Question Hour: Meaning, Types of Questions and Significance

Question Hour is the first hour of every parliamentary sitting, during which members ask questions and ministers are expected to answer them. It is widely regarded as one of the most effective instruments Parliament has for keeping a daily check on the executive, precisely because it forces ministers to respond, in public, to specific and often uncomfortable questions.

Types of Questions

Questions in Question Hour are not all of one kind; the Rules distinguish between three categories, each with its own procedure.

Type of question	Nature of answer	Supplementary questions	Notice period
Starred question	Oral answer	Allowed	Standard notice
Unstarred question	Written answer	Not allowed	Standard notice
Short notice question	Oral answer	Allowed	Less than ten days

A starred question is marked by an asterisk and requires the minister to answer orally on the floor, which opens the door to supplementary questions from other members probing the answer further. An unstarred question, by contrast, receives only a written answer, and because there is no oral exchange, no supplementary questions follow. A short notice question is one where the notice period is compressed to less than ten days (against the standard period for ordinary questions), and it too is answered orally. Beyond ministers, questions can also be addressed to private members, where the subject matter concerns a Bill, resolution, or other business of the House for which that member is responsible; the procedure for such questions mirrors that for questions to ministers. To help distinguish these categories at a glance, the lists of starred, unstarred, short notice, and private-member questions are conventionally printed on differently coloured paper — green, white, light pink, and yellow respectively.

Why Question Hour Matters for Executive Accountability

Question Hour is one of the principal instruments through which the legislature deliberates on the executive's policy direction and on how policies are actually being implemented, alongside general discussions on bills and other devices such as Zero Hour and half-an-hour discussions. Held every day that Parliament sits, it requires ministers to respond to searching questions on issues of direct public concern — price rise, availability of food grains, atrocities against weaker sections, communal disturbances, black-marketing, and similar matters of the day.

Because it gives members a structured, guaranteed opportunity to demand information and to put the government on record, Question Hour is often described as the most effective method of keeping vigil over the executive and the administrative machinery of government, and it consistently records some of the highest member attendance of any part of a sitting. It gives members the chance both to criticise government performance and to represent the specific problems of their own constituencies. In practice, exchanges during Question Hour can become heated enough that members raise their voices, walk into the well of the House, or walk out in protest — behaviour that causes real loss of legislative time, even as it also functions, in part, as a political technique members use to extract concessions from the government and thereby force greater executive accountability.

Question Hour and the Time That Follows It

Immediately after Question Hour comes Zero Hour, the informal Indian innovation (in existence since the early 1960s) that lets members raise urgent matters of public importance even though it has no formal basis in the Rules of Procedure. Zero Hour is best understood as occupying the time gap between the end of Question Hour and the point at which the day's regular agenda is taken up — a reminder that Question Hour is not just a standalone device but the anchor around which a chain of other executive-control devices is organised each sitting day.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: Fix the three types of questions and their features precisely — starred (oral, supplementaries allowed), unstarred (written, no supplementaries), and short notice (notice under ten days, oral answer). Also remember that Question Hour is the first hour of every sitting and precedes Zero Hour.

Mains: Useful for GS2 answers on parliamentary control over the executive — Question Hour illustrates how a legislature with a disciplined majority government can still be forced into daily, public accountability through a structured procedural device, distinct from more extraordinary tools like adjournment or no-confidence motions.

FAQ

Q1. What is Question Hour? The first hour of every parliamentary sitting, during which members ask questions and ministers usually answer them.

Q2. What is the difference between a starred and an unstarred question? A starred question requires an oral answer and allows supplementary questions; an unstarred question requires only a written answer and does not allow supplementaries.

Q3. What is a short notice question? A question asked with less than ten days' notice, which is answered orally.

Q4. Can questions be addressed to members other than ministers? Yes — a question may be addressed to a private member if it concerns a Bill, resolution, or other House business for which that member is responsible.

Q5. What comes immediately after Question Hour? Zero Hour, the informal device — not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure — that lets members raise urgent matters of public importance before the day's regular agenda begins.

Quick Revision

• Question Hour: first hour of every sitting, members question ministers.
• Starred question: oral answer, supplementaries allowed.
• Unstarred question: written answer, no supplementaries.
• Short notice question: notice under ten days, oral answer.
• Questions may also go to private members on matters they are responsible for.
• Zero Hour follows immediately after Question Hour, before the day's regular agenda.

Sources

• Lok Sabha — Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
• Rajya Sabha — Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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