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Indian Polity - kopykitab.com Editorial 7 Indian Constitution and Political 6System : Facts to be Remembered 20 The Indian Political System and the Constitution 20 The Background

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Page 1: Indian Polity - kopykitab.com Editorial 7 Indian Constitution and Political 6System : Facts to be Remembered 20 The Indian Political System and the Constitution 20 The Background
Page 2: Indian Polity - kopykitab.com Editorial 7 Indian Constitution and Political 6System : Facts to be Remembered 20 The Indian Political System and the Constitution 20 The Background

5 Editorial7 Indian Constitution and Political System :

Facts to be Remembered20 The Indian Political System and the

Constitution20 The Background21 Major Characteristics of the Constitution24 A Brief History of Constitutional Development26 The Framing of the Indian Constitution27 Indian Constitution : A Brief Introduction27 Part I : The Union and its Territory (Art. 1– 4)27 Part II : Citizenship (Art. 5 –11)28 Part III : Fundamental Rights (Art. 12– 35)28 Right to Equality (Art. 14–18)29 Right to Freedom (Art. 19–22)31 Part IV : Directive Principles of State Policy (Art.

36–51)32 Part IV A : Fundamental Duties (Art. 51A)32 The President33 The Vice-President of India34 Council of Ministers35 Parliament : Union Legislature36 Officers of Parliament41 The Union Judiciary (Art. 124–147)43 Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Art.

148–151)44 Part VI : The States48 High Courts in the States49 Subordinate Courts49 The Union Territories50 Panchayats (Art. 243–243-O)53 The Municipalities (Art. 243 P–243 ZG)57 Relations between the Union and the States59 Services under the Union and the States

61 Elections (Art. 324-343)61 Special Provision Relating to Certain

Classes62 Official Language63 Emergency Provisions65 Protection of President and Governors from

Legal Proceedings65 Amendment of the Constitution65 Temporary Provisions with respect to the

State of Jammu and Kashmir66 Commencement of the Constitution67 Schedules67 Appendices68 The Constitutional Amendment Acts

(1951–2012)74 Indian Political System78 Nature of the Indian Political System81 Fundamental Rights87 Directive Principles of State Policy88 Implementation of Directive Principles of

State Policy89 Human Rights Issues in India93 Nature of Indian Federal System and its

Evaluation95 Centre-State Relations98 Efforts for the Improvement of Centre-State

Relations100 Inter-State Relations101 Reorganisation of States102 Election of the President : Its Process and

Politics105 Election of the Vice-President of India113 Council of Ministers114 Position of the Prime Minister115 Indian Parliament

Indian Polity / 3

Page 3: Indian Polity - kopykitab.com Editorial 7 Indian Constitution and Political 6System : Facts to be Remembered 20 The Indian Political System and the Constitution 20 The Background

116 Speaker and Dy. Speaker of the House of thePeople

118 Law Making Procedure

120 Questions in Parliament

127 The Committees of Parliament

133 Indian Judiciary

134 Supreme Court

139 The Leading Cases of Supreme Court

141 The State Executive

146 Role and Position of the Chief Minister

147 The State Legislature

150 Civil Services in India : Nature and Role

153 Bureaucracy

155 The Political Executive (Ministers) vs. TheBureaucracy

155 Generalist vs. Specialist Controversy

156 Committed Bureaucracy

156 Role of Bureaucracy in Development

158 Governance and Good Governance in India

159 Planning in India

163 Political Impacts of Planned EconomicDevelopment

163 Public Policy in India

167 Panchayati Raj and Community DevelopmentProgramme

168 Organisation of Three Tier Panchayati RajSystem

173 Political Party System, Pressure Groups,Election Commission and Election Process

174 Indian Party System

175 Pressure Groups

176 Election Commission

178 Election Process

181 Indian Politics : Style, Nature and Culture

181 Political Culture

182 Indian Political Culture

183 Nature of Indian Politics

186 Important Commissions

188 Indian Democracy

189 Political and Constitutional Terminology

198 Questions–Answers

220 Rules of Procedure and Conduct ofBusiness in Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha

226 Objective Type Questions

The concurrence of the views of the Editor is not necessary for any matter or figure published in Pratiyogita Darpan. —Editor

Indian Polity / 4

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Indian Polity / 5

Be Aware : Be HappyBe Aware : Be HappyBe Aware : Be Happy

Happiness is sought by every-one, but the search is not focused inthe right direction. We waste precioustime seeking happiness in the mirageof objects, places and people somuch so that some seek happinessin caves, mountains or on the shiftingsands of deserts, practising severepenance. Those who seek happinessin the objective domain, are calledextroverts. They simply waste theirtime in wasteless efforts disregardingthe subject.

In fact happiness is a function ofthe subjective. But it is not possible toseek happiness in the subjectivebecause subjective cannot becomean object of seeking. This means thatto seek happiness in either directionis to miss happiness.

At the same time, happiness isalways near us—rather within us. It isfor us to have it now ?

