India

Local Governance: 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments.Types of Urban local bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions in India.Sources of Finance in Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, 1992, which gave Constitutional status to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies (ULBs) respectively, in both letter and spirit in order to bring about greater decentralisation and increase the involvement of the community in planning and implementing schemes and, thus, increase accountability. The Amendments left important … Read more

Framing of Indian Constitution

Making of the constitution 1934: Idea of constituent assembly put forward by M N Roy 1935: INC officially demands constituent assembly 1938: JL Nehru’s declaration on the constitution of India 1940: Nehru’s demand accepted in the form of August Offer August Offer PM: Winston Churchill While rejecting INCs demand for independence of India after the … Read more

Union Parliament and State Legislatures.

Parliament is the central institution through which the will of the people is expressed, laws are passed and government is held to account. It plays a vital role in a democracy, and endeavours to be truly representative, transparent, accessible, accountable and effective in its many functions. The Parliament has two Houses–Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. … Read more

Framing of Indian Constitution

Making of the constitution 1934: Idea of constituent assembly put forward by M N Roy 1935: INC officially demands constituent assembly 1938: JL Nehru’s declaration on the constitution of India 1940: Nehru’s demand accepted in the form of August Offer August Offer PM: Winston Churchill While rejecting INCs demand for independence of India after the … Read more

Salient Features of Indian Constitution

Lengthiest written Constitution: Originally our constitution contained 395 articles divided in 22 parts and 8 schedules. Constitution has been amended 98 times. Currently there are 25 Parts, 12 Schedules, and 448 Articles. These figures show our constitution as the most comprehensive constitution in the world. (British have no written constitution and Constitution of USA had … Read more

Basic Structure of Indian Constitution

Basic Structure The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the parliament. Key among these “basic features”, are the fundamental rights granted to individuals by the constitution. The doctrine thus forms the basis of a limited … Read more

The Preamble

The Constitution of India begins with a Preamble which describes the nature of the Indian State and the objectives it is committed to secure. K.M. Munshi describes the Preamble as the political horoscope of the constitution. Thakur Dass Bhargawa says Preamble is the most precious part and the soul of the constitution. The Preamble reads: … Read more

Directive Principles of State Policy

An important feature of the constitution is the Directive Principles of State Policy. Although the Directive Principles are asserted to be “fundamental in the governance of the country,” they are not legally enforceable. Instead, they are guidelines for creating a social order characterized by social, economic, and political justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity as enunciated … Read more

Fundamental Rights and Duties

The Indian constitution originally provided 7 categories of fundamental rights. But one fundamental right, that to property was removed from the list of fundamental rights by 44th amendment. Right to property now is an ordinary legal right. Thus there are now 6 categories of fundamental rights. These are:  (1) Right to equality (Arts. 14-18). In … Read more

Parliamentary Form of Government

Parliamentary form of Government is the system of government in which there exists an intimate and harmonious relationship between the executive and the legislative departments, and the stability and efficacy of the executive department depend on the legislature.Its a system of government in which the power to make and execute laws is held by a … Read more