Unstarred question

Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

An unstarred question is a question that a member of Parliament asks a minister and gets answered in writing. The written answer is laid on the table of the House, which means it is treated as formally placed before the House. Because nothing is said aloud, no supplementary questions (follow-up questions asked on the spot) can follow.

It matters because it is the main way MPs collect facts and data from the government. It is also the type of question that kept running when Question Hour was cancelled or disrupted.

Explanation

How it works

• Question Hour is the time in a sitting when members ask ministers questions and ministers must answer. In the Lok Sabha it is usually the first hour of the sitting.

• Every question, starred or unstarred, follows the same steps: 1. Notice: the member gives at least 15 clear days' notice [4]. This gives the ministry time to prepare an answer. 2. Length check: the question can have at most 150 words [2]. 3. Rotation: ministries are split into five groups. Each group answers on its fixed day of the week [2]. 4. Ballot: if many notices come in at the same time, a ballot (a draw of lots) decides their order [4][2]. 5. Answer: the minister's reply is written and laid on the table. No one says it aloud on the floor.

• Daily limit: up to 230 unstarred questions get written answers each day. Only up to 20 starred questions are listed for oral answers [2].

How you can tell it apart

• A starred question carries an asterisk (*), which shows the member wants a spoken answer.
• An unstarred question has no asterisk. The member accepts a written reply.
• So the asterisk decides two things: the mode of answer (oral or written) and whether supplementaries are allowed.

Its limits

• No supplementaries:
• The answer is on paper, so no one can ask a follow-up in the House at that moment.

• So a minister cannot be cross-checked on the spot.

• Good for data, weak for pressure: it gets detailed facts and figures, but it does not put a minister "in the dock" the way a starred question does.

• A way to follow up: if a recent answer (starred, unstarred or short notice) needs more explanation, a member can ask for a half-an-hour discussion (Lok Sabha Rule 55).
• It is held in the last half hour of a sitting, on up to three sittings a week.
• There is no formal motion and no vote.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits:
• The unstarred question is not named in the Constitution.
• It comes from the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Each House makes these rules under Article 118.

• It is a tool for collective responsibility. This means the Council of Ministers as a whole must answer to the Lok Sabha (Article 75(3)).

• Roots:

• The Indian Councils Act 1892 first allowed questions. The first question was asked in 1893 [2].

• Supplementaries came only in 1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms). Before that, every question was answered without on-the-spot follow-ups.

• After 1947:

• The Lok Sabha held Question Hour every day from 1952.

• The Rajya Sabha started with two days a week in 1952 and moved to every day from 1964 [2].

• Key instances:

• Monsoon Session 2020: Question Hour was cancelled because of COVID-19. Only written (unstarred) answers were given [2][3]. Government answers continued, but supplementaries did not.
• Special Session 2023: no questions were allowed at all [3]. Not even written answers were given.
• 17th Lok Sabha (2019–24): only 24% of Lok Sabha starred questions got oral answers. In the Rajya Sabha the share was 31% [3]. Disruptions leave the written channel as the main source of answers.
• Monsoon Session 2025: ministers answered only 8% (Lok Sabha) and 5% (Rajya Sabha) of starred questions orally [1].

Don't confuse with

• Starred question: marked with an asterisk, answered orally, and supplementaries are allowed. An unstarred question has no asterisk, gets a written answer and allows no supplementaries.
• Short notice question: asked on an urgent public matter with less than 10 days' notice. It is answered orally, only if the minister agrees, and supplementaries are allowed. An unstarred question needs the normal 15 clear days' notice [4].
• Question to a private member: put to a member who is not a minister (Lok Sabha Rule 40). It can only be about a bill, resolution or other House business that this member is responsible for. Unstarred questions go to ministers.
• Zero Hour: members raise urgent matters without notice, and ministers need not reply. It is not in the Rules of Procedure [2][5]. An unstarred question is a formal device in the rules, and it must get a written answer.

Prelims Hooks

• Unstarred = no asterisk + written answer laid on the table + no supplementaries. A common trap says unstarred questions allow supplementaries. They do not.
• Daily limits: up to 230 unstarred questions get written answers, but only up to 20 starred questions are listed [2].
• Notice: normal questions, including unstarred ones, need 15 clear days' notice [4]. Short notice questions need less than 10 days' notice.
• Word limit: a question can have at most 150 words [2]. Order is decided by ballot [4][2].
• Monsoon Session 2020: Question Hour was cancelled (COVID-19), and only unstarred (written) answers were given [2][3].
• A half-an-hour discussion (Lok Sabha Rule 55) can arise from an unstarred answer too, not only from a starred one.

Mains Points

• Written answers are not a full substitute:
• Unstarred answers still bring out large amounts of data (up to 230 a day) [2].
• But without supplementaries a minister cannot be questioned on the spot.

• So the 2020 cancellation [2][3] and the falling share of oral answers (8% LS, 5% RS in Monsoon 2025 [1]) weaken real scrutiny, even when written answers keep coming.

• Disruption pushes Parliament towards the written route:

• Disruptions cause adjournments.
• Adjournments mean starred questions go unanswered on the floor. The House then depends on unstarred replies.

• The daily "examination" of the executive that NCERT describes becomes a paper exercise. Reforms could include protecting Question Hour from adjournment and using half-an-hour discussions more often to follow up on unstarred answers.

• Strength of the device: unstarred questions give backbenchers and smaller parties a steady, rule-based way to put government data on record, without depending on floor time. This makes them useful for evidence-based debate and for building research before a later starred question or Rule 193 discussion.

Related concepts

• Question Hour
• Starred question
• Short notice question
• Zero Hour
• Special mention
• Half-an-hour discussion
• Short duration discussion
• Calling attention motion

Read more

• Questions, Zero Hour and short discussions