Plus one Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 4 The Executive

Kerala Plus one Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 4 The Executive

The Executive Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What is Executive?
Answer:
The different departments of the government like law-making, administration and dispensing justice are vested, through decentralization in the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary respectively. It is the Executive that manages the day-to-day affairs of the nation as per the Constitution and the Laws. It is the Executive that carries out the laws passed by the Legislature.

Question 2.
What are the different types of Executives?
Answer:

• Nominal Executive and Real Executive
• Single Executive and Plural Executive
• Parliamentary System and Presidential System
• Political and Permanent Executives
• Hereditary, Elected and Nominated Executives.

Question 3.
According to the Indian Constitution, the President has got a lot of powers. Explain.
Answer:
The Powers of the President are divided into many categories.
a) Executive Powers: As the Head of the Nation, he appoints all the persons holding important posts. The PM, Union Ministers, Governors, Finance Commission, Union Public Service Commission, Election Commission, etc are appointed by him. He also appoints Diplomats, Comptroller, and the Auditor General. He also dismisses them when necessary.

b) Legislative Rights: The President is also part of the Legislature. He has the authority to summon the Parliament, to abrogate it, to address it and to dismiss the LokSabha (85* Article). He nominates Members to the Parliament, issues Ordinances. His prior permission is needed to introduce Bills regarding special subjects like formation of new States and Money Bills. The most important thing is that for any Bill to become Law, his signature is necessary.

c) Judicial Powers: According to Article 72, the President has the power to stop, reduce and even cancel sentences, including death sentence, given by courts, including military courts. He has the power to appoint Supreme Court and High Court judges.

d) Military Powers: The President is the Commander-in-Chief. The authority to appoint Heads of our Armed Forces is vested on him. All his powers as the Commander-in-Chief will be subject to the Laws passed by the Parliament.

e) Emergency Powers: He has Emergency Powers to overcome any Emergency. The Constitution has envisaged three kinds of Emergencies.

i) National Emergency (352): He can declare emergency if there is a war, foreign attack or armed revolution threatening the security of the country or any of its parts. Such emergency needs the ratification of the Parliament in a month and if it is to continue during every six months. When an emergency is in force, the Central Government will have complete control over the State Legislatures and Executives. Moreover, the fundamental rights of the citizens except those in articles 21 and 22 will be suspended. Three times such emergencies were declared (1962, 1971 and 1975).

ii) State Emergencies or President’s Rule (356): This means the President has the power to assume the administration of any State if he feels that the conditions there have become so bad that the State government can’t rule there as per the provision of the Constitution. For that, one of the following conditions must exist: As per article 356, the President gets a report from the State Governor or the State Government fails to carry out the instructions of the Central Government. The Ordinance imposing President’s Rule in any State must be approved by the Parliament in two months’ time. By getting approval from the Parliament after six months, the President’s rule can be extended up to a year.

iii) Economic Emergency: If the President feels that the economic stability of the country is threatened, he can declare an economic emergency. When such an emergency is in place, the entire economic matters will be under the Central Government’s control. Such an emergency has not been declared so far.

Question 4.

Answer:

Question 5.
What is meant by the Discretionary Powers of the President?
Answer:
Discretionary Powers:

• The power to send back suggestions to the Cabinet for reconsideration.
• President’s Veto power: Except the Finance Bill, the President can suspend of deny the Bills passed by the Parliament.
• In the circumstances when no Party has a clear majority, the President, using his Discretionary Powers, can invite the leader of any party to form the government.

Question 6.
Exhibit in a table the major differences between Parliamentary and Presidential forms of government
Answer:

Question 7.
“President is only a rubber stamp.” Do you agree with this opinion? Why?
Answer:
I do not fully agree with this opinion. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. All the decisions taken by the Cabinet are carried out in the name of the President.
The President has Discretionary Powers. The Discretionary Powers are:

• To send back suggestions to the Cabinet for reconsideration,
• President’s Veto power: Except the Finance Bill, the President can suspend of deny the Bills passed by the Parliament,
• In the circumstances when no Party has a clear majority, the President, using his Discretionary Powers, can invite the leader of any party to form the government.

