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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Polity

Parliamentary Devices
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Parliamentary Devices
Question Hour:
❖ The first hour of a sitting of the House is allotted for asking and answering questions.
❖ Matters in the question hour can be raised without prior notice.
Types of Questions:
❖ Starred Questions: A starred question (distinguished by an asterisk) requires an oral answer and hence
supplementary questions can follow.
❖ Unstarred Question: An unstarred question, on the other hand, requires a written answer and hence,
supplementary questions cannot follow.
❖ Short Notice Question: A short notice question is one that is asked by giving a notice of less than ten days.
It is answered orally.
Note: For asking the questions, the notice time is 10 to 21 days.
Questions to Private Members:
❖ A question can be addressed to a private member under Rule 40 of Lok Sabha’s Rules of Procedure, or under
Rule 48 of Rajya Sabha’s Rules.
❖ The Presiding officer will decide what kind of questions can be asked.
❖ The presiding officer can deny any question in the house.
Utility of Question Hour:
❖ It ensures the democratic functioning of the government.
❖ A tool to embarrass the government.
Issues With Question Hour:
❖ Most of the questions are not answered in the house.
❖ Non-serious nature of MPs (disrupting the house everytime).
❖ Scam (cash for asking and not asking the questions; example: UPA government).
Zero Hour: (During Covid, it was suspended)
❖ It begins around 12 noon, once the question hour ends.
❖ It is a non-formal device (not mentioned in the parliamentary rule book).
❖ Prior notice is required to ask questions, usually on the same day morning.
How Questions are Admitted?
❖ Basically, the MPs send these questions and the secretaries prepare the answer after which it is admitted
in the house.
❖ Questions are selected on the ballot system.
Note:
❖ Various days are allocated to various ministries.
❖ Questions having unparliamentary language are not allowed.
Motions:
❖ Closure Motion: To cut short the debate and put the matter on vote.
❖ There are four kinds of closure:
➢ Simple Closure: To close the matter and put to vote.
➢ Closure by Compartment: Under this, the matter of debate are grouped together and are closed in parts.
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➢ Kangaroo Closure: Under this type, only important clauses are taken up for debate and voting and
the intervening clauses are skipped over and taken as passed.
➢ Guillotine Closure: It is one when the undiscussed clauses of a bill or a resolution are also put to vote
along with the discussed ones due to want of time (as the time allotted for the discussion is over).
❖ Privilege Motion: For breach of privilege
❖ Motion of Thanks: In this address, the President outlines the policies and programmes of the government
in the preceding year and ensuing year. This address of the President, which corresponds to the ‘speech
from the Throne in Britain’, is discussed in both Houses of Parliament on a motion called the ‘Motion of
Thanks’.
❖ Calling Attention Motion: As the name suggests, it is for calling the attention of the government. It is
introduced by the member to call attention to the minister on an urgent matter. Like zero hour, it is an Indian
invention.
❖ No Date Yet Named: Once admitted in the house, but the date for discussion is yet to be decided.
Censure Motion:
❖ Adopted in Lok Sabha.
❖ Moved against individual ministers or the entire council of ministers.
❖ Introduced to censure the policies of the government.
❖ If it is passed in the Lok Sabha, the council need not resign, whereas, if a no-confidence motion is passed,
the government has to resign.
❖ It is passed to disapprove or criticize the government.
Other Motions:
❖ Substantive Motion: It is used for a new proposal. It is used for matters like the impeachment of the President
or removal of the Chief Election Commissioner.
❖ Subsidiary Motion: Arises out of pre-existing motion, it is moved in substitution of an original motion. The
motion supersedes the original motion if adopted by the House.
❖ Substitute Motion: It is an alternative to the original motion. It has no meaning by itself.
❖ Point of Order: An opposition MP raises this when the house is not working normally.
No Confidence Motion:
❖ No specific reason is required to pass a no-confidence motion.
❖ In case it is passed, it requires an absolute majority to prove it.
❖ Once passed, the government had to resign.
❖ It can be introduced in every session.
Adjournment Motion:
❖ For some urgent matter, a member can ask for an adjournment of the normal business of the house.
❖ It is introduced in the Parliament to draw the attention of the House to a definite matter of urgent public
importance.
❖ It is usually discussed at 4 pm and requires the support of 50 members to be introduced.
❖ It is also called an extraordinary device.
❖ The discussion on an adjournment motion should last for not less than two hours and thirty minutes.
Dilatory Motion:
❖ It is proposed to delay/postpone/adjourn the existing debate/motion/resolution to delay the progress of a
business.
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