NCERT Solutions Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 the Parliamentary System Legislature and Executive

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 8 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 6: The Parliamentary
System: Legislature and
Executive

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

139 – 162 13 32 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 39 pages

Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 8 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 6: The Parliamentary
System: Legislature and Executive
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and
Executive, from Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Grade 8 Part 1 (theme: Governance and Democracy). Every
question in the chapter is answered — The Big Questions, the LET’S REMEMBER box, all eight LET’S EXPLORE
boxes, the two DON’T MISS OUT boxes that ask something, and all ten Questions and activities — with Fig.
6.8 (the lawmaking flow chart), Fig. 6.9 (the Standing Committee report extract), the sessions-and-sittings
table on page 158 and the two comparison tables on pages 153 and 156 read directly off the printed page.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 8) 139 – 162

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

13 32

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 139
Chapter opening — theme: Governance and Democracy

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 What is India’s parliamentary system, and how is it structured?

India’s parliamentary system is a form of democracy in which the people elect a legislature, and
the government (the executive) is drawn from that legislature and stays in office only so long as
it keeps the legislature’s confidence. The Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the
country: it makes laws, and it controls and guides the work of the government. Because its
members are chosen by the people, the government can be seen as functioning with the
people’s consent.
The structure. The Indian Parliament is composed of the President and two houses — this two-
house arrangement is called a ‘bicameral’ system (bi = two, cameral = chamber / house).

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PART OF ALSO HOW ITS MEMBERS GET THERE WHO PRESIDES
PARLIAMENT CALLED

The President Head of State Elected by an electoral college; summons —
Parliament and gives assent to bills

Lok Sabha House of the Direct election by the people, on universal The Speaker, elected
People / Lower adult suffrage; maximum strength by the members
House envisaged by the Constitution is 550

Rajya Sabha Council of States Indirect election by the electoral college The Vice President of
/ Upper House you read about in the previous chapter India, as its
chairperson

Both the number of Rajya Sabha seats allotted to a state and the number of Lok Sabha MPs
representing it are based on the population of that state. A majority group from among the
elected Lok Sabha representatives forms the government.

Why it is built this way: Britain’s system inspired our parliamentary democracy, but
the Constitution makers were not merely copying. They had practical experience of
parliamentary procedure gained — even if in a very limited way — inside British
colonial governance structures; they had the memory of the ancient republics
(mahājanapadas); and they had the village panchayats where elders made collective
decisions. There were extensive discussions on whether India needed two houses at
all. The conclusion was that a single directly elected House would be inadequate
for the challenges independent India would face, and that in the spirit of federalism
a Council of States was needed — deliberately composed and elected differently
from the Lok Sabha.

Did you know? There have been 17 Lok Sabhas since the first one in 1952. The 18th
Lok Sabha was constituted in June 2024.

Q2 What are the key functions of the Parliament?

The Constitution lays down four broad heads of function. The chapter names them in this order:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FUNCTION WHAT PARLIAMENT ACTUALLY DOES UNDER IT

1. Constitutional Elects the President and the Vice President; amends the Constitution; and upholds the
functions Constitution’s core values — enabling parliamentary democracy through universal adult
suffrage, following the separation of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary,
ensuring federalism, and upholding Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State
Policy by framing laws and policies

2. Lawmaking The primary responsibility of a legislature. A bill (a draft law) is introduced, read, usually
examined by a Standing Committee, debated clause by clause, voted on, passed by the other
House too, sent for Presidential assent and finally notified in the Gazette — becoming an act

3. Executive Makes ministers justify their actions and decisions — through the Question Hour and through
accountability committees before which ministries must explain their policies

4. Financial Approves and monitors government expenditure through the annual budget, and examines how
accountability funds are distributed to the different ministries

Why these four hang together: notice that the last two are not extra jobs added on
to lawmaking — they are what makes lawmaking meaningful. A law is useless if
nobody enforces it, and enforcement is dangerous if nobody is watching the
enforcer. So Parliament makes the law, then keeps asking the government two
questions: are you carrying it out? and what are you doing with our money?

Q3 What are the roles of the legislature and the executive in India’s Parliamentary
democracy?

In one line: the Legislature makes the laws and watches over the government; the Executive
runs the government and carries the laws out — and the Executive must answer to the
Legislature for how it does so.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FEATURE UNION GOVERNMENT STATE GOVERNMENT

Constitutional The President of India, elected by an Governor of the State, appointed by the
Head electoral college President

Term of Office 5 years 5 years
(Head)

Executive Head Nominal head is the President, but the Nominal head is the Governor, but the
Prime Minister is the de facto executive Chief Minister is the de facto executive
authority authority

Selection of Leader of majority party / coalition in Lok Leader of majority party / coalition in
Executive Sabha Vidhan Sabha

Council of Ministers Selected by the Prime Minister Selected by the Chief Minister

Responsibility Collectively responsible to Lok Sabha Collectively responsible to Vidhan Sabha

Legislature Bicameral — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Can be unicameral (Vidhan Sabha only)
Structure or bicameral (Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan
Parishad)

Lower House Lok Sabha (House of the People) Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly)

Upper House Rajya Sabha (Council of States) Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) —
in some states only

Term of Lower 5 years 5 years
House

Presiding Officer Speaker Speaker
(Lower House)

Legislative Powers Makes laws on subjects in the Union List Makes laws on subjects in the State List
and the Concurrent List and the Concurrent List

Financial Powers Money bills originate only in Lok Sabha Money bills originate only in Vidhan
Sabha

Who may legislate on what. The Constitution gives a Union List and a State List of subjects
on which the Union and the states can legislate exclusively, and a Concurrent List on which
both can. If the Union legislates on a Concurrent List subject, the state is bound to follow it —
which is why the RTE Act applies all over India even though education is in the Concurrent List.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Check it yourself: only six states are bicameral — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. All the remaining states
have a unicameral legislature, with a Vidhan Sabha only.

LET’S REMEMBER — Page 145
Legislative Functions of the Parliament — 1) Constitutional function

LET'S REMEMBER

Q1 From your previous lessons on the theme of Democracy and Governance, name a
few Constitutional functions of the Parliament. Did you list the election of President
and Vice President? What about amendments to the Constitution?

Yes — both belong on the list. The Constitutional functions of Parliament that you have
already met are:

Electing the President. Parliament’s elected MPs, together with the elected members of the
state legislative assemblies, form the electoral college that elects the President.
Electing the Vice President, who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
Amending the Constitution — changing or adding to the constitutional text itself, as was
done by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, which inserted Article 21A and
made free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 a right.

Beyond these, the chapter says Parliament is directly entrusted with upholding the core values
of the Constitution, namely:

1. enabling parliamentary democracy through universal adult suffrage;
2. following the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary;
3. ensuring federalism; and
4. upholding Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy by framing
laws and policies.

Why these count as ‘constitutional’ functions: in each of them Parliament is not
simply passing an ordinary law — it is acting on the Constitution itself: filling the
highest offices the Constitution creates, altering the Constitution’s own text, or
protecting the values written into it. That is why the chapter separates them from
ordinary lawmaking. There are further constitutional functions, the book adds, that
you will study in higher grades.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 148
Lawmaking — the journey of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Draw a small chart to show the process of how RTE became an act.