Question 8.
Who were the first President and Vice President of India?
Answer:
Dr. Rajendra Prasad (President) & Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (Vice President).

Question 9.
Find the odd one out:
Answer:

• American President
• Indian President
• Swiss President
• British Queen

Question 10.
Pick out the one related to bureaucracy:
a) Nominal Executive
b) Permanent Executive
c) Political Executive
d) Multi-Member Executive
Answer:
Permanent Executive

Question 11.
Categorize the following into those related to the President & Vice president.
Answer:
a) Fixed period
b) Ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
c) Elected by an Electoral College
d) Will continue in office till the successor joins the post.
e) Calls meetings of Jpoth Houses of the Parliament
f) Takes oath before the Chief Justice of India
g) Appoints the Prime Minister
h) Chosen by the MPs
i) Should be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha
Answer:
President:

• Fixed period
• Elected by an Electoral College
• Calls meetings of both Houses of the Parliament
• Takes oath before the Chief Justice of India
• Appoints the Prime Minister
• Should be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha

Vice President:

• Ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
• Will continue in office till the successor joins the post.
• Chosen by the MP’s

Question 12.
Match the following:

Answer:

Question 13.
The success of a government largely depends on the efficiency of the bureaucracy. Critically examine this statement.
Answer:
The success of a government depends on the efficiency of its bureaucracy. The Civil Service has many duties to perform
Civil Service Functions:
These can be divided into 4:
a) In the matters of administration, Civil Services have a responsibility to the people. Ruling does not happen in a vacuum. Government officers have a responsibility to the Legislature and the public. In fact, government officials are the servants of the public.
b) Civil Service makes its own policy for smooth working. In fact, policy formation takes place in the Cabinet. It will have the approval of the Assembly. But the details regarding their practical implementation are left in the hands of the Civil Service.
c) Theoretically, the power of delegated legislation given to the Executive comes to the Civil Service. Thus Civil Service gives flesh and blood to the laws passed by the Legislature. The Ministers and members of the legislature may not be experts in the laws. Therefore the Civil Service gives expert advice at every stage of lawmaking.
d) Civil Service has the entire responsibility of carrying out the laws. Once a policy is formed and the Legislature makes a Law and it is approved by the Executive, the Civil Service has the duty to carry it out in actual practice.

Question 14.
Complete the following chart on the basis of the classification of Indian Civil Service.

Answer:

Question 15.
Point out the importance and role of Bureaucracy.
Answer:
See the answer to Question Number 13.

Question 16.
Who were the members of the Central Ministry in the last Administration?
Answer:
A.K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi, E. Ahmed, JK.C. Venugopal, K.V. Thomas, and Mullappally Ramachandran.

Question 17.
Explain the functions and powers of the Vice President.
Answer:
Apart from a President, India has a Vice President. He is chosen by the elected members of both Houses of the Parliament. His qualifications and duration of office are like that of the President. If the President’s post falls vacant somehow until it is filled the Vice President carries out the functions of the President. But this can’t last for more than six months. If the President can’t carry out his responsibility because of illness, ill-health or absence, the Vice President carries out the responsibility of the President. Moreover the Vice President is the Chairman of the RajyaSabha.

Question 18.
Nation’s Important Person – the real executive – foundation of the cabinet arch – political executive – incomparable-forms the future of the nation. On the basis of the above indicators, examine the powers and roles of the Prime Minister. Also, evaluate his role in the country.
Answer:
Responsibilities of the Cabinet The Responsibilities of the Cabinet can be grouped into 5: Policy formation, full control over the executive bureaucracy, ensuring cooperation among the departments and deciding their limits, economic control and control in appointments.

The Cabinet decides the common administrative policy of the Indian Union. It discusses all national and international problems and takes decisions on them. Ministers give leadership to the working of different departments. When they carry out their responsibilities, they ensure that they follow the instructions of the cabinet. The Cabinet controls the working of the executive bureaucracy. It is the cabinet that brings unity among the departments and solves any conflict that might arise among them. The Cabinet also decides how much money is to be spent by the Nation and how to find that money through revenue collection. The Cabinet prepares and budget and presents it for the Parliament’s approval. Cabinet decides what the new projects are to be undertaken and what new taxes are to be levied. It is true that the Parliamentary approval is necessary for all this.

