Deep dive · Civics
Types of government and India’s three levels of government
Who runs a country, and where does that power come from? First the ways governments work around the world, then India’s own system — Parliament, the government and the courts — and finally the three levels: the Union, the state, and your village or town. Each stop ends with a few short questions.
By the end you will be able to say
- what really separates a democracy, a monarchy and a dictatorship
- how the parliamentary, presidential and semi-presidential systems differ
- who makes India’s laws, who carries them out, and who interprets them
- whether a job belongs to the Union, the state, or your panchayat or municipality
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1Types of government
What does a government do?
- Makes laws and sees that they are carried out
- Keeps order and keeps people safe
- Provides roads, schools, hospitals, water and electricity
- Guards the borders and deals with other countries
Every country has a government. The first difference is who holds the highest power, how they got it, and whether the people can change them. Open each of the three main types in turn.
Democracy
The people choose their rulers by voting. Those elected must come back to the people for votes after a fixed term.
- Direct democracy
- People vote on laws and big decisions themselves. In Switzerland citizens vote directly on laws through referendums. A gram sabha in our villages is the same kind of meeting.
- Representative democracy
- People elect representatives, such as MPs and MLAs, who make laws on their behalf. India and the USA work this way.
Monarchy
The king or queen comes to the throne by birth, one generation after another. Monarchy comes in two kinds.
- Absolute monarchy
- The monarch makes the laws and has the last word. The people cannot call the ruler to account. For example Saudi Arabia and Brunei.
- Constitutional monarchy
- The king or queen is head in name; an elected parliament and prime minister run the country. For example the United Kingdom, Japan and Bhutan (since its 2008 Constitution).
Dictatorship
One person or one group seizes power by force, or clings to it without fair elections. Opponents are crushed and the press is not free.
- Military rule
- The army removes an elected government and rules itself. That is what happened in Myanmar in 2021.
- One-party rule
- One party holds total control and no real opposition can contest elections. North Korea is an example; in history, Hitler’s Germany (1933–1945) was another.
The three side by side
| Democracy | Monarchy | Dictatorship | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How power is gained | By election | By birth, within the family | By force, often backed by the army |
| Answerable to | The people; Parliament and the courts also keep a check on the government | No one in an absolute monarchy; in a constitutional one, the government answers to parliament | No one |
| Can the people change the rulers? | Yes, at the next election | Not the monarch; in a constitutional monarchy, the government at elections | No, there are no fair elections |
| People’s rights | Freedom to speak, write, organise and protest | Few in an absolute monarchy; in a constitutional one, whatever the constitution grants | Very few |
| Examples | India (Lok Sabha elections every 5 years), USA (presidential election every 4 years) | Absolute: Saudi Arabia, Brunei · Constitutional: United Kingdom, Japan, Bhutan | North Korea; Myanmar, where the army removed the elected government in 2021; Hitler’s Germany (1933–1945) |
Slide the table sideways to see all of it.
Other names you will hear
- Theocracy
- Rule in the name of religion, by religious leaders. For example Vatican City, where the Pope holds all power, and Iran, where a religious leader stands at the top.
- Oligarchy
- A handful of rich or powerful people rule, often for their own benefit.
- Republic
- A country whose head is elected, not born to the post. India and the USA are republics. The United Kingdom is a democracy but not a republic, because its head of state is a monarch.
Government and parliament: three systems
Democracies also differ in how the government is put together: who heads it, and whether it answers to parliament.
Parliamentary
The government (the Prime Minister and ministers) comes from Parliament and answers to the Lok Sabha. Lose its confidence and the government must go.
How many heads: Two — a President or monarch in name; real power with the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers
Examples: India, United Kingdom
Presidential
The president is elected separately from the legislature and serves a fixed term. The legislature cannot remove them for losing its confidence, only by impeachment.
How many heads: One — the president heads both the country and the government
Examples: USA (a 4-year term, at most twice), Brazil
Semi-presidential
The people elect the president directly, and the president holds real power. There is also a prime minister and cabinet, who answer to parliament.
How many heads: Two — a president and a prime minister, both with real power
Examples: France (president elected for 5 years), Sri Lanka
Is power shared out, or held in one place?
