Question Hour, which had been suspended by the government during the monsoon session, will resume when Parliament meets for the budget session.

Q.Discuss the various instruments of Parliamentary Control in India.

Must read edition: [Burning Issue] Quashing of the Question Hour

What is Question Hour?

• Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that MPs ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
• Prior to Independence, the first question asked of government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
• The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
• Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning.
• Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
• With the broadcasting since 1991, Question Hour has become one of the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.

Its evolution

• The right to question the executive has been exercised by members of the House from the colonial period.
• The first Legislative Council in British India under the Charter Act, 1853, showed some degree of independence by giving members the power to ask questions to the executive.
• Later, the Indian Council Act of 1861 allowed members to elicit information by means of questions.
• However, it was the Indian Council Act, 1892, which formulated the rules for asking questions including short notice questions.
• The next stage of the development of procedures related to questions came up with the framing of rules under the Indian Council Act, 1909, which incorporated provisions for asking supplementary questions by members.
• The Montague-Chelmsford reforms brought forth a significant change in 1919 by incorporating a rule that the first hour of every meeting was earmarked for questions. Parliament has continued this tradition.
• In 1921, there was another change. The question, on which a member desired to have an oral answer, was distinguished by him with an asterisk, a star. This marked the beginning of starred questions.

Its significance

• Question Hour is not only an opportunity for the members to raise questions, but it is a parliamentary device primarily meant for exercising legislative control over executive actions.
• The government’s actions erode the constitutional mandate of parliamentary oversight over executive actions as envisaged under Article 75 (3) of the Indian Constitution.

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