Parliament and the Making of Laws Summary Class 8 NCERT Summary Chapter 1

Why should People Decide?

• The harsh experience of colonial rule as well as the participation of different people in the struggle for freedom made the nationalists that all persons in independent India would be able to participate in making decisions.
• Thus, to fulfil the dreams and aspirations of the freedom struggle after the Constitution of independent India that laid down the principle of universal adult franchise, i.e. that all adult citizens of the country have the right to vote.

People and their Representatives

• The decision of people that creates a democratic government and decides about its functioning.
• The Parliament, which is made up of all representatives together, controls and guides the government.

The Role of the Parliament

• The country is divided into numerous constituencies and each of these constituencies elects one person to the Parliament.
• Once elected, these candidates become Members of Parliament or MPs.
  • These MPs together make up the Parliament.
• The Lok Sabha is usually elected once every five years.
• After formation, the Parliament needs to perform the following functions:
  • To Select the National Government
  • To Control, Guide and Inform the Government
  • Law-Making

To Select the National Government

• The Parliament in India consists of the President, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

The Lok Sabha

• For a political party to form the government in Lo Sabha, they must have a majority of elected MPs.
  • Since there are 543 elected (plus 2 nominated) members in Lok Sabha, to have a majority a party should have at least half the number i.e. 272 members or more.
• If different political parties join together to form the government then this is known as a coalition government. (This happens if any single party can't get clear majority in Lok Sabha).
• The Prime Minister of India is the leader of the ruling party in the Lok Sabha.
• From the MPs who belong to her party, the Prime Minister selects ministers to work with her to implement decisions.

The Rajya Sabha

• The Rajya Sabha functions primarily as the representative of the states of India in the Parliament.
• The Rajya Sabha can also initiate legislation and a bill is required to pass through the Rajya Sabha in order to become a law.
• The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of various states.
  • There are 233 elected members plus 12 members nominated by the President.

To Control, Guide and Inform the Government

• The Parliament, while in session, begins with a question hour.
  • Through question hour MPs can bring out information about the working of the government.
• The opposition party highlights drawbacks in various policies and programmes of the government and mobilise popular support for their own policies.
  • This helps in healthy functioning of a democracy.
• The Parliament’s approval is crucial for the government in all matters dealing with finances.
• The MPs as representatives of the people have a central role in controlling, guiding and informing Parliament.

Law-Making

• Law-making is a significant function of the Parliament.

How Do New Laws Come About?

• The Parliament has an important role in making laws.
• There are many ways through which this takes place, often, different groups in society that raise the need for a particular law.
  • As the Parliament is sensitive to people's problems so, the process adopted for this issue to become law.
• From establishing the need for a new law to its being passed, at every stage of the process the voice of the citizen through various medium such as TV, newspaper etc is a crucial element.

Unpopular and Controversial Laws

• Sometimes a law can be constitutionally valid and hence legal, but it can continue to be unpopular and unacceptable to people because they feel that the intention behind it is unfair and harmful.
• The people might criticize this law, hold public meetings, write about it in newspapers, report to TV news channels etc.
• When a large number of people begin to feel that a wrong law has been passed, then the Parliament has pressure to change the law.
• After electing representatives, it is duty of citizens to keep a check on them.