Chapter 18.Learning.
The Union
Government:
The
Legislature in a vast country like India with diverse languages, religions,
customs, traditions, lifestyles, climat conditions and geographical features,
it becomes difficult to have a single unified administrativ set-up. Therefore, we opted for a federal form of
government, where there are various levels of government. The aim of a federation is to bring unity in
diversity by harmonizing the opposing force so as to achieve common national
goals.
In a federal structure, there are
different levels of government, i.e.
national level, state leve and grassroot level. At the national level, we have a central
government; at the state level, there ar
state governments and at the lowest level, we have rural as well as urban local
self - government also called local bodies.
Each of the 29 States in India has a government of its own with a
Governo as the Head of the State. Every
State is governed by a Council of Ministers headed by a Chief Minister who is
also called Head of the Government at the State level.
The topmost level of government in India is
the Union Government or the Central Governments It is also called the National
Government.The Union Government has
three organs - the Legislature the Executive and the Judiciary.
In this chapter, we will study about the
Union Legislature.The Union Legislature
is called th Parliament (Sansad). Indian
Parliament is bicameral and consists of two houses named - Lok Sabh and Rajya
Sabha. The Union Executive comprises of
the President of India (Rashtrapati) and the Union Council of Ministers headed
by the Prime Minister. The third organ
is the Judiciary. The highe apex court
of India is the Supreme Court of India, which has maximum 31 judges headed by
the Chief Justice of India.
The Union
Government.
The Legislature Parliament Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The Executive
The President of India The Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers.
The Judiciary The Supreme Court of India The Chief Justice of India and 25
sitting Judges (maximum number can be 31
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To ensure that the Union and the State Governments have a definite
jurisdiction of legislative powers without any conflict or overlapping of
functioning,
the makers of our Constitution enumerated and divided all the
subjects on which laws could be made into three lists.
These are 1. Union List 2. State List 3.
Concurrent List
All the ninety seven subjects of the Union List are of national
importance. Only the Parliament has the
exclusive power to legislate on them.
Some of the subjects in the Union List are defense, foreign affairs, war
and peace, railways, post offices, currency, foreign exchange, etc.
The State List contains sixty six subjects
like police, local government, public health and sanitation, agriculture,
forests, etc. The Post Office Defense
State Legislature has exclusive power to Subjects under Union List make laws on
these subjects. But in certain
circumstances, the Parliament can also make laws on subjects mentioned in the
State List. Agriculture Public Health
Subjects under State List.
The third list is the Concurrent List which has fifty
two subjects and includes subjects, such as marriage and divorce, transfer of
property other than agricultural land, adulteration of foodstuffs, drugs and
medicines, labor welfare, etc. The
Parliament as well as the State Legislatures both may make laws on the subjects
enlisted in the Concurrent List. But in
case of conflict, the central law prevails over the state laws.
The subjects not included in the above
mentioned three lists marriage or any such matter which will arise with the
passage of time comes.
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Under the
center and the Parliament can make laws on it.
Such subjects are called residuary subjects. Computer software and hardware, e - commerce,
information technology, etc. , are some
examples of residuary subjects.
Let us
now study the three main organs of the Union Government. In this chapter, we shall study about the
Union Legislature only an IT Office Residuary Subject
The Union Legislature.
The
long struggle for freedom transformed into a mass movement and ultimately
succeeded in ushering freedom and self rule.
It was a dream come true for the people of India who aspired for a
democratic self - government. So, the
Constitution of India laid down the principle of Universal Adult Franchise
according to which all citizens who are 18 or more than 18 years of age have
the right to vote. This right gives the
people an opportunity to actively participate in the political process of the
country. They elect their representatives
who constitute the Parliament that controls and guides the Union
Government. People express their trust
in the functioning of our democratic set-up.
The Parliament, is the legislative organ of the Union Government. It consists of the President of India and two
Houses. The House of the People is known
as Lok Sabha and is also called the Lower House. Its members are directly elected by the
people.
The second House is the Council
of States, known as Rajya Sabha or the Upper House. Its members are indirectly elected. The President of India is not Mr. Ram Nath Kovind Present President of India a
member of any of the two Houses. But she
/ he is an integral part of the Parliament.
No bill can become a law without her / his approval. To ensure the principles of federalism, the
Lok Sabha represents the people of India and the Rajya Sabha represents the
states of India.
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Lok Sabha - The House of The People
The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha shall not
exceed 550. Out of this, 530 members are directly elected by the people from
different states, whereas the remaining 20 are elected from the Union
Territories Elections are based on
secret ballot and the candidate getting the highest number of votes in a
constituency is declared elected. In
case, the Anglo - Indian community is not represented adequately in the Lok
Sabha, the President of India has the power to nominate two members from this
community.
Some seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes.Persons belonging to these categories only
can contest the election from these reserved constitutions. But the electorate is joint which means the
eligible voters in that constituency have the right to vote without any discrimination. The purpose behind such a reservation is to
assist and uplift the weaker sections of the society and bring them into the
national mainstream.
Do you know ?
Facts about Distribution of Seats in the 16th
Lok Sabha
Largest Number of Constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh (80).
Lowest number of Constituences are in Sikkim
(01), Mizoram (01), Nagaland (01) Arunachal Pradesh (01). Manipur (02).
Tripura (02).
The New State of
Telangana has 17 constituencies.
National Capital Territory of Delhi has 07 constituencies.
Other Union Territories have 06
constituencies.
The reservation of seats
for women is also a burning topic these days.
Since half of the population of this country, i.e, women have only a
negligible representation in the Legislatures at both the levels the demand is
gaining momentum that the Women Reservation Bill should be passed in the
Parliament.
