State, Government and Governance: Organs, Levels and the Citizen

1. Family and community: the first units of social order

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• Family is the oldest and most basic unit of society. Joint families (several generations living together) and nuclear families (a couple and their children, or one parent and children) exist side by side.
• Family roles rest on love, care, cooperation and interdependence. The family is a "school" of values: ahimsa, dāna (giving), sevā (service) and tyāga (sacrifice). Class 6, Family and Community gives two examples. Shalini's family in Kerala shares Onam clothes with an uncle who has lost his job. Tenzing's family in Meghalaya shares chores and makes decisions together.
• Community means connected families or people who share a place, identity, occupation or interest and support one another. They often follow agreed rules about shared resources such as water, grazing land and forest produce. These rules are usually unwritten. They give each family secure access but also put duties on every family.
• Halma is a Bhil tradition from the Jhabua region of Madhya Pradesh. The community gives unpaid labour to help a family or village in crisis. The Shivganga movement revived it for tree planting and water harvesting, and Mahesh Sharma received the Padma Shri in 2019 for this work.
• Other cases: community kitchens during the Chennai floods (2015), Kamal Parmar's free classes for about 150 street children in Ahmedabad, and Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs), which make their own rules. Communities depend on each other. An RWA, for example, relies on traders and municipal workers.
• Bridge to government: Indian law recognises community control of commons through the Forest Rights Act 2006 and PESA 1996. Family and community rules can fail or be unfair, so society also needs law and government.

2. Why we need government: rules, order and ancient Indian ideas

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• Rules are everywhere: at home, in school, on roads and at work. Without them, society cannot function. Citizens can also ask for rules to be changed.
• Class 6, Grassroots Democracy defines three terms:
• governance: the process of taking decisions, organising society through rules and making sure they are followed;
• government: the group or system that makes and enforces those rules;

• laws: the more important rules.

• Matsya nyāya ("law of the fishes"): without a ruler and danda (punishment), the strong eat the weak, just as big fish swallow small ones. This is the ancient Indian reason why government is needed.

• The Arthashastra is a treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya (Chanakya) of the Mauryan age. R. Shamasastry rediscovered and published it in the early 20th century. It gives the ruler three duties: raksha (protection from outside attack), pālana (law and order inside) and yogakshema (welfare).
• Saptanga theory: Kautilya says the state has seven limbs. They are swamin (ruler), amatya (ministers), janapada (territory and people), durga (fort), kosha (treasury), danda (army) and mitra (ally). Compare these with the modern four elements in Section 3.
• Western parallels: Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651) said life without a state would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". Weber described the state as holding the monopoly of legitimate force. Class 7 makes a similar point: the state claims the legitimate use of power through police and taxation.
• Satyameva Jayate ("Truth alone triumphs") comes from the Mundaka Upanishad. It is the national motto and is inscribed below the State Emblem, which was adopted on 26 January 1950. The Supreme Court's motto is Yato Dharmastato Jayah ("Where there is dharma, there is victory"), from the Mahabharata.

3. The state: its elements and its difference from government

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• The state is a political organisation with authority over a defined territory and its permanent population. It has four elements: population, territory, government and sovereignty.
• Population must be permanent and must identify with the place. Tourists do not count.

• Territory needs clear boundaries agreed with neighbours. These do not have to be natural features.

• The Montevideo Convention (1933) adds a fourth test: the capacity to deal with other states. Taiwan and Palestine show how disputed recognition tests this definition.

• Government means the people and institutions (leaders, ministers, officials) that make laws, enforce them and settle disputes for the state. Governments change after elections, but the state continues. Class 7's comparison: the school stays while teachers come and go.
• People mix up the two words because the government runs the state's daily work and is the part citizens actually meet.
• In India, "State" can mean the Indian State or a unit such as Kerala. Art. 1 calls India "a Union of States". Art. 12 gives "the State" a wide meaning for fundamental rights.

	State	Government	Nation	Society
What it is	Political unit with sovereignty	The agency that acts for the state	People bound by a shared identity	All social relations
Permanence	Lasting	Changes through elections	Cultural and lasting	Lasting

• Police are agents of the state government, because police and public order are State List subjects. They may lawfully use force, but they must respect constitutional rights. Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006) ordered police reforms, including a State Security Commission and a fixed tenure for the DGP. States have followed these orders poorly. The BNSS 2023 replaced the CrPC from 1 July 2024.

