Panel of Vice-Chairpersons
·
In
a historic move, Rajya Sabha Chairman reconstituted the panel of vice
chairpersons of the Parliament's upper House with half of them women.
·
Article
118(1) of the Constitution empowers each House of Parliament to make rules for
regulating its procedure and the conduct of its business.
Panel
·
Chairman
nominates members for panel of Vice-chairpersons
·
Any
one can preside in the absence of chairman or Deputy Chairman.
Newly
Nominated women members
S.
Phangnon Konyak – Ist Women of Nagaland to be elected as a member of Rajya
Sabha
1.
P.T.
Usha
2.
Sulata
Dco
3.
Fauzia
Khan
Chairman
·
Vice President of India - Jagdeep Dhankhar
·
Deputy Chairman - Harivansh Narayan Singh
·
Secretary General - Pramod Chandra Mody
·
Leader of the House - Piyush Goyal (Cabinet Minister)
·
Deputy Leader of the House - Dharmendra
Pradhan (Cabinet Minister)
·
Leader of the Opposition - Mallikarjun
Kharge
Rajya
Sabha - Composition
·
Composition/Strength
Article 80 of the Constitution lays down the maximum strength of Rajya Sabha as
250, out of which 12 members are nominated by the President and 238 are
representatives of the States and of the two Union Territories.
·
The
total allowed capacity is 250 (238 elected, 12 appointed)
Role
of Rajya Sabha
1.
Safety
Valve of India’s Federal Polity
2.
Review
and Revaluation Role
3.
A
Deliberative Body
4.
Representing
the Vulnerable Sections
Special
Powers of Rajya Sabha
·
Power
to transfer a subject from the State List to Union List for a specified period
(Article 249).
·
To
create additional All-India Services (Article 312).
·
To
endorse Emergency under Article 352 for a limited period when the Lok Sabha
remains dissolved.
Issues
Related to Rajya Sabha
·
No
equal Representation of states
·
Bypassing
the Rajya Sabha
·
Undermining
of Federal character of Rajya Sabha
·
Low
Participation of Nominated Members
Equal
Powers of Rajya Sabha Compared To Lok Sabha
·
Election of President - Equal right with Lok Sabha in
election of the President (Articles 54)
·
Impeachment of president - Equal right with
Lok Sabha in Impeachment (Article 61)
·
Election of Vice-President - Equal right with in
the Vice-President election (Article 66)
·
Defining parliamentary privileges - Equal right with
the Lok Sabha to make law defining parliamentary privileges and also to punish
for contempt (Article 105)
·
Proclamation of Emergency - Equal righ to
approve the Proclamation of Emergency (issued under Article 352 &356)
· Receive reports and papers from various statutory authorities - Equal right with the Lok Sabha to receive reports from statutory authorities, namely
o
Audit
Reports from the CAG[Article 151(1)]
o
Reports
of UPSC [Article 323(1)]
o
Reports
of the Special Officer for SC & ST [Article 338(2)]
o
Report
of the Commission to investigate the conditions of OBC [Article 340(3)]
o
Report
of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities [Article 350 B(2)]