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Summary
Polity Class 19

A brief overview of the previous class and Q&A session (05:00 PM)

PARLIAMENT (05:09 PM)

  • Constitution has given a responsibility to ensure constitutional governance to three organs of state- Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary. 
  • Democracy- It works on the principle of Rule of law, Separation of powers. 
  • Parliamentary democracy
  • People elected representatives
  • Bicameral legislature- Lok Sabha (Lower house) and Rajya Sabha (Upper house). 
  • Members of LS are elected directly by people through the First past the post system from the constituency. 
  • Voters= 18 years and above + registered as voters in ECI 
  • Dilution of decision-making powers
  • Democracy (140 crores) > Parliament (800 MPs)> CoM form of government (around 80) > Cabinet(27-36) form of government > Kitchen cabinets (seniormost members)> Prime ministerial form of government (PM takes decisions without consulting the seniormost ministers). 
  • CoM= Cabinet ministers + MoS (independent charge) + MoS
  • Cabinet ministers= independent charge of one or more ministries
  • Only cabinet ministers will attend the meetings of the cabinet

PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN INDIA (06:17 PM)

  • At the time of independence, our constitutional makers opted for democracy as they felt that it was the only democracy that could protect and promote the ideals enshrined in our constitution. 
  • They had two choices in front of them- Parliamentary democracy and a Presidential form of democracy. 
  • They have evaluated the relative merits and demerits of both these systems. 
  • Merits of parliamentary democracy (06:20 PM)
  • Parliamentary democracy ensures continuous accountability of the executive towards the legislature. 
  • PM and Council of Ministers can stay in power only till they have a majority in Lok sabha. 
  • Members of Parliament come from different states and it can ensure that the interests of all regions in the country can be protected. 
  • PM can not become a dictator due to various checks and balances that exist in Parliamentary democracy. 
  • But Parliamentary democracy also has certain weaknesses
  • The executive will have to spend most of its time on survival because they are continuously accountable to the legislature. 
  • It can also result in political instability. For example- between 1989 and 1999 the country witnessed elections for Lok Sabha 5 times. 
  • Parliamentary democracy can also lead to policy paralysis in administration i.e. the executive will not be able to take tough policy decisions because of the survival of his government
  • [* Scams in the government led to policy paralysis. Also, there was fear of the 4 Cs- Court, CAG, CBI, and CVC. Thus bureaucrats were also fearing of taking any decisions which led to Policy paralysis. The government was not taking any tough decisions ]

PRESIDENTIAL FORM OF DEMOCRACY (06:46 PM)

  • There is a clear-cut separation of powers between the legislature and the executive. The president is not part of the legislature. 
  • The presidential form of democracy can ensure stability in governance. It becomes almost impossible to impeach the president. For example- in the USA, in the last 230 years no president was removed before the expiry of his term as it requires 2/3rd majorities in the House of Representatives and also in the Senate. 
  • But the presidential form of democracy can lead to the dictatorship of the president
  • Our constitutional makers have opted for parliamentary democracy for the following reasons
  • a) They felt that if a charismatic person becomes the president of the country, there is every possibility of the president transforming himself into a dictator. 
  • b) They felt that accountability should be given more importance than the stability offered by presidential democracy. 
  • c) India had already experienced parliamentary democracy during British rule. It was felt by our constitutional makers that it is better to go with a "known devil" (parliamentary democracy) than an "Unknown Angel" (Presidential democracy). 

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY (07:00 PM)

  • In a parliamentary democracy, the executive is part of the legislature, and it is accountable to the legislature. For example- A person can become part of the Council of Ministers and PM only when he is eligible to become a member of parliament. 
  • Parliament in India consists of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and the President. 
  • In a parliamentary democracy, there is a difference between nominal executive and real executive. The president is the Nominal executive and is also the head of state and the PM who heads the Council of Ministers is the real executive. He is the head of the government. 
  • Any political party that has the majority in Lok Sabha is invited by the President to form the government. The leader of a political party will become the PM.  
  • The PM and his CoM are accountable to Lok Sabha. It is known as the collective responsibility of CoM.
  • CoM consists of 
  • a) Cabinet ministers
  • b) Ministers of State (Independent charge)
  • c) Minister of State. 
  • The term of Lok Sabha is 5 years but it can be dissolved before the expiry of the term.  
  • Lok Sabha constituencies are territorial constituencies that are created on the basis of population. 
  • Another feature of parliamentary democracy is the multi-party system. Candidates from different political parties along with independents can contest elections and elections are held on the basis of the FPTP system (First past the post system). 
  • Any candidate who gets one vote more than his nearest rival can be declared elected. 
  • Parliament has various instruments to ensure continuous accountability of the executive. They include
  • a) Question hour- During this period MPs can raise the question regarding the functioning of the government. Parliament starts at this hour (11 AM). During this hour MPs can raise the question regarding the functioning of the particular ministry.
  • There can be two types of questions- Starred and Unstarred questions. In the case of starred questions the minister has to give a written reply and no supplementary question can follow. Whereas in the case of the unstarred questions oral reply can be given and supplementary questions can follow. 
  • This has been taken from British parliamentary practice
  • b) Zero Hour- This is an Indian innovation. After the question hour (11 AM to 12 PM), the Zero hour starts. They can ask questions related to any ministries. In case the Ministers fail to reply, the PM has to reply.  
  • c) Short-duration discussions.
  • d) Passing of Bills- To discuss, debate, and pass the Bills. The members do not have technical expertise so it is delegated to the Executive. Once the Bill is introduced then it will be discussed, debated, and transferred to a select committee and after that, it is voted on the floor of the house.  
  • e) Confidence and No-confidence motion- PM headed by CoM is accountable to LS. Government can remain in power till it has the majority of the House. 
  • f) Adjournment motion. 
  • g) Passing of Budget
  • h) Parliamentary committee system- Permanent committee, Department related standing committees, Public accounts committee, etc 
  • i) Cut motions- These can be discussed while passing of the Budget- Economy cut, Policy cut, Token cut, etc. If the budget is not passed then the government has to resign. [* Two cases where the government has to resign- Passing of no-confidence motion, If budget is not passed]
  • j) Discussion and debates. 
  • Question:- Discuss the reasons for India opting for parliamentary democracy and also explain the features of Parliamentary democracy. (15 marks/ 250 words)

Discussion of UPSC PYQ and Q&A session (07:40 PM)

The Topic for the next class:- Parliament and the analysis of the functioning of the parliament.