Indian Polity for UPSC – Civil Services
Examination
Foundation Batch
Jatin Gupta
About me
A development sector professional turned lawyer with a
passion for teaching
Interest Areas: Constitutional Law, Cyber Laws and
Intellectual Property Rights
Favourite Book : Man’s search for meaning in life
Jatin Gupta Favourite Music: Mark Knopfler, A R Rahman, Pink
Floyd
Childhood Hero: Mahatma Gandhi
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Approach for Civil Services
Examination
Prelims
Mains-
Paper II
Why study Indian
Constitution ?
Because it fetches you marks
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UPSC CSE Prelims
✘ 10-15 questions are asked directly
from this section
✘ Several key concepts in other subjects
✘ Is the very foundation of your
preparation
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UPSC CSE Mains
✘ GS Paper II – 100 - 125 marks on
average
✘ Several key concepts in other subjects
✘ 1 essay topic guaranteed
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Oath of a civil servant
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Sabrimala Temple
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Conflicts
around
same sex
marriage
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Protests
against
reservations
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Class Plan and
approach
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Additional tools
Supreme Constituent Current
Previous Anecdotes
Court Assembly Events
Year
Judgments Debates Questions
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Sources
➢ Social and Political Life – NCERT Class VIII
➢ Democratic Politics – I NCERT Class IX;
➢ Democratic Politics – II NCERT Class X;
➢ India Constitution at Work NCERT Class XI;
➢ Political Theory NCERT Class XI
➢ Our Political System – Subhash Kashyap
➢ Bare Act: Indian Constitution;
http://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/COI-updated.pdf
➢ Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth/ D.D Basu
➢ VISION IAS reading material and class handouts
Some Do’s and Don’ts
➢ Start with a clean slate/ Start without fear
➢ Revise regularly
➢ Ask when in doubt but be patient
➢ Practice MCQs and answer writing
➢ Self study is the key
What is constitution ?
Why do we need a constitution ?
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Concept of State
An independent political entity occupying a
“defined territory” the members of which are
united together for the purpose of resisting
external force and preservation of internal order
And the State needs certain instruments or
organs to carry out its functions
And there should be a law to:
➢ establish these organs
➢ lay down the powers of these organs;
➢ define the relationship between these organs
➢ their relationship with the citizens
That law is constitution
Constitution
It is a legal document that is a fundamental law of the
country having a special sanctity. It sets out the
framework and principal functions of organs of a State. It
declares the principles governing the operation of those
organs
Functions of Constitution
Functions of Constitution
1. To provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal
coordination amongst members of a society.
Functions of Constitution
2. To define who has powers to make laws and enforce
them i.e organizational framework
Functions of Constitution
3. To set some limits on what the State limits the can impose
on its citizens.
Functions of Constitution
4. Reflects ideology and philosophy of a Nation
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How to ensure success of
such a law?
Ensuring success of a constitution
1. Should be drawn by those people those who have
credibility, are popular and represent various sections of
society
2. A law that has something for everyone
3. Should have constitutionalism
4. Should be followed and respected
5. Should be rigid yet flexible
Constitutionalism
Constitutionalism
Constitutionalism is specific limitations on general State
powers to prevent exercise of arbitrary decision-making
Brainstorming exercise
Does Indian Constitution carry the concept of
Constitutionalism? If yes, how?
Rule of Law
Rule of law
➢ The primary meaning of the term rule of law is that
everything must be done according to law.
➢ Everyone should be equal in the eyes of law. No one is
above law
How was Indian Constitution made?
Constituent Assembly
Constituent Assembly
➢ It held its first sitting on 9 December 1946 and reassembled as Constituent
Assembly for divided India on 14 August 1947.
➢ Members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the Provincial
Legislative Assemblies
➢ Each Province and each Princely State or group of States were allotted seats
proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of 1:10,00,000.
➢ Provinces were to elect 292 members while the Princely States were allotted a
minimum of 93 seats
➢ The seats in each Province were distributed among Muslims, Sikhs and
general, in proportion to their respective populations
Constituent Assembly
➢ Post partition the number of members in the Assembly was
reduced to 299.
➢ The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949.
➢ 284 members were actually present on 24 January 1950
and appended their signature to the Constitution as finally
passed.
➢ The Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.
7635 amendments
Were proposed
2 years 11 months and 18 days
No. of days constituent assembly sat
45
Constituent Assembly
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Drafting Committee
➢ Drafting Committee consisting of Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, K.M. Munshi,
T.T.Krishnamachari, and Gopalaswami Ayyangar.
➢ Sir B.N.Rau prepared the original Draft on which the work of the committee was
based.
Objective resolution
➢ Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objective Resolution on December 13,
1946 and that was passed on January 22, 1947. It was the expression
to the ideals and aspirations of the people of India and so the objectives
of the Constitution.
