Political Science 5 Marks Question

The advice of the Council of Ministers is binding on the President in a parliamentary executive because the Council of Ministers is an elected executive that has the support of the majority in the legislature. It also emphasises the supreme authority of elected representatives in a Republic. This arrangement distinctively projects the President as a ceremonial head and limits the powers vested in him/ her to avoid conflict within the executive. Thus, the executive, legislative, judicial and emergency powers of the President are exercised only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

i.	Works within the particular State in which recruited.	b.	State Civil Services.
ii.	Works in any central government office located either at the national capital or elsewhere in the country.	d.	Central Services.
iii.	Works in a particular State to which allotted; can also be sent on deputation to the centre.	c.	All India Services.
iv.	Works in Indian missions abroad.	a.	Indian Foreign Service.

I agree with the Amit’s argument. It looks that the constitution has given vast powers to the president. It gives the impression that president is very powerful and enjoys significant position. During emergency, president can concentrate all the powers in his hands. He represents India in the international field and is the supreme commander of the armed forces. Thus by acquiring emergency powers he can become dictator. But we must remember the fact that he is just a constitutional head only. He is head of the state not the head of the government. He is bound to accept and act according to the advice of the council of ministers. He cannot act independently. He can send back the advice of the council of ministers for reconsideration once, but cannot return it second time. Thus the president of India enjoys nominal powers only and the head of government is the Prime minister. As Dr. Ambedkar said, “the president occupies the same position as the king under the British constitution. He is head of the nation, but not of represents the nation but does not rule the nation”.

Under parliamentary system of government the executive works under the control of the parliament which exercises its control through many measures like passing the budget, criticism of government, during discussion over budget bill, putting questions on working of government, making many kinds of motions like adjournment motion, censure motion, no confidence motion etc.The reasons behind putting so much control over executive are:

1. In democracy all powers belong to people. The executive exercises its powers on behalf of the people So it has been made answerable to the people through parliament which consists of peoples representatives.
2. If there is no control over the executive in the shape of budget the executive shall impose taxes upon the people arbitrarily, collect taxes in an arbitrary manner and spend the purse of the nation arbitrarily and in a reckless manner.
3. In the absence of parliamentary control the executive might act dictatorial and despotic, because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The proposal says that the administration should be elected instead of being appointed. This proposal would give rise to chaos if implemented. To handle administrative tasks, the executives should have deep knowledge of the nation, its problems, its future prospects and the various perspectives to approach them. Only a person with deep knowledge of the facts and analytical skills can make out the possible consequences of any provision, policies and programmes of the government. Thus, skilled candidates need to be selected to ensure smooth working of the administrative machinery at ground level. This can be done through various written exams that test a broad range of skills as it is not otherwise possible to judge the knowledge and eligibility of a candidate only through the process of election. More money and time would be comparatively required in election of the executives. The selection of criteria to judge the candidates would become very difficult. Electoral process is more suited for legislatures as they give representation to people in law making. The domain of execution needs expertise even though it can be monitored by elected representatives. Elected representatives may succeed in administration at smaller levels but large scale administration at the level of a country requires an appointed administration.