Parliament MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Parliament - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is Option 4: Committees to Scrutinise and Control - Committee on Absence of Members from Sittings of the House.

Key Points

• The Committee on Absence of Members from Sittings of the House does not fall under the "Committees to Scrutinise and Control" category. Instead, it is categorized as a "Housekeeping Committee."
• "Committees to Scrutinise and Control" include committees like the Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, and Committee on Public Undertakings, which focus on ensuring financial accountability and oversight.
• The Committee on Absence of Members primarily deals with granting leave of absence to members and does not have a scrutinizing or controlling mandate.
• The classification of parliamentary committees in India is based on their functions, such as financial control, inquiry, or day-to-day business management.
• Incorrect categorization of committees undermines their purpose, which is to ensure smooth legislative functioning and accountability in parliamentary proceedings.

Additional Information

• Categories of Standing Committees:
  • Financial Committees: Includes the Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, and Committee on Public Undertakings.
  • Committees to Inquire: Includes the Ethics Committee and Committee on Privileges.
  • Committees Relating to Day-to-Day Business: Includes the Business Advisory Committee, Rules Committee, and Committee on Absence of Members from Sittings of the House.
  • Committees to Scrutinise and Control: Includes committees like Public Accounts and Estimates Committees.
• Sixth Schedule:
  • Applies to the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
  • Empowers district and regional councils to make laws, but these require the Governor's assent.
• Role of the Governor:
  • The Governor has the authority to reorganize autonomous districts and regions in tribal areas under the Sixth Schedule.
  • The Governor plays a supervisory role to ensure that tribal governance aligns with constitutional provisions.
• Comparison with Fifth Schedule:
  • The Fifth Schedule deals with scheduled areas and tribes outside the northeastern states and does not include district councils.
  • It focuses on the administration and welfare of scheduled tribes through Tribes Advisory Councils.

The correct answer is 4. The statement about the arrest of members during the session is incorrect. Members of Parliament cannot be arrested during the session and for 40 days before or after the session, but this privilege is available only in civil cases and not in criminal or preventive detention cases.

The correct answer is The Council of Ministers.

Key Points

• A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion that is moved in the Lok Sabha against the entire council of ministers, stating that they are no longer deemed fit to hold positions of responsibility due to their inadequacy in some respect or their failure to carry out their obligations.
• No prior reason needs to be stated for its adoption in the Lok Sabha.
• A motion of “No Confidence Motion” against the Government can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha under rule 198.

Additional Information

• Procedure to move a “No Confidence Motion”:
  1. A motion of No Confidence can be admitted when a minimum of 50 members, support the motion in the house.
  2. The Speaker then, once satisfied that the motion is in order, will ask the House if the motion can be adopted.
  3. If the motion is passed in the house, the Government is bound to vacate the office.
  4. A no-confidence motion needs a majority vote to pass the House.

The correct answer is Option 4 i.e Question Hour,

• The first hour(11 am to 12 noon) of the Lok Sabha is known as the Question Hour.
• It is an important session that is devoted to questions that Members of Parliament raise on every aspect of administration, working strategies including policies.
• The concerned Minister is obliged to answer those questions, either orally or in writing, depending on the type of question, and to plan the policies effectively in the future.

Question Hour

• The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for this. During this time, the members ask questions and the ministers usually give answers.
• The questions are of three kinds, namely, starred, unstarred and short notice.
  • A starred question (distinguished by an asterisk) requires an oral answer and hence supplementary questions can follow.
  • An unstarred question, on the other hand, requires a written answer and hence, supplementary questions cannot follow.
  • A short notice question is one that is asked by giving a notice of fewer than ten days. It is answered orally.
• In addition to the ministers, the questions can also be asked to the private members.

Key Points

Note: Zero Hour refers to the time immediately following the question hour. It begins around 12 noon which is why it is called Zero Hour. It is considered as an Informal procedure to raise issues of importance during its time period.

