Political Science video notes

Legislature

Class 11ᵗʰ
 Legislature
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Introduction Didn’t understand? Watch the video (Click Here)
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The Composition and functioning of the Parliament and State legislatures in

India and their importance in democratic government.
The importance of the legislature
The functions and powers of the Parliament of India
The law making procedure and how the Parliament controls the executive
How the Parliament regulates itself
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Legislature is not merely a law making body.

Lawmaking is one of the functions of the legislature.
It is the centre of all democratic political process.
It is packed with action, walkouts, protests, demonstration, unanimity, concern
and co-operation.
Yet, in most democracies, legislatures are losing central place to the executive.
In India too, the Cabinet initiates policies, sets the agenda for governance and
carries them through.
This has led some critics to remark that the Parliament has declined. But even
very strong cabinets must retain majority in the legislature.
A strong leader has to face the Parliament and answer to the satisfaction of
the Parliament.
Herein lies the democratic potential of the Parliament. It is recognised as one
of the most democratic and open forum of debate.
On account of its composition, it is the most representative of all organs of
government.
It is above all, vested with the power to choose and dismiss the government.

The Constitution has given the States the option of establishing either a
unicameral or bicameral legislature. At present only six States have a bicameral
legislature.

Andhra pradesh Maharastra

States yaad
Bihar Telangana
rkhna

Karnataka Uttar pradesh

 Countries with large size and much diversity usually prefer to have two
houses of the national legislature to give representation to all sections in the
society and to give representation to all geographical regions or parts of the
country.
A bicameral legislature makes it possible to have every decision
reconsidered.
Every decision taken by one house goes to the other house for its decision.
This means that every bill and policy would be discussed twice.
This ensures a double check on every matter.
Even if one house takes a decision in haste, that decision will come for
discussion in the other house and reconsideration will be possible

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Rajya sabha Didn’t understand? Watch

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One way is to give equal representation to all the parts of the country
irrespective of their size or population.
We may call this as symmetrical representation.
Each of the two Houses of Parliament has different bases of representation.
The Rajya Sabha represents the States of India. It is an indirectly elected
body.
Residents of the State elect members to State Legislative Assembly.
The elected members of State Legislative Assembly in turn elect the members
of the Rajya Sabha.
There are two different principles of representation in the second chamber.
One way is to give equal representation to all the parts of the country
irrespective of their size or population.
Each of the two Houses of Parliament has different bases of representation.
The Rajya Sabha represents the States of India.
It is an indirectly elected body. Residents of the State elect members to State
Legislative Assembly.
The elected members of State Legislative Assembly in turn elect the members of
the Rajya Sabha.
There are two different principles of representation in the second chamber.
On the other hand, parts of the country may be given representation according to
their population.
This second method means that regions or parts having larger population
would have more representatives in the second chamber than regions having less
population.

We may call this as symmetrical representation.

On the other hand, parts of the country may be given representation
according to their population.
This second method means that regions or parts having larger population
would have more representatives in the second chamber than regions having
less population.
What would happen if we were to follow the American system of equality of
representation in the Rajya Sabha?
Uttar Pradesh with a population of 1998.12 lakhs would get seats equal to that
of Sikkim whose population is only 6.10 lakhs.

The framers of the Constitution wanted to prevent such discrepancy.

States with larger population get more representatives than States with
smaller population get.
Thus, a more populous State like Uttar Pradesh sends 31 members to the
Rajya Sabha, while a smaller and less population State like Sikkim has one
seat in the Rajya Sabha.
Members of the Rajya Sabha are elected for a term of six years.
They can get re-elected. All members of the Rajya Sabha do not complete
their terms at the same time.
Every two years, one third members of the Rajya Sabha complete their term
and elections are held for those one third seats only.

Thus, the Rajya Sabha is never fully dissolved.

Therefore, it is called the permanent House of the Parliament.
The advantage of this arrangement is that even when the Lok Sabha is
dissolved and elections are yet to take place, the meeting of the Rajya
Sabha can be called and urgent business can be conducted.
Apart from the elected members, Rajya Sabha also has twelve nominated
members.
The President nominates these members.
These nominations are made from among those persons who have made
their mark in the fields of literature, science, art and social service.
 Germany has a bicameral legislature. The two houses are known as
federal assembly and federal council assembly is elected by a complex
process combining direct and proportional representation for a period
of four years. The 16 federal state of Germany are represented in the
federal council.
According to German law, all the members from one state have a
vote as a bloc as per the instructions of the state governments.

Bicameralism in Germany
Lok sabha Didn’t understand? Watch
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The Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies are directly elected by the
people.
For the purpose of election, the entire country (State, in case of State
Legislative Assembly) is divided into territorial constituencies of roughly equal
population.
One representative is elected from each constituency through universal adult
suffrage where the value of vote of every individual would be equal to another.
At present there are 543 constituencies.
This number has not changed since 1971 census.
The Lok Sabha is elected for a period of five years.

