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Rajya Sabha

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Lok-Sabha
Lok-Sabha

The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are nominated by the President of India for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. The remainder of the body is elected by the state and territorial legislatures. Members sit for six-year terms, with one third of the members retiring every two years.

The Vice President of India currently, Hamid Ansari is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who presides over its sessions. The Deputy Chairman, who is elected from amongst the RS’s members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman. The Rajya Sabha held its first sitting on 13 May 1952.

To become a member of the Rajya Sabha, he/she must be at least 30 years of age. Members are elected by the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories by means of Single transferable vote through Proportional representation.

As per the Constitution of India, there is a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Besides the Chairman (Vice-President of India) and the Deputy Chairman, there is also a function called Leader of the House. This is a cabinet minister – the prime minister if he is a member of the House, or another nominated minister.

Each House of Parliament shall have a separate secretarial staff: Provided that nothing in this clause shall be construed as preventing the creation of posts common to both Houses of Parliament.  Parliament may by law regulate the recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to the secretarial staff of either House of Parliament.

Functions of Rajya Sabha

  • Any bill, in general, has to be approved by Rajya Sabha even if approved by Lok Sabha.
  • Equal Powers with the Lok Sabha in initiating and passing any Bill for Constitutional Amendment
  • Equal Powers with the Lok Sabha in initiating and passing a motion for the impeachment of the President
  • Equal Powers with the Lok Sabha in initiating and passing a motion for the impeachment of the judges of the Supreme Court and the state High Courts
  • Equal Powers with the Lok Sabha in initiating and passing a resolution declaring war or national emergency or constitutional emergency in a state
  • The house is not subject to dissolution which is a limitation for Lok Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Television is a 24*7 parliamentary TV channel fully owned and operated by the Rajya Sabha. The channel is aimed at providing in-depth coverage and analysis of parliamentary affairs especially the functioning of and developments related to Rajya Sabha.

Lok Sabha

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Syskool
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Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. The Parliament of India consists of two houses: The Lok Sabha or House of the People and the Rajya Sabha or Council of States. The Lok Sabha meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers, Sansad Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi.

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. It contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India after its independence from British rule.

The maximum strength of the House envisaged by the Constitution is 552, which is made up by election of up to 530 members to represent the States, up to 20 members to represent the Union Territories and not more than two members of the Anglo-Indian Community to be nominated by the Hon’ble President, if, in his/her opinion, that community is not adequately represented in the House. The number is divided among the 28 States and the 7 Union Territories.

The qualifying age for membership of Lok Sabha is 25 years.  The Lok Sabha at present consists of 545 members including the Speaker and two nominated members.

Lok Sabha elects one of its own members as its Presiding Officer and he is called the Speaker. He is assisted by the Deputy Speaker who is also elected by Lok Sabha. The conduct of business in Lok Sabha is the responsibility of the Speaker.

Three sessions of Lok Sabha take place in a year:

  • Budget session: February to May.
  • Monsoon session: July to September.
  • Winter session: November to mid-December.

When in session, Lok Sabha holds its sittings usually from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. and from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. The first hour of every sitting of Lok Sabha is called the Question hour. Asking of questions in Parliament is the free and unfettered right of members. Questions are of three types – Starred, Unstarred and Short Notice.

After the Question Hour, the House takes up miscellaneous items of work before proceeding to the main business of the day. These consist of one or more of the following:-

Adjournment Motions, Questions involving breaches of Privileges, Papers to be laid on the Table, Communication of any messages from Rajya Sabha, Intimations regarding President’s assent to Bills, Calling Attention Notices, Matters under Rule 377, Presentation of Reports of Parliamentary Committee, Presentation of Petitions, – miscellaneous statements by Ministers, Motions regarding elections to Committees, Bills to be withdrawn or introduced.

