Civics Chapter 03: What is Government?

Every country needs a government to make decisions and get things done. The government works at different levels: at the local level, at the level of the state and at the national level.

The government makes laws and everyone who lives in the country has to follow these. This is the only way governments can function. Just like the government has the power to make decisions, similarly it has the power to enforce its decisions.

In a democracy it is the people who give the government this power. Another form of government is monarchy. The monarch (king or queen) has the power to make decisions and run the government.

India is a democracy. This achievement is the result of a long and eventful struggle of the Indian people. In representative democracies people do not participate directly but, instead, choose their representatives through an election process.