Chapter 18. Local Governments and Field Administration Textbook Solutions

NIOS Social Science Class 10 Chapter 18 Solutions

INTEXT QUESTIONS 18.1

1. Define local government. State two examples to justify the need for a local government.

Ans: Local government is a government of the local people, by the local people and for the local people.

The local government institutions provide a platform for the common people to participate and contribute to development and social justice at the local level. It provides a forum for them to deliberate on the nature of local problems and devise appropriate solutions that are in conformity with local situations. Local government is, in fact, a government which functions at the grassroots level.

2. Trace the evolution of Panchayati Raj System since the ancient days.

Ans: The Panchayati Raj System was functional in ancient times in our country. They had been variously known as Panchayats. Biradaries or by some other name, generally headed by village elders. By the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Panchayati Raj System got constitutional status and consists of elected representatives of the people.

3. Identify the type of local government institutions that are set up in the area where you reside and name the institutions.

Ans:  Find out the local government institutions in your area and note down their names.

4. To what extent do you think the facilities and support provided by the local government impact our quality of life?

Ans: Local Government provides for the maintenance of the water and drainage system, provision of drinking water, etc. Thus impacts your quality of life in many ways.

5. How has the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 impacted the Panchayati Raj System?

Ans: 

• (a) Established three tier Panchayati Raj System.
• (b) Establishment of District Planning Committees to prepare development plans for the districts;
• (b) Establishment of Gram Sabha (village assemblies) and their empowerment as a decision-making body at the village level
• (d) By ensuring reservation for Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and women, the act has allowed them to participate in the decision-making process of local government and hence has empowered them
• (e) Established state finance commission, state election commission.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 18.2

1. How is Village Panchayat constituted? What is the role of Gram Sabha or Village Assembly?

Ans: Village Panchayat or Gram Panchayat is the grassroots institution of the Panchayati Raj System. In the Panchayats, one-third of the seats are reserved for women. Seats are also reserved for persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes. The Panchayat has a Sarpanch (Mukhia) who is directly elected by all the voters of the village. The panchayat also has panchs and a Vice Chairperson elected by the members of the Panchayat.

2. List the important functions of a Gram Panchayat. Which of these functions are very essential? Are there certain functions which you feel the local governments need not take up? If so, why?

Ans: Three functions of the Gram Panchayat are :

• (i) provision of safe drinking water,
• (ii) paving of streets,
• (iii) developing and maintaining a good drainage system.

Discretionary functions are some of the functions which the Panchayat may not necessarily take up. These functions can be performed only if the Panchayat has the resources and funds. These include planting of trees, setting up and maintenance of an insemination centre for cattle, developing and maintaining a playground for sports and setting up and running the library.

3. Describe the different sources of income of a Village Panchayat.

Ans: Some of the sources of funds for a Panchayat are as follows:

• (i) taxes on property, land, goods and cattle;
• (ii) rent collected for facilities like Barat Ghar or any other property of the panchayat;
• (iii) various types of fines collected from the offenders;
• (iv) a part of the land revenue collected by the State Government given to the Panchayats; and
• (v) donations collected from the villagers for some common cause.
• (vi) grants-in-aid from the State and Union government.

4. Based on the functions of Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad, draw a Plan of Action for one year to be implemented in a district by these institutions.

Ans: Try to collect this information from different sources to write this answer.

5. Collect information regarding reservation of seats for women in Panchayats from published Articles on Panchayati Raj or internet or your teachers or elders or your friends/classmates and list the names of States where the reservation for women in Panchayati Raj System is more than one-third.

Ans: Collect the information from the sources mentioned in the question itself.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 18.3

1. How many types of urban local bodies were functioning before the 74th Constitutional Amendment 1992? What changes did the Amendment make?

Ans: After independence, four types of urban local bodies were functioning:

• (i) Municipal Corporations
• (ii) Municipalities
• (iii) Town Area Committees
• (iv) Notified Area Committees.

But the 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992 brought about major changes in the system of urban local government. Now, three types of urban local governments are functioning: 

• (a) Municipal Corporations for the big cities
• (b) Municipal Councils for smaller cities
• (c) Nagar Panchayats for those areas that are in transition from rural areas to urban areas.

2. What are the functions of a Municipal Corporation? Why are these functions important?

Ans: These functions are very important as they improve the quality of life of the citizens. Health, water supply or electricity are all of critical importance in every person’s life. By ensuring that the city is clean, or providing for hospitals and safe drinking water, the municipal corporation helps in improving the quality of life of citizens.

