NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 18 ‘Tiers of Government’ — LET’S REMEMBER
Book page 161 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
Do you remember this image from Grade 6, Chapter 10? It represents the three tiers of Government in India. Why do we have these levels of Government in India?
Answer
Because one government sitting in Delhi cannot possibly know or handle what 1.4 billion people need. The chapter’s reasoning runs in three steps: “India is a vast and diverse country with over 1.4 billion people, thousands of towns and villages, and many languages and cultures. As a federal country, India has 28 states and 8 union territories, and a single central (union) government cannot meet the needs of all her people. Therefore, governance in such a large country must be decentralised at multiple levels.”
The three tiers (Fig. 6.17, page 161). The lower you go, the smaller the area and the closer the decision is to the people it affects.
Who does what (page 163):
Level
Looks after
Central (Union)
“Matters related to the whole country (like defence, foreign affairs, currency, and concurrent subjects like education and marriage)”
State
“The needs of people in each state (like police, land, health, agriculture, and education in the state)”
Local
“Villages, towns, and cities… local problems (like land, agriculture, water, drainage, streetlamps, parks, etc.)”
Why the third tier had to be created: “Originally, the Constitution provided for only two levels of government, the Union Government… and the state governments… Local governments, such as panchayats and municipalities, were not separate constitutional levels at that time. They were listed under the State List, which means that state governments could decide how they worked.” In the early 1990s the Constitution was amended “to create the panchayati raj system and the system of municipalities for towns and cities”, making local government the third tier — “to strengthen democracy at the grassroots and enable people to participate directly in decision-making.”
Did you know? The idea was there from the beginning. One of the Directive Principles of State Policy said: “The state shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.” The 1990s amendments turned that direction into a constitutional tier.
Q2.
Can’t we have just one level to do fulfil all the functions?
Answer
In principle you could — and it would work badly. The chapter’s answer is the one sentence, “a single central (union) government cannot meet the needs of all her people.” Here is what a single level would actually mean.
The task
With one central level only
With three levels
A broken streetlamp in your lane
A file travels to the capital, joins millions of others, and comes back — if it comes back
The municipal body or panchayat fixes it. “The local municipal body can do it faster”
Deciding what a village needs most
Decided by officials who have never seen the village
“Local leaders know the area, its needs, and the traditions of the people better than distant officials”
Questioning the person responsible
Almost impossible — they are far away and answerable to a whole country
“When leaders are closer to the people, it is easier to question them, ask for answers, and make sure they do their job”
Defending the country
Correctly handled at the centre
Still at the centre — “if the country’s defence is at stake, that is the responsibility of the central government”
So the rule is not “everything locally”, it is “everything at the right level”. As the chapter puts it: “Generally, decisions regarding local matters are taken at the level closest to the people. Tasks that can be performed locally should be left in the hands of the local people and their representatives… But if the country’s defence is at stake, that is the responsibility of the central government.”
Why one level fails on both ends: a single government would be swamped by small things it cannot judge, and would have no time left for big things only it can do. Splitting the work by level solves both problems at once — and it also keeps power from piling up in one place, which is why ‘Before we move on…’ says the Constitution “ensures that the three levels of government work together for the people without excessive centralisation.”
Gandhi’s version of the same idea: “My idea of village swarāj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is a necessity.” Independent for what a village can manage; dependent for what it cannot. That is decentralisation in one sentence.