Parliament of India
The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the President of India and the two houses: the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha; the President in his role as head of legislature has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha. The president can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the Prime Minister and his Union Council of Ministers; those elected or nominated to either house of Parliament are referred to as Members of Parliament. The Members of Parliament, Lok Sabha are directly elected by the Indian public voting in Single-member districts and the Members of Parliament, Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of all State Legislative Assembly by proportional representation; the Parliament has a sanctioned strength of 545 in Lok Sabha including the 2 nominees from the Anglo-Indian Community by the President, 245 in Rajya Sabha including the 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of science, culture and history.
The Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi. The Sansad Bhavan is located in New Delhi, it was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi by British government. The construction of buildings took six years and the opening ceremony was performed on 18 January 1927 by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Irwin; the construction costs for the building were ₹8.3 million. The parliament covers an area of 6 acres; the Central hall consists of the chambers of Rajya Sabha and the Library hall. Surrounding these three chambers is the four storied circular structure providing accommodations for members and houses Parliamentary committees and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; the centre and the focus of the building is the Central Hall. It consists of chambers of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the Library Hall and between them lie garden courts. Surrounding these three chambers is the four storyed circular structure providing accommodations for Ministers, Parliamentary committees, Party offices, important offices of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats and the offices of the ministry of Parliamentary affairs.
The Central Hall is circular in shape and the dome is 29.87 metres in diameter. It is a place of historical importance; the Indian Constitution was framed in the Central Hall. The Central Hall was used in the library of erstwhile Central Legislative Assembly and the Council of States. In 1946, it was refurbished into Constituent Assembly Hall. At present, the Central Hall is used for holding joint sittings of both the houses of parliament and used for address by the President in the commencement of first session after each general election. A new Parliament building may replace the existing complex; the new building is being considered on account of the stability concerns regarding the current complex. A committee to suggest alternatives to the current building has been set up by the Former Speaker, Meira Kumar; the present building, an 85-year-old structure suffers from inadequacy of space to house members and their staff and is thought to suffer from structural issues. The building needs to be protected because of its heritage tag.
The Indian Parliament consists of two houses called the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha with the President of India acting as their head. The President of India, the Head of state is a component of Parliament. Under Article 60 and Article 111, President's responsibility is to scrutinise that bills/laws passed by the parliament are in accordance with constitutional mandate and stipulated procedure is followed before according his/her approval to the bills; the President of India is elected by the elected members of Parliament of India and the state legislatures and serves for a term of 5 years. Lok Sabha or the lower house has 545 members. 543 members are directly elected by citizens of India on the basis of universal adult franchise representing Parliamentary constituencies across the country and 2 members are appointed by the President of India from the Anglo-Indian Community. Every citizen of India, over 18 years of age, irrespective of gender, religion or race, otherwise not disqualified, is eligible to vote for the Lok Sabha.
The Constitution provides. It has a term of five years. To be eligible for membership in the Lok Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and must be 25 years of age or older, mentally sound, should not be bankrupt and should not be criminally convicted; the total elective membership is distributed among the States in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each State and the population of the State is, so far as practicable, the same for all States. Rajya Sabha or the upper house is a permanent body not subject to dissolution. One third of the members retire every second year, are replaced by newly elected members; each member is elected for a term of six years. Its members are indirectly elected by members of legislative bodies of the states; the Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of 250 members. It has a sanctioned strength of 245 members, of which 233 are elected from States and Union Territories and 12 are nominated by the President; the number of members from a state depends on its population.
The minimum age for a person to become a member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years. The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session; the Constitution empowers the president to summon each House at such i
Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service abbreviated to I. A. S. or IAS, is the administrative arm of the All India Services. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service. Members of these three services serve the Government of India as well as the individual states. IAS officers may be deployed to various public sector undertakings; as with other countries following the Westminster parliamentary system of government, the IAS is a part of the permanent bureaucracy of the nation, is an inseparable part of the executive of the Government of India. As such, the bureaucracy remains politically neutral and guarantees administrative continuity to the ruling party or coalition. Upon confirmation of service, an IAS officer serves a probationary period as a sub-divisional magistrate. Completion of this probation is followed by an executive administrative role in a district as a district magistrate and collector which lasts several years, as long as sixteen years in some states.
