Democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people. Democracy is a form of government in which:-
 i. Rulers elected by people take all major decisions.
 ii. Elections offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers.
 iii. This choice and opportunity is available to all the people on an equal basis.
 iv. The exercise of this choice leads to a government limited by basic rules of the constitution and citizen’s rights.

Louis XVI of Bourbon dynasty, ascended the throne in 1774. He was married to Austrian princess Marie Antoinette. When he became ruler, he found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles. Louis XVI also helped American armies in their war of independence, which led to further rise to more than 2 billion livres debt. To meet its regular expenses, the state was forced to increase taxes. Nobles, clergy and rich men were exempted from paying taxes, it was the third estate which bore the brunt.

Vulnerability is a measure, which describes the greater probability of certain communities of becoming, or remaining, poor in the coming years.
The proportion of people below poverty line is not same for all social groups and economic categories in India.
Social groups which are most vulnerable to poverty :
Scheduled caste and scheduled tribes.
Rural agricultural labour households .
Urban casual labour households .

Food security is a condition related to the supply of food, and individuals' access to it. Attaining food security is a matter of prime importance for India where more than a third of its population is estimated to be absolutely poor, and as many as one half of its children have suffered from malnourishment over the last three decades. National Food Security is critically dependent on the adequate availability of sufficient food stocks to fully satisfy domestic demand at all times.

Census simply means the counting of people of a certain area at a certain time. It is the main source of demographic data. It is conducted by the government to know the overall population of the country. In the census, the population of the certain area is recorded based on age, ***, caste, religion etc. It is usually carried out in every 10 to 5 years.

In the 20th century Germany was a powerful Empire. During the First World War Germany took up the cause of Austria against the Allies. Many countries joined the war hoping to gain something, without realizing the fact that the war would prolong and drain Europe of its resources. Though Germany made initial gains by occupying France and Belgium, the Allies became stronger when the US joined them in 1917 and defeated Germany and the Central Powers.
The defeat of Germany resulted in the abdication of the German Emperor. This gave an opportunity for the parliamentary parties to bring in a change, in German politics. A democratic constitution with a federal structure was formed by the National Assembly, which met at Weimar and the Weimar Republic came into existence.

A deliberative body of persons, usually elective, who are empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state; the branch of government  having the power to make laws, as distinguished from the executive and judicial branches of government. Origin of legislature Expand.

It aims at improving the accessibility of healthcare, family welfare and nutritional service with a special focus on the underprivileged segment of the population. Over the last five decades, India has built up a vast health infrastructure and manpower required at the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors both at the government level as well as in the private sector.

Direct democracy is a form of  democracy where people instead of their elected representatives determine the laws and policies of the country.The power lies in the hands of the people.
Such a form of democracy is not feasible in a country like India where there is a vast population with diversities.

(i) It guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. One-third of the proposed jobs would be reserved for women.
(ii) The scheme will initially be started in 200 districts. Later on, the scheme will be extended to 600 districts.
(iii) If an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days, she/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.

Challenges to free and fair elections in India are as follows:

• Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
• In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connection have been able to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
• Some families tend to dominate the political parties; tickets are distributed to relatives from these families.
• Very often, elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as both the major parties are similar to each other in their policies and practices.
• Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage as compared to the bigger parties.

Model Code of Conduct: One the election dates are announced the model code of conduct is enforced by the Election Commission. This code of conduct prohibits the following:

• Use of any place of worship for election propaganda.
• Use of government vehicles, officials or aircraft for election campaign.
• Laying of foundation stone for any project and announcing any big ticket programme.

Election Campaign: The candidates and political party conduct election campaign to educate the voters about their future programmes and policies. Political parties hold rallies, road-shows, mohalla sabhas, etc. They also spend on hoardings, advertising, banners, posters and pamphlets. Political parties usually try to focus the voters’ attention on some big issues; like poverty alleviation, corruption, employment generation, provision for electricity, water, food, etc.

Merits:
1) It creates competition among parties to serve the people better.
2) People will have lot of options among various leaders.
3) People acn select a particular leader who can solve their problems.
4) Political Competition mostly benefits the people as parties will do their best to lure the people.
5) Poltical Competition leads to the development of the nation.