road, at a workplace. Governance is only the same idea
grown to the size of a whole country.

Tip for the exam: if asked for a one-line answer, give the book’s definition word for
word and then add the contrast — governance is the process; government is the
system that carries it out.

Q2 Why do we need a government?

Because rules do not make, apply or defend themselves — somebody has to. A government
is “the group of individuals or the system that makes the rules and ensures that they are
followed”. Without it, the rules exist only on paper.
The chapter gives four reasons, in the order it introduces them.

WHY A GOVERNMENT WHAT THE CHAPTER SHOWS
IS NEEDED

1. To keep order where many “When a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements and
people live together disorder.” Look at the two pictures of Fig. 10.1 on page 151 — the same road with
rules, and without them

2. To make and change the The legislature makes new laws and “sometimes it also updates or removes existing
rules laws” — for instance the new laws many governments passed against cybercrime, a
crime that did not exist a generation ago

3. To make sure the rules are The executive implements them; agencies enforce ‘law and order’ — the cyber police
actually followed in the chapter’s example — and the courts decide whether someone has broken the
law

4. To run the services no The ten pictures of Fig. 10.2 on page 152 — roads, railways, defence, public health,
single family can run disaster rescue and fire services, traffic control, the courts, schools, post and banking

And there is a fifth reason the chapter adds quietly, which matters as much as the others: a
government gives people a lawful way to change a rule they think is wrong. “Citizens also
have a say in the laws and rules governing the society.” Without a government there is no one to
ask, and nothing to change.

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Q3 What is the meaning of ‘democracy’? Why is it important?

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DIRECT DEMOCRACY REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

It includes everybody. India is the world’s largest democracy, with some 970 million voters
in 2024, and “in principle, all Indian citizens above the age of 18 have the right to participate
in these elections”.
Rules can be changed peacefully. If a law turns out to be unfair, the same assembly can
update or remove it — no one has to break the law to change it.
It reaches down to ordinary people. Grassroots democracy “refers to a system that
enables and encourages the participation of ordinary citizens — the base of the pyramid”, so
that “citizens can have a say in decisions which affect them”.

Why the chapter opens with Rigoberta Menchú Tum: her lines chain five ideas
together — “There is no peace without justice; no justice without equality; no
equality without development; no democracy without respect to the identity and
dignity of cultures and peoples.” Democracy, in other words, is not only counting
votes. It also means that people of every language, region and culture are treated
with dignity. India, with its enormous diversity, is exactly the place where that test
matters.

Careful: democracy is about institutions and processes — elections, assemblies,
discussion, courts. Answers should describe how the system works, not praise or
blame any party or leader.

In-text Questions — Page 150
Introduction — why rules exist and who makes them

Q1 What would happen if no one followed those rules?

The book answers its own question in the next line: “A simple answer is that society would
not be able to function.”
Take the four sets of rules the paragraph has just listed and remove them one by one — the
answer becomes very concrete.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RULE IF NOBODY FOLLOWED IT

Rules at home No fixed meal times, nothing put back in its place, nobody telling anyone where they
are going — small quarrels every day, and no one safe

Rules in school (for students Classes would not begin on time, no one would know which room to go to, and a
and for teachers) teacher could not teach through the noise. Learning would simply stop

Examination rules Marks would mean nothing, because honest and dishonest work could not be told apart

Traffic rules Exactly the lower picture of Fig. 10.1 on page 151 — vehicles facing every direction,
cycles and pedestrians squeezed between cars, nobody moving. And accidents

Rules at work (for Nobody could count on being paid, and no employer could count on the work being
employees and employers) done

Why ‘society would not function’ is the right way to put it: a rule is a promise
about what other people will do. Traffic keeps moving because you can rely on the
other driver stopping at a red light; a shop works because you can rely on the
shopkeeper giving the change. Break that reliance and everything slows to a stop —
not because people become wicked, but because nobody can plan anything.

Notice: the chapter is careful that rules bind both sides — “employers must also
follow rules which they have committed to their employees”, and a school has rules
“some for students, others for teachers”. A rule only one side has to obey is an order,
not a rule.

Q2 Who makes the rules and why? How are they made?

Different rules are made by different people, but the reason is always the same — to keep
order and harmony where many people share the same space. These are the questions “we
will explore in this chapter”, and the chapter answers them in three steps.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RULES OF WHO MAKES THEM HOW THEY ARE MADE

A home The elders of the family, usually By discussion — and you “might discuss a particular rule at
together home with your parents”

A school The school or university The student body “might ask the school or university
management, with the teachers management to change a rule”

A workplace The employer — but binding on the By agreement between employer and employees
employer as well

A society or a The legislature — “an assembly of Members “discuss laws, problems and solutions in the
country representatives of the people” assemblies, and, through dialogue and debate, try to
convince each other”

Why they are made: because “when a large number of people live together, there can be
disagreements and disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony in the
society”. The more important of these rules are called laws.
And they can be re-made. This is the sentence to remember from page 150–151: “This does
not mean that rules and laws are set once and for all… citizens also have a say in the laws and
rules governing the society.” The legislature can update a law or remove it altogether — which
is exactly what happened when digital money created a new kind of crime and new laws had to
be written against cybercrime.