Here is the chart, built from the RTE’s own account of itself on page 146 and the general flow of
Fig. 6.8 on page 147.

Directive Principles of Early 1990s — argued in 86th Constitutional
State Policy — the idea of court that education is part Amendment Act, 2002
education for every child of the Right to Life → Article 21A

Debate on funding — A committee studied it and Tabled as a bill in the
schools, teachers, cost suggested modifications Rajya Sabha (2008)

By 2008 the MPs decided Passed in the Lok Sabha, President’s assent —
it was time August 2009 it becomes an Act

Result: legal pathways for children to attend school, new school construction,
free books and uniforms — the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

How the RTE travelled from an idea in the Directive Principles to an Act of Parliament — a journey of
nearly a century, as the chapter tells it.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

STEP WHAT HAPPENED WHICH STAGE OF FIG.
6.8 THIS IS

1 The idea sat in the Directive Principles of State Policy; the Before the bill — the policy
Constitution makers wanted it implemented within a decade of background
Independence, but it did not happen

2 In the early 1990s someone argued in court that education was already The Judiciary’s prompt to
part of the Right to Life, a Fundamental Right, because education is lawmakers
needed to lead a meaningful life

3 The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 inserted Article 21A: A constitutional function of
the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children Parliament
between 6 and 14 years

4 Six years later the bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha Introduction in either House

5 A committee studied it thoroughly and suggested modifications Referred to Standing
Committee

6 The major debate was about funding — new schools, infrastructure Consideration, clause-by-clause
and teachers for millions of children would be costly. By 2008 the MPs discussion, amendments voted
determined it was time

7 After the 2009 elections the new government pursued the matter; in Process repeated in the other
August 2009 it was passed in the Lok Sabha House

8 It received the President’s assent and became an Act Presidential assent (then
Gazette notification)

Tip: when you draw this in your notebook, put the years down the left-hand margin
— 2002, 2008, 2009. Seeing the gaps between them is the whole point: a bill that
everyone agreed with in principle still took seven years to travel from Article 21A to
an Act.

Q2 What do you think the process would be if RTE had been tabled in the Lok Sabha?

Almost exactly the same — only the order of the two Houses would swap. Fig. 6.8 begins
with “Introduction in either House of the Parliament”, so an ordinary bill like the RTE could
lawfully have started in either place.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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STAGE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IF IT HAD BEEN TABLED IN
THE LOK SABHAm
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LET’S EXPLORE — Pagea150

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare — a committee of MPs — had
made a recommendation. The Ministry (here, the Ministry of Ayush, under the Health and
Family Welfare group of ministries) has had to come back and state, under the heading
‘Action Taken’, exactly what it did about that recommendation. So the executive is reporting
to the legislature.
The Committee then puts the recommendation and the reply together in a report — the
extract is from the One Hundred Sixty Second Report — which is laid on the Table of the
Rajya Sabha (20 December 2024) and of the Lok Sabha (February 2025). So the Committee is
reporting to both Houses of Parliament, and through them to the public.

Why this is the chapter’s point: the Question Hour is the loud, visible form of
executive accountability. This document is the quiet form. Every recommendation
gets a written reply that anyone can read months later — which is much harder for a
ministry to dodge than a single spoken answer. Notice too that these committees
may include MPs from different political parties, so the scrutiny does not stop when
the government changes.

Q2 What is the subject that has been reviewed?

The subject is item 1.2 — “Co-location of Ayush facilities at Primary Health Centers (PHCs),
Community Health Centers (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs)”.
In plain words: whether Ayush services (the traditional systems of medicine) are being provided
alongside the regular services at the three levels of the public health system — the primary
health centre in a rural area, the community health centre above it, and the district hospital.
Within this, the specific matter reviewed is whether the states and union territories have set up
a separate Department of Ayush to run and expand this work.

Tip: when you read any committee extract, look for the numbered heading first
(here 1.2). The paragraph numbers that follow — 1.2.1 for the recommendation,
1.2.2 for the reply — tell you that everything under them belongs to that one
subject.

Q3 Identify the Committee’s recommendation.

The Committee’s recommendation is in paragraph 1.2.1:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

It notices that in some states and UTs a separate Department of Ayush has not been
opened. Therefore, to boost the Ayush system and for better coordination in Ayush healthcare,
it recommends that the Ministry of Ayush should impress upon and persuade those States
and UTs to create such a department, so that the Ayush sector and its schemes can be
developed and implemented speedily. (The Committee cites Para 2.13 of its own earlier report.)

Note the verb the Committee chooses: “impress upon and persuade”, not “direct”.
A parliamentary committee recommends; it does not command. That single word
already anticipates the constitutional problem the Ministry raises in its reply.

Q4 What is the government’s reply?

The government’s reply is in paragraph 1.2.2, under ‘Action Taken’. It has three parts:

1. A constitutional limit. “Public Health” is a state subject, so creating a separate Department
of Ayush comes under the purview of the respective State/UT Governments — the Union
Ministry cannot simply order it.
2. What it did within that limit. The Ministry of Ayush has requested State/UT Governments
in different meetings to create separate Directorates and to deploy manpower in the SPMU
(state project management unit) and DPMU (district project management unit), for speedy
development and implementation of the NAM (National Ayush Mission) scheme.
3. The result so far. As on date, a separate Ayush Directorate is available in 24 States/UTs.

What this exchange teaches about federalism: the Committee wanted something
done; the Ministry agreed with the aim but explained that the power to do it lies with
the states, and reported the persuasion it had used instead. That is federalism
working as the chapter describes it — power distributed between the centre and the
states — and accountability working too, because the Ministry had to put the
number 24 on the record, where the Committee and the public can measure the
next report against it.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 151

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4) Financial accountability

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Why do you think that Parliament keeps an eye on government expenditure? (Hint:
Whose money does the government spend?)

Because it is not the government’s money — it is the people’s money. Government revenue
comes from citizens: from the taxes we pay directly and from the taxes built into almost
everything we buy, and from public assets that belong to the nation. The government only
handles that money; it does not own it.
Now follow the chain. The people cannot each check the accounts themselves, so they elect
representatives. Those representatives sit in Parliament. So Parliament watches the spending
on the people’s behalf — which is exactly why the chapter says Parliament “approves and
monitors government expenditure through the annual budget, and examining the distribution
of funds to different ministries”.

WHAT PARLIAMENT DOES WHAT IT PREVENTS

Approves the budget before the money is Spending on things the people’s representatives never agreed to
spent

Examines the distribution of funds between One department being starved while another is over-funded
ministries

Monitors the spending afterwards, through Money being approved for one purpose and quietly used for
committees another, or simply wasted

The rule behind it: in a democracy the body that raises the money must be the
body that permits it to be spent. That is why the Executive prepares the budget but
the Legislature sanctions it (see the table on page 153), and why a Money Bill can
begin only in the directly elected Lok Sabha. The chapter adds the other half of the
bargain: the government is expected to give Parliament the necessary information
in a timely and accurate manner — scrutiny is impossible without honest figures.

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 151

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Executive Functions of Parliament — the order of Part V of the Constitution

DON'T MISS OUT

Q1 Part V of the Indian Constitution begins with Chapter I — The Executive. It looks at
the roles and responsibilities of the President, Vice President, and Council of
Ministers, among others. It is in Chapter II that the role and functions of Parliament
are listed. Why might this be so?

