Dentify the major hindrances in the functioning of parliamentary democracy in india (100 words) critically examine the role of ngos in the development of a society with special reference to the protection of environmen
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Parliamentary Democracy as distinguished from Presidential Democracy
Our constitution provides for parliamentary form of government. We have borrowed the constitutional features of several democratic countries. But our parliamentary model is predominantly based on the British system. The Head of Government in our system, the Prime Minister, can hold office only so long as he commands the confidence of the Lok Sabha.
Confidence of the House is reflected in existence/continuance of majority support - whether it be of a single party or of a coalition of parties. This feature can, and does, cause instability in governance. In Presidential democracies, the Head of Government, the President is directly elected by the people and cannot be removed from office except in circumstances of high crimes and misdemeanour established through impeachment process. Hence, Presidential democracies provide stable governance. In our parliamentary system, we have had changes of government through mid term elections or political realignments. Changes in government undoubtedly bring about disruptions in implementation of policies, development programmes and schemes.
A question that has been publicly debated often is whether we should not opt for Presidential form of government. Parliamentary form being a basic feature of the Constitution, as held by the Supreme Court, legal problems might arise in switch over to any other form. Nor is it the case that parliamentary form is without its merits. The Parliament is in a position to keep the Prime Minister and his Ministers under constant vigil through its oversight mechanisms and devices - Question Hour, Adjournment Motions, Calling Attention Notices, debates, Confidence and No Confidence Motions, Scrutiny of budget and its implementation, public accounts audit etc.
We should also remember that lack of mandate for the parliament to force a government out of office when circumstance would warrant may result in dictatorial tendencies on the part of the Head of the Government.
We can perhaps consider the feasibility of adopting the German model of constitutional/legal provisions for constructive Votes of No Confidence. Under this model, the parliament may express its lack of confidence in the Head of government only by electing a successor by the vote of a majority of Members and requesting the President for the appointment of the successor.
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