INDIAN POLITY
INTRO CLASS
TOPICS WE WILL BE COVERING
► CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
► Salient Features of the Constitution
► Preamble of the Constitution
► Fundamental Rights
► Directive Principles of State Policy
► Fundamental Duties
► Amendments to the Constitution
► Basic Structure of the Constitution
System of Government
► Parliamentary System
► Centre-State Relations
► Emergency Provisions
Central Government
► President
► Vice – President
► Prime Minister
► Parliament
State Government
► Governor
► Chief Minister
► State Legislature
Judiciary
► Supreme Court
► Judicial Review, Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigation
► High Court
► Subordinate Court
Local Government
► Panchayati Raj
► Municipalities
Lengthiest Written Constitution:
• The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written
Constitutions of the world. It is a very comprehensive, elaborate, and
detailed document.
• Originally (1949), the Constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles
(divided into 22 Parts) and 8 Schedules.
• Presently (2019), it consists of a Preamble, about 470 Articles (divided into 25
Parts) and 12 Schedules.
Reasons for Vastness:
• Geographical factors, that is, the vastness of the country and its diversity.
• Historical factors, e.g., the influence of the Government of India Act,
1935, which was bulky.
• Single Constitution for both the Centre and the states.
• The dominance of legal luminaries in the Constituent Assembly.
• Detailed administrative provisions
Drawn From Various Sources:
A Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility
• The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible, but a synthesis of
both.
• Article 368 provides for two types of amendments:
• Some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament, i.e., a
two-thirds majority of the members of each House present and voting, and a
majority of the total membership of each House.
• Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament
and with the ratification by half of the total states
Parliamentary Form of Government:
• The Constitution of India has opted for the British Parliamentary
System of Government rather than the American Presidential System of
Government.
• The Constitution establishes the parliamentary system not only at the
Centre, but also in the states.
The features of parliamentary
government in India are:
• Presence of nominal and real executives
• Majority party rule
• Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature
• Membership of the ministers in the legislature
• Leadership of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister
• Dissolution of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Assembly)
• Even though the Indian parliamentary system is largely based on the
British pattern, the two have some fundamental differences.
• For example, the Indian Parliament is not a sovereign body like the British
Parliament.
• The Indian State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has a
hereditary head (monarchy).
Synthesis of Parliamentary
Sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy:
• The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the British
Parliament, while the principle of judicial supremacy is with that of the
American Supreme Court.
• The American Constitution provides for ‘due process of law’ against the
‘procedure established by law’ contained in the Indian
Constitution (Article 21).
Fundamental Rights:
► Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six fundamental rights to all
the citizens:
Directive Principles of State Policy:
• According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State
Policy is a ‘novel feature’ of the Indian Constitution.
• They are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution.
• They can be classified into three broad categories:
• Socialistic
• Gandhian
• Liberal-intellectual.
• Unlike the Fundamental Rights, the directives are non-justiciable, that is,
they are not enforceable by the courts for their violation.
Fundamental Duties:
• The original constitution did not provide for the Fundamental Duties of
the citizens.
• These were added during the operation of internal
emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,
1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.
• The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 added one more
fundamental duty.
• The Part IV-A of the Constitution (which consists of only one Article 51-A)
specifies the eleven Fundamental Duties
A Secular State:
• The Constitution of India stands for a Secular State.
• It does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the
Indian State.
• The Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism, i.e.,
giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions equally.
Universal Adult Franchise:
• The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a basis of
elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
• Every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age has a right to
vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy,
wealth, and so on.
• The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by
the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988
Single Citizenship:
• The Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (centre and
state) but it provides for only a single citizenship, that is Indian
citizenship.
• In India, all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are born or
reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of citizenship all over the
country and no discrimination is made between them.
Independent Bodies:
• Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections
• Comptroller and Auditor-General of India to audit the accounts of the
central and state governments.
• Union Public Service Commission to conduct examinations for
recruitment to all-India services and higher Central services and to advise
the President on disciplinary matters.
• State Public Service Commission in every state to conduct examinations
for recruitment to state services and to advice the governor on
disciplinary matters.
Emergency Provisions:
• The Constitution envisages three types of emergencies:
• National emergency on the grounds of war or external aggression or armed
rebellion (Article 352).
• State emergency (President’s Rule) on the ground of failure of constitutional
machinery in the states (Article 356) or failure to comply with the directions of
the centre (Article 365).
• Financial emergency on the ground of threat to the financial stability or credit
of India (Article 360).
Three-tier Government:
• The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, 1992 have added a third-
tier of Government (i.e., local) which is not found in any other Constitution of
the world.
• The 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 gave constitutional recognition to the panchayats
(rural local governments) by adding a new Part IX and a new Schedule 11 to the
Constitution.
• The 74th Amendment Act, 1992 gave constitutional recognition to the municipalities
(urban local governments) by adding a new Part IX-A and a new Schedule 12 to the
Constitution.
Co-operative Societies:
► The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 gave constitutional status
and protection to co-operative societies.
Thank You