Daily Current Affairs 11.10.2018: Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951

Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951

Overview: Amidst murmurs in political circles that the Lok Sabha bypolls in Karnataka to three seats was “unnecessary”, the Election Commission has cited Section 151 A of the Representation of People Act, which mandated it.

What’s the issue now?

Experts have written to the President questioning the rationale behind holding

NITI Aayog’s Development Agenda

Overview

• NITI Aayog is preparing a 15-year vision and a seven-year strategy document, and has circulated a three-year action agenda.
• The goal of transforming India and attaining the desired level of economic and social outcomes will require higher and sustainable growth in coming years.
• Higher economic growth will not only create employment, but will also generate higher revenue which will help increase government spending without disturbing the budgetary balance.

Background

• Niti Aayog sets a 15-year plan for government actions for achieving social goals such as poverty reduction, and improving health and sanitation.
• Another seven-year strategy document for 2017-24 will chart out policy action outlined as the “National Development Agenda”.

Indian Polity: Criticism of the Constituent Assembly

Criticism of the Constituent Assembly

• Every great step in the history is followed by the criticism of the same. In the same manner, the Constituent Assembly was also criticized.  Some of the points included:

• The Constituent Assembly was not a representative body as its members were not directly elected by the people of India.

• As the Constituent Assembly was created on the proposals of the British Government, some people didn’t consider it as a Sovereign body.

Indian Polity: Enactment and Enforcement of the Constitution

Enactment of the Constitution

1. The tasks mentioned above continued till November 26, 1949 when the Constitution was adopted and some provisions came into force on that day itself.
   But the major part (remaining provisions) came into force on January 26, 1950.
   However, the Assembly continued to act as provisional parliament till the formation of new Parliament after the first general elections in 1951-52.
2. The Constitution of India is the world’s lengthiest written constitution with 395 articles and 8 schedules. It contains the good points taken from the constitutions’ of many countries in the world. It was passed on 26 Nov 1949 by the ‘The Constituent Assembly’ and is fully applicable since 26 Jan 1950.
3. The Constitution of India draws extensively from Western legal traditions in its outline of the principles of liberal democracy. It follows a British parliamentary pattern with a lower and upper house. It embodies some Fundamental Rights which are similar to the Bill of Rights declared by the United States constitution. It also borrows the concept of a Supreme Court from the US.

Indian Polity: Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution

Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution

1. On 29 August 1947, a Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor.
2. These members were Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (K M Munshi, Ex- Home Minister, Bombay), Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex- Advocate General, Madras State), N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet), B L Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India), Md. Saadullah (Ex- Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member) and D P Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer).
3. The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (who became First Indian Judge in International Court of Justice, 1950–54). Later B L Mitter resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal Advisor of Maharaja of Vadodara).

Indian Polity: Committees of the Indian Constitution

Committees of the Indian Constitution

1. The Constituent Assembly appointed several committees for framing the constitution. Some of the important committees were:
2. Union powers committee of members chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru.
3. The committee on Fundamental Rights and minorities of 54 members chaired by Sardar Patel.
4. The committee on Union constitution of 15 members with Jawaharlal Nehru-as Chairman.
5. The provincial constitution committee of 25 members chaired by K.R. Munshi.
6. These committees submitted their reports between April & August 1947.
7. This draft contained 240 clauses and 13 schedules in order to consider the Draft constitution; a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was set up.

Indian Polity: Changes by the Indepence Act

Changes by the Independence Act 

1 1. The Report on the functions of the Constituent Assembly under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, submitted by the Committee appointed by the President in pursuance of the decisions of the Assembly on the 20th August 1947 made all together five recommendations.

2. Its first recommendation was that, it is open to the Constituent Assembly to function as Legislature and that it should function as such.

3. While functioning as Legislature it should adopt the rules of the Legislative Assembly as far as possible with necessary amendments.

4. The necessary amendments should be made under the orders of the Please dent of the Constituent Assembly.

5. The work of the Constituent Assembly as a Constitution-making body and as an ordinary legislature should be separated and should be conducted in separate sessions to be held on separate days.

Indian Polity: Parts of the Indian Constitution

Parts of the Indian Constitution

Part I	The Union and its Territory	Articles 1-4
Part II	Citizenship	Articles 5-11
Part III	Fundamental Rights	Articles 12-35
Part IV	Directive Principles of State Policy	Articles 35-51
Part IV-A	Fundamental Duties	Articles 51A
Part V	The Union	Articles 52-151
Part VI	The States	Articles 152-237
Part VII	Repealed
Part VIII	The Union Territories	Articles 239-241
Part IX (added by 73rd Amendment Act)	The Panchayats	Articles 243-243O
Part IX-A (added by 74th Amendment Act)	The Municipalities	Articles 243P-243ZG
Part IX-B (added by 97th Amendment Act)	The Co-operative Societies	Articles 243ZH-243ZT
Part X	The Scheduled and tribal areas	Articles 244-244A
Part XI	Relation between the union and the States	Articles 245-263
Part XII	Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits	Articles 264-300A
Part XIII	Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within the territory of India	Articles 301-307
Part XIV	Services under the Union and the states	Articles 308-323
Part XIV-A (added by 42nd amendment act)	Tribunals	Articles 323A-323B
Part XV	Elections	Articles 324-329
Part XVI	Special provision relating to certain areas	Articles 330-342
Part XVII	Official Language	Articles 343-351
Part XVIII	Emergency Provision	Articles 352-360
Part XIX	Miscellaneous	Articles 361-367
Part XX	Amendment of the Constitution	Articles 368
Part XXI	Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions	Articles 369-392
Part XXII	Short title, Commencement, Authoritative text in Hindi and Repeals	Articles 393-395

