PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT Can you say why India has opted for Parliamentary form of government? Most of us will respond that since India is a Republic country, we have federal structure of government. Two sets of governments are there in federal structure Union government and the State government. Our constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government. In this system, government is responsible to parliament and government can stay in office only as long as it enjoys the confidence of the house. If the government loses confidence it forwards resignation. The government is responsible to the Lok Sabha. This system of government has been borrowed from England.
THE LEGISLATURE
Legislature is that branch of the government which makes law. In India, laws for the whole country are formed by the Parliament. There are two bicameral legislatures in India, that signifies two houses or chambers Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
India consists of bicameral legislature at the centre level. The Rajya Sabha or Council of State is known as the upper house, and Lok Sabha or the house of the people is known as the lower house. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people on the basis of Universal Adult Franchise. In this house, all the states have representation on the basis of their population. The President of India enjoys the power to dissolve the house when such situations arise.
Benefits of Parliamentary form of Government The benefits of the parliamentary form of government are as follows:
1. Laws cannot be passed in hurry as if there are two houses of legislature. The second can look at that laws with extreme caution for correction, addition or omissions in the law.
2. The President of India nominates or appoints prominent persons in various fields of life such as education, literature, culture etc. to the Rajya Sabha. Those prominent persons’ knowledge and experience can be good for any government.
3. The members of Rajya Sabha are elected by different state legislatures. They represent the interest of their respective states.
4. In the parliamentary form of government, there is better cooperation between the legislature and the executive.
ORGANS OF THE GOVERNMENT The government consists of three organs : 1. The legislature 2. The Executive 3. The Judiciary 50
The will of the state is formulated, expressed and implemented through these organs of the government.
THE PARLIAMENT In India, the Union Legislature is called the parliament. Parliament consists of the President of India, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The members of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are called members of parliament. The Parliament is the highest law making body of the country. The parliament of India makes laws on subjects containing in the union list and the concurrent list. It can also make law on state list during the President’s rule on particular state. The Parliament of India is situated in New Delhi. It is a circular building with three chambers
The Lok Sabha Composition The Lok Sabha is called the lower House of Parliament. It is the representative body of the people, which consists of not more than 552 elected members. These members are directly elected by the voters in the states and Union Territories. Two members of Anglo Indians are nominated by President if he/she feels that the community has not got adequate representation. The present strength of the Lok Sabha is 543. 530 members of Parliament are elected by the 29 states while remaining 13 are from the Union Territories. Every Indian citizen, who has got 18 years of age has the right to vote. The seats in the Lok Sabha are allotted to the states and the Union Territories on the basis of their respective population. The state which has the largest population gets more seats.
Election: For the member of Lok Sabha, elections are held through secret ballot. People can cast their votes secretly in favour of the candidates of their choice without any fear Government makes arrangement for fair polling. Voting is the fundamental duty of a citizen. Voter is the real force behind democracy. Elected members take care of their respective constituencies.
Qualification : A candidate needs following qualifications for election to Lok Sabha.
1. 2. 3. 4. He must be a citizen of India. He must have completed age of 25 years. He should not be unsound mind. He should not hold any office of profit under the government of India or any state government. 5. of e 2 y n e e e K 51 He should have such other qualification as may be prescribed by any law made by the parliament. 6. He should have his name in the electoral rolls in any part of the country.
Tenure: The normal tenure of Lok Sabha is five years. The tenure of Lok Sabha may be extended for one year at a time during emergency and can be dissolved earlier by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Speakers is the head of Lok Sabha. He is the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha. Elected members of the Lok Sabha elect him amongst themselves. Generally the speaker is from the ruling party but he has to act impartially after election.
Powers and Functions of the speaker
The speaker presides over the meeting of the Lok Sabha. The speaker presides over the joint meeting of the Houses of Parliament. He maintains discipline in the Lok Sabha. He exercises control over Parliamentary committees. He has power to expunge unparliamentary words used by a member of the House. He accepts the resignations of the members.