Two explanations fit, and they do not contradict each other.
1. The Constitution introduces the offices before it introduces the body they sit in. Chapter
I creates the President, the Vice President and the Council of Ministers. But the Parliament
described in Chapter II includes the President — “the Parliament of India… composed of the
President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha”. You cannot describe Parliament until you have
first created the President. So the order is logical rather than a ranking: define the office, then
define the assembly that office is part of.
2. It reflects how the two organs actually work together. The Executive is not outside
Parliament in our system — the Council of Ministers is drawn from the MPs of both Houses,
most bills are introduced by the Executive, and it is the President who summons Parliament and
gives assent to its bills. Placing the Executive first shows how tightly the two are woven together,
which is the distinguishing feature of a parliamentary system as against a presidential one.

What the order does not mean: it does not mean the Executive is superior. Read
the two chapters together and the accountability runs the other way — the Council
of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, Parliament sanctions all
government expenditure, and ministers must justify their actions at the Question
Hour. Position in the text is not the same as position in the hierarchy of power.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 152

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2) The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers
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LET’S EXPLORE — Pages 154–155 a

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Judiciary — Role of Checks and Balances

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 What might happen if one of the organs — Legislature, Executive, Judiciary — had
all the power? How could it affect the rights of people? Discuss with your
classmates how each organ checks the others. For example, how does the
Legislature question the actions of the Executive? How does the Judiciary make
sure that laws and government actions respect the Constitution? Do you think
there might be ways in which the actions of the Judiciary itself are reviewed?

If any one organ held all the power, it would become the judge of its own conduct — and
rights would then depend on its goodwill rather than on the Constitution. Work through
the three cases:

IF THIS ORGAN …WHAT WOULD BE EFFECT ON PEOPLE’S RIGHTS
HAD ALL THE LOST
POWER…

Legislature No one could test a law A law violating Fundamental Rights could not be
against the Constitution struck down; a majority could take away the rights of
a minority by simply voting for it

Executive No one could refuse it money, Orders could replace laws; there would be no
question it, or make it obey the Question Hour, no committee, no budget vote — and
law it enforces no way to remove a government that stopped serving
people

Judiciary No elected body would make People could not change the law by voting, because
policy; interpretation would the people who decide would not be the people they
have no limits elect

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LEGISLATURE
Parliament — makes the laws

Question Hour, Checks that a law
committees, budget vote, does not violate the
collective responsibility Constitution

EXECUTIVE JUDICIARY
PM and Council of Ministers The courts — interpret the law

Steps in if the Constitution is violated
while a law is being implemented

No organ is the final judge of its own conduct.

Checks and balances: each organ is answerable to another, so that no one organ becomes too
powerful.

How the Legislature questions the Executive. Through the Question Hour — typically the
first hour of a sitting, when MPs ask ministers about government policies and activities and
ministers must justify their actions and decisions. Through committees, before which ministries
must explain their policies in writing, as Fig. 6.9 shows. Through the budget, since Parliament
sanctions every rupee. And ultimately through collective responsibility: the Council of
Ministers holds office only while it has the Lok Sabha’s support.
How the Judiciary keeps laws and actions constitutional. The Judiciary is the custodian of the
Constitution. It is given the “unique and critical responsibility of checking that the laws passed
by Parliament have not violated the Constitutional framework”; and if a violation occurs when
the Executive implements a law, the Judiciary again has the power to step in. It does this by
interpreting laws, resolving disputes and safeguarding fundamental rights, through its system
of courts.
Is the Judiciary itself reviewed? Yes, in several ways, and it is worth being precise about them.
A judgment of a lower court can be appealed to a higher one, so most decisions are examined
again. The highest court can review its own decisions, and a later bench can take a different
view of the law. Parliament can respond to a judgment by amending the law, or even the
Constitution, within constitutional limits. Judges are appointed and, in grave cases, can be
removed by Parliament through a special procedure. And every judgment is delivered in open

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

court and published, so it is open to public and academic criticism. What is deliberately not
allowed is anyone reviewing a judge’s decision on the basis of who they are — that
independence is what lets a court rule against the government of the day.

Try this: in your group, take one right you value — say the right to education under
Article 21A — and trace which organ would protect it at each stage: who created it,
who funds and runs the schools, and whom you would approach if the school in
your area were not provided.

Q2 Can you find examples where the Judiciary has asked lawmakers to review a law?
Can you find any instances when the implementation of a law has been questioned
by the Judiciary?

Yes — and the chapter has already given you one of each, without labelling them as such. Start
from these, then look for more.
1. The Judiciary prompting lawmakers — the RTE itself. In the early 1990s it was argued in
court that free education was already part of the Right to Life, since education is necessary to
lead a meaningful life. Parliamentary action followed: the 86th Constitutional Amendment
Act, 2002 inserted Article 21A, and the RTE Act came in 2009. That is a court reading changing
what lawmakers felt they had to do.
2. The Judiciary questioning implementation. The chapter states the principle directly: “if a
violation of the Constitution occurs when the laws are implemented by the Executive, the
Judiciary again has the power to step in”. In practice courts do this constantly — ordering that a
scheme actually reach the people it was written for, or that an official follow the procedure the
law lays down.

How to find more, properly:

Search a news archive for the words “Supreme Court strikes down” or “High Court
directs the government to” together with a year.
Use the courts’ own websites (sci.gov.in and your state High Court’s site), which
publish judgments and press summaries.
For each example you find, write down four things: which law, who went to
court, what the court said, and what Parliament or the government did
afterwards. The fourth is the one students usually miss, and it is the one that
shows the check working.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Keep the distinction clear: a court asking lawmakers to review a law is aimed at the
law itself — does it fit the Constitution? A court questioning implementation is
aimed at the Executive’s conduct — is the law being carried out the way it was
written? The first is a check on the Legislature; the second is a check on the
Executive. Both come from the same source: the Judiciary is the custodian of the
Constitution, not a rival policymaker, and it acts when a case is brought before it.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 157
Structure of State Legislatures

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 What type of legislature does your state have?

There are only two possible answers, and the chapter tells you how to decide which one applies
to you.

TYPE HOUSES WHICH STATES

Bicameral Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka,
Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh — six
states

Unicameral Vidhan Sabha only All the remaining states

Sample answer (adapt it to your own state): “My state is Karnataka. Karnataka has a
bicameral legislature: a Vidhan Sabha, whose members (MLAs) are directly elected by the
people of each constituency, and a Vidhan Parishad, the Legislative Council. The legislature
meets in the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, the building envisioned by Kengal
Hanumanthaiah — a freedom fighter, a member of the Constituent Assembly, Chief Minister of
Karnataka and later a Member of Parliament.”
If your state is not one of the six, your answer is: “My state has a unicameral legislature —
only a Vidhan Sabha. Laws for the state are made by the MLAs in that single House, on subjects
in the State List and the Concurrent List.”

