Parliament of India
Coordinates: 28°37′2″N 77°12′29″E / 28.61722°N 77.20806°E
The Parliament of India (IAST: Bhāratīya Sansad) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The president in their role as head of the legislature has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of Parliament or to dissolve the Lok Sabha. The president can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the prime minister and their Union Council of Ministers.
Parliament of India Bhāratīya Sansad | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Council of States (Upper house) House of the People (Lower house) |
| History | |
| Founded | 26 January 1950 |
| Preceded by | Constituent Assembly of India |
| Leadership | |
Vacant since 23 May 2019 | |
Vacant (Since 26 May 2014, No party has more than 10% Seats, other than the ruling BJP) | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 788 |
Rajya Sabha political groups |
|
Lok Sabha political groups |
|
| Elections | |
| Single transferable vote | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Rajya Sabha last election | 10 June 2022 |
Lok Sabha last election | 11 April – 19 May 2019 |
Rajya Sabha next election | 2023 |
Lok Sabha next election | May 2024 |
| Meeting place | |
| Sansad Bhavan Sansad Marg, New Delhi Republic of India | |
| Website | |
| parliamentofindia | |
| Constitution | |
| Constitution of India | |
Those elected or nominated (by the president) to either house of Parliament are referred to as members of Parliament (MPs). The members of parliament of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the Indian public voting in single-member districts and the members of parliament of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of all state legislative assemblies by proportional representation. The Parliament has a sanctioned strength of 543 in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya Sabha including 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of literature, art, science, and social service.[7] The Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi. The Parliament of India represents the largest democratic electorate in the world (the second is the European Parliament), with an electorate of 912 million eligible voters in 2019.
History
During British rule, the legislative branch of India was the Imperial Legislative Council, which was created in 1861 via the Indian Councils Act of 1861[8][9] and disbanded in 1947, when India gained independence. Following independence, the Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, its members serving as the nation's first parliament.[10] In 1950 after the constitution came into force, the Constituent Assembly of India was disbanded,[11] and succeeded by the Parliament of India, which is active to this day.
Parliament House
The Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan) is located in New Delhi. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who were made responsible for the planning and construction of New Delhi by the British government, as the home of the Central Legislative Assembly, the Council of State, and the Chamber of Princes. The construction of the building took six years, and the opening ceremony was performed on 18 January 1927 by the viceroy and governor-general of India, Lord Irwin. The construction cost for the building was ₹8.3 million (US$100,000).[12]
The building is 21 metres (70 ft) tall, 170 metres (560 ft) in diameter and covers an area of 2.29 hectares (5.66 acres). The Central Hall consists of the chambers of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, and the Library hall. Surrounding these three chambers is the four-storeyed circular structure providing accommodations for members and houses parliamentary committees, offices and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.[12]
General layout of the Parliament
The center and the focus of the building is the Central Hall. It consists of chambers of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, and the Library Hall, and between them lie garden courts. Surrounding these three chambers is the four-storeyed circular structure providing accommodations for ministers, chairmen, parliamentary committees, party offices, important offices of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat, and also the offices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. The Central Hall is circular in shape and the dome is 30 metres (98 ft) in diameter.
It is a place of historical importance. The Indian Constitution was framed in the Central Hall. The Central Hall was originally used in the library of the erstwhile Central Legislative Assembly and the Council of States. In 1946, it was converted and refurbished into the Constituent Assembly Hall. At present, the Central Hall is used for holding joint sittings of both the houses of parliament and also used for address by the president at the commencement of the first session after each general election.
New premises
A new parliament building is under construction and is intended to replace the existing complex. The present building, an 85-year-old structure suffers from inadequacy of space to house members and their staff and is thought to suffer from structural issues. The building also needs to be protected because of its heritage tag.[13][14]
A committee to suggest alternatives to the current building was set up by former Speaker Meira Kumar in 2012.[15] Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation and performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Parliament building on 10 December 2020.[16][17] With an estimated cost of ₹9.71 billion, the building is expected to be completed by 2022.[16][17]
Composition
The Indian Parliament consists of two houses, namely, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, with the president of India acting as their head.
