HOW STATE GOVT. WORKS

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Why do we have State government?

India is a huge country with 28 states and 7 union territories. Distribution of power between the Centre and states has been provided for in the Constitution of India for the smooth functioning of the country.

The state government is responsible for good governance of the people of the state. The state government manages the affairs of the state at three levels – Legislative, Executive and Administrative.

Number of states : 28Number of UT : 7

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The State Legislature consists of the Governor and one or two houses. In states where there are two houses there is a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly .

States having one house is known as unicameral

States having two house is known as bicameral

• The Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), is the Upper House.• Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) is the Lower House of the State Legislature.

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Powers and Functions of Legislative Assembly It acts as the highest law making organ of the state.

1. A proposal to pass a law or to amend an existing one is called a bill. Bill is introduced in legislative assembly.

2. These proposals are debated or discussed among the members of the assembly before voting.

3. Once the bill is approved with majority vote it is sent to the other house where it goes through same procedure.

4. Thereafter the bill goes to the Governor for his approval. Once approved the bill becomes a law.

The budget and all money bills can only be introduced in the legislative assembly while other bills may be introduced in the legislative council.

What is a Budget ?• Budget is like a future account of the government. It gives the proposals of income and expenditure of the government.

• The budget is presented by the Finance Minister.

What comprises the Executive• The Executive comprises of council of ministers and Chief

minister.• The members of the assembly control the Executive.

Powers and Functions of Legislative Council

The legislative council is mainly an advisory body.

• The members of the legislative council are not directly elected by the people of the state but by different bodies of the state.

• This is a permanent Body.

• The members are elected for a term of six years.

The states having two houses are called bicameral. Bicameral states are Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Eligibility:1. He/she has to be a

citizen of India.2. He/she should not

be a member of either house of parliament or state legislature.

3. He/she cannot hold any office of profit.

The Governor

The Governor is the constitutional head of the state.- He is appointed by the President of the Country.- He appoints the Chief Minister and other members of the council of ministers.- He appoints the advocate general and other officers of the state.- Every bill has to be approved by the Governor.- He has the right to dissolve the legislature.

The State Legislative Assembly

consists of not more than 500 members and

not less than 60.

What is a Constituency?

Every state is divided into small areas called constituencies’ which is a specified area covering one or more districts. Each such constituencies’ has an elected representative, who is a member of the Legislative Assembly.

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Odisha:

The biggest state like Uttar Pradesh has 403 members in its Assembly. States which have small population and are small in size have a provision for having even lesser number of members in the Legislative Assembly. Puducherry has 30 members. Mizoram, Goa have only 40 members each. Sikkim has 32 members.

Odisha has 147 constituencies’

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Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)Every 5 years election is announced for State’Legislative Assembly. Political parties nominate their people for each constituency. All members of the Legislative Assembly are elected on the basis of adult franchise, and one member is elected from one constituency.

A Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the Legislature of a State in the Indian system of government.

MLATo be member of the Legislative Assembly, a person must be a citizen of India, must be at least 25 years of age, and must have such other qualification as may be prescribed by the President.

How is government formed in State

After the election of Legislative Assembly, the political party whose MLAs won more than half the number of constituencies in a state is said to be in a majority and has the first right to form the Government of the state.

Coalition government: When no single party have a clear majority, different parties may join together to form a coalition government.

The leader of the majority party is appointed as the chief minister by the governor.

Eligibility for Chief Minister : Citizen of India., 25 years of age. Should be a member of either house of State Legislature.

Power & functions of Chief Minister

1. The Chief Minister is the leader of the Legislative Assembly of the State.

2. He selects the ministers in the Council of Ministers. As the head of the council, he allocates the portfolios or departments to them.

3. The CM is the main link between the Governor and the state cabinet. Generally the Governor exercises all his functions on the advice of the Chief Minister.

4. It is his duty to communicate to the Governor all decisions of the Council of Ministers.

5. As the chief spokesman of the State Government, all important announcements on behalf of government is made by him.CM

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Power & functions of Chief Minister6. The policies and workings of the different ministries are monitored and co-ordinate by him. He summons and presides over the meetings of the Council of Ministers.

7. The Governor appoints or dismisses other ministers on his advice. The Chief Minister allocates or re-allocates the portfolios among the ministers.

8. Sole channel of communication between his ministers & Legislature. (bills, resolution, etc., moved in Legislature must have his approval).

9. He remains responsible to the Legislative Assembly for the acts performed by the State Council of Ministers.

10. If the Chief Minister resigns, the entire Council of Ministers is bound to resign.CM

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Role of MediaMedia works as a link between the government and the electorate in which it conveys to the masses about the work of the government. Media includes newspaper, television broadcast, radio broadcast, etc. Since media has a far and wide reach, it acts as a medium to portray the various policies and performance of the government to the people.

Ministers and representatives hold press conference or make press release to connect with the people they represent. Information of new policies made by the government are circulated through various media channels to reach people wide and far.

Similarly opposition parties reach out to the people in different forms to convey their views on policies and performance of the ruling party. They do this through press conference, media debates, etc. Other forms of opposition are public rallies, public debates, protest marches, etc.

Press Conference:

It is a conference where media representatives are invited and given details of actions, policies and

views of the government on any specific aspect. The media persons are

allowed to interact, question on the issue and report it in media for the

information of the public.

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AdditionalInformation

The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). Each represents a single geographic constituency. There are currently 543 constituencies.

Each state has between seven and nine MLA for every Member of Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok Sabha.

Odisha state has 21 Member of Parliament (MP) seats.

Q & A

Q1 : What is a coalition government ?- In the assembly election, if no single party gets a clear majority, then two or more parties join together to form the government. Such a government is called a coalition government.Q2 : What is collective responsibility?- The council of ministers are individually and collectively responsible to the assembly. If a particular minister loses the confidence of the assembly, all the ministers have to resign.

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