UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 71 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Parliamentary Form Advantage
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2017
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectPolity
- TopicParliament
- DifficultyEasy
- TypeDirect
The main advantage of the parliamentary form of government is that
Show answer
Answer: C. the executive remains responsible to the legislature.
Verdict
The answer is that the executive remains responsible to the legislature. That is the defining advantage of the parliamentary form.
Analysis
In the Westminster or responsible government model the Council of Ministers is drawn from the legislature and is collectively responsible to it, so the executive can be questioned, censured and removed between elections. The first option describes the presidential system, where executive and legislature are separate. The second describes an advantage claimed for the presidential form, since a fixed term executive offers continuity, and the fourth describes the presidential position where the head of government cannot be removed except by impeachment.
Source
M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, chapter on salient features of the Constitution.
How to crack it
Build a two column comparison of the parliamentary and presidential systems on four axes: separation or fusion of powers, responsibility, tenure security and continuity of policy. Every distractor in this question is a presidential feature offered as a parliamentary one, which is the standard construction. Note also the honest trade off worth remembering, that parliamentary government buys accountability at the cost of stability, which is why the merits and demerits question recurs.