The Parliament of India

The Parliament of India is the supreme law-making body: it makes laws for the country, and it also controls and guides the work of the government. (Parliament is not the building; it is the people and the offices inside it.)

It is made up of the President and two houses: the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or Lower House) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States, or Upper House).

Two houses make it a 'bicameral' system: 'bi' means two, 'cameral' means chamber. The Lok Sabha may have at most 550 members, directly elected; Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly.

There have been 17 Lok Sabhas since the first in 1952, and the 18th was formed in June 2024.

Where did this design come from? Britain's system inspired the parliamentary form. But the chapter insists that borrowing was not the whole story.

Three Indian experiences fed into it:

• practical experience of parliamentary procedure gained inside British colonial structures, limited as it was;
• the memory of the ancient republics, the mahājanapadas;
• village panchayats, where elders made decisions together.

And the second house was argued for, not copied. Long discussions concluded that a single, directly elected House would not be enough for the challenges ahead, and that, in the spirit of federalism, a Council of States was needed, with a deliberately different make-up and method of election. (India's states are very different from one another, from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu; they need a voice as states.)

Federalism means power shared between the centre, the states and local governments, balancing national unity with local needs. Each House has a presiding officer: the Lok Sabha elects a Speaker, while the Vice President chairs the Rajya Sabha.