Government of India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Republic of India Emblem of India.

svg This article is part of a series on the politics and government of India Union Government[show] Elections[show] Political parties[show] Local and state govt.[show] Other countries Atlas Portal icon Government of India portal v t e The Government of India (GoI), officially known as the Union Government, and als o known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 29 states and seven union territ ories, collectively called the Republic of India. It is based in New Delhi, the capital of India. The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of India are set down i n major parliamentary legislation, such as the Civil Procedure Code, the Indian Penal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code. The union and individual state gove rnments all each consist of executive, legislative and judicial branches. The le gal system as applicable to the federal and individual state governments is base d on the English Common and Statutory Law. India accepts International Court of Justice jurisdiction, albeit with several reservations. By the 73rd and 74th ame ndments to the constitution, the Panchayati Raj system has become an institution for local governance. The government has recently taken a new initiative by launching a public grievan ce website, wherein citizens can expect their grievances to be addressed.[1] Alt ernatively, one can also visit the President of India's official website[2] and register his/her grievance via the President's Secretariat.[3] Contents [hide] 1 Legislature 2 Executive branch 2.1 President 2.2 Vice President 2.3 Cabinet, executive departments and agencies 3 Civil service 3.1 Cabinet Secretary 4 Judicial branch 4.1 Supreme Court 4.2 Public interest litigation (PIL) 5 Elections and voting 6 State and local governments 7 Finance 7.1 Taxation 8 Central Board of Direct Taxes 8.1 Organisational structure of the Central Board of Direct Taxes 8.2 General budget 9 Issues 9.1 Corruption 9.2 Spending priorities 9.3 Deficits 10 See also 11 Further reading 12 References 13 External links Legislature[edit]

Legislative power in India is exercised by the Parliament, a bicameral legislatu re consisting of the president of India, the Rajya Sabha, and the Lok Sabha. Of the two houses of Parliament, the former is considered to be the upper house and consists of members appointed by the president and elected by the state and ter ritorial legislatures. The latter is considered the lower house, and its members are directly elected by the people of India. Unlike in many parliamentary democ racies, members of either house of parliament are referred to as members of parl iament, or MPs. The Parliament does not enjoy complete sovereignty, as its laws are subject to j udicial review by the Supreme Court of India. However, it does exercise some con trol over the executive branch. The members of cabinet, including the prime mini ster and the Council of Ministers, are either chosen from parliament or elected thereto within six months of assuming office. The cabinet as a whole is responsi ble to the Lok Sabha. The Parliament may dissolve a government and induce the fo rmation of a new government by passing a motion of no confidence. Executive branch[edit] The executive branch of government is the one that has sole authority and respon sibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers. The separation of powers system is designed to distrib ute authority away from the executive branch an attempt to preserve individual l iberty in response to tyrannical leadership throughout history. President[edit] Main article: President of India Rashtrapati Bhawan, the residence of the President of India The executive power is vested mainly in the President of India, as per Article 5 3 (1) of the constitution. The President enjoys all constitutional powers and ex ercises them directly or through officers subordinate to him as per the aforesai d Article 53(1).The President is to act in accordance with aid and advise tender ed by the head of government (Prime Minister of India) and his or her Council of Ministers (the cabinet) as described in Article 74 (Constitution of India). The Council of Ministers remains in power during the 'pleasure' of the President . However, in practice, the Council of Ministers must retain the support of the Lok Sabha. If a President were to dismiss the Council of Ministers on his or her own initiative, it might trigger a constitutional crisis. Thus, in practice, th e Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed as long as it holds the support of a majority in the Lok Sabha. The President is responsible for making a wide variety of appointments. These in clude:[4] Governors of States The Chief Justice, other judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts of India The Attorney General The Comptroller and Auditor General The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners The Chairman and other Members of the Union Public Service Commission The President's Officer The Cabinet Secretary, whose position is equivalent to the Ministers in Central Government. His work is to facilitate smooth transaction of business in Ministri es/ Departments of the Government.[5] The Secretariat held by Cabinet Secretary is termed as Cabinet Secretariat and assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Minist ries/ Departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the stan ding/ adhoc Committees of Secretaries. Ambassadors and High Commissioners to other countries[6][7] The President, as Head of State also receives the credentials of Ambassadors fro m other countries, whilst the Prime Minister, as Head of Government, receives cr

edentials of High Commissioners from other members of the Commonwealth, in line with historical tradition. The President is de jure the Commander in Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.[8] The President of India can grant a pardon to or reduce the sentence of a convict ed person for one time, particularly in cases involving punishment of death. The decisions involving pardoning and other rights by the President are independent of the opinion of the Prime Minister or the Lok Sabha majority. In most other c ases, however, the President exercises his or her executive powers on the advice of the Prime Minister. Vice President[edit] Main article: Vice President of India The Vice-President of India is the second-highest ranking government official in the executive branch of the Government of India, following the President. The V ice-President also has the legislative function of acting as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Cabinet, executive departments and agencies[edit] Main articles: Cabinet of India and List of Indian agencies The Cabinet of India includes the Prime Minister and 28 Cabinet Ministers (as on 01.02.2014).[9] Each Minister must be a member of one of the houses of India's Parliament. The Cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister, and Cabinet Secretary a cts as advisor - who is also acting as the head of the Indian Administrative Ser vice. Other Ministers are either as Union Cabinet Ministers, who are heads of th e various Ministries; Ministers of State, who are junior members who report dire ctly to one of the Cabinet Ministers, often overseeing a specific aspect of gove rnment; and Junior Ministers of State (Independent Charges), which do not report to a Cabinet Minister. Civil service[edit] Main article: Civil Services of India The Civil Services of India is the civil service and the permanent bureaucracy o f the Government of India. The executive decisions are implemented by the Indian civil servants. Civil servants are employees of the Government of India and not Parliament of India. Not all employees of the Government of India are civil ser vants. In the parliamentary democracy of India, the ultimate responsibility for running the administration rests with the elected representatives of the people which a re the ministers. These ministers are accountable to the legislatures which are also elected by the people on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The ministe rs are indirectly responsible to the people themselves. But the handful of minis ters are not expected to deal personally with the various problems of modern adm inistration. Thus the ministers lay down the policy and it is for the civil serv ants to enforce it. Cabinet Secretary[edit] The Cabinet Secretariat of India The Cabinet Secretary of India is the most senior civil servant in the country. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board of the Republic of India; the chief of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the Government of Indi a. The Cabinet Secretary is arguably India's most powerful bureaucrat and right hand of Prime Minister of India. The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 and the Government of India Allocat ion of Business Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Minis tries/Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules. The Se cretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Ministries/Departments and evolvi ng consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/ad hoc Committees of Se cretaries. Through this mechanism new policy initiatives are also promoted.

The Cabinet Secretariat ensures that the President of India, the Vice-President and Ministers are kept informed of the major activities of all Departments by me ans of a monthly summary report of their activities. Management of major crisis situations in the country and coordinating activities of the various Ministries in such a situation is also one of the functions of the Cabinet Secretariat. Judicial branch[edit]

