Page 112 - SST Class 04

comprises the President , the Prime Minster and the Parliament . The President is the
head of the state. He is also the supreme commander of armed forces. The Prime
Minster is the head of the government.

State Government
A state government is located in states. It works for the respective state. It comprises
the Governor , the Chief Minister and the Vidhan Sabha .

Making Laws

Central Government

The Parliament makes laws for the whole country. The
Parliament comprises two houses : the Lok Sabha and the
Rajya Sabha . A bill has to be passed by both these houses.
A bill becomes a law after the President signs it. The
Parliament makes laws on important subjects, such as Parliament of India
national highways, defence, external affairs, currency, finance, railways etc.

The Lok Sabha has 545 members; they are elected by people. Any Indian citizen, above
the age of 25 years, can contest election to become a member. Mostly these members
belong to one or the other political party. Any party which can get the support of more
than one-half of members of the Lok Sabha forms the government. The leader of this

party becomes the Prime Minister. The tenure of the Lok Sabha is 5 years.
The Rajya Sabha has 245 members; they are indirectly elected by the members of the
state legislatures. The tenure of a Rajya Sabha member is 6 years. One-third of its
members retire every two years and new members are elected in their place.

Know It!

v A member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha is known as Member of Parliament (MP).
v A member of the Vidhan Sabha is known as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).
v Some states have the second house of legislature, called Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council.

State Government

Each state has its own legislature, called Vidhan Sabha or
Legislative Assembly . People elect its members for a term
of 5 years. The Governor appoints the leader of the
majority party as the Chief Minister.

A Vidhan Sabha makes laws on the state subjects, such as
roads, health, agriculture, forestry, law and order etc.
Vidhan Sabha

112 Contemporary Social Science-4