not to be republished © NCERT - WordPress.com · document. The officer was merely implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,

78 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS

OVERVIEW

Democracy is not just about people electing their rulers. In a democracythe rulers have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to workwith and within institutions. This chapter is about the working of suchinstitutions in a democracy. We try to understand this by looking at themanner in which major decisions are taken and implemented in ourcountry. We also look at how disputes regarding these decisions areresolved. In this process we come across three institutions that play a keyrole in major decisions – legislature, executive and judiciary.

You have already read something about these institutions in earlierclasses. Here we shall quickly summarise those and move on to askinglarger questions. In the case of each institution we ask: What does thisinstitution do? How is this institution connected to other institutions?What makes its functioning more or less democratic? The basic objectivehere is to understand how all these institutions together carry on thework of government. Sometimes we compare these with similar institutionsin other democracies. In this chapter we take our examples from theworking of the national level government called Central Government, UnionGovernment, or just Government of India. While reading this chapter, youcan think of and discuss examples from the working of the government inyour state.

CHAPTER 5

Working ofInstitutions

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5.1 HOW IS A MAJOR POLICY DECISION TAKEN?Pensions, signed the Order. It wasquite short, barely one page. Itlooked like any ordinary circular ornotice that you may have seen inschool. The government issues hun-dreds of orders every day on differ-ent matters. But this one was veryimportant and became a source ofcontroversy for several years. Let ussee how the decision was taken andwhat happened later.

A GA GA GA GA Gooooovvvvve re re re re rnmennmennmennmennment Ort Ort Ort Ort OrderderderderderOn August 13, 1990, the Governmentof India issued an Order. It wascalled an Office Memorandum. Likeall government orders, it had a num-ber and is known by that: O. M. No.36012/31/90-Est (SCT), dated13.8.1990. The Joint Secretary, anofficer in the Department of Person-nel and Training in the Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievances and

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This Order announced a majorpolicy decision. It said that 27 percent of the vacancies in civil postsand services under the Governmentof India are reserved for the Sociallyand Educationally Backward Classes(SEBC). SEBC is another name for allthose people who belong to castesthat are considered backward by thegovernment. The benefit of job res-ervation was till then available onlyto Scheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes. Now a new third categorycalled SEBC was introduced. Onlypersons who belong to backwardcastes were eligible for this quota of27 per cent jobs. Others could notcompete for these jobs.

TTTTThe Dhe Dhe Dhe Dhe Deeeeecision Mcision Mcision Mcision Mcision Ma ka ka ka ka kersersersersersWho decided to issue thisMemorandum? Clearly, such a bigdecision could not have been takenby the person who signed thatdocument. The officer was merelyimplementing the instructions givenby the Minister of Personnel, PublicGrievances and Pensions, of whichthe Department was a part. We canguess that such a major decisionwould have involved other majorfunctionaries in our country. Youhave already read in the previousclass about some of them. Let us goover some of the main points thatyou covered then:

President is the head of the stateand is the highest formal authorityin the country.Prime Minister is the head of thegovernment and actually exercisesall governmental powers. He takesmost of the decisions in theCabinet meetings.Parliament consists of two Houses,Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. ThePrime Minister must have thesupport of a majority of Lok Sabhamembers.

So, were all these people involvedin this decision regarding the OfficeMemorandum? Let us find out.

A C T I V I T Y

Which points, other than the ones mentionedabove, do you recall about these institutionsfrom the previous class? Discuss in class.Can you think of a major decision made byyour state government? How were the Gover-nor, the Council of Ministers, the state assem-bly and the courts involved in that decision?

This Office Memorandum was theculmination of a long chain ofevents. The Government of India hadappointed the Second BackwardClasses Commission in 1979. It washeaded by B.P. Mandal. Hence it waspopularly called the MandalCommission. It was asked todetermine the criteria to identify thesocially and educationally backwardclasses in India and recommendsteps to be taken for theiradvancement. The Commission gaveits Report in 1980 and made manyrecommendations. One of these wasthat 27 per cent of government jobsbe reserved for the socially andEducationally backward classes.The Report and recommendationswere discussed in the Parliament.

For several years, manyparliamentarians and parties keptdemanding the implementation ofthe Commission’s recommendations.Then came the Lok Sabha electionof 1989. In its election manifesto,the Janata Dal promised that if votedto power, it would implement theMandal Commission report. TheJanata Dal did form the governmentafter this election. Its leader V. P.Singh became the Prime Minister.Several developments took placeafter that:

Now I can seeclearly! That is why

they talk ofMandalisation of

politics. Don’t they?

Is every OfficeMemorandum amajor politicaldecision? If not,what made thisone different?

