Indian Polity & Constitution

What is Democracy-?

“Democracy is not just about Rights. It is also about Responsibilities. Democracy is not just about asserting our own identity. It is also about respecting the identity of others. Democracy is not just about seeking benefits. It is also about contributing to the process of nation building.”

What is Politics-?

Politics refers to the relationship between government and society.

What is Political Science-?

Political Science is concerned with a systematic study of ‘politics’ in human societies. Integration and Conflict are two sides of coin “Politics.”

What is State-?

State is a social organisation with a fixed territory and stability in society living within that territory. State is distinguished from other forms of social organisation in terms of sovereign power exercised by it. Here Sovereignty is defined as undisputed legal authority over a territory.

In ancient India, the Saptanga Theory of State elaborated in Kautilya’s Arthshastra mentions seven elements — Swami, Amatya, Janpada, Durga, Kosa, Danda and Mitra. In the west, writers like Harold

J. Laski and J.W. Garner have referred to four elements of state as follows-

Population
Territory
Government
Sovereignty [Central theme]

What is Government-?

The state has to exercise sovereign power over the territory and the people within its jurisdiction. For doing this it needs an organisation with persons exercising power on its behalf. Government is such an organisation of the state, with defined powers and functions for the different organs [Legislature, Executive and Judiciary] of the governments. Government of a State can be democratic or non-democratic, unitary or federal and Presidential or Parliamentary.

Indian State-

The origin of State in India is as old as Vedas, when Dharma was the cardinal principle of Politics in India. Manusmiriti is the earliest text to elaborate the principles of social life, propounds decentralization and welfare activities as the basis of the state organisation. Gradually ancient state has evolved into modern state. John Locke propounded the Doctrine of Consent and John Stuart Mill gave much importance to representative and responsible government.

Nation-

The concept of Nation refers to sense of belongings from a particular State or Region. A society claims distinction on the basis of some common characteristics of its people. Some characteristics that form the basis of such a claim are: lineage, culture, language, religion, territory, race, and so on. The idea of nation and the process of nationalism emphasize the sense of solidarity, and resemblances on various grounds. A sense of belonging among the people is provided by these factors either singly or in combination turned out as a Nation.

Nation Building-

This is the process of consolidation of various social groups [whole population] under a common tag. It is one of the main objectives of the sate to maximize the level of integration in society which is known as Nation Building.

Political System-

The political system of a state refers to the sum total of ideology or principles on which government of a State has been organised to discharge its duties or functions towards Citizens and to exercise the sovereign power of State. The political system of modern states are organised on the basis of constitution of a particular state.

Classification of Government-

Government of a modern state can be classified into various forms like democratic or autocratic, unitary or federal and parliamentary or presidential etc. This classification of government usually based upon the following factors-

S. No.	Basis/Factors	Type of Government
1.	Nature of exercise of power	Democratic or Autocratic
2.	Nature of executive agency	Parliamentary or Presidential
3.	Territorial distribution of power	Federal or Unitary
4.	Nature of constitution	Hard or Soft

Political Culture-

Political Culture of a country refers to a set of beliefs and attitudes prevailed in a particular political society.

Political Socialization-

The process by which a particular set of attitudes, belief and orientations is passed on from one generation to another is known as political socialization. It is study of “what, when and how people learn about politics”. Inter-generational continuity is the essence of political culture. The willingness of people to accept new ideas and beliefs is a matter of learnt behaviour. Thus, the learning process to acquire existing political culture is known as political socialization. Individuals acquire certain social obligations through ordinary course of interactions. Process of political socializations is not necessarily a conscious process. Various factors such as international developments, domestic transformations, historical events, and social stirrings shape the process of political socialization. There is a direct linkage between political culture and political socialization. Political socialization is the process by which political cultures are formed, maintained and changed. Thus, it is important to study the process of political socialization in order to understand political stability and development of political system. An individual acquires a particular belief, value and attitude towards politics of a state through manifest and latent transmission of information. The teaching of civics syllabus in the schools is an example of manifest political socialization. Latent political socialization process implies transmission of non-political attitudes towards prevalent institutions in a political system. It involves the fundamental aspects of culture in a political system. Political socialization takes place through a variety of institutions and situations. These are family, peer groups, educational institutions, secondary groups/such as work place, the mass media, government and political party machineries.

