Indian Polity

PARLIAMENT:

Union legislature is called the Parliament which is bicameral including the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, i.e. lower and upper house respectively. The Lok Sabha is inclusive of the members directly elected by the people and Rajya Sabha represents the States of Indian Federation. Bicameralism was resorted to with a view that there should be parity between the direct representatives of the people and the representation of the States from where they were coming.

Sessions of the Parliament

The Constitution only states that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two consecutive sittings of the Parliament. There are three types of sessions as per the parliamentary practices¬

1. Budget Session. Between February to May. This is the most important and the longest session.

2. Monsoon Session. July-August.

3. Winter Session. Novem ber- December. This is the shortest session.

• There is a provision for special sessions in the Constitution.
• In this case, it can be convened by the President on the recommendations of the Council of Ministers on the 'basis of a 14 days of advance notice to the Chairman or the Speaker, as the case may be.

• In another case, if the Lok Sabha is not in session, not less than one-tenth of the Members can, on prior notice of 14 days, write to the President for convening a session for the rejection of the National Emergency (under Art. 352).

• The Council of Ministers does not play any role in this.

Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan)

• The Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan) is a circular building designed by the British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker in 1912-1913.
• The roof of the outer circle of the structure is supported by 144 granite pillars. The Houses are located on Janpath, near the presidential palace (Rashtrapati Bhavan).

End of the session

1. Prorogation: This is done by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers. This can be done even when the House is adjourned. It brings a session of the House to an end.
2. Adjournment: This is a short recess within a session of the Parliament, called by the Presiding Officer of the House. Its duration may be from a few minutes to days together.
3. Adjournment sine die: This type of adjournment is when the House is adjourned by the Presiding Officer without fixing any date or time of the next meeting.

The adjournment does not bring to an end a session, but merely postpones the proceedings of the House to a future time and date.
Article 79: Constitution of the Parliament

• There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and the two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States (the Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (the Lok Sabha).
• Though the President is not a member of either House of the Parliament, yet like the Prime Minister.

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