Suppose we sit to solve a mathe-matical problem. We fail in ten efforts.But succeed in the eleventh one. Howhappy we feel ! At that time we forgetall about our surroundings and eventhose ten efforts in which we had tomeet failure. All of us know it full well,when Archimedes hit upon the idea ofdensity. He left his bathroom and rancrying—with no clothes on his body–Eureka, Eureka. I am sure, our youngreaders would agree with me thatwhen we get success in our efforts,specially after sincere and with onepointed efforts, we feel happy. Sohappiness lies neither in the objectivenor in the subjective, it lies within uswhich is evoked by doing our workwith full devotion. Had it not been so,persons, whom we honour and callgreat, should not have devoted theirwhole lives in making researches,inventions or fighting for country’sfreedom. Our freedom fighters neverfelt sorry or bitter for having under-gone all sorts of tyrannies or spend-ing the best part of their life behindthe bars.

On the other hand, they felthappy and proud for that. Many of our

budding youngsters felt happy everycentimetre when they kissed thenoose of the gallows. In short, a per-son experiences happiness, when hehas the satisfaction of having donewith a sense of duty what he believesto be right. At the same time, realisa-tion of happiness makes one deta-ched, silent and contemplative. In thephilosopher’s language this state ofthe mind may be called a self-aware-ness. Once Raman Marshi told toKavya Kantha Ganpathi Muni, aVedic scholar and a devotee ofShakti, that meditation means just tobe happy. Being conscious of one’signorance is meditation. So, ouryoung men and women will do wellnot to feel elated on their gainingknowledge or making achievements.The more they become conscious oftheir limitations, the more they wouldbe happy and more their path tosuccess would become easy. A greatscientist like Newton used to thinkhimself as a child who only soughtpebbles on the sea shore and had notdared enter the ocean of knowledge.

Can happiness be an enduringexperience in the ups and downs ofactual living ? The answer is both yesand no. If one lives in constantawareness, i.e., fully conscious of hiscommitments to life, he is happy. Incase otherwise, he is unhappy. I takethis opportunity to repeat that happi-ness is not to be sought. It is like abutterfly. The more one chases it, themore it eludes him Happiness isalready here. One may experience it,if he takes the hardships of life withcheer and devotion.

Creativity is the core of happi-ness. As rightly said, we have nomore right to consume happinesswithout producing it. Happiness is notin doing, but in liking what you do. Inthe words of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru,“Happiness and work are weddedtogether, for there can be no truehappiness without feeling that one isdoing something worthwhile.” A con-temporary of Nehru Aldous LeonardHuxley also connects happiness with

creating something new and useful—Happiness is like coke, somethingyou get as by-product in the processof making something else. Thereason—one always feels happywhen he sees that he has createdsomething. The great Hindi saint poetTulsidas said who does not likepoems written by him whether theyare sweet or not—

fut d`fo® ds`fg ¥kx u uhd`k ‰

ljl gksm vƒok vfr œ`hd`k ‰‰Earl Nightingale said rightly—

The happiest people on earth arethose who are emotionally involved inwhat they do. So two things go tomake happiness enjoyable—hardwork and devotion. If one puts one’sheart and soul into what one does,one enjoys that state of conscious-ness which is called bliss. This givesus the all important equation—happi-ness is the manifestation of bliss,which is always within the reach ofthose, who take work as worship.

Happiness is not somethingwhich can be categorised as subjec-tive or objectives. It is neither.According to Bulwer—To be happyone has to forget himself, i.e., heceases to identify himself with time.

A king on waking up told hisminister—in my dream, I was abutterfly, but on waking I foundmyself to be a king. Please tell mewhich of these two experiences is thetruth.” The minister replied, “yourhighness, doubtless you are king”—not a butterfly. The king was notconvinced. He said, “how do youknow ? It might be that I am the kingin the butterfly’s dream.”

Obviously, the king was not pre-pared to identify himself with theobjective or the subjective world. Hewas quite aware that these experien-ces are quite elusive.

To conclude happiness in every-day life means walking wakefully inthis dream world. Self awarenesshelps find true happiness.

●●●

Page 5: Indian Polity - kopykitab.com Editorial 7 Indian Constitution and Political 6System : Facts to be Remembered 20 The Indian Political System and the Constitution 20 The Background

Indian Polity / 6

At a Glance :

THE ANNUAL SESSIONS OF THE CONGRESS PARTY ANDITS PRESIDENTS SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1885

Year Session Place President Year Session Place President

18851886188718881889189018911892189318941895189618971898189919001901190219031904190519061907190819091910191119121913191419151916191719181918191919201921

1922

1923

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

BombayCalcuttaMadrasAllahabadBombayCalcuttaNagpurAllahabadLahoreMadrasPoonaCalcuttaAmravatiMadrasLucknowLahoreCalcuttaAhemdabadMadrasBombayBanarasCalcuttaSuratMadrasLahoreAllahabadCalcuttaPatnaKarachiMadrasBombayLucknowCalcuttaBombayDelhiAmritsarNagpurAllhabad