4. Sovereignty: meaning, dimensions and theories

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• Sovereignty is a state's supreme, final and independent authority over its territory and people, free from outside control. The word comes from the Latin superanus ("supreme"). Class 7: no outside body can interfere in the state's own matters.
• It has two dimensions:
• internal: supremacy over every person and group inside the state;

• external: independence from other states and equal standing with them (UN Charter Art. 2(1)).

• The modern system of sovereign states dates from the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Early theorists were Bodin (1576) and Hobbes.

• Monistic theory of sovereignty: John Austin (1832) said every state has one clear sovereign. Most people habitually obey this sovereign, and it obeys no one. Its power is absolute and cannot be divided, and its commands are law. Critique: no such single sovereign can be found in federal, constitutional states like India or the USA.
• Dicey separated legal sovereignty from political sovereignty:
• Legal sovereignty is the supreme power to make and enforce law. It sits in whatever body the legal system recognises as the law-maker. In India this is the Constitution, not Parliament alone.

• Political sovereignty is the power behind the legal sovereign, usually the voters. In India it rests with the people ("We, the People").

• Pluralist theory of sovereignty (Laski, Maitland, Figgis): churches, trade unions and other associations also win people's loyalty. So sovereignty is neither absolute nor held by the state alone.

• India: judicial review and the basic structure limit Parliament. Giving away territory needs an Art. 368 amendment (In re Berubari Union, 1960). That is why the 100th Amendment (2015) was needed for the land boundary deal with Bangladesh. Settling a boundary dispute does not need one (Maganbhai Ishwarbhai Patel, 1969). Commonwealth membership (London Declaration, 1949) does not reduce India's sovereignty.

5. Democracy and republic: India as a democratic republic

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• Democracy (demos = people, kratos = rule): people choose their government through free and fair elections.
• Republic: the head of state is elected, directly or indirectly, not born into the office, and the rulers are limited by a constitution. India has been a republic since 26 January 1950.

	Democracy	Not a democracy
Republic	India, USA, France	China, North Korea (republics in name)
Not a republic	UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Norway (each has a monarch)	Absolute monarchies

• So "Every democracy is a republic" is FALSE.
• India did not copy the British model. Its President is indirectly elected by an electoral college of elected MPs and elected MLAs of the states, Delhi and Puducherry (Arts. 54–55).
• George Washington refused a crown in 1782 and became President in 1789. This shows a commitment to republican government.
• A republic protects everyone's rights. The rule of law stops the "dominance of the majority" (pursuing only the majority's interests at the cost of minorities' rights). Class 7 gives two cases:
• Niyamgiri: In Orissa Mining Corporation v. MoEF (2013), the Supreme Court left the decision to the Dongria Kondh gram sabhas under the Forest Rights Act 2006. All 12 gram sabhas rejected Vedanta's mining.

• RWA: An RWA banned deliveries after 9 pm by majority vote. After an elderly resident collapsed, it exempted food and medicine.

• Rule by law means rulers use law as a tool but are not bound by it themselves. Example: the 39th Amendment (1975) put the Prime Minister's election beyond the courts. The court struck down that part in Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975).

6. Legislature and executive at the Union and state levels

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• The three organs working together (Class 6 cybercrime example): digital payments brought cybercrime. The legislature made laws (IT Act 2000), the cyber police enforced them, and the courts convicted the criminals.
• Legislature: the law-making organ, made up of the people's representatives. It makes, amends and repeals laws. It also controls the executive and approves spending.
• Union: Parliament, made up of the President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (Art. 79). Its members are MPs.

• States: the Vidhan Sabha, made up of MLAs. Six states also have a Legislative Council: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh (verify current). Councils are created or abolished under Art. 169.

• Executive: the organ that implements laws and runs the administration.

• Nominal heads (heads in name only): the President (Art. 53; Supreme Commander of the armed forces; bound by ministerial advice under Art. 74(1), as amended in 1976 and 1978) and the Governor (appointed under Art. 155; limited discretion under Art. 163).

• Real heads: the PM or CM with the council of ministers.

• NCERT correction: the PM and CM are heads of government, not heads of state. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (11th President, 2002–07) shows how much moral influence a nominal office can carry.

• Division of work:
• Union: defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy, currency.
• States: police, public health, agriculture, irrigation.
• Both: education was moved to the Concurrent List by the 42nd Amendment (1976). Marriage is also a Concurrent subject.
• If Union and state laws conflict, Union law prevails (Art. 254). Residuary powers lie with the Union (Art. 248).