After this tenure, an officer may be promoted to head a whole state division, as a divisional commissioner. On attaining the higher scales of the pay matrix, IAS officers may lead government departments or ministries. In these roles, IAS officers represent the country at the international level in bilateral and multilateral negotiations. If serving on a deputation, they may be employed in intergovernmental organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or the United Nations, or its agencies. IAS officers are involved in the conduct of elections in India as mandated by the Election Commission of India. During the occupation of India by the East India Company, the civil services were classified into three – covenanted and special civil services; the covenanted civil service, or the East India Company's Civil Service, as it was called comprised British civil servants occupying the senior posts in the government.
The uncovenanted civil service was introduced to facilitate the entry of Indians onto the lower rung of the administration. The special service comprised specialised departments, such as the Indian Forest Service, the Imperial Police and the Indian Political Service, whose ranks were drawn from either the covenanted civil service or the British Indian Army; the Imperial Police included many British Indian Army officers among its members, although after 1893 an annual exam was used to select its officers. In 1858 the HEICCS was replaced by the Indian Civil Service, which became the highest civil service in the British Raj between 1858 and 1947; the last British appointments to the ICS were made in 1942. With the passing of the Government of India Act 1919 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Indian civil services—under the general oversight of the Secretary of State for India—were split into two arms, the All India Services and the Central Services; the Indian Civil Service was one of the ten All India Services.
In 1946 at the Premier's Conference, the Central Cabinet decided to form the Indian Administrative Service, based on the Indian Civil Service. There is no alternative to this administrative system... The Union will go, you will not have a united India if you do not have good All-India Service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has sense of security that you will standby your work... If you do not adopt this course do not follow the present Constitution. Substitute something else... these people are the instrument. Remove them and I see nothing but a picture of chaos all over the country; when India was partitioned following the departure of the British in 1947, the Indian Civil Service was divided between the new dominions of India and Pakistan. The Indian remnant of the ICS was named the Indian Administrative Service, while the Pakistani remnant was named the Pakistan Administrative Service; the modern Indian Administrative Service was created under Article 312 in part XIV of the Constitution of India, the All India Services Act, 1951.
There are three modes of recruitment into the Indian Administrative Service. IAS officers may enter the IAS by passing the Civil Services Examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. Officers recruited; some IAS officers are recruited from the state civil services, and, in rare cases, selected from non-state civil service. The ratio between direct recruits and promotees is fixed at 2:1. All IAS officers, regardless of the mode of entry, are appointed by the President of India. Only about 180 candidates out of over 1 million applicants, who apply through the Civil Services Examination, are successful, a success rate of less than 0.01 per cent. As a result, the members of the service are referred as "heaven-born". Unlike candidates appointed to other civil services, a successful IAS candidate is rendered ineligible to re-enter the Civil Services Examination. From 1951 to 1979, an IAS candidate was required to submit two additional papers, as well as three optional papers to be eligible for the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service.
The two additional papers were postgraduate level submissions, compared to the graduate level of the optional papers, it was this distinction that resulted in a higher status for the IAS and IFS. The two postgraduate level submissions were removed, but this has not changed the perceived higher status of the IAS and IFS. After the selection process, the su
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world, it was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during British rule, was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950. The state is divided into 75 districts with the capital being Lucknow; the main ethnic group is the Hindavi people. On 9 November 2000, a new state, was carved out from the state's Himalayan hill region; the two major rivers of the state, the Ganga and Yamuna, join at Allahabad and flow as the Ganga further east. Hindi is the most spoken language and is the official language of the state; the state is bordered by Rajasthan to the west, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to the northwest and Nepal to the north, Bihar to the east, Madhya Pradesh to the south, touches the states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to the southeast. It covers 243,290 square kilometres, equal to 7.33% of the total area of India, is the fourth-largest Indian state by area.
