The powers and functions of the Indian Parliament are wide-ranging. In this context answer the following:
Explain three ways in which the Legislature exercises control over the Executive.
Topic: Legislative control over the Executive
Answer
(1) INTERPELLATION — through the Question Hour, Calling Attention Notices and Half-an-Hour discussions, members obtain information about the government’s policies and expose its failures. Ministers are bound to answer. (2) MOTIONS — an Adjournment Motion sets aside normal business to discuss an urgent matter and censures the government; a Censure Motion criticises a policy or a minister; and a NO CONFIDENCE MOTION passed in the Lok Sabha compels the entire Council of Ministers to resign. (3) FINANCIAL CONTROL — the executive can neither levy a tax nor spend a rupee without the approval of Parliament, which passes the Budget and may reject or reduce any demand for a grant (the Cut Motion).
One mark per method. Cover three DIFFERENT kinds — questions, motions, and money — rather than three varieties of motion. The No Confidence Motion is the ultimate sanction and must appear somewhere, since it is what gives all the other devices their force. State the principle once: COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY — the ministry governs only while it holds the confidence of the Lok Sabha.