The Parliament of India (Hindi: भारत संसद) is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President of India and the two Houses, Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States). The President has the power to summon and prorogue either House of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha.[9]
The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house called as Council of States or Rajya Sabha, and a lower house called as House of People or Lok Sabha. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Sansad Bhavan (located on the Sansad Marg), in New Delhi. The Members of either house are commonly referred to as Members of Parliament or MP. The MPs of Lok Sabha are elected by direct election and the MPs of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the State Legislative Assemblies and Union territories of Delhi and Pondicherry only in accordance with proportional voting. The Parliament is composed of 790 MPs, who serve the largest democratic electorate in the world (714 million eligible voters in 2009).[10][11
The parliament house originally known as 'Council Hous ', was planned at the introductory stage to be a part of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. But in 1919 according to the Montague-Chelmsford reforms, it was announced to be designed as the Indian parliament. Various designs of the building were planned from a triangular to a Roman colosseum like structure and which paved way for its present circular designed colonnaded verandah, with 144 pillars and 560 feet diameter. The foundation stone of the council House was laid on February 12, 1921 by the Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. The building in pale and red Dholpur sandstone, used the same theme as neighbouring Secretariat Building. The building spread over nearly six acres was inaugurated on January 18, 1927 by then Governor-General of India, Lord Irwin. It is now commonly known as Sansad Bhavan[12]
May 13, 1952, the first day of the first session of the first Parliament of India. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha met at quarter to eleven in the morning. Both the Houses observed silence for two minutes before beginning the proceedings. In the Lok Sabha, G V Mavalankar was named the interim Speaker and President Rajendra Prasad advised all the newly-elected members to take the oath or make the affirmation before him. Before beginning the process, Mavalankar made a disclaimer that all the names would be pronounced correctly, as far as possible. “...still if there be any mistake, I trust the honourable members concerned will generally excuse the same.”
Not all the members could take the oath the first day. The House reconvened after a gap of a day on May 15. After the remaining members took the oath, the proceedings for electing the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were set in motion.
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha proposing Mavalankar’s name for the Speaker’s post.
Mavalankar was declared the Speaker after a voice vote. The defeated candidate, however, got up to register his regret over the move. After congratulating Mavalankar, he reminded the House of the conventions followed by the British House of Commons, from which the Indian Parliament had drawn many practices
Women were in a clear minority in the House. There were around 20 women in both the Houses put together. The Lok Sabha had less than 10 women. Prominent among them were Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sucheta Kriplani, Uma Nehru and Ammu Swaminathan and G Durgabai. The maximum number of women, four, were from Madras.
Between the first day and the last day of the first Parliament, the Lok Sabha held 14 sessions and the Rajya Sabha 15 sessions. During this period, Parliament accomplished many a goal, the foremost among them being the passage of a number of Acts necessary to kick-start diverse functions in the new democracy. The first Parliament passed 322 Acts for sectors as diverse as banking, currency, insurance, commerce and industry, defence, education, fiscal and finance, health, legal and several others. It also passed six Constitutional Amendments in the first year before its termination on December 22, 1956.
A majority of the members of the first Lok Sabha were graduates. A large number, at least 75, were law graduates with a significant number among them being post graduates in law. At least 35 members held masters in arts or science. More than 15 were educated abroad. Some prominent names among them were B R Ambedkar (Columbia University, the US and the London School of Economics), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Harrow School, Trinity College, Cambridge), Major General Himatsinhji (Malvern College, Oxford), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Middle Temple, England), Hriday Nath Kunzru (London School of Economics), H G Mudgal (New York College).
The work of determining Hindi equivalents for parliamentary, legal, and administrative terms was initiated by the Constituent Assembly and after its dissolution, the work was handed over to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Two committees, with MPs conversant in Sanskrit, Hindi and other languages, completed the task of fixing Hindi equivalents of 26,000 such terms in five years over 108 meetings.
The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house called as Council of States or Rajya Sabha, and a lower house called as House of People or Lok Sabha. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Sansad Bhavan (located on the Sansad Marg), in New Delhi. The Members of either house are commonly referred to as Members of Parliament or MP. The MPs of Lok Sabha are elected by direct election and the MPs of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the State Legislative Assemblies and Union territories of Delhi and Pondicherry only in accordance with proportional voting. The Parliament is composed of 790 MPs, who serve the largest democratic electorate in the world (714 million eligible voters in 2009).[10][11
The parliament house originally known as 'Council Hous ', was planned at the introductory stage to be a part of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. But in 1919 according to the Montague-Chelmsford reforms, it was announced to be designed as the Indian parliament. Various designs of the building were planned from a triangular to a Roman colosseum like structure and which paved way for its present circular designed colonnaded verandah, with 144 pillars and 560 feet diameter. The foundation stone of the council House was laid on February 12, 1921 by the Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. The building in pale and red Dholpur sandstone, used the same theme as neighbouring Secretariat Building. The building spread over nearly six acres was inaugurated on January 18, 1927 by then Governor-General of India, Lord Irwin. It is now commonly known as Sansad Bhavan[12]
May 13, 1952, the first day of the first session of the first Parliament of India. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha met at quarter to eleven in the morning. Both the Houses observed silence for two minutes before beginning the proceedings. In the Lok Sabha, G V Mavalankar was named the interim Speaker and President Rajendra Prasad advised all the newly-elected members to take the oath or make the affirmation before him. Before beginning the process, Mavalankar made a disclaimer that all the names would be pronounced correctly, as far as possible. “...still if there be any mistake, I trust the honourable members concerned will generally excuse the same.”
Not all the members could take the oath the first day. The House reconvened after a gap of a day on May 15. After the remaining members took the oath, the proceedings for electing the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were set in motion.
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha proposing Mavalankar’s name for the Speaker’s post.
Mavalankar was declared the Speaker after a voice vote. The defeated candidate, however, got up to register his regret over the move. After congratulating Mavalankar, he reminded the House of the conventions followed by the British House of Commons, from which the Indian Parliament had drawn many practices
Women were in a clear minority in the House. There were around 20 women in both the Houses put together. The Lok Sabha had less than 10 women. Prominent among them were Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sucheta Kriplani, Uma Nehru and Ammu Swaminathan and G Durgabai. The maximum number of women, four, were from Madras.
Between the first day and the last day of the first Parliament, the Lok Sabha held 14 sessions and the Rajya Sabha 15 sessions. During this period, Parliament accomplished many a goal, the foremost among them being the passage of a number of Acts necessary to kick-start diverse functions in the new democracy. The first Parliament passed 322 Acts for sectors as diverse as banking, currency, insurance, commerce and industry, defence, education, fiscal and finance, health, legal and several others. It also passed six Constitutional Amendments in the first year before its termination on December 22, 1956.
A majority of the members of the first Lok Sabha were graduates. A large number, at least 75, were law graduates with a significant number among them being post graduates in law. At least 35 members held masters in arts or science. More than 15 were educated abroad. Some prominent names among them were B R Ambedkar (Columbia University, the US and the London School of Economics), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Harrow School, Trinity College, Cambridge), Major General Himatsinhji (Malvern College, Oxford), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Middle Temple, England), Hriday Nath Kunzru (London School of Economics), H G Mudgal (New York College).
The work of determining Hindi equivalents for parliamentary, legal, and administrative terms was initiated by the Constituent Assembly and after its dissolution, the work was handed over to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Two committees, with MPs conversant in Sanskrit, Hindi and other languages, completed the task of fixing Hindi equivalents of 26,000 such terms in five years over 108 meetings.
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