The economy of Uttar Pradesh is the fourth-largest state economy in India with ₹15.79 lakh crore in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of ₹57,480. Agriculture and service industries are the largest parts of the state's economy; the service sector comprises travel and tourism, hotel industry, real estate and financial consultancies. President's rule has been imposed in Uttar Pradesh ten times since 1968, for different reasons and for a total of 1,700 days; the natives of the state are called Uttar Bhartiya, or more either Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Kannauji, or Rohilkhandi depending upon their region of origin. Hinduism is practised by more than three-fourths of the population, with Islam being the next largest religious group. Uttar Pradesh was home to powerful empires of medieval India; the state has several historical and religious tourist destinations, such as Agra, Vrindavan and Allahabad. Modern human hunter-gatherers have been in Uttar Pradesh since between around 85,000 and 72,000 years ago.
There have been prehistorical finds in Uttar Pradesh from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic dated to 21,000–31,000 years old and Mesolithic/Microlithic hunter-gatherer settlement, near Pratapgarh, from around 10550–9550 BC. Villages with domesticated cattle and goats and evidence of agriculture began as early as 6000 BC, developed between c. 4000 and 1500 BC beginning with the Indus Valley Civilisation and Harappa Culture to the Vedic period and extending into the Iron Age. The kingdom of Kosala, in the Mahajanapada era, was located within the regional boundaries of modern-day Uttar Pradesh. According to Hindu legend, the divine king Rama of the Ramayana epic reigned in Ayodhya, the capital of Kosala. Krishna, another divine king of Hindu legend, who plays a key role in the Mahabharata epic and is revered as the eighth reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, is said to have been born in the city of Mathura, in Uttar Pradesh; the aftermath of the Mahabharata yuddh is believed to have taken place in the area between the Upper Doab and Delhi, during the reign of the Pandava king Yudhishthira.
The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and Painted Gray Ware culture and the beginning of the Iron Age in northwest India, around 1000 BC. Control over Gangetic plains region was of vital importance to the power and stability of all of India's major empires, including the Maurya, Kushan and Gurjara-Pratihara empires. Following the Huns' invasions that broke the Gupta empire, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj. During the reign of Harshavardhana, the Kannauj empire reached its zenith, it spanned from Punjab in the north and Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and Odisha in the south. It included parts of central India, north of the Narmada River and it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. Many communities in various parts of India claim descent from the migrants of Kannauj. Soon after Harshavardhana's death, his empire disintegrated into many kingdoms, which were invaded and ruled by the Gurjara-Pratihara empire, which challenged Bengal's Pala Empire for control of the region.
Kannauj was several times invaded by the south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty, from the 8th century to the 10th century. After fall of Pala empire, the Chero dynasty ruled from 12th century to 18th century. Parts or all of Uttar Pradesh were ruled by the Delhi Sultanate for 320 years. Five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty, the Khalji dynasty, the Tughlaq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty, the Lodi dynasty. In the 16th century, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan from Fergana Valley, swept across the Khyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire, covering India, along with modern-day Afghanistan and Bangladesh; the Mughals were descended from Persianised Central Asian Turks. In the Mughal era, Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of the empire. Mughal emperors Humayun ruled from Delhi. In 1540 an Afghan, Sher Shah Suri, took over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after defeating the Mughal king Humanyun. Sher Shah and his son Islam Shah ruled Uttar Pradesh from their capital at Gwalior.
