Notes of Chapter 3 How the State Government Works Class 7th Civics
MLAs
• Every state in India has a Legislative Assembly.
• Each state is divided into different areas or constituencies.
• From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
→ These MLAs belong to different political parties.
• A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority.
• The political party that has the majority is called the ruling party and all other members are called the opposition.
• After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister.
• The chief minister then selects other people as ministers.
A debate in the Legislative Assembly
• The Legislative Assembly is building situated in the capital of the state where all the MLAs from ruling and opposition parties meet to discuss and debate issues.
• During debate time in the assembly, MLAs can express their opinions and ask questions related to the issue or give suggestions about what should be done by the government.
• Those who wish to, can respond to this.
• The minister then replies to the questions and tries to assure the Assembly that adequate steps are being taken.
• The chief minister and other ministers have to take decisions and run the government.
• Whatever decisions are being taken have to be approved by the members of the legislative assembly.
• All the MLAs who gather together in the legislative assembly are called the Legislature.
Working of the government
• There are various newspapers, TV channels and other organisations regularly talking about the government.
• In a democracy, there are various ways through which people express their views and also take action.
• There are various departments such as the Education Department, the Public Works Department, the Health Department etc.headed by their respective ministers.
• The chief minister and the ministers take action through these departments.
• Whatever work is done by these departments has to be approved by the members of the legislative assembly.