Parliamentary and Federalism government

The Parliament of India is a magnificent manifestation of the democratic ethos of our country. As the
national legislature and repository of the constituent powers of the Union, it occupies a central position in
our democratic polity. Over the years, Parliament has evolved as an institution having multi-dimensional
roles. Nurturing and encouraging participatory democracy, our Parliament has been instrumental in
ushering in social change and development through progressive legislations and meaningful debates on
crucial issues facing the nation, thus, paving the way for good governance, which constitutes the basic
principle of our Constitution.

The federal structure of Indian polity rests on the principle of parliamentary form of government which
makes the executive accountable to the legislature. The Parliament of India has three constituents,
namely, the President of India, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the
People). The President of India is the constitutional head of the executive. There is a Council of Ministers
headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions.

Besides functioning as the highest law making body, Indian Parliament has also functioned as the 'grand
inquest' and 'watch dog' of the nation. It has been proved that for a peaceful and balanced development of
India there is no better substitute to parliamentary democracy.

Federalism is a system of government in which powers have been divided between the centre and its
constituent parts such as states or provinces.It is an institutional mechanism to accommodate two sets of
politics, one at the centre or national level and second at the regional or provincial level. In a federation
system, there are two seats of power that are autonomous in their own spheres. A federal system is
different from a unitary system in that sovereignty is constitutionally split between two territorial levels
so that each level can act independently of each other in some areas. So, if we talk about federalism in
India then, India is a federal system but with more tilt towards a unitary system of government. It is
sometimes considered a quasi-federal system as it has features of both a federal and a unitary system.
Article 1 of the Indian Constitution states, ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states’. The word
federation is not mentioned in the constitution. Elements of federalism were introduced into modern India
by the Government of India Act of 1919 which separated powers between the centre and the provincial
legislatures. Though, India has adopted federal form of government, but it does not follow certain
principles of federalism. Our constitution has made centre more powerful which is in resemblance to the
feature of unitary government. These features have been mentioned here:

· Not a rigid constitution: The constitution of India is a blend of rigidity and flexibility. Some of its
provisions can be easily amended by the parliament and in some provisions ratification from the
states is required. The procedure to amend the constitution is tough where the amendments seek
to make changes in the arrangements of federalism. But, In any case, the procedure for passage of
amendments is not as tough as in the USA.

· Centre more powerful: The constitution has made centre more powerful as the Union List has
more subjects than the State List. Moreover, it has empowered the parliament to override the law
made by a state legislature on the matters related to concurrent list. In some cases, the parliament
is also empowered to make laws on state list subjects. The residuary power are vested in the
centre which are not in line with the principle of federalism.
 · Unequal representation of states in Upper House: The states in India do not have equal
representation in Rajya Sabha. The representation is based on the population. For example-Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Goa have 31, 10 and 1 representative respectively in the Rajya Sabha.
Whereas, in a federal country, the representation of each state should be equal in Upper House.
( Concept of federalism part 1- Federalism And Parliamentary Form Of Government)

· Executive is a part of legislature: The political executive of the centre and the states are the part
of the parliament and the state legislature respectively. It betrays the principle of division of
powers between the different organs of the government. However, checks and balances limit the
power of the executive , the legislature and the judiciary.

While, the democratic system of government can be divided into the parliamentary and the presidential
system based on the relationship between the executive and the legislature. In a parliamentary system,
executive is a part of legislature, which implements the law and plays an active role in framing it as well.
In a parliamentary system, the head of the state may be a monarch or a president, but both of these
positions are ceremonial. The head of the government, who is generally called as the Prime Minister, is
the real head. Thus, all the real executive powers are vested in the Prime Minister. The parliamentary
government is also called as the Cabinet government due to concentration of executive powers in the
cabinet. Articles 74 and 75 deals with the parliamentary system at the centre and Article 163 and article
164 deals with the Parliamentary system at the states.

Elements and Features of Parliamentary System |

· Nominal and Real Head: The head of the state holds a ceremonial position and is the nominal
executive. For example, the President.

In India, the head of government is the Prime Minister who is the real executive. Article 75 of the Indian
constitution provides for a Prime Minister to be appointed by the president. According to Article 74, the
Prime Minister headed council of ministers would aid and advise the President in the exercise of his
functions.

· Executive is a Part of Legislature: The Executive forms a part of the legislature. In India, the
person should be a member of parliament to become a member of the executive. However, the
constitution provides that a person can be appointed as a minister for a period of not more than
six consecutive months if he is not a member of the parliament, after which the person ceases to
be a minister.

· Majority Party Rule: The party which wins majority seats in the elections of the Lower House
forms the government. In India, the President invites the leader of the majority party in Lok
Sabha to form the government. The President appoints the leader as the Prime Minister and the
other ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The President
may invite a coalition of parties to form the government, in case, no party has got majority.

· Prime Minister as the Centre of Power: In India, the Prime Minister is the real executive. He is
the head of the government, the council of ministers and the ruling government. Thus, he has to
play a significant and important role in the working of the government.