Constitution of India India’S Fundamental and Supreme Law CONSTITUTION
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The Preamble of the Constitution of India India’s fundamental and supreme law CONSTITUTION India is the biggest democracy in the world. Indian Constitution established a parliamentary system of government that is the President of the Union is the Constitutional head of the state. According to the Constitution, India is a Union of States. According to the Constitution, the name of our country is India, that is Bharat First democracy in the world - Greece. þ Longest surviving democracy in the world Brit- ain Home of direct democracy - Switzerland Mother of Parliament - Britain P\-§Ä thm«p sNbvXv P\-t\-Xm-¡sf sXc-sª- Sp¯v `cWw \S-¯p¶ kwhn-[m-\-amWv P\m-[n-]Xyw. Golden Jubilee of In a democracy the real power rests with Indian Parliament (a) the People (b) the President On May 13, 2002, the Indian Parliament celebrated its golden jubilee. The first Lok Sabha election was held in 1951-52. On May 13, 1952 President, Rajendra Systems of Government Prasad had addressed a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha Anarchy : A state of utter disorder or chaos cre- and the Rajya Sabha for the first time. ated by the absence of a government. 13 / 12 / 2001 : The day on which terrorists attacked Autocracy : Absolute government in the hands Indian Parliament. of a single individual. Bureaucracy: The form of government by officials. (c) the Parliament (d) the Supreme Court Democracy : A government of the people, by the people, for the people. Ans: (a) the people Gynarchy : Government by a woman or a set of The Indian constitution is founded on a nice women. balance of power among the Monarchy : The form of government by a king. (a) executive (b) legislature (c) judiciary 1950 P\p-hcn 26\v C´y Hcp ]c-am-[n-Imc Oligarchy : The form of government in which the supreme power lies in the hands dn¸-»n-¡mbn {]Jym-]n-¡-s¸-«p. `c-W-¯-e-h³ of a privileged few. sXc-sª-Sp-¡-s¸-Sp¶ cmPys¯bmWv dn¸-»nIv Plutocracy : The term of government run by the F¶v ]d-bp-¶-Xv. wealthy people. Democracy : A nation in which the supreme power vests with the representa- Constituent Assembly tives elected by popular vote. The Constitution of India was framed by a 6 5 8 Constituent Assembly set up under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946. Article 32 : Heart & Soul of the Constitution The idea of a Constitution for India was first ex- "If I was asked to name any particular article of pressed by M.N. Roy (communist leader) and it the Constitution as the most important one - an was supported by Gandhiji & Nehru. article without which this constitution would be a The Constituent Assembly was in session nullity - I would not refer to any other article ex- between December 9, 1946 and November 26, 1949. Total duration of the making of the constitution cept this one. It is the very soul of the Constitu- was 2 years, 11 months and 17 days. tion and the very heart of it and I am glad that the The Constituent Assembly had 389 members origi- house has realised its importance......" This nally. Later reduced to 299 as League declined. opinion of Dr. Ambedkar has been reaffirmed by On the inaugural day of the assembly on Decem- the Supreme Court of India on several occasions. ber 9, 1946, Dr. Sachidananda Sinha was elected Article 32: empowers The Supreme Court as the temporary President to chair the meeting "Right to Constitutional Remedies." and on December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent President of the The Constituent Assembly adopted our Na- Constituent Assembly. tional Flag on July 22, 1947. Constituent Assembly worked by constituting The Constituent Assembly adopted our Na- 13 committees and the most prominent committee tional Anthem on January 24, 1950. was the Drafting Committee of the constitution. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Sources of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the Constitution. C´y³ `c-W-L-S-\-bpsS apJy -inev]n Bbn-cp¶p The most vital problem agitated the minds of the kzX{´ C´y-bpsS BZys¯ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. makers of the Constitution was how to ensure the \n-b-aa-{´n-bpam-bn-cp¶p At±-lw. 1990-þ C´ym unity of India. Kh¬saâ v acWm\-´c _lp-a-Xn-bmbn `mc-X- Accordingly a Constitution came into being by cXv\w \ÂIn BZ-cn-¨p. borrowing from various sources relevent to the Other six members of the drafting committee were Indian situation. Thus, the Constitution of India N. Gopalaswami Iyengar, Alladi Krishna Swamy can be called a Borrowed Constitution. Iyer, K.M. Munshi (founder of Bharatiya Vidya The Government of India Act 1935 and the Con- Bhavan), Syyed Mohammad Sadayatullah, stitution of various other countries have played N. Madhava Rao and D.P. Khaitan. their part in