The Framers, thus, opted for the adoption of a federal framework and gave to India a federal Constitution, though this fact is disputed by many a political scientists. Provisions of the Constitution of India which affects the Federal concept The following provisions of the Constitution of India are referred to by the constitutional pandits while criticizing the nature of the Constitution, being a Federation1 Power of the Union Parliament, under Article 3, to alter the names, areas and boundaries of the existing States; 2 Provision for single citizenship under Article 9; 3 Position of the Governor, as an agent of the Central Government; 4 Discretion vested with the Governor under Article and Article ; 5 Power of the Parliament to make laws on subjects mentioned in the State List under Articles , and ; 6 The rule of repugnancy operating in favour of the Central Law under Article ; 7 Powers of the central Government, in respect of emergency, under Articles to In view of the above stated provisions, Dr.
Wheare has coined the expression "quasifederal' for Indian Constitution. In the opinion of Dr. Ivor Jennings, it is a unitary' Constitution with subsidiary' federal features. Alexandro Wicz holds it "a unitary' Constitution with vertically divided sovereignty.
The framers of the Constitution have modified the true nature of Indian federalism by incorporating certain non-federal features in the Constitution as well. This has lent support to the contention that the Indian Constitution is federal in form but unitary in spirit. Single Citizenship: The Indian federation is a dual polity with a single citizenship for the whole of India. There is no State citizenship. Every Indian has the same rights of citizenship, no matter in which State he resides.
A Strong Centre: The result of the distribution of powers between the federation and the units is that the State Governments are governments of limited and enumerated powers. Though the Union Government is also a government of limited and enumerated powers, it has, under certain circumstances, power even over the State Governments and the residuary power over the whole territory.
Furthermore, the States of the Indian Union have a uniform Constitution. The amending process both for the Constitution of the Union and the States is also the same.
In fact, this has been done in India, not only once but several times. In the fifties, Andhra Pradesh was carved out of Madras State. Telangana is recent example. Shortly thereafter, the States Reorganization Commission was established and a chain of events unfolded.
There is perhaps no State whose boundaries have not been changed at one stage or another. The right of the Centre to change the boundaries of the States is against the federal set-up. They have jurisdiction over cases arising under the same laws, constitutional, civil and criminal. The civil and the criminal laws are codified and are applicable to the entire country. To ensure their uniformity, they are placed in the Concurrent List. Unitary in Emergencies: The Indian Constitution is designed to work as a federal government in normal times, but as a unitary government in times of emergency.
Under the Constitution, the President of the Republic has been given emergency powers. An emergency can arise both in the political and financial fields. Common All-India Services: The Constitution has certain special provisions to ensure the uniformity of the administrative system and to maintain minimum common administrative standards without impairing the federal principle. These include the creation of All-India Services, such as the Indian Administrative and Police Services and placing the members of these services in key administrative positions in the States.
Inequality of Representation in the Council of States: There is bicameralism in India but in the Council of States, States have not been given equal representation. Here population system has been followed and bigger States have been given greater representation than the smaller ones.
They hold office during his pleasure. This enables the Union Government to exercise control over the State administration. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General: The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has an organisation managed by the officers of the Indian Audit and Account Services, a central service, who are concerned not only with the accounts and auditing of the Union Government but also those of the States.
Centralized Electoral Machinery: The Election Commission, a body appointed by the President, is in charge of conducting elections not only to Parliament and to other elective offices of the Union, but also to those of the State Legislature. Flexible Constitution: The Indian Constitution is not very rigid. Many parts of the Constitution can be easily amended. Special Powers of Council of State over State List: The Parliament is also authorized by the Constitution to make laws on any subject mentioned in the State List, if the Council of States passes a resolution by a two-thirds majority declaring a particular subject or subjects to be of national importance.
Similarly, Parliament can pass laws on the items of State List, if it is deemed essential by the Government of India to honour an international obligation. In short, in India the Centre can encroach on the field reserved for the States as and when it feels neces-sary.
Control over State Laws: Certain laws passed by the State Legislature cannot come into operation unless they have been reserved for the approval of the President of India. Thus, all the laws concerning the acquisition of property, all laws on Concurrent List which are contrary to the laws passed by the Parliament; and the laws concerning the sales-tax on essential commodi-ties, etc. Moreover, the Governor of a State reserves the right to reserve any Bill passed by the State Legislature for the consideration of the President.
The President may accord his approval to such a bill or may withhold his assent. Financial Dependence of States: In a federation, as far as possible, States should be finan-cially self-sufficient so that these enjoy maximum autonomy. But in India, the States depend on the Centre for all development.
They have much less sources of income but many more needs of expenditure. This financial dependency has very much hindered the growth of States on federal lines. The government of the country, till the India Act of was passed, was a centralised government and the process that was adopted under the India Act of was that of creating autonomous units and combining them into a federation by one and the same Act. The process for the establishment of a federation in India, therefore, has to be described as one of movement from the union to the units rather than from the units to the union.