Federal
The constitution itself divides power between the Union and the states. Neither can take the other’s share at will.
Examples: India, USA, Canada
Unitary
Real power sits with one central government. Local units get only what the centre hands down.
Examples: United Kingdom, France, Japan
India’s Constitution calls the country a “Union of States” (Article 1). Power is shared, but the Union is the stronger partner, which is why India is called a federation with a strong Centre.
Checkpoint✓ Stop complete
1How does Bhutan’s king come to the throne?
Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy: the throne passes within the family, and since the 2008 Constitution the government that runs the country is elected.
2Who is the real head of government in India?
India has a parliamentary system. The President is head in name and acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister (Article 74).
3In which system does the constitution divide power between the Union and the states?
That is what makes a system federal. India and the USA are both federal.
4Which system does France have?
In France the people elect the president directly and the president holds real power; alongside, the prime minister and ministers answer to parliament. That is a semi-presidential system.
5The United Kingdom is a democracy. Why is it not a republic?
In a republic the head of state is elected. In the UK the government is elected, but the head of state is a monarch, so it is a constitutional monarchy.
2How India is governed
Our Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Its Preamble says in one sentence what kind of country India will be.
“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC …”
Tap each of the five words to see what it means.
India: a constitutional, federal democracy
- Shared between organs (horizontal)
- Power is split between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, so that no one organ can take everything into its own hands.
- Shared between levels (vertical)
- Power is also split between the Union, the states and local government. This is called federalism.
- Rule of law
- The Constitution is the highest law of the land. The government too must act by it, and everyone is equal before the law (Article 14).
Three organs, three jobs
The work of government is split three ways, so that no one part can do as it pleases. Open each organ.
Legislature: Makes the laws
- At the national level
- Parliament: the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha (Article 79)
- Work
- Making laws, passing the budget, holding the government to account through questions
- Budget
- Since 2017 there has been no separate railway budget; one Union Budget covers the whole country
Executive: Carries the laws out
- Who
- The President, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, and the officials who work under them
- The President
- Elected for 5 years by the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the state assemblies, including Delhi and Puducherry (Articles 54, 55). The President is also Supreme Commander of the armed forces
- The Prime Minister
- Appointed by the President (Article 75); the leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Lok Sabha becomes Prime Minister
- Whose power
- The Constitution vests executive power in the President (Article 53), but the President acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 74)
- Who changes
- Ministers (the political executive) can change with each election; officers such as the IAS and IPS (the permanent executive) stay
Judiciary: Interprets the law and settles disputes
- The ladder
- At the top the Supreme Court, then the High Courts of the states (25 across India), then the district courts
- Fundamental rights
- If a right in Part III (Articles 12–35) is taken away, anyone can go straight to the Supreme Court (Article 32) or a High Court (Article 226)
- Final word
- The law the Supreme Court declares binds every court in India (Article 141). The courts are independent of the government
- Union–state disputes
- A dispute over a legal right between the Union and a state, or between two states, goes straight to the Supreme Court (Article 131)
The two Houses of Parliament
| Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose House | The people of India; the lower house | The states and union territories; the upper house |
| Members | 543, all elected | 245: 233 elected, 12 nominated by the President |
| How chosen | Voters elect them directly | Elected members of the state assemblies (MLAs) choose them |
| Term | 5 years (can be dissolved earlier) | Never dissolved; members serve 6 years, a third retiring every 2 years |
| Minimum age to be a member (Article 84) | 25 years | 30 years |
| Presided over by | The Speaker | The Vice-President, as Chairman |
| Money bills | Can be introduced only here | Can hold one back for at most 14 days |
| From Rajasthan | 25 members | 10 members |
Slide the table sideways to see all of it.
The Lok Sabha used to have two nominated Anglo-Indian members; the 104th Amendment (2019) ended that. The Rajya Sabha’s 12 nominated members come from literature, science, art and social service.
Checks and balances
- Parliament holds the government to account through questions and debate. If the Lok Sabha passes a no-confidence motion, the government must go.
- The courts can strike down any law of Parliament or a state legislature that goes against the Constitution. This is called judicial review.
- Parliament can remove the President by impeachment, and a Supreme Court or High Court judge by a special majority in both Houses.
