Indian Parliamentary Democracy at a glance

India is the largest democracy in the world. We have accepted the Parliamentary form of government based on the British Westminster model. In this format there are two houses of Parliament. The Lower House of Indian Parliament is called as Lok Sabha and the Upper House is called as Rajya Sabha. The members of Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people of India through general elections. In case of Rajya Sabha its members are indirectly elected.

The Head of the State in India is the President. The President of India is also the Supreme Commander of Indian armed forces. Every Bill passed by either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha has to be signed by the President. Only after the assent of the President the Bill can become the law. The primary duty of the President is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law of India.

The Head of the Government is Prime Minister of India. The Council of Ministers is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers act as the Executive. It designs various policies and makes all the important decisions in order to promote the development, security and public welfare.

The Parliament is the legislature. It makes laws for governing the country. The Bill can be introduced in either Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. But, it has to be discussed and passed in both the houses. Only exception is that Money Bill has to be introduced in Lok Sabha only. The Lok Sabha is presided over by the Speaker. The Ex-officio Chairperson of Rajya Sabha is the Vice President of India.

The Judiciary in India is headed by the Supreme Court. It is an apex court in the country. There are High Courts at State level. At District level also there are courts.  All the courts in India function under the overall supervision of the Supreme Court. Thus, India has a single integrated judicial system.

India got independence on 15^th August 1947. We became Republic from 26^th January 1950 when the Constitution of India came into force. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is called as the architect of Indian Constitution as he played the vital role in drafting the Constitution as the Chairman of Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly.