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Career Anna Static GK EBook on

Polity

Career Anna
Constitution of India and Polity
The present constitution of India was framed by the Constitution Assembly of India setup under
Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

Composition of Constituent Assembly:-

 The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by he elected
members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the
Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four Chief
Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
 Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total number of seas
proportional to their respective population roughly in the ration of one to a million.
 B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
 The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place of Dec 9, 1946 with Dr. Sachidanand
Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as its President n Dec 11,
1947.
 The Assembly framing the Constitution had 13 Committees.
 The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the
Constitutional document during the recess of the Constituent Assembly, from July 1947 to
September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947. Its members were:
1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyar
3. K.M. Munshi
4. Syyed Mohd. Saadulla
5. N.Madhav Rao
6. D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitan’s Death in 1948)
 It was finally passed and accepted on Nov 26, 1949. The session of the Assembly was held on
Jan 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr, Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all
the 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which
came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.

PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION

The Indian Constitution starts with the preamble which outlines the main objectives of the
Constitution. It reads:

" WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN,
SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLIC and to secure all its citizens."

JUSTICE, social economic and political.

LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.

EQUALITY, of status and of opportunity, and to promote among them all.

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation.

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, this twenty sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT,
"ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES HIS CONSTITUTION ".

Idea of preamble borrowed from Constitution of US.

The words ‘SOCIALIST’, ‘SECULAR’ and ‘UNITY’ & ‘INTEGRITY’ were added by the 42nd
Amendment in 1976.

Preamble is not justifiable.

BORROWED FEATURES OF CONSTITUTION

Following are the borrowed features of constitution from different countries.

 Nominal Head – President (like Queen)

 Cabinet System of Ministers
 Post of PM
 Parliamentary Type of Govt.
From U.K.  Bicameral Parliament
 Lower House more powerful
 Council of Ministers responsible to Lowe House
 Speaker in Lok Sabha

 Written Constitution
 Executive head of state known as President and his being the
Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
 Vice- President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
 Fundamental Rights
From U.S.  Supreme Court
 Provision of States
 Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
 Preamble
 Removal of Supreme court and High court Judges

 Fundamental Duties
From USSR  Five year Plan

 Concurrent list
 Language of the preamble
From AUSTRALIA
 Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse

 Law on which the Supreme Court function

From JAPAN
 From WEIMAR  Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency
CONSTITUION OF GERMANY

 Scheme of federation with a strong centre

 Distribution of powers between centre and the states and
From CANADA
placing. Residuary Powers with the centre

 Concept of Directive Principles of States Policy(Ireland

borrowed it from SPAIN)
From IRELAND  Method of election of President
 Nomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the President

SCHEDULES IN CONSTITUTION

Followings are the schedules in Constitution of India

First  List of States & Union Territories

Schedule

 Salary of President, Governors, Chief Judges, Judges of High Court and Supreme
Second
court, Comptroller and Auditor General
Schedule

Third  Forms of Oaths and affirmations

Schedule

Fourth  Allocate seats for each state of India in Rajya Sabha

Schedule

Fifth  Administration and control of scheduled areas and tribes

Schedule

 Provisions for administration of Tribal Area in Asom, Meghalaya, Tripura,

Sixth
Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh
Schedule

 Gives allocation of powers and functions between Union & States. It contains 3
lists
Seventh 1. Union List (For central Govt) 97 Subjects.
Schedule 2. States List (Powers of State Govt) 66 subjects
3. Concurrent List (Both Union & States) 47 subjects.

 List of 22 languages of India recognized by Constitution

Eighth 1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Gujarati

Schedule 4. Hindi 5. Kannada 6.Kashmiri
7. Manipuri 8. Malayalam 9. Konkani
10. Marathi 11. Nepali 12. Oriya
 13. Punjabi 14. Sanskrit 15. Sindhi
16. Tamil 17. Telugu 18. Urdu
19. Santhali 20. Bodo 21. Maithili
22. Dogri

 Sindhi was added in 1967 by 21 Amendment

 Konkani, Manipuri ad Nepali were added in 1992 by 71 amendment Santhali,
Maithili, Bodo and Dogri were added in 2003 by 92 amendment

 Added by Ist amendment in 1951. Contains acts & orders related to land tenure,
Ninth
land tax, railways, industries.{Right of property not a fundamental right now}
Schedule

 Added by 52nd amendment in 1985. Contains provisions of disqualification of

Tenth
grounds of defection
Schedule

Eleventh  By 73rd amendment in 1992. Contains provisions of Panchayati Raj.