Important Constitutional Amendments in India

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Syskool
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constitutional amendment act

The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951

In June 1951, the First Constitutional Amendment Act was passed, and the following Amendment in the Constitution were inserted :
(i) To Article 15, a new clause (4) was added:
(ii) clauses (2) and (6) of Article 19 were recast;
(iii) After Article 31, Article 31A and 31B were inserted;
(iv) For Original Article 85, a new Article was substituted;
(v) In Article 87, clauses (1) and (2) were recast;
(vi) For the Original Article 174, a new Article was substituted;
(vii) In Article 176, clauses (1) and (2) were recast:
(viii) Clause (1) of Article 341 was recast; and similarly, clause (1) of Article 342, sub-clause (a) of Article 342, sub clause (a) of clause (3) of Article 372, and clause (1) of Article 376 were also recast;
(ix) After the Eight Schedule to the Constitution a Ninth Schedule was added and thirteen laws passed by State Legislatures were included in it so that those Acts might not be challenged in courts.

constitutional amendment act

The main purpose of the Amendment was the removal of certain practical difficulties created by court decisions in several cases such as Kameshwar Singh vs. State of Bihar, Romesh Thapar vs. State of Madras, Brij Bhusan vs. State of Delhi and Motilal vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh. The issues involved in these cases were numerous, such as the scope of the fundamental right of freedom of speech, acquisition of Zamindari (land) of intermediaries, conflict between a citizen’s fundamental right to practise any profession, or to carry on any business or trade (Article 19) and state monopoly of any trade, and so on.

The Constitution (Second Amendment) Act, 1952

The Second  Constitutional Amendment Act amended Article 81 in order to remove the prescribed limit of 7,50,000 of the population for one member to be elected to the Lok Sabha. According to the original provision, at least on member was to be elected to the Lok Sabha for every 7,50,000 of the population. It was further provided that the maximum number of elected member to the Lok Sabha should not exceed 500.

The Constitution (Third Amendment) Act, 1954

The Third Amendment brought about changes in the Seventh Schedule consisting of the three legislative lists and entry 33 of the Concurrent List was substituted by a new one.

Read Also: Important Amendments of the Indian Constitution

The Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955

Article 31 and 31A were amended by the Fourth Constitutional Amendment Act. Clause (2) of Article 31 clause (1) of Article 31A were substituted by new clauses as. As a result of these, the adequacy of the quantum of compensation paid for the compulsory acquisition of property for ‘a public purpose’ could not be questioned in a court of law. It also amended Article 305 and the Ninth Schedule.

The Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act, 1955

The Constitutional Fifth Amendment Act amended Article 3. in the Constitution there was no time limit during which a State Legislature should express its boundaries, which the Centre may like to make. With the help of this amendment is was provided that the State will be required to express its views on such matters within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period, as the President may allow.

The Constitution (Sixth Amendment) Act, 1956

In this Act, the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution was amended and in the Union List, a new entry was added after entry 92 in the State List, a new entry was substituted for entry 54. it also amended Articles 269 and 286 dealing with inter-state Sales-tax.

The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956

The Seventh Amendment brought about the most comprehensive changes so fair in the Constitution. This amendment was designed to implement the State Reorganisation Act. The Second and Seventh schedules were substantially amended for the purpose of the States Reorganization Act.

The Constitution (Eight Amendment) Act, 1959

The Act extended the period of reservation seats in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures for the Anglo-Indians, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by another 10 years.

The Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act, 1960

It provided for the transfer of certain territories of India to Pakistan under and agreement between India and Pakistan as a part of a comprehensive settlement of border disputes between the two countries.

The Constitution (Tenth Amendment) Act, 1961

The Tenth Amendment integrates the areas of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli with the Union of India and provides for their administration under the regulation making powers of the President.

The Constitution (Eleventh Amendment) Act, 1961

It amends Article 71 so as to make it clear that the election of the President or the Vice-President shall not be the challenges on the ground of any vacancy for whatever reason in the appropriate electoral college. It also obviates the necessity of a joint meeting of the two Houses of Parliament (Article 66) by constituting them into an electoral college for the election of the Vice-President.

The Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Act, 1962

The main object of the Amendment was to add Union Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu to the Union of India and for this First Schedule of the Constitution was amended.

Must Read: Fundamental Duties Incorporated in Constitution of India

The Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1962

The Act provides the creation of Nagaland as the Sixteenth State of the Union. The Amendment provides also for the vesting of certain special responsibilities in the Governor of Nagaland.

The Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, 1962

The amendment provides for the incorporation of the former French Establishments in India, under the name Pondicherry, as an integral part of the territory of the Indian Union. it also amended Article 31 to increase, from a maximum 20 to 25, the number of seats assigned in the Lok Sabha for the Union Territories.

The Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963

The amendment raised the retirement age of High Court. Judge from 60 to 62 years. It also empowered the various High Courts to hear cases against to the Union Government.

The Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963

The Act seeks to enable Parliament to make laws provident penalty for any person questioning the sovereignty and integrity of India. Under the provisions of the this Amendment, a person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in Parliament or in the Legislature of State unless, inter-alia, he maker or subscribes before a person authorised by the Election Commission an oath or affirmation that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India.

The Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964

The Act amend the definition of the term ‘estate’ in Article 31A to include lands held under ryotwari settlement and also other lands in respect of which provisions are normally made in land reform enactments. It also amends the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to include therein 44 State enactment relation to land reforms in order to remove any uncertainty or doubt that may arise with regard to their validity.

The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 1966

The amendment provides for the creation of new States, namely, Punjab and Haryana as a result of the reorganisation of the former State of Punjab and the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh.

The Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Act, 1966

The Act modified Article 324 so as to terminate the jurisdiction of election tribunals to decide election disputes. The Amendment withdrew from the Election Commission the power of setting up election tribunals.

The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966

The Act inserts a new Article 233A immediately after Article 233 in order to validate the appointment of District Judges, which might not have conformed fully to the different Constitutional requirements, which were in existent prior to 1966.

The Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment) Act, 1967

It amended the Eight Schedule to the Constitution by including ‘Sindhi’ therein.

The Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Act, 1969

The amendment conferred legislative power on Parliament for the purpose of creating and autonomous Hill State within the State of Assam. Accordingly, Parliament passed the Assam Reorganization (Meghalaya) Act 1969 to set up the State of Meghalaya within the State of Assam.

The Constitution (Twenty-third Amendment) Act, 1969

It deals with the questions of reservation of seat in Parliament and State Assemblies for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Anglo-Indian and further extends the period of reservation by another ten years, which means in effect thirty years from the commencement of the Constitution.

The Constitution (Twenty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1971

It amends Article 13 and 368 with a view to removing all possible doubts regarding the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure thereof. It gets over the Golak Nath ruling and asserts the power of Parliament, denied to in the Golak Nath, to amend fundamental rights.

The Constitution (Twenty-fifth) Amendment Act, 1971

The 25th amendment in the Constitution in 1971 added a new clause, Article 31C to the Constitution. Up to 1971, the position was that fundamental rights prevailed over the directive principles of State Policy and that a law enacted to implement a directive principle could not be valid if it conflicted with a fundamental right. Article 31C sought to change this relationship to some extent by conferring privacy on Articles 39(b) and 39(c) over Articles 14, 19 and 31.

Also, Read:

Fiscal Policy

Basic Principles Of The Constitution

FCRA Amendment to Boost CSR and Relax Political Funding

 

Recognition of a Political Party as National or State Party in India

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Syskool
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national parties india

Recently India has got its 7th National Political Party as All India Trinmool Congress. This recognition is given after it fulfilled the criteria by becoming state party in four states namely West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur & Arunachal Pradesh. Six other National Parties are BJP, Congress, CPI, CPI (M), BSP, and NCP.

How a Political Party is recognized as a State Party?

Recognition of a Party as national or state party is based on the basis of criteria listed under The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. Since 1968 this order has been amended at various occasions.

State Party

The Article 6A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 defined conditions for recognition as State Party as follows:

6A. Conditions for recognition as a State Party – Apolitical party shall be eligible for recognition as a State party in a State, if, and only if, any of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(i) At the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the candidates set up by the party have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in the State; and, in addition, the party has returned at least two members to the Legislative Assembly of that State at such general election; or

(ii) At the last general election to the House of the People from that State, the candidates set up by the party have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in the State; and, in addition, the party has returned at least one member to the House of the People from that State at such general election; or

(iii) At the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the party has won at least three percent of the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly, (any fraction exceeding half being counted as one), or at least three seats in the Assembly, whichever is more; or

(iv) At the last general election to the House of the People from the State, the party has returned at least one member to the House of the People for every 25 members or any fraction thereof allotted to that State;] or

(v) At the last general election to the House of the People from the State, or at the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the candidates set up by the Party have secured not less than eight percent of the total valid votes polled in the State.