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were full of different views andopinions on this issue. It led towidespread protests and counter-protests, some of which were violent.People reacted strongly because thisdecision affected thousands of jobopportunities. Some felt thatexistence of inequalities amongpeople of different castes in Indianecessitated job reservations. Theyfelt, this would give a fairopportunity to those communitieswho so far had not adequately beenrepresented in governmentemployment.

Others felt that this was unfair asit would deny equality of opportunityto those who did not belong tobackward communities. They wouldbe denied jobs even though theycould be more qualified. Some feltthat this would perpetuate castefeelings among people and hampernational unity. In this chapter wewon’t discuss whether the decisionwas good or not. We only take thisexample to understand how majordecisions are taken andimplemented in the country.

Who resolved this dispute? Youknow that the Supreme Court and theHigh Courts in India settle disputesarising out of governmental decisions.Some persons and associationsopposed to this order filed a numberof cases in the courts. They appealedto the courts to declare the orderinvalid and stop its implementation.The Supreme Court of India bunchedall these cases together. This case wasknown as the ‘Indira Sawhney andothers Vs Union of India case’. Elevenjudges of the Supreme Court heardarguments of both sides. By amajority, the Supreme Court judgesin 1992 declared that this order of theGovernment of India was valid. Atthe same time the Supreme Courtasked the government to modify its


The President of India in hisaddress to the Parliamentannounced the intention of thegovernment to implement therecommendations of the MandalCommission.On 6 August 1990, the UnionCabinet took a formal decision toimplement the recommendations.Next day Prime Minister V.P. Singhinformed the Parliament aboutthis decision through a statementin both the Houses of Parliament.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. Anofficer signed the order on behalf ofthe Union Government. This washow O.M. No. 36012/ 31/90 wasborn on August 13, 1990.For the next few months, this was

the most hotly debated issue in thecountry. Newspapers and magazines

Reservation debatewas such an

important issue during1990-91 that

advertisers used thistheme to sell theirproducts. Can you

spot some referencesto political events anddebates in these Amul

Butter hoardings?

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Who did what in this case of reservations for backward classes?

Made formal announcement about this decision

Implemented the decision by issuing an order

Took the decision to give 27% job reservations

Upheld reservations as valid

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

original order. It said that well-to-do persons among the backwardclasses should be excluded fromgetting the benefit of reservation.Accordingly, the Department of

Which institutionsare at work in therunning of yourschool? Would itbe better if oneperson alone tookall the decisionsregardingmanagement ofyour school?

Personnel and Training issuedanother Office Memorandum onSeptember 8, 1993. The disputethus came to an end and this policyhas been followed since then.

NNNNN e ee ee ee ee ed fd fd fd fd fo r Po r Por Por Por Pol i t ica l Inst i tu-ol i t ica l Inst i tu-ol i t ica l Inst i tu-ol i t ica l Inst i tu-ol i t ica l Inst i tu-t ionst ionst ionst ionst ionsWe have seen one example of how thegovernment works. Governing acountry involves various suchactivities. For example, the governmentis responsible for ensuring security tothe citizens and providing facilities foreducation and health to all. It collectstaxes and spends the money thusraised on administration, defence anddevelopment programmes. Itformulates and implements severalwelfare schemes. Some persons haveto take decisions on how to go aboutthese activities. Others have toimplement these decisions. Ifdisputes arise on these decisions orin their implementation, there shouldbe some one to determine what isright and what is wrong. It isimportant that everyone shouldknow who is responsible for doingwhat. It is also important that theseactivities keep taking place even ifthe persons in key positions change.

So, to attend to all thesetasks, several arrangements aremade in all modern democracies.Such arrangements are calledinstitutions. A democracy works wellwhen these institutions performfunctions assigned to them. TheConstitution of any country laysdown basic rules on the powers and

functions of each institution. In theexample above we saw several suchinstitutions at work.

The Prime Minister and theCabinet are institutions that takeall important policy decisions.The Civil Servants, workingtogether, are responsible fortaking steps to implement theministers’ decisions.Supreme Court is an institutionwhere disputes between citizensand the government are finallysettled.

Can you think of some other insti-tutions in this example? What istheir role?

Working with institutions is noteasy. Institutions involve rules andregulations. This can bind the handsof leaders. Institutions involvemeetings, committees and routines.This often leads to delays andcomplications. Therefore dealingwith institutions can be frustrating.One might feel that it is much betterto have one person take all decisionswithout any rules, procedures andmeetings. But that is not the spiritof democracy. Some of the delaysand complications introduced byinstitutions are very useful. Theyprovide an opportunity for a widerset of people to be consulted in anydecision. Institutions make it

Supreme Court

Cabinet

PresidentGovernment Officials

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difficult to have a good decisiontaken very quickly. But they alsomake it equally difficult to rush

class and try to imagine what theParliament could have done if it didnot approve of the Cabinet’sdecision.