Tip: answer this question in three words to start with — representatives, discussion,
change. Rules for a society are made by representatives of the people, through
discussion and debate, and can be changed when people ask for it.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 150

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Introduction — the two pictures of Fig. 10.1

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Describe the two pictures given in Fig. 10.1 on page 151 — what differences do you
see between them?

Fig. 10.1, page 151 — redrawn sketch of the two street scenes printed one above the
other.

Both pictures show a busy road with the same kinds of people and vehicles. The difference
is that in the first one, everybody is following the traffic rules, and in the second one,
nobody is.

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WHAT TO UPPER PICTURE — RULES BEING LOWER PICTURE — RULES IGNORED

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT THE DISCUSSION SAID WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS

“When a large number of people live together, Many people and vehicles on one small crossroads — the
there can be disagreements and disorder” disorder of the lower picture

“rules become necessary to maintain order and The upper picture: lanes, signals, crossings — and everyone
harmony” gets through faster

“Drivers on the road are expected to obey traffic The one rule set that both pictures are about
rules”

Governance means also “ensuring that they are The traffic light, the ‘no stopping’ sign — and, in Fig. 10.2 on
followed” page 152, the traffic police officer whose whole job this is

Three connections worth writing down:

Rules serve the people who follow them. Nobody in the upper picture is being controlled
for someone else’s benefit — they all reach home sooner.
A rule that nobody enforces is not a rule. Zebra crossings exist in both pictures. In the
lower one, they are painted over by chaos. That is why governance has a third part, ensuring
rules are followed.
The cost of disorder falls hardest on the weakest. Look at who is in the greatest danger in
the lower picture — the walkers, the cyclists, the children.

Q3 What are some of the rules in your school? Who made them?

Method. List the rules you actually follow, not the ones on a notice board you have never read.
Then, for each, write who made it — because the chapter’s next question is exactly that. You
will find that a school, like a country, has more than one rule-making authority.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RULE IN MY SCHOOL WHO MADE IT WHY IT EXISTS
— SAMPLE ANSWER

Assembly at 8:00 am; the The Principal and the school The whole day’s timetable depends on one
gate closes at 8:10 management common start

Uniform, ID card and clean The school management Everyone looks the same, so no child is
shoes judged by their clothes; and outsiders can be
spotted

No mobile phones in class The management, following the Attention, and fairness in tests
education department’s guidance

Homework submitted on the The class teacher or subject Learning has to be regular to work at all
day given; corrections done teacher

Silence in the library; books The librarian, with the A shared resource — the same logic as any
returned in seven days management shared thing

Wait in a line at the water Custom, then made official by the A queue is the fairest way to share a turn
cooler and the canteen school

Class monitor collects The class teacher, with the class The first taste of representation — the very
notebooks and reports electing the monitor example the chapter uses on page 159
absentees

No littering; waste separated The eco club and the management Students helped frame it, so students keep it
into two bins together

Sports ground booked The sports teacher with the class One ground, many classes — it has to be
period-wise by classes representatives shared by rule

Examination rules — no The board or examining body, The chapter mentions these too: “students
talking, no unfair means above the school appearing for examinations must follow
certain rules”

What the second half of the question is really teaching. Sort your list by who made the rule
and a pattern appears — a small version of the three levels of Fig. 10.4:

Class level — the class teacher and the class itself (monitor, seating, cleaning rota).
School level — the Principal and management (timings, uniform, discipline).
Above the school — the board or the education department (examination rules, syllabus,
safety rules).

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: pick one school rule you think should change, and follow the chapter’s own
advice — “a student body might ask the school or university management to change
a rule”. Write the request with a reason and an alternative, and give it to your class
representative. That is grassroots democracy in a classroom.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 153

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The ten pictures of Fig. 10.2 — what the government does

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Can you identify the categories of public service or other activities that are
represented in the ten pictures in Fig. 10.2 on page 152?

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9 10

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fig. 10.2, page 152 — redrawn sketches of the ten pictures, numbered as they are
printed (left to right, row by row).

