Legislature

Q. What does the Parliament do?

(i) LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION/POWER - Parliament is the final authority for making laws in any country.
Parliaments all over the world can make new laws, change existing laws, or abolish existing laws and
make new ones in their place.

(ii) EXECUTIVE FUNCTION/POWER - Parliaments all over the world exercise some control over those
who run the government. Those who run the government can take decisions only so long as they
enjoy support of the Parliament.

(iii) FINANCIAL FUNCTION/POWER- Parliament control all the money that governments have. Any
the public money can be spent only when the Parliament approves the budget.

(iv) IMPEACHMENT POWER- The Parliament can remove the President, the Vice-President, judges of
Supreme Court and High courts by passing a resolution of impeachment against them.

(v)DEBATING FUNCTION- Parliament is the highest forum of discussion and debate on public issues
and national policy in any country.
 Members are free to speak on any matter without fear.
 This makesit possible for the Parliament to analyse any or every issue that faces the nation.
 These discussions constitute the heart of democratic decision making.

(vi) CONSTITUENT FUNCTION- The Parliament has the power of discussing and enacting changes to
the Constitution.
 The constituent powers of both the houses are similar.
 All constitutional amendments have to be approved by a special majority of both Houses.

(vii)ELECTORAL FUNCTIONS-The Parliament also performs some electoral functions. It elects the
President and Vice President of India.

(viii) JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS- The judicial functions of the Parliament include considering the
proposals for removal of President, Vice-President and Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court.

Q.How Parliament becomes the people's institution?

A. Through elections based on universal adult franchise Parliament becomes the people's institution.

TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

LOK SABHA RAJYA SABHA

1) MAXIMUM 550 members can be the maximum 250 members can be the maximum
STRENGTH strength. strength.

543 elected members+ 2 Anglo- Indian 233 elected members+ 12

nominated by the President. nominated by the President.
2) TERM 5 years. 6 years.

House of people; get dissolves after 5 Council of state (Permanent house)

year i.e. elections are held after 5 years.
1/3rd members retire after every 2
In case of no-confidence motion, can years.
dissolve before the term of 5 years.

3) ELECTIONS Direct elections ( by the people of India).

4) MINIMUM AGE 25 years. 30 years.

FOR
MEMBERSHIP

5) PRESIDING Speaker- elected by the members of the Chairman- Vice President of India is
OFFICER House. the ex-officio chairman of
RajyaSabha.

6) POWERS LokSabha is more powerful than Powers of RajyaSabha

RajyaSabha as-

a) A bill is required to be passed by

a) ORDINARY LAW- Any ordinary law RajyaSabha also Indirect elections
needs to be passed by both the Houses. (by elected Members of State
But if there is a difference between the Legislative Assembly of various
two Houses, the final decision is taken in states).
a joint session in which members of
both the Houses sit together. Because of and it suggests amendments to
the larger number of members, the view money bills.
of the LokSabha is likely to prevail in
such a meeting.
b) RajyaSabha functions as
representative of Indian states.
b) CONTROL OVER COUNCIL OF
MINISTERS- LokSabha controls the
council of ministers. The leader of the c) No power to reject or amend
majority members in the LokSabha is money bills. The RajyaSabhacan only
appointed the Prime Minister. delay the money bill by 14 days.

d) Participants in the election and

c) MONEY BILL- Money bill can be removal of the President, Vice
introduced in LokSabha. Once the President, Judges of Supreme Court
LokSabha passes the budget the and High Court. It can alone initiate
 RajyaSabha cannot reject it. It can hold the procedure for removal of Vice
it only for 14 days. President.

e) Can give the Union parliament

power to make laws on matters
d) NO CONFIDENCE MOTION- If the included in the State list.
majority of the LokSabha members say
they have ‘no confidence’ in the Council
of Ministers, all ministers including the
Prime Minister, has to quit. The
RajyaSabha does not have this power.

The LokSabha is more powerful than the

RajyaSabha because the members of the
LokSabha are directly elected by the
people; it is the house of people.

Q.'' LokSabha is vested with the special powers ''. Comment

A. LokSabha is vested with the special powers like,
i) A no-confidence motion can be initiated and passed only in the LokSabha.The Council of Ministers
is responsible to the LokSabha and not RajyaSabha.
ii) Money Bill can be introduced only in the LokSabha. The RajyaSabhacannot reject or amend a
money bill.
iii) Under article 352, the LokSabha in a special sitting can disapprove the continuance of a national
emergency proclaimed by the President.

Q. How is LokSabha more powerful than the RajyaSabha?

A.LokSabha is more powerful because:
1) The members of the LokSabha are directly elected while those of Rajyasabha are indirectly
elected.
2 ) Money bill cannot be introduced by RajyaSabha
3 )LokSabha controls the executive whereas RajyaSabha has no effective control over Executive.

Q.What is the mechanism for resolving the deadlock between the two Houses?
A. A joint sitting of the Houses is convened for this purpose. In the case of Money Bills, there is no
question of a deadlock as the RajyaSabha has a limited say in such matters. There is no provision for
a joint sitting in case of a deadlock over a Constitution Amendment Bill. It cannot be passed if other
House does not pass it.

Q. What do you mean by “Quorum”?

A. The minimum number of members necessary for the conduct of proceedings is 1/10 of the total
membership of a house (including the speaker). This is known as Quorum.

Q. What is Quorum of the Houses of Parliament?

A. The quorum to initiate a session of the LokSabha is 55 members (one–tenth of the total
membership), including the Speaker or the person acting as such. At the beginning of the sitting each
day, before the Speaker takes the Chair, the existence of quorum is ascertained. The quorum to
constitute a meeting of RajyaSabha is one-tenth of the total number of members of the House, i.e.
25 members.