WWWWWhhhhhy do wy do wy do wy do wy do we neee neee neee neee need ad ad ad ad aPPPPPa ra ra ra ra rl iamenliamenliamenliamenliament?t ?t ?t ?t ?In all democracies, an assembly ofelected representatives exercisessupreme political authority onbehalf of the people. In India such anational assembly of electedrepresentatives is called Parliament.At the state level this is calledLegislature or Legislative Assembly.The name may vary in differentcountries, but such an assemblyexists in every democracy. Itexercises political authority onbehalf of the people in many ways:

1 Parliament is the final authority formaking laws in any country. Thistask of law making or legislationis so crucial that these assembliesare called legislatures. 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. Those who run thegovernment can take decisionsonly so long as they enjoy supportof the Parliament.

3 Parliaments control all the moneythat governments have. In mostcountries any the public moneycan be spent only when theParliament sanctions it.

through a bad decision. That is whydemocratic governments insist oninstitutions.

5.2 PARLIAMENTIn the example of the OfficeMemorandum, do you rememberthe role of the Parliament? Perhapsnot. Since this decision was nottaken by the Parliament, you mightthink that the Parliament had norole in it. But let us go back to thestory and see whether Parliamentfigures in it. Let us recall the pointsmade earlier by completing thefollowing sentences:

The Report of the MandalCommission was discussed …The President of India mentionedthis in his …The Prime Minister made a …The decision was not directly taken

in the Parliament. But Parliamentarydiscussions on the Report influencedand shaped the decision of thegovernment. They brought pressureon the government to act on theMandal recommendation. If theParliament was not in favour of thisdecision, the Government could nothave gone ahead with it. Can youguess why? Recall what you readabout the Parliament in the earlier


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4 Parliament is the highest forum ofdiscussion and debate on publicissues and national policy in anycountry. Parliament can seekinformation about any matter.

TTTTTwwwwwo Ho Ho Ho Ho Houses of Pouses of Pouses of Pouses of Pouses of Pa ra ra ra ra rliamenliamenliamenliamenliamentttttSince the Parliament plays a centralrole in modern democracies, mostlarge countries divide the role andpowers of the Parliament in twoparts. They are called Chambers orHouses. One House is usuallydirectly elected by the people andexercises the real power on behalfof the people. The second House isusually elected indirectly andperforms some special functions.The most common work for thesecond House is to look after theinterests of various states, regionsor federal units.

In our country, the Parliamentconsists of two Houses. The twoHouses are known as the Council ofStates (Rajya Sabha) and the Houseof the People (Lok Sabha). ThePresident of India is a part of theParliament, although she is not amember of either House. That is whyall laws made in the Houses comeinto force only after they receive theassent of the President.

You have read about the IndianParliament in earlier classes. Fromthe Chapter Four you know how LokSabha elections take place. Let usrecall some key differences betweenthe composition of these two Housesof Parliament. Answer the followingfor the Lok Sabha and the RajyaSabha:

What is the total number ofmembers? …Who elects the members? …What is the length of the term (inyears)? …Can the House be dissolved or isit permanent? …

What is the point inhaving so muchdebate anddiscussion in theParliament whenwe know that theview of the rulingparty is going toprevail?

Which of the two Houses is morepowerful? It might appear that theRajya Sabha is more powerful, forsometimes it is called the ‘UpperChamber’ and the Lok Sabha the‘Lower Chamber’. But this does notmean that Rajya Sabha is morepowerful than Lok Sabha. This isjust an old style of speaking and notthe language used in ourConstitution.

Our Constitution does give theRajya Sabha some special powersover the states. But on most matters,the Lok Sabha exercises supremepower. Let us see how:1 Any ordinary law needs to be

passed by both the Houses. But ifthere is a difference between thetwo Houses, the final decision istaken in a joint session in whichmembers of both the Houses sittogether. Because of the largernumber of members, the view ofthe Lok Sabha is likely to prevailin such a meeting.

2 Lok Sabha exercises more powersin money matters. Once the LokSabha passes the budget of thegovernment or any other moneyrelated law, the Rajya Sabhacannot reject it. The Rajya Sabhacan only delay it by 14 days orsuggest changes in it. The LokSabha may or may not acceptthese changes.

