Rajya Sabha

Published on 16 Jan 2025

The Rajya Sabha or the Council of States is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. The members of the house are elected by the legislators of the state and union territories through an open ballot and hence represent the federal nature of India’s polity.

Significance of Rajya Sabha

• Represents federal system of governance: The members of the house being elected by the MLAs indicate the representation of the state at the central level.

• Example: The house has representation from over 35 parties which indicates the role of regional parties in the house.

• Review and correct legislations: Rajya Sabha can act as a revising chamber where bills passed by the Lok Sabha are reviewed with measures taken to improve the quality of the bill.

• Example: The GST bill went through thorough deliberation in the Rajya Sabha which aided in better shaping the bill.

• Check and balance: The Rajya Sabha can act as a check on the Lok Sabha when a party/alliance has a brute majority. Here Rajya Sabha prevents easy passage of bills.

• Expertise: Rajya Sabha can include expert members from diverse domains who would find it difficult to win a conventional cutoff. 

• Example: Presence of Ranjan Gogoi who is a law expert and P.T.Usha who is an expert in sports.

• Promote minority and diverse interests: Rajya Sabha will have better representations from minority and other diverse interest groups, thus facilitating inclusivity.

• Example: Only 4.9% of Lok Sabha MPs are Muslims while it is 8.8% in Rajya Sabha indicating better minority representation.

• Role in passing bill: The house has equal powers as that of Lok Sabha in passing an amendment bill and an ordinary bill.

• Example: Rajya Sabha has passed over 3800 bills over the past 67 years.

Challenges associated with the functioning of Rajya Sabha

• Disruption of the house: Increasing frequency of disruptions has reduced deliberation time available with the Rajya Sabha, thus failing in effective scrutiny.

• Example: In the 2022 monsoon session, the productivity of Rajya Sabha is around 46%.

• Back door entrance for veteran leaders: The house has been used as a route to bring in many popular leaders who have failed in the Lok Sabha.

• Example: Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley became part of Rajya Sabha after suffering defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

• Limited powers over Lok Sabha: The house has limited recommendatory powers with respect to money bills which reduce their role in financial matters.

• Unequal representation to states: Representation corresponding to the population which negatively affects those states having positive demography.

• Example: The entire south India has only 57 seats while UP and Bihar alone has 47 seats.

• Lack of consensus: The Rajya Sabha has members from various parties and it finds difficulty in arriving at a common ground among the opposition.

• Example: There are around 130 MPs who do not represent NDA. Having a united approach among all is very difficult.

• Delay reforms: The check offered by Rajya Sabha may delay some immediate reforms.

Way forward

• UK model: Nominations to the upper body by an appointment committee which ensures more quality legislators in the house.

• American model: Equal representation to all states which aids in maintaining parity among states.

• Ensure minimum productivity level: Need strong enforcement of rules to minimise disruption so that productivity can be improved.

Thus, Rajya Sabha is an important body that showcases India’s federal polity and inclusivity. Certain changes on the above-mentioned lines can make the office more productive and efficient in its functioning.

Tags:
Polity

Keywords:
Rajya Sabha Council of States revising chamber Check and balance Back door entrance

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Parliament and State Legislatures