EXECUTIVE

Q.1 What is an executive? Ans: The word executive means a body of persons that looks after
the implementation of rules and regulations in actual practice. The organ of government
that primarily looks after the function of implementation and administration is called the
executive.

Q.2 What are the principal functions of the executive?

Ans: 1. Executive is the branch of government responsible for the implementation of laws
and policies adopted by the legislature.

2. The executive is often involved in framing of policies.

Q.3 What is the permanent and political executive? (elaborate if four-six marker, ans given
below)

Ans: The heads of government and their ministers, who are responsible for government
policy, are together known as the political executive, While those responsible for day to day
administration is called the permanent executive.

Q.4 Describe the nature of the executive in:

1. USA: The USA has a presidential system and executive powers are in the hands of the
president.

2. Canada: Canada has a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy where

3. France: In France, both the president and the prime minister are a part of the semi-
presidential system. The president appoints the prime minister as well as the ministers but
cannot dismiss them as they are responsible to the parliament.

4. Japan: Japan has a parliamentary system with the Emperor as the head of the state and
the prime minister as the head of government.

5. Italy: Italy has a parliamentary system with the president as the formal head of state and
the prime minister as the head of government.

6. Russia: Russia has a semi-presidential system where president is the head of state and
prime minister, who is appointed by the president, is the head of government.
7. Germany: Germany has a parliamentary system in which president is the ceremonial head
of state and the chancellor is the head of government

Q.5 Difference between Political and Permanent executive POLITICAL EXECUTIVE

a) Political executive are elected by the people. Example- Prime minister, council of ministers a)
Permanent executive are appointed on the basis of merits. Example- I.A.S, I.P.S, I.F.S

b) They take all the major decisions. b) They work as civil servants under political executive and
assist them

c) They have more power as they are elected by the people c) They provide expert advice to the
ministers, comparatively they are not powerful

d) They are responsible to the people d) These officers have the duty to assist the political executives
to run the country.

e) They remain in power till they enjoy the confidence of the majority of member of parliament. e)
Their tenure of office is permanent. They hold the office till their retirement.

f) Ministers are head of different departments but they do not have practical experience as their
tenure is uncertain. f) They are more experienced as they serve the same department till their
retirement.

Q.6 What is a semi-presidential system?

Ans: A semi-presidential system has both a president and a prime minister, but the president may
possess significant day-to-day powers. In this system, it is possible that sometimes the president and
the prime minister may belong to the same party and at times they may belong to two different
parties and thus, would be opposed to each other. For example: France, Russia.

Q.7 What are the different types of executive?

Ans: 1. Parliamentary

• Head of the government is usually the Prime Minister. • He is the leader of the majority party in the
legislature. • He is accountable to the legislature. • The head of State may be a monarch or a
President.

2. Semi-presidential

• Head of State is the President. • Head of government is the Prime minister. • Prime Minister and the
council of ministers are responsible for the legislature.

3. Presidential • Head of State is the President.

• He is also the head of the government. • He is directly elected by the people. • He is not accountable
to the legislature.

Give examples…

Q.8 Why did the constitution-makers want a parliamentary executive?

2. The makers of the Indian Constitution wanted a government that would have a strong executive
branch, but at the same time, enough safeguards should be there to check against the personality
cult.

3. In the parliamentary form there are many mechanisms that ensure that the executive will be
answerable to and controlled by the legislature or people’s representatives.

So, the Constitution adopted the parliamentary system of executive for the governments both at the
national and State levels.

Q.9 Describe the functioning of the parliamentary executive in India.

Ans: 1. According to this system, there is a President who is the formal Head of the state of India and
the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, which run the government at the national level. At
the State level, the executive comprises the Governor and the Chief Minister and Council of
Ministers.

2. The Constitution of India vests the executive power of the Union formally in the President.

3. The President is elected indirectly for a period of five years by the elected MLAs and MPs.

4. The President can be removed from office only by Parliament by following the procedure for
impeachment. The only ground for impeachment is violation of the Constitution.

Q.10 What is the position and power of the President?

Ans: 1. The President is the formal head of the government.

2. He/ She has wide-ranging powers. However, these powers are in reality used by the President only
on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

3. The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers have support of the majority in the Lok Sabha and
so, they are the real executive. In most cases, the President has to follow the advice of the Council of
Ministers.

Q.11 In what situations can the President exercise his powers using his own discretion?

Ans: 1. The President can send back the advice given by the Council of Ministers and ask the Council
to reconsider the decision. In doing this, the President acts on his own discretion. When the
President thinks that the advice has any flaws, or that it is not in the best interests of the country, he
can ask the Council to reconsider their decision.

2. The President also has veto power by which he can withhold or refuse to give assent to Bills (other
than Money Bill) passed by the Parliament. Every bill passed by the Parliament goes to the President
for his consent before it becomes a law. The President can send the bill back to the Parliament asking
it to reconsider the bill. (In 1986,President Zail Singh exercised the Pocket veto with respect to Indian
Post Office(amendment bill)The bill was passed by Rajiv Gandhi Government ,imposed restriction on
the freedom of press)

3. If no single party secures a clear majority in the Lok Sabha and a few parties come together to
form a coalition, the President has to use his own discretion in judging who can actually form and run
the government and appoints the Prime Minister.

