Rajya Sabha

The Indian Parliament is bicameral, which means it contains two chambers. The upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, is one of the two houses. The Lok Sabha is the other house (and is also referred to as the Lower House of the Parliament.) The Rajya Sabha is the second chamber of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha being the first chamber), and it represents the country’s states and union territories. It has the authority to protect the interests of states and union territories whenever the centre interferes with their activities. In other words, it serves to formalise the federal principle of power-sharing between the central government and the states.

Composition of the Rajya Sabha

It is being laid down in Article 80 of the Indian constitution. According to this legislation, the maximum strength in the Upper House can be 250. Out of these 250, the President of India appoints 12 members, 238 members represent the different states of India, and the rest ten members represent the Union Territories. Currently, India has 28 states and 8 UTs.

Although the maximum strength is 250, the actual strength often remains lower than this. The nominations made by the President are people who have contributed immensely to the field of art, culture, science, literature, and social service. The state representatives in the Upper House are selected through elections. The people-elected members of the Vidhan Sabha or state legislative assembly select the Rajya Sabha members based on the number of seats allocated to them. 

Interestingly, the share of all the states is not equal, i.e. the number of Rajya Sabha members from Goa will not be the same as from Uttar Pradesh. Instead, it is being done based on the method of proportional representation. So, the higher is the state population. The more would be the members representing that state. Going by this logic, the Upper House has maximum representatives from Uttar Pradesh.

Now, not all Union Territories have representation in the Rajya Sabha. Delhi, Puducherry, and the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir are the only ones. Rajya Sabha members belonging to UTs are elected by an electoral college created specifically for this purpose.

Requirements to be a member:

• A citizen of India, aged minimum of 30 years

• He must take an oath, stating that he would hold allegiance to the Indian constitution

Earlier, one requirement was also that the person seeking a seat in the Rajya Sabha from a particular state should be a resident of that state. However, this requirement has been revoked since 2003.

Permanent Body

It is a permanent body of the Parliament, i.e., it does not get dissolved after five years like Lok Sabha. Due to this reason, it is also known as the ‘Continuing chamber’. This raises the question as to how its members retire. The President is authorised as per the Representation of People Act, 1951, to govern the tenure and retirement of its members.

One-third of its total members retire every two years, and for those vacant seats, elections are held periodically. 

Officials of the Upper House

The vice-President of India serves as an ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The deputy chairman is selected through elections by the other members of the Upper House.

The chairman is not considered a member of the house and cannot cast his vote in the house elections. He is allowed to vote in case of a tie. He also serves as the Rajya Sabha speaker.

The Deputy chairman heads the Upper House in the absence of the Chairman or when the latter has to act as the President of the Nation. He is considered a member of the house. In the presence of the Chairman, he is just like any other member of the house, who can cast votes as well. 

Roles and Responsibilities

It is also referred to as the revisionary house since it reconsiders the bills passed in the Lower House or Lok Sabha. It is referred to as the safety valve of our nation’s federal polity. It institutionalised the power-sharing principle between states and the centre, ensuring that none have unlimited or too limited powers.

It also rechecks the bills passed in the Lok Sabha to ensure that they have not been passed only by the central government members in the majority. If that were to happen, then the centre’s interests would be primarily reflected in the bills, ignoring the actual needs of the states and their people.

Minority sections of society like women, religious, and ethnic minorities get due representation here, which may not be the case in Lok Sabha since the people directly elect them.

Conclusion

The Upper House of the Indian Parliament is called Rajya Sabha. It can have a maximum of 250 members (12 of which are nominated by the President of India, based on their expertise in different subject areas like culture, arts, science, literature, etc. The rest are elected by the states and UTs). It is a body that works to safeguard the interests of states and ensures that the centre does not overpower them; hence it is the arm that protects the country’s federalism.