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).