Question

What is the term of office of a Rajya Sabha member?

Answer 1

Hint: Rajya Sabha is also called Council of States and Upper House. It exhibits the bicameral nature of the Parliament of India. The Second Chamber of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, represents the nation's states and union territories. It is empowered to protect the interests of the states and territories of the union if the centre interferes with their function.

Complete Answer:The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous meetings.
Dissimilar to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper house of Parliament, isn't dissolved.
However, 1/3 of the members resign each subsequent year, and are supplanted by recently chosen members. Every member is chosen for a term of six years.
Hence the correct answer is- Term of office of a Rajya Sabha member is 6 years.

Additional information:The current Rajya Sabha has 245 members.
Out of these 245 members, 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using single transferable votes through open ballot.
The president appoints 12 members from diverse backgrounds such as arts, sports, literature, culture, social services, etc.
According to article 80 of the Indian Constitution, the Rajya Sabha has the maximum seating capacity of 250 members out of which 238 are elected and 12 are appointed.
The Vice President of India chairs the Rajya Sabha ex-officio.
The deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha is elected from among the members of the house. He is responsible for taking care of the activities of the house in the absence of the Chairman.
Harivansh Narayan Singh is the current deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha who was elected on 14 September 2020.
The first sitting of Rajya Sabha was held on 13 May 1952.

Note:The power of Rajya Sabha is limited by the constitution. It cannot pass no confidence motion and money bill. In the Constituent Assembly, considerable debate took place on the usefulness or otherwise of a Second Chamber in Independent India, and eventually it was agreed to have a bicameral legislature for independent India, primarily because a federal structure was considered to be the most appropriate form of government for such a large country of immense diversity. In reality, a single directly elected House was considered insufficient to meet the challenges before India was open.