NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 10 Three Levels of Government — LET’S EXPLORE

Book page 156 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Observe the table (Fig. 10.5). Highlight the functions and responsibilities that affect your life the most.
Answer

First, here is the table of Fig. 10.5 on page 157 in full, so that you can mark it. Remember the book’s own caution — “the list is not exhaustive”.

OrganAll India / National levelState level
JudiciarySupreme Court of IndiaHigh Court
LegislatureTwo houses — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — formulate national lawsOne State Assembly or Vidhan Sabha (most States have a single assembly; a few States have two)
ExecutiveCentral Government — led by the President of India (nominal head and Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces), Prime Minister as the executive headState Government — led by the Governor (nominal head), Chief Minister as the executive head
Functions and responsibilities of the ExecutiveDefence · Foreign Affairs · Atomic Energy · Communications · Currency · Inter-state Commerce · Education · Formulation of National PoliciesPolice, law and order · Adaptation and implementation of laws made by the Central government at the State level · Public health · Education · Agriculture · Irrigation · Local government

Now the highlighting. Choose the entries that touch your day, and say in one line how. A sample:

Entry I would highlightLevelHow it affects my life — sample answer
EducationBoth Central and StateMy school, my teachers, my textbook, my mid-day meal, my board examination. This is the single entry that affects me most
Public healthStateThe health centre where I was vaccinated, and the hospital my family goes to
Police, law and orderStateThe traffic police at the crossing outside school; being able to walk home safely
Agriculture and IrrigationStateThe canal and the seeds our family farm depends on — and the price of vegetables for everyone else
Local governmentState subjectWater, streetlights, the drain, the park — everything within 200 metres of my house
CommunicationsCentralPhone and internet, and the post office
CurrencyCentralEvery note and coin, and the UPI payment my mother makes at the shop
DefenceCentralI do not see it daily, but it is why the country is safe enough for everything above to work
Notice one thing while you mark: Education appears in both columns. That is not a printing mistake — some matters are handled by both levels together. It is also why your school follows a State department’s rules and a national syllabus at the same time.
Q2.
Ask two or three adults about their connection or interaction with the government — at what levels does it take place and for what purpose?
Answer

Method. Choose adults with different kinds of work — for example a farmer, a shopkeeper and a salaried employee, or a homemaker, an auto driver and a teacher. Ask three questions only, and write the answers in a table. Do not ask about anyone’s income or private matters.

  1. In the last one year, for what did you have to deal with any government office?
  2. Was it a local office, a State office, or a Central one?
  3. Which organ was it really — someone making a rule, someone carrying it out, or a court?

Sample answers (yours will differ — that is the point of the exercise):

PersonPurpose of the interactionLevelOrgan
A farmerLand record correction; canal water schedule; buying subsidised seed; selling grain at the procurement centreLocal and StateExecutive
A shopkeeperRenewing the shop licence with the municipality; filing GST returns onlineLocal and CentralExecutive
A salaried employeeFiling income tax; getting a passport; a provident fund claimCentralExecutive
A homemakerRation card, gas connection, the child’s school admission and scholarship form, a vaccination appointmentLocal and StateExecutive
An auto driverDriving licence, vehicle fitness and permit, pollution certificate, a traffic challanState, through the RTO and traffic policeExecutive; the court if a challan is contested
Any voterVoter ID, and voting in the panchayat or municipal, State Assembly and Lok Sabha electionsAll threeChoosing the legislature — the only interaction in which the citizen decides
What almost every class discovers: nearly all day-to-day contact is with the executive — offices and officials who carry out laws. Contact with the legislature happens mainly on election day, and with the judiciary only when there is a dispute. That is a good discovery, because it shows why the one day of voting matters so much: it is the day on which citizens choose the people who make the rules that all those offices then apply.
Do it politely: take permission before writing anything down, and do not record names in your notebook — just ‘farmer’, ‘shopkeeper’, and so on. Thank each person at the end.
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