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Check it yourself: your state legislature’s website will tell you the strength of the

m l a se
Vidhan Sabha, the name of the Speaker, and (if it exists) the Vidhan Parishad. Add
o
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LET’S EXPLORE — Page 158
a g
Challenges to the Effective Functioning of the Legislaturesl

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LET'S EXPLORE

co
se m.
o m l a
g recent years.
.cfunctioning of Parliament over time? Compile data foramore
Q1 Study the data given in the following table. What conclusions can you draw about

se m
the

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agANSWER
m a s
.co agl
Here is the table as printed, with one column added so the trend is visible.

se m
PERIOD OF LOK NUMBER OF
g l a NUMBER OF AVERAGE SITTINGS PER
SABHA SESSIONS a SITTINGS SESSION

com
.
1st Lok Sabha (1952– 14 677 677 ÷ 14 ≈ 48
1957)
se m
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2nd.Lok
m ag 567 ÷ 16 ≈ 35
ase(1957–1962)
Sabha 16 567

agl
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10th Lok Sabha 16 423 423 ÷ 16 ≈ 26
(1991–1996)
com g l a
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ase
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13th Lok Sabha 14 356 356 ÷ 14 ≈ 25
(1999–2004)

om
Three conclusions follow from the numbers.
. c
m years. Parliament still
1. The number of sessions has hardly changed — 14 to 16 acrossefifty
s
m a
glMonsoon and Winter sessions.
o about three times a year, as the chapter says: Budget,
cmeets
. a
as em So the shape of the parliamentary year has stayed the same.
agl 2. But the number of sittings has fallen sharply. From 677 in the 1st Lok Sabha to 356 in the
c
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13th — a drop of 321 sittings, which is very nearly half (356 is about 53% of 677). The fall is

m a s
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steady, not a one-off: 677 → 567 → 423 → 356.

m .
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3. Therefore each session has become much shorter. The average length of a session

a g l
dropped from about 48 sittings to about 25 — roughly half. Since a sitting usually runs 6
hours, the 1st Lok Sabha sat for roughly 677 × 6 ≈ 4,060 hours against about 356 × 6 ≈ 2,140

m
hours for the 13th.

. co
e m
m l as
.co a g
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why fewer hours matters: the hours are not decoration. They are when bills are
read and debated clause by clause, when ministers face the Question Hour, when
committees report, and when the budget is examined. Fewer sitting hours means
each bill gets less scrutiny, and every disruption costs proportionately more —
because there is less time left to make up. This is exactly the concern the chapter
raises: when “sessions are cut short and some bills take years to be discussed and
passed, it becomes a matter of concern.”

How to compile recent data (the second half of the question):

Go to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites (sansad.in), where the ‘Sessions’ or
‘Statistical Information’ pages list sessions and sittings for each Lok Sabha.
Make the same four columns for the 14th to the 18th Lok Sabha.
Then draw a simple bar graph with the Lok Sabha number on the x-axis and
sittings on the y-axis. A picture makes the trend impossible to argue with — and
lets you check whether the decline continued, levelled off, or reversed.

Q2 Read the following statement of the former chairman of the Rajya Sabha, M.
Venkaiah Naidu given in 2021: “...the productivity of Rajya Sabha during 2004-14 has
been about 78% and it declined to about 65% since then. Of the 11 sessions [that he
presided over], four of them clocked low productivity of 6.80%, 27.30%, 28.90% and
29.55%; during the year 2018, the Rajya Sabha recorded the lowest ever productivity
of 35.75% under the impact of disruptions.” What conclusions can you draw from
this statement? What implications does this have for the role that the Rajya Sabha
is expected to play?

First, what ‘productivity’ means here. In the parliamentary context it is the number of hours
the House actually functioned, measured against the time it was scheduled to. So 65%
productivity means that for every 100 hours the Rajya Sabha was supposed to work, it worked
about 65 and lost about 35.
Conclusions from the figures.

1. The decline is real but not catastrophic on average: from about 78% in 2004–14 to about
65% afterwards — a fall of about 13 percentage points, or roughly a sixth of the working
time that used to be used.
2. The averages hide much worse sessions. Four of the eleven sessions he presided over ran
at 6.80%, 27.30%, 28.90% and 29.55%. A session at 6.80% productivity is one in which the
House worked for less than 7 hours out of every 100 scheduled — effectively it did not
function at all.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

3. 2018 was the worst year on record for that House, at 35.75%, and the stated cause was
disruptions — not holidays, not a lack of business.
4. So the loss is concentrated, not spread out. Four bad sessions out of eleven can pull an
average down far more than a slightly slower pace everywhere. That tells you the problem is
episodes of breakdown, which is a different problem from general inefficiency — and it
needs a different remedy.

Implications for the Rajya Sabha’s role. Remember why the Council of States was created in
the first place: the Constitution makers concluded that a single directly elected House would be
inadequate for the challenges independent India would face, and that in the spirit of federalism
the states needed their own chamber. The Rajya Sabha is meant to be the House that takes the
second, calmer look — examining bills the Lok Sabha has passed, giving the states a voice, and
holding the Executive to account.

WHAT THE RAJYA SABHA IS WHAT LOST HOURS COST
EXPECTED TO DO

Give bills a careful second reading and Bills pass with less scrutiny, or wait years — either way the
suggest improvements “revising chamber” does not revise

Speak for the states in the federal system Regional concerns are simply not raised in the national forum built
for them

Question ministers and examine expenditure Executive accountability weakens exactly where it should be
strongest

Model reasoned public debate Citizens see disruption instead of argument, and trust in the
institution falls

The fair way to state it: disruption is a tactic that any group in either House can
use, and members who use it usually argue that they had no other way to force
attention to an urgent issue. The statement above is by a presiding officer,
describing the cost. Both things can be true — which is why the chapter’s conclusion
is about institutions and citizens, not about blame: Parliament and the State
Assemblies were envisioned as spaces for thoughtful debate, and it is a matter of
concern when they cannot function as such.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 159

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Challenges to the Effective Functioning of the Legislatures — a group project

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Take up a small group project. Compile data regarding the functioning of the
legislature in your state or union territory.

Method — what to collect. Divide the work so each pair in the group takes one column, then
bring the sheets together.

WHAT TO FIND OUT WHERE TO LOOK WHY IT MATTERS

Structure: unicameral or bicameral; Your state legislature’s official Tells you how many people make
strength of the Vidhan Sabha (and website your state’s laws
Vidhan Parishad if any)

Sessions and sittings in each of the The Assembly’s ‘Session’ or The same measure you used for
last five years ‘Bulletin’ pages; newspaper reports Parliament on page 158 — so you
at the end of each session can compare

Bills introduced and bills passed Assembly website; state Gazette Shows how much lawmaking
each year notifications actually got done

Hours lost to adjournment or Press reports; the Speaker’s end-of- The state-level version of
disruption, if reported session statement ‘productivity’

Committees your Assembly has, and Assembly website, under Where the quiet, detailed
any report they published ‘Committees’ accountability happens

What a good project must contain: the raw figures with the source and date written beside
each one; at least one graph (sittings per year works well); a comparison with the Parliament
figures on page 158; and a short paragraph saying what you concluded and what you could not
find out. Honest gaps are part of good research — note them rather than filling them with
guesses.

Tip: agree on one shared table format before you split up, otherwise you will spend
the last day converting each other’s notes. And record the exact web address of
every page you used, so a reader can check you.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 Seek an appointment with an MLA and gather information about challenges with
respect to the state legislature.

