Chapter – 8

Local Governments

In this post, we have given the Important Questions of Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8 (Local Governments) in English. These Important Questions are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 11 board exams.

Board	CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, Bihar Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 11
Subject	Political Science
Chapter no.	Chapter 8
Chapter Name	(Local Governments)
Category	Class 11 Political Science Important Questions in English
Medium	English

Chapter 8 Local Governments

Two Marks Questions

Q1. Give two reasons for not having strong local governance in India.

Ans. Casteism, factionalism, communalism

Q2. What does the word URBAN AREA means

Ans.

• Population at least 5000.
• More than 75% of working men work separately from farming.
• The density of population should be 400 people per square kilometer.

Q3. What are the functions of Gram Panchayats and mention any two.

Ans. Cleaning, electricity, water system, construction of roads, registration of births and deaths etc.

Q4. Explain what has changed in the social status of women by the reservation given to women in Panchayati Institutions

Ans. Today, many women hold positions like Sarpanch and Mayor. They have gained more power and confidence than before. Political understanding of women has increased.

Q5. What are the benefits of local governance to ordinary citizens?

Ans. Solutions to the problems of citizens become very fast and at a low cost. Political participation of citizens increases

Q6. The local government could not perform its task with the efficiency for which it was founded ? Why ?

Ans. There is a lack of money. The expense is more in proportion to the income, so the state governments and central government have to depend on the grant.

Q7. For how many years is the Finance Commission of the state made and what is its main function ?

Ans. To estimate the economic status of local government institutions for 5 years.

Q8. Recently elections have been held in some vacant places of Municipal Corporation, what do you think was the reason for holding this election ?

Ans. These places must have been vacant due to many reasons :-

• Due to the death of a corporator
• Reasons for changing the party of a corporator
• Due to becoming an MLA of a corporator

Q9. The system of Panchayati Bodies was in our country even in ancient times, what improvements have been made in their functioning in the present times?

Ans. Even in ancient times there were local institutions, but they were not accountable to the public, today these institutions are more accountable and also accountable to the public.

Q10. What is the head of a municipal corporation called? How long is its tenure?

Ans. The head of muncipal corporation is called Mayor, and tenure is 1 year long.

Four Marks Questions

Q1. What is the importance of local governance?

Ans. Local governance is very important in our lives, if local subjects remain with the local representatives, then the daily problems of the lives of citizens are resolved at a fast pace and at a low cost.

Q2. Write four functions of Municipal Corporation and Municipalities,

Ans. Management of cleanliness, provision of electricity, arrangement of drinking water, registration of birth and death rates, construction and repair of roads, arrangement of cremation ghats etc.

Q3. Who is the Mayor?

Ans. The head of the Municipal Corporation .

Q4. How many municipal corporations are there in Delhi at this time? What is the reason for the formation of so many corporations ?

Ans. At present, there are three municipal corporations in Delhi. North Delhi, East Delhi and South Delhi Municipal Corporation because the population of Delhi is increasing day by day and their problems too. One municipal corporation was not able to solve all the problems as efficiently as three municipal corporations are able to do.

Q5. To what extent are the municipal corporations successful in solving the problems of the general public?

Ans. Municipal corporations are not able to solve the problems of the public to the extent that they can, even today the roads remain broken. Garbage heaps can be seen somewhere. The problem of water, electricity has been solved, but still common citizens have to deal with these two during the summer

Q6. What are the problems before the Panchayati Raj Institutions?

Ans. Money problem, public awareness, political interference, disproportionate expenditure.

Q7. “Local institutions are not self-sufficient”, therefore, do not work efficiently, do you think this statement is true? how?

Ans. Yes, if these institutions become autonomous, then the problems of the citizens will be solved quickly and these institutions will also be answerable to the public.

Q8. Democracy is successful only when there is active participation of the citizens. Explain this statement.

Ans. Political participation of citizens is essential for the success of democracy. Only a conscious citizen can make meaningful participation in democracy. Only then will the government be accountable

Q9. Local government has actually benefited from the reservation of women for the male ruling society. Do you agree with this ? Explain.

Ans. In many cases, it has been seen that the woman has failed to make her presence felt or the woman or the head of the family takes decisions on the pretext of holding the woman in office.

Q10. Whenever there is an attempt to make democracy more meaningful and to give strength to the deprived people, there is bound to be tension and tension in the society. Do you agree with this opinion ? Explain.

Ans. Yes, the Constitution made the reservation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes mandatory. With this, most of the states made a provision for reservation for backward castes. This has brought about a drastic change in the social structure of local bodies, sometimes it creates tension and intensifies the struggle for power.

Read the Passage and write answer given below-

“Gandhiji believed that strengthening of gram panchayats is an effective means of decentralization of power. Every initiative of development should involve the participation of local people in Kadami so that it can succeed. The independence of India as a whole must begin from the very bottom. In this way every state will be a republic”.

A) What does decentralization of power mean?

Ans. The meaning of decentralization of power: – The power reached the masses like Gandhiji wanted. The ideology of Gramodaya is an example of decentralization of power. Problems at the local level should be solved at the local level

B) What does republic mean?

Ans. Republic means where the head of the state is the representative elected by the public, if local governance is passed on to the local people, then every village will become a republic

C) How can Panchayat’s be strengthened? Give two suggestions.

Ans.