From above definition we can derive five minimum criteria for recognition as a State Party

  1. Secure at least 6% of the valid vote and win at least 2 seats in an Assembly General Election
  2. Secure at least 6% of the valid vote and win at least 1 seat in a Lok Sabha General Election
  3. Win at least 3% of the seats or at least 3 seats, whichever is more, in an Assembly General Election
  4. Win at least 1 out of every 25 seats from a state in a Lok Sabha General Election
  5. Secure at least 8% of the total valid vote in an Assembly or a Lok Sabha General Election

There are so many state parties in India Like JDU, RJD, Samajwadi Party, DMK, AIADMK etc. in different states of India. Total number of state parties in India is around 50.

National Party

The Article 6B of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 defined conditions for recognition as National Party as follows:

6B. Conditions for recognition as a National Party – A political party shall be eligible to be recognized as National party, if, and only if, any of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(i) The candidates set up by the party, in any four or more States, at the last general election to the House of the People, or to the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned, have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in each of those States at that general election; and, in addition, it has returned at least four members to the House of the People at the aforesaid last general election from any State or States; or

(ii) At the last general election to the House of the People, the party has won at least two percent of the total number of seats in the House of the People, any fraction exceeding half being counted as one; and the party’s candidates have been elected to that House from not less than three States; or

(iii) The party is recognized as State party in at least four States.

From the definition given in article 6B we can get these three minimum criteria for recognition as a National Party

  1. Secure at least 6% of the valid vote in an Assembly or a Lok Sabha General Election in any four or more states and won at least 4 seats in a Lok Sabha General Election from any State or States
  2. Win at least 2% of the total Lok Sabha seats in a Lok Sabha General Election and these seats have to be won from at least 3 states
  3. The party is recognized as a State Party in at least four states

Major advantage of being a National Party is reservation of its symbol from the list of free symbols. In case of recognition as a State Party, all the candidates contesting election throughout the state can use same symbol. In case of a National Party the contestants can use same symbol throughout the country.

Apart from symbol reservation, it gets many more benefits like free supply of electoral roll copies during elections, subsidized lands for party office, free airtime on Doordarshan and All India Radio, right to membership at various institutions and many more.

You may like reading:

Election Commission of India (ECI)

Election Policy of India

The Parliament : Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Formation of Indian National Congress

Constitutional Provisions and Programmes on Child Labour in India

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Syskool
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child labour
  • Art-24, Prohibition of Employment of Children in hazardous Industries.
  • Art-21A, Right to Education to the children of 6-14 years age group was made fundamental right by 86th constitutional amendment.
  • Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
  • National Child Labour Policy, 1987.
  • National Child Labour Projects, 1988.

by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.

The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 was enacted by the government to curb the child labour. It contains the following provisions –

  1. It prohibits employment of children in 13 occupations and 57 processes.
  2. Under the Act, a Technical advisory committee is to be constituted to advice for inclusion of further occupations and processes.
  3. The Act regulate the conditions of employments in all occupations and processes not prohibited under the Act.
  4. Any person who employs any child in contravention of the provisions of the Act is liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than Rs. 10,000 or many extend to Rs. 20,000 or both.
  5. The Central and State Governments enforce the provisions of the Act in their spheres.
  6. The Government of India announced in August, 1987. The National Policy on Child Labour, which contains the action plan for tackling the problem of child labour and envisages a legislative action plan.
  7. National Child Labour Project Scheme (NCLP) was started by the Government of India in 1988, in pursuance of the National Child Labour Policy of 1987.
  8. In this scheme a sequential approach was adopted with focusing on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations and processes in the first instance.
  9. Under the scheme after a survey of child labour engaged in hazardous occupations and processes has been conducted, children are to be withdrawn from these occupations and processes and then put into special schools in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into formal education.
  10. Xth Five Year Plan had adopted a strategy for elimination of child labour by linking the child labour elimination efforts with the scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of the MHRD.
  11. Indus project on the elimination of child labour is a jointly funded project by the Ministry of Labour the Government of India and the Department of Labour, USA.
  12. Indus project is implemented in ten hazardous sectors in 21 districts across five states, Maharashtra, M.P., T.N., U.P. and Rajasthan.
  13. 80,000 children are to be withdrawn and rehabilitated in Indus Project.
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