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Why do we Need a Parliament Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 3

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 3 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. Parliament enables citizens of India to participate in decision making and control the government. Therefore, Parliament is the most important symbol of Indian democracy and key features of the Constitution.

2. Why should people decide?

  • After long and difficult struggle in which many sections of society participated, India got independence.
  • Under colonial rule people lived in fear of the British government and disagreed with the decisions of the British.
  • Criticizing the British government was a grave danger at that time.
  • During 1885, India National Congress (I.N.C) demanded that there be elected members in the legislatures with a right of discussing budget and ask questions.
  • Government of India act 1909, allowed for some elected representation.
  • The British did not allow for all adults to vote nor could people participate in decision making.
  • Nationalists, after getting freedom decided government will not do what they want but the people should get involved in decision making.
  • The dreams and aspirations of the freedom struggle were made concrete in the Constitution of independent India, laying down the principle of universal adult franchise.

3. People and their representatives:

  • The take-off point for democracy is the idea of consensus.
  • The decision of people creates a democratic government and decides about its functioning.
  • Individual gives approval to the government in many ways one of which is through elections in which people would elect their representative for the government.
  • The Parliament is made up of representatives together and controls and guides the government.
  • In this sense, people through their chosen representative, form the government and also control it.

4. The role of the Parliament:

  • Created after 1947, Indian Parliament is an expression of faith and because of it, the people of India have principle of democracy.
  • Parliament, in our system, has immense powers because it is the representative of the people.
  • Elections of parliament are held in similar manner as they are for the State legislature.
  • Lok Sabha is usually elected once every five years.
  • Each constituency elects one person to the Parliament.
  • The candidates contesting elections usually belong to different political parties.
  • Elected candidates become Member of Parliament or MPs.
  • The MP’s together make up the Parliament.
  • Parliament has following functions:

A. Select the National government:

  • Parliament consists of the President, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in India.
  • After elections, a list is prepared about how many MP’s belong to each political party.
  • For a political party to form the government, they must have majority of elected MPs.
  • There are 543 elected and 2 nominated members in Lok Sabha, to have a majority a party should have at least half the number i.e., 272 members or more.
  • The opposition is formed in Parliament by all the political parties that oppose majority party/ coalition formed. The largest among these parties is called the Opposition party.
  • One of the most important functions of the Lok Sabha is to select the executive.
  • The Prime Minister (PM) of India is the leader of the ruling party in Lok Sabha.
  • PM selects ministers to work with in order to implement decisions.
  • The ministers take charge of different areas of government functioning like health, education, finance, etc.
  • The joining together of different political parties who are interested in similar concerns forms coalition government.
  • Rajya Sabha functions primarily as the representative of the States of India in the Parliament.
  • The members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of various States.
  • There are 233 elected and 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha.

B. To control, guide and inform the government:

  • The Parliament, while in session, begins with question hour.
  • The Opposition parties play a critical role in the healthy functioning of a democracy.
  • The government gets valuable feedback and it is kept on its toes by the questions asked by the MPs.
  • The MPs are representatives of the people and have a central role in controlling, guiding and informing Parliament and this is a key aspect of the functioning of Indian democracy.

5. Lawmaking is a significant function of the Parliament.

6. The people in the Parliament:

7. Parliament now has more and more people from different backgrounds.

8. It has been observed that representative democracy cannot produce a perfect reflection of the society.

9. It is important to ensure that communities that have been historically marginalized are given adequate representation.

10. Considering this some seats are reserved in the Parliament for SCs and STs.

11. This has been done so that MPs elected from these constituencies will be familiar with and can represent Dalit andf Adivasi interests in Parliament.

12. Recently it has been suggested that there should be reservation of seats for women.

13. The fact that we can ask questions and are working towards answers is a reflection of the strength and the faith that people of India have in a democratic form of government.

Why do we Need a Parliament Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Approval: to give one’s consent to and be favourable towards something.

Coalition: A temporary alliance of groups and parties.

Unresolved: Situation in which there are no easy solutions to problem.