The Parliament controls the Executive. Mention any four ways in which it exercises its control.

(1) INTERPELLATION — the Question Hour, Calling Attention Notices and Half-an-Hour discussions, by which members obtain information about the government’s policies and expose its failures. Ministers are bound to answer. (2) VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE — if the Lok Sabha passes such a motion, the entire Council of Ministers must resign; this is the ultimate control. (3) ADJOURNMENT MOTION — normal business is set aside to discuss a matter of urgent public importance, which amounts to a censure of the government’s acts of omission or commission. (4) FINANCIAL CONTROL — the executive can neither levy a tax nor spend money without the approval of Parliament, which passes the Budget and may reject or reduce demands for grants; Constitutional Amendment Bills likewise need the assent of both Houses.

Four marks, four distinct devices. Name each device in capitals and then explain it in a sentence — the structure makes it impossible to repeat yourself. The No Confidence Motion is the most important and must appear somewhere, since it is the sanction that gives all the others their force. The principle to state in one line is COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY: the ministry governs only while it holds the confidence of the Lok Sabha.