Day 12 – Q 1. Should Member of Parliaments of the Rajya Sabha who aren’t directly elected be made minsters in a parliamentary democracy like India? Critically comment.
1. Should Member of Parliaments of the Rajya Sabha who aren’t directly elected be made minsters in a parliamentary democracy like India? Critically comment.
क्या राज्यसभा के सदस्यों को जो जनता द्वारा सीधे चुनकर नहीं आते, भारत के संसदीय लोकतंत्र में मंत्री बनाया जाना चाहिए? समालोचनात्मक टिप्पणी करें।
Introduction –
Parliamentary democracy means parliament represents the people and acts as a political tool imparting governance on democratic principles. Our parliament enjoys the bicameral houses where the provisions are made based on permanent (Rajya Sabha) and temporary (Lok Sabha) house.
Although Lok Sabha is filled by direct election in every 5 years, the Rajya Sabha filled by the proportional representation and nomination. The ministers also come from Rajya Sabha which has its own set of pros and cons which are as follows-
Body
Advantages
- State representation – Being an appointee from the state, it makes the group of ministers more representative this promoting federalism.
- The inclusion of experts: Gives the opportunityto the experts, which are nominated by president according to article 80, in literature, art etc. Thus make the council of ministers more efficient.
- Collective responsibility – allows for accountability of all the ministers irrespective of the house they belong to.
- Proportional representation: The representatives who got lost in general election, can get a representation in the cabinet. For eg Arun Jaitley became finance minister in spite of losing the election from Amritsar, also can be said about Smriti Irani.
- It is also an excellent opportunity for those people who want to save themselves from the hustle – bustle of the election.
Disadvantages
- Claimed to be backdoor: The representatives who lost the general Lok Sabha election can be made minister through RS.
- Unsatisfaction between the elected member who wins Lok Sabha election of the ruling party and still not chosen as ministers.
- Against the definition of democracy: It talks about to the people, for the people, by the people, while the ministers from Rajya Sabha get elected through elected representatives.
- Claimed to be against accountability: The elected MP as minister holds more accountable to be a minister as they are direct representatives.
Conclusion
The responsible government is one where all representatives can participate to maintain the efficient democracy. While the concerns are valid pertaining to such representation, they hold less merit given the complete picture. All ministers should work solely for the development of the nation irrespective of the membership of the house they hold.
Best answer – P29