After the death of Islam Shah Suri, his prime minister Hemu became the de facto ruler of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, th
Yogi Adityanath
Yogi Adityanath is an Indian monk and Hindu nationalist politician, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, in office since 19 March 2017. He was appointed as the Chief Minister on 26 March 2017 after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2017 State Assembly elections, in which he was a prominent campaigner, he has been the Member of Parliament from the Gorakhpur constituency, Uttar Pradesh, for five consecutive terms since 1998. Adityanath is the Mahant or head priest of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, a position he has held since the death of his spiritual "father", Mahant Avaidyanath, in September 2014, he is the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth organization, involved in communal violence. He has an image as a right-wing populist Hindutva firebrand. Yogi Adityanath was born as Ajay Mohan Bisht in a Kshatriya family on 5 June 1972 in the village of Panchur, in Pauri Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, his father Anand. He was the second born among four brothers and three sisters.
He completed his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand. He left his home around the 1990s to join the Ayodhya Ram temple movement. Around that time, he came under the influence of Mahant Avaidyanath, the chief priest of the Gorakhnath Math and became his disciple. Subsequently, he was given the name'Yogi Adityanath' and designated as the successor of the Mahant Avaidyanath. While based in Gorakhpur after his initiation, Adityanath has visited his ancestral village, establishing a school there in 1998. Adityanath renounced his family in 1993, at the age of 21 and became a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath, the high priest of Gorakhnath Math, he was promoted to the rank of Mahant or high priest of the Gorakhnath Math, following the death of his teacher Mahant Aavaidyanath on 12 September 2014. Yogi Adityanath was made Peethadhishwar of the Math amid traditional rituals of the Nath sect on 14 September 2014. Scholar Christophe Jaffrelot states that Yogi Adityanath belongs to a specific tradition of Hindutva politics in Uttar Pradesh that can be traced back to the Mahant Digvijay Nath, who led the capture of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya for Hindus on 22 December 1949.
Both Digvijay Nath and his successor, Mahant Avaidyanath, belonged to the Hindu Mahasabha and were elected to the Parliament on that party's ticket. After the BJP and the Sangh Parivar joined the Ayodhya movement in the 1980s, the two strands of Hindu nationalism came together. Avaidyanath switched to the BJP in 1991, but maintained significant autonomy. Yogi Adityanath was appointed Avaidyanath's successor as the Mahant of Gorakhnath Math in 1994. Four years he was elected to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament. After his first electoral win, Adityanath started his own youth wing Hindu Yuva Vahini, known for their activities in the eastern Uttar Pradesh but was instrumental in Adityanath's meteoric rise. There have been recurrent tensions between Adityanath and the BJP leadership over the allocation of election tickets. However, the BJP has not let the tensions mount because Adityanath has served as a star campaigner for the party. In 2006, he took up links between Nepali Maoists and Indian Leftist parties as key campaign issue and encouraged Madhesi leaders to oppose Maoism in Nepal.
In 2008, his convoy was attacked en route to Azamgarh for an anti-terrorism rally. The attack left one person dead and at least six persons injured. Adityanath was the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha at 26, he has been elected to the Parliament from Gorakhpur for five consecutive terms. Adityanath's attendance in Lok Sabha was 77% and he has asked 284 questions, participated in 56 debates and introduced three private member Bills in the 16th Lok Sabha. Adityanath has had strained relations with the BJP for more than a decade, he derided and undermined the BJP, criticising its dilution of the Hindutva ideology. Having established his own independent power base in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the support of the Hindu Yuva Vahini and the Gorakhnath Math, he felt confident to be able to dictate terms to the BJP; when his voice was not heard, he revolted by fielding candidates against the official BJP candidates. The most prominent example was the fielding of Radha Mohan Das Agarwal from Gorakhpur on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket in 2002, who defeated BJP Cabinet minister, Shiv Pratap Shukla by a wide margin.