President of India
The president of India, the head of state, is a component of Parliament. Under Article 60 and Article 111 of the constitution, the president's responsibility is to ensure that laws passed by the Parliament are in accordance with the constitutional mandate and that the stipulated procedure is followed before indicating approval to the bills. The president of India is elected by the elected members of the Parliament of India and the state legislatures and serves for a term of five years.[18]
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house has 543 members. Members are directly elected by citizens of India on the basis of universal adult franchise representing parliamentary constituencies across the country. Between 1952 and 2020, two additional members of the Anglo-Indian community were also nominated by the president of India on the advice of the Indian government, which was abolished in January 2020 by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.[19] Thus, the total seats of lok sabha is 550 now.
Every citizen of India who is over 18 years of age, irrespective of gender, caste, religion, or race and is otherwise not disqualified, is eligible to vote for members of the Lok Sabha. The constitution provides that the maximum strength of the Lower House be 552 members. It has a term of five years. To be eligible for membership in the Lok Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and must be 25 years of age or older, mentally sound, should not be bankrupt, and should not be criminally convicted. The total elective membership is distributed among the states in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each state and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all states.[20]
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha (Council of States) or the Upper House is a permanent body not subject to dissolution. One-third of the members retire every second year and are replaced by newly elected members. Each member is elected for a term of six years.[21] Its members are indirectly elected by members of legislative bodies of the states. The Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of 250 members. It currently has a sanctioned strength of 245 members, of which 233 are elected from states, and union territories and 12 are nominated by the president. The number of members from a state depends on its population. The minimum age for a person to become a member of the Rajya Sabha is 30 years.
Session of Parliament
The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session. The constitution empowers the president to summon each house at such intervals that there should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must meet at least twice a year. In India, the Parliament conducts three sessions each year: member committee to investigation into the charges[22]
- Budget session: January/February to May
- Monsoon session: July to August/September
- Winter session: November to December
Lawmaking procedures
Legislative proposals are brought before either house of the Parliament in the form of a bill. A bill is the draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed by both houses of Parliament and assented to by the president, becomes an act of Parliament. Money bills must originate in the Lok Sabha. The Council of States can only make recommendations over the bills to the House, within a period of fourteen days.[23]
Parliamentary committees
Parliamentary committees are formed to deliberate specific matters at length. The public is directly or indirectly associated and studies are conducted to help committees arrive at the conclusions. Parliamentary committees are of two kinds: ad hoc committees and standing committees.[24][25][26]
Standing committees are permanent committees constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an act of Parliament or rules of procedure and conduct of business in Parliament. The work of these committees is of a continuing nature. Ad hoc committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
Incidents
On 13 December 2001, Indian Parliament was attacked by an Islamic terrorist group. The perpetrators were Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists. The attack led to the deaths of five terrorists, six Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Services personnel, and a gardener, which totalled 14 fatalities. The incident led to increased tensions between India and Pakistan, resulting in the India–Pakistan standoff.[27]
Unparliamentary words and expressions
In 2022, the Lok Sabha secretariat released a booklet listing out unparliamentary words and expressions before the start of the Monsoon session on 18 July 2022. The banned words if used during debates or otherwise in both the houses would be expunged from the records of the parliament. The banned words included, 'anarchist', 'Shakuni', 'dictatorial', 'taanashah', 'taanashahi', 'Jaichand', 'vinash purush', 'Khalistani'. The booklet also banned some expressions as unparliamentary expressions, such as 'khoon se kheti', 'dohra charitra', 'nikamma', 'nautanki', 'dhindora peetna' and 'behri sarkar'.[28]
Some of the English words that were banned included, 'bloodshed', 'bloody', 'betrayed', 'ashamed', 'abused', 'cheated, 'chamcha', 'chamchagiri', 'chelas', 'childishness', 'corrupt', 'coward', 'criminal' and 'crocodile tears', 'disgrace', 'donkey', 'drama', 'eyewash', 'fudge', 'hooliganism', 'hypocrisy', 'incompetent', 'mislead', 'lie' and 'untrue'.[28]
Some of the unparliamentary Hindi words listed in the booklet included 'anarchist', 'gaddar', 'girgit', 'goons', 'ghadiyali ansu', 'apmaan', 'asatya', 'ahankaar', 'corrupt', 'kala din', 'kala bazaari', 'khareed farokht', 'danga', 'dalal', 'daadagiri', 'dohra charitra', 'bechara', 'bobcut', 'lollypop', 'vishwasghat', 'samvedanheen', 'foolish', 'pitthu', 'behri sarkar' and 'sexual harassment'.[28][29]
Gallery
Jawaharlal Nehru and other members taking pledge during the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly of India held on 14 and 15 August 1947.
Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
Indian prime minister Morarji Desai listens to Jimmy Carter as he addresses the Indian Parliament House.
President of the United States Barack Obama addressing a joint session of the Parliament in 2010.
See also
References
- ^ "Droupadi Murmu takes oath as the 15th President of India". The Hindu. New Delhi, India. 25 July 2022. from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "Jagdeep Dhankhar sworn in as 14th Vice-President of India". The Times of India. Mumbai, India. 11 August 2022.
- ^ "Harivansh Narayan Singh re-elected Rajya Sabha deputy chairman | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. 14 September 2020. from the original on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ "Minister Piyush Goyal To Be Leader Of House in Rajya Sabha". NDTV. from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
- ^ "Om Birla unanimously elected Lok Sabha Speaker, PM Modi heaps praise on BJP colleague". India Today. 19 June 2019. from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ "Narendra Modi is sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India". The Times of India. 26 May 2014. from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- ^ "Nominated Members of Rajya Sabha". Rajya Sabha. from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ "History | Our Legislature through the ages – Civilsdaily". 30 December 2015. from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "Indian Councils Act | 1861, India | Britannica". www.britannica.com. from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "United Nations General Assembly Session 18 Agenda item 23 - Report of the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples". from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "Indian Politics and Society Since Independence" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ a b . delhiassembly.nic.in. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ "Delhi may see a new Parliament building". The Times of India. 13 July 2012. from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ Firstpost (13 July 2012). "Speaker sets up panel to suggest new home for Parliament". Firstpost. from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Meaira Kumarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Chaturvedi, Rakesh Mohan (10 December 2020). "PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of new Parliament building". The Economic Times. from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ a b PTI (5 December 2020). "PM Modi to lay foundation stone of new Parliament building on Dec 10". Business Today. from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. 1 December 2007. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
- ^ "Anglo Indian Representation To Lok Sabha, State Assemblies Done Away; SC-ST Reservation Extended For 10 Years: Constitution (104th Amendment) Act To Come Into Force On 25th Jan". www.live law.in. 23 January 2020. from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ . parliamentofindia.nic.in. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ "Parliament – Government: National Portal of India". Home: National Portal of India. from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ (PDF). New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ "How bill becomes act". parliamentofindia.nic.in. from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Parliamentary Committee. "Parliament of India". Indian Parliament. from the original on 24 July 2012.
- ^ Committees of Rajya Sabha. "General Information". Rajya Sabha Secretariat. from the original on 20 September 2012.
- ^ Lok Sabha - Committee Home. . Lok Sabha Secretariat. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016.
- ^ "Terrorists attack Parliament; five intruders, six cops killed". rediff.com. 13 December 2001. from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "'Jumlajeevi', 'baal buddhi', 'Covid spreader' among words now banned in Parliament". telegraphindia.com. 14 July 2022. from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ "From 'Corrupt' To 'Jumlajeevi', Words Banned In Parliament. Cue Backlash". NDTV.com. 14 July 2022. from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
Further reading
- "The Parliamentary System" by Arun Shourie, Publisher: Rupa & Co
External links
- Media related to Parliament of India at Wikimedia Commons
- Works written on the topic Parliament of India at Wikisource