Comparison
between power of
Lok sabha and
rajya sabha
functions of Parliament Didn’t understand? Watch
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Legislative Function:
The Parliament enacts legislations for the country.
Despite being the chief law making body, the Parliament often merely approves
legislations.
The actual task of drafting the bill is performed by the bureaucracy under the
supervision of the minister concerned.
The substance and even the timing of the bill are decided by the Cabinet.
No major bill is introduced in the Parliament without the approval of the Cabinet.
Members other than ministers can also introduce bills but these have no chance of
being passed without the support of the government.

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Control of Executive and ensuring its accountability:

Parliament ensures that the executive does not overstep its authority and
remains responsible to the people who have elected them.
Financial Function:
Every government raises resources through taxation.
However, in a democracy, legislature controls taxation and the way in which
money is used by the government.
If the Government of India proposes to introduce any new tax, it has to get the
approval of the Lok Sabha.
The financial powers of the Parliament involve grant of resources to the
government to implement its programmes.
The government has to give an account to the legislature about the money it
has spent and resources that it wishes to raise.
Representation:
Parliament represents the divergent views of members from different regional,
social, economic, religious groups of different parts of the country.
Debating Function:
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.
Electoral functions:
The Parliament also performs some electoral functions.
It elects the President and Vice President of India.
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.
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Special powers of Rajya sabha the video (Click Here)

The Rajya Sabha is an institutional mechanism to provide representation to

the States.
Its purpose is to protect the powers of the States.
Therefore, any matter that affects the States must be referred to it for its
consent and approval.
Thus, if the Union Parliament wishes to remove a matter from the State list
(over which only the State Legislature can make law) to either the Union List or
Concurrent List in the interest of the nation, the approval of the Rajya Sabha is
necessary.
This provision adds to the strength of the Rajya Sabha.
However, experience shows that the members of the Rajya Sabha represent their
parties more than they represent their States.
Powers exercised only by the Lok Sabha:
Then, there are powers that only the Lok Sabha exercises.
The Rajya Sabha cannot initiate, reject or amend money bills.
The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha and not Rajya Sabha.
Therefore, Rajya Sabha can criticise the government but cannot remove it.
Can you explain why? The Rajya Sabha is elected by the MLAs and not directly
by the people.
Therefore, the Constitution stopped short of giving certain powers to the Rajya
Sabha.
In a democratic form as adopted by our Constitution, the people are the final
authority.
By this logic, the representatives, directly elected by the people, should have the
crucial powers of removing a government and controlling the finances.
 How does the Parliament make laws?
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The basic function of any legislature is to the video (Click Here)
make laws for its people.
A definite procedure is followed in the
process of making law.
Some of the procedures of law making are
mentioned in the Constitution, while some
have evolved from conventions.

A bill is a draft of the proposed law.

There can be different types of bills.
When a non-minister proposes a bill, it is
called private member’s Bill.
A bill proposed by a minister is described
as Government Bill.

Law making is thus not merely a legal procedure but also a political course of
action.
The preparation of a bill itself involves many considerations such as resources
required to implement the law, the support or opposition that the bill is likely to
produce, the impact that the law may have on the electoral prospect of the
ruling party etc.
In the era of coalition politics especially, a bill proposed by the government has
to be acceptable to all the partners of the coalition.
Such practical considerations can hardly be ignored.
The Cabinet considers all these before arriving at a decision to enact a law.
Once the Cabinet approves the policy behind the legislation, the task of drafting
the legislation begins.
The draft of any bill is prepared by the concerned ministry.

For instance a bill raising the marriageable age of girls from 18 to 21 will be
prepared by the law ministry.
The ministry of women and child welfare may also be involved in it.
Within the Parliament, a bill may be introduced in the Lok Sabha or Rajya
Sabha by a member of the House (but often a minister responsible for the
subject introduces the bill).
A money bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha.
Once passed there, it is sent to the Rajya Sabha .
A large part of the discussion on the bills takes place in the committees.
The recommendation of the committee is then sent to the House.
That is why committees are referred to as miniature legislatures.
This is the second stage in the law making process.
 In the third and final stage, the bill is voted
upon.
If a non-money bill is passed by one House,
it is sent to the other House where it goes
through exactly the same procedure.
A bill has to be passed by both Houses for
enactment.
If there is disagreement between the two
Houses on the proposed bill, attempt is made
to resolve it through Joint Session of
Parliament.
In the few instances when joint ssions of the
parliament were called to resolve a
deadlock, the decision has always gone in
favour of the Lok Sabha.
If it is a money bill, the Rajya Sabha can
either approve the bill or suggest changes
but cannot reject it.
If it takes no action within 14 days the bill is deemed to have been passed.
Amendments to the bill, suggested by Rajya Sabha, may or may not be
accepted by the Lok Sabha.
There are many ways in which the Parliament can control the executive.
But basic to them all is the power and freedom of the legislators as people’s
representatives to work effectively and fearlessly.
For instance, no action can be taken against a member for whatever the
member may have said in the legislature.
This is known as parliamentary privilege,
The presiding officer of the legislature has the final powers in deciding
matters of breach of privilege.
The main purpose of such privileges is to enable the members of the
legislature to represent the people and exercise effective control over the
executive.

