What are the Merits and Demerits of Rajya Sabha?

The Rajya Sabha has fewer powers than the Lok Sabha. But it has considerable utility.

1. Permanent Chamber:

From time to time the Lok Sabha stands dissolved, but the Rajya Sabha is never dissolved. If any Emergency is declared by the President of India during the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, then that proclamation is to be approved by the Rajya Sabha.

2. Experience and Maturity:

As compared to the Lok Sabha, the members of the Rajya Sabha are generally older, more experienced and mature. As a result of this, the Rajya Sabha is able to correct the mistakes of the Lok Sabha. The members of the Rajya Sabha do not take any hasty decision while making law or amending the constitution. They take decisions after serious consideration.

3. Inclusion in Council of Ministers:

The Council of Ministers is not responsible to the Rajya Sabha, but there is no constitutional bar to the members of Rajya Sabha being appointed as Ministers. At different times, the members of Rajya Sabha have been appointed as Cabinet Ministers in charge of important Departments like Home, Foreign Affairs, and Human Resources Development etc.

The former Prime Ministers, I. K. Gujral and H. D. Deve Gowda, were both members of the Rajya Sabha. The present Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is also a member of the Rajya Sabha.

4. Democratic Value:

In the absence of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha might have been authoritarian and monopolistic. The Rajya Sabha exercises moral control over the Lok Sabha. The valuable opinions expressed by the seasoned and mature members of the Rajya Sabha are good for Indian democracy. Their views increase the political consciousness of people, and inculcate in them democratic values.

5. Federal Balance:

The Rajya Sabha helps in maintaining a healthy balance between the centre and the states.

Henry Maine has aptly observed, “Almost any chamber is better than none,” Gopalswami Ayyangar has said that, “the Rajya Sabha was created… to hold dignified debates on important issues and to delay legislation which might be the outcome of the passion of the moment.”

Demerits:

The Rajya Sabha has been subjected to the following criticisms.

1. Repetitive and Expensive:

Many things done by the Lok Sabha are repeated the Rajya Sabha. There is unnecessary duplication of work and the process is expensive as well as time-consuming.

2. In Conflict with Federalism:

The composition and functioning of the Rajya Sabha go against the basic principle of federalism. First, the constituent units are not equally represented in the Rajya Sabha. In the United States of America each state sends two members to the Senate. But in India, this equality of states in sending members to the Upper House absent. The large states send many more members to the Rajya Sabha than small states.

Secondly, the Rajya Sabha members of a state are guided more by party loyalty by their concern for the state which they represent in it. They are more interested in defending their party than in fighting for the state concerned in the Upper House.

Morris-Jones pointed out that the Rajya Sabha has not been ‘a battle ground between the Centre and States’ and that it has not been a forum for the ‘defense of States’ rights and expression regional demands.’

3. Sheltering Retired Politicians:

Another criticism leveled against the Rajya Sabha is that it has become a shelter for retired or second-rate politicians. Many Rajya Sabha members, both in the past and at present, are those who were defeated in Lok Sabha elections.

Further, if a shrewd politician fails to get the ticket of his party to contest in the Lok Sabha election, he manipulates the party machinery to be elected from the State Legislative Assembly to the Rajya Sabha.

4. Superfluous:

Many years ago, Abbe Sieyes had argued, “If a second dissents from the first, it is mischievous; if it agrees with it, it is superfluous.” This of second chambers is, to some extent, true of the Rajya Sabha.