Who makes Government in a State i.e. Political Parties-

Political Party refers to a political or social institution with a common ideology. Party system in a state varies from state to state as one party system, two party system and multi party system

Political Participation-

The study of political participation implies the study of actual involvement of people in the decision-making process rather than popular attitude of becoming involved. It refers to the involvement of mango peoples in policy making, implementing and its evaluation. In contemporary context effective participation of citizens in decision-making process has been emphasized through decentralization of power. Effective political participation is also achieved through the various emerging concepts like pressure groups, interest groups, civil society and NGO’s.

Political Development-

Political Development refers to gradual changes occurred into the political structure and political culture of a state during a certain time period. Political development is related to increasing governmental efficiency in the use of human and material resources of the nation for the common good. It also highlighted the notion of national political capacity or efficiency. Political development it refers to the capacity building of the government in discharging its duties or responsibilities. The concept of political capacity referred only to two basic areas of development: ability of a government to collect revenues from its subjects to implement its preferred policies and its ability to mobilize human resources.

Cardinal Theories of Politics-

Liberalism-

An ideology based on a commitment to individualism, consent and toleration: modern liberalism differs from classical liberalism. According to this ideology economic system is based upon Laissez-faire approach and it advocated *capitalism. Ideology also advocated the concept of free market and liberalization. Almost all developed countries on globe supported this ideology

*A type of economic system which precedes socialism or communism. It is based on private ownership of the means of production and on the exploitation of the wage labour.

Socialism-

A political ideology based on the principle of state ownership of resources and industry along with responsibility of socio-economic development. Socialism is a clear contrast to Laissez faire and advocated more interference from government side. Traditional Socialism is different from ** democratic socialism.

**Democratic Socialism refers to a mixed ideology aiming at bringing about socialism through democratic means. The ideology was consciously articulated by Nehru and endorsed by the Indian Parliament from time to time.

Marxism-

This ideology was advocated and founded by Karl Marx. Marxism is based upon the principle of classless society. Lenin of former USSR and Mayo of China were the main supporter of this ideology. Marx advocated replacement of capitalism by communism.

Fascism-

Fascism refers to a political ideology which advocates an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism). NAZI party of Germany under leadership of Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Mussolini were the prime advocator of this ideology

Gandhism-

One more political or economic ideology put forward by Mahatma Gandhi of India is known as Gandhism. This ideology is based upon the principle of non-violence and decentralization of power to local government

Few important terms in Polity-

Bourgeoisie-

This is a French term signifying citizen class or working class. The term is frequently used by Marxist socialists to denote the class of proprietors, capitalists, manufacturers, merchants, persons with a business of their own and members of liberal professions as opposed to the ‘proletariat’ who live only by selling their labour.

Proletariat-

In ancient Rome the property–less class which served the state by producing children proles. However, the most prevalent usage refers to the one developed by Marx. In this sense proletariat includes those in industry, agriculture and intellectual posts who live by the sale of their labour, as opposed to the capitalist bourgeoisie.

Elite-

This term denotes a group of persons who hold positions of eminence in society. The term is also used to refer to leaders in different fields, e.g. political elite and business elite.

Trade Union-

An association of wage earners of workers for the purpose of improving their conditions and protecting their interests

Syndicalism-

A movement of labour unions which favored “direct action” culminating in a revolutionary general strike to secure workers’ ownership and control of industry. It originated under the influence of Robert Owen and acquired its more violent aspects in France besides getting its name from the word ‘Syndicate’ (union trade).

Indian Polity-

The preamble of Indian constitution says that India is a Sovereign [undisputed legal right of Indian citizens over the state], Socialist [adhere to socialism ideology], Secular [without any religion and equal respect for all prevailed ones], Democratic [government by the people or by their elected representatives] Republic [A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens] country.

Some cardinal features of Indian Polity incorporated by Indian Constitution-

Written
Partially rigid and partially flexible
Impartial Judiciary with Judicial Review
Directive Principles of State Policy
Universal Adult franchise
Emergency Provisions
Power distribution between Union and State on doctrine of “Pitch and Substance.”
Independent Agencies like UPSC, EC and CAGI
Positive Discrimination
PRI

Government Form	Parliamentary Government on lines of British Parliament
Nature of State	Quasi-Federal [India is union of states but centre is more powerful]
Executive agency of Government	Legislature and executive organs are based upon the fusion principle not on separation of power like in USA
Liberty	Fundamental Rights and Independent Judiciary

Who made Indian Constitution-?