In 2007, Adityanath threatened to field 70 candidates for the state assembly against the BJP candidates. But he reached a compromise in the end. In 2009 Parliamentary elections, Adityanath was rumoured to have campaigned against the BJP candidates who were defeated. Despite his periodic revolts, Yogi Adityanath has been kept in good humour by the RSS and the BJP leaders; the deputy prime minister L. K. Advani, the RSS chief Rajendra Singh and the VHP chief Ashok Singhal have visited him in Gorakhpur. During 22–24 December 2006, Adityanath organised a three-day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur at the same time as the BJP National Executive Meet in Lucknow. Despite the conflict, several RSS and VHP leaders attended the Mahasammelan, which issued a commitment to pursue the Hindutva goals despite the BJP's claimed "abandonment" of them. In March 2010, Adityanath was one of the several BJP MPs who defied the party whip on the Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament, he was a prominent campaigner for the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
He was appointed Chief Minister, of the state on Saturday, 18 March 2017 and sworn in the next day on 19 March, after the BJP won the assembly elect
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division. It is the twelfth most populous urban agglomeration of India. Lucknow has always been known as a multicultural city that flourished as a North Indian cultural and artistic hub, the seat of power of Nawabs in the 18th and 19th centuries, it continues to be an important centre of governance, education, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, design, tourism and poetry. The city stands at an elevation of 123 metres above sea level. Lucknow district covers an area of 2,528 square kilometres. Bounded on the east by Barabanki, on the west by Unnao, on the south by Raebareli and in the north by Sitapur, Lucknow sits on the northwestern shore of the Gomti River. Lucknow was the capital of the Awadh region, controlled by the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire, it was transferred to the Nawabs of Awadh. In 1856, the British East India Company abolished local rule and took complete control of the city along with the rest of Awadh and, in 1857, transferred it to the British Raj.
Along with the rest of India, Lucknow became independent from Britain on 15 August 1947. It has been listed as the 17th fastest growing city in 74th in the world. Lucknow, along with Agra and Varanasi, is in the Uttar Pradesh Heritage Arc, a chain of survey triangulations created by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to boost tourism in the state. "Lucknow" is the anglicised spelling of the local pronunciation "Lakhnau". According to one legend, the city is named after Lakshmana, a hero of the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana; the legend states that Lakshmana had a palace or an estate in the area, called Lakshmanapuri. However, the Dalit movement believes that Lakhan Pasi, a dalit ruler, was the settler of the city and is named after him; the settlement came to be known as Lakhanpur by the 11th century, Lucknow. A similar theory states; the name changed to Lakhanavati Lakhnauti and Lakhnau. Yet another theory states that the city's name is connected with Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Over time, the name changed to Laksmanauti, Lakhsnaut and Lakhnau.
From 1350 onwards and parts of the Awadh region were ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, Sharqi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Nawabs of Awadh, the British East India Company and the British Raj. For about eighty-four years, Awadh was part of the Sharqi Sultanate of Jaunpur. Emperor Humayun made it a part of the Mughal Empire around 1555. Emperor Jahangir granted an estate in Awadh to a favoured nobleman, Sheikh Abdul Rahim, who built Machchi Bhawan on this estate, it became the seat of power from where his descendants, the Sheikhzadas, controlled the region. The Nawabs of Lucknow, in reality, the Nawabs of Awadh, acquired the name after the reign of the third Nawab when Lucknow became their capital; the city became North India's cultural capital, its nawabs, best remembered for their refined and extravagant lifestyles, were patrons of the arts. Under their dominion and dance flourished, construction of numerous monuments took place. Of the monuments standing today, the Bara Imambara, the Chota Imambara, the Rumi Darwaza are notable examples.
One of the Nawab's enduring legacies is the region's syncretic Hindu–Muslim culture that has come to be known as the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. Until 1719, the subah of Awadh was a province of the Mughal Empire administered by a Governor appointed by the Emperor. Persian adventurer Saadat Khan known as Burhan-ul-Mulk, was appointed Nizam of Awadh in 1722 and established his court in Faizabad, near Lucknow. Many independent kingdoms, such as Awadh, were established as the Mughal Empire disintegrated; the third Nawab, Shuja-ud-Daula, fell out with the British after aiding the fugitive Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim. Roundly defeated at the Battle of Buxar by the East India Company, he was forced to pay heavy penalties and surrender parts of his territory. Awadh's capital, Lucknow rose to prominence when Asaf-ud-Daula, the fourth Nawab, shifted his court to the city from Faizabad in 1775; the British East India Company appointed a resident in 1773 and by early 19th century gained control of more territory and authority in the state.
