Hi, getting visibility among core literary public is benchmark
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2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens
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Biju
P R
Author,
Teacher, Blogger
Assistant
Professor of Political Science
Government
Brennen College
Thalassery
Kerala,
India
My Books
1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social Media,
(Routledge 2017), Amazon https://www.amazon.in/
2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens Use Social Media, (Fingerprint! 2017)
Amazon: http://www.amazon.in/dp/
1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social Media,
(Routledge 2017), Amazon https://www.amazon.in/
2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens Use Social Media, (Fingerprint! 2017)
Amazon: http://www.amazon.in/dp/
The Constitution of
India has some distinct and unique features as compared to other constitutions
to the world. As Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee puts
it, the framers had tried to accumulate and accommodate the best features of other
constitutions, keeping in view the peculiar problems and needs of our country.
The following are
the salient features of the Constitution of India.
1. Longest
written constitution
Indian Constitution
can be called the largest written constitution in the world because of its
contents. In its original form, it consisted of 395 Articles and 8 Schedules to
which additions have been made through subsequent amendments. At present it
contains 395 Articles and 12 Schedules, and more than 80 amendments. There are
various factors responsible for the long size of the constitution. One major
factors was that the framers of the constitution borrowed provisions form
several sources and several other constitutions of the world.
They have followed
and reproduced the Government of India Act 1935 in providing matters of
administrative detail. Secondly, it was necessary to make provisions for
peculiar problems of India like scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward
regions. Thirdly, provisions were made for elaborate centre-state relations in
all aspects of their administrative and other activities. Fourthly, the size of
the constitution became bulky, as provisions regarding the state administration
were also included. Further, a detail list of individual rights, directive
principles of state policy and the details of administration procedure were
laid down to make the Constitution clear and unambiguous for the ordinary
citizen. Thus, the Constitution of India became an exhaustive and lengthy one.
(2) Partly
Rigid and Partly Flexible
The Constitution of
India is neither purely rigid nor purely flexible. There is a harmonious blend
of rigidity and flexibility. Some parts of the Constitution can be amended by
the ordinary law-making process by Parliament. Certain provisions can be
amended, only when a Bill for that purpose is passed in each house of
Parliament by a majority of the total membership of that house and. by a
majority of not less than two-third of the members of that house present and
voting. Then there are certain other provisions which can be amended by the
second method described above and are ratified by the legislatures of not less
than one-half of the states before being presented to the President for his
assent. It must also be noted that the power to initiate bills for amendment
lies in Parliament alone, and not in the state legislatures.
Pundit Nehru
expressed in the Constituent Assembly, "While we want the Constitution to
be as solid and permanent as we can make it, there is no permanence in
Constitution. There should be certain flexibility. If you make anything rigid
and permanent, you stop the nation’s growth, the growth of a living, vital
organic people."
3) A
Democratic Republic
India is a
democratic republic. It means that sovereignty rests with the people of India.
They govern themselves through their representatives elected on the basis of
universal adult franchise. The President of India, the highest official of the
state is elected for a fixed term. Although, India is a sovereign republic, yet
it continues to be a member of the Commonwealth of Nations with the British
Monarch as its head. Her membership of the Commonwealth does not compromise her
position as a sovereign republic. The commonwealth is an association of free
and independent nations. The British Monarch is only a symbolic head of that
association.
4)
Parliamentary System of Government
India has adopted
the Parliamentary system as found in Britain. In this system, the executive is
responsible to the legislature, and remains in power only as long and it enjoys
the confidence of the legislature. The president of India, who remains in
office for five years, is the nominal, titular or constitutional head. The
Union Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head is drawn from
the legislature. It is collectively responsible to the House of People (Lok
Sabha), and has to resign as soon as it loses the confidence of that house. The
President, the nominal executive shall exercise his powers according to the
advice of the Union Council of Ministers, the real executive. In the states
also, the government is Parliamentary in nature.
5) A
Federation
Article 1 of the
Constitution of India says: - "India that is Bharat shall be a Union of
States." Though the word 'Federation' is not used, the government is
federal. A state is federal when (a) there are two sets of governments and
there is distribution of powers between the two, (b) there is a written
constitution, which is the supreme law of the land and (c) there is an
independent judiciary to interpret the constitution and settle disputes between
the centre and the states. All these features are present in India. There are
two sets of government, one at the centre, the other at state level and the
distribution of powers between them is quite detailed in our Constitution. The
Constitution of India is written and the supreme law of the land. At the apex
of single integrated judicial system, stands the Supreme Court which is
independent from the control of the executive and the legislature.
But in spite of all
these essential features of a federation, Indian Constitution has an
unmistakable unitary tendency. While other federations like U.S.A. provide for
dual citizenship, the India Constitution provides for single citizenship. There
is also a single integrated judiciary for the whole country. The provision of
All India Services, like the Indian Administrative Service, the India Police
Service, and Indian Forest Service prove another unitary feature. Members of
these services are recruited by the Union Public Service Commission on an
All-India basis. Because these services are controlled by Union Government, to
some extent this constitutes a constraint on the autonomy of states.