Gaya

Delhi

Kakinada

Belgaum

Kanpur

Gauhati

Madras

Calcutta

Lahore

Karachi

Womesh Chand BanerjeeDadabhai NaorojiBadruddin TyabjiGeorge YuleSir William WedderburnFrozshah MehtaP. Anand CharluW. C. BanerjeeDadabhai NaorojiAlfred WebbS. N. BanerjeeRahimtulla SayaniC. S. NairA. M. BoseR. C. DuttN. G. ChandravarkarB. E. WachaS. N. BanarjeeL. M. GhoshSir Henry CottonG. K. GokhaleDadabhai NaorojiRashbihari GhoshRashbihari GhoshM. M. MalaviyaSir William WdderburnB. N. DharR. M. MadholkarSyed Mohamad BahadurBhupendra Nath BasuS. P. SinhaA. C. MazumdarMrs. Annie Besant(Special Session) Hassan Immam(Annual Session) M. M. MalaviyaMotilal NehruC. Vijyaragava-chariarC. R. Das (In prison) ActingPresident-Hakim Ajmal Khan

C. R. Das

(Special Session) Lala Lajpat Rai

(Annual Session) Mohammad Ali

Mahatma Gandhi

Sarojini Naidu

S. Srinivas Iyenger

M. A. Ansari

Motilal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru

193119321933193419351936193719381939

1940-461946(July-Sep.)1946-47194819501951195319541955195619571958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1964

1965

1966

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1975

1976

1978

1983

1984

1992

1993

1994

1996

1997

2001

KarachiDelhiCalcuttaBombayLucknowFaizpurFaizpurHaripuraTripuri

Raigarh—MeerutJaipurJaipurNasikDelhiHyderabadKalyanAvadiAmritsarIndorePragjyotishpur

Nagpur

Bangalore

Bhavnagar

New Delhi

Bhubaneshwar

Durgapur

Jaipur

Bangalore

New Delhi

Dew Delhi

Ahemdabad

Calcutta

Chandigarh

New Delhi

New Delhi

Calcutta

New Delhi

Tirupati

Surajkund

New Delhi

New Delhi

Calcutta

Bangalore

Vallabh Bhai PatelR. Amrit LalJ. M. Sen GuptaRajendra PrasadRajendra PrasadJawaharlal NehruJawaharlal NehruSubhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose (ThoughSubhash Chandra Bose was elected,he had to resign and RajendraPrasad was appointed in his place.)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Jawaharlal Nehru

J. B. KripalaniPattabhi SitaramaiahPurushottam Das TandonJawaharlal NehruJawaharlal NehruJawaharlal NehruU. N. DhebarU. N. DhebarU. N. DhebarU. N. Dhebar

U. N. Dhebar

Indira Gandhi

N. Sanjiva Reddy

D. Sanjivayya

K. Kamaraj

K. Kamaraj

K. Kamaraj

S. Nijalangappa

C. Subramaniam

Jagjivan Ram

D. Sanjivayya

Shankar Dayal Sharma

D. K. Barooah

Brahamananda Reddy

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi

P. V. Narsimha Rao

P. V. Narsimha Rao

P. V. Narsimha Rao

P. V. Narsimha Rao

Sitaram Kesari

Sonia Gandhi (Till present)

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Indian Polity / 7

INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND POLITICAL SYSTEM

(Facts to be Remembered)

THE MAKING OF THECONSTITUTION

● Indian Constitution was framed by aConstituent Assembly in a long timeof 2 years, 11 months and 18 days. Itis the longest Constitution in theworld. An amount of 64 lakh wasspent in making the Constitution.

● The demand for a Constituent Assem-bly to draft Indian Constitution was,for the first time, raised by the Con-gress in 1935. The British Govern-ment accepted this demand, for thefirst time, in principle in the Augustproposals of 1940.

● The Constituent Assembly was con-stituted in Nov. 1946 through indirectelection of its members by provinciallegislatures under the provisions ofCabinet Mission Plan, 1946.

● The Assembly consisted of total 389members, of which 292 were to beelected from provinces, 93 were to benominated from princely States andfour members were to be nominatedfrom Chief Commissioner’s Areas.Each province was allocated seats inproportion to its population. Also, theseats were further allocated to threecommunities—Muslim, Sikhs andGeneral—in proportion to their popu-lation. Roughly one member was torepresent a population of 10 lakh.

● Each provincial assembly elected itsmembers for the Constituent Assem-bly through the single transferablevote system of proportional represen-tation. The method of representationin princely states was to be decidedwith their consultation.

● The Mountbatten plan of 3rd June,1947 announced partition of thecountry and a separate ConstituentAssembly for the proposed state ofPakistan. Consequently the membersof Constituent Assembly representingthose areas which were to be includedin Pakistan—West Punjab, EastBengal, North-West Frontier Province(NWFP), Sindh, Baluchistan andSylhet district of Assam were no moremembers of Indian Constituent As-sembly. NWFP and Sylhet decidedthrough a referendum to remain with

Pakistan. Thus, the membership of theIndian Constituent Assembly was re-duced to 299 after partition and only284 members signed the Constitutionon 26 Nov., 1949.

● The first meeting of the ConstituentAssembly was held on Dec. 9, 1946which was boycotted by MuslimLeague.

● Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha was electedas temporary Chairman and later Dr.Rajendra Prasad was elected as per-manent President of the ConstituentAssembly.