Cabinet makes the most important appointments of the Indian Union. It also decides how many times Parliament Meetings have to be called and what should their agenda! be. It takes the initiative in law-making. It presents Bills in both Houses of the Parliament and gets them passed. Without the support of the Cabinet, the Bills presented by private members will be rejected. Thus Cabinet has a big role to play in Parliamentary Democracy.

Prime Minister:
In the Cabinet administrative system, the PM has a big role. The Indian PM has the same status as the British PM. The PM is the first among equals. In Latin, they say ‘primus inter pares’. But the other Ministers are not his subordinates. According to Sir Ivor Jennings, the PM is like the solar system where all the other planets go round the sun. Morley says the PM is the foundation of the Cabinet Arch. Prof. Lasky says that the PM holds the arch up or makes it fall. The PM has many responsibilities. His area of jurisdiction is also great. Constitutionally, the President appoints the PM.. But the President has no choice here. It is simply a mechanical act. The President is obliged to appoint the leader of the Party which has the majority or highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. But if no party has a clear majority, the President may invite the leader of any Party whom he thinks can form the Cabinet. The President appoints other Ministers on the recommendations of the PM.

Although the PM is free in the appointment of the Cabinet, he will have to take into consideration many things. He will have to give deserving representation to various States, religious communities, minorities, economic interests, political groups and so on. But he has also to consider competence and consensus. The PM can demand the resignation of any Minister at any time. If a Minister refuses to resign, the PM can ask the President to remove him. The precedent is that if a Minister does not agree with any Policy matter, he should resign. People like Shanmukham Shetty, Dr. John Mathai, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee and V.V. Giri, etc. had resigned their posts as ministers.

The PM can shuffle the departments of the Ministers. When a PM resigns, the entire Cabinet resigns with him. Differences among the ministers and departments are solved by the PM. He supervises all departments. He decides the agenda of the Cabinet. He presides over Cabinet meetings. He is the link between the President and the Cabinet. It is through the PM the President gets to know what the government is doing. The secretariat of the PM helps him in doing his work.

The PM has four different positions. He is the leader of his party in the Parliament. By that, he controls the members of his party. Secondly, he is the leader of the Lok Sabha. It is he who represents the Lok Sabha and talks for it. Thirdly, he is the head of the cabinet. That way he is the person with the highest powers in the country. Fourthly he is the link between the President and the Cabinet. He has responsibility towards his party, Parliament and the Nation. He coordinates the work of different departments. In fact, a national election is the election of a PM. As the leader of the nation, the PM is looked upon with respect. Sir Ivor Jennings feels that the status of the PM depends on the person who occupies the position, his competence and his efforts and the leverage the other Ministers allow him. Charismatic leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru might overshadow other Ministers. If the PM is not competent enough, the Cabinet will be under the control of his colleagues and the Party.

Question 19.
Distinguish between single-member and multi-member executive. Give an example for each.
Answer:
Depending on the number of people at the head of the administration of the nation, an Executive can be of two kinds – single-member and multi-member executive.
When the executive administration is vested in one person, it is a single-member executive. E.g. America. When the executive administration is vested in more than one person equally, it is a multi-member executive.
E.g. Switzerland.

Question 20.
Who is the Head of the Indian Republic?
Answer:
President

Question 21.
The right of the President to send back bills to the Parliament for reconsideration is known as ………..
Answer:
Veto

Question 22.
By which article of the Constitution is the post of the Vice-President established?
Answer:
a) 62nd
b) 63rd
c) 64th
d) 65th
Answer:
63rd

Question 23.
Who was the first Speaker in India?
Answer:
GV. Mavlankar

Question 24.
The …………. consists of the Governor, Chief Minister, and Ministers.
Answer:
State Executive

Plus One Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers