People and their Representatives

India is a democratic country. It is a very evident statement given by Abraham Lincoln that democracy is government “For the people, of the people, and by the people”. That means a democratic government is governed by the people. How can the cores of the population participate in the governing of a country? That is an impossible task if every decision to be made requires the opinion of every person in the country. To make this process simple and at the same time effectively implement democracy a term called People’s Representative is coined. Who is a people’s representative and how do we choose a person as a representative. A people’s representative is a person who represents the people and takes the decisions on behalf of them and maintains the trust of the people. 

So how does a representative be chosen? This is done through elections. The election is a process in which people who are eligible to participate in elections as a representative enroll themselves at the time of the conduction of the elections. People elect them by casting their vote for the desired person. The person who acquires a maximum number of votes is declared the representative. This is the basic process of how a representative is elected.

Now the concept of election is clear. But is the situation like every person in the country elects every MLA or MP? No. The country is divided into official areas other than states and districts to ease the representational process and to conduct elections. These are called constituencies. They are divided based on the population density of the area. In each constituency, candidates stand for election, and from each constituency, one person who acquires the majority of the votes becomes an MLA or MP of the constituency depending on for whom the election is conducted. 

Representatives in Parliamentary form of Government

India choose a parliamentary form of government, unlike the USA which has a presidential form of government. In a parliamentary form of government prime minister is the main head and the president is a nominal head.  In India, we have a bicameral legislature which means we have local governments (state governments) with a strong central government. People elect two representatives for their constituencies one to represent in the central legislature i.e. Member of Parliament (M.P) and one to represent the state legislature i.e. Member of Legislative Assembly (M.L.A). In both legislatures, The political party which acquires the majority of the seats wins and forms the government. The head of that political party becomes the prime minister or chief minister for the center and state respectively. 

• President Election in India: In India as the president is just the nominal head direct elections for the president do not take place but he/she is elected indirectly where the people’s representatives i.e., the MLAs and the MPs participate in the presidential election on behalf of the people. Whereas in the USA people directly elect their president as they have a presidential form of government where the president is the actual head of the state.
• Universal Adult Franchise: The elections for the representatives of the people is done by the universal adult franchise. that means all citizens irrespective of their gender, caste, religion, community, economic conditions and literacy have the right to cast their vote. The minimum age for the people to cast vote is 18 years. the universal adult franchise is important for a successful democracy.

How do the representatives work?

The representatives after forming a national government in the center or a local government in the state have the responsibility to discuss, plan and execute the policies they promised before the elections and work for the harmonious and smooth flow of the government. The legislature along with the executive formulate and execute the policy-making, financial management, identification of issues, etc., for the efficient functioning of government. 

Bicameral legislature

A bicameral legislature means a legislature that has two bodies or houses. Indian constitution provides for a bicameral legislature at both central and state levels. At the central level, the two houses namely the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are the lower and upper houses of the parliament. At the state level, the lower and upper house is called the legislative assembly and legislative council or Vidhan Parishad. the bicameral legislature is not a compulsion and at present, six States of India have a Legislative Council. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are those six states.

Council of Ministers

After a political party wins the election ministries are allotted to the members of parliament. The three categories of a minister which are the cabinets minister, deputy ministers, and ministers of state together form the council of ministers. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha which is the lower house of the parliament. cabinet ministers include the main ministries of the government like finance, defense etc., the cabinet ministers play an important role in the decision and policy making. the mister of state are given independent ministries or maybe attached to the cabinet ministers. the deputy ministers are not given independent ministries but they are attached to either the cabinet or the ministries of state.

Parliamentary sessions

The house of parliament meets at least twice a year and there are three sessions namely.

• The Budget Session: the introduction and discussion of the budget takes place in this session and is conducted between the months of February and May.
• The Monsoon Session: this is conducted for the discussion ,policy making, passing of bills etc. and is conducted during the months of July and September.
• The Winter Session: This is same as the winter session and is conducted during the months of November to December.

Bills and Acts

A bill is a proposal for a legislation. after the introduction and approval by the both houses a bill becomes a law or act. for introduction any new law, rule or provision passing of bill is a must. after the bill is introduced in a house discussions are made and voting is done for the approval of it. after gaining the majority for approval it is sent to the other house and the same process continues. after the both houses approves it  it is sent to the president for the approval and on which it becomes an act. After becoming an act it can be fully exercised. There are different types of bills

1. Ordinary Bill: Deals with all the matters except for which are financial in nature.
2. Money  Bill: They deal with matters which are financially related like public expenditure.
3. Financial Bill: They also deal with financial matters but not like money bills.
4. Constitutional amendment Bill: This deals with amendment procedure of the constitution.

Role of opposition

The representatives from the opposite party play an important role in the proper functioning of the democracy. They point out the mistakes and flaws of the ruling government’s policies and programs which always keep them alert and attentive. Without an opposition party, there would be no one to check the ruling party.

Reservations in representations 

India has many marginalized communities, religious minorities, Adivasis, and Dalits in its society. They were deprived of the proper right to life for many years before the independence. The representative democracy cannot reflect these communities. Representatives from these communities can only fairly understand the problems these communities. So some seats were reserved for the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes for fair representation. 

Sample Questions

Question 1: What is need for Constituencies?

Answer:

The situation in the country is not like every person of the country elects every MLA or MP. The country is divided into official areas other than states and districts to ease the representational process and to conduct elections. These are called constituencies. They are divided based on the population density of the area. At each constituency candidates stand for election and from each constituency one person who acquires majority of the votes becomes an MLA or MP of the constituency depending on for whom the election is conducted. 

Question 2: How are representatives elected?

Answer:

India choose a parliamentary form of government unlike USA which has presidential form of government. In a parliamentary form of government prime minister is the main head and president is a nominal head.  In India we have bicameral legislature which means we have local governments (state government) with a strong central government. People elect two representatives for their constituencies one to represent in the central legislature i.e. Member of Parliament (M.P) and one to represent the state legislature i.e. Member of Legislative Assembly (M.L.A). In both legislatures the political party which acquires majority of the seats wins and forms the government. The head of that political party becomes the prime minister or chief minister for the center and state respectively. 

Question 3: Why are reservations introduced into the representative elections?

Answer:

India has many marginalized communities, religious minorities, Adivasis , and Dalits in its society. They were deprived of proper right to life from many years before the independence. The representative democracy cannot reflect these communities. Representatives from these communities can only fairly understand the problems of these communities. So some seats were reserved for the schedules tribes and schedule castes for fair representation. 

Question 4: What is the role of opposition party?

Answer:

The representatives meet in the parliament session at the central level and in the state assembly sessions in the state level to discuss about the on going issues and the policies and steps to be taken. The representatives of the opposite party plays an importantly role in the proper functioning of the democracy. They point of the mistakes and flaws of the ruling governments policies and p[programs which always keep them alert and attentive. Without an opposition party there would be no one to check the ruling party.

Question 5: Why is the president elected indirectly?

Answer:

In a parliamentary form of government president is a nominal head whereas the prime minister is the actual head. the election for the prime minister i.e., for the members of parliament is done by universal adult franchise. implementing universal franchise for the election of president and giving nominal power to the person directly elected by the people is not a fair job. that is the reason president elections are indirectly done using the concept of proportional representation.