THE STRUCTURE OF INDIAN GOVERNMENT

SCRIBED

BY

S. MOHAMED HAJA JAFFER ALI

M.A. CRIMINOLOGY AND POLICE SCIENCE M.A. POPULATION STUDIES

Government of India
Republic of India

This article is part of the series: Politics and Government of India Union Government[show] Constitution of India Fundamental Rights

Executive President Vice President Prime Minister The Cabinet

Parliament Rajya Sabha The Chairman Lok Sabha The Speaker

Judiciary Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India High Courts District Courts

Elections[show] Election Commission Chief Election Commissioner Political Parties[show] National Parties State Parties

National Coalitions United Progressive Alliance (UPA) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Local & State Govt.[show] Governor State Legislature Vidhan Sabha Vidhan Parishad Panchayat Gram panchayat Panchayat samiti Zilla Parishad

Other countries Politics Portal Government of India Portal view talk edit The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India. It is seated in New Delhi, the capital of India. The government comprises three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The executive branch headed by the President, who is the Head of State and exercises his or her power directly or through officers subordinate to him. The Legislative branch or the Parliament consists of the lower house, the Lok Sabha, and the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, as well as the president. The Judicial branch has the Supreme Court at its apex, 21 High Courts, and numerous civil, criminal and family courts at the district level.

The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of India are set down in major parliamentary legislation, such as the Civil Procedure Code, the Indian Penal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code. The union and individual state governments consist of executive, legislative and judicial branches. The legal system as applicable to the federal and individual state governments is based on the English Common and Statutory Law. India accepts International Court of Justice jurisdiction with several reservations. By the 73rd and 74th amendments to the constitution, the Panchayat Raj system has been institutionalized for local governance. Contents
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1 Parliamentary government o 1.1 Individual responsibility o 1.2 Collective responsibility 2 Executive Branch o 2.1 President o 2.2 Cabinet Secretary 3 Judicial branch o 3.1 National judiciary 4 Reform o 4.1 Corruption o 4.2 Inefficiency o 4.3 Spending priorities o 4.4 Deficits 5 Finance o 5.1 Taxation o 5.2 General budget 6 References 7 External links 8 Further reading

Parliamentary government

Sansad Bhavan
India has a parliamentary system of government based largely on that of the United Kingdom (Westminster system). However, eminent scholars including the first President Dr Rajendra Prasad have raised the question "how far we are entitled to invoke and incorporate into our written Constitution by interpretation the conventions of the British Constitution".[2] The legislature is the Parliament. 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. The parliament enjoys parliamentary supremacy.

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.

Individual responsibility
Every individual minister is in charge of a specific ministry or ministries (or specific other portfolio). He is responsible for any act of failure in all the policies relating to his department. In case of any lapse, he is individually responsible to the Parliament. If a vote of no confidence is passed against the individual minister, he has to resign. Individual responsibility can amount to collective responsibility. Therefore, the Prime Minister, in order to save his government, can ask for the resignation of such a minister and the people have a say.

Collective responsibility
The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are jointly accountable to the Lok Sabha. If there is a policy failure or lapse on the part of the government, all the members of the council are jointly responsible. If a vote of no confidence is passed against the government, then all the ministers headed by the Prime Minister have to resign.

Executive Branch
Executive branch of government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy.The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers. In many countries, the term "government" connotes only the executive branch. However, this branch fails to differentiate between despotic and democratic forms of government. In authoritarian systems, such as a dictatorship or absolute monarchy, where the different powers of government are assumed by one person, the executive branch ceases to exist since there is no other branch with which to share separate but equal governmental powers. The separation of powers system is designed to distribute authority away from the executive branch - an attempt to preserve individual liberty in response to tyrannical leadership throughout history.

President

The Rashtrapati Bhawan where President, Vice President, Cabinet Secretary and other Secretaries meet The executive power is vested on mainly the President of India by Article 53(1) of the constitution. The President enjoys all constitutional powers and exercises them directly or through officers subordinate to him as per the aforesaid Article 53(1).The President is to act in accordance with aid and advise tendered by the head of government (Prime Minister of India) and his or her Council of Ministers (the cabinet) as described in Article 74 (Constitution

of India).The Constitution vests in the President of India all the executive powers of the Central Government. The President appoints the Prime Minister the person most likely to command the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha (usually the leader of the majority party or coalition). The President then appoints the other members of the Council of Ministers, distributing portfolios to them on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers remains in power during the 'pleasure' of the President. In practice, however, the Council of Ministers must retain the support of the Lok Sabha. If a President were to dismiss the Council of Ministers on his or her own initiative, it might trigger a constitutional crisis. Thus, in practice, the Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed as long as it commands the support of a majority in the Lok Sabha. The President is responsible for making a wide variety of appointments. These include:
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Governors of States The Chief Justice, other judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts of India. The Attorney General The Comptroller and Auditor General The Chief Election Commissioner and Cabinet Secretary The Chairman and other Members of the Union Public Service Commission

