Polity & Governance Notes for UGC NET Paper 1

POLITY-PART II

In this article, we will be discussing the functions of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Governor in detail that is useful for upcoming UGC NET EXAM 2022 Exam.

1. PRESIDENT

• Currently, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind is serving as the President of India.
• The President is the first citizen of India who is elected indirectly by an Electoral College comprising of the Parliament of India (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and the states legislatures (Vidhan Sabha).
• He is the Head of the State and the nominal executive authority.
• He serves for a term of 5 years. He can be removed before the expiry of the term through impeachment.
• He exercises executive, legislative and other powers.

Executive Functions and Powers of Indian President

• The President is the head of the Union Executive and the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces.
• He appoints Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, Governors of States, the Auditor General of India the members of Finance Commission, Election commission, Union Public commission etc.
• He appoints the Prime Minister. He is duty bound to appoint the leader of the majority party as the Prime Minister and with his advice, the other Ministers of the Union Council of Ministers are appointed.
• He can also dissolve the Lok Sabha.

Legislative Powers and Functions

• President is an integral part of the Union Legislature or Parliament. (Union Legislature consists of the President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha).
• He can summon the houses of Parliament either separately or jointly.
• He can discontinue (prorogue) the Houses of Parliament.
• He can address the Parliament at the beginning of the first session after each general election and the first joint session of each year.
• He nominates 12 members of the Rajya Sabha possessing special knowledge or practical skills in literature, art, science and social service.
• All the bills passed by the Parliament can become laws only after receiving the assent of President. He can return a bill for reconsideration to the Parliament if it is not a Money Bill. But after reconsideration, if the bill is passed in the parliament and presented to the President, he is obliged to give the assent to the bill.
• Money Bill cannot be introduced without his consent.
• The President has the power to declare three kinds of Emergencies- National, State and Financial.
• The President has two types of Veto Powers-Absolute Veto and Suspensive Veto which he can use over the bills passed by the Parliament.

2. VICE PRESIDENT

• The Vice President is the second highest ranking official after the President.
• He is elected by the Electoral College consisting of members of both houses but does not include members of state legislative assemblies as in case of President.
• The qualifications are the same as those for President.
• He holds the office for 5 years. He can be removed before the expiry of his term through a resolution passed by a Rajya Sabha with an absolute majority. No formal impeachment is required.
• If the post falls vacant in case of death, resignation or otherwise, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha takes charge until a new Vice-President is elected.

Powers and Functions

• The Vice President has the legislative function of acting as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
• He enjoys powers and functions similar to those of the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
• He has the power to act as President in case this post falls vacant due to death, resignation or otherwise for a maximum period of 6 months only, within which new President is appointed.
• When acting as President, he does not perform the duties of chairman of Rajya Sabha.
• If both the posts of President and Vice President falls vacant, then the Chief Justice of India or in his absence, the senior most judge of Supreme Court takes the charge as President.

3. PRIME MINISTER

• The Prime Minister is known to be Head of the government whereas the President is the Head of the State.
• The Prime Minister is the Real Executive authority whereas the President is the Nominal Executive authority.
• He is appointed by the President. The leader of the majority party in Lok Sabha is appointed as the Prime Minister by the President. In case of no clear majority, then the President can use his powers in appointing the Prime Minister.
• The term is not fixed. Prime Minister holds the office during the pleasure of the President.

Powers and Functions

• He acts as the chairman of the NITI Aayog, National Integration Council, National Development Council, National Water Resources Council and Inter-State Council.
• He suggests the names of persons who can be appointed or can be removed as ministers by the President.
• He can suggest dissolution of the Lok Sabha to the President.
• He can suggest the President in case of appointing Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Attorney General of India, Advocate General of India, Chairman and members of UPSC, Selection of Election Commissioners and Members and chairman of Finance Commission.
• He is the speaker of the ruling government.
• He acts as the political head of all the forces.

4. COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

• In the Indian Parliamentary system, there is a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.
• These Ministers are appointed by the President on the recommendation of Prime Minister.
• The total number of ministers including Prime Minister shall not exceed 15% of total members of Lok Sabha.
• The Ministers hold their offices during the pleasure of the President.
• The Council of Ministers is classified into three categories:
• Cabinet Ministers: They head the important ministries of the Central government like Defence, Home, Finance, Railway, Human Resource Development and External affairs etc.
• Ministers of State: They can either assist the cabinet ministers or can be given independent charge of ministries/departments
• Deputy Ministers: They always assist the Cabinet or State Minister or both. They are never given independent charge of ministries. They are not members of Cabinet.

5. GOVERNER

• Governors exist in the states while Lieutenant-Governors exist in union territories and Delhi.
• Governor is the Nominal Head of the Government of the State while Chief Minister is the Real Head of the Government.
• He enjoys same powers at the state level as that of President at Union level.
• He is appointed by the President and holds the office during the pleasure of the President.
• He generally holds the office for the term of 5 years.

Powers and Functions

• He appoints the Chief Minister (Leader of the majority party) and with the latter’s advice appoints Council of Ministers.
• In case of no clear majority, he can use his discretionary powers in appointing Chief Minister.
• He can summon, dissolve or prorogue (discontinue) the State Legislative Assembly.
• All the bills passed by State Legislature must receive the assent of Governor to finally become law.
• The Governor appoints the Advocate General, Chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission and State Election Commissioner.
• The Governor by virtue of his office is the Chancellor of most of the Universities in the State.

We hope you understood the functions of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Governor for UGC NET EXAM 2022.

Thank you,

Team BYJU'S Exam Prep