GOVERNMENT
According
to its Constitution, India is a "sovereign, socialist, secular,
democratic republic." Like the United States, India has a
federal form of government. However, the central government in
India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central
government is patterned after the British parliamentary system.
The government
exercises its broad administrative powers in the name of the president,
whose duties are largely ceremonial. A special electoral college
elects the president and vice president indirectly for 5-year
terms. Their terms are staggered, and the vice president does
not automatically become president following the death or removal
from office of the president.
Real national
executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (cabinet),
led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister,
who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition
commanding a parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha. The president
then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime
minister.
India's
bicameral parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States)
and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Council of Ministers
is responsible to the Lok Sabha.
The legislatures
of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya
Sabha, and the president appoints another 12. The members of the
Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election
every 2 years. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members, who serve
5-year terms; 543 are directly elected, and two are appointed.
India's
independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts
and procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme
Court consists of a chief justice and 25 other justices, all appointed
by the president on the advice of the prime minister.
India
has 28 states* and 7 union territories. At the state level, some
of the legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses
of the national parliament. The states' chief ministers are responsible
to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible
to parliament.
Each state also has a presidentially appointed governor, who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the states, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local governments in India have less autonomy than their counterparts in the United States. Some states are trying to revitalize the traditional village councils, or panchayats, to promote popular democratic participation at the village level, where much of the population still lives. Over half a million panchayats exist throughout India.
POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Emerging as the nation's single largest party in the April/May 2004 Lok Sabha election, Congress currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Party President Sonia Gandhi was re-elected by the Party National Executive in May 2005. Also a Member of Parliament, she heads the Congress Lok Sabha delegation. Congress prides itself as a secular, left of center party, with a long history of political dominance. Although its performance in national elections had steadily declined during the last 12 years, its surprise victory in 2004 was a result of recruiting strong allies into the UPA, the anti-incumbency factor among voters, and its courtship of India's many poor, rural and Muslim voters. Congress political fortunes suffered badly in the 1990s, as many traditional supporters were lost to emerging regional and caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, but have rebounded since its May 2004 ascension to power. It currently rules either directly or in coalition with its allies in 9 states. In November 2005, the Congress regained the Chief Ministership of Jammu and Kashmir state, under a power-sharing agreement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Rajnath Singh, holds the second-largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee serves as Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party, and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani is Leader of the Opposition. The Hindu-nationalist BJP draws its political strength mainly from the "Hindi Belt" in the northern and western regions of India.
The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa--in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP made strong inroads into lower castes in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, and other primarily religious issues), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.
Four Communist and Marxist parties are united in a bloc called the "Left Front," which controls 57 parliamentary seats. The Left Front rules the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Although it has not joined the government, Left Front support provides the crucial seats necessary for the UPA to retain power in New Delhi; without its support, the UPA government would fall. It advocates a secular and Communist ideology and opposes many aspects of economic liberalization and globalization, resulting in dissonance with Prime Minister Singh’s liberal economic approach.
The next general election is scheduled for 2009.
Principal
Government Officials
President--Pratibha Patil
Vice President--Mohammed Hamid Ansari
Prime Minister--Dr. Manmohan Singh
Home Minister--Shivraj Patil
Minister of External Affairs--Pranab Mukherjee
Ambassador to the U.S.--Ronen Sen
Ambassador to the UN--Nirupam Sen
India
maintains an embassy
in the United States at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20008 (tel. 202-939-7000, fax 202-265-4351, email indembwash@indiagov.org)
and consulates general in New York, Chicago, Houston, and San
Francisco.
Type: Federal republic.
Independence: August 15, 1947.
Constitution: January 26, 1950.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), prime minister (head of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative--bicameral parliament (Rajya Sabha or Council of States, and Lok Sabha or House of the People). Judicial --Supreme Court.
Political parties: Indian National Congress (INC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India-Marxist, and numerous regional and small national parties.
Political subdivisions: 28 states,* 7 union territories.
Suffrage: Universal over 18.