Ambassadors and High Commissioners to other countries. The President also receives the credentials of Ambassadors and High Commissioners from other countries. The President is the de jure Commander in Chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India can grant a pardon to or reduce the sentence of a convicted person for one time, particularly in cases involving punishment of death. The decisions involving pardoning and other rights by the president are independent of the opinion of the Prime Minister or the Lok Sabha majority. In most other cases, however, the President exercises his or her executive powers on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Cabinet Secretary
The head of executive officers is Cabinet Secretary after India. The Cabinet Secretary is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative head of the Cabinet Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board, and thus the head of the Indian Administrative Service. As a matter of convention the senior most civil servants is appointed as a Cabinet Secretary. He belongs to the Indian Administrative Service. The incumbent generally has tenure of 2 to 3 years. Though there is no fixed tenure, the average tenure of the Cabinet Secretary in India has been less than 3 years. His tenure however, can be extended. The Cabinet Secretary is the head of all the civil services under the constitution like IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS, PCS, PPS etc. Thus, he is the head of all the All India services including the Indian Police Service(IPS),Indian Administrative Service(IAS),Indian Foreign

Service(IFS),Indian Revenue Service(IRS) and the Indian Forest Service(IFS). He ranks tenth in the Table of Precedence of India. The Cabinet Secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative head of the Cabinet Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board, and thus the head of the Indian Administrative Service. As a matter of convention the senior most civil servants is appointed as a Cabinet Secretary. He belongs to the Indian Administrative Service. The incumbent generally has tenure of 2 to 3 years. Though there is no fixed tenure, the average tenure of the Cabinet Secretary in India has been less than 3 years. His tenure however, can be extended. The Cabinet Secretary is the head of all the civil services under the constitution. Thus, he is the head of all the All India services including the Indian Police Service IPS and the Indian Forest Service IFS. The following are the functions of a Cabinet Secretary: Provide assistance to the Council of Ministers Act as advisor and conscience keeper of the civil services Handle senior appointments Prepare of the agenda of the Cabinet Attend the meetings of the Cabinet Ensure that the Cabinet decisions are implemented Advise the Prime Minister Act as the Chairman of the Committee of Secretaries on Administration Act as the Chairman of the Chief Secretaries Committee Provide an element of continuity and stability to administration during crises In the Government of India Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 "Cabinet Secretariat" finds a place in the First Schedule to the Rules. The subjects allotted to this Secretariat are, firstly, secretarial assistance to Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, and secondly, the administration of the Rules of Business. The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 and the Government of India Allocation of Business Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules. The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Ministries/Departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/adhoc Committees of Secretaries. Through this mechanism new policy initiatives are also promoted. The Cabinet Secretariat ensures that the President of India, the Vice-President and Ministers are kept informed of the major activities of all Departments by means of a monthly summary of their activities. Management of major crisis situations in the country and coordinating activities of the various Ministries in such a situation is also one of the functions of the Cabinet Secretariat. The Cabinet Secretariat has 3 wings: Civil, Military and Intelligence. The Civil wing is the main wing and provides aid, advice and assistance to the Union Cabinet. The Military wing provides secretarial assistance to the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, the Military Affairs Committee, the National Defence Council and other committees dealing with defence matters. The Intelligence wing deals with matters pertaining to the Joint Intelligence

Committee of the Union Cabinet. The chief of Research and Analysis Wing R&AW also officially first reports to the Cabinet Secretary, and is officially designated Secretary R in the Cabinet Secretariat. The Cabinet Secretary is arguably India's most powerful bureaucrat.

Judicial branch

Bombay High Court.

India's independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme Court of India consists of a Chief Justice and 30 associate justices, all appointed by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice of India. In the 1960s, India moved away from using juries for most trials, finding them to be corrupt and ineffective, instead almost all trials are conducted by judges. Unlike its US counterpart, the Indian justice system consists of a unitary system at both state and federal level. The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of India, High Courts at the state level, and District and Session Courts at the district level. National judiciary The Supreme Court of India has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. Its exclusive original jurisdiction extends to any dispute between the Government of India and one or more states, or between the Government of India and any state or states on one side and one or more states on the other, or between two or more states, if and insofar as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or of fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends. In addition, Article 32 of the Indian Constitution gives an extensive original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in regard to enforcement of Fundamental Rights. It is empowered to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enforce them. The Supreme Court has been conferred with power to direct transfer of any civil or criminal case from one State High Court to another State High Court, or from a court subordinate to another State High Court.

Public Interest Litigation(PIL) : Although the proceedings in the Supreme Court arise out of the judgments or orders made by the Subordinate Courts, of late the Supreme Court has

started entertaining matters in which interest of the public at large is involved, and the Court may be moved by any individual or group of persons either by filing a Writ Petition at the Filing Counter of the Court, or by addressing a letter to Hon'ble The Chief Justice of India highlighting the question of public importance for invoking this jurisdiction. Source: Wikipedia.