Polity Glossary

Hello friends in this lecture series we will be covering Indian

Polity, but before we do that I want you to learn few basic
concepts which you will come across frequently in this course.
So, let’s start,

Sr. Term Meaning

No.
1) Two centers of power Suppose, you are a king of India, and because India
has large area you will divide the country in smaller
parts for better administration and you will appoint
regional kings in each part.
In this case you are a central power and those regional
kings will be regional powers.
In the same fashion in democracy also, we have two
centers of power i.e. Union Government (central
authority headed by PM) & State government
(regional authority headed by CM). In democracy
these authorities are appointed by public by means of
election.
2) Parliament Now as you are the king of India you must be having a
Durbar (दरबार – Court) where all the work related to
administration will be done (Policy Making). In
democracy Parliament is the Durbar of Central
authority or Union government.
In our country parliament comprises of Loksabha,
Rajyasabha & President of India.
3) Vidhansabha This is the Durbar of Regional authority or State
government.
4) State government Now you know that both the governments(Union &
State) are appointed by public, Let us understand how
State government is appointed,

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 - Whole state is divided into smaller areas
(making sure that each area has the same
population) these areas are called as
Constituencies e.g. Maharashtra is divided into
288 Constituencies.
- Now elections are held in each Constituency, in
which candidates of political parties like
Congress, BJP, BAAP( Rakhi Sawants Party) etc
or independent candidates (not representing
any party) will contest the election.
- In this election registered voters of that
Constituency will vote in their respective
Constituencies. When results are declared we
will have 288 winners (one from each
Constituency) they are called as MLA. All these
MLAs sit in the Vidhansabha.
- Now suppose BAAP candidates has won
election in 150 Constituencies (which is majority
i.e. more than half). Then these 150 MLAs will
form the government.
- These 150 members will seat together and they
will choose one among them as CM.
- Now this CM will select few MLAs(from the
BAAP party only) and make them Ministers
who will help him to run the state.
- This CM & All the Ministers is called as Council
Of Ministers which in turn also called as
Government -> State Government.

5) Cabinet Even though CM is the head of the Council Of

Ministers, he doesn’t take decisions on his own.
He selects few senior ministers among his ministers
and forms a group which will take the decisions.
This group is called as Cabinet & members of this
cabinet are called as Cabinet Ministers.
All the meetings of the cabinet are headed by the CM
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 in which his decision is final.
6) Opposition (In Vidhansabha comprises of MLAs, members of
Vidhansabha) majority party (BAAP In our case) sit on one side and
the remaining members sit on the other side.
Members siting on the other side are called as
Opposition.
7) Union Government Now you know that both the governments(Union &
State) are appointed by public, Let us understand how
Union government is appointed,
- Whole Country is divided into smaller areas
(boundaries of the states are not ignored) these
areas are called as Constituencies e.g. India is
divided into 543 Constituencies.
- In this also, it is made sure that each
Constituency has equal population*. Hence the
state having large population will have more
Constituencies for Loksabha E.g. UP has 80
Constituencies & Maharashtra has 48
Constituencies
- Now elections are held in each Constituency, in
which candidates of political parties like
Congress, BJP, BAAP( Rakhi Sawant’s Party) etc
or independent candidates (not representing
any party) will contest the election.
- In this election registered voters of that
Constituency will vote in their respective
Constituencies. When results are declared we
will have 543 winners (one from each
Constituency) they are called as MP. All these
MPs sit in the Loksabha.
- Now suppose BJP candidates has won election
in 272 Constituencies (which is majority i.e.
more than half). Then these 272 MPs will form
the government.
- These 272 members will seat together and they
will choose one among them as PM.
- Now this PM will select few MPs (from the BJP
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 party only) and make them Ministers who will
help him to run the state.
- This PM & All the Ministers is called as Council
Of Ministers which in turn also called as
Government -> Union Government.

8) Loksabha This is the one of the three elements of Parliament.

We have seen in Term No. 7 how Members Of
Parliament in Loksabha are elected & this house
decides who will form the government.
This house is also called as a lower house.
Maximum strength of this house is limited to 552 by
the constitution (550 elected & 2 Nominated).
At present there are 545 members in this house (543
elected & 2 Nominated).
Because members of this house are directly elected by
people it is called LOK-sabha.
9) Rajyasabha This is the one of the three elements of Parliament.
Members of this house are elected by MLA’s
(Members of Vidhansabhsa) Hence it is called as
Rajyasabha.
This house is also called as a upper house.
Maximum strength of this house is limited to 250 by
the constitution (238 elected & 12 Nominated).

10) Nominated Members Nominated means they are directly appointed by the
President(they need not contest elections).
11) Cabinet Minister Refer term 5
12) State Minister We know what council of ministers is.
Suppose there are 30 ministers in COM, CM/PM will
selects say 10 seniors in his cabinet they are called as
cabinet ministers (cool dudes). Remaining 20 are state
ministers they are of lower rank to Cabinet ministers.*
Again there are two types of state ministers,
1) State Ministers attached – they are attached to
other cabinet ministry.

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 2) State Ministers with independent charge – As
name suggest they have independent charge of
particular ministry.
State ministers are there in state and Union Also (word
“State” can create confusion).
13) Speaker He/She is the Monitor of Loksabha/Vidhansabha.
He controls the activities of the house.
In the house he acts like Salman Khan of Wanted(एक
बार जो मैने कमीटमेन्ट कर दद....)
He is the final interpreter of the constitution in the
house.
14) Chairman He is the Monitor of Rajyasabha.
Vice President is by default the Chairman of
Rajyasabha.
15) Unitary Government Country in which Union Government has more power
than Regional Government.
e.g. Akbar’s empire, in which he was the supreme
authority and chunnu-munnu regional kings were
sub-ordinate to him.
16) Federal government Country in which Union and Regional Government
have equal powers.
e.g. United States Of America.
17) Confederation Country in which Regional Government has more
power than Union Government.
e.g. Mughal empire after Aurangzeb.
18) Division Of Powers You remember Arpita Khans wedding??
(This is already explained in Lecture)
19) State List This list consists of subjects on which State
Government can make Laws.
20) Union List This list consists of subjects on which Union
Government can make Laws.
21) Concurrent List This list consists of subjects on which BOTH the
Government can make Laws. (But Union Government
decides whose Law will be implemented.
22) Emergency When Federal structure of Government is converted
into Unitary structure OR When

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 Union gets right to make laws on state list also.

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