How the state government shapes daily life
State governments run welfare schemes for schools, health and cleanliness, often adapting Union schemes. Nagaland even communitised its schools, sharing control with village communities.
Why the state government matters to you
India is a federation: power is shared between the Union (central) government and the states. Your state government looks after many things you meet every day. These include the police, state hospitals, schools, state roads, farming and land records. It also runs many welfare schemes. Often a state takes a Union scheme and adapts it to local needs. The laws and money for these schemes are debated in the state legislature.
Examples from your NIOS lesson
| State | Programme | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan | Residential bridge courses | Help out-of-school children, including children with disabilities, join regular schools. Learning is through play and computers. |
| Uttar Pradesh | Mid-Day Meal (a Union scheme) | Serves hot cooked meals in government primary schools. Elected village pradhans run it, with a varied menu of wheat, rice, vegetables, soya and dal. |
| Maharashtra | School Sanitation and Hygiene Education, part of the Union's Total Sanitation Campaign | School children called swachhata doots (cleanliness messengers) spread awareness in schools, families and villages. |
| Nagaland | Communitisation | Shares the running of government schools, health services and electricity with the local community. |
Nagaland's communitisation: a timeline
- 2001Nagaland's Chief Secretary, the state's top civil servant, coins the word communitisation: the government shares control of its institutions with the community.
- 2002★Nagaland passes the Nagaland Communitisation of Public Institutions and Services Act, published on 15 April 2002. With the Act and its rules for elementary education, the state begins communitising all its elementary schools.
- WhyThe idea fits Naga tradition, where the morung, the village meeting hall, was once a place of learning for the whole community.
★ key step
Union scheme, state action
So the quality of a school meal or a village cleanliness drive depends a lot on how well the state and local bodies run it. Scheme names change: the Mid-Day Meal Scheme has been called PM POSHAN since 2021, and the Total Sanitation Campaign was later replaced by the Swachh Bharat Mission (2014).
Think of the hot lunch in a government school, or a cleanliness drive led by students. A village committee that helps run the school is another example. Each shows the state government at work in your daily life.
2 marks: “What is communitisation? Which state began it?” Sharing the management and control of government institutions, such as schools, with the community. Nagaland began it, with a law in 2002.
2 marks: “Give two examples of state programmes that affect children's daily life.” Any two: residential bridge courses in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan for out-of-school children; hot cooked mid-day meals in Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra's school sanitation programme with swachhata doots; Nagaland's communitised schools.
3 marks: “Explain, with three examples, how the state government affects the daily life of citizens.” States run welfare schemes and adapt Union schemes. Examples: bridge courses in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan bring out-of-school children into school; Uttar Pradesh serves hot mid-day meals through village pradhans; Maharashtra's swachhata doots spread hygiene; Nagaland shares control of schools with communities.
Four states, four ideas: AP and Rajasthan bridge courses, UP hot meals, Maharashtra cleanliness messengers, Nagaland community control.