Question

Discuss the following terms with your teacher–public meeting, States in India, constituency, majority, ruling party and opposition.

Can you explain the following terms–the majority, the ruling party, and the opposition with reference to your state?

Answer 1

Public meeting: When the general people gather at a place and discuss an issue of public interest, such a gathering and discussion is called a public meeting. The issue may be related to politics, social problems, etc. For example, gathering of the people of a locality to decide whom they will favour in the coming election or discuss the irregular water supply in the locality.

States in India: Our country, i.e., India has been divided into twenty-eight political units on the basis of region and languages for the convenience of running their administration and development. These units are given some areas of functions mentioned in the Constitution of India. Each unit has its own Chief Minister, a Governor appointed by the President of India. These units are called States in India. For example, Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc.

Constituency: It is a particular area from which all the voters cast their votes to elect their representatives for a legislative body. The area of a constituency varies according to the r level of the legislative body. For example, the constituency for a panchayat has a smaller area than for the legislative assembly of a State or for the Parliament of India.

Majority: A majority is a situation when more than half the number in a group supports a decision or an idea. This is also called a simple majority. Suppose there are 90 MLAs in the Legislative Assembly of Haryana. The government has introduced a bill in the Assembly to make an Act for the establishment of a Sports University, in Gurgaon. This bill requires the consent of a majority of the MLAs, i.e., 46 MLAs out of 90. Such consent of 46 MLAs is called the majority decision.

Ruling Party: The political party which has won the majority of seats, i.e., more than half of the total seats in a legislature, of State or the Centre form the government to run the State or the Country. Such a political party is called the ruling party.

Opposition: Opposition is the elected representatives who do not belong to the ruling party. They play the role of questioning government decisions and actions as well as raising new issues for consideration in the Assembly.