A C T I V I T Y

When the Parliament is in session, there is a spe-cial programme everyday on Doordarshan aboutthe proceedings in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.Watch the proceedings or read about it in thenewspapers and note the following:

Powers of the two Houses of Parliament.Role of the Speaker.Role of the Opposition.

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85WORKING OF INSTITUTIONS

A day in the life of the Lok Sabha

Railways in addition to that sanctioned in theRailway Budget.

The Minister of Human Resource Developmentintroduced the National Commission for MinorityEducational Institutions Bill, 2004. He also gavea statement explaining why the government hadto bring an ordinance for this.

12:14 Several members highlightedsome issues, including:

The vindictiveness of the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) in registering cases againstsome leaders in the Tehelka case.Need to include Rajasthani as an officiallanguage in the Constitution.Need to renew the insurance policies offarmers and agricultural workers of AndhraPradesh.

2:26 Two bills proposed by thegovernment were considered andpassed. These were:

The Securities Laws (Amendment) BillThe Enforcement of Security Interest andRecovery of Debts Laws (Amendment) Bill

4:00 Finally, there was a longdiscussion regarding the foreignpolicy of the government and theneed to continue an independentforeign policy in the context of thesituation in Iraq.

7:17 Discussion concluded. Houseadjourned for next day.

3 Most importantly, the Lok Sabhacontrols the Council of Ministers.Only a person who enjoys thesupport of the majority of themembers in the Lok Sabha isappointed the Prime Minister. If the

majority of the Lok Sabha memberssay they have ‘no confidence’ in theCouncil of Ministers, all ministersincluding the Prime Minister, haveto quit. The Rajya Sabha does nothave this power.

7 December 2004 was an ordinary day in the life ofthe Fourteenth Lok Sabha. Let us take a look at whathappened in the course of that day. Identify the roleand powers of the parliament on the basis of theproceedings for the day as given below. You canalso enact this day in your classroom.

11:00 Various ministries gavewritten answers to about 250questions that were asked bymembers. These included:

What is the government’s policy on talking tomilitant groups in Kashmir?What are the figures of atrocities againstScheduled Tribes, including those inflicted bythe police?What is the government doing about over-pricing of medicines by big companies?

12:00 A large number of officialdocuments were presented and wereavailable for discussion. Theseincluded:

Recruitment rules for the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice ForceAnnual Repor t of the Indian Institute ofTechnology, KharagpurReport and accounts of Rashtriya Ispat NigamLimited, Visakhapatnam

12:02 The Minister of Developmentof Nor th Eastern Region made astatement regarding Revitalisation ofthe North Eastern Council.

The Minister of State for Railways presented astatement showing the grant needed by the

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5.3 POLITICAL EXECUTIVE

Do you remember the story of theOffice Memorandum with which westarted this chapter? We found outthat the person who signed thedocument did not take this decision.He was only executing the policydecision taken by someone else. Wenoted the role of the Prime Ministerin taking that decision. But we alsoknow that he could not have takenthat decision if he did not havesupport from the Lok Sabha. In thatsense he was only executing thewishes of the Parliament.

Thus, at different levels of anygovernment we find functionarieswho take day-to-day decisions butdo not exercise supreme power onbehalf of the people. All thosefunctionaries are collectively knownas the executive. They are calledexecutive because they are in chargeof the ‘execution’ of the policies ofthe government. Thus, when we talkabout ‘the government’ we usuallymean the executive.

PPPPPolitical and Political and Political and Political and Political and Pe re re re re rmanenmanenmanenmanenmanentttttEEEEExxxxxeeeeecccccutivutivutivutivutiveeeeeIn a democratic country, twocategories make up the executive.One that is elected by the people fora specific period, is called thepolitical executive. Political leaderswho take the big decisions fall in thiscategory. In the second category,people are appointed on a long-termbasis. This is called the permanentexecutive or civil services. Personsworking in civil services are calledcivil servants. They remain in officeeven when the ruling party changes.These officers work under politicalexecutive and assist them incarrying out the day-to-dayadministration. Can you recall therole of political and non-political

executive in the case of the OfficeMemorandum?

You might ask: Why does thepolitical executive have more powerthan the non-political executive?Why is the minister more powerfulthan the civil servant? The civilservant is usually more educatedand has more expert knowledge ofthe subject. The advisors working inthe Finance Ministry know moreabout economics than the FinanceMinister. Sometimes the ministersmay know very little about thetechnical matters that come undertheir ministry. This could easilyhappen in ministries like Defence,Industry, Health, Science andTechnology, Mining, etc. Why shouldthe minister have the final say onthese matters?

