PARLIAMENT संसद भाग -1 / INDIAN POLITY BY LAXMIKANT -UPSC UPPSC IAS PCS...

Parliament
he Parliament is the legislative organ of the Union government. It
occupies a pre-eminent and central position in the Indian democratic
political system due to adoption of the parliamentary form of government,
also known as ‘Westminster’ model of government1.
Articles 79 to 122 in Part V of the Constitution deal with the organisation,
composition, duration, officers, procedures, privileges, powers and so on of
the Parliament.
O RGANISATION OF P ARLIAMENT
Under the Constitution, the Parliament of India consists of three parts viz, the
President, the Council of States and the House of the People. In 1954, the
Hindi names ‘Rajya Sabha’ and ‘Lok Sabha’ were adopted by the Council of
States and the House of People respectively. The Rajya Sabha is the Upper
House (Second Chamber or House of Elders) and the Lok Sabha is the Lower
House (First Chamber or Popular House). The former represents the states
and union territories of the Indian Union, while the latter represents the
people of India as a whole.
Though the President of India is not a member of either House of
Parliament and does not sit in the Parliament to attend its meetings, he is an
integral part of the Parliament. This is because a bill passed by both the
Houses of Parliament cannot become law without the President’s assent. Healso performs certain functions relating to the proceedings of the Parliament,
for example, he summons and pro-rogues both the Houses, dissolves the Lok
Sabha, addresses both the Houses, issues ordinances when they are not in
session, and so on.
In this respect, the framers of the Indian Constitution relied on the British
pattern rather than the American pattern. In Britain, the Parliament consists of
the Crown (King or Queen), the House of Lords (Upper House) and the
House of Commons (Lower House). By contrast, the American president is
not an integral part of the legislature. In USA, the legislature, which is known
as Congress, consists of the Senate (Upper House) and the House of
Representatives (Lower House).
The parliamentary form of government emphasises on the interdependence
between the legislative and executive organs. Hence, we have the ‘President-
in-Parliament’ like the ‘Crown-in-Parliament’ in Britain. The presidential
form of government, on the other hand, lays stress on the separation of
legislative and executive organs. Hence, the American president is not
regarded as a constituent part of the Congress.