Instruments of parliamentary control Didn’t understand? Watch

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The legislature in parliamentary system ensures executive accountability at various

stages: policy making, implementation of law or policy and during and
postimplementation stage.

Deliberation Approval or Financial

No
and refusal of control
confidence
discussion law
The legislature does this through the use of a variety of devices:

Deliberation and discussion:

During the law making process, members of the legislature get an opportunity
to deliberate on the policy direction of the executive and the ways in which
policies are implemented.
Apart from deliberating on bills, control may also be exercised during the
general discussions in the House.
The Question Hour, which is held every day during the sessions of Parliament,
where Ministers have to respond to searching questions raised by the members;
Zero Hour where members are free to raise any matter that they think is
important (though the ministers are not bound to reply), half-an-hour discussion
on matters of public importance, adjournment motion, etc., are some
instruments of exercising control.

Perhaps the question hour is the most effective method of keeping vigil on the
executive and the administrative agencies of the government.
Members of Parliament have shown great interest in question hour and
maximum attendance is recorded during this time.
Most of the questions aim at eliciting information from the government on issues
of public interest such as, price rise, availability of food grains, atrocities on
weaker sections of the society, riots, black-marketing, etc.
This gives the members an opportunity to criticise the government, and
represent the problems of their constituencies.

The discussions during the question hour are so heated that it is not uncommon
to see members raise their voice, walk to the well of the house or walk out in
protest to make their point.
This results in considerable loss of legislative time.
In the last two decades, there has been a gradual decline in sessions of the Lok
Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies and time spent on debates.
Moreover, the Houses of the Parliament have been plagued by absence of
quorum, boycott of sessions by members of opposition which deprive the house
the power to control the executive through discussion.

What do the committee of parliament do?

A significant feature of the legislative process is the appointment of committees

for various legislative purposes.
These committees play a vital role not merely in law making, but also in the
day-to-day business of the House.
Since the Parliament meets only during sessions, it has very limited time at its
disposal.
The making of law for instance requires in-depthstudy of the issue under
consideration.

This in turn demands more attention and time.

Similarly, there are other important functions also, like studying the demands
for grants made by various ministries, looking into expenditure incurred by
various departments, investigating cases of corruption etc.

Parliamentary committees perform such functions. Since 1983, India has

developed a system of parliamentary standing committees.
There are over twenty such departmentally related committees.
Standing Committees supervise the work of various departments, their budget,
their expenditure and bills that come up in the house relating to the
department.
Apart from standing committees, the Joint Parliamentary Committees have
occupied a position of eminence in our country.
Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) can be set up for the purpose of
discussing a particular bill, like the joint committee to discuss bill, or for the
purpose of investigating financial irregularities.

Members of these committees are selected from both Houses.

The committee system has reduced the burden on the Parliament.
Many important bills have been referred to committees.
The Parliament has merely approved the work done in the committees with
few occasional alterations.
Of course legally speaking, no bill can become law, and no budget will be
sanctioned unless approved by the Parliament.
But the Parliament rarely rejects the suggestions made by the committees.

How does the parliament Regulate itself?

Parliament as mentioned earlier is a debating forum.
It is through debates that the parliament performs all its vital functions.
Such discussions must be meaningful and orderly so that the functions of the
Parliament are carried out smoothly and its dignity is intact.
The Constitution itself has made certain provisions to ensure smooth conduct of
business.
The presiding officer of the legislature is the final authority in matters of
regulating the business of the legislature.
An amendment to the Constitution was made (52nd amendment act) in 1985.
This is known as anti-defection amendment.
It has also been subsequently modified by the 91st amendment.
 The presiding officer of the House is the authority who takes final decisions on
all such cases.
If it is proved that a member has ‘defected’, then such member loses the
membership of the House. Besides, such a person is also disqualified from
holding any political office like ministership, etc.
What is defection?

If a member remains absent in the House when asked by the party leadership
to remain present or votes against the instructions of the party or
voluntarily leaves the membership of the party, it is deemed as defection.
Experience of the past twenty years shows that the anti-defection
amendment has not been able to curb defections, but it has given additional
powers to the party leadership and the presiding officers of the legislatures
over the members.

Conclusion
Our Parliament is truly a rainbow of colourful dresses symbolising different regions
of the country. Members speak different languages in the course of the
proceedings. They come from various castes, religions and sects.They often fight
bitterly. They can express the interests of various sections of our society. On
account of its composition, Legislature is the most representative of all organs of
government. The sheer presence of members of diverse social backgrounds makes
the legislatures more representative and potentially more responsive to people’s
expectations. In a parliamentary democracy, legislature, as a body representing the
wishes of the people occupies a high position of power and responsibility.

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