The reason is very simple. In ademocracy the will of the people issupreme. The minister is elected bythe people and thus empowered toexercise the will of the people ontheir behalf. She is finallyanswerable to the people for all theconsequences of her decision. Thatis why the minister takes all the finaldecisions. The minister decides theoverall framework and objectives inwhich decisions on policy should bemade. The minister is not, and is notexpected to be, an expert in thematters of her ministry. The ministertakes the advice of experts on alltechnical matters. But very oftenexperts hold different opinions orplace before her more than oneoption. Depending on what theoverall objective is, the ministerdecides.

Actually this happens in any largeorganisation. Those who understandthe overall picture take the mostimportant decisions, not the experts.

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The experts can tell the route, butsomeone with a larger view decidesthe destination. In a democracyelected ministers perform this role.

PPPPPrrrrr ime Mime Mime Mime Mime Ministinistinistinistinister and Cer and Cer and Cer and Cer and Councilouncilouncilouncilouncilof Mof Mof Mof Mof MinistinistinistinistinistersersersersersPrime Minister is the most importantpolitical institution in the country.Yet there is no direct election to thepost of the Prime Minister. ThePresident appoints the PrimeMinister. But the President cannotappoint anyone she likes. ThePresident appoints the leader of themajority party or the coalition ofparties that commands a majorityin the Lok Sabha, as Prime Minister.In case no single party or alliancegets a majority, the Presidentappoints the person most likely tosecure a majority support. ThePrime Minister does not have a fixedtenure. He continues in power solong as he remains the leader of themajority party or coalition.

After the appointment of the PrimeMinister, the President appointsother ministers on the advice of thePrime Minister. The Ministers areusually from the party or thecoalition that has the majority in theLok Sabha. The Prime Minister isfree to choose ministers, as long asthey are members of Parliament.Sometimes, a person who is not amember of Parliament can alsobecome a minister. But such aperson has to get elected to one ofthe Houses of the Parliament withinsix months of appointment asminister.

Council of Ministers is the officialname for the body that includes allthe Ministers. It usually has 60 to80 Ministers of different ranks.

Cabinet Ministers are usuallytop-level leaders of the ruling partyor parties who are in charge of themajor ministries. Usually theCabinet Ministers meet to takedecisions in the name of theCouncil of Ministers. Cabinet isthus the inner ring of the Councilof Ministers. It comprises about 20ministers.Ministers of State with indepen-dent charge are usually in-chargeof smaller Ministries. Theyparticipate in the Cabinet meet-ings only when specially invited.Ministers of State are attachedto and required to assist CabinetMinisters.Since it is not practical for all

ministers to meet regularly anddiscuss everything, the decisions aretaken in Cabinet meetings. That is whyparliamentary democracy in mostcountries is often known as theCabinet form of government. TheCabinet works as a team. Theministers may have different viewsand opinions, but everyone has to ownup to every decision of the Cabinet.


The race to becomeminister is not new.Here is a cartoon

depicting ministerialaspirants waiting to

get a berth in Nehru’sCabinet after the

1962 elections. Whydo you think political

leaders are so keen tobecome ministers?

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No minister can openly criticise anydecision of the government, even if itis about another Ministry orDepartment. Every ministry hassecretaries, who are civil servants.The secretaries provide thenecessary background informationto the ministers to take decisions.The Cabinet as a team is assistedby the Cabinet Secretariat. Thisincludes many senior civil servantswho try to coordinate the working ofdifferent ministries.

A C T I V I T Y

List the names of five Cabinet Ministers andtheir ministries each at the Union level and inyour state.Meet the Mayor or Municipal Chairperson ofyour town or the President of Zila Parishad ofyour district and ask him or her about how thecity, town or district is administered.

PPPPPooooowwwwwers of theers of theers of theers of theers of thePPPPPrrrrr ime Mime Mime Mime Mime Ministinistinistinistiniste re re re re rThe Constitution does not say verymuch about the powers of the PrimeMinister or the ministers or theirrelationship with each other. But ashead of the government, the PrimeMinister has wide ranging powers.He chairs Cabinet meetings. Hecoordinates the work of differentDepartments. His decisions are finalin case disagreements arise betweenDepartments. He exercises generalsupervision of different ministries.All ministers work under hisleadership. The Prime Ministerdistributes and redistributes workto the ministers. He also has thepower to dismiss ministers. Whenthe Prime Minister quits, the entireministry quits.