The Act of , however, cannot be described as having given to India a truly federal constitu-tion. It has far too many restrictions imposed upon the provincial governments. When the British left India in , they withdrew these powers and transferred their sovereign rights to the people of India to exercise them in accordance with a Constitution of their own choice.
Most Exhaustive Constitution: Originally our constitution contained articles divided in 22 parts and 8 schedules. The numbering still remains the same but as and when the constitution amended, new articles were added with suffix A, B, C etc. For example, when our constitution was amended for adjusting the Right to Education, a new Article 21A was inserted below Article So, today our constitution has the following:. Here we should also note that the British have no written constitution and Constitution of USA had originally only 7 articles.
This 7 article Constitution of United States has been amended for 27 times up till now. The first 10 amendments are called Bill of Rights. The constitution of Canada had articles; Constitution of Australia had articles, when they were enacted. Our Constitution starts with a Preamble: Indian Constitution has a preamble which gives an insight into the Philosophy of the Constitution. Please note that Preamble is a Part of Indian Constitution.
Initially the Preamble was not considered a part of the Constitution and its amendment was not accepted. Our constitution has been drawn from different sources: Our constitution has borrowed many things from many constitutions. It was called plagiarism by many. But, here we need to look into what Dr.
BR Ambedkar, The chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitutional Assembly said in this context: "As to the accusation that the Draft Constitution has [re]produced a good part of the provisions of the Government of India Act, ,"I make no apologies. There is nothing to be ashamed of in borrowing.
It involves no plagiarism. Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental ideas of a Constitution The best provisions were selected from different sources and we should not be ashamed of that. Fundamental rights and duties.
The Constitution of India guarantees six fundamental rights to every citizen. These are:. By 42nd Amendment of the Constitution, ten Fundamental Duties of citizens have also been added. The framers of our constitution took the idea of having such principles from the Irish Constitution. These principles are instructions given by the Constitution to government. All the governments-Central, State and Local-are expected to frame their policies in accordance with these principles.
The aim of these principles is to establish a welfare state in India. They, however, are not binding on the government-they are mere guidelines Rigidity vs. Flexibility: Our constitution is rigid as well as flexible. Here you must note that in India and also many other countries, making Law is quite flexible and easy in comparison to amending a law. The amendment of the constitution is one of the most difficult laws making process in India. Sovereignty of the Country: The Preamble of the constitution declares that India is a sovereign state.
It manages its internal and external affairs freely without any external forces. Democratic state: India is a democratic country where governing power is derived from the people by means of elected representatives of the people.
The political authority is responsible to the people. This democracy is based upon the socioeconomic justice and equality of the opportunity. Republic: India has adopted the "British" pattern of the parliamentary democracy.
But there is a big difference. Presidential elections and can occupy the office, provided he fulfils the eligibility conditions as prescribed by the constitution. Socialist State: Indian socialism is democratic socialism. The goals of the socialism are to be realized through democratic means. Please note that in the original constitution the term "Socialist" was not in the Preamble. It was added by the 42nd amendment in Secular: India is secular country.
Here No religion is a state religion. The constitution provides equality treatment of all religions by the government and equal opportunities for all religions. Again , the term "secular" was not in the Preamble. Parliamentary Form of Government: India has a parliamentary form of Government.
The question is what is a government? And what it is made up of? The parliamentary system means that the ministers get their legitimacy from a Legislature body that is the Parliament of India. Our parliament has two houses viz. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. So, it's called bicameral parliament. Part V of the Constitution trifurcates the State into three equal constituents, the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
The composition of the Legislature, the Parliament of India, is of members elected by adult suffrage in the case of the Lok Sabha, and indirectly by the State Legislatures in case of Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha seats are divided into territorial constituencies and each elected member becomes the representative of all the people residing in his constituency and registered in the electoral roll of that constituency. A blend of Federal and Unitary System The constitution of India establishes the country a partly federal and partly unitary government.
India is a federal system because there are separate governments in the Union and States and there is division of power. But, there are constitutional provisions and practices which have imparted unitary features by giving more powers to the centre.
Some of them are. The parliament has power to legislate on the matters included in the Union List as well as the state list. There are emergency provisions which make the system virtually a unitary system. The Change in the names and boundaries of the states can be done by the parliament of India. The Governors of the states are agents of the President.
The Planned development of the whole country is responsibility of the planning Commission. In India the Judiciary is integrated. The supreme judicial courts are not in states. The states have high courts but the verdicts of these courts are subject to appeal to the Supreme Court. Universal Adult Franchise: Indian constitution provides adult and universal franchise to all citizens.
Every citizen who is above 18 years has a Voting Right without any discrimination. Preamble of Indian Constitution Introduction Meaning of Preamble Object, purpose and scope of Preamble Preamble how far useful in interpreting the Constitution Preamble, whether a part of the Constitution Whether the Preamble can be amended Preamble, whether necessary with the Constitution Contents of the Preamble.
In our constituent assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, , do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution. Meaning of preamble The term 'Preamble' means the introduction to the Statute. It is the introductory part of the constitution.
