Types of Questions in Parliament of India

Question Hour is the first hour of a sitting in a house of parliament in India.  The members need to give notice of the question, which included text of the question, Official designation of the Minister and date on which answer is desired. If the member asks more than 1 question, the order of preference has to be given.

Types of Questions

• A starred question is distinguished by an asterisk and needs an oral answer. Since the answer is oral, supplementary questions might follow a starred question.
• An un-starred question requires written answer. Since the answer is given in written, there cannot be supplementary questions that follow an un-stared question
• A question relating to a matter of public importance of an urgent character asked with notice shorter than ten days is called a “Short Notice Question” Short Notice questions are generally answered orally.

Procedure of Asking Questions

For the purpose of answering questions in the House, the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India have been divided into five groups (A,B,C,D,E)  and the Ministers concerned answer questions by rotation. Further, fixed days have been allotted to the various groups of Ministries for answering questions in Lok Sabha.  Questions relating to groups A, B, C, D and E always come up for answer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively.

If there is no sitting of the House on any of the above five days on account of a holiday, the questions pertaining to the group of Ministries are not put down for answer during that week and are put next week only.