How to arrange it. Write a short letter or email on your school’s behalf, signed by your teacher,
giving your class, the purpose (a Social Science project on the working of the state legislature),
the number of students coming and three possible dates. Send it to the MLA’s constituency
office. Follow up politely by phone after a few days. If the MLA is unavailable, an appointment
with the office staff, a former MLA or a local journalist who covers the Assembly is a perfectly
good substitute — say so honestly in your report.
Questions worth asking (keep them about the institution, not about party politics — that is
what makes an interview useful and keeps it fair):

How many days did the Assembly sit last year, and is that enough time for the business
before it?
How much notice do members get of a bill before they have to debate it?
Which committees do you serve on, and what does a committee actually do between
sessions?
What happens to a question you table — how long until you get an answer, and how detailed
is it?
What are the commonest causes of an adjournment, in your experience?
How do constituents bring their problems to you, and which of those problems need a
change in the law rather than a change in administration?
What would you change about how the Assembly works?

Sample answer (a report you can adapt): “We met our MLA at the constituency office on a
Saturday morning. She said the Assembly sat for 31 days last year, and that in her view this is
too few: bills are often listed with two or three days’ notice, which leaves little time to read them
properly or consult people in the constituency. She said the committee work is the part of her
job the public never sees and the part where most is actually achieved, because officials answer
detailed questions in writing. Her main complaint was the loss of Question Hour to
adjournments — a question she had tabled about a drinking-water scheme lapsed twice before
it was answered. Asked what she would change, she said: fix a minimum number of sitting days
in a year, and circulate every bill at least two weeks in advance.”

Check it yourself: write your notes up the same day, send a thank-you note, and —
this matters — verify any figure you were told (sitting days, number of bills) against
the Assembly’s own website before you put it in your report. An interview gives you
the view; the records give you the numbers.

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 160

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Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha
co m
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m as
DON'T MISS OUT

.co a g l
a s em message do you think this gives about the role of Parliament and leaders in a
gl
What
a
Q1
democracy? Why is it important to protect democratic values even when political
power changes?

co m
m . ag
l a se
ag Paartiyaan banengi, bigadengi. Lekin yeh desh rehna
The lines are: “Sarkaarein aayengi, jaayengi.
chaahiye, is desh ka loktantra amar rehna chaahiye.” — “Governments will come and go, parties

co m
m.
will rise and fall. But the nation must endure, and its democracy must live on.”

m as e
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The message about Parliament and leaders. It draws a line between two different kinds of

a g
em
thing:

a s
a glTEMPORARY PERMANENT

om the State Assemblies, the Judiciary a s
.cParliament, agl
A particular government, a particular party, a The nation, the Constitution, and the institutions —

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particular leader

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and only until the next one
a Continues whoever wins

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So leaders are trustees, not owners. Parliament does not belong to whichever party holds the

o m g l a
c leader’s real achievement is measured by whether the institutions
majority in it; it belongs to the people who elected it, and the majority is only borrowing it for a
term..A a
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m
Why democratic values must be protected across changes of power. Three reasons, each of

a se
com l
which you can test against this chapter:
. a g
e m
as
1. Rules only protect you if they hold when you are losing. A majority that weakens the

a g l
Question Hour, or ignores committees, or pushes bills through without debate, is building
tools that the next majority will inherit and use against it. Restraint in power is self-interest

m
with a longer memory.

. co
m
2. Continuity is what makes a country governable. Laws, budgets, courts and the civil

o m l a se
service carry on across a change of government. If each new government could rewrite the
ag could be trusted.
.crules of the game itself, no citizen could plan and no institution
em3. Rights would otherwise depend on who won. Fundamental Rights are worth having
a s
agl precisely because they do not depend on the current majority’s goodwill — which is why the
.c
Judiciary, as custodian of the Constitution, can test even a law passed by Parliament against
s e m
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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Read it alongside the Sengol. The chapter tells you that the sceptre placed near the
Speaker’s chair was handed to new rulers in the Chola period as a reminder that
power must be guided by dharma and righteousness, with Nandi — symbolising
justice — at its top. The Vajpayee lines say the same thing in modern words:
authority is held in trust and is answerable to something above itself. That is an old
Indian idea and a democratic one at the same time.

Questions and activities — Pages 161–162
End-of-chapter exercise

QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Q1 Find out how many representatives from your state are in each House of the
Parliament.

How to work it out. Every state sends members to both Houses, and in both cases the number
depends on the population of the state — that is the rule the chapter gives you. Lok Sabha
MPs are directly elected, one from each parliamentary constituency in the state; Rajya Sabha
MPs are indirectly elected by an electoral college.
Where to check: sansad.in (the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sites) list members state by state,
and the Election Commission’s site lists the parliamentary constituencies of each state. Always
take the current figure from there rather than from memory.
Sample answer — a few states, so you can see how population drives the numbers:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

STATE SEATS IN THE LOK SABHA SEATS IN THE RAJYA SABHA

Uttar Pradesh 80 31

Maharashtra 48 19

West Bengal 42 16

Bihar 40 16

Tamil Nadu 39 18

Madhya Pradesh 29 11

Karnataka 28 12

Gujarat 26 11

Rajasthan 25 10

Kerala 20 9

Write the sentence for your own state in this form: “My state is … . It sends … members to the Lok
Sabha and … members to the Rajya Sabha. My own parliamentary constituency is … and my MP is …
.”

Did you know? The Constitution envisages a maximum of 550 members for the Lok
Sabha. Because seats are allotted on population, a large state like Uttar Pradesh
sends many times more MPs than a small one — which is exactly what ‘House of the
People’ means. The Rajya Sabha allotment also follows population, but far less
steeply, so smaller states are relatively better represented there — a deliberate part
of the federal design.

Q2 What makes the Indian Parliament the “voice of the people”? How does it ensure
that different opinions are heard?

Parliament is the ‘voice of the people’ because every one of its members is there through
the people’s choice, and because it can compel the government to answer. Four things
make that true:

1. Universal adult franchise. Every adult citizen votes, irrespective of social or economic
background, gender, race or religion. So the Lok Sabha is elected by the whole people, not by
a section of them.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2. Direct election, constituency by constituency. Each MP is answerable to a particular set of
people who can vote her out at the next election.
3. The government is drawn from, and can be removed by, the elected House. Because the
Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, the government “can
therefore be seen as functioning with the people’s consent”.
4. Parliament controls the money. Nothing can be spent that the people’s representatives
have not sanctioned.

How different opinions are heard. Not by accident — there are specific mechanisms.

MECHANISM WHOSE VOICE IT LETS IN

Two Houses. The Rajya Sabha, elected differently and Regional and state opinion, in the spirit of
representing the states, takes a second look at everything federalism

A presiding officer. The Speaker allows members to speak, Members who are not in the majority — the rules
maintains discipline and ensures the rules are followed exist so that a majority cannot simply talk over
everyone

Clause-by-clause discussion, with amendments voted on Anyone with an objection to one part of a bill, even
separately if they accept the rest

Committees that may include MPs from different political Opposition members, and expert and public opinion
parties gathered as evidence

The Question Hour Any MP with a grievance from her constituency, put
directly to the minister responsible

Interpretation in many languages — 12 earlier, and six Members and citizens who do not work in Hindi or
more added (Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Urdu and English — a real, practical form of inclusion
Sanskrit)

Why the debate style matters too: the chapter’s examples of poetry and humour
in Parliament — the Tirukkural verse quoted with the Union Budget, and the
exchange of Urdu couplets in 2011 — are not decoration. They show sharp
disagreement being expressed in a form the other side can answer. That is the
difference between a House that hears different opinions and one that merely
contains them.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Why do you think the Constitution made the Executive responsible to the
Legislature?

