Question:
How is power shared among different organs of government? Explain.
How is power shared among different organs of government? Explain.
Show Hint
Name the three organs, say why the sharing is called horizontal, and then give the two examples in the source of one organ checking another. End with the term checks and balances.
Updated On: Sep 15, 2026
Show Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
Solution and Explanation
Concept:
Step 1: Power is divided among three organs.
It is shared among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Each of these exercises different powers, and none of them is placed above the others.
Step 2: This is called horizontal distribution.
The source calls it horizontal because the organs sit at the same level rather than one above another, and each carries out a separate function of government.
Step 3: Each organ checks the other two.
Ministers and government officials exercise power but are responsible to the Parliament or the State Assemblies. Judges are appointed by the executive, yet they can check the functioning of the executive or the laws made by the legislatures.
Step 4: The purpose and the name of the arrangement.
Such a separation ensures that none of the organs can exercise unlimited power, and the result is a balance of power among the various institutions. This arrangement is called a system of checks and balances.
Final Answer: Power is shared horizontally among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, each with different powers at the same level. Ministers answer to the legislature and judges can review the acts of both, so no organ holds unlimited power. This is the system of checks and balances.
- This is the form of power sharing that the source calls horizontal distribution of power, because it operates among organs placed at the same level.
- The sharing has two parts, a separation of functions and a mutual check.
Step 1: Power is divided among three organs.
It is shared among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Each of these exercises different powers, and none of them is placed above the others.
Step 2: This is called horizontal distribution.
The source calls it horizontal because the organs sit at the same level rather than one above another, and each carries out a separate function of government.
Step 3: Each organ checks the other two.
Ministers and government officials exercise power but are responsible to the Parliament or the State Assemblies. Judges are appointed by the executive, yet they can check the functioning of the executive or the laws made by the legislatures.
Step 4: The purpose and the name of the arrangement.
Such a separation ensures that none of the organs can exercise unlimited power, and the result is a balance of power among the various institutions. This arrangement is called a system of checks and balances.
Final Answer: Power is shared horizontally among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, each with different powers at the same level. Ministers answer to the legislature and judges can review the acts of both, so no organ holds unlimited power. This is the system of checks and balances.
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Top CBSE X Social Science Questions
- Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Print Comes to India
From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly maga zine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none’. So it was private English enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence, that began English printing in India. Hickey published a lot of advertisements, including those that related to the import and sale of slaves. But he also published a lot of gossip about the Company’s senior officials in India. Enraged by this, Governor-General War ren Hastings persecuted Hickey, and encouraged the publication of officially sanctioned newspapers that could counter the flow of information that damaged the image of the colonial government. By the close of the eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals appeared in print. There were Indians, too, who began to publish Indian news papers. The first to appear was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was close to Raja Rammohan Roy. - Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Loans from Cooperatives
Besides banks, the other major source of cheap credit in rural areas are the cooperative societies (or cooperatives). Members of a cooperative pool their resources for coopera tion in certain areas. There are several types of cooperatives possible such as farmers cooperatives, weavers cooperatives, industrial workers cooperatives, etc. Krishak Coop erative functions in a village not very far away from Sonpur. It has 2300 farmers as members. It accepts deposits from its members. With these deposits as collateral, the Cooperative has obtained a large loan from the bank. These funds are used to provide loans to members. Once these loans are repaid, another round of lending can take place. Krishak Cooperative provides loans for the purchase of agricultural implements, loans for cultivation and agricultural trade, fishery loans, loans for construction of houses and for a variety of other expenses. - Arrange the following incidents in chronological order and choose the correct option.
1. French Revolution
2. Napoleon’s invasion of Italy
3. Unification of Italy
4. Vienna Peace Treaty - Choose the correct option to fill in the blank.
______ from India and Southeast Asia traveled through ‘Silk Route’ to other parts of the world. - Choose the correct option, related to the founders of the ‘Swaraj Party’ within the Congress.
View More Questions
Top CBSE X Power Sharing Questions
- Read the arguments given in favor of power sharing and choose the correct option.
1. Reduces the likelihood of bias.
2. Barricades the decision-making process.
3. Accommodates diversities.
4. Increases the participation of people in power. - Which of the following was the primary objective of Belgium to form the separate government in Brussels?
- Why is horizontal distribution of power sharing important? Explain
- Two statements are given below. They are Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Read both the statements and choose the correct option:
Assertion (A): The French speaking community was rich in comparison to the Dutch speaking community in Belgium.
Reason (R): Dutch speaking community got the benefit of economic development and education much later. - Belgium took some measures to solve its problem. Read the following measures and choose the correct option:
I. Formation of community government.
II. Following majoritarian policy.
III. By providing equal representation of language groups.
IV. By providing additional powers to local governments.
View More Questions
Top CBSE X Questions
- Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Print Comes to India
From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly maga zine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none’. So it was private English enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence, that began English printing in India. Hickey published a lot of advertisements, including those that related to the import and sale of slaves. But he also published a lot of gossip about the Company’s senior officials in India. Enraged by this, Governor-General War ren Hastings persecuted Hickey, and encouraged the publication of officially sanctioned newspapers that could counter the flow of information that damaged the image of the colonial government. By the close of the eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals appeared in print. There were Indians, too, who began to publish Indian news papers. The first to appear was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was close to Raja Rammohan Roy. - Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Loans from Cooperatives
Besides banks, the other major source of cheap credit in rural areas are the cooperative societies (or cooperatives). Members of a cooperative pool their resources for coopera tion in certain areas. There are several types of cooperatives possible such as farmers cooperatives, weavers cooperatives, industrial workers cooperatives, etc. Krishak Coop erative functions in a village not very far away from Sonpur. It has 2300 farmers as members. It accepts deposits from its members. With these deposits as collateral, the Cooperative has obtained a large loan from the bank. These funds are used to provide loans to members. Once these loans are repaid, another round of lending can take place. Krishak Cooperative provides loans for the purchase of agricultural implements, loans for cultivation and agricultural trade, fishery loans, loans for construction of houses and for a variety of other expenses. - More than three million carbon compounds have been discovered in the field of chemistry. The diversity of these compounds is due to the capacity of carbon atoms for bonding with one another as well as with other atoms. Most of the carbon compounds are poor conductors of electricity and have low melting and boiling points.
- Human digestive system is a tube running from mouth to anus. Its main function is to breakdown complex molecules present in the food which cannot be absorbed as such into smaller molecules. These molecules are absorbed across the walls of the tube and the absorbed food reaches each and every cell of the body where it is utilised for obtaining energy.
- A student has three convex lenses A, B, and C of different focal lengths. He wants to observe the images formed by these lenses on a screen by placing a candle flame at different distances as given in the following table:
Case No. Lens Focal Length Object Distance 1 \(A\) 50 cm 25 cm 2 B 20 cm 60 cm 3 C 15 cm 30 cm
View More Questions