Family, Community and Government
Democracy and representatives
Take the word democracy apart into its two Greek halves, tell direct democracy from representative democracy, and name who represents people at each level in India.
Democracy is the system of governance most countries of the world have adopted, and one of its foundation stones is the idea of representatives of the people. The word itself comes from two Greek words: dēmos, meaning people, and kratos, meaning rule or power. Put together, democracy literally means the rule of the people.
But can everybody rule?
Clearly not — a whole country cannot sit down together and decide. Think of a class that wants to raise something with the principal: the whole class cannot go, so it sends the class representative it elected. The same principle scales up. Through elections, people vote for representatives who become the elected members of their assemblies, where they discuss laws, problems and solutions and, through dialogue and debate, try to convince each other when opinions differ.
Have a play
The same decision taken two ways, side by side.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
A class is deciding between two picnic places, A and B. The discussion goes nowhere, so the teacher says: hands up for A, then hands up for B, and the larger number wins. What kind of democracy is that?
Count what actually decided it: each student's own hand.
Nobody was sent to decide on anybody else's behalf. The decision came out of the room it was made in.
Try it together
Now scale the same idea up to a country.
In India people do not vote on each law themselves. They vote for the members of an assembly, who then do the discussing.
1.At the State level, the elected members of the assembly are generally called Members of Legislative Assembly. Give the three-letter short form.
Have a go
Your turn: what do the members of an assembly do there, according to the chapter — they discuss laws, problems and solutions, and through dialogue and ______ try to convince each other?
Hint: One word, and it is what an assembly is for once the dialogue has run out.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.