Yes — reading the ten pictures on page 152 from top left, row by row:

# WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS CATEGORY OF PUBLIC
SERVICE

1 Rollers and a paver laying a new highway Roads and public construction
(infrastructure)

2 A modern electric train on an electrified track Railways — public transport

3 Soldiers marching in uniform with rifles, at a border post Defence and border security

4 A doctor examining a patient while her family stands by Public health — hospitals and health
centres

5 Rescuers in orange overalls and helmets carrying a person out of a Fire services and disaster relief
collapsed, burning building

6 A traffic police officer with a raised hand, stopping cars at a signal Police — law, order and traffic
control

7 The Supreme Court of India building Justice — the judiciary

8 A teacher at the blackboard with a full class of children Education — schools

9 A postman with a letter beside a red letter box and his bicycle Postal service and communications

10 Customers at the counters of a bank Banking and finance

Check it yourself: compare this list with Fig. 10.5 on page 157. Defence,
Communications, Currency and Inter-state Commerce are listed under the Central
Government; Police and law and order, Public health, Agriculture and Irrigation
under the State Government; and Education appears under both.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 What role do you think the government plays in each of these activities?

In each one the government does at least one of three things: it makes the rules, it pays
for and runs the service, or it regulates and supervises those who run it.

ACTIVITY THE GOVERNMENT’S ROLE WHICH LEVEL, MAINLY

Road building Plans the road, buys the land, pays for it, fixes the standards, National highways — Centre;
awards and supervises the work, and maintains it afterwards State highways — State; streets
and lanes — local body

Railways Owns and runs the network, decides routes, fares and Central
timetables, and is responsible for safety

Defence Maintains the armed forces, guards the borders. The President Central — “Defence” is the first
of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed item in the Central list
Forces (Fig. 10.5)

Public health Runs hospitals, primary health centres and vaccination State (“Public health” is in the
programmes; trains and pays doctors and nurses; regulates State list), with Central
medicines programmes

Fire and Keeps trained teams and equipment ready, and sends them the All three levels together
disaster moment a disaster strikes — as in the chapter’s flood example,
rescue where rescue teams come from the State and relief and the
army from the Centre

Traffic police Enforces the traffic rules, controls the signals, fines those who State (“Police, law and order”),
break them — the executive organ ensuring rules are followed through the city police

Courts Provides the system of justice — Supreme Court of India for Judiciary, at both levels
all India, High Court in each State, and courts below them

Schools Runs government schools, appoints and pays teachers, decides Education is in both the Central
the syllabus, recognises private schools and inspects them; and the State lists
runs mid-day meals and scholarships

Post Carries letters and parcels to every corner of the country, Central — “Communications”
including places no private company would serve; runs savings
schemes

Banking Issues the currency, sets the rules for banks and supervises Central — “Currency”
them, runs public sector banks, and protects depositors’ money

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the government does these and not private persons alone: each of these
serves everybody and must reach everybody — including the villages and the people
who cannot pay. A road cannot be built one house at a time; a border cannot be
guarded by one family; a court cannot belong to one side of a dispute. These are
exactly the tasks that need a government.

Q3 Can you think of other aspects of your daily life where the government plays an
important role?

Yes — most of an ordinary day passes through something a government made, runs or
regulates. Walk through your own day and list them.

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MOMENT OF THE DAY WHERE THE GOVERNMENT IS INVOLVED

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You open the tap
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You take a bus or an auto to Bus permits and routes, the fare chart, the driver’s licence, the vehicle’s fitness
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Your vaccination card The national immunisation programme, run through health centres

Your birth certificate, Aadhaar, Registration and identity — every one of them a government record

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The money in your pocket Currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India; a note is a promise the
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The weather warning before a The meteorological department, and the disaster management authority that acts

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Try this: for one full day, keep a small notebook and mark a tick every time you use

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LET’S EXPLORE — Page 154 a

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Three Organs of Government — the cybercrime example

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Explain how the three government organs are at work in the case of the cyber
criminals described above. How do they intervene?

Each organ enters at a different moment, and none of them could finish the job alone. The
chapter’s example: digital money transfer made a new kind of theft possible, in which criminals
steal people’s money “without even leaving their desks”.

ORGAN WHEN IT WHAT EXACTLY IT DOES IN THIS CASE
INTERVENES

Legislature First — before any The old laws were written for theft you could see. So the legislature passes
(makes the arrest is possible new laws against cybercrime — as the chapter says, “this has led many
law) governments to pass new laws in order to fight such criminal activities”. It
defines the offence and fixes the punishment, and may later update the law
as new tricks appear

Executive Next — when a crime The government sets up and funds the cyber police — the chapter names
(implements is actually committed this agency itself. They receive the complaint, trace the digital trail, freeze
the law) accounts, gather evidence and arrest the accused, then place the case
before the court. Ministers and the department decide policy, training and
cybersecurity rules

Judiciary Last — once the The court hears both sides and decides “whether someone has broken the
(decides) accused is before a law and, if so, what course of action should be taken”. The chapter states
court the outcome: such criminals “have been arrested and convicted in court.
They are usually fined as well as jailed for some years.” The court can also
examine whether the new law itself is fair to all

The cybercrime case, organ by organ (pages 153–154)

A new kind of crime LEGISLATURE EXECUTIVE
money stolen online, passes new laws the cyber police trace,
without leaving a desk against cybercrime investigate and arrest

PEOPLE PROTECTED JUDICIARY
savings safer, and a the court hears the case,
warning to others convicts, fines and jails

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

One case, three organs, in order: the law is made, then enforced, then applied by a court — and only
then are people actually protected.

