Indian Polity & Constitution Notes for SSC Exams

Indian Polity & Constitution Notes for SSC Exams

The Constitution of India is termed as the Worlds Lengthiest Constitution and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is popularly known as the Father of Indian Constitution. The Constitution was framed by the Constituent Assembly of India on 16th May 1946.  Under the cabinet mission plan, the Constituent Assembly Consists of 385 Member. Out of which 292 members were elected by the provincial Legislative Assemblies and 93 were nominated by the princely State. 

• On 9 Dec. 1946 the First meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place. Sachidanand Sinha was the interim president at that time. 
• On 11 Dec 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president. The Constituent Assembly had 13 Committees to frame the Constitution.
• Total 11 Sessions were covered in 165 Days.
• The Constituent Assembly took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to complete the Constitution for Independent India.
• The Constitution of India was finally passed and accepted on 26 Nov. 1949. The 11th Session i.e. the Last Session of the Constituent Assembly was held on 24th January 1950. But the Constitution of India came into force on 26th Jan. 1950.
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad was unanimously elected as the president and all 284 Members out of 385 of the Assembly signed the official copied of Indian Constitution to come into force from 26thJan. 1950.
• Originally it has 22 Parts, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. But at Present It has 25 Parts, 448 Articles and 12 Schedules. 
• M.N. Roy (A Political Philosopher) gave the idea to have its own Constitution.
• The Constituent Assembly was adopted our National Flag on 22nd July 1947. 
• It was designed by Pingali Venkaiah from Andhra Pradesh.
• But Jammu & Kashmir is the Only State in India , have its own Constitution under Article 370.

Important Committees of Constituent Assembly

Name of the Committee	Chairman
Steering Committee	Rajendra Prashad
Committee on the Rules of Procedure	Rajendra Prashad
Finance and Staff Committee	Rajendra Prashad
Ad Hoc Committee on National Flag	Rajendra Prashad
Union Power Committee	Jawahar Lal Nehru
Union Constitution Committee	Jawahar Lal Nehru
State Committee	Jawahar Lal Nehru
Drafting Committee	Dr. B. R Ambedkar
Credential Committee	Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
Order of Business Committee	K. M Munshi
Committee on Functions of the Constitution	G.V.Mavalankar
House Committee	B. Pattabhi Sitarammayya

Sources of Indian Constitution

Features	Sources
President as the Nominal Head (like the Queen)	U.K
Cabinet Ministers	U.K
Post of Prime Minister	U.K
Bi-Cameral Parliament	U.K
Government Based on Parliament	U.K
More Powerful Lower House	U.K
Ministers responsible to the Lower House	U.K
Speaker in Lok Sabha	U.K
Single Citizenship	U.K
Fundamental Duties	USSR (Now Russia)
Five Years Plan	USSR (Now Russia)
Written Constitution	U.S
President would be the Executive head of the State and the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces	U.S
Vice President  would be the Ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha	U.S
Supreme Court	U.S
Fundamental Rights	U.S
Provision of the States	U.S
Preamble	U.S
Independence of Judiciary and Judicial Review	U.S
Removal of the Judges of Supreme Court and High Court	U.S
Concurrent List	Australia
Language of Preamble	Australia
Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse	Australia
Law on which the Supreme Court works	Japan
Suspension of the Fundamental Rights during emergency	Weimar Constitution of Germany
Constitutional Amendments	South Africa
Federal Government with a Strong Center	Canada
Power Distribution between Center and States, Residuary Power of Center	Canada
Method of Election of the President	Ireland
Concept of Directive Principles of State Policy	Ireland
Nomination of members in Rajya Sabha by the President	Ireland

The Preamble

• It is the introduction of the India Constitution.
• Though it is not an integral part of the Constitution, the interpretation of Indian Constitution is based on it.
• The Supreme Court declared that it is an integral part of the Constitution in the Kesavananda Bharati Vs. Keral State case in 1971.
• In the S. R Bommai Case of 1993, Justice Ramaswamy also confirmed that the Preamble is an integral part of Constitution.
• The Preamble originally is the “Objective Resolution” which was proposed by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and passed by the Constituent Assembly.
• The words “Secular”, “Socialist”, “Unity” and “Integrity” were added in 1976 by the 42nd Amendment Act.