7. Political and permanent executive

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• Political executive: elected heads of government and ministers who are responsible for policy. They serve limited terms and answer to the legislature and the voters. Class 7 also lists the President and Governors, "though mostly formal". Correction: the President is indirectly elected and Governors are appointed.
• NCERT simplification: Class 7 says ministers stay in office unless "dismissed by the president". In law, ministers hold office during the President's pleasure (Art. 75(2)). In practice, they last only as long as they keep the Lok Sabha's confidence through collective responsibility (Art. 75(3)). The council of ministers can be at most 15% of the House (91st Amendment, 2003; Arts. 75(1A) and 164(1A)).
• The Constitution does not name the political/permanent split. It comes from parliamentary conventions.
• Permanent executive: civil servants chosen by the UPSC (Arts. 315, 320) and state PSCs. They stay on after elections and give expert advice. They implement laws and schemes, deal with grievances and keep records. They also run mass operations such as the census, elections, MGNREGS and COVID-19 vaccination.
• NCERT correction: only the IAS, IPS and IFoS are All India Services (Art. 312; All India Services Act 1951). The IFS and IRS are Central Services.
• Civil servants serve at the government's pleasure (Arts. 309–311), but Art. 311 protects them from unfair removal.
• C.B. Muthamma was the first woman to join the IFS (1949). In C.B. Muthamma v. Union of India (1979), Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer struck down service rules that discriminated against women.
• Debates: neutrality vs a "committed bureaucracy"; lateral entry (the UPSC advertisement for 45 posts was withdrawn in August 2024); Mission Karmayogi (2020).

8. The judiciary as watchdog

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• Judiciary: the system of courts. It interprets laws and settles disputes. It decides punishment when a law is broken and protects fundamental rights. It also checks that laws and executive actions follow the Constitution.
• Class 7 lists four functions: protect and defend the laws, interpret them, protect rights and liberty, and safeguard the Constitution through judicial review. Judicial review means the courts can strike down a law or action that breaks the Constitution, which lets them act as "referee".
• Structure: a single, integrated system. The Supreme Court (Art. 124) sits at the top, High Courts serve the states (Art. 214), and subordinate courts work under Arts. 233–237. There are 25 High Courts (verify current).
• Why it matters: the judiciary upholds the rule of law ("everyone must follow the law, even the government"). It also settles conflicts peacefully. Without it, "democracy cannot survive".
• Independence is protected in several ways:
• judges can be removed only by a special-majority address of Parliament (Art. 124(4));
• their salaries are charged on the Consolidated Fund (Art. 125);
• retired judges may not practise as lawyers (Art. 124(7));
• the courts have contempt powers (Arts. 129, 215);
• Art. 50 separates the judiciary from the executive;

• judges are appointed through the collegium, and the NJAC was struck down in SCAORA (2015).

• Wider access: writs under Arts. 32 and 226, and public interest litigation (Hussainara Khatoon, 1979; S.P. Gupta, 1981).

• Limits: a backlog of over five crore pending cases (NJDG; verify current), the debate over activism vs overreach, and judicial accountability (the 2025 removal proceedings against Justice Yashwant Varma; verify current).

9. Separation of powers and checks and balances

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• Separation of powers: government functions are divided among the legislature, executive and judiciary, so that no organ holds all the power. Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws, 1748) said there is no liberty when all three powers are united. The USA has a strict separation.
• Checks and balances: each organ can limit the others, so that no institution can undermine the Constitution.
• India has functional separation. The executive is drawn from the legislature and answers to it. In the Ram Jawaya Kapur case (Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab, 1955), the Supreme Court held that India has no rigid separation. Executive power is whatever remains after legislative and judicial functions are taken away.
• Constitutional anchors:
• Art. 50: separates the judiciary from the executive;
• Arts. 121 and 211: the legislature cannot discuss a judge's conduct except during removal;
• Arts. 122 and 212: courts cannot question legislative proceedings;

• Art. 361: gives the President and Governors immunity.

• Separation of powers is part of the basic structure (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973; Raj Narain, 1975).

Check	Examples
Legislature → executive	Question Hour, no-confidence motion, budget, impeachment (Art. 61)
Legislature → judiciary	Removal of judges (Art. 124(4)); laws that remove the basis of a judgment but do not overrule it (State of TN v. State of Kerala, 2014)
Executive → legislature	Summoning and dissolution (Art. 85); assent to bills (Arts. 111, 200)
Executive → judiciary	Appointing judges; pardons (Arts. 72, 161)
Judiciary → both	Judicial review; re-promulgated ordinances struck down (Krishna Kumar Singh, 2017)

• Neither Parliament nor the Supreme Court is supreme. The Constitution is supreme (Minerva Mills, 1980).
• Current friction: Governors' assent to state bills. State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu (April 2025) set timelines. The Presidential Reference opinion (20 November 2025) revisited them (verify).