Why all three are needed: remove any one and the case collapses. Without the
legislature there is no law, and the police cannot arrest anyone for something that
is not an offence. Without the executive the law sits in a book, because nobody
investigates or catches anyone. Without the judiciary the police would be deciding
guilt themselves, and an innocent person would have nowhere to turn. This is
exactly why Fig. 10.3 draws the three as separate arcs of one circle, with arrows
between them: separate, but working together.

Did you know? The chapter mentions that ‘money order’ and ‘demand draft’ are
terms you may never have heard — thirty years ago, sending money meant a form,
a queue and days of waiting. New technology brought new convenience, new crime,
and then new law. That sequence is one of the clearest examples of why the
legislature must be able to “update or remove existing laws”.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 155
Separation of powers — a class activity

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 As a class activity, can you imagine the sort of disorder we might witness if all three
organs were under the control of the same group of people? Can you describe any
such real-life situation you may have heard of?

If one group made the rules, enforced them and judged the disputes, there would be
nobody left to correct it when it went wrong. The chapter states the purpose of separating
them: it “is intended to provide a system of checks and balances… each organ of the
government can check what the other is doing and restore balance if one organ acts beyond its
expected role.”
How to run the class activity. Divide the class into three groups — legislature, executive,
judiciary — and give them a small dispute (say, who may use the sports ground during lunch).
Play it twice: first with the three groups separate, then with all three roles given to one group.
Then write down what changed.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT GOES WHY
WRONG

Rules made to suit the If the same group writes the rule and judges it, nothing stops it from writing a rule that
rule-makers favours itself

No fair hearing The person who accuses you is also the person who decides whether you are guilty. Being
innocent would not help you

Complaints go If the executive acts wrongly, the chapter says the judiciary “examines whether a decision
nowhere taken by the executive is right”. Take that away and there is no address to complain to

Mistakes never get Nobody checks whether a law “is well conceived and fair to all”, so a bad law stays for ever
corrected

Rules change without The same group can make a rule today and unmake it tomorrow to suit a particular case.
warning Then no one can plan anything

People stop taking If your vote and your voice change nothing, participation dies — and with it, grassroots
part democracy

Real-life situations you may have heard of — describe them as situations, not as a verdict on
any person or party:

In a school or a colony. Imagine one person who fixes the ground’s timings, catches those
who break them, and decides the punishment, with no appeal to anyone. Most students
have seen a smaller version of this, and it always feels unfair — even when the person is
right.
Under colonial rule in India. Laws for Indians were framed by an administration Indians
had not elected, enforced by its own officials, and challenged before courts set up by the
same authority. The demand that Indians should make their own laws was one of the central
demands of the freedom movement, and it is why the makers of our Constitution separated
the three organs so carefully.
Countries without a separation of powers. In history, wherever the same group has held
all three powers, the pattern repeats — critics are silenced, elections lose meaning, and
ordinary people have no way to get a wrong decision reversed.

The balancing idea, in one line: the separation of powers is not distrust of any
particular person. It is a design that assumes anyone can make a mistake, and
therefore builds in someone whose job it is to catch it. That is why Fig. 10.3 shows
arrows running both ways between all three arcs.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Keep it non-partisan: the question asks about a situation, not about a party or a
leader. Describe what happens to institutions and processes — who makes rules,
who enforces them, who can correct a wrong. That is what the chapter is teaching.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 156

Page 23 of 41

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Three Levels of Government — reading the table of Fig. 10.5
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LET’S EXPLORE

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ALL INDIA / NATIONAL STATE LEVEL
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Fig. 10.5, page 157.
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ORGAN ALL INDIA / NATIONAL LEVEL STATE LEVEL

Judiciary Supreme Court of India High Court

Legislature Two houses — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha One State Assembly or Vidhan Sabha (most
— formulate national laws States have a single assembly; a few States
have two)

Executive Central Government — led by the State Government — led by the Governor
President of India (nominal head and (nominal head), Chief Minister as the
Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed executive head
Forces), Prime Minister as the executive
head

Functions and Defence · Foreign Affairs · Atomic Energy Police, law and order · Adaptation and
responsibilities of · Communications · Currency · Inter-state implementation of laws made by the Central
the Executive Commerce · Education · Formulation of government at the State level · Public health ·
National Policies Education · Agriculture · Irrigation · Local
government

