Civics and Polity Notes

Transcription

1 Civics and Polity Notes FRAMING OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION It was under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 that the Constituent Assembly was constituted to frame a Constitution for India. The Constituent Assembly, which had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on Dec. 9, 1946, reassembled on Aug. 14, 1947, as the sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India. As a result of the partition under the Plan of June 3, 1947, a separate Constituent Assembly was set up for Pakistan. The representatives of Bengal, Punjab, Sind, North-Western Frontier Province, Baluchistan and the Sylhet district of Assam (which had joined Pakistan by a referendum) ceased to be members of the Constituent Assembly of India, and there was a fresh election in the new Provinces of West Bengal and East Punjab. (Hence, when the Constituent Assembly reassembled on Oct. 31,1947) the membership of the House was reduced to 299. Of these 284 were actually present on Nov. 26, 1949, and appended their signatures to the Constitution that was finally passed. President of the Constitution Assembly was Dr. Rajandra Prasad. HOW THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA WAS CONSTITUTED? The Constituent Assembly of India was elected through indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assembly (Lower House only), according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Delegation. The essentials of this scheme were as follows: (i) The Provinces elected 292 members; while the Indian States were allotted a maximum of 93 seats. (ii) The seats in each province were distributed among the three main committees Muslim, Sikh, and General, in proportion to their respective population. (iii) Members of each community in the Provincial Legislative Assembly elected their own representatives by the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote. (iv) The method of selection in the case of representatives of Indian States was to be determined by nomination. The Constituent Assembly next met in Nov to consider the provisions of the Draft Committee, clause by clause. The second reading of the clauses was Page 1

2 completed by Oct. 17, 1949, and the third reading on Nov. 26, 1949, when the Constitution received the signature of the President of the Assembly and was declared as passed. While certain provisions of the constitution - those relating to citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament, etc. were given immediate effect, the rest of the Constitution came into force on Jan. 26, 1950 because the Congress had been celebrating Independence Day on January 26 every year since The Constituent Assembly itself became the first provisional parliament. The first elections to parliament were held in Acceptance of the Constitution: On Aug. 29, 1947, the Constituent Assembly appointed a Drafting Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ambedkar. This committee came out with a draft Constitution of India in Feb MEMBERS OF THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE: 1. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar (Chairman) 2. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyanagar 3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar 4. K.M. Munshi 5. Mohd. Saadullah, 6. B.L. Mitter (later replaced by N. Madhava Rao) 7. Dr. D.P.Khaitan (replaced on death by T.T. Krishnamachari) Note: 1) The Constitution of India was framed by a Constituent Assembly which was set up under the Cabinet mission plan(1946). 2) The Constituent Assembly took almost 3 years (2 years, 11 months, and 18 days) to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for an Independent India. 3) During this period it held 11 sessions covering a total of 165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of and discussion on the Draft Constitution. 4) Dr. Sachidanand Sinha was the first president of the Constitituent Assembly. Later, Dr.Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly while B.R. Ambedkar was appointed the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. Page 2

3 HIGH COURT : The High Court is at the apex of the judicial administration of the state. Art 214 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a High Court for each state of the Indian union. But the Indian Parliament is empowered to establish a common High Court for two or more states and to extend the jurisdiction of a High Court to a union territory. Similarly, Parliament can also reduce the area of jurisdiction of a High Court. The High Court consists of a Chief Justice and some other Judges. The number of judges is to be determined by the President of Indian from time to time. The Chief Justice of a High Court is appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Governor of the state concerned. The procedure for appointing other judges is the same except that the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned is also consulted. They hold office until they attain the age of 62 years and are removed from office in the same manner as a judge of the Supreme Court. Qualification: A person shall be qualified for appointment as a judge of the High Court if (a) he is a citizen of India, (b) has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India, or (c) has for at least ten years been an advocate of a High Court, or of two or more such courts in succession. Every judge of the High Court before entering upon his office shall make and subscribe before the Governor of the state, an oath of affirmation in the form prescribed by the Constitution. Removal of judges: A judge of the High Court shall hold office until he attains the age of 62 years. A judge may resign from his office by writing under his hand to the president of India. He can also be removed by the President of India on the ground of proved misbehaviour or inefficiency if a resolution to that effect is passed by both the Houses of Parliament by a two-thirds majority of the total members present and voting, supported by a majority of the total membership of each house. Page 3

4 INDIAN POLITY IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER: The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th November 1949 The Constituent Assembly of India started functioning from : 9thDecember, 1946 The Constituent Assembly took time to frame the Constitution of India 2 years 11 months 18 days The Concept of written constitution, first born was USA The Constitution of India is Partly rigid, partly flexible The word Secularism was inserted in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment The Preamble to the constitution declares India as A sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic The item Education belongs to the Concurrent List How many languages have recongnised by the Constitution? 22 The number of Union Territories in India is 7 Part of the Indian Constitution deals with Fundamental Rights- Part III Constitutional Amendment deleted the Right to Property from the list of Fundamental Rights 44th Amendment Articles of Indian Constitution guarantees freedom to press -Article 19 Sikkim was made an integral part of India under the 36thAmendment The power to curve out a new State is vested in The Parliament The Constitutional States has been given to Panchayats under -Article 243 In year Fundamental Duties of citizens were introduced by 42nd Amendment 1976 The vacancy of the office of the President of India must be filled up within 6 months The power of the President to issue ordinance is a relic of : Government of India Act of 1935 Rashtrapati Bhawan was designed by - Edwin Lutyens A Presidential Ordinance can remain in force For six months In Article of the Constitution of India can be the President of India be impeached Article 61 Page 4

5 In India, the President is elected by Single Transferable Vote IMPORTANT CONCEPTS : 1. What is a Censure Motion? Censure motion is moved against the Council of Ministers, a group of ministers or as individual Minister for the failure to perform duties. Censure motion must be specific and self- explanatory, stating the reasons for its adoption. 2. Distinguish between a starred question and an unstarred one asked in the Parliament. Starred questions are distinguished by an asterisk. These questions are to be answered orally. Supplementary questions may be asked. Un-starred questions are answered in writing. Supplementary questions are not allowed. 3. What is contempt of Parliament? Contempt of Parliament is the crime of obstructing the Parliament in the carrying out of its functions, or of hindering any Member of Parliament in the performance of his or her duties. 4. What is casting vote? In Lok Sabha or in Legislative Assembly, when on MLA gets votes equally in support on against then the speaker of the House gives his opinion and this is called casting vote. 5. What is the importance of Right to Constitutional Remedies? By the Right to Constitutional Remedies (Art. 32 & 228) an individual can go to Supreme Court or High Courts for the safeguard of his fundamental rights. 6. What is Habeas Corpus? Habeas Corpus: It is a writ, by which the court can cause any person who has been detained/imprisoned to be physically brought before the court. The court then examines the reasons of his detention. 7. What is a privilege motion? Page 5

6 Privilege motion is a motion moved by a member if he feels that a minister has committed a breach of privilege of the house or of any one or more of its members by withholding facts of a case or by giving a distorted version of acts. 8. State the difference between Council of Ministers and the Cabinet. Council of Ministers include cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy minister. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the lower house of the Parliament. It is the cabinet which makes all the government policies. 9. Under which Article of the constitution can the union government play its role in setting inter-state water dispute? Art. 262 deals with inter-state dispute. It says - parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute of complain with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-state river or river valley. 10. What is Call Attention Motion? A member may, with prior permission of the speaker, call the attention of a minister to any matter of urgent public importance and the minister may make a brief statement regarding the matter or ask for time to make a statement. Page 6