• Zero Hour 
  • ​Unlike the question hour, the zero-hours is not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure.
  • Thus it is an informal device available to the members of the Parliament to raise matters without any prior notice.
  • The zero hour starts immediately after the question hour and lasts until the agenda for the day (i.e., regular business of the House) is taken up.
    • In other words, the time gap between the question hour and the agenda is known as zero hours.
  • It is an Indian innovation in the field of parliamentary procedures and has been in existence since 1962.

Mistake Points

• The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for Question Hour.
• During this time, the members ask questions and the ministers usually give answers

The correct answer is a resolution of the Lok Sabha passed by a majority of all the then members of the Lok Sabha.

Key Points

• Parliament consists of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and President.
• Lok Sabha has a preceding officer called the Speaker who controls the proceeding of the house.
• Lok Sabha also has a Deputy Speaker who chairs as a preceding officer when the Speaker of the house is absent.
• To remove the Speaker and Deputy speaker a resolution of the Lok Sabha was passed by a majority of all the then members of the Lok Sabha.

Additional Information

• Rule 193 (of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha) does not involve a formal motion before the Parliament House, hence no voting can take place after the discussion on matters under this rule.
• Rule 184 allows voting but rule 193 doesn't.
• Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Parliament, while Rajya Sabha is the upper house.

The correct answer is a simple majority of its members.

• Parliament can Amend the provision on the official language of India under the Constitution by a simple majority of its members.

Key Points

• Eighth Schedule and related Constitutional Provisions​
• Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to​​ 351.
• The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are:
  • Article 344: Article 344(1) provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on the expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution.
  • Article 351: It provides for the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.
• Hence option 1 is correct.

Additional Information 22 Official Languages

• The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages:
• Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada,  Kashmiri,  Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri,  Marathi,  Nepali,  Oriya,  Punjabi,  Sanskrit,  Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili, and  Dogri.
• Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution.
  • The Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
  • Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.
  • Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.

The correct answer is Article 85.

Key Points

• Article 79 to Article 122 in Part V of the constitution deals with the procedures, and powers, of the Parliament.
• Article 85 deals with sessions of Parliament, its prorogation, and dissolution.
• Sessions of the Parliament:
  • ​Summoning: President summons both houses and usually there are three sessions in a year though not compulsory
    • Budget session: February to May
    • Monsoon session: July to September
    • Winter session: November to December
    • The maximum gap between two sessions should not be more than 6 months.
  • Adjournment: Suspends the work for a specific time in a sitting which may be for hours, days or weeks.
  • Adjournment Sine Die: Terminates the sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
  • Prorogation: President may not only terminates a session but also a session of the House. It does not affect the bills or any other business pending before the house.
  • Dissolution: Irrevocable process and only Lok Sabha is subjected to it. President decides to dissolve the house.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Leaders of Opposition in Parliament.

Key Points

• The salary and allowances of leaders of opposition in parliament are governed by the Act passed for the first time by the parliament in the year 1977.
• Leader of the Opposition:
  • In each House of Parliament, there is the 'Leader of the Opposition'.
  • The leader of the largest Opposition party having not less than one-tenth of the seats of the total strength of the House is recognized as the leader of the Opposition in that House opposition cabinet. 
  • In a parliamentary system of government, the leader of the opposition has a significant role to play.
  • His main functions are to provide constructive criticism of the policies of the government and to provide an alternative government.
  • Therefore, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were accorded statutory recognition in 1977.
  • They are also entitled to the salary, allowances, and other facilities equivalent to that of a cabinet minister. 
  • It was in 1969 that an official leader of the opposition was recognized for the first time.

Additional Information

• The same functionary in the USA is known as the 'minority leader'.
• The British political system has a unique institution called the 'Shadow Cabinet'.
• It is formed by the Opposition party to balance the ruling cabinet and to prepare its members for future ministerial offices.
• In this shadow cabinet, almost every member in the ruling cabinet is 'shadowed' by a corresponding member in the opposition cabinet.
• This shadow cabinet serves as the 'alternate cabinet' if there is a change of government.
• That is why Ivor Jennings described the leader of the Opposition as the 'alternative Prime Minister'.
• He enjoys the status of a minister and is paid by the government.