Thus, if the Cabinet is the mostpowerful institution in India, withinthe Cabinet it is the Prime Minister

who is the most powerful. The powersof the Prime Minister in allparliamentary democracies of theworld have increased so much inrecent decades that parliamentarydemocracies are some times seen asPrime Ministerial form ofgovernment. As political parties havecome to play a major role in politics,the Prime Minister controls theCabinet and Parliament through theparty. The media also contributes tothis trend by making politics andelections as a competition betweentop leaders of parties. In India toowe have seen such a tendencytowards the concentration of powersin the hands of the Prime Minister.Jawaharlal Nehru, the first PrimeMinister of India, exercisedenormous authority because he hadgreat influence over the public.Indira Gandhi was also a verypowerful leader compared to hercolleagues in the Cabinet. Of course,the extent of power wielded by aPrime Minister also depends on thepersonality of the person holdingthat position.

However, in recent years the riseof coalition politics has imposedcertain constraints on the power ofthe Prime Minister. The Prime

This cartoon depictsa cabinet meetingchaired by Prime

Minister Indira Gandhiin early 1970s, at thepeak of her popularity.Do you think similarcartoons could bedrawn about other

prime ministers whofollowed her?


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Minister of a coalition governmentcannot take decisions as he likes.He has to accommodate differentgroups and factions in his party aswell as among alliance partners. Healso has to heed to the views andpositions of the coalition partnersand other parties, on whose supportthe survival of the governmentdepends.

TTTTThe Phe Phe Phe Phe PrrrrresidenesidenesidenesidenesidentttttWhile the Prime Minister is the headof the government, the President isthe head of the State. In our politicalsystem the head of the State exercisesonly nominal powers. The Presidentof India is like the Queen of Britainwhose functions are to a large extentceremonial. The President supervisesthe overall functioning of all thepolitical institutions in the country sothat they operate in harmony toachieve the objectives of the State.

The President is not elected directly

by the people. The elected Membersof Parliament (MPs) and the electedMembers of the LegislativeAssemblies (MLAs) elect her. Acandidate standing for President’spost has to get a majority of votes towin the election. This ensures thatthe President can be seen to representthe entire nation. At the same timethe President can never claim the kindof direct popular mandate that thePrime Minister can. This ensures thatshe remains only a nominal executive.

The same is true of the powers ofthe President. If you casually read theConstitution you would think thatthere is nothing that she cannot do.All governmental activities take placein the name of the President. All lawsand major policy decisions ofthe government are issued in hername. All major appointments aremade in the name of the President.These include the appointment of

Why does thisbook refer to the

President as ‘she’?Have we ever had

a woman Presidentin our country?

Did you protestwhen the bookreferred to the

Prime Minister as‘he’? Have we not

had a womanPrime Minister?Why should we

assume that all theimportant positions

are held by men?


The President,Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

administering the oath ofoffice to Prime Minister,

Dr. Manmohan Singh.

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CHECKYOURPROGRESS

the Chief Justice of India, the Judgesof the Supreme Court and the HighCourts of the states, the Governors ofthe states, the Election Commissioners,ambassadors to other countries, etc.All international treaties andagreements are made in the name ofthe President. The President is thesupreme commander of the defenceforces of India.

But we should remember that thePresident exercises all these powersonly on the advice of the Council ofMinisters. The President can ask theCouncil of Ministers to reconsider itsadvice. But if the same advice isgiven again, she is bound to actaccording to it. Similarly, a billpassed by the Parliament becomesa law only after the President givesassent to it. If the President wants,she can delay this for some time andsend the bill back to the Parliamentfor reconsideration. But if theParliament passes the bill again, shehas to sign it.

So you may wonder what does thePresident really do? Can she doanything on her own at all? There isone very important thing she shoulddo on her own: appoint the PrimeMinister. When a party or coalitionof parties secures a clear majorityin the elections, the President, hasto appoint the leader of the majorityparty or the coalition that enjoysmajority support in the Lok Sabha.

When no party or coalition gets amajority in the Lok Sabha, thePresident exercises her discretion.The President appoints a leader whoin her opinion can muster majoritysupport in the Lok Sabha. In such acase, the President can ask thenewly appointed Prime Minister toprove majority support in the LokSabha within a specified time.

The Presidential System

Presidents all over the world are not always nomi-nal executives like the President of India. In manycountries of the world, the President is both thehead of the state and the head of the govern-ment. The President of the United States ofAmerica is the most well known example of thiskind of President. The US President is directlyelected by the people. He personally chooses andappoints all Ministers. The law making is still doneby the legislature (called the Congress in the US),but the president can veto any law. Most impor-tantly, the president does not need the supportof the majority of members in the Congress andneither is he answerable to them. He has a fixedtenure of four years and completes it even if hisparty does not have a majority in the Congress.

