There are governments at various levels: National, state and local. There are three organs of government i.e., Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. ➢ The Legislature makes the law. It consists of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. It makes the law on subjects like health, police, education, transport, land policies, etc. ➢ The Executive implements the law and looks after the daily administration of the state. It comprises of the governor, chief minister and his council of ministers. ➢ The judiciary interprets the law. It is headed by the High Court, which settles civil and criminal disputes in the state. State Legislature: The Legislative Assembly is responsible for making laws of a state. Constituencies: All Indian states are divided into a number of areas depending upon the size of their population. These divisions are called constituencies. MLA: The people of each constituency elect one member to represent them in the state Legislative Assembly is called an MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly). Ruling party: The political party that has the maximum number of MLAs, and if that number is more than 50% of the total number of MLAs in the Legislative Assembly, forms the ruling party. Chief Minister: The MLAs of the ruling party elect their leader who becomes the chief minister of the state. The State Legislative may be Unicameral or bicameral. Unicameral-The legislature with one house- the Legislative Assembly, is called the Unicameral Legislature Bicameral- The legislature with two houses- Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) and Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) is called the Bicameral Legislature. The Constitution of India had the provision of establishing bicameral legislatures in more populous states of the country. States such as Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have Legislative Councils as well as Legislative Assemblies. The total members of a Legislative Assembly should not be more than 500 or less than 60. Qualifications for becoming an MLA ➢ They should be a citizen of India ➢ They should not be less than 25 years of age. ➢ They should not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or any state Government ➢ They should be of sound mental health. • The Legislative Assembly is the Popular House of the State Legislature. • It is also called the People’s House or the Lower House.’ • The strength of the members of the Legislative Assembly is based on the population of the State. Powers And Functions of the Legislative Assembly Legislative Powers: ➢ The Assembly is empowered to make laws pertaining to the subjects mentioned in the state list and the concurrent list of the Constitution-Union list- defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy State list- police, public health, agriculture, and local government Financial Powers: ➢ The assembly enjoys supreme authority with respect to the passing of state budgets, money bills, permission for levying taxes and fixing salaries of the members of the state legislatures. ➢ All money bills are introduced by the Legislative Assembly. Controls over the council of ministers. ➢ The members of the assembly may ask questions to the ministers. ➢ They point out the problems in the administration. ➢ They may pass a no-confidence motion against the council of ministers and thus ask the entire ministry to resign. Legislative Assembly Legislative Council • Every member has a term of 6 years. Term -5years • Permanent body and can't be dissolved. • One-third of its members retire every two years and are replaced by newly elected members. They should not be less than 25 years of age. They should not be less than 30 years of age. The Legislative Assembly represents the entire The strength of the Legislative Council should not be population of the state. It consists of MLAs. The more than one-third the size of the Legislative total members of a legislative assembly should not Assembly of that state. be more than 500 or less than 60. The members of Legislative councils are The members of the Legislative Assembly are representatives of the Local self-governing bodies, elected by the people. teachers, and university graduates. The members of the Legislative Assembly elect a The Legislative Council elects a chairman and a speaker and a deputy speaker from among them. deputy chairman from among them to preside over The speaker conducts the proceedings of the the working of the council. assembly. Powers and functions of the Legislative Council The Legislative Council cannot introduce the money bill. Even the ordinary bill, it is the will of the Legislative Assembly that prevails. It may delay or suggest amendments to the ordinary bill. But finally, it is the Legislative Assembly which approves a bill. The council can, however, put questions to the ministers and initiate a discussion on various issues. How does a bill become a law? ➢ A proposal for the law is termed a bill. ➢ There are two types of bills-Money bills and non-money bills. ➢ A money bill can be introduced only in the legislative assembly. ➢ The non-money bill can be introduced in the legislative assembly or the legislative council. ➢ Once the bill is discussed and approved by the houses, it is sent to the Governor for their signature. ➢ After the Governor’s signature, the bill becomes a law. The Governor The Governor is the head of the state. He is appointed by the President for a term of 5 years. However, the President may remove them from office before the completion of the term. Qualifications of the Governor: 1. They should be a citizen of India. 2. They should not be less than 35 years of age. 3. They must not be a member either of the Union or of the State Legislature. If he is a member of any of the legislatures, he has to resign from his seat in the legislature before assuming the office of Governor. 4. They must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or any State Government. Functions and powers of the Governor: a.Executive Powers ➢ To appoint the leader of the majority party as the chief minister of the state. ➢ Ministers in the ministry are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the chief minister. ➢ To appoint the High Officials: He appoints the Advocate General of the State, The Chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission. b. Discretionary powers ➢ Normally, the Governor works on the advice of the chief minister, but there can be situations where they have to exercise their independent judgment. For example, when the state is under Presidential rule, the Governor can act at their discretion. c. Legislative Powers ➢ The Governor inaugurates and addresses the assembly's first session after general elections and at the beginning of the year. ➢ Every bill passed by the legislature should have his approval. ➢ If a law is urgently required, he can issue an ordinance which becomes equivalent to a law. d. Financial powers ➢ No money bill or the annual budget can be introduced in the house without permission from the governor. e. Judicial Powers: ➢ To grant pardons, remission of punishment under State laws except death sentence. Chief Minister The Governor appoints the leader of the majority party as the chief minister of the state. Powers and functions of the Chief Minister 1. Direct the ministry and determine its policies 2. Supervises the administration of the state. 3. Allocate, reallocate, or take back portfolios from their ministries. 4. Coordinate the working of various ministries. Powers and functions of the Council of Ministers • Council of ministers head the ministry departments. • Run the departments according to the policies laid down by the council of ministers. • They introduce necessary bills in the assembly and get them approved.
