NCERT 6th Class (CBSE) Social Science: What is Government?

Question: What does the government do for the welfare of its citizens?

Answer: The government does a variety of works for the welfare of its citizens:

1. It makes decisions and gets things done.
2. It builds roads and schools.
3. It takes decisions about how to reduce the price of essential goods when they get too expensive or ways to increase the supply of electricity.
4. It supervises postal and railway services.
5. At the time of natural calamities, it organises aid and assistance for the affected people.
6. It makes laws for the safety of its citizens. For example, there is a law that says that all persons driving a two-wheeler must wear helmet.

Question: What was the voting system in India before Independence? What ideas did Gandhiji express in the journal Young India about voting system?

Answer: In India, before Independence, only a small minority enjoyed the voting right. This was shocking for Gandhiji. He firmly disapproved this system and advocated for universal adult franchise which gives all adults the right to vote.

Expressing his ideas in the journal Young India in 1931 Gandhiji said that it is discriminating to deprive poor and illiterate people of voting rights. Snatching the right to vote from a person simply because he is poor or illiterate is in no way justified. A poor or illiterate is also a citizen of the country and he has every right to enjoy all privileges existing in the country. Thus, Gandhiji was very much fair and favored the system that would provide equal voting right to all.