Shafi Parambil

What they do

• Debating and voting on central laws and Bills on Union List and Concurrent List subjects (for example defence, foreign affairs, railways, telecom, citizenship, criminal law).
• Approving the Union Budget, taxes and government spending - including Money Bills, which can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha (Articles 109-110), and voting the government's Demands for Grants.
• Questioning the government - Question Hour, Zero Hour, Calling Attention notices and Short Duration Discussions to get answers from ministers.
• Moving and voting on motions - including the no-confidence motion, which only the Lok Sabha can use to remove the Council of Ministers, plus adjournment and censure motions.
• Recommending local development works under the MPLAD Scheme (about ₹5 crore a year) - such as community buildings, roads, and water and sanitation assets - for execution by the district administration.
• Serving on parliamentary committees (standing, select and joint committees) that examine Bills, budgets and government performance in detail.
• Introducing Private Members' Bills and Resolutions to propose new laws or raise policy issues.
• Representing the constituency - raising local problems, projects and grievances with central ministries and pressing for central schemes.
• Helping pass Constitutional Amendment Bills, which need a special majority of Parliament (Article 368).
• Approving or ending proclamations of National Emergency, President's Rule in a State, and Financial Emergency, which must be approved by Parliament to continue (Articles 352, 356 and 360).
• Taking part in electing the President and Vice-President, and in the removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges and the impeachment of the President.
• Raising matters of public importance and presenting petitions on behalf of citizens.

Not their job - ask instead

• Everyday civic services - city roads, water supply, garbage collection, streetlights, drainage and building approvals. Ask your municipal corporator/councillor and the urban local body (Municipal Commissioner); in villages, the Gram Panchayat and Sarpanch.
• Police, crime and law-and-order - in the States this is a State subject, so ask the State Government (State Home Department) and the local police/SP; in Union Territories such as Delhi and Chandigarh the police come under the central government. Either way, an MP has no command over the police.
• State laws, state welfare schemes, land and most day-to-day governance where you live - these belong to your MLA and the State Government (in some Union Territories, such as Delhi, land is with the central government), not to a Union MP.
• Court cases and verdicts - the judiciary is independent; an MP cannot decide, speed up or interfere in cases.
• Running schools and hospitals or appointing teachers or doctors - public health is mainly a State subject and education is a Concurrent subject, handled largely by State Government departments.
• Physically building MPLAD works or choosing contractors - the District Authority (Collector/DM) sanctions and carries out the works; the MP only recommends them.
• Day-to-day running of a ministry - unless the MP is themselves the Minister in charge, this is run by the Union Minister concerned and civil servants, not by an ordinary MP.