They were, disinclined to capture Awadh outright and come face to face with the Maratha Empire and the remnants of the Mughal Empire. In 1798, the fifth Nawab Wazir Ali Khan alienated both his people and the British and was forced to abdicate; the British helped Saadat Ali Khan take the throne. He became a puppet king, in a treaty of 1801, yielded large part of Awadh to the East India Company while agreeing to disband his own troops in favour of a hugely expensive, British-controlled army; this treaty made the state of Awadh a vassal of the East India Company, although it continued to be part of the Mughal Empire in name until 1819. The treaty of 1801 proved a beneficial arrangement for the East India Company as they gained access to Awadh's vast treasuries digging into them for loans at reduced rates. In addition, the revenues from running Awadh's armed forces brought them useful returns while the territory acted as a buffer state; the Nawabs were ceremonial kings, busy with show. By the mid-nineteenth century, the British had grown impatient with the arrangement and demanded direct control over Awadh.
In 1856 the East India Compa
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party is one of the two major political parties in India, along with the Indian National Congress. As of 2018, it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament and state assemblies, it is the world's largest party in terms of primary membership. BJP is a right-wing party, its policy has reflected Hindu nationalist positions, it has close organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJP's origin lies in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mukherjee. After the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party. After three years in power, the Janata party dissolved in 1980 with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the BJP. Although unsuccessful, winning only two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest party in the parliament in 1996.
After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed a government that lasted for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a full term in office. In the 2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, for the next ten years the BJP was the principal opposition party. Long time Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led it to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election. Since that election, Modi has led the NDA government as Prime Minister and as of February 2019, the alliance governs 18 states; the official ideology of the BJP is "integral humanism", first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965. The party expresses a commitment to Hindutva, its policy has reflected Hindu nationalist positions; the BJP advocates a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. Its key issues have included the abrogation of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the implementation of a uniform civil code.
However, the 1998–2004 NDA government did not pursue any of these controversial issues. It instead focused on a liberal economic policy prioritising globalisation and economic growth over social welfare; the BJP's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 in response to the politics of the dominant Congress party. It was founded in collaboration with the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was regarded as the political arm of the RSS; the Jana Sangh's aims included the protection of India's "Hindu" cultural identity, in addition to countering what it perceived to be the appeasement of Muslim people and the country of Pakistan by the Congress party and then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The RSS loaned several of its leading pracharaks, or full-time workers, to the Jana Sangh to get the new party off the ground. Prominent among these was Deendayal Upadhyaya, appointed General Secretary.
The Jana Sangh won only three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952. It maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967; the Jana Sangh's first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir into India. Mookerjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir, he died of a heart attack the following month in jail. Mauli Chandra Sharma was elected to succeed Mookerjee. Upadhyay remained the General Secretary until 1967, worked to build a committed grassroots organisation in the image of the RSS; the party minimised engagement with the public, focusing instead on building its network of propagandists. Upadhyaya articulated the philosophy of integral humanism, which formed the official doctrine of the party. Younger leaders, such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani became involved with the leadership in this period, with Vajpayee succeeding Upadhyaya as president in 1968.
The major themes on the party's agenda during this period were legislating a uniform civil code, banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir. After assembly elections across the country in 1967, the party entered into a coalition with several other parties, including the Swatantra Party and the socialists, it formed governments in various states across the Hindi heartland, including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It was the first time. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency; the Jana Sangh took part in the widespread protests, with thousands of its members being imprisoned along with other agitators across the country. In 1977, the emergency was withdrawn and general elections were held; the Jana Sangh merged with parties from across the political spectrum, including the Socialist Party, the Congress and the Bharatiya Lok Dal to form the Janata Party, with its main agenda being defeating Indi
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Membership of Rajya Sabha is limited by the Constitution to a maximum of 250 members and current laws have provision for 245 members. Most of the members of the House are indirectly elected by the members of States and union territories of India state and territorial legislatures using single transferable votes through Open Ballot, while the President can appoint 12 members for their contributions to art, literature and social services. Members sit for staggered terms lasting six years, with a third of the members up for election every two years; the Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions, unlike the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, is not subject to dissolution. However, the Rajya Sabha, like the Lok Sabha can be prorogued by the President; the Rajya Sabha has equal footing in all areas of legislation with the Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses can be held.