Schedules in the Constitution of India

Schedules	Features
1st Schedule	States and Union Territories
2nd Schedule	Salary of the President, Chief Justice, Judge of Supreme Court, Governor, Comptroller and Auditor General
3rd Schedule	Forms related to oath and affirmations
4th Schedule	Allocation of seats for each Indian State in the Rajya Sabha
5th Schedule	Administration and Control of Scheduled Caste and Tribes
6th Schedule	Administration of the Tribal Areas of Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura,  and Arunachal Pradesh
7th Schedule	Allocation of functions and power between the Center and States. It contains three lists i.e. Union List, States List and Concurrent List. N.B - 1
8th Schedule	List of 22 Constitution recognized languages of India. i.e. Assamese, Bengali, Gujrati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telegu, Santhali, Urdu, Bodo, Maithili, Dogri. N.B - 2
9th Schedule	Acts and orders related to the land tenure, Land Tax, Industries, Railways. It was added by the 1st Amendment Act in 1951. N.B - 3
10th Schedule	Disqualification of grounds of defection which was added by the 52nd Amendment Act in 1985.
11th  Schedule	Panchayati Raj. It was added by the 73rd Amendment Act in 1992.
12th Schedule	Municipal Corporation. It was added by the 74th Amendment Act in 1992.

• N.B – 1 – Union List is for Central Government and it has 97 subjects. State List ensures the powers of State Government and it has 66 subjects. Concurrent List is for Center and states. It has 47 subjects.
• N.B – 2 – Sindhi was added in 1951 by the 1st Amendment Act, Nepali and Konkani and Manipuri were added by the 71st Amendment Act in 1992 and Santhali, Maithili, Dogri, boro were added in 2003 by the 92nd Amendment Act.
• N.B – 3 – Right of the Property is not a Fundamental Right at Present.

Fundamental Rights

Fundamental Rights	Article	Features
Right to Equality	Art. 14	Equality before law and equal protection of the law
Right to Equality	Art. 15	Discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, birth place are prohibited.
Right to Equality	Art. 16	Equal opportunity in public employment
Right to Equality	Art. 17	End of untouchability
Right to Equality	Art. 18	Abolition of titles (except Military and Academic Distinctions)
Right to Freedom	Art. 19	It provides 6 Fundamental Rights to the citizen of India. i.e. Freedom of Speech and Expression, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom to create associations, Freedom of Movement, Freedom of residence and Settlement and Freedom of Profession, Occupation. Trade or Business.
Right to Freedom	Art. 20	Protection from the conviction for offences.
Right to Freedom	Art. 21	Protection of life and personal Liberty.
Right to Freedom	Art. 22	Protection against arrest and detention in specific cases
Right Against Exploitation	Art. 23	Human Trafficing is prohibited
Right Against Exploitation	Art. 24	Child below the age 14 cannot be employed
Right to Freedom of Religion	Art. 25	Freedom of Conscience and free profession, propagation and practice of religion
Right to Freedom of Religion	Art. 26	Freedom to perform religious affairs
Right to Freedom of Religion	Art. 27	Prohibition of taxes on religious grounds
Right to Freedom of Religion	Art. 28	Freedom as to attend various religious ceremonies in educational institutions
Right to Cultural and Educational Rights	Art. 29	Protection of the  interest of the minorities
Right to Cultural and Educational Rights	Art. 30	Right of the minority communities to establish and administer the educational institutions
Right to Cultural and Educational Rights	Art. 31	It was omitted by the 44th Amendment Act.
Right to the Constitutional Remedies	Art. 32	Right to move the Supreme Court in case of violation.

Special Fundamental Rights added later 

Right to Education –

• It was added by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002 in Art. 21A.
• It ensures free and compulsory education of all the children of India of age group 6 – 14 years.
• It came into effect since 2010.

Right to Information – 

• It was passed in 15th June, 2005.
• It repeated the Freedom of Information Act. 2002.
• It came into force on 12th October, 2005.
• The act is extended in whole India except Jammu and Kashmir.

