UPPSC 2021 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 56 of 150

Correct — D, the time immediately following the Question Hour. 'Zero Hour' is the informal device by which Members of Parliament raise matters of urgent public importance without any prior notice. It begins the moment the Question Hour ends and continues until the House takes up the listed business (the Order/List of Business). In the Lok Sabha the Question Hour runs from 11 a.m. to 12 noon, so Zero Hour conventionally starts at 12 noon — the clock striking twelve/'zero' is the origin of the name. It is an Indian parliamentary innovation of the early 1960s and is NOT mentioned in the Rules of Procedure, so the Presiding Officer is under no obligation to permit it.

• (a)The first hour of the Session — Wrong — the first hour of a sitting is the Question Hour (usually 11 a.m.–12 noon), during which ministers answer questions. Zero Hour comes after that, not at the start.
• (b)When privilege motion are accepted — Wrong — this describes a breach-of-privilege motion, a separate procedural device for punishing a contempt or breach of parliamentary privilege. It has nothing to do with the time-based Zero Hour.
• (c)Hour before question hour — Wrong — Zero Hour comes AFTER, not before, the Question Hour. In fact nothing precedes the Question Hour, which itself opens the day's sitting.

A daily sitting of Parliament runs to a set order: the Question Hour comes first (in the Lok Sabha, 11 a.m.–12 noon), immediately followed by 'Zero Hour', after which the House takes up the listed business. Zero Hour is an informal Indian device — not written into the Constitution or the Rules of Procedure — that emerged around 1962. It lets members raise urgent issues instantly, bypassing the advance-notice requirement that ordinary questions carry.

The name misleads students: 'Zero Hour' sounds like 'hour zero' at the start of the day, but it is actually defined by the clock reaching 12:00 (zero) right after the Question Hour. Eliminate (a) and (c) by remembering that the sitting OPENS with the Question Hour; and (b) confuses it with a privilege motion.

• Question Hour is the first hour of a sitting (usually 11 a.m.–12 noon); Zero Hour begins immediately after, around 12 noon.
• Zero Hour is an informal device NOT mentioned in the Rules of Procedure or the Constitution; it began in the Indian Parliament around 1962.
• During Zero Hour members raise matters of urgent public importance WITHOUT the advance notice that starred/unstarred questions require.
• Because it is not a formal rule, the Speaker/Chairman is not bound to allow Zero Hour submissions.

• Reading 'Zero Hour' as the first hour of the sitting — it actually follows the Question Hour
• Confusing Zero Hour (informal, no notice) with the Calling Attention Motion (formal, with prior notice)

UPPSC and UPSC test parliamentary devices by asking for the meaning or timing of Zero Hour and Question Hour, or by matching a device to its description.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A 'starred question' in the Indian Parliament is one which

  • (a)requires only a written answer and no supplementaries
  • (b)requires an oral answer and can be followed by supplementary questions
  • (c)is asked without any prior notice
  • (d)is answered only by the Speaker

  Answer(b) requires an oral answer and can be followed by supplementary questions — that is what distinguishes a starred question from an unstarred (written-answer) one.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which parliamentary device allows a member to raise a matter of urgent public importance during a sitting without any prior notice?

  • (a)Calling Attention Motion
  • (b)Adjournment Motion
  • (c)Zero Hour
  • (d)Question Hour

  Answer(c) Zero Hour — the informal device, following the Question Hour, that needs no advance notice.