Chapter 3 The Union Executive Solutions

(a) President

(c) five

(b) Prime Minister

Executive

Zero hour

The functions of the Council of Ministers are as follows: 1. The Council of Ministers takes initiative in the process of Law-making by drafting the bills/proposals. 2. It introduces and discusses the bills/ proposals in the House. 3. It introduces bills on various subjects like education, agriculture, industry, health, foreign relations, etc. in the Parliament, conducts discussions on them and tries to get them approved by the Parliament. 4. It also takes the responsibility of implementing the policies approved by the Parliament.

The Parliament keeps a check on the Executive in the following ways: 1. The bills/proposals presented by the Council of Ministers are discussed in the Parliament. 2. These discussions and debates help the members to scrutinize the bills/ proposals and point out the shortcomings and help in a creation of healthy laws. 3. During Parliamentary sessions, the proceedings of the House begins with questions asked by the members of the House. The concerned Ministers are expected to give satisfactory answers to these questions. 4. During the Parliamentary sessions, the period around 12 noon is called as ‘Zero House’. During this period, any question of public importance can be raised and discussed. 5. The Parliament can pass a No-confidence motion on the Executive. If the motion is passed with majority support, then it has to resign.