How State Government Works (Grade 7 - Civics)

1. HOW STATE GOVT. WORKS
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

2. Why do we have State government?
India is a huge country with 28 states
and 7 union territories.
Distribution of power between the
Centre and states has been provided
for in the Constitution of India for the
smooth functioning of the country.
The state government is responsible for
good governance of the people of the state.
The state government manages the affairs
of the state at three levels – Legislative,
Executive and Administrative.
Number of states : 28
Number of UT : 7
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

3. The State Legislature consists of the
Governor and one or two houses.
In states where there are two
houses there is a Legislative Council
and a Legislative Assembly .
States having one
house is known as
unicameral
States having two
house is known as
bicameral
• The Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad),
is the Upper House.
• Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) is the
Lower House of the State Legislature.
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

4. Powers and Functions of Legislative Assembly
It acts as the highest law making organ of the state.
1. A proposal to pass a law or to amend an existing one is called a
bill. Bill is introduced in legislative assembly.
2. These proposals are debated or discussed among the members of
the assembly before voting.
3. Once the bill is approved with majority vote it is sent to the other
house where it goes through same procedure.
4. Thereafter the bill goes to the Governor for his approval. Once
approved the bill becomes a law.
The budget and all money bills can only be introduced in the legislative
assembly while other bills may be introduced in the legislative council.

5. What is a Budget ?
• Budget is like a future account of the government. It gives
the proposals of income and expenditure of the government.
• The budget is presented by the Finance Minister.
What comprises the Executive
• The Executive comprises of council of ministers and Chief
minister.
• The members of the assembly control the Executive.

6. Powers and Functions of Legislative Council
The legislative council is mainly an advisory body.
• The members of the legislative council are not directly
elected by the people of the state but by different bodies
of the state.
• This is a permanent Body.
• The members are elected for a term of six years.
The states having two houses are called bicameral.
Bicameral states are Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Karnataka,
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

7. Eligibility:
1. He/she has to be a
citizen of India.
2. He/she should not
be a member of
either house of
parliament or state
legislature.
3. He/she cannot hold
any office of profit.
The Governor
The Governor is the constitutional head
of the state.
- He is appointed by the President of the
Country.
- He appoints the Chief Minister and
other members of the council of
ministers.
- He appoints the advocate general and
other officers of the state.
- Every bill has to be approved by the
Governor.
- He has the right to dissolve the
legislature.

8. The State
Legislative
Assembly
consists of not
more than 500
members and
not less than 60.
What is a Constituency?
Every state is divided into
small areas called
constituencies’ which is a
specified area covering one
or more districts. Each such
constituencies’ has an
elected representative, who
is a member of the
Legislative Assembly.
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

9. Odisha:
The biggest state like Uttar
Pradesh has 403 members in its
Assembly. States which have small
population and are small in size
have a provision for having even
lesser number of members in the
Legislative
Assembly. Puducherry has 30
members. Mizoram, Goa have only
40 members each. Sikkim has 32
members.
Odisha has 147
constituencies’
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

10. Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)
Every 5 years election is announced for State’
Legislative Assembly. Political parties nominate their
people for each constituency. All members of the
Legislative Assembly are elected on the basis of
adult franchise, and one member is elected from
one constituency.
A Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) is
a representative elected by the voters of an
electoral district (constituency) to
the Legislature of a State in the Indian
system of government.
MLA
To be member of the Legislative Assembly, a person must be a citizen
of India, must be at least 25 years of age, and must have such other
qualification as may be prescribed by the President.

11. How is government formed in State
After the election of Legislative Assembly,
the political party whose MLAs won more
than half the number of constituencies in a
state is said to be in a majority and has the
first right to form the Government of the
state.
Coalition government: When no single party have a clear majority,
different parties may join together to form a coalition government.
The leader of the majority party is appointed as the
chief minister by the governor.
Eligibility for Chief Minister : Citizen of India., 25 years of age.
Should be a member of either house of State Legislature.

12. Power & functions of Chief Minister
1. The Chief Minister is the leader of the Legislative Assembly
of the State.
2. He selects the ministers in the Council of Ministers. As the
head of the council, he allocates the portfolios or
departments to them.
3. The CM is the main link between the Governor and the
state cabinet. Generally the Governor exercises all his
functions on the advice of the Chief Minister.
4. It is his duty to communicate to the Governor all decisions
of the Council of Ministers.
5. As the chief spokesman of the State Government, all
important announcements on behalf of government is made
by him.
CM
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

13. Power & functions of Chief Minister
6. The policies and workings of the different ministries are
monitored and co-ordinate by him. He summons and presides
over the meetings of the Council of Ministers.
7. The Governor appoints or dismisses other ministers on his
advice. The Chief Minister allocates or re-allocates the
portfolios among the ministers.
8. Sole channel of communication between his ministers &
Legislature. (bills, resolution, etc., moved in Legislature must
have his approval).
9. He remains responsible to the Legislative Assembly for the
acts performed by the State Council of Ministers.
10. If the Chief Minister resigns, the entire Council of
Ministers is bound to resign.CM
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

14. Role of Media
Media works as a link between the government and the
electorate in which it conveys to the masses about the work
of the government. Media includes newspaper, television
broadcast, radio broadcast, etc. Since media has a far and
wide reach, it acts as a medium to portray the various
policies and performance of the government to the people.
Ministers and representatives hold press conference or
make press release to connect with the people they
represent. Information of new policies made by the
government are circulated through various media channels
to reach people wide and far.
Similarly opposition parties reach out to the people in
different forms to convey their views on policies and
performance of the ruling party. They do this through press
conference, media debates, etc. Other forms of opposition
are public rallies, public debates, protest marches, etc.
Press Conference:
It is a conference where
media representatives are
invited and given details
of actions, policies and
views of the government
on any specific aspect.
The media persons are
allowed to interact,
question on the issue and
report it in media for the
information of the public.
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS

15. Additional
Information
The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the
Parliament of India, is made up of
Members of Parliament (MPs). Each
represents a single geographic
constituency. There are currently
543 constituencies.
Each state has between seven and
nine MLA for every Member of
Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok
Sabha.
Odisha state has 21 Member of
Parliament (MP) seats.

16. Q & A
Q1 : What is a coalition government ?
- In the assembly election, if no single
party gets a clear majority, then two
or more parties join together to form
the government. Such a government
is called a coalition government.
Q2 : What is collective responsibility?
- The council of ministers are
individually and collectively
responsible to the assembly. If a
particular minister loses the
confidence of the assembly, all the
ministers have to resign.

17. THANK YOU
KICKSTARTER TUTORIALS
BHUBANESWAR, ODISHA
MOB: 7504193557 / 9438394565