Parliament: Leaders in Parliament

Each House of Parliament has separate secretarial staff of its own, though there can be some posts common to both the Houses.
Their recruitment and service conditions are regulated by Parliament.
The secretariat of each House is headed by a secretary-general.
He is a permanent officer and is appointed by the presiding officer of the House.

Leader of the House
- Leader of the House: Under the Rules of Lok Sabha, the ‘Leader of the House’ means the Prime Minister or another minister who is a member of Lok Sabha and is nominated by the PM to function as the Leader of the House.
- There is also a ‘Leader of the House’ in the Rajya Sabha who is a minister and a member of the Rajya Sabha and is nominated by the PM to function as such.
- She/He exercises direct influence on the conduct of business.
- The office of leader of the house is mentioned in the Rules of the House
Leader of the Opposition
- The leader of the largest Opposition party having not less than one-tenth seats of the total strength of the House is recognised as the leader of the Opposition in a House.
- She/He provides constructive criticism of the government policies and to provide an alternative government.
- The leader of Opposition in both the Houses were accorded statutory recognition in 1977 and are entitled to the salary, allowances and other facilities equivalent to that of a cabinet minister.
- The office of leader of the opposition is mentioned in the Parliamentary Statute.

She /He is appointed by the political party to serve as an assistant floor leader.
Functions
- Charged with the responsibility of ensuring the attendance of his party members in large numbers and securing their support in favour of or against a particular issue.
- He regulates and monitors their behaviour in the Parliament and the members are supposed to follow the directives given by the whip.
It is based on the conventions of the parliamentary government and not mentioned in the Indian Constitution nor in the other two statutes.