working of institutions
Working of Institutions
BY P.SURESH
A Government Order
An order announces a major policy decision taken by the government for immediate implementation.
The Decision Makers
1. President is the head of the stateand is the highest formal authorityin the country.
2. Prime Minister is the head of thegovernmentand actually exercisesall governmental powers. He takesmost of the decisions in theCabinet meetings.
3. Parliament consists of two Houses,LokSabha and RajyaSabha. The parliament makes important laws to be followed by everyone.
A long chain of events before the passing of Government Order for OBC reservation.
1. The
Government of India hadappointed the Second BackwardClasses Commission
in 1979. It washeaded by B.P. Mandal. Hence it waspopularly called the
MandalCommission.
2. The
Commission gaveits Report in 1980 and made manyrecommendations. One of
these wasthat 27 per cent of government jobsbe reserved for the socially
andeconomically backward classes.
3. For several years, manyparliamentarians and parties keptdemanding the implementation of theCommission’s recommendations.
4. Then
came the LokSabha electionof 1989. In its election manifesto, theJanata
Dal promised that if voted topower, it would implement theMandal
Commission report.
5. TheJanata Dal did form the governmentafter this election. Its leader V. P.Singh became the Prime Ministerand he implemented it.
Involvement of several political institutions in implementing OBC reservation (Mondal Commission recommendations):
1. The
President of India in hisaddress to the Parliamentannounced the
intention of thegovernment to implement therecommendations of the
MandalCommission.
2. On 6 August 1990, the UnionCabinet took a formal decision toimplement the recommendations.
3. Next
day Prime Minister V.P. Singhinformed the Parliament aboutthis decision
through a statementin both the Houses of Parliament.
4. The
decision of the Cabinet wassent to the Department of Personneland
Training. The senior officers ofthe Department drafted an order inline
with the Cabinet decision andtook the minister’s approval.
5. Anofficer
signed the order on behalf ofthe Union Government. This washow OBC
reservation bill wasborn on August 13, 1990. Many approached the Supreme
Court and the Supreme Court judgesin 1992 declared that this order of
the Government of India was valid.
What are political Institutions? Need for Political Institutions in India
Several
arrangements to provide social security, education, health and basic
needs are made inall modern democracies. Sucharrangements are called
institutions.A democracy works well whenthese institutions perform
functionsassigned to them.
1. The Parliament makes important laws foe the entire nation.
2. The Prime Minister and theCabinet are institutions that takeall important policy decisions.
3. The Civil Servants, workingtogether, are responsible for takingsteps to implement the ministers’decisions.
4. Supreme Court is an institutionwhere disputes between citizensand the government are finallysettled.
What is Parliament?Why do we need a Parliament?
An
assembly ofelected representatives which exercisessupreme political
authority onbehalf of the people. In India such anational assembly of
electedrepresentatives is called Parliament.
1. Parliament
is the final authority formaking laws in any country.Parliamentsall
over the world can make newlaws, change existing laws, orabolish
existing laws and makenew ones in their place.
2. Parliaments
all over the worldexercise some control over thosewho run the
government. In somecountries like India this control isdirect and full.
3. Parliaments
control all the moneythat governments have. In mostcountries the public
moneycan be spent only when theParliament sanctions it.
4. Parliament
is the highest forum ofdiscussion and debate on publicissues and
national policy in anycountry. Parliament can seekinformation about any
matter.
Two Houses of Parliament
1. In
our country, the Parliamentconsists of two Houses. The twoHouses are
known as the Council ofStates (RajyaSabha) and the Houseof the People
(LokSabha).
2. The
total number of elected members of LokSabha is 543+2 Anglo Indian
nominated members.The total number of members of RajyaSabha is 238+12
nominated members.
3. Members of LokSabha are electedby the people. Members of RajyaSabha are elected by the MLAs and MPs.
4. The length of the term of LokSabha members is 5 years.The length of the term of RajyaSabha members is 6 years
5. LokSabha can be dissolved but Raya Sabha is permanent and only the members retire.
How does LokSabha exercise supreme power than RajyaSabha?
1. Any
ordinary law needs to bepassed by both the Houses. But ifthere is a
difference between thetwo Houses, the final decision istaken in a joint
session in whichthe view ofthe LokSabha is likely to prevail.
2. LokSabha
exercises more powersin money matters. Once the LokSabha passes the
budget of thegovernment or any other moneyrelated law, the
RajyaSabhacannot reject but can only delay it by 14 days.
3. Most
importantly, the LokSabha controls the Council of Ministers. Only a
person who enjoys the support of the majority of the members in the
LokSabha is appointed the Prime Minister.
4. If
the majority of the LokSabha members say they have ‘no confidence’ in
the Council of Ministers, all ministers including the Prime Minister,
have to quit. theRajyaSabha does nothave this power.
Executive
At
different levels of anygovernment we find functionarieswho take
day-to-day decisions and implement those decisions onbehalf of the
people. All thosefunctionaries are collectively knownas the executive.
Political and PermanentExecutive
1. Politician
who is elected by the people for a specific period is called
thepolitical executive. Political leaderswho take the big decisions fall
in thiscategory.