Schedule

Twelfth  By 74thamendment in 1992. Contains provisions of Municipal Corporation.

Schedule

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN INDIA

The Fundamental Rights in Indian constitution acts as a guarantee that all Indian citizens can and will
live their lifes in peace as long as they live in Indian democracy. They include individual rigts common
to most liberal democracies, such as equality before the law, freddom of speech and expression,
freedom of association and peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, and the right to constitutional
remedies for the protection of civil right.

Originally, the right to property was also included in the Fundamental Rights, however, the Forty-
Fourth Amendment, passed in 1978, revised the status of property rights by stating that "No person
shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law."

Following are the Fudamental Rights in India

 Article 14 :- Equality before law and equal protection of law

 Article 15 :- Prohibition of discrimination on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, sex or place of birth.
 Article 16 :- Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment
Right to Equality
 Article 17 :- End of untouchability
 Article 18 :- Abolition of titles, Military and academic distinctions are,
however, exempted

 Article 19 :- It guarantees the citizens of India the following six

Right to Freedom
fundamentals freedoms:-
 1. Freedom of Speech and Expression
2. Freedom of Assembly
3. Freedom of form Associations
4. Freedom of Movement
5. Freedom of Residence and Settlement
6. Freedom of Profession, Occupation, Trade and Bussiness
 Article 20 :- Protection in respect of conviction for offences
 Article 21 :- Protection of life and personal liberty
 Article 22 :- Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases

 Article 23 :- Traffic in human beings prohibited

Right Against
 Article 24 :- No child below the age of 14 can be employed
Exploitation

 Article 25 :- Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and

propagation of religion
 Article 26 :- Freedom to manage religious affairs
Right to freedom of
 Article 27 :- Prohibits taxes on religious grounds
Religion
 Article 28 :- Freedom as to attendance at religious ceremonies in certain
educational institutions

 Article 29 :- Protection of interests of minorities

 Article 30 :- Right of minorities to establish and administer educational
Cultural and
institutions
Educational Rights
 Article 31 :- Omitted by the 44th Amendment Act

 Article 32 :- The right to move the Supreme Court in case of their

Right to violation (called Soul and heart of the Constitution by BR Ambedkar)
Constitutional  Forms of Writ check
Remedies  Habeas Corpus :- Equality before law and equal protection of law

PRESIDENT OF INDIA
President of India is the head of the Union Executive. A Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister
aids and advises the President in the excersie of his function.

President of India is also Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces.

 Must be a citizen of India

 Completed 35 years of age
 Eligible to be a member of Lok Sabha
Qualification
 Must not hold any government post. Exceptions are:
1. President and Vice-President
2. Governor of any state
 3. Minister of Union State

 Indirectly elected through ‘Electoral College’ consisting of Elected members of

both the Houses of Parliament & Elected members of the Legislative
Assemblies of the States. (No nominated members)
 Security deposit of Rs 15,000/-
Election
 Supreme court inquires all disputes regarding President’s Election.
 Takes OATH in presence of Chief Justice of India, or in his absence, senior-
most Judge of Supreme Court

 5 year term
 Article 57 says that there is no upper limit on the number of times a person
Terms and can become President
Emoluments  Can give resignation to Vice-President before full-term
 Present Salary- Rs. 1,00,000/month (including allowances & emoluments)

 Quasi-judicial procedure
 Can be impeached only on the ground of violation of constitution
Impeachment
 The impeachment procedure can be initiated in either House of the Parliament