Now the highlighting. Choose the entries that touch your day, and say in one line how. A
sample:

ENTRY I WOULD LEVEL HOW IT AFFECTS MY LIFE — SAMPLE ANSWER
HIGHLIGHT

Education Both Central My school, my teachers, my textbook, my mid-day meal, my board
and State examination. This is the single entry that affects me most

Public health State The health centre where I was vaccinated, and the hospital my
family goes to

Police, law and order State The traffic police at the crossing outside school; being able to walk
home safely

Agriculture and Irrigation State The canal and the seeds our family farm depends on — and the price
of vegetables for everyone else

Local government State subject Water, streetlights, the drain, the park — everything within 200
metres of my house

Communications Central Phone and internet, and the post office

Currency Central Every note and coin, and the UPI payment my mother makes at the
shop

Defence Central I do not see it daily, but it is why the country is safe enough for
everything above to work

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Notice one thing while you mark: Education appears in both columns. That is not a
printing mistake — some matters are handled by both levels together. It is also why
your school follows a State department’s rules and a national syllabus at the same
time.

Q2 Ask two or three adults about their connection or interaction with the government
— at what levels does it take place and for what purpose?

Method. Choose adults with different kinds of work — for example a farmer, a shopkeeper and
a salaried employee, or a homemaker, an auto driver and a teacher. Ask three questions only,
and write the answers in a table. Do not ask about anyone’s income or private matters.

1. In the last one year, for what did you have to deal with any government office?
2. Was it a local office, a State office, or a Central one?
3. Which organ was it really — someone making a rule, someone carrying it out, or a court?

Sample answers (yours will differ — that is the point of the exercise):

PERSON PURPOSE OF THE INTERACTION LEVEL ORGAN

A farmer Land record correction; canal water Local and State Executive
schedule; buying subsidised seed; selling
grain at the procurement centre

A shopkeeper Renewing the shop licence with the Local and Executive
municipality; filing GST returns online Central

A salaried Filing income tax; getting a passport; a Central Executive
employee provident fund claim

A homemaker Ration card, gas connection, the child’s Local and State Executive
school admission and scholarship form, a
vaccination appointment

An auto Driving licence, vehicle fitness and permit, State, through Executive; the court if a
driver pollution certificate, a traffic challan the RTO and challan is contested
traffic police

Any voter Voter ID, and voting in the panchayat or All three Choosing the legislature —
municipal, State Assembly and Lok Sabha the only interaction in which
elections the citizen decides

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What almost every class discovers: nearly all day-to-day contact is with the
executive — offices and officials who carry out laws. Contact with the legislature
happens mainly on election day, and with the judiciary only when there is a dispute.
That is a good discovery, because it shows why the one day of voting matters so
much: it is the day on which citizens choose the people who make the rules that all
those offices then apply.

Do it politely: take permission before writing anything down, and do not record
names in your notebook — just ‘farmer’, ‘shopkeeper’, and so on. Thank each person
at the end.

In-text Questions — Page 159
Democracy — why representatives are needed

Q1 But can all people actually rule?

No. The chapter answers immediately: “It is clearly not possible.”
Think of the numbers. India had some 970 million voters in 2024. If every one of them had to
gather, listen to every argument and vote on every question, nothing would ever be decided —
no hall could hold them, and a single debate would take years.
So a democracy does the one practical thing: the people choose a smaller number of persons
to act for them.

All the people cannot meet and decide → so they elect representatives

Representatives meet in an assembly → discuss, debate and decide

This is called a representative democracy

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

SIZE OF THE GROUP HOW DECISIONS CAN BE TAKEN

A class of 40 students choosing a picnic Everybody votes — direct democracy (the show of hands on page
place 160)

A village gram sabha All adult villagers can attend and speak — still largely direct

A State of several crore people Elected MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha

A country of 140 crore people Elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Why this is still ‘rule of the people’: because the representatives do not own their
seats — the people lend them. They are chosen in an election, they must answer to
the voters, and they can be replaced at the next election. Between elections, citizens
keep their say through the grassroots bodies you will study in the next two chapters.
So the people rule; they simply do it through persons they have chosen.

Q2 Will the entire class go to the principal?

No — “it would clearly not be practical.” This little example is the chapter’s way of explaining
representation before it uses the word for a State or a country.
Imagine the whole class trying it: forty students crowding one small room, everyone talking at
once, the principal unable to hear a single complete sentence, and forty classes disturbed while
they wait outside. Nothing would be settled.
What actually happens, in the chapter’s words: “In many schools, classes have a ‘class monitor’
or ‘class representative’, whom the whole class elected; even if there is none, one representative
can be selected for this specific purpose. It will be enough to send the representative to the
principal.”

