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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Parliamentary Democracy: The road we travelled -Module 1-(Lecutres for the SC/ST,Minority Entry-in-Serive Coaching Centre, Kannur University)

What reference shall we use for the Civil Service Mains and Preliminary Examination for preparing General Studies paper on Indian Polity.

The Oxford Companion to Politics in India: Student Edition Paperback, Niraja Gopal Jaya, OUP 2011
The Success of India's Democracy, Cambridge University Press Atul Kohli, (September 10, 2001)
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha, harper, 2008
The Politics of India since Independence, Cambridge University Press; Paul R. Brass (October 28, 1994)
Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India, Lawrence James, St. Martin's Griffin; (August 12, 2000)
Burden of Democracy, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Penguin India (January 2003)
Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations, M Laxmikanth, Tata McGraw – Hill
Introduction to the Constitution of India, DD Basu, LexisNexis, 2013


Today let us discuss parliamentary democracy in India.

Dear friend, when to discuss Parliamentary democracy, one must know how we made up our Constitution, who formed it, what are its structure, how it operates, its features, basic structure, etc?
Then, think how do we place all this under one rubric?
Certainly, one must understand how we prepare our constitution and how it structures a Parliamentary democratic structure in India. 
Seriously enough, my dear friend, we placed a parliamentary experiments through a Constituent Assembly which formed a constitution for India. 
You might know what it means to say a Constituent Assembly.
CA means a legal representative body chosen for purposes of considering, adopting, or proposing a Constitution, an assembly of extra ordinary representatives. It adopts a new constitution; bring about fundamental changes in an existing Constitution.
Ivor Jennings says three conditions where a CA comes in to force: when a great social revolution, when a nation throws off its foreign yoke, and when a nation is created by fusion of smaller political units. Here we belong to second situation.
Evolution of CA which finally provided a parliamentary democracy in India
Idea of CA was there from Philadelphia Convention 1787, National Assembly of France 1789-91. Demand for CA was strong as early as 1918-33rd session of INC held at Delhi called Principle of self-determination. In Young India, Gandhi spoke of idea of Swaraj, on 10 August 1928 Motilal Nehru Chairman of the Committee to decide on the Constitution of India appointed by the Bombay meeting of All Parties Conference submitted report. Later, called Nehru report was: First attempt by Indian for Constitution. The issue was further discussed in three Round Table Conference at London. August Offer of 1940 authoritatively conceded to demand for CA. Cripps Proposal of 1942 envisaged a Dominion of r India. But proposal failed due to non-acceptance of Indian leadership. Quit India resolution 8 Aug 1942 called for CA. Cabinet Mission 1946 set a “to lay out a constitution” of India by Indians. The Mission failed to bring INC and ML to reach an agreement. However, Cabinet Mission was obliged to put forward their own proposal for CA, which were simultaneously announced in India, and England on 16 may 1946.
Original CM proposal consists of 389 total seats in CA. British India 292; Indian States 93; Seats for Chief Commissioners’ Provinces 4= 389.
Composition: 389 members, 296 to be elected from British India, 93 from native states, ML boycotted Assembly. Therefore, only 211 members attended first meeting out of 296. At 11 a.m., 9 December 1946 the CA began functioning-first session. It worked for Dec 1946 to Dec 1949. It sat for 2 years, 17 days, to draft the Constitution.  11 sessions, 165 days of actual working, 15 committees.




 The challenges our CA had to overcome to place the Constitution for the Citizens.


Top 10 Social Evil Issues in India that must be Stopped

India has the most diverse religion and has a very rich culture. There are many beliefs and rituals that people are following from a very long period of time. There are many rituals in India that have transformed into social evils. These social evils have made the progress of India go down. People are not judged on the basis of their quality but on the basis of caste, creed or gender. India is developing at a very fast rate but these social evils have hindered the growth of this nation. Some of the most prevalent social evils in India that must be removed are listed below.
10. Gender Inequality

In India men are considered far superior than women in every field. From a very long period of time women are thought to be the ones who have to work at home and take care of the family. Men are supposed to protect and earn the livelihood for the family. Though this mentality has changed in the past few years but still it is practiced in many parts of the countries. Women are still not allowed to go out of the house alone. There are many religions in India which force women to cover their faces and their heads while going out. They are still treated to be lower than men. Gender discrimination has given rise to many other types of discrimination and other evils too like harassment and wage discrimination. Women are not paid equal salaries for the same work as the men does. It is still not considered important to educate the girl child in many parts of the country.
9. Dowry

Dowry system is the most deep seated problem in the Indian society. Due to dowry system in Indian society many other social evils have taken birth. Girl children are neglected, sex- selective abortion is also the main result of dowry system. Parents don’t spend money to teach their girl child as they think they have to pay this money in the future when their daughter will get married. Though many people have opposed this system but yet it has spread its roots deep down in the Indian society. Even in the Rig Veda it is mentioned that the bride’s family have to offer the dowry to the boy’s family.
8. Cast discrimination