Q.What are the different types of the Parliamentary Bills?

A. Bill is the draft of a proposed law.
 Broadly, there are two types of Bills:
a) Government Bills: A bill proposed by the government i.e. a minister is described as Government
Bill.
b) Private bills- When a private member i.e. non-minister proposes a bill, it is called private
member’s Bill.
 Bills may be further classified on the basis of their content. The classification is as follows:

I. Non- Money bill:

a) Ordinary Bills: Any Bill, which is not a Constitution Amendment Bill or a Money Bill, is classified as
an Ordinary Bill.
b) The Constitution (Amendment) Bills: These refer to Bills that seek to amend the constitution of
India.

II. Money Bills:

Bills which exclusively contain provisions for imposition and abolition of taxes, for appropriation of
money out of the Consolidated Fund (the main bank account of the government), etc., are certified
as Money Bills. The Speaker decides that whether a financial bill is a Money Bill, if it is just a financial
bill, it is treated as an ordinary bill.

Q. Differentiate between
A) The money bill and non-money bill.
MONEY BILL NON- MONEY BILL

1. Money bill can be introduced in LokSabha 1. Non- money can be introduced in any of
the two houses.

2. Prior permission of the President is needed for 2. No such condition is needed in case of
presentation of the money bill non-money bill.

3. After being passed from the LokSabha, the money 3. Both the houses enjoy the same power if
bill is sent to the RajyaSabha. It may return the bill the bill is not passed by any one house, the
with certain suggestions. However after 14 days, the bill cannot become a law. In case of
bill will be considered as passed by RajyaSabha disagreement between the two houses, a
automatically. joint sitting can be called by the President,
which is presided over by the speaker in
order to remove deadlock.

4. In case of money bill, there is only one bill. 4. Non- money bill are of two types-

a) Private billb) Government bill

B) Private and government bill

Private bills Government Bills

 1. When a private member i.e. non-minister 1. A bill proposed by the government i.e. a
proposes a bill, it is called private member’s Bill. minister is described as Government Bill.

2. Generally, does not turn into a law because it 2. Generally becomes a law because it gets the
lacks support in the house support of the majority of the house.

Q. How does the Parliament control the Executive?

The legislature does this through the use of a variety of devices:
1. Deliberation and discussion: During the process of law making, members in legislature deliberate
on these bills. Apart from discussing, control is exercised through-
a) Question Hour- Question Hour is the first hour (11 a.m.) everyday during the sessions of the
parliament where members can raise questions about any aspect of administrative activity;ministers
have to respond to the questions raised by the members. It is often known as the liveliest part of the
sitting in the Parliament.

b) Zero hour- The time which begins soon after the question hour, i.e. 12 pm is known as Zero Hour,
where members are free to raise any matter that they think is important, without any permission or
prior notice (though the ministers are not bound to reply). Sometimes, they raise questions for
publicity. Hence, it leads to obstruction of regular proceeding and business of the house.

c) Half-an- hour discussion- A Half-an-Hour Discussion can be raised on a matter of public

importance

d) Adjournment motion- adjournment motion proposes that the house should lay aside all other
business and take up the matter of urgent public importance. Thus it interrupts the regular business
of the house.

2. Approval and ratification of laws: Parliamentary control is also exercised through its power of
ratification.
A bill can become a law only with the approval of the Parliament. Many bills, such as the Lok Pal Bill
have failed enactment, Prevention of Terrorism bill (2002) was rejected by the RajyaSabha.

3. Financial control:Preparation and presentation of budget needs the approval of the

legislature.The legislature may refuse to grant resources to the government. This seldom happens
because the government ordinarily enjoys support of the majority in the parliamentary system.
Nevertheless, before granting money the LokSabha can discuss the reasons for which the
government requires money. Through financial control, the legislature controls the policy of the
government.

4. No-confident motion- If the majority of the LokSabha members say they have ‘no confidence’ in
the Council of Ministers, all ministers including the Prime Minister, have to quit. After 1989, several
governments have been forced to resign due to lack of confidence of the house. Each of these
governments lost the confidence of the LokSabha because they failed to retain the support of their
coalition partners.

Thus, the Parliament can effectively control the executive and ensure a more responsive
government.

Q.What does the term budget imply?

A. The Budget is the annual financial statement of the government. It is a statement of the
estimated receipt and expenditure of the Government of India for the following financial year. It is
presentedin the LokSabha.
Budget is presented in two parts:
 Railway Budget- The Budget of the Indian Railways
 General Budget- It is presented in LokSabha by the Minister of Finance which also includes
proposals for fresh taxation or for variations in the existing taxes.
 Q. Write a note on Parliamentary Committees in India.
 A. Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds: Standing Committees and Ad hoc
Committees.
 a) Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees which are constituted from
time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business in LokSabha. The work of these Committees is of continuous
nature.
 The Financial Committees, Department Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) - committee
on agriculture, defence, labour, petroleum and natural gas etc. come under the category of
Standing Committees.
 b) Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when
they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
 The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills. Railway
Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House
Complex etc also comes under the category of ad hoc Committees.

 Q. What is the role of committees?
 A. To draft the provisions of the bill, it requires expertise and great research. Since, the
houses do not have much time to deliberate on every provision of the bill, so the
committees play a vital role in providing information about the provisions of the bill. Also it
has reduced the burden of parliament. It helps in the day to day business of the house.
 But these committees have the only authority to provide suggestions. They do not have
power if the house does not accept their suggestions.