PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS - POLITY
News:
President Murmu delivers her first address to Parliament: History, significance
of President’s address
What's in the news?
● Ahead
of the Union Budget, President Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint sitting of
Parliament for the first time after assuming the position in July 2022.
● In
her speech, she lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government, saying that
it “respects honesty” and is “stable, fearless and decisive, and works to
fulfil big dreams”.
Key takeaways:
● The
President's address is seen as one of the most solemn occasions in the
Parliamentary calendar.
● It
is the only time in the year when the
whole Parliament comes together.
● The
address is an event, associated with ceremony and protocol, and the Lok Sabha
Secretariat makes extensive arrangements for it.
Constitutional Provisions:
● The
Constitution gives the President and the Governor the power to address a
sitting of the legislature.
● Article 87(1)
provides two special occasions on which the President addresses a joint
sitting.
○ To
address the opening session of a new
legislature after a general election.
○ To
address the first sitting of Parliament
each year.
● A
session of a new or continuing legislature cannot begin without fulfilling this
requirement.
What is the government’s role?
● There
is no set format for the President’s or Governor’s speech.
● The
Constitution states that the President shall “inform Parliament of the cause of
the summons”.
● The
address of the President follows a general structure in which it highlights the
government’s accomplishments from the previous year and sets the broad
governance agenda for the coming year.
● The President’s speech is
essentially the viewpoint of the government and is also written by it.
● The
President’s address serves as a platform for the government to make policy and
legislative announcements.
What if the President disagrees with the text of the
speech?
● The President or Governor
cannot refuse to perform the constitutional duty of delivering an address to
the legislature.
● But
there can be situations when they deviate from the text of the speech prepared
by the government. So far, there have been no instances of a President doing
so.
● But
there have been occasions when a Governor skipped or changed a portion of the
address to the Assembly.
○ Most
recently, Tamil Nadu’s Governor R N Ravi made changes to the prepared speech he
read out in the Assembly.
Motion of thanks - Article - 87 (2):
● After
the President’s address, the two Houses
move a motion to thank the President for her speech.
● This
is an occasion for MPs in the two Houses to have a broad debate on governance
in the country.
● The
issues raised by MPs are then addressed by the Prime Minister, who also replies
to the motion of thanks.
● The
motion is then put to vote and MPs can express their disagreement by moving
amendments to the motion.
● Opposition
MPs have been successful in getting amendments passed to the motion of thanks
in Rajya Sabha on five occasions, including in 1980, 1989, 2001, 2015 and 2016.
However, they have been less successful in the Lok Sabha. For instance, MPs of
the lower house, in 2018, tabled 845 amendments of which 375 were moved and
negatived.
Importance:
● The
President’s address is seen as one of the most solemn occasions in the
Parliamentary calendar.