A significant
unitary feature is the Emergency provisions in the Indian constitution. During
the time of emergency, the Union Government becomes most powerful and the Union
Parliament acquires the power of making laws for the states. The Governor
placed as the constitutional head of the state, acts as the agent of the centre
and is intended to safeguard the interests of the centre. These provisions
reveal the centralising tendency of our federation.
Prof: K.C. Wheare
has rightly remarked that Indian Constitution provides, "a system of
government which is quasi-federal, a unitary state with the subsidiary unitary
features". The framers of the constitution expressed clearly that there
exists the harmony of federalism and the unitarism. Dr. Ambedkar said,
"The political system adopted in the Constitution could be both unitary as
well as federal according to the requirement of time and circumstances".
We can say that India has a "Cooperative federalism" with central
guidance and state compliance.
6)
Fundamental Rights
"A state is
known by the rights it maintains", remarked Prof. H.J. Laski. The
constitution of India affirms the basic principle that every individual is
entitled to enjoy certain basic rights and part III of the Constitution deals
with those rights which are known as fundamental rights. Originally there were
seven categories of rights, but now they are six in number. They are (i) Right
to equality, (ii) Right to freedom, (iii) Right against exploitation, (iv) Right
to freedom of Religion, v) Cultural and Educational rights and vi) Right to
constitutional remedies. Right to property (Article-31) originally a
fundamental right has been omitted by the 44th Amendment Act. 1978. It is now a
legal right.
These fundamental
rights are justiciable and the individual can move the higher judiciary, that
is the Supreme Court or the High Courts, if there is an encroachment on any of
these rights. The right to move to the Supreme Court straight for the
enforcement of fundamental rights has been guaranteed under Article 32 (Right
to Constitutional Remedies). However, fundamental rights in India are not
absolute. Reasonable restrictions can be imposed keeping in view the
security-requirements of the state.
7) Directive
Principles of State Policy
A novel feature of
the Constitution is that it contains a chapter in the Directive Principles of
State Policy. These principles are in the nature of directives to the
government to implement them for establishing social and economic democracy in
the country.
It embodies
important principles like adequate means to livelihood, equal pay for both men
and women, distribution of wealth so as to subserve the common good, free and
compulsory primary education, right to work, public assistance in case of old
age, unemployment, sickness and disablement, the organisation of village
Panchayats, special care to the economically back ward sections of the people
etc. Most of these principles could help in making India welfare state. Though
not justiciable. These principles have been stated a; "fundamental in the
governance of the country".
8)
Fundamental Duties
A new part IV (A)
after the Directive Principles of State Policy was incorporated in the
constitution by the 42nd Amendment, 1976 for fundaments duties. These duties
are:
i) To abide by the
Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the
National Anthem;
ii) To cherish and
follow the noble ideals, which inspired our national struggle for freedom;
iii) To uphold and
protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
iv) To defend the
country and render national service when called upon to do so;
v) to promote
harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India
transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities, to
renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of woman;
vi) to value and
preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
vii) to protect and
improve the natural environments including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life
and to have compassion for living creatures;
viii) to develop
scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;
ix) to safeguard
public property and to abjure violence;
x) to strive towards
excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the
nation constantly rises to higher levels of Endeavour and achievement.
The purpose of
incorporating these duties in the Constitution is just to remind the people
that while enjoying their right as citizens, should also perform their duties
for rights and duties are correlative.
9) Secular
State
A secular state is
neither religious nor irreligious, or anti-religious. Rather it is quite
neutral in matters of religion. India being a land of many religions, the
founding fathers of the Constitution thought it proper to make it a secular
state. India is a secular state, because it makes no discrimination between
individuals on the basis of religion. Neither it encourages nor discourages any
religion. On the contrary, right to freedom of religion is ensured in the
Constitution and people belonging to any religious group have the right to
profess, practice or propagate any religion they like.
10) An
Independent Judiciary
The judiciary
occupies an important place in our Constitution and it is also made independent
of the legislature and the executive. The Supreme Court of India stands at the
apex of single integrated judicial system. It acts as protector of fundamental
rights of Indian citizens and guardian of the Constitution. If any law passed
by the legislature or action taken by the executive contravenes the provisions
of the Constitution, they can be declared as null and void by the Supreme
Court. Thus, it has the power of judicial review. But judicial review in India
constitutes a middle path between the American judicial supremacy in one hand
and British Parliamentary supremacy in the other.
11) Single
Citizenship
The Constitution of
India recognises only single citizenship. In the United States, there is
provision of dual citizenship. In India, we are citizens of India only, not of
the respective states to which we belong. This provision would help in
promoting unity and integrity of the nation.
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