This model is followed in most of the coun-tries of Latin America and many of the ex-SovietUnion countries. Given the centrality of the Presi-dent, this system of government is called thePresidential form of government. In countries likeours that follow the British model, the parliamentis supreme. Therefore our system is called theparliamentary system of government.

Eliamma, Annakutti and Marymol read the section on the President. Each of them had a question. Canyou help them in answering these questions?Eliamma: What happens if the President and the Prime Minister disagree about some policy? Does

the view of the Prime Minister always prevail?Annakutti: I find it funny that the President is the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces. I doubt if the

President can even lift a heavy gun. What is the point in making the President the Com-mander?

Marymol: I would say, what is the point in having a President at all if all the real powers are with thePrime Minister?


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What is better for ademocracy: APrime Minister whocan do whateverhe wishes or aPrime Minister whoneeds to consultother leaders andparties?

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5.4 THE JUDICIARY

A C T I V I T Y

Follow the news about any major court case in aHigh Court or the Supreme Court. What was theoriginal verdict? Did the High Cour t or theSupreme Court change it? What was the reason?

This is why an independent andpowerful judiciary is consideredessential for democracies. 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.India has an integrated judiciary. Itmeans the Supreme Court controlsthe judicial administration in thecountry. Its decisions are binding onall other courts of the country. It cantake up any dispute

Between citizens of the country;Between citizens and government;Between two or more stategovernments; andBetween governments at the unionand state level.It is the highest court of appeal in

civil and criminal cases. It can hearappeals against the decisions of theHigh Courts.

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. That is why all moderndemocracies have courts that areindependent of the legislature andthe executive. India has achievedthis. The judges of the SupremeCourt and the High Courts areappointed by the President on theadvice of the Prime Minister and in


Let us return, one final time, to thestory of Office Memorandum that westarted with. This time let us notrecall the story, but imagine howdifferent the story could have been.Remember, the story came to asatisfactory end because theSupreme Court gave a verdict thatwas accepted by everyone. Imaginewhat would have happened in thefollowing situations:

If there was nothing like aSupreme Court in the country.Even if there was a SupremeCourt, if it had no power to judgeactions of the government.Even if it had the power, if no onetrusted the Supreme Court to givea fair verdict.Even if it gave a fair judgement, ifthose who appealed against theGovernment Order did not acceptthe judgement.

It is quite common inthe US for judges tobe nominated on thebasis of well-knownpolitical opinions and

affiliations. Thisfictitious

advertisementappeared in the US in2005 when PresidentBush was consideringvarious candidates fornomination to the USsupreme court. Whatdoes this cartoon say

about theindependence of thejudiciary? Why dosuch cartoons not

appear in ourcountry? Does this

demonstrate theindependence of our

judiciary?

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consultation with the Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court. In practice it nowmeans that the senior judges of theSupreme Court select the new judgesof the Supreme Court and the HighCourts. There is very little scope forinterference by the political executive.The senior most judge of the SupremeCourt is usually appointed the ChiefJustice. Once a person is appointedas judge of the Supreme Court or theHigh Court it is nearly impossible toremove him or her from that position.It is as difficult as removing thePresident of India. A judge can beremoved only by an impeachmentmotion passed separately by two-thirds members of the two Houses ofthe Parliament. It has never happenedin the history of Indian democracy.

The judiciary in India is also oneof the most powerful in the world.The Supreme Court and the HighCourts have the power to interpretthe Constitution of the country. Theycan declare invalid any law of thelegislature or the actions of theexecutive, whether at the Unionlevel or at the state level, if they findsuch a law or action is against theConstitution. Thus they can

determine the Constitutional validityof any legislation or action of theexecutive in the country, when it ischallenged before them. This isknown as the judicial review. TheSupreme Court of India has alsoruled that the core or basicprinciples of the Constitution cannotbe changed by the Parliament.

The powers and the independenceof the Indian judiciary allow it to actas the guardian of the FundamentalRights. We shall see in the nextchapter that the citizens have aright to approach the courts to seekremedy in case of any violation oftheir rights. In recent years theCourts have given severaljudgments and directives to protectpublic interest and human rights.Any one can approach the courts ifpublic interest is hurt by the actionsof government. This is called publicinterest litigation. The courtsintervene to prevent the misuse ofthe government’s power to makedecisions. They check malpracticeson the part of public officials. That iswhy the judiciary enjoys a high levelof confidence among the people.Give one reason each to argue that Indian judi-

ciary is independent with respect to:Appointment of judges: …

Removal of judges: …

Powers of the judiciary: …

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

Why are peopleallowed to go tocourts against thegovernment’sdecisions?