In re Berubari Union case9, the Supreme Court observed that the Preamble to the Constitution was "a key to open the mind of the makers and shows the general purposes for which they made the several provisions in the Constitution. Object, Purpose and Scope of the Preamble In short, the Preamble contains a recital of certain facts relating to the Statute.
The framers of the Constitution gave to the Preamble "the pride of place". The Preamble was finalised by the Constituent Assembly in the last. The object was to see that it was in conformity with the Constitution as accepted by the Assembly.
The Preamble contains a noble and grand vision kept before them by the framers of the Constitution. The spirit or the ideology behind the Constitution is sufficiently crystallized in the Preamble. It embodies the fundamentals, the great purposes, objectives and the policy underlying the provisions of the Constitution.. The Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati case10, observed that the objectives specified in the Preamble contained the basic structure of the Constitution, which cannot be destroyed.
The Preamble contains the source from which the Constitution comes. The Preamble explains in unambiguous terms that the Constitution was enacted and given to them by the People of India through their representatives, assembled in a sovereign Constituent Assembly.
It is, therefore, the People of India, which are the source of authority under the Constitution. It also contains the enacting Clause which brings into force the Constitution. Preamble how far useful in interpreting the Constitution In Berubari Union case11, the Supreme Court held that the Preamble had never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government or on any of its departments.
Such powers, the Court said, were expressly granted in the body of the Constitution. The Court further explained that "what is true about the powers is equally true about the prohibitions and limitations". It, therefore, observed that the Preamble had limited application. The Court laid down that the Preamble would not to be resorted to if the language of the enactment contained in the Constitution was clear.
However, "if the terms used in any of the articles in the Constitution are ambiguous or are capable of two meanings, in interpreting them some assistance may be sought in the objectives enshrined in the Preamble.
The Court observed that the Constitution should be read and interpreted in the light of the grand and noble vision expressed in the Preamble. It has been said that the Preamble to the Constitution is the loadstar and guides those who find themselves in a grey area while dealing with its provisions.
Preamble, whether a part of the Constitution The proceedings in the Constituent Assembly make it clear that the Preamble to our Constitution was enacted and adopted by the same procedure as the rest of the Constitution.
The Preamble was put to vote, in the Constituent Assembly, by a motion which stated that the "Preamble stands part of the Constitution" and the motion was adopted Referring to the history of the drafting and the ultimate adoption of the Preamble, the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati13 case, laid down that the Preamble to the Indian Constitution was an integral part of the Constitution.
Whether the Preamble can be amended In Kesavananda Bharati14 case the Apex Court held that being a part of the Constitution, the Preamble was not outside the reach of the amending power of the Parliament under Article It was in the exercise of this amending power that the Constitution 42nd Amendment Act, amended the Preamble, inserting therein, the terms 'Socialist', 'Secular' and 'integrity'.
Preamble, whether necessary with the Constitution It is not necessary that every Constitution must open with a Preamble.
As for instance, the Government of India Act, , which served as the Constitution for British India prior to the enactment of the present Constitution, did not contain any Preamble.
Contents of the Preamble We, the People of India The Preamble opens with the words "We, the People of India". These words declare in unambiguous terms that the Constitution has been adopted, enacted and given to themselves by the people of India. It is declared that ultimate sovereignty in India, resides in the people themselves and that the Constitution is founded on the authority of the people, in whom is vested the ultimate sovereignty.
Nehru, speaking in the Constituent Assembly, explained the significance of these words. He explained that the word 'People' indicated that the Constitution was not created by created by the States, nor by the people of the several States, but by the people of India in their aggregate capacity.
So enacted, it would not be open to any State, or group of States either to put an end to our Constitution or to secede from the Union created by it. The founding fathers appear to have been impressed by the opening words in the Preamble to the Constitutions of the United States and of Eire.
In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala15 the Supreme Court observed: From the preamble we get that it is the people of this country who conferred this Constitution on themselves. The statement in the preamble that the people of this country conferred the Constitution on themselves is not open to challenge before this Court.
Its factual correctness cannot be gone into The facts set out in the preamble have to be accepted by this Court as correct.
The Court further said that it was indisputable that the source and the binding force of "the Constitution was the sovereign will of the people of India. They are scanned copies or just black and white PDFs with tiny fonts. For simple work, this is okay. But if a student wants to fall in love with reading bare acts, then the PDF has to be clean, beautiful, systematic, and comfortable.
On 5 inch mobile phone, you will not have to zoom to read. You can continue reading comfortably. I have provided direct links for all these sections to save your time and energy. It will take time to find that section in a different bare act. Typing and searching will disturb the flow. What I have done is that I have given links for these sections right there. Clicking on it will instantly take you to those sections in your browser.
This looks good on the eyes and helps differentiate different points. EASY — Long bare acts are divided systematically into chapters and sections. A student gets bored seeing a very long bare act. It will be tough to keep scrolling to reach page number , which has Article Here is how the PDF will look. So they appear of low quality.
The actual PDF is clear, crisp, and beautiful. In the above PDF screenshot sample, you saw how I have used colours to help differentiate. I have provided blue links to save your time and energy.
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