Indian Constitution was drafted and adopted by a Constituent Assembly that was not elected directly by the people. In fact, the Legislative Assemblies of the Indian Provinces elected it indirectly. The Assemblies themselves were elected in 1946 according to the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935. The Constituent Assembly could be called real representative of the people because it had representation of almost all shades of opinions. The words socialist and secular added into preamble of India constitution by 42^nd Amendment Act in 1976. Here it should be noted that Mr. K. T. Shah [then member of constitution assembly] advocated addition of these word into preamble but move was strongly opposed by Nehru. Here are few important details regarding development of Indian constitution-

Cabinet Mission recommended the establishment of constitution assembly
Each province was allotted seats in constitution assembly in proportion of its population and members were elected from provincial legislative assemblies indirectly
Total member of constitution assembly was 385. Out of which 93 were representative of Indian States and rest were from British Indian council. Total 205 members were from Indian national congress. After partition total number members of constitutional assembly reduced to 299 but of whom 284 members were actually present and signed on the final Indian Constitution on 26^th November 1949.
The main communities recognized for appropriate representation were General, Muslim and Sikh
1^st meeting of Constitution Assembly- 9-23, December 1946
Objective Resolution of Indian Constitution put forward by Nehru on 13^th December 1946 and adopted by assembly on 22^nd Jan 1947 after a comprehensive debate
Dr. Sinha was elected as temporary president of Constitution Assembly who later replaced by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Constitution assembly worked through various individual committees on separate subject matter which later drafted into a single unified document by Drafting Committee of Constitution Assembly
Drafted Committee was established in 1947 under chairmanship of Mr. B. R. Ambedkar
11^th last meeting and adoption- 26^th November 1949
Full adoption or ratification- 26^th January 1950 [this date was choosed because on the same date earlier National Congress adopted Indian Constitution in 1930s]
It took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame Indian Constitution

Important Committees established by Constitution Assembly-

Committee	Chairman
Committee on the Rules of Procedure	Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Steering Committee	Do
Finance and Staff Committee	Do
Ad hoc Committee on the National Flag	Do
Credential or Bonafide Committee	Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
House Committee	B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
Order of Business Committee	K. M. Munshi
Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly	G. V. Mavalanker
States Committee	Jawahar Lal Nehru
Union Powers Committee	Do
Union Constitution Committee	Do
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas	Sardar Patel
Minorities Sub-Committee	H. C. Mukherjee
Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee	J. B. Kriplani
North-East Frontier Tribal Areas Committee	Gopinath Bardoloi
Drafting Committee	B. R. Ambedkar

Various provisions copied from outside sources in Indian Constitution-

The Constitution of India, as opted by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, was not something absolutely new. It was, to a great extent, influenced by the Government of India Act of 1935 that was passed by the British Parliament. In addition Constitution Assembly copied many provisions from the already working constitution of various countries which makes Indian Constitution most lengthy and comprehensive document in world of constitution. The provisions took by constitution assembly from various country’s constitutions are as follows-

S. No.	Provision	Source
1.	Federal Structure, Office of Governor, Power Division, Judiciary and Public service commission	GOI Act 1935
2.	Parliamentary system, Rule of Law, Single Citizenship, Office of CAG, Legislation, Cabinet form of govt., Prerogative writs and Bicameralism	Britain
3.	Fundamental Rights, Judicial Review, Office of Vice-President, Independence of Judiciary, Impeachment of President and Impeachment process of SC and HCs Judges	USA
4.	Quasi Federal Structure with strong center [residuary powers], Appointment of state governors by center and Advisory/review role of supreme court	Canada
5.	Concurrent List [List III], Freedom of trade, Commerce and interstate trade, Joint Sitting of Parliament	Australia
6.	Preamble & Fundamental Duties	USSR
7.	Emergency Provisions and suspension of rights during emergency	Weimer constitution of Germany
8.	Amendment Procedure, Indirect election of RS members and PRIs	South Africa
9.	Directive Principles of State Policy, Election process of President & Nomination of members by President	Irish Constitution of Ireland
10.	Procedures established by law	Japan
11.	Idea of Justice in SOCIAL, EDUCATION, ECONOMIC and POLITICAL	Russian Revolution, 1917
12.	Idea of Liberty, Equality and fraternity	French Revolution, 1789-1799