CHAPTER 3 WHY DO WE NEED A PARLIAMENT?
1.. When was the INC formed?
Answer –
The Indian National Congress (INC) was formed in 1885.
2. What is the Parliament of India?
Answer –
The Parliament of India (Sansad) is the supreme law-making institution. Parliament of India consists of the President, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The Parliament is made up of all representatives together, controls and guides the government.
3. What are the functions of the Parliament?
Answers –
The functions of the Parliament are –
- To Select the National Government
- To Control, Guide and Inform the Government.
- Law-making.
4. What constitutes the Parliament of India?
Answer –
Parliament of India consists of the President, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
5. What is the total strength of the Lok Sabha?
Answer –
There are 543 elected (plus 2 Anglo-Indian nominated) members in Lok Sabha. Thus, the total strength of the Lok Sabha is 545.
6. Who presides over the Lok Sabha?
Answer – The Speaker
7. How do the members of Lok Sabha get elected?
Answer –
- The Lok Sabha is usually elected once every five years.
- The country is divided into numerous constituencies.
- Each of these constituencies elects one person to the Parliament.
- The candidates who contest elections usually belong to different political parties.
- Once elected, these candidates become Members of Parliament or MPs. These MPs together make up the Parliament.
In this way members of the Parliament get elected.
8. Can an MP be a member of both the house simultaneously?
Answer –
No, an MP cannot be a member of both houses simultaneously. If an MP is a member of Lok Sabha and wants to become a member of Rajya Sabha then he has to resign from the Lok Sabha and vice-versa.
9. What is the total strength of the Rajya Sabha?
Answer –
The total strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245. Among these 245, 233 are elected and 12 are nominated by the President.
10. Who presides over the Rajya Sabha?
Answer –
The Vice-President of India is the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
11. How did the members of the Rajya Sabha get elected?
Answer –
The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of various states.
12. Who forms the opposition in the Parliament?
Answer –
The Opposition in Parliament is formed by all the political parties that oppose the majority party/coalition formed.
13. What is the opposition Party?
Answer –
The Opposition in Parliament is formed by all the political parties that oppose the
majority party/coalition formed. The largest amongst these parties is called the Opposition party.
14. What is Coalition Government?
Answer –
Often times in the recent past it has been difficult for a single political party to get the majority that is required to form the government. They then join together with different political parties who are interested in similar concerns to form a government which is known as a coalition government.
15. Who is the leader of the ruling party?
Answer –
The Prime Minister of India is the leader of the ruling party in the Lok Sabha.
16. What is the function of the Rajya Sabha?
Answer –
The function of the Rajya Sabha are the followings:-
- It acts as the representative of the states of India in the Parliament.
- It can initiate legislation.
- A bill is required to pass through the Rajya Sabha in order to become a law.
- It has an important role of reviewing and altering (if alterations are needed) the laws initiated by the Lok Sabha.
17. Who are the Executives?
Answer –
An executive is a group of persons who work together to implement the laws made by the Parliament.
18. What is Question Hour?
Answer –
The Parliament, while in session, begins with a question hour. The question hour is an important mechanism through which MPs can elicit information about the working of the government. This is a very important way through which Parliament controls the executive.
19. “The Opposition parties play a critical role in the healthy functioning of a democracy”. Explain.
Answer –
The Opposition parties highlight drawbacks in various policies and programmes of the government and mobilise popular support for their own policies. Due to which drawbacks of the policies can be rectified and government always come up with a better policy and bill.
20. Why some seats are reserved in the Parliament of the SCs and STs?
Answer –
This has been done so that the MPs elected from these constituencies will be familiar with and can represent Dalit and Adivasi interests in Parliament.
21. What is the criteria for a political party to form government in the centre?
Answer –
For a political party to form the government, they must have a majority of elected MPs. Since there are 543 elected (plus 2 Anglo-Indian nominated) members in Lok Sabha, to have a majority a party should have at least half the number i.e. 272 members or more.
22. Is the election of PM direct or indirect?
Answer –
After the Lok Sabha election, the Central Government got elected then the members of the government elects their leader. In this way PM of India get elected, so the election of PM in India is indirect.
23. When was the EVMs used for the first time in India?
Answer –
In the 2004 general election.
24. Who selects the ministers of the different ministries in the government?
Answer –
Prime Minister of India.
25. What are the two main alliances of the parties in India?
Answer –
The main two alliances of the parties in India are – UPA and NDA.
UPA – United Province Alliance
NDA – National Democratic Alliance
26. What are the two buildings of the Central Secretariat building?
Answer –
The two main buildings are the North Block and the South Block.
The South Block houses the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs.
The North Block houses the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs.