Rajya Sabha’ or the ‘Council of States’ is the second chamber of the Indian parliament, which traces its origin to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, 1919.

• The section in the constituent assembly who was opposed to the idea of Rajya sabha held that an Upper House was not essential and opinionated that such a chamber can prove to be a “clog in the wheel of progress” of the nation, by delaying the legislative process.

• Proponents of the Rajya Sabha held that an upper chamber would lend a voice to the states in the legislative scheme of things and check the legislation passed in haste.

• Bicameralism is necessary for a federal constitution to give representation to the units of the federation.
• While checks and balances usually operate between the executive, legislature and judiciary, the Council of States acts as a safety valve within the legislature itself, easing federal tensions.
• Rajya Sabha thus represents a crucial component of the constitutional checks and balances scheme, in addition to the commonly identified examples of responsible government and judicial review.

• Indian constitution framers wanted to create a house that would act as arevisionary houseto keep a check on the hasty legislation that could be passed by the lower house under populist pressures.
• Also, when the ruling dispensation has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, Rajya sabha can prevent the government of the day exercising authoritarianism.

• Parliament is not only a legislative body but also a deliberative one which enables the members to debate major issues of public importance.
• Thus, the role of the Upper House is to be a deliberative body besides balancing the “fickleness and passion” of the Lok Sabha.

• Women, religious, ethnic and linguistic minority groups are not adequately represented in the Lok Sabha (due tofirst past the post-election system).
• An indirect form of election (through proportional representation) to the Rajya Sabha, therefore, would give them a chance to get involved in the nation’s law-making process.
• Thus, Rajya Sabha can make a place for people who may not be able to win a popular mandate.

• The Upper House also has some special powers, such as:
  • Power to transfer a subject from the State List to Union List for a specified period (Article 249).
  • To create additional All-India Services (Article 312).
  • To endorse Emergency under Article 352 for a limited period when the Lok Sabha remains dissolved.
  • Under Art. 67(b), Rajya Sabha may pass a resolution to remove the Vice- President. But, the Lok Sabha cannot, of its own right, raise such an issue.

• Federal countries like US, Australia, institutionalise the principle of federalism more strongly than India, by providing equal representation to all states in their upper houses.
• This is in contrast with the Rajya Sabha, where states are represented proportionally to their relative populations.
• For example, the number of seats allocated in Rajya Sabha to Uttar Pradesh alone is significantly higher than that of combined north-eastern states.

• In some cases, ordinary bills are being passed in the form of a Money Bill, circumventing the Rajya Sabha and giving rise to the question about the very efficacy of the upper house of Parliament.
• This can be seen recently in the controversy related to Aadhar Act.
• The Rajya Sabha can hardly regulate the tenure of the Cabinet because, according to Art. 75(3), the former is ‘responsible’ to the Lok Sabha. Of course, the former can criticise and condemn it for its follies. But, it can, by no means, pull it down.
• With regard to the ordinary Bills, they have equal authority. In case of their difference, a joint sitting is convened. But as the total membership of the Rajya Sabha is less than even half of the total strength of the other House, the stand of the latter is likely to prevail in it.

• By way of the Representation of People (Amendment) Act, 2003, parliament has removed the word ‘domicile’ from Section 3 of Representation of People Act, 1951.
• This essentially means that a person who does not belong to a state can contest the Rajya Sabha elections from that state of which they are neither a resident nor a domicile.
• After the amendment, the seats in the Rajya Sabha have been used by the ruling party to get their defeated candidate in Lok Sabha, elected in Rajya Sabha.

• More recently, the sincerity of nominated members has been questioned in multiple instances.
• Nominations are made by the government to satisfy the sentiments of the followers of certain personalities.
• Once nominated, they rarely participate in the working of the house. Sachin Tendulkar was appointed in 2012 and the House has met 374 days since then, but the attendance of Sachin Tendulkar is a meagre 24 days.

• To preserve the federal character of Rajya Sabha, one step would be to have members of the Rajya Sabha be directly elected by the citizens of a state.
  • This will reduce cronyism and patronage appointments.
• Also, a federal arrangement can be devised to enable equal representation for each state, so that large states do not dominate the proceedings in the House.
• There is a need for a better procedure of nomination to improve the quality of discussion in the House.
  • A cue in this regard can be taken from the UK.
  • The House of Lords Act, 1999 has led to the introduction of the Appointments Commission in 2000 with the primary function of making recommendations for the appointment of non-party-political members to the House of Lords.
  • This commission can recommend nomination to Rajya Sabha from groups under-represented.