3. What are the sources of income of a Municipal Corporation?

Ans: 

• (i) Income from taxes – Housing tax, entertainment tax, tax on hoardings, etc.
• (ii) Grant-in-Aid from the State and Union Governments
• (iii) Income from rents – Municipal corporations rent out properties like shops, kiosks, community halls, etc.
• (iv) other fees like toll tax, sewer charges, water and electricity charges, etc.

4. Urban local bodies take responsibilities for providing services to their respective areas. Do you think the citizens also have certain responsibilities? What are those?

Ans: Write the answer based on your own understanding of the role of the urban local bodies and the responsibilities that the citizens can take up to support the local government.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 18.4

1. Examine the significance of District Administration in governance.

Ans: District administration is headed by the District Magistrate. Other officials of the District Administration are the Superintendent of Police, the District Education Officer, the District Agriculture Officer, SDOs etc.

Sub Divisional Officer

• The SDO assists the District Magistrate in the field of administration and also works as his/her representative. He/She keeps the land records and collects land revenue and has the power to issue Certificates regarding domicile, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes.
• The Block Development Officer: The BDO is linked with the middle tier of Panchayati Raj as he/she is the ex officio Secretary of the Panchayat Samiti and keeps the record of the meetings, prepares the budget and coordinates various developmental activities.

2. What are the major functions of a District Magistrate?

Ans: The main functions of the District Magistrate are as follows:

• (i) maintaining law and order and ensuring peace in the district;
• (ii) implementing various policies and programmes of the State government and the Central government;
• (iii) acting as the main link between the State government and district-level institutions and offices;
• (iv) co-ordinating the activities of different departments such as education, health, welfare, land management, police, jail and culture;
• (v) ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections for various representative bodies, such as Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Block Samities, Zila Parishad, Municipalities, etc.

3. What opportunities do local bodies provide to citizens? What are the major challenges of local bodies?

Ans: Local bodies are the best institutions to impart political education to citizens and enable them to acquire leadership qualities. When citizens participate, they learn to analyse and plead for issues and concerns of self as well as others. Since these local government bodies are nearer to them, citizens can have access and seek solutions through personal initiative and intervention. Women also have great

opportunities to participate as members of local bodies.

The challenges to the effective functioning of local government bodies are – 

• Being close to the people, these institutions have raised democratic aspirations and expectations which they are not always able to fulfil because of various constraints. These constraints include factors like poverty, illiteracy, social inequalities and the trends of criminalization of politics.
• The elements of casteism, communalism and the increasing trend of corruption and nepotism have been great challenges to the effective functioning of the local bodies.

TERMINAL EXERCISES

1. Why are Local governments important? Express your own viewpoint.

Ans: Local government provides a forum for locals to deliberate on the nature of local problems and devise appropriate solutions that conform to the local situations. Local government is in fact, a government of the local people, by the local people and for the local people. Being located nearest to the people, the local government institutions are under constant observation of society. This goes a long way in enhancing local government accountability. In fact, the role of local self-government institutions is so pervasive, and the services provided by them are so close to the daily lives of the local communities that it is said to serve the local citizenry from “cradle to the grave”.

2. Explain the composition and functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions and examine their roles.

Ans: The three-tier Panchayati Raj System consists of Gram Panchayats at the village level, the Panchayat Samitis at the block level or intermediate level and the Zila Parishad at the district level. Panchayati Raj Institutions are organized and they function as follows:

Gram Panchayat

Village Panchayat, also called Gram Panchayat, is the grassroots institution of the Panchayati Raj System. At the village level, there is a Gram Sabha or Village Assembly and a Gram Panchayat having a Chairperson known as Gram Pradhan or Sarpanch (Mukhia), a Vice Chairperson and some Panches.

Gram Panchayat has to perform some important functions such as the provision of safe drinking water, paving of streets, developing and maintaining a good drainage system, ensuring the cleanliness of the village, upkeep of street lights, dispensary, etc.

Panchayat Samiti

Panchayat Samiti is the intermediate or the middle tier of the Panchayati Raj System. Its organization and functions also vary as these are determined by the Act passed by the concerned State. It coordinates all the activities of the Panchayats in a Block.