Checkpoint✓ Stop complete
1How many Rajya Sabha members does the President nominate?
Of the Rajya Sabha’s 245 members, 12 are nominated; the other 233 are elected.
2If a fundamental right is taken away, under which Article can anyone go straight to the Supreme Court?
Article 32 gives the right to go straight to the Supreme Court to protect fundamental rights. It is itself a fundamental right.
3Which organ carries the laws out?
The legislature makes laws, the executive carries them out, and the judiciary interprets them.
4Who elects the President of India?
The President is elected by an electoral college: the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the state assemblies. The term is 5 years.
3Three levels of government
India is far too big to be run entirely from Delhi, so government works at three levels: the Union for the whole country, a government in every state, and local government for each village and town. Open each level.
Union
The government of the whole country: 28 states and 8 union territories
- Who makes laws
- Parliament (the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha)
- Head
- In name: the President · In practice: the Prime Minister
- Court
- The Supreme Court, New Delhi
- Main jobs
- Defence, relations with other countries, railways, currency, atomic energy
- Union territories
- Run by the Union: the President governs through a Lieutenant Governor or administrator (Article 239). Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir also have an elected assembly of their own
State
Each state has its own government
- Who makes laws
- The Legislative Assembly. Six states also have a second house, a Legislative Council: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
- Head
- In name: the Governor, appointed by the President (Article 155) · In practice: the Chief Minister, leader of the majority in the assembly, appointed by the Governor (Article 164)
- Court
- The High Court
- Main jobs
- Police, prisons, agriculture, land, public health
Local
The government of your village, town or city
- Who runs it
- A panchayat in villages; a municipality or municipal corporation in towns and cities
- Head
- The sarpanch in a village; a chairperson or mayor in a town
- In the Constitution since
- The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992), in force from 1993
- Term and elections
- 5 years (Articles 243E, 243U); elections are run by the State Election Commission (Articles 243K, 243ZA)
- Main jobs
- Drinking water, sanitation, lanes and drains, street lights, registering births and deaths. The full lists are in the Constitution: 29 subjects for panchayats in the Eleventh Schedule, 18 for municipalities in the Twelfth
Village government: Panchayati Raj
- Gram panchayatA village, or a few villages togetherHead: Sarpanch, with a panch from each wardOfficer: Village Development Officer (gram vikas adhikari)
- Panchayat samitiThe blockHead: PradhanOfficer: Block Development Officer (vikas adhikari)
- Zila parishadThe districtHead: Zila pramukhOfficer: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Article 243B sets up panchayats at three levels; a state with a population of 20 lakh or less need not have the middle level. These are Rajasthan’s titles; other states may use other names.
Gram sabha: everyone whose name is on the voter list for the panchayat’s area is a member (Article 243(b)). The state’s own law sets what the gram sabha can do.
Town and city government
- Nagar panchayatAn area changing from rural to urban
- Municipal council (nagar parishad / nagar palika)A smaller urban area
- Municipal corporation (nagar nigam)A larger urban area; headed by a mayor
The Constitution sets no population figure for these; the state decides by notification which town falls in which category (Article 243Q). Each ward of a town elects one councillor.
In Rajasthan the head of a nagar palika is called the adhyaksh, of a nagar parishad the sabhapati, and of a nagar nigam the mayor. An officer runs the daily work: the executive officer in a nagar palika, the commissioner in a nagar parishad or nagar nigam. A municipal corporation’s commissioner is usually an IAS or RAS (state administrative service) officer.
Where the money comes from
- Tax on houses and property
- Charges for services such as water, and market and fair fees
- Grants from the state and Union governments
- Every five years a State Finance Commission recommends what share of the state’s money goes to panchayats and municipalities (Articles 243I, 243Y)
Across all three levels
Seats for women
- At least one-third of the seats in panchayats and municipalities are reserved for women. The Constitution requires it (Articles 243D and 243T).
- Rajasthan has raised this to half (50%) in its panchayats.