framing the Constitution. Jawaharlal Nehru, introduced the objectives of Our Constitution was also influenced by the ideas resolution (purpose and aim) in the assembly and that resolution constituted on the basis of the References (Constitutions) The Aspects adopted Preamble of the Constitution. Government of India Act, 1935 The Federal system, Office of the The Constitution of India was adopted on Governor, Federal court, Emer- gency power November 26, 1949 and it came into force on Britain Parliamentary Government, January 26, 1950. Single Citizenship, Rule of law, Office of the CAG The date January 26, was chosen to inaugurate U.S Judicial Review, Fundamental the Constitution in memory and honour of the Rights, Impeachment process, Lahore session of the Indian National Congress Preamble Ireland Directive Principles, Presiden- on 31st December 1929. tial Election. Canada Federation with a strong cen- tre, Residuary power. B.N. Rao: The first Constitutional Advisor. Germany Suspension of Fundamental (Weimar Constitution) Rights due to Emergency Sardar Vallabhai Patel and V.P.Menon: The Australia Concurrent List. problem of the integration of princely states South Africa Amendment Procedure was ably handled. France Republic Russia Fundamental Duties 6 5 9 of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity, the three slo- The Preamble is a part of the Constitution statute gans released by the French Revolution (1789), but it is not a part of the Constitution. the American Declaration of Independence (1776) It is its identity card." : N.A. Palkhivala. and Gandhian thoughts. Which one of the following features was borrowed partly flexible and partly rigid. by the Indian Constitution from the British Consti- The examples of Rigid Constitution are United tution? States, Canada, Switzerland and Australia. (a) Parliamentary System of Government British Constitution is a flexible Constitution. (b) Rule of Law Unitary / Federal (c) Law – making procedure (d) All the above A Constitution is said to be unitary if it concen- Ans: (d) All the above trates all authority at the centre, making the vari- ous regions subservient to the central government. Nature of the Constitution Britain and France have unitary Constitutions. A Federal Constitution divides government Written/ Unwritten authority between the centre and the regions A Written Constitution is one in which most of conferring on the latter an autonomous status. the fundamental or basic rules of government The US Constitution, the Canadian Constitution organisations are contained in a document. and the Indian Constitution are examples of The Constitution of India is the longest written Federal Constitutions. Constitution in the world. Indian Constitution is described as federal in America has the shortest as well as the oldest term but unitary in spirit. written Constitution in the world. Ata-cn-¡³ sFIy-\m-Sp-I-fnse s^U-d kwhn- The Constitution of U.S. was framed by the del- [m-\-t¯mSv C´y³ `c-W-L-S-\bv¡v IS-¸m-Sp-v. egates meeting in the Philadelphia Convention. F¶m Ata-cn-¡-bn \ne-\n¡p¶ s^U-d Swiss Federation was formed in 1867. kwhn-[m-\-¯n \n¶pw hyXy-kvX-ambn, Hcp tI{µ Canadian Federation was formed in 1848. Kh¬saânsâ Iogn {]hÀ¯n-¡p¶ kzbw-`- Australian Federation was formed in 1901. cW A[n-Im-c-apÅ kwØm-\-§-fpsS s^U-td- An Unwritten Constitution is one in which most j³ BWv C´y. of the fundamental rules and principles of gov- ernmental organisations have not been reduced Indian Constitution is Quasi - Federal. to writing by any authorised body or persons. The word Federal is however absent in the The best example of an unwritten Constitution is Indian Constitution. the British Constitution. Israel is another country without a written Salient Features of the Constitution of India Constitution. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest or Flexible / Rigid bulkiest written Constitution in the world. If a Constitution can be amended easily by the The Constitution at present contains 444 Articles simple majority of the member of parliament, it is and 12 Schedules. said to be flexible. The Constitution has 22 parts. The first part has If the procedure of amending or repealing ordinary four Articles. laws is difficult, the Constitution is said to be rigid. Originally our Constitution contained 395 Ar- The Indian Constitution is rigid in so far as its ticles and 8 Schedules. basic principles are concerned. Some of its provi- sions can be amended by a simple majority of par- It is designed to work as federal Constitution in liament while others require either a two third ma- normal times and as a unitary one in emergency. jority of parliament or a two third majority of parlia- It establishes a parliamentary system of Govern- ment besides the accent of majority of state legis- ment both at the centre and in the states.