 In case of office falls vacant due to death, resignation or removal, the Vice-
President act as President. It he is not available then Chief Justice, it not then
Vacancy senior-most Judge of the Supreme court shall act as the President of India
 The election is to be held within 6 months of the vacancy

 Appoints PM, Ministers, Chief Justice & judge of Supreme Court & High Court,
Chairman & members of UPSC, Comptroller and Auditor General, Attorney
General, Chief Election Commissioner and other members of Election
Commission of India, Governors, Members of Finance Commission,
Ambassadors, etc
 Can summon & prorogue the sessions of the 2 houses & can dissolve Lok
Sabha
 Appoints Finance Commission (after every 5 years) that recommends
distribution of taxes between Union & State governments
Powers  The President can promulgate 3 types of Emergencies:-
1. National Emergency (Article 352)
2. State Emergency (President’s Rule) (Article 356)
3. Financial Emergency (Article 360)
 He is the Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces of India
 President appoints Chief of Army, Navy and Air force
 Declares wars & concludes peace subject to the approval of the Parliament
 No money bill or demand for grant can be introduced or moved in Parliament
unless it has been recommended by the President
 He has the power to grant pardon, reprieve or remit of punishment or
 commute death sentences

All Presidents of India and their Tenure

NAME TENURE PHOTO

Dr. Rajendra Prasad 26.01.1950 to 13.05.1962

Dr. S. Radhakrishan 13.05.1962 to 13.05.1967

Dr. Zakhir Hussain 13.05.1967 to 03.05.1969

V.V. Giri# 03.05.1969 to 20.07.1969

Justice M. Hidayatullah*# 20.07.1969 to 24.08.1969

V.V. Giri 24.08.1969 to 24.08.1974

F. Ali Ahmed 24.08.1974 to 11.02.1977

B.D. Jatti# 11.02.1977 to 25.07.1977

N. Sanjiva Reddy 25.07.1977 to 25.07.1982

Gaini Jail Singh 25.07.1982 to 25.07.1987

R. Venkataraman 25.07.1987 to 25.07.1992

Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma 25.07.1992 to 25.07.1997

K.R. Narayanan 25.07.1997 to 25.07.2002

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 25.07.2002 to 24.07.2007

Mrs. Pratibha Patil 25.07.2007 to 24.07.2012

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee 25.07.2012 to Till date

#ACTING;*First Chief justice appointed President

VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

Following is the information about Vice President of India
 Elected by both the houses (Electoral College) in accordance
with the system of proportional representation by means of
single transferable vote and the vote being secret. Nominated
members also participate in his election
Election
 The Supreme court has the final and exclusive jurisdiction for
resolving disputes and doubts relating to the election of the
Vice President of India

 Citizen of India
Criteria
 More that 35 years of Age
  Posses the qualification of membership of Rajya Sabha
 Not hold any office of profit under union, state of local
authority. However, for this purpose, the President, Vice-
President, Governor of a State and a Minister of the Union or a
State, are not held to be holding an office of profit

 Holds office for 5 years. Can be re-elected

 Term can be cut short if he resigns or by a resolution of the
Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all the then members of
the Rajya Sabha and agreed to by the Lok Sabha
 He is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Since he is not a
member of Rajya Sabha, he has no right to vote
 Being the Vice-President of India, he is not entitled for any
salary, but he is entitled to the salary and allowances payable
to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
Other Points
 All bills, resolution, motion can be taken in Rajya Sabha after
his consent
 Can discharge the function of the President, the Vice-President
shall not perform the duties of the office of the Chairman of
Rajya Sabha and shall not be entitled to receive the salary of
the Chairman. During this period, he is entitled for the salary
and privileges of the President of India
 Present salary is Rs. 85,000/month

