NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 18 ‘The Government and You’

Q1.

However, you might wonder why, then, our country and her people also still face so many problems. Why do we still hear of cases of bribery and corruption in public office?

Answer

Because having the machinery is not the same as the machinery working perfectly everywhere, every day, for 1.4 billion people. The chapter sets the problem up honestly: the Constitution, “thousands of laws, many layers of elected representatives, a vast bureaucracy, and a judiciary… all of which help us greatly in our daily lives” — and yet “we still encounter many issues that need to be addressed — people in difficult socio-economic conditions, lack of access to good education and healthcare, infrastructure that is of poor quality, inadequate access to government schemes, and so on.”

Reasons that follow from what the chapter itself says.

The scale is enormous. India has “over 1.4 billion people, thousands of towns and villages, and many languages and cultures”. A scheme that works in one district can fail in the next, simply because it depends on the particular people running it there.
Power tempts. Page 150 states the reason such power must be limited: “elected members and government officers might use their power unchecked, which would threaten citizens’ rights.” Wherever an official can decide who gets a licence, a house or a place in a scheme, some will misuse that decision unless they are watched.
Distance hides things. A decision taken far from the people it affects is harder to question. That is exactly the argument the chapter makes for decentralisation on page 163: “When leaders are closer to the people, it is easier to question them, ask for answers, and make sure they do their job.”
Information gaps. If you do not know how much money was sanctioned for your road, you cannot tell whether it was spent on your road. That is why the chapter’s answer to corruption is the RTI Act — “the information brings transparency and accountability.”

What the system does about it. The chapter does not leave the problem hanging; it lists the machinery built for exactly this — grievance redressal offices in departments, vigilance commissions “to investigate matters of corruption”, the Public Grievances Portal with a fixed time limit for a reply, the RTI Act, an independent judiciary, a free media, and civil society organisations.

Why this is not an argument against democracy: notice that we hear about these cases. In a system with free media, an independent judiciary, a right to information and elections, wrongdoing gets reported, investigated and argued about in public. That is a working check, not a failure of one — and it is the reason the chapter follows this paragraph immediately with “Here are a few things you can do!”

Q2.

How do you make or help the government do what it is meant to do? How do you ensure that your grievances with the government are addressed?

Answer

The chapter answers with a list of six things a citizen can actually do. They are arranged, roughly, from the smallest and most immediate to the largest.

#	What you do	How it works
1	Grievance redressal	“Many government departments have grievance redressal offices where you can file your grievance.” Online, the Public Grievances Portal (https://pgportal.gov.in/) takes complaints and “the concerned government department will respond within a specified time period”. “Several states also have such portals.” For corruption there are vigilance commissions
2	Ask for information — the RTI Act	“India has a powerful Act called the Right to Information Act (RTI), through which we can ask for information about government actions of public interest” — money spent on a road, the list of beneficiaries of a scholarship, the status of a metro line. “Officials are bound to provide information under this Act”
3	Use the media	Write “in print or electronic media about a particular issue on which the government can take action”. Many officials are on social media; you can “share your concerns and tag the corresponding officials” — e.g. @RailwaySeva for the railways
4	Join a civil society organisation	“India has thousands of citizen groups, collectively termed as civil society”, working on education, health, environment, livelihood and women’s empowerment. “One can join any of those (or create one!) to push the government to address an issue you care deeply about”
5	Write to political representatives	“You can write a letter to your local representatives, ministers, or parliamentarians, seeking action on a particular issue”
6	Vote in elections	“Once you are old enough to vote, make sure to participate and vote in local, state, and national elections, and thereby help to ensure that the leaders who care most about the issues you care about, and have the best plans for them, are elected to office”

Two of these have proved themselves in the chapter’s own examples.

RTI at Bagepalli (page 158). Double roads and streetlights were built “in a very unprofessional manner, making traffic movement difficult and causing numerous accidents. A local citizen filed an RTI to get information about finances allocated for the work. Armed with this information, a group of citizens confronted the concerned officials, who later ensured that the roadwork was completed to the satisfaction of all concerned.”
Civil society at Silent Valley (page 159). A hydroelectric project planned in 1970 “would have submerged vast tracts of untouched evergreen forests”. NGOs mobilised public opinion, joined by “hundreds of scientists, environmentalists, writers, public figures, teachers, and local villagers”. The Central Government cancelled the project in 1983, and in 1985 Silent Valley was declared a National Park.

Why the order matters: start at the level closest to the problem. A broken streetlamp goes to the municipality or panchayat, not to a member of parliament. If that fails, escalate — grievance portal, then RTI to find out what was actually decided, then the media or a citizens’ group, then your representative. Each step widens the number of people who know, and it is being known that produces an answer.

Practical tip for a real complaint: write down what happened, where, and on what date; name the department; say what you want done; and keep the complaint number the portal gives you. A grievance with a date, a place and a number is far harder to lose than one without.

NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 18 ‘The Government and You’ — In-text Questions