● Shri B. N. Rau was appointed asLegal Advisor to the ConstituentAssembly.

● Jawaharlal Nehru introduced Objec-tive Resolution’ on 13th Dec. 1946,which was adopted by the ConstituentAssembly on January 22, 1947. Itsmodified version forms the Preambleof Indian Constitution.

● To facilitate the work of Constitution-making, the Assembly appointed 22Committees, of which 10 were onProcedural Affairs and 12 on Sub-stantive Affairs. The main committeeswere—Rules of Procedure Com-mittee, Committee for Negotitatingwith States, Steering Committee,Union and Provincial ConstitutionCommittees, Flag Committee etc.

● However, the most important was theseven member Drafting Committeeheaded by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, whichwas set-up on Aug. 29, 1947. Theother members of the Committeewere—N. Gopalswami Ayyangar,Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, K. M.Munshi, Mohammad Saadullah, B. L.Mittar (replaced by N. Madhav Raulater) and D. P. Khaitan (who died in1948 and was replaced by T. T.Krishnamachari).

● The Drafting Committee finalised theDraft Constitution of India in Feb.1948 and the second reading of thesame by the Assembly was completedon Oct 17, 1948. For the third readingof the Constitution, the Assembly meton Nov. 14, 1949 and finished it onNov. 26, 1949. The Constitution wasadopted on the same date with mem-bers and the President signing theConstitution.

● According to Article 394, some of theprovisions of the Constitution relatingto citizenship, elections, provisionalparliament and temporary and transi-tional provisions contained in Articles5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379,380, 388, 391, 392, and 393 came intoforce on 26th Nov., 1949 and theremaining provisions of the Con-stitution came into force on 26th Jan.,1950.

● The Republic Day is celebrated on26th Jan, because India was declaredRepublic on this day in 1950.Republic means, a form of govern-ment where the Head of the State(President) is directly or indirectlyelected by people.

● January 26 was selected as the date ofCommencement of Indian Constitu-tion because of its historical signifi-cance. It was on this date in 1930 thatIndian people observed ‘Indepen-dence Day’, following the resolutionof congress session held in Dec. 1929at Lahore.

● The Constituent Assembly came toend on 24 Jan., 1950 but it emerged asprovisional parliament on 26 Jan. tillthe elections of Lok Sabha. The Pre-sident of the Assembly Dr. RajendraPrasad was appointed as the First Pre-sident of the Indian Republic till theelections.

● According to Article 395, with theCommencement of Indian Constitu-tion, the Indian Independence Act,1947, and the Govt. of India Act,1935 are repealed. But the Abolitionof Privy Council Jurisdiction Act,1949 was not repealed.

● Some constitutional experts do notrecognise the Constituent Assemblyas sovereign body as it was created bythe proposals of British Govt. Butafter India became independent inAug. 1947, the Constituent Assemblyfunctioned as a sovereign entity for allpractical purposes.

● Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar VallabhBhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad, Acharya J. B.Kriplani, T. T. Krishnamachari andDr. B. R. Ambedkar played a verysignificant role in Constitution mak-ing. However, Dr. Ambedkar is recog-nised as ‘Father of the Indian Consti-tution’.

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PREAMBLE

● Besides Preamble, the Constitutionoriginally contained 395 articles and 8schedules. Presently it has 395 articlesand 12 schedules.

● The Preamble of the Constitution is apart of the Constitution, but it is notenforceable by courts. It can beamended like other provisions of theConstitution. The courts can take re-course to the Preamble in order toexplain and clarify other provisions ofthe Constitution. This was the viewheld by the Supreme Court in theBerubari Union Case, (1960) and thesame view was reiterated in Keshva-nand Bharti case in 1973.

● The phrase, “We the people of India……do hereby Adopt, Enact and toGive to ourselves this Constitution”,written in the Preamble underlined theSupremacy and Sovereignty of thepeople of India.

● The Preamble is non-justiciable. Thatmeans, courts can not pass ordersagainst government to implement theideas contained in the Preamble. Forexample, Government of India movedon the path of liberalisation and pri-vatisation in 1991, without removingthe word ‘Socialism’ from the Pream-ble. Now courts cannot force thegovernment to incorporate the idea ofsocialism. Infact, the Preamble en-shrines the goals and ideals of theConstitution.

● British political thinker EarnestBarker has appreciated and cited thePreamble in the opening of his book‘Principles of Social and PoliticalTheory’.

● The Preamble declares India to be a‘Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Demo-cratic Republic’, and ensures to pro-vide to all its citizens ‘Justice—social,economic and political’, ‘equality ofstatus and opportunity’, ‘freedom ofthought’, expression, belief, faith andworship’, ‘dignity of individual’ and‘unity and integrity of the nation’.

● The Preamble has been amended onlyonce so far in 1976 by 42nd Amend-ment which inserted the words,‘Socialism’, ‘Secularism’ and ‘Inte-grity’.

● The term Socialism does not mean‘State Socialism’, that is ownership ofall means of production and distribu-tion by the State but it means reduc-ing the inequalities between rich andpoor. This is also referred to as ‘socia-listic pattern of society’, which wasadopted as a goal of Indian state by

the Congress in its Avadi session in1955.