However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, the former would hold the greater power. Joint sittings of the Houses of Parliament of India are rare, in the history of the Republic, only three such joint-sessions have been held; the Vice President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who presides over its sessions. The Deputy Chairman, elected from amongst the house's members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman; the Rajya Sabha held its first sitting on 13 May 1952. The salary and other benefits for a member of Rajya Sabha are same as for a member of Lok Sabha. Rajya Sabha members are elected by state legislatures rather than directly through the electorate by single transferable vote method. From 18 July 2018, Rajya Sabha MPs can speak in 22 Indian languages in House as the Upper House has facility for simultaneous interpretation in all the 22 official languages of India. Article 84 of the Constitution lays down the qualifications for membership of Parliament.
A member of the Rajya Sabha must: Be a citizen of India. Make and subscribe before some person authorized in that behalf by the Election Commission an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule to the Constitution. Be at least 30 years old. Be elected by the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories by means of Single transferable vote through Proportional representation. Not be a proclaimed criminal. Not be a subject of insolvent, i.e. he/she should not be in debt that he/she is not capable of repaying in a current manner and should have the ability to meet his/her financial expenses. Not hold any other office of profit under the Government of India. Not be of unsound mind. Possess such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament. In addition, twelve members are nominated by the President of India having special knowledge in various areas like arts and science. However, they are not entitled to vote in Presidential elections as per Article 55 of the Constitution.
The Constitution of India places some restrictions on the Rajya Sabha which makes the Lok Sabha more powerful in certain areas. The definition of a money bill is given in article 110 of constitution of India. A money bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha by a minister and only on recommendation of President of India; when the Lok Sabha passes a money bill the Lok Sabha sends money bill to the Rajya Sabha for 14 days during which it can make recommendations. If Rajya Sabha fails to return the money bill in 14 days to the Lok Sabha, that bill is deemed to have passed by both the Houses. If the Lok Sabha rejects any of the amendments proposed by the Rajya Sabha, the bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses of Parliament of India in the form the Lok Sabha passes it; this is because the Lok Sabha has largest number of representatives of peoples of India and so the Lok Sabha, the lower house is more powerful in comparison with Rajya Sabha, the upper house. Hence, Rajya Sabha can only give recommendations for a money bill but Rajya Sabha cannot amend a money bill this is to ensure that Rajya Sabha must not add any non money matters in money bill.
Lok Sabha can reject all the recommendations of Rajya Sabha or can accept some or all of the recommendations. Decisions of the speaker of the Lok Sabha are final. There is no joint sitting of both the houses with respect to money bills, because all final decisions are taken by the Lok Sabha. Article 108 provides for a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament in certain cases. A joint sitting can be convened by the President of India when one house has either rejected a bill passed by the other house, has not taken any action on a bill transmitted to it by the other house for six months, or has disagreed to the amendments proposed by the Lok Sabha on a bill passed by it. Considering that the numerical strength of Lok Sabha is more than twice that of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha tends to have a greater influence in a joint sitting of Parliament. A joint session is chaired by the Speaker of Lok Sabha; because the joint session is convened by the President on advice of the government, which has a majority in Lok Sabha, the joint session is convened to get bills passed through a Rajya Sabha in which the government has a minority.
Joint sessions of Parliament are a rarity, have been convened three times in last 71 years, for the purpose of passage of a specific legislative act, the latest time being in 2002: 1961: Dowry Prohibition Act, 1958 1978: Banking Services Commissio
State governments of India