All Vice Presidents of India and their Tenure

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 13.5.1952 to 12.5.1957

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 13.5.1957 to 12.5.1962

Dr. Zakhir Hussain 13.5.1962 to 12.5.1967

V. V. Giri 13.5.1967 to 3.5.1969

Bal Swarup Pathak 31.8.1969 to 30.8.1974

Shri Basappa Danappa Jatti 31.8.1974 to 30.8.1979

Justice Mohd. Hidayatullah 31.8.1979 to 30.8.1984

Shri R Venkataraman 31.8.1984 to 24.7.1987

Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma 3.9.1987 to 24.7.1992

K.R.Narayanan 21.8.1992 to 24.7.1997

Shri Krishan Kant 21.8.1997 to 27.7.2002

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat 19.8.2002 to 21.7.2007

Hamid Ansari 21.7.2007 till date

PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

Powers of Prime Minister of India:-

 Real executive authority

 He is the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission, National Development Council,
National Integration Council and Inter state Council
 The President convenes and prorogues all sessions of Parliament in Consultation with him
 Can recommend the dissolution of Lok Sabha before expiry
 Appoints the council of ministers
 Allocates portfolios. Can ask a minister to resign & can get him dismissed by President
 Can recommend to the President to declare emergency on grounds of war, external aggression
or armed rebellion
 Advises President about President’s Rule in the State or emergency due to financial instability
 Leader of the House
All Prime Minister of India and their Tenure

Jawahar Lal Nehru 15.08.1947 to 27.05.1964

Gulzari Lal Nanda 27.05.1964 to 09.06.1964

Lal Bahadur Shastri 09.06.1964 to 11.01.1966

Gulzai Lal Nanda 11.01.1966 to 24.01.1966

Indira Gandhi 24.01.1966 to 24.03.1977

Morarji Desai 24.03.1977 to 28.07.1979

Charan singh 28.07.1979 to 14.01.1980

Indira Gandhi 14.01.1980 to 31.10.1984

Rajiv Gandhi 31.10.1984 to 01.12.1989

V.P. Singh 01.12.1989 to 10.11.1990

Chandra Shekhar 10.11.1990 to 21.06.1991

P.V. Narsimha Rao 21.06.1991 to 16.05.1996

Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16.05.1996 to 01.06.1996

H.D. Deve Gowda 01.06.1996 to 21.04.1997

I.K. Gujral 21.04.1997 to 19.03.1998

Atal Bihari Vajpayee 19.03.1998 to 13.10.1999

Atal Bihari Vajpayee 13.10.1999 to 22.05.2004

Dr. Manmohan Singh 22.05.2004 to 26.-5.2014

Narendra Modi 26.05.2014 to Till-date

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

The House of the People (Lok Sabha)

The Lok Sabha is the popular house of the parliament because its members are directly elected by the
common electorates of India. All the members of this House are popularly elected, except not more
than two from the Anglo-Indian community, who can be nominated by the President. In the
Constitution, the strength of the Lok Sabha is provisioned under Art. 81 to be not more than 552 (530
from the States, 20 from the Union Territories and 2 may be nominated from the Anglo-Indian
community). Recently again, the Govt. has extended this freeze in the Lok Sabha seats till the year
2026 by Constitution (84th Amendment Act, 2001).
Tenure of the Lok Sabha
The normal tenure of the Lok Sabha is five years. But the House can be dissolved by the President
even before the end of the normal tenure. Also, the life of the Lok Sabha can be extended by the
Parliament beyond the five-year term during the period of national emergency proclaimed under Art.
352.

Member qualification
To become a member of the Lok Sabha, the person must:
1. be a citizen of India.
2. be not less than 25 years of age.
3. be a registered voter in any of the Parliamentary constituencies in India.
4. should not hold any office of profit
5. Should not be insolvent
6. Should not be mentally unsound.

Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha

The Speaker is the

1) Chief presiding officer of the Lok Sabha.
2) The Speaker presides over the meetings of the House and his rulings on the proceedings of the
House are final.
3) The Speaker and Deputy Speaker may be removed from their offices by a resolution passed by the
House by an effective majority of the House after a prior notice of 14 days to them.
4) The Speaker, to maintain impartiality of his office, votes only in case of a tie i.e to remove a
deadlock and this is known as the Casting Vote.

