How is a major policy decision taken? - Concepts - Chapter 4 Class 9 Political Science - Working of Institutions - Political Science

How is a major policy decision taken?

A Government Order

• On August 13, 1990, the Government of India issued an Order which was called an Office Memorandum .
  
  
• This order announced a major 27 percent of the vacancies in civil posts and services under the Government of India are reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC).

The Decision Makers

• Who decided to issue this Memorandum? Many important Indian officials would have been involved in such a significant decision, which involves the following issues:

1. 1. The President is the head of the state and is the highest formal authority in India.
      
      
   2. The Prime Minister is the head of the governmen t and takes most of the decisions in the Cabinet meetings.
      
      
   3. Parliament consists of the President and two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minister must have the support of a majority of Lok Sabha members to pass a memorandum.

• Some felt that this was unfair as it would deny equality of opportunity to those who did not belong to backward communities.
  
  
• While others felt that this would give a fair opportunity to those communities who so far had not adequately been represented in government employment . This dispute was finally resolved by the Supreme Court of India by hearing all the cases.
  
  
• The "Indira Sawhney and others Vs. Union of India case" was the name of this legal proceeding. In 1992, the judges of the Supreme Court ruled that the Indian government's directive was lawful.
  
  
• As a result, the disagreement was resolved, and this policy has been followed ever since.

Need for Political Institution

• Several arrangements are made in modern democracies which are called Institutions . Democracy works well when these institutions perform functions assigned to them.
  
  
• Working with Institutions is not easy.
  
  
• Institutions involve rules and regulations.
  
  
• Institutions involve meetings, committees, and routines. This often leads to delays and complications.
  
  
• Some of the delays and complications introduced by institutions are very useful as they provide an opportunity for a wider set of people to be consulted in any decision.
  
  
• Institutions make it difficult to have a good decision taken very quickly . But, they also make it equally difficult to rush through a bad decision.