● The term ‘Secularism’ means equalrespect and equal protection of allreligions by government, which inother words is, ‘Sarva DharmSambhav’. This meaning is distinctfrom the negative concept of Secular-ism held in western traditions that is,separation of religion and politics/state.

● The Preamble is termed as ‘PoliticalHoroscope’ by K. M. Munshi, ‘Key tothe Constitution’ by Earnest Barker,and ‘Soul of the Constitution’ byThakurdas Bhargav. Because of com-plexity of its provisions, the IndianConstitution is termed as ‘Paradise ofLawyers’ by M.V. Paylee. GranvilleAustin says that Indian Constitution isbasically a social document’.

UNION AND STATES

● India has opted for the Federal formof Government due to its large sizeand sociocultural diversities, but theword ‘Federation’ does not find men-tion in the Constitution. Instead,article 1 declares, ‘India’ that isBharat, shall be a Union of States’.The term ‘Union’ was suggested byDr. B. R. Ambedkar, which indicatestwo things, first, Indian Union is not aresult of agreement of independentand sovereign states, and second, theUnits/States do not have right tosecede from the Union. Thus, India isan ‘indestructible union of destruc-tible states’. The states are destruc-tible as Union Government canchange their names and boundarieswithout their consent.

● D. D. Basu terms Indian Constitutionas mixture of unitary and federalfeatures. According to K. C. Wheare,it is ‘quasi-federal’, it is less federaland more unitary. For prof. Alexandrowicz, ‘India is a case ‘Sui Generis’(i.e., Unique in Character); for SirIvor Jennings, it is a federation withstrong centralising tendency, and forGranville Austin, it is an example of‘co-operative federalism’.

● There are presently 29 States and 7Union Territories in Indian Union.The Union Territory of Goa, Damanand Diu was bifurcated in 1987 tomake the state of Goa and UT ofDaman & Diu. Andhra Pradesh wasthe first state created on the basis oflanguage in 1953. The States ofIndian Union were reorganised on thebasis of language in 1956 followingthe recommendation of State Reorga-nisation Commission, 1955, headed

by Fazal Ali. Other two members ofthe Commission were K. M. Panikkarand H. N. Kunzru.

● The Union Territory of Pondicherry(now Puducherry) became part ofIndian Union in 1962 after French leftfrom India. Puducherry consists offour areas scattered in differentregions—Puducherry and Karaikal inTamil Nadu, Yanam in AndhraPradesh and Mahe in Kerala.

● The Supremacy of Constitution hasbeen recognised in India as againstthe Supremacy of Parliament inBritain.

● As provided in the 7th schedule of theConstitution, powers of governmenthave been divided between Union andStates. The Union List contains 97subjects, State List has 66 subjectsand there are 47 subjects in the Con-current List. In case of ConcurrentList both Union and States can makelaws but Union law prevails in case ofcontradiction between the two. By the42nd Amendment, 1976, five subjectshave been shifted from State List toConcurrent List. These subjects are—administration of justice and organi-sation of all courts except SupremeCourt and High Courts; Forests;Population Control and Family Plann-ing; Education, including medical andtechnical education; and weights andmeasures except establishment ofstandards.

● The Residuary powers have beenvested with the Union Government. Itshould be noted that under the federalsystem proposed by the Governmentof India Act, 1935, these powers werevested with Governor-General ofIndia.

● The State of Jammu & Kashmir hasbeen given special status under Article370, which became operative on Nov.17, 1952. The State has a separateConstitution which was drafted by theConstituent Assembly of J & K andbecame effective on Jan. 26, 1957.The provisions of Article 370 cannotbe amended by parliament; but it canbe made inoperative by the order ofPresident of India with prior consentof the Constituent Assembly of J &K.The Assembly will have to be re-constituted for this purpose.

● There are special provisions for theStates of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat andMaharashtra under Article 371, forthe State of Nagaland under Article371A, for Assam under Article 371Band for Sikkim under Article 371F.

● Indian provinces/states do not havetheir separate Constitution as inAmerica. They are also not entitled totake loan or trade with foreign coun-

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tries directly. They do not have rightto secede from the Union.

● Indian federal system is more alikethe Canadian system. Indian states aredependent upon central governmentfor economic assistance. There is asingle citizenship in India. States donot have right to accord separate citi-zenship to their residents.

● The Central Government (Parliament)has right to change the boundary andnames of states (Article 3). This act ofParliament will not be considered asamendment to the Constitution, i.e.,this can be done with simple majorityby the Parliament (Article 4)

● The Parliament can enact law in asubject of State List if it has beendeclared as a subject of national im-portance by Rajya Sabha with 2/3majority of present and voting, orwhen proclamation of National Emer-gency is in operation, or when legisla-tures of two or more states have de-sired so.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTSAND DUTIES

● To ensure the overall development ofcitizens, the Fundamental Rights havebeen provided in the Part III (Articles12–35) of the Constitution.

● According to Article 13 of the Consti-tution, the Fundamental Rights cannot be modified or limited in any wayexcept by the procedure of Consti-tutional Amendment.

● The Fundamental Rights are justicia-ble i.e., they are protected by judi-ciary in case of their violation.