10. Three levels of government and decentralisation

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• Three tiers of government: India divides government into the Union, state and local levels. Each handles matters that suit its size. Class 6's flood example: local authorities deal with a small flood, the state sends rescue teams, and the Centre sends the army and relief.
• Class 7: a large and diverse country (over 1.4 billion people; 28 states and 8 UTs, verify current) cannot be run by one government.
• History: the Constitution first had only two levels. Local government was a State List subject, and Art. 40 (a Directive Principle) only asked states to organise village panchayats.
• The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) made local bodies the third tier:
• Part IX (panchayats) came into force on 24 April 1993 and Part IXA (municipalities) on 1 June 1993;

• the Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects and the Twelfth lists 18.

• Decentralisation: moving powers, functions and resources down to local governments, so people decide matters about their own area. Class 7 gives five benefits: it is more democratic, uses better local knowledge, builds stronger local bodies, allows local discussion and improves accountability.

• Principle of subsidiarity: a task should go to the lowest level of government that can do it well. Higher levels take only what local bodies cannot manage, such as defence.
• Forms of decentralisation, from weakest to strongest:
• Deconcentration: the government shifts work to its own field offices, such as district officials, without giving power to elected bodies;
• Delegation: work goes to semi-independent agencies;

• Devolution: elected local bodies get their own powers and funds.

• The Second ARC's 6th Report (2007) stresses the 3Fs: funds, functions and functionaries.

• Two views of the village: Gandhi saw the village as "a complete republic" (gram swaraj). Ambedkar called it "a sink of localism" (Constituent Assembly, 4 November 1948).
• Gaps: devolution is uneven across states, "sarpanch pati" proxies act for elected women, and local bodies raise little revenue of their own.

11. Government, governance and good governance

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• Governance is the process of taking decisions, organising society through rules and making sure they are followed. Government is who holds office. Governance is how power is used. Governance also involves markets, civil society and communities.
• The government's triple role (Class 7):
• protector: law, order and defence;
• provider: free schooling, roads, railways and welfare schemes;

• regulator: of economic activity and social justice, including food safety.

• Police state: in Indian constitutional writing, a state limited to law and order, defence and justice. The Directive Principles instead aim at a welfare state (Arts. 38, 39, 41, 47).

• Parens patriae: the State acts as guardian of people who cannot protect themselves. The Supreme Court used it to uphold the Bhopal gas claims law (Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India, 1990) and in Aruna Shanbaug (2011).
• Good governance became a common term through the World Bank (Governance and Development, 1992). UNESCAP lists eight features: participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus orientation, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, and accountability.
• Indian framing: Good Governance Day (25 December), DARPG's Good Governance Index (2019, 2021), and the Second ARC's 4th Report on ethics (2007) and 12th Report on citizen-centric administration (2009).
• Why problems persist despite all this (corruption, poor services, gaps in scheme coverage): the institutional answers include the CVC (statutory since 2003), the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 (amended 2018), the CAG (Art. 148), social audit and DBT.

12. The citizen and the government: rights, duties and channels of voice

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• Class 7 lists six channels of citizen action: 1. Grievance redressal: department grievance offices, vigilance commissions, and CPGRAMS (pgportal.gov.in), which gives time-bound replies (verify current deadline). States have similar portals. 2. RTI Act 2005: citizens can ask about road spending, lists of scheme beneficiaries or project status. In Bagepalli, near Bengaluru, an RTI query got a badly done road and streetlight project finished. 3. Media: print, TV and social media, such as Indian Railways' @RailwaySeva account. 4. Civil society organisations (NGOs): the Silent Valley campaign against a Kerala hydroelectric project brought together the KSSP, scientists, the writer Sugathakumari and villagers. The Centre shelved the project in 1983, and the area was declared a National Park in 1984 and inaugurated in 1985. 5. Writing to MPs, MLAs and ministers. 6. Voting in local, state and national elections.

• Goals: transparency (open access to information about government action and spending) and accountability (those in power must answer for their decisions).

• Constitutional base:
• universal adult franchise (Art. 326), with the voting age cut from 21 to 18 by the 61st Amendment (1988);
• Art. 350: the right to seek redress of a grievance in any language used in the Union or state;

• Fundamental Duties (Art. 51A): 10 added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) and the 11th by the 86th Amendment (2002).