Special powers of speaker

There are certain powers which belong only to the Speaker of Lok Sabha while similar powers are not
available to his counterpart in tine upper house, i.e. the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. These are-
1. Whether a Bill is Money Bill or not is certified only by the Speaker and his decision in this regard is
final and binding.
2. The Speaker, or in his absence, the Deputy Speaker, presides over the joint-sittings of the
parliament.
3. The committees of parliament function essentially under the Speaker and their chairpersons are
also appointed or nominated by him. Members of the Rajya Sabha are also present in some of these
committees.
If the Speaker is a member of any committee, he is the ex-officio chairman of such a committee

RAJYA SABHA

The Rajya Sabha (RS) or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Membership
is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are nominated by the President of India for their contributions
to art, literature, science, and social services.
The remainder of the body is elected by the state and territorial legislatures. Members sit for six-year
terms, with one third of the members retiring every two years. The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous
sessions and, unlike the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, is not subject to dissolution. The
Vice President of India (currently, Hamid Ansari) is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who
presides over its sessions. The Deputy Chairman who is elected from amongst the RS's members,
takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman.The Rajya Sabha
held its first sitting on 13 May 1952.

Leader of house

Besides the Chairman (Vice -President of India) and the Deputy Chairman, there is also a function
called Leader of the House. This is a cabinet minister - the prime minister if he is a member of the
House, or another nominated minister. The Leader has a seat next to the Chairman, in the front row.

Member Qualification

A person in order to be elected to the Rajya Sabha must

(a) be a citizen of India,
(b) be 30 years of age on more,
(c) not be holding any office of profit under the central or state Govt. or local body and
(d) posses all other qualification prescribed by the act of parliament from time to time.

Powers of rajya sabha

So far as powers of Rajya Sabha is concerned it enjoys co-equal power with the Lok Sabha in respect
of all bills other than money bill. In case of Money Bills Rajya Sabha has no powers Money Bills can
only be introduced in the Lok Sabha. When it comes to the Rajya Sabha after being passed by the Lok
Sabha, the former can keep it maximum for a period of 14 days only after which it is deemed to be
passed

DIFFERENT TERMS RELATED TO PARLIAMENT

a) Summoning
The President from time to time summons each House of Parliament to meet. But, the maximum gap
between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months. In other words, the Parliament
should meet at least twice a year. There are usually three sessions in a year:
the Budget Session (February to May);
the Monsoon Session (July to September); and
the Winter Session (November to December

b) Joint Sitting
Under Article 108, there is a Provision of Joint sitting of both the Houses of the Parliament.
The Lok Sabha speaker presides over the joint sitting [Art. 118(4)].
Joint sitting of both Houses can be convened on two occasions:
(i) For resolving any deadlock over the passage of a Bill.
(ii) Special address by the President at the commencement of the first session after each general
election of the Lok Sabha; First Session of each year (the Budget Session).
Note: Joint sitting cannot be called for resolving deadlock regarding Money Bill and Constitution
Amendment Bill.

c) Prorogation
The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine die, when the business
of a session is completed. Within the next few days, the President issues a notification for prorogation
of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in session
d) Adjournment
This is a short recess within a session of the Parliament, called by the presiding officer of the House.
Its duration may be from a few minutes to days together.

e) Adjournment sine die

When the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die

BILLS IN PARLIAMENT
The four kinds of bills mentioned in the Constitution are:
Ordinary Bill
Any bill other than Money, Financial or Constitution Amendment bill is called an Ordinary bill. It can be
introduced in either Houses of the Parliament. It does not need the recommendation of the President
for its introduction in Parliament (except a bill under article 3). It is passed by a simple majority by
both the Houses. They enjoy equal legislative powers over the passage of an ordinary bill. If there is a
deadlock over the bill it can be resolved in a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament.