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GLOSSARY

Coalition government: A government formed by an alliance of two or morepolitical parties, usually when no single party enjoys majority support of

the members in a legislature.Executive: A body of persons having authority to initiate major policies,

make decisions and implement them on the basis of the Constitution andlaws of the country.Government: A set of institutions that have the power to make, implementand interpret laws so as to ensure an orderly life. In its broad sense,government administers and supervises over citizens and resources of acountry.Judiciary: An institution empowered to administer justice and provide amechanism for the resolution of legal disputes. All the courts in the countryare collectively referred to as judiciary.Legislature: An assembly of people’s representatives with the power toenact laws for a country. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures haveauthority to raise taxes and adopt the budget and other money bills.Office Memorandum: A communication issued by an appropriate authoritystating the policy or decision of the government.Political Institution: A set of procedures for regulating the conduct ofgovernment and political life in the country.Reservations: A policy that declares some positions in governmentemployment and educational institutions ‘reserved’ for people andcommunities who have been discriminated against, are disadvantaged andbackward.State: Political association occupying a definite territory, having anorganised government and possessing power to make domestic and foreignpolicies. Governments may change, but the state continues. In commonspeech, the terms country, nation and state are used as synonyms.

1 If you are elected as the President of India which of the followingdecision can you take on your own?a Select the person you like as Prime Minister.b Dismiss a Prime Minister who has a majority in Lok Sabha.c Ask for reconsideration of a bill passed by both the Houses.d Nominate the leaders of your choice to the Council of Ministers.

2 Who among the following is a part of the political executive?a District Collectorb Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairsc Home Ministerd Director General of Police

3 Which of the following statements about the judiciary is false?a Every law passed by the Parliament needs approval of the Supreme

Courtb Judiciary can strike down a law if it goes against the spirit of the

Constitutionc Judiciary is independent of the Executived Any citizen can approach the courts if her rights are violated


exercises

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4 Which of the following institutions can make changes to an existinglaw of the country?a The Supreme Courtb The Presidentc The Prime Ministerd The Parliament

5 Match the ministry with the news that the ministry may have released:

exerc

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a A new policy is being made toincrease the jute exports fromthe country.

b Telephone services will be mademore accessible to rural areas.

c The price of rice and wheat soldunder the Public DistributionSystem will go down.

d A pulse polio campaign will belaunched.

e The allowances of the soldiersposted on high altitudes will beincreased.

i Ministry of Defence

ii Ministry of Agriculture, Foodand Public Distribution

iii Ministry of Health

iv Ministry of Commerceand Industry

v Ministry of Communicationsand Information Technology

6 Of all the institutions that we have studied in this chapter, name theone that exercises the powers on each of the following matters.a Decision on allocation of money for developing infrastructure like

roads, irrigation etc. and different welfare activities for the citizensb Considers the recommendation of a Committee on a law to regulate

the stock exchangec Decides on a legal dispute between two state governmentsd Implements the decision to provide relief for the victims of an

earthquake.

7 Why is the Prime Minister in India not directly elected by the people?Choose the most appropriate answer and give reasons for your choice.a In a Parliamentary democracy only the leader of the majority party

in the Lok Sabha can become the Prime Minister.b Lok Sabha can remove the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

even before the expiry of their term.c Since the Prime Minister is appointed by the President there is no

need for it.d Direct election of the Prime Minister will involve lot of expenditure

on election.

8 Three friends went to watch a film that showed the hero becomingChief Minister for a day and making big changes in the state. Imransaid this is what the country needs. Rizwan said this kind of a personal

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exercises rule without institutions is dangerous. Shankar said all this is a fantasy.No minister can do anything in one day. What would be your reactionto such a film?

9 A teacher was making preparations for a mock parliament. She calledtwo students to act as leaders of two political parties. She gave theman option: Each one could choose to have a majority either in themock Lok Sabha or in the mock Rajya Sabha. If this choice was givento you, which one would you choose and why?

10 After reading the example of the reservation order, three studentshad different reactions about the role of the judiciary. Which view,according to you, is a correct reading of the role of judiciary?a Srinivas argues that since the Supreme Court agreed with the

government, it is not independent.b Anjaiah says that judiciary is independent because it could have

given a verdict against the government order. The Supreme Courtdid direct the government to modify it.

c Vijaya thinks that the judiciary is neither independent norconformist, but acts as a mediator between opposing parties. Thecourt struck a good balance between those who supported andthose who opposed the order.

Collect newspapers for the last one week and classify the news related tothe working of any of the institutions discussed in this chapter into fourgroups:

Working of the legislaturesWorking of the political executiveWorking of the civil servicesWorking of the judiciary


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not to be republished © NCERT - WordPress.com · document. The officer was merely implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,