Indian Polity : Making of The Constitution- Objective Resolutions

Objective Resolutions

1. On 13 December, 1946, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution:
2. This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution;
3. WHEREIN the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now form the Indian States, and such other parts of India as are outside British India and the States as well as such other territories as are willing to be constituted into the Independent Sovereign India, shall be a Union of them all; and
4. WHEREIN the said territories, whether with their present boundaries or with such others as may be determined by the Constituent Assembly and thereafter according to the law of the Constitution, shall possess and retain the status of autonomous Units, together with residuary powers and exercise all powers and functions of government and administration, save and except such powers and functions as are vested in or assigned to the Union, or as are inherent or implied in the Union or resulting therefrom; and

Indian Polity: Making of the Constitution - Composition and Working of the Constituent Assembly

Composition of the Constituent Assembly

Key Points: 

1. In the year 1946, on 20 November a decision was taken to convene the first session of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December, 1946.
2. The members of the Constituent Assembly were chosen by indirect election by members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Mission.
3. Elections to elect members from British India were held in July-August 1946. The Congress won 199 out of 210 general categories of seats. For these elections to the Constituent Assembly, only the Sikhs and the Muslims were reorganized as minorities and elections for the Constituent Assembly was not held on the basis of universal adult franchise.
4. The arrangement was:
5. 292 members were elected through the Provincial Legislative Assemblies.
6. 93 members represented the Indian Princely States.
7. 4 members represented the Chief Commissioners’ Provinces.
8. The total membership of the Assembly thus was to be 389.
9. It was also decided that out of that strength, 296 were to be from the British provinces and 93 to be from the princely Indian states.

Indian Polity : Making of the Constitution - Introduction

Making of The Constitution

Intro:

1. N. Roy, a pioneer of the Communist Movement in India, presented the idea of a Constituent Assembly of India.

This became an official demand of the Indian National Congress in 1935, and was accepted by the British in August 1940.

On 8 August 1940, a statement was made by the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow about the expansion of the Governor-General’s Executive Council and the establishment of a War Advisory Council.

This offer, known as the August Offer, included giving full weight to minority opinions and allowing Indians to draft their own constitution.

Indian Polity: Constitutional Framework- Laws from the Crown Rule (1858–1947)

Laws from the Crown Rule (1858–1947)

The Government of India Act, 1858

 The Government of India Act, 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on August 2, 1858.

Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company (who had up to this point been ruling British India under the auspices of Parliament) and the transference of its functions to the British Crown.

Lord Palmerston, then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, introduced a bill for the transfer of control of the Government of India from the East India Company to the Crown, referring to the grave defects in the existing system of the government of India.

Indian Polity: Constitutional Framework- Laws from the time of the Company’s Rule (1773-1858)

Laws from the time of the Company’s Rule (1773-1858)

1. The Regulating Act of 1773

The Regulating Act of 1773 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain intended to overhaul the management of the East India Company’s rule in India. The Act did not prove to be a long-term solution to concerns over the Company’s affairs.

Pitt’s India Act was therefore subsequently enacted in 1784 as a more radical reform.

Provisions of the Act:

1. The Act limited the East India Company’s dividends to 6% until it repaid a GB£1.5M loan (passed by an accompanying act).
2. The Act restricted the Court of Directors to four-year terms.
3. It prohibited the servants of company from engaging in any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the native Indian people.
4. The Act elevated Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings to Governor-General of Bengal and subsumed the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay under Bengal’s control. Governor of Bengal became the Governor General of Bengal with an Executive Council of four to assist him. Decisions would be taken by majority and Governor General could only vote in case of tie.
5. A Supreme Court was established at Fort William at Calcutta. British judges were to be sent to India to administer the British legal system that was used there.

Indian Polity: Constitutional Framework- Historical Background

Historical Background

In the year 1600, the East India Company, a small trading company of England, acquired a charter from the English ruler, Queen Elizabeth 1; which granted it the sole right to trade with the East.

The Company first set up its factories in 1651, gained several rights and benefits from the local rulers and eventually had several confrontations with them. This culminated in the famous Battle of Plassey in 1757, after which it started making territorial inroads in India.

When the British Crown finally took over the administration of India from the Company in 1857, virtually the entire Indian Subcontinent was under its control.

Their rule continued till India officially became an independent country of the 15th of August, 1947.

Features of Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution

“Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic + Supreme law of the Nation + Written & lengthiest of the world”

12 Schedules of Indian Constitution