India is a federal republic
government and is officially referred to as the Union Government or
(commonly) Central Government. The Government of India (Bharat
Sarkar) was established by the Constitution of India and it is the
governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union
territories, which are collectively called the Republic of India.
The Preamble lays down the type of government that India has
adopted i.e. Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic.
The chief of state is the President and Vice President. The head of
the government is the Prime Minister. A cabinet is appointed by the
president on the recommendation of the prime minister. The following
will brief you about the Government of India:
- The President is elected by an electoral college of elected
members of the two houses of Parliament and the legislatures of
the states for a five-year term.
- Vice President is elected by both the houses of Parliament
for a period of five years.
- Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or
Rajya Sabha and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha.
- The Rajya Sabha consists of not more than 250 members, up to
12 of whom are appointed by the president, the remainder are
chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial
assemblies; the members serve six-year terms.
- The Lok Sabha consists of 545 seats; 543 elected by popular
vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year
terms.
- 1 chief justice and 25 associate justices are appointed by
the president and remain in office until they reach the age of
65 or are removed for "proved misbehavior".
