Local Government

Local government is the level of government closest to the people, dealing with problems of a village, town or city such as water supply, roads and drains. In this chapter you will study the Panchayati Raj system in rural areas. The Gram Sabha is a meeting of all adults who live in a panchayat area and are voters. It elects the Gram Panchayat, made up of ward members called panchs and headed by the Sarpanch, and it keeps a check on the panchayat's work. A Secretary appointed by the government calls meetings and keeps records. Above the Gram Panchayat are the Panchayat Samiti at the block level and the Zila Parishad at the district level. You will also learn how rural administration works, with the patwari keeping land records and the police maintaining law and order. In cities, the Municipal Corporation or Municipal Council looks after civic services. The city is divided into wards, each electing a councillor, while administrative staff headed by a Commissioner carry out the work, funded largely by property tax and other taxes.

Detailed Worksheet: Local Government Section A - Definitions (10 marks) 1. What is the Gram Sabha? Who are its members? (2 marks) 2. What is the Gram Panchayat? Who heads it? (2 marks) 3. Name the three levels of the Panchayati Raj system. (2 marks) 4. What is a Municipal Corporation? Name two services it provides. (2 marks) 5. Who is a ward councillor? How is he or she chosen? (2 marks) Section B - Calculations and Applications (15 marks) 6. A Gram Panchayat area has 2,400 adult voters divided into 12 wards with roughly equal numbers. (i) About how many voters are there in each ward? (ii) If 1,800 voters attend the Gram Sabha meeting, what percentage attended? (iii) Why is attendance in the Gram Sabha important? (3 marks) 7. A panchayat received Rs 12,00,000 in a year. It spent 40 percent on roads, 25 percent on drinking water, 20 percent on the school building and the rest on sanitation. (i) Find the amount spent on each. (ii) Which item got the most money? (iii) Who decides such spending priorities? (3 marks) 8. A city collects property tax from 50,000 houses at an average of Rs 2,400 per house per year. (i) Find the total property tax collected. (ii) If this is 25 percent of the corporation's income, find its total income. (iii) Name two other sources of income for a municipal corporation. (3 marks) 9. Match each person with their work: (i) Sarpanch (ii) Secretary of the Gram Panchayat (iii) Patwari (iv) Ward councillor (v) Commissioner (vi) Station House Officer. (3 marks) 10. Arrange the following from the smallest unit to the largest: Zila Parishad, ward, Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti. State one function of the Zila Parishad. (3 marks) Section C - Diagrams (10 marks) 11. Draw a flowchart showing the three-tier Panchayati Raj system: Gram Panchayat (village), Panchayat Samiti (block) and Zila Parishad (district), with the Gram Sabha at the base. (4 marks) 12. Draw a flowchart showing the structure of a Municipal Corporation: citizens -> ward councillors -> committees; and the Commissioner -> administrative staff. (3 marks) 13. Draw a pie chart or bar graph to show the panchayat spending in Question 7. (3 marks) Section D - Analysis and Higher-order Thinking (15 marks) 14. At a Gram Sabha meeting in Hardas village, people discussed a shortage of drinking water. (i) Why was the Gram Sabha the right place to raise this issue? (ii) How can the Gram Sabha prevent the panchayat from misusing money? (iii) Suggest two solutions the panchayat could consider. (iv) Why should women and poorer villagers attend Gram Sabha meetings? (5 marks) 15. In a city, garbage is not collected regularly in some areas. (i) Whose responsibility is garbage collection? (ii) How can residents get the problem solved? (iii) Why might some areas get better services than others? (iv) What can citizens do to reduce garbage? (5 marks) 16. One-third of the seats in panchayats are reserved for women. (i) Why was this reservation made? (ii) How can it change village life? (iii) What challenges might women representatives face? (iv) Give one example of a decision that might be prioritised by women members. (5 marks) Instructions: Time allowed 2 hours. Attempt all sections. Show all working for calculations and draw flowcharts neatly.