The Indian parliament is a constitutional democracy made up of two houses and a president.
Lok Sabha (Lower House): Parliament in India
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of People is representative of the people who are chosen through direct election. These people are chosen on the basis of adult suffrage. The structure consists of a maximum of 552 members. 530 are chosen to represent the states, 20 are chosen to represent the union territories and no more than 2 are chosen to represent the Anglo- Indian community, although this is only if the president feels that the representation of this community is inadequate.
To become a member of the Lok Sabha you must be over the age of 25 years. The term for these representatives is 5 years although this time may be extended if the Proclamation of Emergency is in process.
The Indian political structure consists of a political party known as a national party or a state party (just like in Australia, we have a federal government and a state government). Throughout India there are many national parties that are recognised. These include:
Indian National Congress
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Communist Party of India (CPI)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Bahujan Samaj Party
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/intro/introls.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/11372/data/POLITICS.HTM
Imagining India 2010 Welcome Tradition and Modernity students. The aim of the blog is simply to promote and facilitate on line discussion between students, and the posting of other items of interest that contribute to our exploration of South Asian traditions and modernities
Is the poltical system in India stable and is there one party that tends to dominate or is power shared amongst the parties? It seems that it is based on the UK system as in Australia which would mean two major parties control power.
ReplyDeleteyour absolutely right given India was a British colony and therefore much of the adminstratative and political infrastructure, and the all emcompassing Weberian bureaucracy was transplanted.
ReplyDeleteStability on the other hand is always a factor brought up by westerners about asia. Partha Chatterjee (one of our readings) argues that this perception is a result of an unequal binary opposition between the so called `liberal west' and therefore the `illiberal east'