Money Bill
A bill that deals exclusively with money matters that are mentioned in Article 110 in Constitution is
called a Money Bill. A money bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha on the recommendation of the
President. It is passed by a simple majority by both the Houses of Parliament. The Lok Sabha enjoys
overriding legislative power in the passage of a money bill and Rajya Sabha cannot reject or approve a
money bill by virtue of its own legislative power. Any money bill shall bear the certificate of speaker
that it is a money bill.

Financial Bill
A Bill apart from dealing with one or more money matters if also deals with one or more non-money
matters then it is called a financial Bill. It is introduced in the same manner as that of money Bill.
Since it contains non-money matters after its introduction, it is passed in same manner an ordinary
bill is passed.

Constitutional Amendment Bill

A bill introduced under article 368 to amend one or more provisions of the Constitution is called a
Constitutional Amendment Bill. It can be introduced in either House of the Parliament. It does not
require the recommendation of President for its introduction. It shall be passed by both the House of
the Parliament sitting separately by majority of not less than 2/3rd of members present and voting
and a majority of total strength of the House. The Constitution does not provide for a joint sitting of
both the Houses of the Parliament if a deadlock develop between the two Houses over the passage of
a Constitutional Amendment Bill

Emergency provisions in India

Emergency provisions are adopted in India from Weimar Constitution of Germany.
In Indian constitution there are three kind of emergency provisions:

(1) Article 352 – National Emergency

(2) Article 356 – President’s Rule

(3) Article 360 – Financial Emergency

STATE LEGISLATURE

The State Legislature Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)

The Vidhan Sabha or the Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the state legislature in the
different states and for the two of the union territories, Delhi and Pondicherry. Members of a Vidhan
Sabha are direct representatives of the people of the particular state as they are directly elected by
the adult suffrage. Each Vidhan Sabha is formed for a five year term after which all seats are up for
election. The maximum size of Vidhan Sabha is not more than 500 members and not less than 60.
However, the size of the Vidhan Sabha can be less than 60 members through an Act of Parliament,
such is the case in the states of Goa, Sikkim and Mizoram. The Governor can appoint one member to
represent the Anglo-Indian community if he or she finds that community to not be adequately
represented in the House

Qualification to be a member of Vidhan Sabha

1. To become a member of a Vidhan Sabha:

2. A person must be a citizen of India
3. She/he must have attained 25 years of age.
4. She/he should be mentally sound and should not be bankrupt.
She/he should also state an affidavit that there are no criminal procedures against him

Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad)

The Legislative Council is a permanent body that cannot be dissolved; each Member of the Legislative
Council (MLC) serves for a six-year term, with terms staggered so that the terms of one-third of a
Council's members expire every two years. This arrangement parallels that for the Rajya Sabha, the
upper house of the Parliament of India. Six states in India have a Legislative Council: Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.

Qualification to be a member of Vidhan Parishad

Eligibility criteria to be the member of Vidhan Parishad:

1. She/he must be citizen of India
2. She/he must have attained at least 30 years of age She/he must be mentally sound,
3. She/he must not be a bankrupt
4. She/he must be listed the voters' list of the state for which he or she is contesting an election

GOVERNER

The Governor is merely appointed by the President which really means, by the Union Council of
Ministers. The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, there is no security of his
tenure. He can be removed by the President at any time. There is no impeachment process for
removal of Governors as prescribed in constitution in the case of President.
LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT

Panchayati raj
 The Panchayati Raj System is the first tier or level of democratic government.
 The term Panchayati Raj in India signifies the system of rural local self-government. It was
constitutionalized through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.
 The development of the village was the immediate problem faced by our country after
independence. Hence the Community Development Programme was launched in 1952 with a
view to carrying out the integral rural development work.

Compulsory Provisions for Panchayati Raj Institutions

1. Organisation of Gram Sabha in a village or group of villages.

2. Establishment of Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels.
3. 21 years to be the minimum age for contesting elections to Panchayats.
4. Reservation of seats (both members and chairpersons) for SCs and STs in Panchayats at all the
three levels.
5. Reservation of one-third seats (both members and chairpersons) for women in Panchayats at all
the three levels.
6. Fixing tenure of five years for Panchayats at all levels and holding fresh elections within six
months in the event of supersession of any Panchayat.
7. Establishment of a State Election Commission for conducting elections to the Panchayats.
8. Constitution of a State Finance Commission after every five years to review the financial
position of the panchayats.