● The individuals can directly approachthe Supreme Court or High Courts forthe protection of their FundamentalRights. Under the Right to Constitu-tional Remedies, both SupremeCourt and High Court can issue writsof Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Quo-Warranto, Prohibition and Certiorari.The Right to Constitutional Remedieshas been described by Dr. Ambedkaras the soul of the Constitution.

● Seven Fundamental Rights were pro-vided in the original Constitution.But the Right to Property has beenrepealed as Fundamental Right andhas been converted into an ordinarylegal right under Article 300A by the44th Amendment in 1978. Conse-quently, at present, there are only SixFundamental Rights.

● The Six Fundamental Rights are : (i)Right to Equality, (ii) Right to Free-dom (iii) Right against Exploitation,

(iv) Right to Religious Freedom, (v)Cultural and Educational Rights and(vi) Right to Constitutional Remedies.

● Right to Freedom contains six free-doms.

● The 86th Constitution (Amendment)Act, 2002 added a new article 21-A inRight to Freedom. The Article 21-Arelates to Right to Education whichreads. The state shall provide free andcompulsory education to all childrenof the age of six to fourteeen years insuch manner as the state may, by law,determine.

● Fundamental Rights are generallysuspended during operation of Natio-nal Emergency. Right to Freedomunder Article 19 is automatically sus-pended. Other Rights may be sus-pended by a declaration of the Presi-dent to that effect. But Rights to Lifeand Personal Liberty under Article 20and 21 cannot be suspended evenduring National Emergency.

● Fundamental Duties were not pro-vided in the original Constitution. TenFundamental Duties were added by42nd Amendment in 1976 in Article51A of Part IVA along with DirectivePrinciples of State Policies.

● Like Directive Principles of StatePolicy, the Fundamental Duties arealso non-justiciable. However, theycan be enforced by the governmentthrough enactment of laws by appro-priate Legislatures.

● There were 10 Fundamental Dutiesadded to the Constitution by 42ndAmendment in 1976. The eleventhduty (k) relating to the provision ofopportunities for education to thechildren between the age of six andfourteen years was added by 86thAmendment Act, 2002.

DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLESOF STATE POLICY

● The Directive Principles of StatePolicy are described in Articles 36–51 under Part IV of the Constitution.

● Majority of the Directive Principlesaim at the establishment of social andeconomic democracy or the esta-blishment of a Welfare State, whichhas been resolved in the Preambleitself.

● The State is not bound to implementthe provisions of Directive Principles,i.e., they are non-justiciable. Thusthey cannot be enforced by the courts.

● Some new Directive Principles havebeen added by the 42nd Amendmentin 1976.

CONSTITUTIONAMENDMENT

● According to K. C. Wheare, IndianConstitution strikes a balance be-tween rigidity and flexibility, that is,it is both rigid and flexible at the sametime.

● The procedure for the Amendment ofthe Constitution is given in Article368 of Part XX of the Constitution.

● The Constitution can be amended inthree ways : (i) By Special Majorityin both Houses of Parliament, i.e.,Majority of the total membership and2/3 of the present and voting; (ii) bythe special Majority, as describedabove, and the consent of more thanhalf of the total States of the Union(Consent of 15 states at present). Thethird way to amend the Constitution isnot described in Article 368 but it ismentioned in the articles where it isapplicable. These Articles can bemodified or repealed by simple majo-rity. Thus, the third way to ‘amend’the Constitution is by passing the billby simple majority in both houses ofParliament.

● The first Amendment to the Con-stitution was made in 1951. So far, 94Constitutional Amendments havebeen enacted. The 42nd and 44thamendments are exhaustive as well asimportant.

UNION EXECUTIVE

● The executive power of the Union isvested in the President.

● The President is designated as the firstcitizen of India.

● India has adopted Parliamentary sys-tem of government. Therefore, thePresident is nominal executive andreal executive is the Council of Mini-sters headed by the Prime Minister.

● No person shall be eligible for elec-tion as President unless he is a citizenof India.

● The minimum age prescribed for thepost of President is 35 years.

● A person to become the Presidentmust fulfil the qualifications pre-scribed for a member of Lok Sabha.

● President does not hold membershipof either house of Parliament or StateLegislatures.

● The President is elected indirectly byan Electoral College through thesingle transferable vote system of pro-portional representation.

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● The Electoral College consists ofelected members of Lok Sabha, RajyaSabha and Provincial LegislativeAssemblies. It has been provided bythe 70th Amendment Act, 1992 thatelected members of the LegislativeAssemblies of Union Territories ofPuducherry and Delhi can also parti-cipate in the election of President.

● The nomination of a candidate for thepost of President has to be proposedby 50 members and seconded byanother 50 members of the ElectoralCollege.

● The term of President is for five yearsand election of next President is heldbefore the expiry of the term. How-ever, if election is not held within fiveyears, the incumbent President conti-nues to hold the office till the electionis held. In this case, the Vice-Presi-dent does not get the opportunity toact as the President.

● A President can be again elected asPresident. There is no limitation as tohow many times a person can becomePresident.

● The President can tender his resigna-tion to the Vice-President before theexpiry of his term.

