Q1.
From your previous lessons on the theme of Democracy and Governance, name a few Constitutional functions of the Parliament. Did you list the election of President and Vice President? What about amendments to the Constitution?
Answer
Yes — both belong on the list. The Constitutional functions of Parliament that you have already met are:
- Electing the President. Parliament’s elected MPs, together with the elected members of the state legislative assemblies, form the electoral college that elects the President.
- Electing the Vice President, who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
- Amending the Constitution — changing or adding to the constitutional text itself, as was done by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, which inserted Article 21A and made free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 a right.
Beyond these, the chapter says Parliament is directly entrusted with upholding the core values of the Constitution, namely:
- enabling parliamentary democracy through universal adult suffrage;
- following the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary;
- ensuring federalism; and
- upholding Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy by framing laws and policies.
Why these count as ‘constitutional’ functions: in each of them Parliament is not simply passing an ordinary law — it is acting on the Constitution itself: filling the highest offices the Constitution creates, altering the Constitution’s own text, or protecting the values written into it. That is why the chapter separates them from ordinary lawmaking. There are further constitutional functions, the book adds, that you will study in higher grades.