Supreme Court of India India's independent judicial system began under the British raj, and its concept s and procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme Court of I ndia consists of a Chief Justice and 30 associate justices, all appointed by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice of India. The jury trials were abo lished in India in early 1960s, after the famous case KM Nanavati v State of Mah arashtra, for reasons of being vulnerable to media and public pressure, as well as to being misled. Unlike its United States counterpart, the Indian justice system consists of a un itary system at both state and federal level. The judiciary consists of the Supr eme Court of India, High Courts of India at the state level, and District Courts and Sessions Courts at the district level. Supreme Court[edit] Main article: Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. It s exclusive original jurisdiction extends to any dispute between the Government of India and one or more states, or between the Government of India and any stat e or states on one side and one or more states on the other, or between two or m ore states, if and insofar as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or of fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends. In addition, Article 32 of the Indian Constitution gives an extensive original j urisdiction to the Supreme Court in regard to enforcement of fundamental rights. It is empowered to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the na ture of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enf orce them. The Supreme Court has been conferred with power to direct transfer of any civil or criminal case from one State High Court to another State High Cour t, or from a court subordinate to another State High Court and supreme court. Public interest litigation (PIL)[edit] Although the proceedings in the Supreme Court arise out of the judgement or orde rs made by the subordinate courts, of late the Supreme Court has started enterta ining matters in which interest of the public at large is involved, and the Cour t may be moved by any individual or group of persons either by filing a Writ Pet ition at the Filing Counter of the Court, or by addressing a letter to Hon'ble T he Chief Justice of India highlighting the question of public importance for inv oking this jurisdiction. Elections and voting[edit] Main articles: Elections in India and Politics of India India has a federal government, with elected officials at the federal (national) , state and local levels. On a national level, the head of government, the Prime Minister, is elected in-directly by the people,[citation needed] through a gene ral election where the leader of the majority winning party is selected to be th e Prime Minister. All members of the federal legislature, the Parliament, are di rectly elected. Elections in India take place every five years by universal adul t suffrage. State and local governments[edit] Main articles: State governments in India, Local government, and Union territory State governments in India are the governments ruling States of India and the ch ief minister heads the state government.Power is divided between central governm ent and state governments. State government's legislature is bicameral in 6 stat

es and unicameral in the rest. Lower house is elected with 5 years term, while i n upper house 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every 2 years w ith 6 year term. Local government function at the basic level. It is the third level of governmen t apart from central and state governments. It consists of panchayats in rural a reas and municipalities in urban areas. They are elected directly or indirectly by the people. Finance[edit] See Reserve Bank of India Taxation[edit] Main article: Taxation in India Regional office of the State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest bank, in Mumba i. The government of India is the largest shareholder in SBI. India has a three-tier tax structure, wherein the constitution empowers the unio n government to levy income tax, tax on capital transactions (wealth tax, inheri tance tax), sales tax, service tax, customs and excise duties and the state gove rnments to levy sales tax on intrastate sale of goods, tax on entertainment and professions, excise duties on manufacture of alcohol, stamp duties on transfer o f property and collect land revenue (levy on land owned). The local governments are empowered by the state government to levy property tax and charge users for public utilities like water supply, sewage etc.[10][11] More than half of the re venues of the union and state governments come from taxes, of which 3/4 come fro m direct taxes. More than a quarter of the union government's tax revenues is sh ared with the state governments.[12] The tax reforms, initiated in 1991, have sought to rationalise the tax structure and increase compliance by taking steps in the following directions: Reducing the rates of individual and corporate income taxes, excises, customs an d making it more progressive Reducing exemptions and concessions Simplification of laws and procedures Introduction of permanent account number (PAN) to track monetary transactions 21 of the 29 states introduced value added tax (VAT) on 1 April 2005 to replace the complex and multiple sales tax system[11][13] The non-tax revenues of the central government come from fiscal services, intere st receipts, public sector dividends, etc., while the non-tax revenues of the St ates are grants from the central government, interest receipts, dividends and in come from general, economic and social services.[14] Inter-state share in the federal tax pool is decided by the recommendations of t he Finance Commission to the President. Total tax receipts of Centre and State amount to approximately 18% of national G DP. This compares to a figure of 37 45% in the OECD. Central Board of Direct Taxes[edit] The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is a part of the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The CBDT provides essential inp uts for policy and planning of direct taxes in India and is also responsible for administration of the direct tax laws through Income Tax Department. The CBDT i s a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963 .It is India's official Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) . The Central Board of Revenue as the Department apex body charged with the admini stration of taxes came into existence as a result of the Central Board of Revenu e Act, 1924. Initially the Board was in charge of both direct and indirect taxes . However, when the administration of taxes became too unwieldy for one Board to handle, the Board was split up into two, namely the Central Board of Direct Tax es and Central Board of Excise and Customs with effect from 1.1.1964. This bifur cation was brought about by constitution of the two Boards u/s 3 of the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963.