The correct answer is 75.

Key Points

• The finance bill has to be passed by the Parliament within 75 days of its introduction.
• The Finance Bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha.
  • However, the Rajya Sabha can recommend amendments to the Bill.
• It must be passed in Lok Sabha by a simple majority of all members present and voting.
• A Finance Bill is a Money Bill as defined in Article 110 of the Constitution.
• A Money Bill passed by the Lok Sabha is deemed to have been passed by the Rajya Sabha also when no action is taken by the Upper House within 14 days.

The correct answer is South Africa.

Key Points

• The provision of the election of members of Rajya Sabha in the Constitution of India was adopted from the Constitution of South Africa.
• Indian Constitution came into existence on 26th November 1949.
• The Constituent Assembly of India drafted the constitution considering features of constitutions of the other countries as well as from the Government of India Act 1935.
• There are various sources of the Indian constitution for some features of it are borrowed.​
• Constitution is drafted considering the historical perspective of Indian Nationalist struggles, the geographical diversity of India, and its traditions and characteristics which are totally different from any other nation.

Additional InformationBorrowed provisions of the constitution from different countries are given below:

The correct answer is 1968.

• The Lokpal bill was first introduced in the parliament in 1968. 
• Its version was enacted in 2013, it was from a draft prepared in 2010.
• It is for the implementation of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 
• Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose is the first Chairperson of the Lokpal.
• Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
• He was also a sitting member of the National Human Rights Commission.

The correct answer is  250.

Key Points

• The maximum permissible strength of the Rajya Sabha is 250.
• As per Article 80 of the Indian Constitution, the maximum permissible strength of the Upper House of the Parliament, i.e., Rajya Sabha is 250.
• Out of the total 250, 238 are representatives from the States and Union Territories and 12 are nominated by the President.
• Currently, the maximum strength for Rajya Sabha is 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories and the remaining 12 are nominated by the President.
• The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, i.e., whosoever holds the office of Vice-President will automatically become the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Currently, Jagdeep Dhankhar is the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

The correct answer is Lok Sabha

Key Points

• Article 75(3) of the Indian Constitution makes the council of ministers collectively responsible to the house of people or the​ Lok Sabha.
• 'Collective responsibility' means that the council of ministers is responsible for every action of the Government (Executive) as a single unit before the Lok Sabha as they act as a bridge between the Executive and the Legislature.
• In case a no-confidence motion is passed against the PM, the entire Government has to resign. 

Additional Information

• The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election.
• First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952.
• The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure ;of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957.
• First Lok Sabha period - 13 May 1952- 4 April 1957
• First  Speaker - Shri G.V. Mavalankar
• First  Deputy Speaker - Shri M.A.Ayyangar
• First  Secretary-General - Shri M. N.Kaul

The correct answer is It should state the reasons for its adoption in the Lok Sabha.

Key Points

• With reference to the no-confidence motion, the statement that It should state the reasons for its adoption in the Lok Sabha is INCORRECT.
• No confidence motion is a motion that is introduced against the ruling government in the elected house i.e Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha and not in the upper house i.e Rajya Sabha or Vidhan Parishad.
• It is a special power vested in the hand opposition.
• The vote of a no-confidence motion is brought in Lok Sabha.
• In Parliament when a no-confidence motion is passed, the Government discontinues to adore the trust and confidence of the house and is thereafter removed.
• In this procedure, no-confidence voting is done against the Government by the Lok Sabha members.
• When a no-confidence motion is passed the President dissolves the Council of Ministers.
• The no-confidence motion is not mentioned in the Indian Constitution.
• Process for No Confidence Motion:
  • A Requirement for the introduction of no Confidence motion is given to the speaker of the house which is to be supported by a minimum of 50 members.
  • The speaker will give time within the next 10 days for discussion on the motion in the house.
  • After the discussion, the voting takes place.
  • If the No-Confidence Motion is passed in the house the Council of ministers must resign as they have lost the majority in the house.
  • If the NO Confidence motion is passed, then the President is not bound by the aid and advice of the defeated council of ministers.