III. State system and administration

GENERAL TEXTS

State system and administration in India

 

The Union of India came into being on August 15, 1947, by the partition of the former British colony India into two independent states: India and Pakistan. The constitution of the State was passed by the constituent assembly on November 26, 1949. Under it on January 26, 1950, the Union of India became an Indian so­vereign republic. Today India is a federation of 28 states and 7 union territories.

Nominally, the head of the republic is the president, in whom all executive powers are vested, but the real administrator of the country is the Prime Minister. The president is elected by a special electoral college consisting of the members of the Indian Parliament. He must be a citizen of India and more than 35 years of age. His term of office is five years, but he may be re-elected.

The legislative power is in the hands of the Indian Parlia­ment. The main functions of the Parliament are to make laws for the country. The Indian Parliament consists of two houses known as the Council of States (the Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (the Lok Sabha). The Council of States (the upper chamber) has no more than 250 members, a third of whom retire every two years. The House of the People (the lower chamber) has no more than 500 mem­bers elected directly by the people from 543 territorial constituencies on adult franchise at the rate of 1 representative to every 500,000 people. The term of office of the House of the People is five years.

The executive power is vested in the President, Vice-President and the Council of Ministers. The Vice-President performs the functions of the Chairman of the Council of States and acts as President when the latter is unable to discharge his functions. The President acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers, head­ed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and the other ministers are appointed by the President. The council is responsible to the House of the People.

As the Republic of India is a federation of States, the executive authority of the State is vested in a governor. Governors of states are nominated by the president. In the exercise of their func­tions they are aided and advised by cabinets of ministers over which a chief minister presides. The cabinets of ministers are accountable for their actions to the state legislative bodies.

 

Exercises

 

I. Be careful to pronounce the following correctly:

constituent, constituency, assembly, sovereign, parliament, parliamentary, supremacy, supreme, legislative, chamber, franchise, representative, administrative, executive, authority, nominate, accountable, responsible.

II. Denote the following notions by a single verb:

leave a position or office; be at the head; make laws; to be made up of; give (a person) right or power to do something; name to an office; give help to; give advice to.

III. Find in the text a word or words close in meaning to:

come into existence; dependency; to elect for a second time; to do the work or duty of somebody; a meeting, esp. of lawmakers; the chief minister; a fixed period of time; authority; a grown-up per­son; a delegate; to follow somebody's advice.

IV. Give the English equivalents of the following words and phrases:

независимый, суверенный, избирательный (комитет), законо­дательный, исполнительный, государственный, взрослый, ответ­ственный (за что-либо перед кем-либо), главный.

государство, республика, гражданин, власть, закон, законо­дательство, выборы, выборщик, избирательное право, предста­витель, премьер-министр, вице-президент.

принимать закон, конституцию, декрет; законодательное со­брание, избирательная система, коллегия выборщиков, член парламента, срок полномочий (президента и т. д.), совет мини­стров, верхняя палата, нижняя палата, наделять властью, ис­полнять обязанности, действовать по совету, из расчета (1 на 300).

V. A. Fill in the blanks with prepositions wherever necessary.

B. Translate into Russian.

State system and administration … Myanmar

… 9 April 2008, the military government … Myanmar released its proposed constitution … the country to be put to a vote … public referendum on 10 May 2008, as part of its roadmap … democracy. The constitution is claimed … the military as heralding a return to democracy, but the opposition sees it as a tool … continuing military control … the country.

The legislative branch is vested … the Union Assembly (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), which is a bicameral legislature consisting … the 440-seat People’s Assembly and the 224-seat National Assmebly. … the Constitution military member delegates are reserved a maximum of 56 of 224 seats in the National Assembly and 110 seats of 440 in the People's Assembly. This is similar … former Indonesian and Thai Constitutions. The executive branch rest … State Peace and Development Council headed … the Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The Chairman is both the chief … state and de facto head … government. The Council oversees the Cabinet of Ministers presided … the Prime Minister.

The revisions … state structure, including the creation … self-administering areas were not implemented until August 2010.

 

VI. What do you call it?

1. a state where all branches of government (esp. legislative and executive) are vested in the people; 2. the system of laws according to which a state is governed: the main and principal laws of the state; 3. the main legislative body elected on adult franchise; 4. a dependent country under foreign rule owing to invasion, conquest, etc; 5. a country under the control of or depen­dent on another country; 6. a native of a country, esp. of a repub­lic, who enjoys full civil rights. 7. the right given to the people to elect their representatives to legislative bodies, esp. to Parlia­ment; 8. a person elected to sit in the Parliament; 9. a person at the head of a Council (cabinet) of Ministers; 10. the two chambers most of the parliaments are divided into; 11. a number of states united under one central government; 12. a person nominated to rule over a state or province.

VII. Answer the following questions:

1. When did India become a sovereign state? 2. When was the constitution of the Union of India passed? 3. Who is the head of the federation? 4. Is the president elected directly by the peop­le? 5. What qualifications must the president meet? 6. What is his term of office? 7. What is the main legislative body of the Union of India? 8. How many chambers does the Indian Parliament con­sist of? 9. How many members are there in the Council of Sta­tes? 10. What is the term of office of the House of the People? 11. How many people form a constituency? 12. Whom is the exe­cutive power vested in? 13. Who presides over the Council of Mi­nisters? 14. Are the Ministers elected or appointed? 15. Who is the Council of Ministers responsible to for its actions?