1) The Union Legislature - the Parliament (Sansad) consisting of the President of India

and two houses i.e., Lok Sabha (Lower House) and Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
2) Lok Sabha (Lower House)
 It is the house of people
 Its members are directly elected by the people
 It represents the people of India
3) Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
 It is the second House is the Council of States
 Its members are indirectly elected
 It represents the states of India
4) Role of President
 He / she is not a member of any of the two Houses but is an integral part of the
Parliament
 No Bill can become a law without her/his approval.
5) Define the three types of Lists?

Ans. 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 –

1) Union List –
 This list contains 97 subjects of the national importance
 Only the parliament has the exclusive power to legislate to them
 Some of the subjects in this list are defence, foreign affairs, war and peace,
railways, post offices, foreign exchange etc.
2) State List –
 This list contains 66 subjects of state importance
 The state legislature has exclusive power to make laws on these subjects
 In some circumstances, the parliament can also make laws on subjects
mentioned in the State List
 Some of the subjects in this list are police, local government, public health &
sanitation, agriculture, forests etc.
 3) Concurrent List –
 This list contains 52 subjects
 The Parliament as well as the state Legislatures both make laws on the subjects
enlisted this list
 In case of some conflicts, the central law prevails over the state laws
 Subjects in this list are agricultural land, adulteration of foodstuffs, drugs and
medicines, labour welfare etc.
4) Residuary subjects
 The subjects not included in the above mentioned three lists or any such matter
which will arise with the passage of time
 These subjects come under the central government and the Parliament can make
laws on it.
 Subjects in this list are computer software and hardware, e-commerce,
information technology etc.

Composition of Lok Sabha

1. The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha shall not exceed 552
 2. Out of this 552, 530 members are directly elected by the people from different states
whereas the remaining 20 are elected from the Union Territories and the rest two
members are nominated by the President from the Anglo-Indian community.
3. Elections are based on secret ballot and the candidate getting the highest number of
votes in a constituency is declared elected.
4. If 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
5. Some seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes.

Qualification of a person to become a member of Lok Sabha (From Book)

Tenure

 The normal term of Lok Sabha is five years. However the President of India can
dissolve it earlier also 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
 The speaker and the deputy speaker are elected by the members from amongst
themselves
 Normally, the speaker is elected from the majority party and the Deputy Speaker
is from the opposition party.

Power and Functions of the Speaker (From book)

Composition of Rajya Sabha

1. The maximum strength of Rajya Sabha is 250

 2. Out of these, 12 members are nominated by the President of India and the remaining
238 members are elected from the states and the two Union states (Delhi and
Puducherry) by the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies
3. The 12 nominated members are distinguished personalities who excel in various
fields of art, literature, science, social service, sports etc.

Qualification – to become a member of Rajya Sabha,

 He/she must be a citizen of India

 He /she must not less than 30 years of age
 Her/his name must be in the voters’ list

Election and Tenure

 Rajya Sabha is a permanent house and can never be dissolved

 After every two years, one-third of its members retire and elections are held to
fill these seats
 So, each member of Rajya Sabha has a term of six years

Presiding officer of Rajya Sabha

 The vice president of India is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He/she
presides the meetings of the Rajya Sabha and maintains the decorum & discipline
of the House.
 Since he/she is not a member of the House, he/she cannot vote on any issue
unlike the Lok Sabha Speaker
 the Deputy Chairman is elected from the members themselves and performs the
duties of the Chairman in his/her absence

Legislative Powers

 The parliament is the highest law-making body

  It makes laws on all the subjects mentioned 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
 How does an ordinary bill become a law?
a) 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
b) Approval of both of the Houses is necessary for passing a bill
c) In case of disagreement between the two Houses (for ordinary bill only) a
majority vote is taken in the joint meeting of both the Houses
d) There is no provision for holding a joint meeting in case of money bills or
amendment bills
e) After a bill is approved by both the houses, it is sent to the President for
her/his consent
f) Once the consent is provided, the bill becomes law

Control over the Executive

 The council of ministers in our parliamentary form of democracy is collective

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 question and this period
when the questions are asked is called the Question Hour
 The Lok Sabha has more effective control over the Union Executive since the
Rajya Sabha cannot pass a vote of no-confidence

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 expenditure 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 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.

Judicial Powers

 The Parliament is empowered to remove the President, the Judges of the

Supreme Court and the High Courts thru a process called Impeachment
 For this, a resolution has to be passed by both the Houses of the Parliament by
special majority i.e., absolute majority of total membership and two-third
majority of members present and voting in each House during the same session.

Electoral Functions

 The members of the Parliament exercise their right to vote to elect the President
the Vice President of India.