Because the Executive is the organ with the real power to affect people’s daily lives — and
in a democracy no such power can be left unanswerable to the people. The Legislature is
the only body the people themselves elect, so making the Executive responsible to it is the same
as making it responsible to the people, at one remove.
Work through what would follow if it were not so:

BECAUSE THE EXECUTIVE IS RESPONSIBLE TO …THIS IS PREVENTED
THE LEGISLATURE…

Ministers must justify their actions and decisions at the A government that acts without explaining itself to
Question Hour and before committees anyone

The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok A government continuing in office after the elected
Sabha and falls if it loses its support House has lost confidence in it

Parliament sanctions all government expenditure Public money spent on purposes the people’s
representatives never approved

The Executive can only implement laws Parliament has Rule by decree — orders taking the place of
passed debated law

The deeper reason — the separation of powers. The Constitution deliberately
distributes power so that no one organ becomes too powerful. The Legislature
makes the law; the Executive enforces it; the Judiciary checks that both stay within
the Constitution. If the Executive answered to nobody, it would be enforcing laws it
could also ignore, and there would be no peaceful way to change a government that
stopped serving the people. Responsibility to the Legislature is what turns power
into accountable power.

Did you know? This responsibility has a moral side as well as a legal one. In 1956
Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned after a train accident, although he
was not blamed for it, because he believed a minister must take moral responsibility
for anything that happens in their ministry. Nehru declined the resignation at first;
Shastri insisted, and it was finally accepted.

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co m
m.
Why do you think we have chosen the system of bicameral legislature at the Union
e
Q4

m l as
.co
level?

a g
se m
g l a
a

Because one House, however democratically elected, was judged to be not enough for a

m
country of India’s size and diversity. The chapter records that extensive discussions took place
. co ag
m
during the making of the Constitution on exactly this question, and gives two reasons for the

as e
l
answer.
a g
1. Capacity. “It was felt that a single directly elected House would be inadequate to meet the

m
challenges independent India would face.” A second chamber gives every law a second,
co
m.
less hurried examination.

o m l a se
2. Federalism. “In the spirit of ‘federalism’, it was felt that a Council of States, the Rajya Sabha,
.c a g and local governments;
m
se states therefore needed a chamber of their own at the national level.
was needed.” India distributes power between the centre, the states

g l athe
a And the design followed the purpose. The composition and the process of election to the
m a s
agl
Rajya Sabha were deliberately made different — indirect election by an electoral college rather

m.co
than direct election by voters. If both Houses were elected the same way, the second House

l a se
would simply repeat the first, and there would be no point in having it.
a g
LOK SABHA RAJYA SABHA

co m
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Represents The people directly The states — the Council of States

com l a
m . ag college, indirectly
ase
Elected by All adult citizens, directly An electoral

agl Special Money bills originate only here; the Revising and scrutinising; a federal voice in

se m
power government is responsible to it national lawmaking

com g l a
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ase
The general principle: a bicameral legislature slows lawmaking down on purpose.

agl
Speed is not the highest value in making law — a bad law passed quickly can take
years to undo, and it binds everyone in the meantime. The second House is a built-in
pause, and a place where the states can say “this affects us differently” before a
co m
m .
national law is final.
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se m
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a

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q5 Try to track the journey of a recent bill passed by the Parliament. Identify in which
House it was introduced. Were there any major debates or disagreements? How
long did it take for the bill to become a law? Use newspaper archives, government
websites, and Lok Sabha debates, or ask your teacher for help.

Method. Use Fig. 6.8 as your checklist and fill in a date for each stage. Track one bill only, and
pick one that has already become an Act, otherwise your last rows will be empty.

STAGE OF FIG. 6.8 WHAT TO RECORD WHERE TO FIND IT

Introduction in either House The exact date, and which PRS Legislative Research; the Bill Track
House pages on sansad.in

Reading of the bill Date of introduction and of Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha debate transcripts
the first debate

Referred to Standing Whether it was referred at The committee’s report, published on the
Committee all, and the date the Parliament site (remember the note: all bills
committee reported may not be referred to Committees)

Consideration, clause-by- The main points of Debate transcripts; newspaper reports from
clause discussion, disagreement; which clauses the day after
amendments voted were amended

Vote on the bill; repeated in Both dates Parliament’s bulletins
the other House

Presidential assent, Gazette The date of assent and the The Gazette of India (egazette.gov.in)
notification Act number

Then answer the three questions asked: which House it started in; what the disagreement
was about (usually money, or who the law will apply to, or which government — Union or state
— should do the work); and the total time, which you get by subtracting the introduction date
from the date of assent.
Sample answer, using the bill this chapter already tracks: “I tracked the Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education Bill. It was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. A committee
studied it thoroughly and suggested modifications. The major disagreement was about
funding — new schools, infrastructure and teachers for millions of children would be costly —
and it delayed the bill for years; by 2008 the MPs determined it was time. After the 2009
elections the new government pursued the matter, and in August 2009 the bill was passed in
the Lok Sabha and received the President’s assent, becoming an Act. Counting from Article 21A
in 2002, it took about seven years; counting from the idea in the Directive Principles, far longer.”

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: write the dates on a single line as a timeline, with the gaps drawn to scale. The
long empty stretches are the most informative part of a bill’s life — they show you
where the real disagreement was.

Q6 Choose a recent law passed by the Parliament. Divide into teams to role-play
different parts of the process — MPs debating in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,
ministers answering questions, and the President giving assent. Present a short
skit showing how a bill becomes a law; enact a ‘model Parliament’.

How to set it up. Assign these roles, then run the eight stages of Fig. 6.8 in order — that
structure is your script.

ROLE HOW WHAT THEY MUST DO
MANY

Speaker (Lok Sabha) and 2 Conduct the session, allow members to speak, maintain
Chairperson (Rajya Sabha) discipline, ensure the rules are followed. The Chairperson’s role
belongs to the Vice President

Minister in charge of the 1 Introduces the bill, explains why it is needed, replies to the debate
bill and answers the Question Hour

MPs supporting the bill 4–6 Argue the case; propose amendments to improve it

MPs opposing or seeking 4–6 Raise objections clause by clause; move amendments; ask
changes questions the minister must answer

Standing Committee 4–5 Meet separately, question the ‘ministry officials’, and read out a
short report with recommendations

President 1 Gives assent at the end — after both Houses have passed the bill,
not before

Press gallery 2 Report the debate to the class afterwards, as the media does in a
real democracy

The running order for the skit (about 20 minutes): introduction in one House → reading →
reference to the Standing Committee (with its report) → consideration and clause-by-clause
discussion with two amendments actually voted on → vote on the bill → the same debate
compressed in the other House → Presidential assent → the Speaker announcing Gazette
notification.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What makes the skit good rather than merely noisy:

Vote clause by clause, not just once at the end — that is where a bill actually
changes shape.
Give the opposing side real arguments, drawn from the bill itself (cost, who it
covers, who will implement it). Role-play in which one side is obviously silly
teaches nothing.
Insist that everyone addresses the Speaker, not each other. You will discover very
quickly why that rule exists.
Have the press gallery report at the end on what was decided, not on who
shouted loudest.

