Differences between Indian Government and U.S. Government - Indian Polity

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• Daily Video Analysis – The Hindu Newspaper
• Daily Press Information Bureau (PIB) Analysis
• Download NCERT Notes PDF (Free) for UPSC Civil Service Exam
• Download Indian Polity Notes PDF (Free) for IAS Exam
• Download Geography Notes PDF (Free) for UPSC Civil Service Exam

• The elected head of Government is the Prime Minister. He is the executive head.
• The President is the constitutional head of state.
• Citizens cast their votes to elect their representatives to the Lok Sabha. The party that wins a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha gets invited by the President to form the government.
• The leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister.
• Elections to the Lok Sabha are held every five years generally.

• Head of State is the President.
• Citizens cast their ballot in every state to elect members of the electoral college (popular vote) who in turn cast electoral votes to determine the President.
• The President holds office for a four-year term.

• The government can lose the mandate if its majority cannot be proved in the Lok Sabha in the event of a no-confidence motion. 
• This would lead to mid-term elections.
• Parliamentary form of government.

• The President is not dependent on the strength of his party in Congress (legislative body).
• He remains in power for the four years of his term unless he is impeached or incapacitated.
• Presidential form of government.

• The Prime Minister appoints members of his cabinet from his party or from those supporting his coalition (if it’s a coalition government).

• President nominates cabinet members and sends them to the Senate for confirmation.
• The cabinet members need not be Congress members, and they could just be industry experts.

• The Parliament is the supreme legislative body.
• It is a bicameral legislature comprising of the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
• Lok Sabha (House of the People) members are elected directly by the people. There are 545 members.
• Rajya Sabha (Council of States) members are elected by the State legislative assemblies. Its total membership is 245.

• Congress is the legislature of the USA.
• The Senate and the House of Representatives are the two chambers of the Congress
• The House of Representatives (commonly referred to as the House) is the Lower House, while the Senate is the Upper House.

• There is no strict separation of powers.
• The executive is part of the elected legislature and remains in power while the House is in motion.
• The Prime Minister cannot override the legislature to make laws.
• A bill becomes a law only when both Houses pass it and it is signed by the President.
• The president can send any bill back to the parliament for consideration if he deems fit. But if it’s passed again, he should sign it.
• Supreme Court can strike down any law that it considers unconstitutional.

• Here, there is a clear separation of powers between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
• A law passed by the Congress can be vetoed by the President.
• He can send it back for consideration, or he can also bypass the Congress and issue an executive order (which has the force of law).
• However, Congress can override the veto by obtaining a 2/3rd majority in both Houses.

• India can be said to be a case of cooperative federalism. 
• There is only one constitution for the whole country.
• India is neither purely federal nor purely unitary.
• It is a federal structure with a strong unitary bias.
• India is a union of states meaning states have no authority to recede from India.

• It has a federal system, with each state having its own constitution.
• Here, power is shared between the federal government and state governments.