- A law to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Amendment), was passed in 2023. But the seats come only after the next census and the delimitation (redrawing of seats) that follows it, so it did not apply in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
In Rajasthan
- 200 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and only one house (no Legislative Council)
- 25 members in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha
- The High Court sits at Jodhpur, with a bench at Jaipur
- Panchayati Raj in India began at Nagaur on 2 October 1959, inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Checkpoint✓ Stop complete
1Who are the members of a gram sabha?
Everyone whose name is on the voter list for the panchayat’s area is a member of the gram sabha.
2A nagar panchayat is set up for what kind of area?
Under the Constitution, a nagar panchayat is for a transitional area: one moving from rural to urban.
3What share of panchayat seats in Rajasthan is reserved for women?
The Constitution sets at least one-third; Rajasthan has raised it to half in its panchayats.
4Whose job? The three lists
Which subjects belong to the Union and which to the states is set out in three lists in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution (Article 246).
Union List
Only Parliament makes laws on these
State List
The state legislature makes laws on these
Concurrent List
Both can make laws; if the two clash, Parliament’s law usually prevails (Article 254)
Residuary subjects: a subject on none of the three lists, such as computer software, is for Parliament alone (Article 248).
Education and forests were on the State List until the 42nd Amendment moved them to the Concurrent List in 1976.
5Final check: eight questions
Checkpoint✓ Stop complete
1What marks a dictatorship?
A dictator holds on by force; there are no fair elections and opponents are crushed.
2In a parliamentary system, whom does the government answer to?
The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Article 75). If it loses the House’s confidence, the government must go.
3How many Lok Sabha members do the voters elect?
All 543 members are directly elected. Two nominated Anglo-Indian members once made it 545; that arrangement has ended.
4Which list is education on?
Education is on the Concurrent List, so both the Union and the states can make laws on it. Until 1976 it was on the State List.
5Who makes laws on a subject that is on none of the lists?
The power to make laws on residuary subjects lies with Parliament (Article 248).
6The three tiers of Panchayati Raj, from the bottom up, are:
The gram panchayat in the village, the panchayat samiti in the block, and the zila parishad in the district.
7Who issues currency notes in India?
Only the Reserve Bank can issue banknotes. Coins and the ₹1 note are issued by the Union government.
8When will women get one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies?
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed in 2023, but its seats come only after the next census and the delimitation that follows it.
All five stops done! Next time the news mentions the Union, a state or a panchayat, you will know exactly who is meant.
Key Articles of the Constitution
The articles behind this page, in one place.
| Article | What it says |
|---|---|
| 1 | India is a Union of States |
| 14 | Everyone is equal before the law |
| 40 | The state shall organise village panchayats (a Directive Principle) |
| 52, 54, 56 | There shall be a President of India, chosen by an electoral college, for a 5-year term |
| 61 | Impeachment of the President |
| 74, 75 | The Council of Ministers advises the President; the President appoints the Prime Minister |
| 79, 80, 81 | Parliament is the President and two Houses; how the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are made up |
| 84 | Minimum age for an MP: 25 for the Lok Sabha, 30 for the Rajya Sabha |
| 109, 110 | What a money bill is; the Rajya Sabha can hold one back for at most 14 days |
| 124 | The Supreme Court; how a judge is removed is in 124(4) |
| 131 | Disputes over legal rights between the Union and the states go straight to the Supreme Court |
| 141 | Law declared by the Supreme Court binds every court in India |
| 155, 164 | The President appoints the Governor; the Governor appoints the Chief Minister |
| 169 | On the assembly’s resolution, Parliament can create or abolish a state’s legislative council |
| 214 | A High Court for each state |
| 239, 239A, 239AA | Unless Parliament provides otherwise by law, the President runs union territories through an administrator; assemblies for Puducherry and Delhi |
| 243B | Panchayats at village, intermediate and district level; a state of up to 20 lakh people need not have the middle level |
| 243D, 243T | At least one-third of seats in panchayats and municipalities for women |
| 243K, 243ZA | The State Election Commission runs panchayat and municipal elections |
| 243Q | Nagar panchayat, municipal council and municipal corporation |
| 246, 248 | The Union, State and Concurrent Lists (Seventh Schedule); a subject on none of them is for Parliament |
| 280 | A Finance Commission every 5 years |
| 326 | Every citizen aged 18 can vote |
| 368 | Parliament can amend the Constitution |