JURISDICTION

SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal. According to the
Constitution of India, the role of the Supreme Court is that of a federal court and guardian of the
Constitution.

Composition of Supreme Court

Under Article 124(1) the constitution originally provided for 1 Chief Justice of India and not more than
6 other judges. The constitution authorizes the Parliament to provide by law in fixing the Strength of
the judges of the Supreme Court.
The Parliament passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) thus accordingly, a Constitutional
Amendment Act in 2008 has increased the strength of Supreme Court to 31 (1 Chief Justice + 30
other judges).

Qualification to be a judge of Supreme Court

1. A person must be a citizen of India

2. He/she must have been, for at least five years, a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such
Courts in succession
3. Or an Advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession for at least ten years
4. Or the person must be, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist.

Jurisdiction of supreme court

a) Original Jurisdiction: Original Jurisdiction means that certain types of cases can originate
with the Supreme Court only
The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in
1. Disputes between the Centre and one or more states.
2. Disputes between the Centre and any state(s) on one side and one or more states on the other
side.
3. Disputes between two or more states.
4. Disputes regarding the enforcement of Fundamental Rights

b) Appellate Jurisdiction:
Appellate Jurisdiction means that appeals against judgements of lower courts can be referred to
SC as the Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in the country.

c) Advisory Jurisdiction:
1. Advisory Jurisdiction refers to the process where the President seeks the Court‘s advice on legal
matters.
2. If the President asks for advice from the Supreme Court, the Court is duty-bound to give it.
However, it is not binding on the President to accept the advice.

HIGH COURT

1) The High Court is at the apex of the judicial administration of the state.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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. HC JUDGE 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 of judge

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 yeas 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.

Removal of judges

A High Court judge 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 misbehavior 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.

Types of writs
1. Writ of Habeas Corpus :
(a) Habeas Corpus means ‘you may have the body‘.
(b) This ensures that a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention—that is, detention lacking
sufficient cause or evidence

2. Writ of Quo Warranto :

(a) The meaning of the term Quo Warranto is ‘by what authority‘.
(b) The writ shall be issued only when the public office is held by a particular person in an illegal
manner.
(c) If a person has usurped a public office, the Court may direct him not to carry out any activities in
the office or may announce the office to be vacant.

3. Writ of Mandamus :
(a) A writ of mandamus is an order issued by a superior court to a lower court or other entity
commanding the lower court, corporation or public authority to perform or not perform specific acts.
(b) It cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against statutory provision.
(c) For example, it cannot be used to force a lower court to reject or authorize applications that have
been made, but if the court refuses to rule one way or the other then a mandamus can be used to
order the court to rule on the applications

4. Writ of Certiorari :
(a) It is a writ (order) of a higher court to a lower court to send all the documents in a case to it so
the higher court can review the lower court‘s decision.
(b) It is a writ seeking judicial review.
(c) The granting of this writ does not necessarily mean that the Supreme Court disagrees with the
decision of the lower court. Granting a writ of certiorari means merely that at least four of the justices
have determined that the circumstances described in the petition are sufficient to warrant review by
the Court.

5. Writ of Prohibition :
A writ of prohibition is issued primarily to prevent an inferior court from exceeding its jurisdiction, or
acting contrary to the rule of natural justice, for example, to restrain a Judge from hearing a case in
which he is personally interested.

Motions in Parliament

(1) Private Member’s business

Every member who is not a Minister is called a Private
Member. The Private Member‘s business includes Private Member‘s Bills and Private Member‘s
Resolutions. The period of notice for introduction of Bill is one month unless the Presiding officer
allows introduction at a shorter notice.