Q.12 What is the most important feature of the parliamentary executive?

Ans: The most important feature of parliamentary executive is that the executive is routinely under
the control and supervision of the legislature.

Q.13 What is the role of the Prime Minister?

Ans: 1. The Council of Ministers comes into existence only after the Prime Minister has taken the
oath of office. The death or resignation of the Prime Minister automatically brings about the
dissolution of the Council of Ministers but the demise, dismissal or resignation of a minister only
creates a ministerial vacancy.

2. The Prime Minister acts as a link between the Council of Ministers on the one hand and the
President as well as the Parliament on the other. It is this role of the Prime Minister which led Nehru
to describe him as ‘the linchpin of Government’.

3. It is also the constitutional obligation of the Prime Minister to communicate to the President all
decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the affairs of the Union and
proposals for legislation.

4. The Prime Minister is involved in all crucial decisions of the government and decides on the
policies of the government.

5. Thus, the power wielded by the Prime Minister flows from various sources: control over the
Council of Ministers, leadership of the Lok Sabha, command over the bureaucratic machine, access
to media, projection of personalities during elections, projection as national leader during
international summits as well as foreign visits.

Q.14 Mention the developments that have resulted in a growing discretionary role of the President
in the selection of the Prime Minister.

Ans: Since 1989, we have witnessed many coalition governments in India. Many of these
governments could not remain in power for the full term of the Lok Sabha. They were either
removed or they resigned due to loss of support of the majority. These developments have resulted
in a growing discretionary role of the President in the selection of Prime Ministers.

Q.15 What have been the effects of the development of an increasing number of coalition parties in
India?

Ans: 1. These developments have resulted in a growing discretionary role of the President in the
selection of Prime Ministers.
2. The coalitional nature of Indian politics in this period has necessitated much more consultation
between political partners, leading to erosion of prime ministerial authority.

3. It has also brought restrictions on various prerogatives of the Prime Minister like choosing the
ministers and deciding their ranks and portfolios.

4. Even the policies and programmes of the government cannot be decided by the Prime Minister
alone. Political parties of different ideologies come together both as pre-poll and post-poll allies to
form a government. Policies are framed after a lot of negotiations and compromises among the
allies. In this entire process, the Prime Minister has to act more as a negotiator than as leader of the
government.

Q.16 Define bureaucracy.

Ans: The Executive organ of the government includes the Prime Minister, the ministers and a large
organisation called the bureaucracy. It consists of trained and skilled officers who work as permanent
employees of the government. They are assigned the task of assisting the ministers in formulating
policies and implementing them.

Q.17 What is ‘pocket veto’?

Ans: The President has veto power by which he can withhold a bill passed by the Parliament. There is
no mention in the Constitution about the time limit within which the President must send a bill back
for reconsideration. This means that the President can just keep the bill pending with him without
any time limit. This is known as pocket veto.

Q.18 Describe the composition and selection process of the bureaucracy.

Ans: 1. The bureaucracy consists of the All-India services, State services, employees of the local
governments, and technical and managerial staff running public sector undertakings.

2. Makers of our Constitution were aware of the importance of the non-partisan and professional
bureaucracy. They also wanted the members of the civil services or bureaucracy to be impartially
selected on the basis of merit. So, the Union Public Service Commission has been entrusted with the
task of conducting the process of recruitment of the civil servants for the government of India.

3. Similar public service commissions are provided for the States also. Members of the Public Service
Commissions are appointed for a fixed term. Their removal or suspension is subject to a thorough
enquiry made by a judge of the Supreme Court.

Q.19 What steps have been taken by the government to make the bureaucracy more representative?
Ans: 1. The Constitution also ensures that all sections of the society including the weaker sections
have an opportunity to be part of the public bureaucracy.

2. For this purpose, the Constitution has provided for reservation of jobs for the Dalits and Adivasis.
Subsequently, reservations have also been provided for women and other backward classes.
3. These provisions ensure that the bureaucracy is more representative and social inequalities will
not come in the way of recruitment to the civil service.

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Council of Ministers is the official name for the body that includes all the Ministers. It usually has 60
to 80 Ministers of different ranks. SIZE OF THE COUNCIL 91st amendment put a limit on the size of
council of ministers. This amendment gave that the council of ministers will not exceed 15 percent of
total number of members of house of people (or assembly in case of states).

THE COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

(i) Cabinet Ministers are in charge of the major ministries. Usually the Cabinet Ministers participate
in Cabinet Meetings to take decisions in the name of the Council of Ministers. Cabinet is thus the
inner ring of the Council of Ministers. As there are large numbers of members in council of ministers,
it becomes difficult to invite all of them to take important decisions so the cabinet of 12- 10 ministers
is formed. Usually outstanding members of the majority party of the Lok Sabha and those who enjoy
the confidence of the prime minister are given cabinet rank.

(ii) Ministers of States are given independent charge of a ministry but generally assist a Cabinet
Minister in running the ministry. They participate in Cabinet Meetings only when specially invited.

(iii) Deputy Ministers are attached to and required to assist Cabinet Ministers or Minister of State.
They do not participate in cabinet meetings • Since it is not practical for all ministers to meet
regularly and discuss everything, the decisions are taken in Cabinet meetings. That is why
parliamentary democracy in most countries is often known as the Cabinet form of government.