➢ These fundamental objectives guided the drafting members in framing a
rulebook for the governance of the new nation. This ultimately became
the very significant preamble of the Constitution of India
Objective resolution
Achievement called Indian Constitution
“With the adoption of the Constitution by the members of the
Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, India became
the largest democracy in the world. By this act of strength and
will, Assembly members began what was perhaps the greatest
political venture since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787”
Granville Austin
Who wrote the constitution?
https://www.wdl.org/
en/item/2672/view/1
/41/#q=India%20Co
nstitution
Salient Features of Indian
Constitution
1. A modern and a borrowed constitution
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“One likes to ask whether there can be anything new in a Constitution framed at this hour in the
history of the world. More than hundred years have rolled over when the first written Constitution was
drafted. It has been followed by many countries reducing their Constitutions to writing. What the scope
of a Constitution should be has long been settled. Similarly what are the fundamentals of a
Constitution are recognized all over the world. Given these facts, all Constitutions in their main
provisions must look similar.
The only new things, if there can be any, in a Constitution framed so late in the day are the variations
made to remove the faults and to accommodate it to the needs of the country. The charge of producing
a blind copy of the Constitutions of other countries is based, I am sure, on an inadequate study of the
Constitution. I have shown what is new in the Draft Constitution and I am sure that those who have
studied other Constitutions and who are prepared to consider the matter dispassionately will agree
that the Drafting Committee in performing its duty has not been guilty of such blind and slavish
imitation as it is represented to be.”
Dr. B.R Ambedkar
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2. A written constitution
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3. Lengthiest constitution
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4. A Federal Constitution
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5. Parliamentary Democracy as opposed to
a presidential democracy
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6. More flexible than rigid
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7. Guaranteed Fundamental Rights
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8. Independent and integrated Judiciary
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9. Welfare State
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10.Social Equality and a tool of social revolution
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“However good a Constitution
may be, if those who are
implementing it are not good, it
will prove to be bad. However
bad a Constitution may be, if
those implementing it are good,
it will prove to be good.”
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
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Federalism
Essential Features of a polity of Federal Type
➢ Dual Government
➢ Distribution of powers
➢ Supremacy of constitution
➢ Rigidity of Constitution
➢ Independent Judiciary
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Benefits of Federalism
➢ Federation is suitable to a plural society with multiple
cultures and multiple language speaking populations.
➢ It is more democratic in nature and facilitates people
participation
➢ Checks the powers of the government
➢ Federal system allows distribution of responsibilities
between center and states
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“A serious complaint is made on the ground that there is too much of centralization and that the States
have been reduced to Municipalities. It is clear that this view is not only an exaggeration but is also
founded on a misunderstanding of what exactly the Constitution contrives to do. As to the relation
between the center and the States, it is necessary to bear in mind the fundamental principle on which it
rests. The basic principle of federalism is that the legislative and executive authority is partitioned
between the center and the States not by any law to be made by the center but the Constitution itself.
This is what the Constitution does.
The States, under our Constitution, are in no way dependent upon the center for their legislative or
executive authority. The center and the States are co-equal in this matter. It is difficult to see how such a
Constitution can be called centralism. It may be that the Constitution assigns to the center too large a field
for the operation of its legislative and executive authority than is to be found in any other Federal
Constitution. It may be that the residuary powers are given to the center and not to the States. But these
features do not form the essence of federalism. The chief mark of federalism, as I said lies in the partition
of the legislative and executive authority between the center and the Units by the Constitution. This is the
principle embodied in our Constitution.”
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Why did India chose federalism
with a unitary bias
➢ GOI Act 1935 formed the basis of the Indian
Constitution itself and had a strong unitary bias.
➢ Secessionist tendencies at the time of independence
required a strong centre to hold the entire nation
together.
➢ Several issues such as poverty, industrialization,
infrastructure, etc. required a uniform approach.
➢ To protect India from acts of external aggression, a
strong centre was needed.
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Example of Switzerland
➢ Switzerland chose federal system as that suits its three
language groups, German, French and Italian. It
recognizes three official languages. Of the twenty two
Swiss cantons, there are eighteen unilingual cantons, three
bilingual cantons and one trilingual canton. The Swiss
Constitution guarantees each citizen the right to
communicate with the central government in any of the
three official languages.
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The curious case of Sir Ivor Jennings
In 1951 the University of Madras
invited Jennings to deliver a series of
lectures on the just born Indian
Constitution.
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The curious case of Sir Ivor Jennings
“Too long, too rigid, too prolix.” Over the course of three lectures, Jennings elaborated on
his views.
He focused on some primary aspects: The Constitution’s rigidity and its superfluous
provisions; fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy; and, finally, key aspects
of India’s federalism. Jennings finally handed down a largely unfavourable verdict. India’s
Constitution, he declared, was “far too large and therefore far too rigid”, too caged by its
history, and too unwieldy to be moulded into something useful through judicious
interpretations. Overall, his judgment was that the Constitution would not endure.
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And….
In the 1960s, the same Sir Ivor Jennings had been commissioned to write a new
Constitution for Sri Lanka then known as “Ceylon”. Despite all precautions
taken in its drafting, that Constitution lasted about six years.
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“Success is not the key to happiness.
Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be
successful.”
THANKS!
Any
questions?
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