Polity

. The Constitution has made the following provisions to safeguard and ensure the independent and impartial functioning of the Supreme Court: Mode of Appointment The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the Pre-sident (which means the cabinet) in consultation with the members of the judiciary itself (ie, judges of the Supreme Court and … Read more

Appointment of Chief Justice From 1950 to 1973, the practice has been to appoint the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court as the chief justice of India. This established convention was violated in 1973 when A N Ray was appointed as the Chief Justice of India by superseding three senior judges. Again in 1977, M … Read more

The objectives behind the constitution of the Parliamentary forums are: To provide a platform to the members to have interactions with the ministers concerned, experts and key officials from the nodal ministries with a view to have a focused and meaningful discussion on critical issues with a result-oriented approach for speeding up the implementation process; … Read more

. The Indian Parliament cannot be regarded as a sovereign body as there are ‘legal’ restrictions on its authority and jurisdiction. The factors that limit the sovereignty of Indian Parliament are: Written Nature of the Constitution The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land in our country. It has defined the authority and jurisdiction … Read more

Parliamentary privileges are special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two Houses of Parliament, their committees and their members. They are necessary in order to secure the independence and effectiveness of their actions. Without these privileges, the Houses can neither maintain their authority, dignity and honour nor can protect their members from any obstruction … Read more

This committee was created in 1964 on the recommendation of the Krishna Menon Committee. Originally, it had 15 members (10 from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha). However, in 1974, its membership was raised to 22 (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha). The members are elected by … Read more

The origin of this committee can be traced to the standing financial committee set up in 1921. The first Estimates Committee in the post-independence era was constituted in 1950 on the recommendation of John Mathai, the then finance minister. Originally, it had 25 members but in 1956 its membership was raised to 30. All the … Read more

This committee was setup first in 1921 under the provisions of the Government of India Act of 1919 and has since been in existence. At present, it consists of 22 members (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha). The members are elected by the Parliament every year from amongst its members … Read more

.  Due to its federal character, the Rajya Sabha has been given two exclusive or special powers that are not enjoyed by the Lok Sabha: It can authorise the Parliament to make a law on a subject enumerated in the State List (Article 249). It can authorise the Parliament to create new All-India Services common … Read more

. In the following matters, the powers and status of the Rajya Sabha are unequal to that of the Lok Sabha: .A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and not in the Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject a Money Bill. It should return the bill to the Lok … Read more