• Other channels: the Committee on Petitions in Parliament, and NOTA (PUCL v. Union of India, 2013).

• Limits: RTI backlogs, changes made by the RTI Amendment Act 2019 and the DPDP Act 2023, FCRA limits on NGOs, and misinformation.

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• State: four elements (population, territory, government, sovereignty). Montevideo (1933) adds the capacity to deal with other states. Art. 1 calls India a "Union of States". Art. 12 gives a wide meaning of "State".
• Trap: "Every democracy is a republic" is FALSE. The UK, Canada, Sweden and Japan are democracies but not republics.
• Kautilya: the saptanga limbs are swamin, amatya, janapada, durga, kosha, danda and mitra. The ruler's duties are raksha, pālana and yogakshema. Matsya nyāya means the strong eat the weak without a ruler.
• Mottos: Satyameva Jayate (Mundaka Upanishad, Government of India). Yato Dharmastato Jayah (Mahabharata, Supreme Court).
• Articles:
• Art. 40: village panchayats (a Directive Principle);
• Art. 50: judiciary separate from the executive;
• Art. 75(3): collective responsibility;
• Arts. 121/211: no discussion of judges' conduct;
• Arts. 122/212: courts cannot question legislative proceedings;
• Art. 124(4): removal of judges;
• Art. 169: Legislative Councils;
• Art. 312: All India Services;
• Art. 315: UPSC;
• Art. 350: grievances in any language;

• Art. 361: immunity of the President and Governors.

• Amendments:

• 42nd (1976): education moved to the Concurrent List; Fundamental Duties added;
• 61st (1988): voting age 18;
• 73rd and 74th (1992): local bodies, in force 1993 (24 April is National Panchayati Raj Day); 29 and 18 subjects;
• 91st (2003): 15% cap on the size of the council of ministers;

• 100th (2015): land boundary agreement with Bangladesh.

• Trap: "IFS and IRS are All India Services" is FALSE. Only the IAS, IPS and IFoS are.

• Trap: "The PM is head of state" is FALSE. The PM is head of government.
• Cases:
• Ram Jawaya Kapur (1955): functional separation of powers;
• Berubari (1960): giving away territory needs an amendment;
• Muthamma (1979): gender bias in service rules struck down;
• Charan Lal Sahu (1990): parens patriae;
• Orissa Mining Corporation (2013): gram sabhas decide on Niyamgiri;
• Krishna Kumar Singh (2017): re-promulgating ordinances;

• SCAORA (2015): NJAC struck down.

• Sovereignty theories: Austin (monistic, 1832) vs Laski, Maitland and Figgis (pluralist). Legal sovereignty vs political sovereignty.

• Decentralisation: deconcentration < delegation < devolution. Subsidiarity means the lowest competent level does the task.

Mains — GS-II themes

1. State vs government, and sovereignty in an interdependent world: pluralist theory, treaties and "pooled" sovereignty.
2. Functional separation of powers in India: judicial review vs parliamentary supremacy. Flashpoints: the NJAC, tribunals, Governors' assent and ordinances.
3. Political vs permanent executive: neutrality vs a committed bureaucracy, ministerial responsibility, lateral entry and Mission Karmayogi.
4. Decentralisation and subsidiarity: Gandhi vs Ambedkar, the 3Fs gap, and deconcentration presented as decentralisation.
5. Government vs governance: protector, provider and regulator; police state vs welfare state; good-governance features applied to service delivery.
6. Citizen-centric governance: grievance redressal, RTI and civil society (Silent Valley, Niyamgiri); civic duties.
7. Family and community as social capital, and the legal recognition of community-managed commons (FRA, PESA). GS-IV link: values of sevā (Kalam, Muthamma).

Current-affairs hooks

• Governor–state disputes over assent to bills: the April 2025 judgment and the Presidential Reference opinion of 20 November 2025 (verify).
• Judicial appointments and accountability: the collegium, the 2025 removal proceedings against a High Court judge, NJDG pendency data (verify current).
• Civil services: lateral entry, Mission Karmayogi, police reform and the new criminal laws in force since 1 July 2024.
• Local government: delayed local elections, proxy representatives, devolution rankings, Finance Commission grants to local bodies.
• CPGRAMS reforms; RTI changes through the DPDP Act 2023 and its rules (verify current).
• Community water conservation and flood relief (halma-style action) as governance stories.