Organisational structure of the Central Board of Direct Taxes[edit] The CBDT is headed by Chairman and also comprises six members, all of whom are e x officio Special Secretary to Government of India.The Investigation Division of the Central Board of Direct Taxes is also headed by a member of the CBDT. The Chairman and Members of CBDT are selected from Indian Revenue Service (IRS), a premier civil service of India, whose members constitute the top management o f Income Tax Department and other various departments. General budget[edit] The Finance minister of India presents the annual union budget in the Parliament on the last working day of February. The budget has to be passed by the Lok Sab ha before it can come into effect on 1 April, the start of India's fiscal year. The Union budget is preceded by an economic survey which outlines the broad dire ction of the budget and the economic performance of the country for the outgoing financial year. This economic survey involves all the variousNGOs, women organi sations, business people, old people associations etc. The 2009 Union budget of India had a total estimated expenditure for 2009 10 wasIN R10208.38 billion (US$166 billion), of which INR6956.89 billion (US$113 billion) was towards Non Plan andINR3251.49 billion (US$53 billion) towards Plan expendi ture. Total estimated revenue wasINR6198.42 billion (US$101 billion), including revenue receipts of INR6144.97 billion (US$100 billion) and capital receipts of INR53.45 billion (US$871 million), excluding borrowings. The resulting fiscal de ficit wasINR4009.96 billion (US$65 billion) while revenue deficit was INR2827.35 billion (US$46 billion).The gross tax receipts were budgeted at INR6410.79 bill ion (US$104 billion) and non-tax revenue receipts atINR1402.79 billion (US$23 bi llion). India's non-development revenue expenditure has increased nearly fivefold in 200 3 04 since 1990 91 and more than tenfold since 1985 1986. Interest payments are the si ngle largest item of expenditure and accounted for more than 40% of the total no n development expenditure in the 2003 04 budget. Defence expenditure increased fou rfold during the same period and has been increasing due to India's desire to pr oject its military prowess beyond South Asia. In 2007, India's defence spending stood at US$26.5 billion. Issues[edit] Corruption[edit] Main article: Corruption in India Overview of the index of perception of corruption, 2007 Corruption is going on in India by several ministers and nearly a quarter of the 543 elected members of parliament had been charged with crimes, including rape and murder, in 2009.[15] This corruption are primarily the root cause of malnutr ition, poverty,unemployment[citation needed]. Spending priorities[edit] See also: Subsidies in India The government provides subsidies on consumable rations like kerosene and agricu ltural produce as a welfare state.[16][dead link] Statutory Corporations like Fo od Corporation of India are compensated by the government for any potential loss es.[citation needed] Progressive attempts since Liberalisation have been made bo th at the state and the central level to rationalise these subsidies through com moditisation & through economies of scale with varying results.[citation needed] Farmers are given electricity at nominal rates so as to stimulate agricultural production.[citation needed] On the other hand, India spends relatively little on education, health, or infra structure. According to UNESCO, India has a very low public expenditure on highe r education per student as compared to other developing and developed countries. [17] Deficits[edit] As per the CIA World Factbook, in 2010, India ranked 60th in the world, with res pect to the public debt, with a total of 48.50% of GDP. In 2012, India ranked 63

