The Parliament is the legislative arm of the Union. It is bicameral, consisting
of two houses: the directly-elected 545-member Lok Sabha ("House
of the People"), the lower house, and the 250-member indirectly-elected and appointed
Rajya Sabha ("Council of States"), the upper house. All the members
of the Council of Ministers as well as the Prime Minister are members of Parliament.
If they are not, they must be elected within a period of six months from the time
they assume their respective office. The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers
are responsible to the Lok Sabha, individually as well as collectively.
The Lok Sabha (also titled the House of the People, by the Constitution) is the
directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. So far, there have been
fourteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India. Each Lok Sabha is formed for
a five-year term, after which it is automatically dissolved, unless extended by
a Proclamation of Emergency which may extend the term in one-year increments. All
bills to be made into law require the consent of both the houses of parliament.
However, in case of money bills, the Lok Sabha is the supreme authority. Similarly,
m against the government can only be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha (meaning the "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 expertise in specific fields of art, literature, science,
and social services. The members of the Rajya Sabha from each state are elected
by the members of the Legislature or the Legislative Assembly of that state by means
of proportional representation through the Single Transferable Vote System. The
representatives of the Union Territories are chosen in such manner as may be decided
or prescribed by the Parliament from time to time. Terms of office are for six years,
with one third of the members facing re-election every two years.The Rajya Sabha
meets in continuous session and, unlike the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha,
is not subject to dissolution.
The functions of Parliament are not only varied in nature, but considerable in volume.
The time at its disposal is limited. It cannot make very detailed scrutiny of all
legislative and other matters that come up before it. A good deal of its business
is, therefore, transacted in committees. Both Houses of Parliament
have a similar committee structure, with a few exceptions. Their appointment, terms
of office, functions and procedure of conducting business are also more or less
similar, and are regulated under rules made by the two Houses under Article 118(1)
of the Constitution. Broadly, parliamentary committees are of two kinds-standing
committees and ad hoc committees. The former are elected or appointed every year
or periodically and their work goes on, more or less, on a continuous basis. The
latter are appointed on an ad hoc basis as need arises, and they cease to exist
as soon as they complete the task assigned to them.
More about the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha can be viewed respectively at
http://loksabha.nic.in/ and
http://rajyasabha.nic.in/
In some states also, there are two legislative bodies - the legislative assembly
and the legislative council. However, most states have unicameral legislature consisting
only of a legislative assembly. For the Legislative assembly, direct elections are
held and the majority political party forms the government in the state. Under the
Constitution, Parliament has the power to make laws for the whole of or any part
of the territory of India. The State Legislatures have the power to make laws for
the States. The subjects on which legislation can be enacted are specified in the
Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Parliament has the exclusive right to legislate
in respect of items appearing in List I, called the "Union List". This list includes
areas such as defence, foreign affairs, currency, income tax, excise duty, railways,
shipping, posts and telegraphs, etc. State Legislatures have the exclusive power
to make laws in relation to items appearing in List II called the "State List".
This includes items like public order, police, public health, communications, agriculture,
lotteries, taxes on entertainment and wealth, sales tax, octroi etc. Both Parliament
and the State Legislatures have the power to legislate in items appearing in List
III of the Constitution which is known as "Concurrent List". This list includes
items like electricity, newspapers, criminal law, marriage and divorce, stamp duties,
trade unions, price controls etc.
Details of state legislative bodies can be found in
http://goidirectory.nic.in/legis.htm#sl