UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 91 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Parliamentary System Responsibility
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectPolity
- TopicParliament
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
There is a Parliamentary System of Government in India because the
Show answer
Answer: D. Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha
Verdict
The answer is that the Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha. Collective responsibility to the popular House is what makes a system parliamentary.
Analysis
The defining feature of parliamentary government is that the executive is drawn from and answerable to the legislature, and Article 75 makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the House of the People. The direct election of the Lok Sabha is a feature of democracy generally and exists in presidential systems too. The power of Parliament to amend the Constitution concerns the amending procedure, not the executive and legislature relationship. The non dissolution of the Rajya Sabha is a feature of a permanent upper House, found in several systems regardless of type.
Source
M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, page 149.
How to crack it
Test each option by asking whether a presidential system could also have it, because anything shared by both systems cannot be what makes a system parliamentary. Direct election, constitutional amendment powers and a permanent upper House all survive that test, so all three are eliminated at once. Only responsibility of the executive to the legislature is exclusive to parliamentary government. Comparative elimination is far more reliable here than recalling definitions.