New States were created after 1950

States	Creation
Andhra Pradesh	It was created by the State of Andhra Pradesh Act, 1953 and carved out some areas from Chennai.
Keral	It was created by the State Reorganization Act, 1956. It comprised of Travancor and Cochin Areas.
Gujrat and Maharashtra	The Mumbai was divided into two states. i.e. Gujrat and Maharashtra by Mumbai (Reorganization Act. 1960)
Karnataka	It was created from Princely State of Mysuru through the State Reorganization Act 1956. The state was renamed Karnataka in 1973.
Haryana	It was taken from the state of Punjab by Punjab (Reorganization) Act, 1966.
Nagaland	It was taken from the State of Assam by State of Nagaland Act. 1962.
Meghalaya	It was carved out as the sub state within Assam by 23rd Amendment Act, 1969. It became a full-fledged state by North-Eastern Areas (Reorganization) Act.
Himachal Pradesh	It became a state from a Union Territory by the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970.
Manipur	The state was converted from the status of Union Territories by North Eastern Areas (Reorganization) Act in 1971.
Mizoram	It became a full state by State of Mizoram Act, 1986.
Goa	Goa was separated the Union Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu and became a state in 1987.
Sikkim	It was an Associate State by the 35th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1974. In 1975, it became a state by the 36th Amendment Act of 1975.
Arunachal Pradesh	It became a state in 1986.
Tripura	The state was converted from the status of Union Territories by North Eastern Areas (Reorganization) Act in 1971.
Jharkhand	It was created by the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000 from Bihar on 15thNovember.
Chhattisgarh	It was created by the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000 from Madhya Pradesh on 1st November.
Uttarakhand	It was created by the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000 from Uttar Pradesh on 9th November.

Forms of the Writs

The Supreme Court can issue writs of various forms under the Article 32 for enforcing the Fundamental Rights.

• Habeas Corpus – It means “to have the body”. According to that, a person imprisoned or detained by law can inquire about the reason of his/ her punishment.
• Mandamus – It means “command”. It is issued by court commanding the public or person authority to do something as the nature of Public Duty.
• Quo Warranto – It is an order that is issued by a court to prevent a person to hold an office he/ she is not entitles and oust from that office.
• Certioari – It orders the removal of a suit from a lower court to higher one for quick justice.
• Prohibition – It is issued by a higher court to stop the proceeding in lower courts on the basis of isolation or over-stepping of rules of Natural Justice.

Major Articles of the Constitution

Articles	Parts	Subjects
Art. 1-4	I	Union  and its Territory
Art. 5 - 11	II	Citizenship
Art. 12 - 35	III	Fundamental Rights
Art. 36 - 51	IV	Directive Principles of the State Policy
Art. 51A	IV - A	Fundamental  Duties (modified and added by 42nd Amendment, 1976)
Art. 52 -151	V	Union
Art. 152 - 231	VI	States
Art. 239 - 242	VIII	Union Territories
Art. 243 – 243 (0)	IX	Panchayats
Art. 243 (P) – 243 (ZG)	IX (A)	Municipalities
Art. 243 (ZH) – 243 (ZT)	IX (B)	Co-operative Societies
Art. 244 – 244(A)	X	Scheduled cast and Tribes
Art. 245 - 263	XI	Center and States Relation
Art. 264 – 300	XII	Finance, Property, suits and Contracts
Art. 301 - 307	XIII	Trade, Commerce, intercourse within India
Art. 309 - 323	XIV	Services under the states and center
Art. 323 (A) – 323 (B)	XIV (A)	Tribunals
Art. 324 - 329	XV	Elections
Art. 330 - 342	XVI	Special Provisions for certain classes
Art. 343 - 351	XVII	Official languages
Art. 352 - 360	XVIII	Emergency Provisions
Art. 361 - 367	XIX	Miscellaneous
Art. 368	XX	Constitutional Amendments
Art. 369 - 392	XXI	Transitional, Temporary and special status of states
Art. 393 - 395	XXII	Short title, Authoritative text in Hindi and Repeats, commencements

 Fundamental Duties of Citizen of India

Abide By the Constitution and respect the National Anthem and Flag

Cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired the National Freedom Struggle

Protect the sovereignty, integrity and unity of India

Defend the country

Promote the spirit of common brotherhood among Indian Citizen

Preserve the rich heritage of composite culture

Protect and improve national environment

Develop scientific temper and inquiry spirit

Safeguard the public property

Strive towards excellence in every sphere of individual and collective activity

Parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child of age group 6 -14 years (86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002)

Union and its Territories –

• India is a Union of States.
• The Territory of India includes all of the states and Union Territory.

Directive Principles of the State Policy –

• These are mentioned under the Part IV in the Articles 36 – 51 of the Constitution.
• These policies are the “novel features” of the Indian Constitution.
• These principles promote the ideology of economic and social Democracy and thus establish a welfare state in India.

Citizenship of India –

• The citizens of India are divided into four types by the Citizenship Act, 1955.
• Every person born on or after 26th January, 1950 in India, is a citizen of India by birth.
• Citizenship by descent
• Citizenship by Registration
• Citizenship by incorporation of territory

Loss of the Citizenship – 

• Termination of citizenship in case a citizen acquires the citizenship of another country.
• Renunciation of Citizenship
• Deprivation of Citizenship by the Government of India.