Do you know? Mahatma Gandhi once said, "As long as
women of Indio do not take part in public life, there can be no salvation for
the country
Qualifications
In order to become a member of the Lok Sabha, the
candidate must have the following qualifications:
She / He must be a citizen of India.
She / He
must have completed the 25 years of age
Her / His name must be in the voters' list.
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She / He must possess such other qualifications
as may be prescribed under law made by the Parliament She / He should not be a
government servant.
Do you know? If two candidates poll the same number of
votes, example, 70,000 each, then the winner is declared by lottery.
Tenure The
normal term of Lok Sabha is five years.
However, the President of India can dissolve it earlier also, but only
on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
The term of Lok Sabha can be extended for a period of one year at a
time, if such a bill is passed by the Parliament to meet some emergency
situation, for the orderly and smooth working of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker are elected by
the members from amongst themselves.
There is a tradition that the Speaker is elected from the majority party
and the Deputy Speaker from the opposition party,
Mr. G. V. Mavalankar First Speaker of Lok Sabha
Mrs. Meira Kumar First Woman Speaker of
Lok Sabha
Powers and Functions of the Speaker
The Speaker
presides over the meetings of Lok Sabha.
In her / his absence, the house is chaired by the Deputy Speaker
The Speaker maintains
discipline and decorum of the house. If
the situation demands, the. Speaker can
adjourn the House.
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All the petitions and documents addressed to
the House are received by the Speaker.
It is the Lok Sabha Speaker who presides
over the joint sitting of both the Houses of the Parliament
The Rajya Sabha.
The
maximum strength of Rajya Sabha is 250. Out of these, 12 members are nominated by the President of
India and the remaining 238 are elected from the States and Union Territories
by the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies. The 12 nominated members are distinguished
personalites who excel in various fields of art, literature, science, social
service, sports, etc.,
Qualifactions
To become a member of Rajya Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and not
less than 30 years of age. Her / His
name must be in the voters' list.
Do you
know?
People do not participate directly
in the election of the Rajya Sabha members.
The members are elected indirectly by the State Legislators elected MLAs
only.
Delhi is not a state, yet its
assembly elects three members to the Rajya Sabha.
Election and Tenure
Unlike Lok Sabha, the
Rajya Sabha is a Permanent House which can never be dissolved. After every two years, one - third of its
members retire and elections are held to fill these seats. Therefore, each member of Rajya Sabha has a
term of six years.
Presiding Officer
The
Vice President of India is the ex - officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Like the Lok Sabha Speaker, she / he also
presides over the meetings of Rajya Sabha, conducts its proceedings and
maintains the discipline and decorum of the House, since the Vice President is
not a member of the House, she / he cannot vote on any issue, whereas the Lok Sabha Speaker
can.
The Rajya Sabha elects its Deputy
Chairman also from amongst its members, who performs the of the Chairman in her / his absence.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan First Chairman of Rajya Sabha
Mr. Venkaiah Naidu Present Chairman of duties Rajya
Sabha
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Powers And Functions of Union Parliament.
Legislative Powers
The Parliament is the
highest law making body. It makes laws
on all the subjects enlisted in the Union List, the Concurrent List and the
Residuary subjects.Under special
circumstances, it can also make laws on the subjects given in the state
list.
The making of a law is initiated
by introducing a legislative proposal for the bill (other than the money bill)
in either of the two houses of the Parliament.
Approval of both the houses is necessary for passing a bill. In case of disagreement between the two
houses (applicable to ordinary bills only).
A majority vote is taken in the joint meeting of both the Houses. There is no provision to hold a joint meeting
in case of money bills or amendment bills.
After a bill is approved by both the Houses, it is sent to the President
for her / his consent. Once the consent
is provided, the bill becomes a law.
Control over the Executive
In the parliamentary form of democracy, the
Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. In case, a vote of no - confidence is passed
against any one minister, the whole Council of Ministers has to resign collectively. The Parliament also controls the executive by
asking questions. The period when
questions are asked is called the Question Hour. Since Rajya Sabha cannot pass a vote of no -
confidence, Lok Sabha has more effective control over the Union Executive.
Financial Powers The annual budget of the
Central Government is passed by the Parliament every year.The government cannot impose any tax or incur
any carefully if the proposals are not approved by the Parliament.Regarding money matters, Lok Sabha is much
more powerful than Rajya Sabha.The
money bills can only be introduced in Lok Sabha. If Rajya Sabha makes any recommendation
regarding a money bill, Lok Sabha may or may not Mr.Arun Jaitley Finance Minister (2014 till
date) accept it.
Power to Amend the
Constitution
Regarding amendment of the Constitution, both the Houses enjoy
equal power.An amendment bill can be
introduced in either House.But it must
be passed by each House separately.The
Constitution of India provides three methods of amending the Constitution about
which you have already read in Chapter 16.
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Judicial Powers The Parliament is empowered to remove
the President, the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The procedure adopted for this purpose is
called impeachment. For this, a
resolution has to be passed by both the Houses of the Parliament by special
majority, ie absolute majority o total membership and two - third majority of
members present and voting in each House during the same session. Electoral Functions
The Members of Parliament exercise their right to vote to elect the President and the Vice President of India.
Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral (1997–1998)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998-2004)
Manmohan Singh (2004-2014)
Narendra Modi (2014 - till date)
A few Prime Ministers of India
Keywords
budget an estimate of income and carefully for a given period of time.
constituency: a demarcated area from where voters choose their representatives,
decorum : dignified behavior / orderliness.
ex - officio: by virtue of being in office or holding an official position.
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