Contents
1. Structure of Parliament 75
1.1. President as a part of Parliament 75
1.2. Rajya Sabha: Composition 75
1.3. Lok Sabha: Composition 77
2. System of Elections 77
2.1. Lok Sabha 77
2.2. Rajya Sabha 78
3. Conduct of Business 79
3.1. Duration of the Houses 79
3.2. Sessions of Parliament 79
4. Membership of Parliament 81
4.1. Qualifications 81
4.2. Disqualifications 81
4.2.1. 91st Amendment Act 84
4.3 Vacation of Seats by Members 85
4.4. Salaries and Allowances 85
5. Presiding Officers of the Parliament 86
5.1. The Speaker of Lok Sabha 86
5.2. Speaker Pro Tem 87
5.3. Deputy Speaker 87
5.4. Chairman & Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha 87
6. Leaders in Parliament 89
6.1. Leader of the House 89
6.2. Leader of the Opposition 89
6.3. Whip 90
7. Devices of Parliamentary Proceedings 91
7.1. Question Hour 91
7.2. Zero Hour 91
7.3. Motions 92
7.4. Resolutions 93
7.4.1. Differences between Motions and Resolutions 94
7.5. Point of Order 94
8. Legislative Procedure in Parliament 94
8.1. Ordinary Bills 95
8.2. Money Bills 96
8.3. Financial Bills 98
8.4. Constitution (Amendment) Bills 98
9. Financial Legislation by the Parliament 99
9.1. Annual Financial Statement/Budget 99
9.1.1. Cut Motions 100
9.1.2. Appropriation Bill 100
9.1.3. Finance Bill 100
9.1.4. Vote on Account 101
9.1.5. Interim Budget 101
9.2. Accounts of Government of India 101
9.2.1. Consolidated Fund of India 101
9.2.2. Public Account 102
9.2.3. Contingency Fund of India 102
9.3. Charged Expenditure 102
10. Procedure for removing deadlock between the two Houses 102
10.1. Joint Sitting 102
11. Rajya Sabha 105
11.1. Historical Evolution and rationale behind creation of the Second Chamber 105
11.2. Role of Rajya Sabha 106
11.3. Comparison of Lok Sabha with Rajya Sabha 107
11.3.1. Equal Powers in relation to Lok Sabha 107
11.3.2. Unequal status with Lok Sabha 107
11.3.3. Special Powers of Rajya Sabha 108
12. Parliamentary Committees 109
12.1. Important Parliamentary Committees 109
12.1.1. Public Accounts Committee 109
12.1.2. Estimates Committee 110
12.1.3. Committee on Public Undertakings 110
12.1.4. Business Advisory Committee 110
12.1.5. Departmentally Related Standing Committees 110
13. Parliamentary Privileges 113
13.1. Individual Privileges 113
13.2. Collective Privileges 114
13.3. Breach of Privilege and Contempt of the House 114
13.4. Punishment in case of breach of privilege or contempt of the House 115
14. Sovereignty of Parliament 115
15. Functions, Role and Issues concerning Parliament 115
15.1. Functions and Roles of the Parliament 115
15.2. Issues concerning Indian Parliament 117
15.3. Implications of poor functioning of Parliament 117
15.4. Suggested Parliamentary Reforms 118
16. Performance of the 16th Lok Sabha 119
17. UPSC Previous Years’ Questions 121
18. Previous Years’ Questions 121