Page 28 of 41

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
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IN THE CLASSROOM THE SAME IDEA IN THE COUNTRY

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A problem the whole class shares — a broken A problem a whole constituency shares — a road, a hospital, a

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someone who simply takes charge is not.

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Before we move on … — Page 160
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The chapter in four points
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BEFORE WE MOVE ON …
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Because a country is simply a very large number of people sharing one space — and, as the
chapter begins, “when a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements and
disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony in the society”.

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TAKE AWAY WHAT STOPS

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And note the two words are not the same: governance is the work; government is who does
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carry out decisions.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this is the first point of the summary: the whole chapter is built on it. Rules
exist everywhere already — at home, in school, in the examination hall, on the road,
at work. Governance is not something new imposed from above; it is the same
familiar thing at the scale of a country.

Q2 A modern government has three organs — legislative, executive and judiciary —
which need to work together.

Three different jobs, three different organs — but one governance.

ORGAN ITS JOB, IN THE BOOK’S WORDS WHO IT IS, IN INDIA (FIG. 10.5)

Legislature “Makes new laws… sometimes it also updates or Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha nationally; the
removes existing laws”, through “an assembly of Vidhan Sabha in a State
representatives of the people”

Executive “Implements (or ‘executes’) the laws” — head of state, President (nominal head) with the Prime
ministers, and any agency responsible for law and order Minister as executive head; Governor
(nominal head) with the Chief Minister as
executive head

Judiciary “The system of courts which decides whether someone Supreme Court of India; High Court in a
has broken the law”, and sometimes examines executive State
decisions and whether a law “is well conceived and fair
to all”

“Work together” and “kept separate” are both true, and the chapter says both in one breath:
“these three organs must be kept separate, although they interact with each other and work
together”. The separation is called the separation of powers, and its purpose is checks and
balances — each organ can check the others and “restore balance if one organ acts beyond its
expected role”.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Separation of powers — Fig. 10.3 in words

LEGISLATURE JUDICIARY
each checks the others

GOVERNANCE
at the centre

EXECUTIVE

Three separate organs, arrows running between them, and governance at the centre — the shape
the textbook draws on page 154.

Q3 The Indian government functions at three levels — Centre or national, State and
local.

Different problems are the right size for different levels — and Fig. 10.4 on page 155 draws
them as a pyramid, with the Central Government at the top, the State Government in the
middle, and the Local Government at the broad base.

LEVEL WORKS TYPICAL MATTERS THE CHAPTER’S FLOOD
AT EXAMPLE

Local The town or Water, streetlights, drains, waste, local If the flood “is not too severe, the local
Government village level roads, markets — studied in the next authorities may be able to deal with it”
two chapters

State The State Police and law and order, public If it “involves several towns and many
Government level health, education, agriculture, villages, the State Government will step
irrigation, local government in and send rescue teams”

Central The national Defence, foreign affairs, atomic If it is “a massive flood affecting vast
Government level energy, communications, currency, areas, the Central Government may also
inter-state commerce, education, come to help by sending relief supplies,
national policies the army, etc.”

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The chapter also gives a homely comparison: a bulb that will not light. You check the bulb,
switch and fuse yourself; then you call an electrician; and if the fault is outside the house, you
go to the Electricity Board. “These are also three levels of dealing with a problem.”

Why the pyramid is drawn widest at the bottom: the local level touches the most
people and the most daily matters. That is why the chapter’s title is Grassroots
Democracy — the ‘grassroots’ are that broad base, where ordinary citizens can most
easily take part.

Q4 Democracy is the overall framework for this system. It functions through elected
representatives, both at the State and the national levels.

The organs and the levels are the machinery; democracy is what makes it belong to the
people. Take democracy away and you would still have a legislature, an executive and a
judiciary — but the people would have no say in who sits in them, and no lawful way to change
a rule.

PIECE OF THE WHAT DEMOCRACY ADDS TO IT
MACHINERY

The legislature makes the Its members are elected — MLAs at the State level, MPs at the national level
laws

Decisions have to be taken They are taken “through dialogue and debate”, by trying to convince one another
— not by command

Rules bind everybody So everybody has a say in them: “citizens also have a say in the laws and rules
governing the society”

Government exists at three Elections at all three, and grassroots democracy at the base, so “citizens can have a
levels say in decisions which affect them”

Anybody can be wrong Representatives face the voters again; and courts can examine whether a law is
“fair to all”

The scale is worth remembering: India is the world’s largest democracy, with some 970
million voters in 2024, and in principle every citizen above 18 may take part in these elections.

One line for revision: three organs — how the work is divided; three levels — where
the work is done; democracy — whose government it is.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Questions, activities and projects — Page 161
End-of-chapter exercise

Q1 Test yourself — What is the meaning of democracy? What is the difference between
direct democracy and representative democracy?

