Family, Community and Government
Governance and the three organs
Tell governance from government and rules from laws, say what each of the three organs does and why they are kept separate, and place India's three levels of government.
When a large number of people live together there can be disagreements and disorder, so rules become necessary to keep order and harmony. Taking those decisions, organising the society's life with different sets of rules, and making sure the rules are followed — that whole process is called governance. The group of individuals, or the system, that makes the rules and sees them followed is a government. And some of the more important rules are called laws.
Three organs
A government has three branches, or organs. The legislature makes new laws, and sometimes updates or removes existing ones, through an assembly of representatives of the people. The executive implements them — the head of state, the ministers, and any agency responsible for enforcing law and order. The judiciary is the system of courts, which decides whether someone has broken the law and what should be done about it.
Have a play
The three levels of government in India, stacked.
Tap any part of the picture.
Kept apart on purpose
In a system of good governance the three organs must be kept separate, even though they interact and work together. That separation is called the separation of powers, and it is intended to provide a system of checks and balances: each organ can check what the others are doing, and restore balance if one of them acts beyond its expected role.
Worked example
Digital ways of stealing money have created a new kind of crime. How do the three organs deal with it between them?
Governments pass new laws in order to fight such criminal activities, called cybercrime.
There was nothing to enforce until somebody wrote it down: a crime that did not exist before needs a law before anything else can happen.
Try it together
Now name the organ at each step of that case.
Take the same cybercrime story one step at a time. Each step belongs to a different organ of government.
1.An assembly of representatives of the people passes a new law against cybercrime. Which organ is that?
Have a go
Your turn: which organ sometimes examines whether a decision taken by the executive is right, or whether a law passed by the legislature is well conceived and fair?
Hint: It is the one that checks the other two rather than the one that acts or the one that writes.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.