● The President can be removed fromhis office before the expiry of theterm by the process of impeachment.

● The impeachment procedure can beinitiated in either House of Parlia-ment. Either of the two house startsthe impeachment proceedings andanother house investigates it.

● The President can be impeached onlyfor the violation of the Constitutionand has to be informed in writing 14days in advance about the intention toinitiate impeachment proceedings.

● The President can present his case ordefend himself during the investiga-tion of impeachment charges.

● The President gets a monthly salary of 1,50,000.

● His salary and emoluments cannot bevaried to his disadvantage during histerm.

● If the office of the President becomesvacant due to death, resignation orimpeachment before the expiry of theterm, the election to the office of Pre-sident is held within six months ofvacancy. In this case, the Vice-Pre-sident will act as President till thenew elected President assumes office.The newly elected President holdsoffice for a five year term.

● If the office of President is tempora-rily vacant due to illness or otherwise,or absence of President, the Vice-President discharges the duties and

functions of President till the incum-bent President resumes office.

● In any case, if both President andVice-President are not available toperform the duties of President, theChief Justice of Supreme Court dis-charges the duties of President and inhis absence the next senior justice ofSupreme Court performs the functionsof President. This situation arose onlyonce so far in 1969, when the incum-bent President Dr. Zakir Hussain diedin May 1969 and the Vice-Presidentresigned on July 20, 1969 to contestthe election of President. In this con-tingency, justice M. Hidaytulla, ChiefJustice of Supreme Court dischargedthe duties of President from 20 July,1969 to 20 Aug, 1969. Infact, M.Hidaytulla is the only person to per-form the functions of President twotimes in two different capacities, e.g.,first time in 1969 as the Chief Justiceof Supreme Court and second time asthe Vice-President of India in Oct.1982.

● The Vice-President of India is alsoelected by an Electoral Collegethrough the single transferable votesystem of proportional representation.

● The Electoral College consists of allthe members (both elected and nomi-nated) of both the houses of parlia-ment.

● There is no need of joint sitting ofboth houses of Parliament to elect theVice-President.

● Any Indian citizen, who fulfils theprescribed qualifications can becomethe Vice-President of India.

● A candidate for the post of Vice-Pre-sident must have attained the age of35 years. He must fulfil also the quali-fications prescribed for a member ofRajya Sabha.

● The Vice-President does not hold themembership of either houses ofParliament or State Legislatures.

● The term of office of Vice-Presidentis five years.

● There is no limitation on the numberof times a person can become Vice-President. Thus, a Vice-President canbe re-elected as Vice-President.

● The Vice-President can vacate hisoffice by tendering his resignation tothe President.

● The Vice-President can be removedfrom office before the expiry of termof five years.

● There is no need of impeachment toremove the Vice-President.

● The Vice-President can be removedfrom office before the expiry of term,

by a Resolution, first passed by majo-rity of the members of Rajya Sabhaand agreed to by the Lok Sabha.

● If the Vice-President is unable to dis-charge his duties and function due toillness or temporary absence, no otherofficial is entitled to act as Vice-Pre-sident.

● The Vice-President is ex-officioChairman of Rajya Sabha. In hisabsence, the Dy. Chairman of RajyaSabha preforms his duties.

● The Vice-President gets the salaryand emoluments of the Chairman ofRajya Sabha, when he acts, as such inex-officio-capacity and he gets thesalary and emoluments of the post ofPresident, when he acts as President.Infact, he is the only official who doesnot get any salary and emoluments ofhis designated post i.e., Vice-Presi-dent. As Chairman of the RajyaSabha he draws a monthly salary of 1,25,000.

● At a time when the Vice-Presidentacts in either of two capacities i.e.,Chairman of Rajya Sabha or Presidentof India, he cannot act in both officessimultaneously.

● In the history of presidential elections,V. V. Giri is the only person who wonthe election of President as an in-dependent candidate. This becamepossible in 1969 when Congress didnot support its official nomineeNeelam Sanjeev Reddy as itsmembers voted in the name of ‘con-science’ and supported an indepen-dent candidate.

● In July 1977, Neelam Sanjeev Reddywas elected unopposed as no one elsefiled nomination for the post of Pre-sident.

● The disputes related with the electionsof President and Vice-President aresettled by the Supreme Court of India.

● The elections of President and Vice-President cannot be challenged on theground of any vacancy in the Electo-ral College.

● If the election of President or Vice-President is declared null and void bythe Supreme Court, the acts done bythem during their being in office can-not be declared illegal.

● Parliament can make laws on mattersrelated to the elections of Presidentand Vice-President.

● The Vice-President, first of all, givesthe information about President’sresignation to the Speaker of Lok-Sabha.

● The President exercises executivepowers within the provisions of theConstitution.

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● The President is not the real exec-utive, but he is the constitutional headof the State.

● The President exercises executivepowers of the Union according to theadvice of Council of Ministers headedby the Prime Minister.

● The advice of Council of Ministers ismade binding upon the President bythe 42nd Constitutional Amendment,1976.

● The 44th Amendment gives the Presi-dent the right to ask the Council ofMinisters to reconsider its advicetendered to him. If the Council ofMinisters sticks to the advice tenderedearlier, the President is bound by suchadvice.

