Parliament of India: Composition of the Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha

This article aims to delve into the parliament of India from the perspective ofthe SSC CGL/CHSL and Banking examinations


The parliamentary system is based on the Westminster model.

The parliament of India is based in the Sansad bhawan in New Delhi. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker and inaugurated in 1927. The construction took 6 years.

The parliament of India is the highest legislative body of India.

The parliament of India is a bicarmel legislature consists of the president, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Lower house of parliament is the Lok Sabha. It is also known as the First
chamber or the popular house.

The upper house of the parliament is the Rajya Sabha. It is also called the
second chamber or the house of elders.

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Composition of the Lok Sabha

The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha is 552 members. Out of this, 530
members represent the states and 20 members represent union territories.

A total of 131 seats (24.03%) are reserved for the representatives of scheduled castes (84) and scheduled Tribes (47).

2 members are nominated by the president from the Anglo-Indian
community.

At present, the Lok sabha has 545 members.

The representative of each constituency in the Lok Sabha is directly elected by the people through first past the post system.

The voting age in our country was reduced from 21 years to 18 years under
the 61 st constitutional amendment of 1988.

The Lok Sabha uses the green colored carpet which symbolizes the common
man, greenery and vegetation.

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Composition of the Rajya Sabha

The maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha is fixed at 250 members.

238 members are indirectly elected representatives of the state and the
Union. They are elected by the system of a single transferable vote.

12 notable members from the fields of science, literature, Sports, social
services, etc. are nominated by the president to be a part of the Rajya Sabha.

At the present, Rajya Sabha compromises of 245 members out of whom 229
members represent the states, 4 represent the union territories and 12 are
nominated by the president.

The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the state
legislative assemblies.

The Rajya Sabha is a continuing chamber that means that 1/3 rd of its members retire every 2nd year and the house never fully dissolves.

Rajya Sabha is covered with a red carpet which symbolizes grandness and
royalty.

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Powers and proceedings of the parliament

Motions of no confidence in the government can only be introduced in the
Lok Sabha since only the members of this house are directly elected by the
people.

If passed collectively, the prime minister and his/her cabinet resign
collectively.

Money bills are can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha and thereafter sent
to the Rajya Sabha for consideration. If the Rajya Sabha fails to take action on the bill within 14 days, the bill is considered to be passed.

The annual budget is presented by the Finance minister at the Lok Sabha.
3 sessions of the lok Sabha take place in a year:

a) Budget session: February to may
b) Monsoon session: July to September
c) Winter session: November to mid-December

A single session at the parliament starts at 11 AM and goes on till 6 PM with a break of 1 hour in between.

The first hour of every sitting in the Lok Sabha is called the Question hour.

During this time, members of the parliament question ministers on various
topics concerning their ministry.

During this hour, 3 types of questions can be asked:

a) Starred Questions: questions which require an oral answer are called
starred question.

b) Unstarred Question: questions do not require oral answers are called
unstarred questions and no follow-up questions can be asked.

c) A short notice question: A short notice question requires the
concerned minister to answer as soon as possible provided the
speaker of the house allows for it.

Zero Hour: Just after the Question hour, the Zero hour comes into effect at
around 12 noon. During this time, members with prior permission from the
speaker, raise important issues that need to be tackled at hand.

Discussions regarding Bills, Budget and other issues begin at 2 PM.
The issues to be discussed are known as businesses.

A list of the main business of the session is sent to the members beforehand. It could be the consideration of a resolution or motion.

Legislative business concerns proposals on introduction of bills in the
parliament.

Minsters as well as private members can introduce a bill in the
parliament. Bills introduced by private members are called private member
bills.

Financial business concerns the discussion and voting of money bills, general and railway budgets and deliberation on other matters concerning finance.

Finance business is very important especially during the budget session of the parliament.

The budget of the parliament of called as the annual financial
statement as per article 112.

Drafting and amendments of bills are usually discussed in separate
parliamentary committees.

Since the time for legislation is limited in the parliament.

Various types of parliamentary committees exist such as the
parliamentary standing committee (PSC).

It is permanent in nature unlike the Ad-hoc committee which is established only to meet a specific objective.

The voting in the parliament happens through the Automatic Voter Recording System.

Each member of the parliament has access to 3 buttons placed on
their seat which they use to assent, dissent and abstain on a particular issue.

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The speaker of the parliament

The speaker and Deputy Speaker of the constitution are elected from amongst the members of the parliament with a simple majority as per article 93 and their impeachment process is laid down under article 94.

The speaker of the house determines whether a bill introduced in the
parliament is a money bill or not and is responsible to disqualify a member on the grounds of defection.

G.V Mavalankar was the first speaker of India who is also called the father of Lok Sabha.

The Deputy speaker takes over in the absence of the speaker.

Om Birla is the current speaker of the government.

During a joint session, the speaker of the lok sabha takes over as the speaker of the session. The session is usually held at the Central hall present within the parliament itself.

Secretariat of the parliament

A separate secretariat for each house of the parliament is established under
Article 98 of the constitution.

The secretariat aims to provide assistance and support for the effective functioning of the houses.

The Secretary –General of the Lok Sabha holds the same rank as the cabinet secretary of the government.

The secretary-general along with additional secretary, joint secretaries, etc. Assist the speaker to ensure smooth proceedings of the parliament.

The current Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha is Snehlata Shrivastava.

M. Venkaiah Naidu is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Qualifications to be a member of the parliament

The person should be a citizen of India having a minimum age of 30 years for Rajya Sabha or 25 years for lok Sabha.

The person shouldn’t hold an office of profit under the union or state government.

A Person cannot be a member of both houses of the parliament at the same
time.

The seat of a member of the parliament can be declared vacant if the member is absent for a period of 60 days without the permission of the parliament.

Other notable facts about the parliament

On 13 th December 2001, the parliament was attacked by 5 Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.

In addition to all attackers, 6 military personnel
and 1 civilian were killed.

A Statue of B.R Ambedkar was established in 1967 at the parliament house
area in New Delhi.

The parliament library is the 2 nd largest library in India that was founded in 1921.

Rishang Keishing is the oldest member to serve in the parliament (93 years).

Dushyant Chautala is the youngest member to serve in the parliament.

Meira kumar was the First female speaker of the Parliament.

Sadan Gupta was the first visually impaired person to be a part of the
parliament.

Quorum is the minimum number of members required to be present for the house to be in session.

It is 1/10 th of the total number of members in each house including the presiding officer. Hence, at least 55 members must be present in the Lok Sabha and 25 members must be present in the Rajya Sabha.

The last session of the existing Lok Sabha before a new Lok Sabha is elected is called the Lame-Duck session.

Under article 75 of the constitution, a no Confidence motion to dissolve the
current ministry. At least 50 members need to support the motion for voting to happen on the same.

The railway budget was separated from the General budget in 1921 on the
recommendations of the Acworth Committee from 2017 onwards.

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