RAS question
During which parliamentary device can MPs ask questions to ministers?
Correct answer: (B) Question Hour.
MPs ask questions to ministers during Question Hour, when members ask questions and ministers answer them.
Explanation
Question Hour is the parliamentary device meant for questioning ministers. The official Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Youth Parliament material defines a parliamentary question as a way for a member to elicit information on matters of public importance, and states that the first hour of the House sitting each day is Question Hour, during which members ask questions and ministers answer them. Parliamentary questions are classified as starred questions, which receive oral answers; unstarred questions, which receive written answers; and short-notice questions, which are asked on shorter notice for urgent matters. Question Hour is the structured question-and-answer slot, unlike a follow-up discussion, an urgent motion or an informal post-Question Hour intervention.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Half-an-hour Discussion concerns a recent question whose answer needs further elucidation, so it follows up an answer rather than serving as the main question-and-answer device.
- (C) Adjournment Motion is used to raise an urgent and grave matter of public importance, not to run the structured process of MPs asking ministers questions.
- (D) Zero Hour starts after Question Hour and lets members raise matters not listed in the business of the House, with the government not obliged to answer them.
Concept
Parliamentary devices belong to Indian Constitution and Governance. RAS often examines executive accountability in Parliament through the differences between Question Hour, Zero Hour, motions and discussions.