2. Officers
who are appointed on a long-term basis based on their qualification and
experience. They are called the permanentexecutive or civil servants.
They remain in officeeven when the ruling party changes.
Why does the political executive have more power than the non-political executive? OR
Why is the minister more powerful than the civil servant?
1. In
a democracy the will of the people is supreme. The minister is elected
by the people and thus empowered to exercise the will of the people on
their behalf.
2. The
Minister is finallyanswerable to the people for all theconsequences of
her decision. Thatis why the minister takes all the finaldecisions.
3. The minister decides theoverall framework and objectives inwhich decisions on policy should bemade.
4. The
minister is notexpected to be an expert in thematters of her ministry.
The ministertakes the advice of experts on alltechnical matters.
5. The experts can tell the route, but the minister with a larger view decidesthe destination.
Council of Ministers and Types of ministers:
Council
of Ministers is the officialname for the body that includes allthe
Ministers. It usually has 60 to80 Ministers of different ranks.
1. Cabinet Ministers are
usually top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties who are in
charge of themajor ministries. Usually theCabinet Ministers meet to
takedecisions in the name of theCouncil of Ministers.
2. Ministers of State with independentcharge are usually in-chargeof smaller Ministries. Theyparticipate in the Cabinet meetingsonly when specially invited.
3. Ministers of State or Deputy ministersare attachedto and required to assist CabinetMinisters in their work.
Prime Minister and Powers of the Prime Minister
Prime Minister is the most importantpolitical institutionin
the country.ThePresident appoints the leader of themajority party or
the coalition ofparties that commands a majorityin the LokSabha, as
Prime Minister.
1. Ashead of the government, the PrimeMinister has wide ranging powers.
2. He
chairs Cabinet meetings. He coordinates the work of
differentDepartments. His decisions are finalin case disagreements arise
betweenDepartments.
3. He exercises generalsupervision of different ministries.All ministers work under hisleadership.
4. The Prime Ministerdistributes and redistributes workto the ministers. He also has thepower to dismiss ministers.
5. Whenthe
Prime Minister quits, the entireministry quits.The Cabinet is the most
powerful institution in India and withinthe Cabinet the Prime
Ministerwho is the most powerful.
Prime Ministerial form of government.
Thepowers
of the Prime Minister in allparliamentary democracies of theworld have
increased so much inrecent decades that parliamentarydemocracies are
seen asPrime Ministerial form ofgovernment.
The President and Powers of the President:
The
President isthe head of the State. The Presidentof India is like the
Queen of Britainwhose functions are to a large extentceremonial. The
President is elected by all the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members
of State Legislative Assemblies (MLAs).
1. The
President supervisesthe overall functioning of all thepolitical
institutions in the country sothat they operate in harmony toachieve the
objectives of the state.
2. All
governmental activities takeplace in the name of the President.All laws
and major policy decisionsof the government are issued in hername.
3. All
major appointments aremade in the name of the President.These include
the appointment ofthe Chief Justice of India, theJudges of the Supreme
Court andthe High Courts, theGovernors, the ElectionCommissioners,
ambassadors to other countries, etc.
4. All internationaltreaties and agreements are made inthe name of the President.
5. ThePresident
is the supreme commanderof the defence forces of India.President
exercises all these powersonly on the advice of the Council ofMinisters.
What is Judiciary?
All
thecourts at different levels in a countryput together are called the
judiciary.The Indian judiciary consists of aSupreme Court for the entire
nation,High Courts in the states, DistrictCourts and the courts at
local level.
Types of cases or disputes handled by the courts:
1. Cases Between citizens of the country.
2. Cases between citizens and government.
3. Cases between two or more stategovernments; and
4. Cases between governments at the unionand state level.
Powers of the Supreme Court and High Court
1. Supreme
Court is the highest court of appeal incivil and criminal cases. It can
hearappeals against the decisions of theHigh Courts.
2. The
Supreme Court and the HighCourts have the power to interpretthe
Constitution of the country. Theycan declare invalid any law of
thelegislature if they find sucha law or action is against
theConstitution.
3. The
Supreme Court candetermine the Constitutional validityof any
legislation or action of theexecutive in the country, when it
ischallenged before them. This isknown as the judicial review.
4. The
powers and the independence of the Indian judiciary allow it to act as
the guardian of the Fundamental Rights. We shall see in the next chapter
that the citizens have a right to approach the courts to seek remedy in
case of any violation of their rights
5. Courts
have given severaljudgments and directives to protectpublic interest
and human rights.Anyone can approach the courts ifpublic interest is
hurt by the actionsof government. This is called publicinterest
litigation.
Independence of the judiciary
1. Independence of the judiciarymeans
that it is not under thecontrol of the legislature or theexecutive. The
judges do not act onthe direction of the government oraccording to the
wishes of the partyin power.
2. The
judges of the SupremeCourt and the High Courts areappointed by the
President on theadvice of the Prime Minister and inconsultation with the
Chief Justiceof the Supreme Court. Once aperson is appointed as judge
of theSupreme Court or the High Court itis nearly impossible to remove
himor her from that position.
3. A judge can be removedonly by an impeachment motionpassed separately by two-thirdsmembers of the two Houses of theParliament.
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