Polity

The defence ministry is in the process of implementing a slew of reforms suggested by the committee, headed by Lt Gen. D.B. Shekatkar (retd), which studied how to make the armed forces much leaner, cohesive and modern. Initially, the ministry had considered the report and sent 99 recommendations to the armed forces for making an … Read more

The army, air force and navy began inducting women as short-service commission (SSC) officers in 1992. This was the first time women were allowed to join the military outside the medical stream. Initially, they could serve for five years, and their service could be extended by another five years. In 2006, a policy revision allowed … Read more

Cooperative federalism, also known as marble-cake federalism, is a concept of federalism in which national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems. But having cooperative federalism is a difficulty in  India. There are various challenges to cooperative federalism: Centralising provisions, which weigh heavily on spirit of cooperation. Eg art 3, … Read more

Political funding is a serious issue. According to a report of association of Democratic reforms, 2004,  The total income of national and regional parties between 2004- 20015 stands at 11,367 Crores. 69% of the income came from unknown resources.  The other issue of non accountability and transparency is that Political parties do not come under … Read more

The reorganization of the states on the basis of language, a major aspect of national consolidation and integration, came to the fore almost immediately after independence. The boundaries of provinces in pre-1947 India had been drawn in a haphazard manner as the British conquest of India had proceeded for nearly a hundred years. No heed … Read more

These were laid down by the Supreme Court in a judgment in 1997. This was on a case filed by women’s rights groups, one of which was Vishaka. They had filed a public interest litigation over the alleged gang-rape of Bhanwari Devi, a social worker from Rajasthan. In 1992, she had prevented the marriage of … Read more

Article 123 of the Constitution grants the President certain law making powers to promulgate Ordinances when either of the two Houses of Parliament is not in session and hence it is not possible to enact laws in the Parliament.      An ordinance may relate to any subject that the parliament has the power to legislate on. … Read more

  FR’s are not absolute in nature. Except Fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 20 and 21 remaining Fundamental rights can be suspended during operation of National Emergency. Available against the arbitrary action of the state. FR’s are generally negative in character. Can be amended provided they amendment do not affect the basic structure of the … Read more

. The President of India exercises suspensive veto when he returns a bill for reconsideration of the Parliament. However, if the bill is passed again by the Parliament with or without amendments and again presented to the President, it is obligatory for the President to give his assent to the bill. This means that the … Read more

Supreme Court of India launched a public access portal of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) for district courts to demystify the judicial process for the ordinary citizen.   National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a part of the on-going e-Courts Integrated Mission Mode Project. The public access portal will disseminate national, state, district and … Read more