Q7 The Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023, was passed with wide support. Why might it
have taken over 25 years for this bill to be passed, despite being discussed for so
long?

Because wide support at the end of a process is not the same as agreement all the way
through it — and because this was a constitutional amendment, which is the hardest kind
of law to pass. The chapter has already given you every tool needed to explain the delay.

1. It changes the Constitution, not just a statute. Reserving seats in the Lok Sabha and the
State Legislative Assemblies means amending the Constitution itself. An ordinary bill needs
an ordinary majority; a constitutional amendment needs a much larger and more broadly
based one. A proposal can therefore command majority support and still fail.
2. A bill lapses when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. The proposal was first brought before
Parliament in the mid-1990s and was introduced again in later Lok Sabhas. Every general
election that intervened meant starting the parliamentary journey again — introduction,
reading, committee, debate — from the beginning.
3. There were genuine disagreements about the design, not only about the goal.
Discussions turned on questions such as whether there should be reservation within the
reservation for particular groups, how the reserved seats should be chosen and rotated, and
how long the arrangement should last. These are exactly the clause-by-clause questions that
the lawmaking process exists to settle, and they take time.
4. Committees examined it more than once. As with the RTE, referral to a committee adds
months but improves the text; the RTE story in this chapter shows the same pattern — an
idea everyone accepted in principle still took seven years from Article 21A to the Act.
5. Implementation raises further questions. Any reservation of seats has to be worked out
against the delimitation of constituencies, which is itself a large exercise. Parliament had to
be satisfied that the law could actually be put into effect.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The general lesson the question is really testing: in a parliamentary democracy,
delay is not always failure and speed is not always success. The same features that
slowed this bill — two Houses, committee scrutiny, clause-by-clause debate, the
higher bar for changing the Constitution — are the features that stop bad laws. The
honest conclusion is a double one: the safeguards worked as designed, and a long
delay still has a real cost for the people the law was meant to serve. The chapter says
as much: when “some bills take years to be discussed and passed, it becomes a
matter of concern.”

Q8 Sometimes the Parliament is disrupted and does not function for the number of
days it is supposed to. What impact do you think this has on the quality of laws and
the trust people place in their representatives?

Two different kinds of damage — one to the laws themselves, one to the relationship
between citizens and their representatives.
1. On the quality of laws. Every stage of Fig. 6.8 needs time on the floor of the House. Take the
time away and the stages get compressed:

WHAT DISRUPTION WHAT THAT DOES TO A LAW
REMOVES

Hours for clause-by-clause Flaws that a careful reading would have caught survive into the Act, and
discussion have to be fixed later by amendment or by the courts

Time to consider a committee’s The most detailed scrutiny a bill gets is prepared and then not used
recommendations

The Question Hour Ministers are not made to justify decisions, so mistakes are found later and
cost more

Time for the budget and expenditure Large sums are approved with little discussion of how they will be spent
to be examined

Sitting days altogether Bills wait years, so problems go unaddressed — or laws are rushed at the
end of a session

The numbers in the chapter make this concrete: sittings fell from 677 in the 1st Lok Sabha to
356 in the 13th, and Rajya Sabha productivity fell from about 78% to about 65%, with one
session as low as 6.80% and the worst year, 2018, at 35.75% — explicitly “under the impact of
disruptions”.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2. On trust. People watch Parliament to see their own concerns argued out. When they see the
co m
se
House adjourned instead, three things follow: they conclude that their problem was not raised;
m.
o m l a
g this concern and
.c in the contest than in the work. The chapter notes both
they doubt that debate changes anything; and they begin to believe that their representatives

m a
se one that a substantial proportion of Lok Sabha representatives have criminal cases
are more interested

l a
ag them, and that many sessions are marked by angry or biased debates that do not
the related
against

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seriously address issues affecting the people. Media cartoons like Fig. 6.13, which jokes about

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the Monsoon Session bringing “thunder, lightning, storms, breaches”, are how a healthy
ag
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democracy expresses that frustration.

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Be fair to both sides. Members who disrupt usually argue that they were denied

. c om
any other way to force the House to take up an urgent matter, and in a system where
the government controls most of the agenda that argument deserves
m a s ema hearing. But
.
the costcofalls on the institution rather than on any party, andaitgisl paid by the citizens
a s em laws are not examined. That is why the chapter’s remedy is institutional and
gl civic — more informed and engaged citizens, more constructive engagement with
whose
a
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representatives — rather than a complaint against any one group.
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Q9 a g
Can you create ‘interest’ groups among students and list questions related to any

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policy that you may want to ask your MP and / or your MLA? How would these
questions be different if it is to the MP instead of the MLA, and vice versa?
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se key to this whole activity is the three Lists. An MP legislates on the Union List and the

g l a
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The
Concurrent List; an MLA legislates on the State List and the Concurrent List. So the correct

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question depends on who has the power to act — asking the right person the wrong question is

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the commonest mistake.

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How to run it. Form four or five interest groups — for example a school-education group, a
public-transport group, a clean-water group, a jobs-and-skills group, an environment group.
Each group picks one policy, finds out which List it belongs to, and then writes its questions in

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

POLICY AREA ASK YOUR MP (UNION / ASK YOUR MLA (STATE /
CONCURRENT) CONCURRENT)

School education Is the Union’s share of RTE funding How many teacher posts in our district are
(Concurrent List) reaching our state on time? Will the national vacant? When will our school get the
law be amended to cover children above 14? building the state budget provided for?

Public health What is the national scheme for this, and Public health is a state subject — when
how much has been allotted to our state will our PHC get a doctor and a full stock
under it? of medicines?

Roads and When will the national highway stretch Will the state bus service be extended to
transport through our district be completed? our village? Who maintains our district
road?

Environment What does the national law require, and is it What has the state done about the
(Concurrent List) being enforced here? polluting unit near our town, and under
which rule?

So how do the questions differ?

Scale. An MP’s question is about a national law, a national scheme or the Union budget; an
MLA’s is about a state law, a state scheme or a specific local facility.
Forum. An MP raises it in Parliament — at the Question Hour, or in a committee; an MLA
raises it in the Vidhan Sabha.
Who must reply. A Union minister for the MP’s question; a state minister for the MLA’s.
Overlap is real. On a Concurrent List subject both can act — but if the Union has legislated,
the state is bound to follow. The RTE is the chapter’s own example: education is in the
Concurrent List, yet the Act applies all over India.

Check it yourself: before you send any question, test it against one sentence —
“Does this person have the power to do what I am asking for?” If the answer is no,
either rewrite the question or send it to the other representative. Keep every
question factual and about the policy, not about the person; questions written that
way are the ones that actually get answered.

Q10 What is the role that the Judiciary plays in Indian democracy? What could happen
if we didn’t have an independent judiciary?