Democracy means the ‘rule of the people’. The word comes from two Greek words — dēmos,
meaning ‘people’, and kratos, meaning ‘rule’ or ‘power’. It is “one of the foundation stones of the
system of governance adopted by most countries of the world”.
The difference between the two kinds:

POINT OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
COMPARISON

Who takes the Every member of the group, personally Representatives elected by the people
decision

How opinions are Everyone votes on the question itself — People vote to choose a person; that person then
counted the chapter’s show of hands for picnic votes on the questions
place A or B

The book’s example The class picnic vote: “This is a case of The class representative sent to the principal; and
direct democracy where every MLAs and MPs at the State and national levels
student’s opinion was taken to finalise
the place”

Suitable for Small groups who can all meet — a Large populations — a State or a country
class, a village assembly, a small
society

How often people On every question that comes up At elections; between elections, representatives
decide decide

India Used in small bodies and meetings “Like any modern democracy, therefore, India
is a representative democracy” — the world’s
largest, with some 970 million voters in 2024

Why India cannot use direct democracy for everything: not because people’s
opinions do not matter, but because of sheer arithmetic. If 970 million voters each
spoke for one minute on a single law, the debate would last more than 1,800 years.
Representation is how a democracy keeps every person’s voice inside a decision that
still gets taken this week.

Page 33 of 41

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co m
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Do not confuse: ‘direct’ does not mean better and ‘representative’ does not mean

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weaker. Both are democracy — the difference is the size of the group, not the
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Recall the three organs of government. What are their different roles?
.
Q2

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The three organs are the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

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ORGAN ITS ROLE IN INDIA IN

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Done by “an assembly of house is “an assembly where laws
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Why do we need three tiers of government?

Because problems come in three sizes, and each size is best handled at the level closest to
it that can actually manage it. “Any democratic government operates at multiple levels… Each
level deals with different matters.”

The three tiers — Fig. 10.4, with what each one handles

national level defence, currency,
CENTRAL foreign affairs

STATE
police, health,
agriculture, irrigation at the State level

LOCAL
water, drains,
streetlights, local roads at the town or village level

The pyramid of page 155: narrow at the top where matters are few and national, broad at the base
where they are many and local.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

REASON EXPLANATION

1. Matters differ in Defence, currency and foreign affairs concern the whole country; police, health and irrigation
scale concern a State; a blocked drain or a streetlight concerns one street. One office cannot do all
three well

2. Local problems Only people of the place know which lane floods and which handpump has failed. Decisions
need local knowledge taken 2,000 km away would miss this

3. Speed Small problems get solved fast when the office is near — the bulb, the electrician, the
Electricity Board comparison on page 155

4. A ladder for big A flood in one area is handled by the local authorities; if it spreads to several towns and
problems villages, the State sends rescue teams; if it is massive, the Centre sends relief supplies and the
army

5. India is enormous Different States have different languages, crops, rainfall and needs. State governments can
and diverse suit their own conditions, within national laws

6. It brings This is the chapter’s own point: grassroots democracy “enables and encourages the
democracy within participation of ordinary citizens — the base of the pyramid”, so that citizens “can have a say
reach in decisions which affect them”

Coming next: the local tier gets a chapter of its own — the chapter says local
government is not shown in Fig. 10.5 “as we will look at it more closely in the next
two chapters”.

Q4 Project: Many of you will remember the lockdown that took place during the COVID-
19 pandemic. Make a list of all the actions that were taken at that time? Which tiers
of government were involved in managing the situation? What was the role of each
of the organs of government?

How to do this project. Work in a group of four. Collect your material from three sources: (1)
ask family members and neighbours what they remember, (2) look at newspapers of 2020–21 in
the school or public library, and (3) note what your own school did. Write it up in three parts,
exactly as the question asks — actions taken, tiers involved, organs involved. A wall chart
with a timeline works very well.
Part 1 — a list of actions taken (sample, to be added to from your own findings):

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

AREA ACTIONS TAKEN DURING THE PANDEMIC

Restricting A nationwide lockdown from late March 2020; shops, offices, factories, trains, buses and flights
movement stopped except for essential services; containment zones sealed; curfew-like restrictions in many
districts

Health Masks and physical distancing made compulsory; testing centres and COVID care centres opened;
measures hospitals given oxygen plants and extra beds; isolation and quarantine rules; a nationwide
vaccination drive from January 2021 with the CoWIN portal

Food and Free foodgrain for ration card holders; community kitchens; money transferred to bank accounts of
money many families; shelter and transport arranged for workers returning home; special trains run later

Education Schools and colleges closed; online classes, television and radio lessons; examinations postponed or
their pattern changed; mid-day meal rations or money given at home

Information Daily bulletins of cases; helpline numbers; advertisements and announcements on hygiene; action
against false information

Part 2 — which tiers of government were involved: all three, and this is the best evidence in
the whole chapter for why three tiers are needed.