● Though the President is not the realhead of the Union Executive, all theacts of the Union are expressed in thename of the President. Constitutio-nally, all the officials of the Union actunder his subordination.

● The following officials are appointedby the President : (1) Prime Minister,(2) Other Ministers of Council ofMinisters, (3) Attorney-General ofIndia, (4) Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India, (5) Chief Justice andother Justices of Supreme Court,(6) Governors of States, (7) ChiefJustices and other judges of HighCourts, (8) Chairman and Members ofUnion Public Service Commissionand Joint Public Service Commission,(9) Chairman and Members ofFinance Commission, (10) ChiefElection Commissioner and otherElection Commissioners of ElectionCommission, (11) Central VigilanceCommissioner, (12) Chairperson andMembers of various Commissions :Official Language Commission,Minority Commission, NationalBackward Classes Commission,National Commission for ScheduledCastes and National Commission forScheduled Tribes, (13) Ambassadors,High Commissioners and other diplo-matic representatives and consuls inIndian Foreign Service, (14) Gover-nors of States, Administors, Lt. Gover-nors of Union Territories.

● The President has the power toremove the following officials :(1) Members of Council of Ministers,(2) Governor of a State (3) Chief Jus-tices and other Judges of SupremeCourts and High Courts, Chief Elec-tion Commissioner and Comptrollerand Auditor General of India on thebasis of the resolution passed by theParliament, (4) Chairman and Mem-bers of Union Public Service Com-

mission and Pubilc Service Commis-sions of States and Central VigilanceCommissioner on the basis of theenquiry of the Judge of the SupremeCourt.

● The President is a part of Parliament.

● Any Bill passed by Parliament canbecome a law only after it has beensigned by the President.

● The President has power to summonand prorogue the sessions of Parlia-ment and to dissolve Parliament.

● The President addresses the joint sitt-ing of both houses of Parliament afterevery General Election and the firstjoint sitting at the beginning of eachyear.

● The President has right to send mes-sages to Parliament relating to legisla-tive and other matters.

● The President also has the right tonominate 12 members in Rajya Sabhaand 2 members of Anglo India Com-munity in Lok Sabha.

● The President causes to be laid theAnnual Financial Statement (Budget)and reports and recommendations ofvarious commissions before eachHouse of Parliament.

● The prior recommendation of Presi-dent is required on some bills beforethey are introduced in the Parliament,e.g., bills related to the changes in thenames and boundaries of States,Money bills and bills related tomatters contained in Article 31A(i) ofthe Constitution.

● The President can give assent to a bill,withold his assent to the bill or hemay send it back to Parliament forreconsideration, if the bill is not aMoney bill. The President is bound togive his assent to the Money bills andConstitutional Amendment billspassed by Parliament. A money billcannot be send back by president toParliament for reconsideration.

● If a bill sent back to Parliament forreconsideration is again presented byParliament to the President for hisassent, the President will not witholdhis assent.

● The Constitution does not fix anytime limit for President to give hisassent to, withhold his assent from orsend back to Parliament a bill pre-sented to him.

● The example of the use of pocket vetois the Postal bill of 1986, in which thethen President Jail Singh did not actupon long time and subsequently thebill was withdrawn by the Parliamentin 1989 without getting the assent ofthe President.

● In the case of a bill passed by a StateLegislature, if reserved by the Gover-nor for the assent of President, thePresident can return the bill for recon-sideration of State Legislature. And ifthe same bill is again presented to thePresident within six months for his as-sent, the President can still withholdhis assent from the bill. The Presidentcan keep the bill on his table forindefinite period. In case of Moneybills, the President can grant hisassent or withhold his assent but cannot return the bill for reconsiderationof State Legislature.

● If there is an urgency to make a lawand Parliament is not in session, thePresident can promulgate an ordi-nance which has effect of a law.

● The ordinances have the same effectsas a law enacted by Parliament, butthey are temporary in nature.

● The ordinances are presented toParliament as soon as it meets in asession.

● If an ordinance is not passed withinsix weeks from the date of opening ofthe session by Parliament it becomesinoperative automatically.

● It has been provided by the 44thAmendment, 1978 that in case ofmalafide intentions as to the cir-cumstances leading to promulgationof an ordinance, its validity can bechallenged in the Court of law.

● The President has power to grantpardon, commutation, remission, res-pite, reprieve in respect of a punish-ment or sentence awarded by Court-Martial, or related to the executivepower of the Union or if the sentenceis one of death.

● The President is the Supreme Com-mander of Defence Forces. TheChiefs of three armed forces areappointed by him. The President haspower to declare war and peace and todeploy armed forces, subject to thelaw made by Parliament.

● Subject to the laws made by Parlia-ment, the President has right toappoint diplomatic representative inother countries and grant accredita-tion to the diplomatic representativesof foreign countries to India.

● Subject to the laws of Parliament andwith the advice of Council of Minis-ters, the President has the power tosign international treaties and agree-ments.

● As provided in article 143 of theConstitution, the President can seeklegal advice of the Supreme Court ona matter of public importance, but thePresident is not bound by such advice.

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