The Judiciary is the branch of government responsible for interpreting and applying the
laws of the land, including in specific cases of disputes. It works through a system of courts,
and the chapter gives it four tasks:

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. Interpreting laws — deciding what a law actually means when it is applied to a real
situation.
2. Resolving disputes — between citizens, and between citizens and the government.
3. Safeguarding fundamental rights.
4. Acting as the custodian of the Constitution — ensuring that all branches of government
operate within the principles and parameters enshrined in it. Specifically, it checks that the
laws passed by Parliament have not violated the constitutional framework, and it can step in
if a violation of the Constitution occurs when the Executive implements those laws.

That last task is what makes the Judiciary the third leg of the system of checks and balances:
“Just as the Parliament functions through its Legislature and the Executive arms, the Judiciary
functions through its Courts.”
What could happen without an independent judiciary?

WHAT WE WOULD LOSE THE CONSEQUENCE

A body that can test a law A law violating Fundamental Rights would stand simply because it was passed
against the Constitution — the Constitution would become advice rather than higher law

A body that can question how a Officials could apply the law unequally, or ignore it, with no remedy for the
law is implemented person affected

A neutral forum for disputes A citizen in a dispute with the government would be asking the government to
judge itself

Protection for the individual Rights would last only as long as they were popular — which is exactly when
against the majority they are least needed

Certainty about what the law Investment, contracts, property and personal safety would all rest on whoever
means held power that year

Why independence is the crucial word. A court that could be rewarded or punished
by the government would still hold hearings and still deliver judgments — but
nobody could rely on them, because it would never rule against the people who
decide its fate. Independence is not a privilege for judges; it is the condition that
makes their decisions worth anything to a citizen. That is also why judicial power is
bounded rather than unlimited: decisions can be appealed to higher courts,
reviewed by later benches, and answered by Parliament amending the law within
constitutional limits — so that the referee, too, is subject to rules.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Chapter at a glance
India’s Parliament is bicameral — it is composed of the President, the Lok Sabha (House
of the People / Lower House) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States / Upper House). Lok
Sabha members are directly elected on universal adult suffrage (maximum strength
envisaged by the Constitution: 550); Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly by an
electoral college. Both allocations follow each state’s population. There have been 17 Lok
Sabhas since 1952; the 18th was constituted in June 2024.
The Constitution gives Parliament four broad functions — constitutional (electing the
President and Vice President, amending the Constitution, upholding universal adult
suffrage, separation of powers, federalism, Fundamental Rights and the Directive
Principles), lawmaking, executive accountability and financial accountability.
A bill is a draft law; an act is what it becomes. Fig. 6.8 sets out the journey: introduction
in either House → reading → referral to a Standing Committee → taken up for
consideration and passing → clause-by-clause discussion with amendments voted → vote
on the bill → the whole process repeated in the other House → Presidential assent →
Gazette notification. Not all bills go to a committee, and a Money Bill can be introduced
only in the Lok Sabha, on the President’s prior recommendation.
The Executive is inside the Legislature, and answerable to it. The Union Executive is the
President, the Vice President and the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister;
ministers are drawn from the MPs of both Houses and are collectively responsible to the
Lok Sabha. The Question Hour — typically the first hour of a sitting — and parliamentary
committees are how that responsibility is enforced. The President is the nominal head; the
Prime Minister is the de facto executive authority.
The Judiciary is the third organ and the referee. It interprets and applies the law, settles
disputes and acts as the custodian of the Constitution — checking that the laws
Parliament passes do not violate the constitutional framework, and stepping in if the
Executive violates the Constitution while implementing them. Together these arrangements
are the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, so that no one organ
becomes too powerful.
The state level mirrors the union level. Each state has its own legislature and executive:
the Governor as constitutional head, the Chief Minister as de facto executive head, MLAs
legislating on the State List and the Concurrent List. State legislatures may be unicameral
(Vidhan Sabha only) or bicameral (with a Vidhan Parishad) — only Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh are bicameral.
The system faces real challenges. Absenteeism, non-cooperative conduct, poorer debate
and disruption of the Question Hour cut into productivity — the hours a House actually
functions against the hours it was scheduled to. Sittings have fallen from 677 in the 1st Lok
Sabha to 356 in the 13th. The remedy the chapter offers is not less democracy but more of
it: informed, engaged citizens who ask questions, join public consultations and engage
constructively with their representatives.

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Class 8 Social Science Chapter 6 The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WHAT THE BOOK SAYS
APPEARS IN THE ABOUT IT
CHAPTER

Bicameral A legislature with two houses (‘bi’ = ‘Composition of the A single directly elected House
two, ‘cameral’ = chamber / house) Parliament of was felt to be inadequate; in the
India’, page 142 spirit of federalism a Council of
States — the Rajya Sabha — was
needed

Universal Every adult citizen has the right to ‘Introduction’, page A foundational principle laid
Adult vote, whatever their social or 141 down by the Constitution; the
Franchise economic background, gender, race Lok Sabha is directly elected on
or religion this basis

Federalism A form of government where power DON’T MISS OUT, It “helps to keep the balance
is distributed between the centre, the page 143 between national unity and local
states and local governments interests”

Sceptre A decorated rod carried by a king or Margin note, page The Sengol, handed to Pt. Nehru
queen at ceremonies as a symbol of 144 on 14 August 1947, now stands
their power near the Speaker’s chair; Chola-
period practice, with Nandi
(justice) at its top

Bill A draft of a proposed law that needs Margin note, page A bill “goes through a long and
to be approved by Parliament before 146 effortful journey” before it
it can be enacted into law becomes an act

Act The instrument through which a law ‘Lawmaking’, page The RTE was tabled as a bill in
is generally brought into force 146 the Rajya Sabha, passed in the
Lok Sabha in August 2009, and
became an Act on the President’s
assent

Reading MPs read the bill before the Fig. 6.8 note, page The practice began in the British
discussions take place 147 Parliament, where a clerk read
the bill out because many MPs
were illiterate

Clause The parts of a bill that explain its Fig. 6.8 note, page Example: the RTE defines the age
specific details 147 group it applies to — 6 to 14
years

Standing A permanent committee of MPs (the Margin note, page Fig. 6.9 shows one at work — the
Committee MPs may change, the committee 147 Committee on Health and Family
remains) that scrutinises

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TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT
.
WHAT THE BOOK SAYS
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ABOUT IT m
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Welfare and the Ministry’s ‘Action
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that announces legal documents andem 147
Gazette An official government publication Gazette notification is the last

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official information
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Money Bill A draft law concerned with financial DON’T MISS OUT, It can be introduced only in the
page 148
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Lok Sabha, and only with the
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matters — taxation, government

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President

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Question A select period — typically the first ‘Executive It is the process by which
hour of a sitting — when MPs accountability’, Parliament holds the Executive

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question ministers on government page 148 ‘accountable’, i.e. makes it justify
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policies and activities all its actions and decisions

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Productivity The number of hours a House Margin note, page M. Venkaiah Naidu (2021): Rajya
actually functioned, measured 158 Sabha productivity about 78% in
against the time it was scheduled to 2004–14, about 65% after; the

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lowest ever, 35.75%, in 2018

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ag page 155 why the RTE applies all over India

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(Budget, Monsoon and Winter om l a
Session and Parliament meets three times a year Page 158 A sitting usually runs 6 hours a

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