TIER WHAT IT DID

Central Declared the nationwide lockdown and issued national guidelines; managed international borders and flights;
procured and distributed vaccines and oxygen; ran the national foodgrain scheme; funded the response

State Applied and adapted the guidelines to local conditions — “adaptation and implementation of laws made by
the Central government at the State level” is a State function in Fig. 10.5; ran hospitals and testing (public
health is a State subject); deployed the police; decided school closures and reopening

Local Municipalities and panchayats marked containment zones, sanitised streets, ran door-to-door surveys and
screening, arranged food and water for the needy, and made local announcements. Anganwadi and ASHA
workers reached individual homes

Part 3 — the role of each organ of government:

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ORGAN ITS ROLE DURING THE PANDEMIC

Legislature Parliament and the State Assemblies met, discussed the situation, questioned the government, and passed
the money bills and budgets that paid for relief, hospitals and vaccines; some existing health and disaster
laws were amended

Executive Did most of the visible work: the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, ministers, the health departments,
district collectors, the police, doctors, nurses, sanitation and municipal staff. Orders were issued, hospitals
run, supplies moved, rules enforced

Judiciary Courts kept working, many of them online. They heard petitions about oxygen supply, hospital beds, the
condition of migrant workers, and the price of testing and treatment, and asked governments to explain
and to act — an example of the judiciary examining “whether a decision taken by the executive is right”

What the project should conclude: a single emergency needed every tier and
every organ at once — a national rule, a State adapting it, a municipality carrying it
to each street, an assembly voting the money, and a court asking questions when
something went wrong. The pandemic is the clearest recent proof of the chapter’s
two main diagrams: the three organs of Fig. 10.3 and the three levels of Fig. 10.4.

Two cautions for a good project. First, dates: COVID-19 was identified in 2019 and
the pandemic reached India in early 2020; the nationwide lockdown began in March
2020. Second, keep the write-up about institutions and processes — what each tier
and each organ did — and not about praising or blaming any party or leader. If your
group disagrees about something, record both views and say what evidence each
rests on.

Chapter at a glance
The chapter’s one idea: people living together need rules, and rules need someone to
make them and someone to see that they are followed. When many people live together
“there can be disagreements and disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order
and harmony in the society”. The book then gives three exact words: governance is the
process, government is the group or system that does it, and laws are “some of the more
important rules”.
Rules are not fixed for ever. Just as you can discuss a rule at home with your parents, or a
student body can ask the school management to change a rule, “citizens also have a say in
the laws and rules governing the society”. This single sentence is the seed of the whole
chapter — it is why democracy comes later in the same chapter.

Page 38 of 41

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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a g l Page 39 of 41

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN
THE CHAPTER

Governance “The process of taking decisions, Page 150, It is a process, not a group of
organising the society’s life with Introduction people
different sets of rules, and ensuring
that they are followed”

Government “The group of individuals or the Page 150 Governance is the work;
system that makes the rules and government is who does it
ensures that they are followed”

Law “Some of the more important rules Page 150 Every law is a rule; not every
are called laws” rule is a law

Legislature The organ that makes new laws, and Page 153 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at
sometimes updates or removes the national level; the Vidhan
existing ones — “an assembly of Sabha in a State
representatives of the people”

Executive The organ that implements the laws Page 154 In the cybercrime example, the
— head of state, ministers and any agency is the cyber police
agency responsible for law and order

Judiciary The system of courts that decides Page 154 Supreme Court of India for all
whether someone has broken the law India, High Court at the State
and what should follow — and level (Fig. 10.5)
sometimes examines executive
decisions and laws

Separation of Keeping the three organs separate, Page 154, Fig. Its purpose is a system of
powers though they interact and work 10.3 checks and balances
together

Three levels Local, State or regional, and national Page 155, Fig. The bulb, the electrician, the
(tiers) — “each level deals with different 10.4 Electricity Board — three levels
matters” of dealing with one problem

Nominal head “In name only” — the President of Page 157, Fig. They have certain powers under
India and the Governor of a State are 10.5 special circumstances but
not the actual executive heads normally do not interfere

Democracy From Greek dēmos (people) and Page 159 “no democracy without respect
kratos (rule or power) — literally the to the identity and dignity of
‘rule of the people’ cultures and peoples” —
Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Page 40 of 41

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN
THE CHAPTER

Representative People vote for representatives, who Pages 159–160 MLAs at the State level, MPs at
democracy become elected members of the the national level
assemblies

Direct Every person’s opinion is taken Page 160 Practical only for a small group
democracy directly, as in the class vote for a
picnic place

Grassroots “A system that enables and Page 160 The title of the chapter, and of
democracy encourages the participation of the two chapters that follow
ordinary citizens” — the base of the
pyramid

Page 41 of 41