• They should not be short of money.
• The public should be aware

D) What is the meaning of this statement “Freedom should start from the bottom”.

Ans.

• This means that the solution of the problems can be done by the representatives of the local public.
• The general public has access to it.
•  

Six Marks Questions

Q1. What is the meaning of local government and what is its effect on the everyday life of citizens?

Ans. Local government is responsible for a range of vital services for people and businesses in defined areas. Among them are well known functions such as social care, schools, housing and planning and waste collection, but also lesser known ones such as licensing, business support, registrar services and pest control.

Municipalities generally take responsibility for parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, municipal courts, transportation services (including public transportation), and public works (streets, sewers, snow removal, signage, and so forth).

Q2. What is the meaning of the Panchayati Raj system, if you were a district collector, what problems would you solve in the village ?

Ans. Panchayati Raj is a form of government at the village level where each village is responsible for its own activities. 

As the district collector, It is my responsibility to make governance effective, efficient and economical. Following are the initiatives which I will work on,

• Issuing guidelines to all the public organizations on ethical code of conduct and enforcing the existing laws on corruption. Apart from that organizing meetings to the employees of organizations and civil society to make them aware of their duties towards the public organizations. As citizens taking to illegal means is equivalent to official resorting to corruption. Will encourage Citizen charters to be read inside public office weekly by its employees once in a week so that first it is they who must understand the goals of organisation with ethical perspective.
• Will work with the NGOs and software employers to bring out the best applications and in promoting them among people as that will reduce the corruption by creating citizen administration interface which is corruption free. Mobile penetration in last decade can be effectively used by such e-governance initiatives.
• Will work with educational officers to make sure that subjects on ethical and moral responsibility to be introduced in schools, as it is from childhood the habit of a responsible citizen can be cultivated.
• Will work with higher authorities in establishing a Council for studying corruption, which has its members drawn from various organisations like RTOs, MRO offices, PDS members, civil society and NGOs. They will be recruited through a process where in candidates are tested for high ethical and moral conduct. They can suggest better measures to tackle corruption as it is they who see the areas and ways of corruption in public spaces.
• Will streamline the process of getting identity cards,voter cards ,land documents, verification of identity etc by working with centres like e-seva, mee-seva, bhoomi etc (in some of southern states) and linking all the data by introducing a software team for data mining. This ensures quick delivery of services, disposal of issues, easy identification of applicant and checking illegal and fraud candidates, tracking anti-social elements.

Q3. If the local bodies were not there, then the day-to-day problems of the citizens would be solved or not? Why?

Ans. No, The local bodies provide the right solution of the local problems due to participation of local peoples, where the central ans state governments are unable to pick up the exact nature of problem.

• The local self bodies are related with the daily life of the people to perform functions related to education, sanitation, public health, etc.
• The local bodies provide the right solution of the local problems due to participation of local peoples, where the central ans state governments are unable to pick up the exact nature of problem.
• The local bodies lessen the work-load of the central and state government because they could not spare time to look into the local matters. Hence, local bodies can solve these problems easily.
• The local bodies develop the qualities of citizens to awaken the political consciousness and to experience the sense of liberty and equality which is essential for the success of democracy.
• It creates decentralisation of powers, where people directly participate in the daily need, jobs and feed satisfied.

Q4. Where does the Municipal Corporation get its income? Is this money sufficient to solve the problems of the citizens? Why ?

Ans. No, because excess of income is spent and it is too late to receive grants from state governments. It levies taxes on property, water and other services. Taxes are fixed on the measurement and consumption of the services. Taxes are levied on education and other amenities like owning a hotel, entertainment etc. The Municipal Corporation is one of the most important organs of the three-tier government system. It is responsible for all round development of its designated area. It undertakes all the public facilities and welfare works like sanitation, water, road, education, health, etc. As these works require fund, so it collects revenue from the residents living in its corporation area.

Q5. If you had been the Sarpanch of your village, What kind of hindrance would society have caused in your work, then how could you have got rid of those obstacles?

Ans. The Sarpanch of a Village acts as the head of the village and he or she is responsible for various functions and activities. A Sarpanch also acts as a single point of contact between the administration and the village. The functions can be at various levels and are as follows:

Maintenance and creation of basic civic amenities and infrastructure in a village

A Sarpanch has the duty to look after both the village infrastructure and civic amenities and has to maintain them. For Example:

• Opening up or maintenance of a medical dispensary in a village for providing basic health facilities.
• Building streets inside a village and maintaining them.
• Installing handpumps or other water sources inside a village.
• Installation of toilets inside the village is the duty of the Sarpanch.
• Making of ponds for water harvesting and for the livestock present in the village.
• Taking up electrification of the village.
• Seeing the functioning of village school(Government only) if it is present inside a village.
• Sewer management of the village is also seen by the Sarpanch by creation of drains.
• Vaccination programs are taken up regularly inside the village or not.

Social Activities in a villages

A Sarpanch has the duty to organize social activities inside the village like:

• Awareness programs like Girl child Awareness Campaign, Clean India campaign etc. can be taken up by the Sarpanch.
• Inside the village school a Sarpanch can organize Child development programs and various cultural programs for the children.
• A Sarpanch can also organize skill development programs for the village youth.
• Various programs for enhancing agricultural explaining the growing use of technology in agriculture should be taken up by the Sarpanch.
• Many cultural functions at village level are organized and participated by Sarpanchs.

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