Question

The questions asked in the Parliament during “Question hour” are of what type?
A. Starred questions
B. Non starred questions
C. None of the above
D. Both starred and non starred

Answer 1

Hint: Question Hour is the first hour of an Indian Lok Sabha sitting session dedicated to questions posed by Members of Parliament on some type of administrative operation. Depending on the type of question posed, the Minister in question is obligated to respond to Parliament, either orally or in writing. Questions are one of the ways in which Parliament will keep the Executive responsible.

Complete answer:
 Lok Sabha is composed of members of the people elected on the basis of adult suffrage by direct election. The overall strength of the House envisaged by the Constitution is 552, which consists of up to 530 representatives to be elected to serve the States, up to 20 members to represent the Union Territories and no more than two members of the Anglo-Indian Community to be nominated by the Honourable President, if that community is not adequately represented in the House in his/her view. Total elective membership shall be allocated between States in such a manner that to the degree possible, the ratio between the number of seats given to each State and the population of the State shall be the same for all States.
The Question Hour is the first hour of an Indian Lok Sabha sitting session dedicated to questions posed by Members of Parliament regarding any type of administrative operation. Depending on the type of question posed, the Minister in question is obligated to respond to Parliament, either orally or in writing. One of the ways Parliament will keep the Executive accountable is to raise questions. Question Hour has become relevant in Lok Sabha with the broadcasting of Question Hour since 1991.
There are four types of question—Starred, non starred, short notice question and questions to private members;
Starred Questions are those that are supposed to have an oral response. The member may, with the permission of the Speaker, ask a supplementary question after the reply has been obtained from the Minister concerned. In order to differentiate them from other questions, these questions are written in green and are labelled with the asterisk symbol '*'.
Non-starred questions are those that are supposed to receive a written answer. No supplementary questions may be asked after the reply has been given. The minister must be given a notice period to respond to a question. These questions are written in white and can be listed in Lok Sabha for a day with no more than 230 questions.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: In many other nations, this sort of mechanism in which elected officials ask questions that are answered by the Prime Minister or other government ministers is part of the legislative practise. In the Indian Parliament, the Question Hour is identical to the Questions of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, the Questions of the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament and the Question Time in the National Assembly for Wales.