(2) Question Hour

Normally, the first hour of the business of a House everyday is devoted to questions and is called
Question Hour (11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon).
(3) Starred and Unstarred Questions
A starred question is one to which a member desires an oral answer in the House. Answer to such a
question may be followed by five supplementary questions by other members. An unstarred question
is one to which written answer is desired by the Member. No supplementary questions can be asked
thereon.

(4) Short Notice Questions

These are related to matter of urgent public importance and can be asked by members with notice
shorter than the 10 days prescribed for an ordinary question. It is for the Speaker to determine
whether the matter is of real urgent nature or not.

(5) Adjournment Motions

An adjournment motion is an extra-ordinary procedure which if admitted leads to setting aside the
normal business of the House for discussing a definite matter of Urgent Public importance.

(6) Calling Attention

It is a notice by which a member with the prior permission of the Speaker, Calls the attention of a
Minister of any matter of urgent public importance and the Minister may make a brief statement or
ask for time to make a statement at a later hour or date it is an Indian Innovation.
There is no calling attention Notice in the Rajya
Sabha. Instead there exists a motion called Motion for Papers.

(7) Privilege Motion

This motion is moved by a member if in his opinion any minister or any of the members commits a
breach of privilege of the House by withholding any fact

Important Amendments to Indian Constitution

7th amendment – November 1, 1956 – Reorganization of states on linguistic lines and Introduction
of Union Territories

10th amendment – August 11, 1961 – Incorporation of Dadra, Nagar and Haveli as a Union Territory
after acquisition from Portugal

11th amendment – December 19, 1961 – Election of Vice President by Electoral

12th amendment – December 20, 1961 – Incorporation of Goa, Daman and Diu as a Union Territory,
after acquisition from Portugal

13th amendment – December 1, 1963 – Formation of State of Nagaland, with special protection
under Article 371A

14th amendment – December 28, 1962 – Incorporation of Pondicherry into the Union of India
Creation of Legislative Assemblies for Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and Goa

15th amendment – October 5, 1963 – Raise retirement age of judges from 60 to 62

22nd amendment – September 25, 1969 – Provision to form Autonomous states within the State of
Assam

24th amendment – November 5, 1971 – Enable parliament to dilute fundamental rights through
amendments to the constitution

31th amendment – October 17, 1973 – Increased size of Parliament from 525 to 545 seats.
32nd amendment – July 1, 1974 – Protection of regional rights in Telangana and Andhra regions of
State of Andhra Pradesh

38th amendment – August 1, 1975 – Enhances the powers of President and Governors to pass
ordinances

42nd amendment – April 1, 1977 - Provides for curtailment of fundamental rights, imposes
fundamental duties and changes to the basic structure of the constitution by making India a―Socialist
Secular and Republic state ( amendment of preamble)

51th amendment – June 16, 1986 – Provide reservation to Scheduled Tribes in Nagaland,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assemblies

52nd amendment – March 1, 1985 – Anti Defection Law – Provide disqualification of members from
parliament and assembly in case of defection from one party to other

61th amendment – March 28, 1989 – Reduce age for voting rights from 21 to 18

65th amendment – March 12, 1992 – National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes formed and its statutory powers specified in The Constitution.

69th amendment – February 1, 1992 – To provide for a legislative assembly and council of ministers
for Federal National Capital of Delhi. Delhi continues to be a Union Territory

70th amendment – December 21, 1991 – Include National Capital of Delhi and Union Territory of
Pondicherry in electoral college for Presidential Election

86th amendment – December 12, 2002 – Provides Right to Education until the age of fourteen and
Early childhood care until the age of six

93rd amendment – January 20, 2006 – To enable provision of reservation for other backward
classes (O.B.C.) in government as well as private educational institutions

97th amendment – 12 January 2012 – Added the words ―or co-operative societies in Article 19
(l)(c) and inserted article 43B i.e, Promotion of Co-operative Societies and added Part-IXB.

99th Amendment– Insertion of new articles 124A, 124B and 124C. Amendments to Articles 127,
128, 217, 222, 224A, 231- The amendment provides for the formation of a National Judicial
Appointments Commission

100th Amendment– land boundary agreement bill with Bangladesh.