rd, however with public debt increased to 51.70% of GDP.[18] See also[edit] Portal icon Government of India portal Portal icon India portal Constitution of India Parliamentary democracy Union Council of Ministers of India Foreign relations of India National Portal of India central ministries Further reading[edit] Subrata K. Mitra and V.B. Singh. 1999. Democracy and Social Change in India: A C ross-Sectional Analysis of the National Electorate. New Delhi: Sage Publications . ISBN 81-7036-809-X (India HB) ISBN 0-7619-9344-4 (U.S. HB). References[edit] Jump up ^ "PORTAL FOR PUBLIC GRIEVANCES". Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances. Jump up ^ "President of India". Jump up ^ "PRESIDENT'S SECRETARIAT HELPLINE". PRESIDENT'S SECRETARIAT. Jump up ^ Kumar; Rajesh. Universal's Guide to the Constitution of India Pg no. 7 2. Jump up ^ "Cabinet Secretariat - Government of India". Cabsec.nic.in. Retrieved 2013-07-10. Jump up ^ Pratiyogita Darpan (March 2007). Pratiyogita Darpan. Pratiyogita Darpa n. p. 60. Retrieved 10 May 2012. Jump up ^ Bakshi; P M (2010). Constitution Of India, 10/e. Universal Law Publish ing Company Limited. pp. 48 . ISBN 978-81-7534-840-0. Retrieved 10 May 2012. Jump up ^ Oldenburg, Philip (31 August 2010). India, Pakistan, and Democracy: So lving the Puzzle of Divergent Paths. Taylor & Francis. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-415-780 18-6. Retrieved 3 May 2012. Jump up ^ Cabinet Secretariat - Cabinet Ministers (as on 17.06.2013). Cabsec.nic .in. Retrieved on 2013-12-06. Jump up ^ Service tax and expenditure tax are not levied in Jammu and Kashmir; I ntra-state sale happens when goods or the title of goods move from one state to another. ^ Jump up to: a b Bernardi, Luigi and Fraschini, Angela (2005). Tax System And T ax Reforms In India. Working paper n. 51. Jump up ^ Tax revenue was 88% of total union government revenue in 1950 51 and has come down to 73% in 2003 04, as a result of increase in non-tax revenue. Tax reve nues were 70% of total state government revenues in 2002 to 2003. Indirect taxes were 84% of the union governments total tax revenue and have come down to 62% i n 2003 04, mostly due to cuts in import duties and rationalisation. The states sha re in union government's tax revenue is 28.0% for the period 2000 to 2005 as per the recommendations of the eleventh finance commission. In addition, states tha t do not levy sales tax on sugar, textiles and tobacco, are entitled to 1.5% of the proceeds.Datt, Ruddar & Sundharam, K.P.M. (2005). Indian Economy. S.Chand. p p. 938, 942, 946. ISBN 81-219-0298-3. Jump up ^ "Indif_real_GDP_per_capitaa says 21 of 29 states to launch new tax". D aily Times. 25 March 2005. Jump up ^ Datt, Ruddar & Sundharam, K.P.M. "55". Indian Economy. pp. 943 945. Jump up ^ Washington Post:When the Little Ones Run the Show (quote from the New Delhi based Association for Democratic Reform) retrieved 14 May 2009 Jump up ^ "India should redirect subsidies to those who need them". The Internat ional Herald Tribute. 2005. Jump up ^ "Higher education spending: India at the bottom of BRIC". Rediff. 2005 . Jump up ^ CIA World Factbook

External links[edit] Official Portal of the Indian Government Highest Executive, Judiciary and Legislative officers in India Search of Indian Government official web sites [show] v t e India topics [show] v t e India Cabinet of Manmohan Singh (2009-2014) [show] v t e Governments of Asia Categories: Government of India Navigation menu Create accountLog inArticleTalkReadEditView history Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Wikimedia Shop Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Tools Print/export Languages ??????? ????? Catal Deutsch ?????????? Espaol Franais ??????? ?????? Bahasa Indonesia ????? ?????? ????? Bahasa Melayu ????? ????????? Svenska ????? ?????? ?????????? ?? Edit links This page was last modified on 26 March 2014 at 18:24. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; add itional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and P rivacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prof it organization. Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaDevelopersMobile viewWi

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