Zila Parishad

Zila Parishad is at the apex, being the third tier of the Panchayati Raj System. It is situated at the district level. Some of its functions are, 

• Providing essential services and facilities to the rural population, planning and executing the development programmes for the district;
• Supplying improved seeds to farmers, informing them of new techniques of farming, undertaking construction of small-scale irrigation projects and percolation tanks, and maintaining pastures and grazing lands;
• Setting up and running schools in villages, executing programmes for adult literacy, and running libraries;
• Starting Primary Health Centres and hospitals in villages, managing mobile hospitals for hamlets, conducting vaccination drives against epidemics and family welfare campaigns;

3. Explain briefly the structure and functioning of urban local bodies.

Ans: These are independent bodies. Now, three types of urban local governments are functioning: 

(a) Municipal Corporations for the big cities: Municipal Corporations are established in big cities according to the provisions made in the Acts enacted by the State Legislatures. 

(b) Municipal Councils for smaller cities: Cities which do not have a very large population have Municipalities known as Municipal Councils to look after the local cities, their problems and developmental work. 

(c) Nagar Panchayats for those areas that are in transition from rural areas to urban areas: An urban centre with more than 30,000 and less than 100,000 inhabitants has a Nagar Panchayat.

These bodies are responsible for the cleanliness of the city, disposal of garbage, maintenance of hospitals and dispensaries, promoting and conducting vaccination drives, checking of adulteration etc.

It also maintains the facilities around the city, provides midday meals in schools, collects taxes, constructs or maintains roads, provides and maintains cremation grounds/burial grounds, night shelters; making arrangements for scooter & taxi stands and public facilities.

4. What are the major changes brought about by the 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts 1992 in the structure and roles of the Panchayati Raj System and Urban local bodies?

Ans: 

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment 1992

The passage of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, provides constitutional status to the

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The main features of the Act are:

• (i) Establishment of a three-tier structure: Village Panchayat (Gram Panchayat); intermediate panchayat (Panchayat Samiti), and the district panchayat (Zila Parishad);
• (ii) Regular elections, every five years;
• (iii) Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population;
• (iv) Not less than one-third reservation of seats for women at three different levels of PRIs;
• (v) Establishment of State Finance Commissions to recommend measures to improve the finances of panchayats;
• (vi) Establishment of State Election Commissions to conduct elections to the PRIs;
• (vii) Establishment of District Planning Committees to prepare development plans for the districts;
• (viii) Preparation of plans for economic development and social justice and their execution concerning 29 subjects listed in the 11th Schedule of the Constitution;
• (ix) Establishment of Grama Sabha (village assemblies) and their empowerment as a decision-making body at the village level; and
• (x) Rotation in accordance with the reservation of seats for women and the Scheduled Castes in the PRIs.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment 1992 

It brought about significant changes in the structure and functioning of urban local government. 

• Constitution of urban local bodies (namely, Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council, and Nagar Panchayat) in every Indian State;
• Constitution of Wards Committees within the territorial area of a municipality, to ensure people’s participation in civic affairs at the grassroots level;
• Regular and fair conduct of municipal elections by State Election Commissions;
• Provision for supersession of municipal governments for not more than 6 months;
• Adequate representation of weaker sections (i.e., Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes) of the society and women in municipal governments through reservation of seats;
• Specification by law, through the State Legislatures, of the powers(including financial) and functional responsibilities to be entrusted to municipalities and ward committees;
• Constitution of State Finance Commissions, once in every 5 years, to review the financial position of municipalities and to make recommendations on the measures needed to improve their financial position;
• Constitution of a District Planning Committee at the district level and a Metropolitan Planning Committee in metropolitan areas of every State, for the preparation and consolidation of development plans.

5. Do you think that the 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts 1992 empowered women in the true sense of the term? Give justifications.

Ans: Both the amendments provide one-third seat reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj system and Urban bodies. The 73rd amendment insists on not less than one-third reservation of seats for women at three different levels of PRIs. Women reservation is insisted on in urban bodies through the 74th amendment. However, in the true sense of the term, women still require more representation in the governing bodies.  

6. A widow with two children works as a domestic help in a village. She wants to educate her children, but is unable to do so. Suggest the ways in which the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat can ensure that her children and such other children get education.

Ans: The Sarpnach can act on the Right to Education Act and ensure that her children are enrolled in the local school for their basic education. As the head of the village Sarpanch has rights and duties to make sure that every child in the village gets proper education. He/she can also provide necessary funds to start a new school in case none is available nearby.

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