Cast division is one of the social evils that are only found in India unlike the gender division. Every society in India is divided into many groups according to the family they are born in. members of the same cast have to do the same occupation, marry in the same caste and many of the lower caste were not allowed to eat with people who belongs to the upper classes. People of the lower caste are termed as untouchables and were not allowed to even touch the people from higher caste. Though there are many rules and laws made in India to eradicate the caste system but they are not very successful. With urbanization and modernization the caste system has changed a lot in some years in India. Caste hierarchy is all broken down and now it does not matter to people who they are walking beside and who they are eating with. Still in rural areas it is prevalent and measures are to be taken to completely eliminate this issue from the Indian society.
7. Female infanticide

Female infanticide is the most shameful social evil prevalent in India. Girl child is considered to be a burden on the family and hence people get sex selective abortions done. There are thousands of cases registered in India about female infanticide. Infanticide means to kill the child intentionally. Though female infanticide is not legal in India but still in many rural parts of the country it is practiced. This social evil is the most gruesome one. Mothers are forced by the family to abort their girl child. It is the most brutal crime. Over 1000 boys there are only 914 girls in India. Either the child is killed in the womb or is killed after the birth by giving her poisonous substance or burying her alive. Female infanticide has existed in India since 1789. During those years female infanticide was practiced more in the Kutch region in India.
6. Child labor and child exploitation

This is the worst social evil in India. Children are exploited and are made to work in dangerous places like cracker factories. They are not treated properly. At the age where they are supposed to play and go to school they are made to work in factories and in shops. Since their parents are not rich enough to fulfil the basic needs of the family or they don’t want to work so they force their child to work in small shops and factories. Like other social evils there are rules and laws made to stop the child exploitation but nothing has been ever properly implemented in India and hence you can still see teenagers and children working in the shops and factories.
5. Prostitution

Prostitution is the sexual service people give in return of money. Many women are forced sexual slavery and many of them work as prostitute to earn their living. Women and girls are made as sexual slaves from a very long period of time in India. There are around three million girls and women working in this profession. That a huge number!!!! Not only is this child prostitution the major social evil in India. Children are forced to be sex labors and there are more than 1.2 million children working in this profession. Child prostitution is the major concern in India.
4. Sati

The practice of sati was considered to be religious in the history of India. Wives used to burn themselves alive on the corpse of their husband. Sati means the burning of the Hindu widow in India. Hough this practice used to be voluntarily done but in many cases the women were forced o burn on the pyre of their husband. Sati was a Hindu Goddess who burnt herself alive for his husband’s respect. Though sati is considered to be Hindu tradition but it is also practiced in many other communities in India. This practiced is considered to be an illegal practice in India and has reduced to a very great extent in India. There are still very few cases still registered in India where a women burnt herself on his dead husband’s corpse.
3. Drug abuse

Drug abuse is also a very major problem in India that not only affects many of the people addicted to it but also their near and dear ones. There are more than 7.5 million drug users in India. This number is increasing at an alarming rate. Drug addicts are mainly found in the urban areas. People who are more influenced by the drugs are street workers and transportation workers. There are many social awareness programs started in India to reduce the number of drug users in India but all in vain. Due to the modern lifestyle people are getting more used to drugs and alcohols.
2. Domestic violence

Domestic violence Is an endemic predominantly against woman.. Around 70 percent women of India are victims to domestic violence. In almost every house woman are tortured for dowry by her in-laws. In every city of India girls are harassed and tortured in every street they walk. In every 29 minutes a case of cruelty is filed.  Today girls are afraid of coming out from their houses, they are afraid of walking alone in the streets There are several acts and laws are passed bt no serious action is taken against this dispute.
1. Poverty

It is the state where one lacks a certain amount of material or money. It refers to the absolute deprivation of basic human needs which commonly includes food, water, shelter; money etc. poverty is a very common problem in India. Most of the Indian population is deprived of the basic needs of life. Poverty has given rise to many other evils in India. Unemployment and the increasing population is the main cause of poverty in India. People commit many kinds of rimes like robbery and murders because they are not able to get the basic amenities of life. There are many measured taken by the Indian government to reduce poverty in India. Awareness programs are starts. Subsidies are provided to poor people. Many other measures are also taken.





A summary of Constitution

·         Contains 395 Articles divided into XXII Parts
·         12 Schedules
·         3 Appendix





























SCHEDULES TO THE CONSTITUTION
No. of Schedule
Subject matter
First
        I.            The States
     II.            The Union Territories
Second
Part A: Provisions as to the President and the Governors
Part B: Omitted
Part C: Provisions as to Speaker, Deputy Speaker etc.
Part D: Provisions as to the Judges of SC and HC
Part E: Provisions as to Comptroller and Auditor-General of India
Third
Forms of Oaths or Affirmations
Fourth
Allocation of seats in the Council of States
Fifth
Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (contains Parts A, B, C and D)
Sixth
Provisions as to Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram
Seventh
List I : Union List (97 subjects)
List II : State List (66 subjects)
List III : Concurrent List (47 subjects)
Eighth
22 languages
Ninth
Validation of Acts and Regulations though inconsistent with Part III of the Constitution.
Tenth
Provisions as to Disqualification on Ground of Defection.
Eleventh
Powers, Authority and Responsibilities of Panchayat
Twelfth
Powers, Authority and Responsibilities of Municipality
APPENDIX
I
The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954
II
Re-statement, with reference to the present text of the Constitution, of the exceptions and modifications subject to which the Constitution applies to the State of Jammu and Kashmir
III







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