Working of Institutions

Working of Institutions

Multiple Choice

The cabinet secretariat is a 

• team of cabinet secretaries
• team of senior civil servants who try to coordinate the work of different ministers

Multiple Choice

The permanent executive is less powerful than the political executive 

• False
• True

Multiple Choice

The government is also referred to as the 

• Prime Minister
• Executive

Multiple Choice

The Rajya Sabha can delay the money bill by ________ days or suggest changes in it.

• 30
• 14

Multiple Choice

A national assembly of elected representatives is called the

• Legislature
• Executive

Multiple Choice

The outcome of the Indira Sawhney and others Vs the Government of India case was the

• withdrawal of the Mandal Commission
• Supreme Court's support given to the Mandal Commission.

Multiple Choice

The institution that implements decisions and policies of the land is the 

• Legislature
• Executive

Multiple Choice

The Prime Minister who implemented the Mandal Commission was

• Mr. V. P Singh
• Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao

Multiple Choice

The Mandal Commission was appointed to identify the 

• scheduled castes and tribes
• other backward classes

Multiple Choice

The President of India is the

• head of the state

• head of the government

Powers of the Prime Minister

Prime Minister has wide ranging powers. He chairs Cabinet meetings. He coordinates the work of different Departments. His decisions are final in case disagreements arise between Departments. He exercises general supervision of different ministries. All ministers work under his leadership. The Prime Minister distributes and redistributes work to the ministers. He also has the power to dismiss ministers. When the Prime Minister quits, the entire ministry quits.

Thus, if the Cabinet is the most powerful institution in India, within the Cabinet it is the Prime Minister who is the most powerful. The powers of the Prime Minister in all parliamentary democracies of the world have increased so much in recent decades that parliamentary democracies are some times seen as Prime Ministerial form of government

Open Ended

This cartoon depicts a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in early 1970s, at the peak of her popularity. Do you think similar cartoons could be drawn about other prime ministers?

Multiple Choice

A parliamentary form of government is also known as a cabinet form of government because

• the cabinet takes all the major decisions.
• the PM has no real power while the cabinet has been given authority by the people to take decisions.

Prime Minister of Coalition Government

However, in recent years the rise of coalition politics has imposed certain constra Minister of a coalition government cannot take decisions as he likes. He has to accommodate different groups and factions in his party as well as among alliance partners. He also has to heed to the views and positions of the coalition partners and other parties, on whose support the survival of the government depends.