Polity for Prelims and Mains Exam

Central Government The executive powers of the President are exercised by the Council of Ministers. The Constitution provides that “there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President in the excercise of his functions”. Here the word “shall” indicates that the President cannot function without the Council of Ministers. The President is the constitutional head of State, but the real Head of the government is the Prime Minister. The Constitution of India provides for a parliamentary system of government and, therefore, divides the executive into two parts: the nominal ... Read more

The Indian constitution provides for a federal framework with powers (legislative ,executive and financial) divided between the center and the states. However, there is no division of judicial power as the constitution has established an integrated judicial system to enforce both the central laws as well as state law. The Indian federation is not the result of an agreement between independent units, and the units of Indian federation cannot leave the federation.Thus the constitution contains elaborate provisions to regulate the various dimensions of the relations between the centre and the states. To understand the topic first we must understand the ... Read more

“Public interest Litigation”,is a litigation filed in a court of law, for the protection of “Public Interest” , such as pollution, Terrorism, Road safety, constructional hazards etc. Article 32 of the Indian Constitution contains the tool which directly joins the public with the judiciary. Public Interest Litigation is not mentioned in any constitution or a law of the land. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large. The origin and evolution of Public Interest Litigation in India emanated from realization of constitutional obligation by the Judiciary towards the vast sections of the society – ... Read more

Urban spheres of influence and rural urban fringe Urban spheres of influence Urban spheres of influence reflect centre-to-hinterland relationship, compared with the non-central region, the centre assumes more complex economic functions, and provides more economic activities. Famous theoretical contributions to this research field are the Central Place Theory (Christaller, 1933), the extension to the Central Place Theory (Losch, 1940), the modification to the Central Place Theory (Isard, 1956), and An Economic Theory of Central Places. After verification and conceptual refinement of these classical literatures, it can be found that any study on delineating sphere of urban influence has been guided ... Read more

Quality of life, life expectancy, literacy, standard of living and migration in India Human development—a comprehensive approach Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. But human development is also the objective, so it is both a process and an outcome. Human development implies that people must influence the processes that shape their lives. In all this, economic growth is an important means to human development, but not the end. Human development is the development of the people through building human capabilities, by the people through active participation in the processes that shape their lives and for the people ... Read more

Railway,Roades And Ports of India Impact on The Indian economy The Indian Railways contributes to India’s economic development, accounting for about one per cent of the GNP and the backbone of freight needs of the core sector. It accounts for six per cent of the total employment in the organised sector directly and an additional 2.5 per cent indirectly through its dependent organisations. Road transport is the second important mode of transport in India. It covers every corner of the country which the railway transport even could not cover. Road transport provides the basic infrastructural facilities to both the agricultural ... Read more

Reasonable restrictions on fundamental rights and right to property Fundamental Rights are the basic rights of the people and the charter of rights contained in Part III of Constitution of India. It guarantees civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India. These include individual rights common to most liberal democracies, such as equality before law, freedom of speech and expression, religious and cultural freedom and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion, and the right to constitutional remedies for the protection of civil rights by means of writs such as habeas ... Read more

Provisions of SC/ST Atricities act, The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to prevent atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is popularly known as POA, the SC/ST Act, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or simply the Atrocities Act. Article 17 of Indian Constitution seeks to abolish ‘untouchability’ and to forbid all such practices. It is basically a “statement of principle” that needs to be made operational with the ostensible objective to remove humiliation and multifaceted harassments meted to the Dalits and to ensure their fundamental ... Read more

Planning commission and national development council Planning commission The Planning Commission was an institution in the Government of India, which formulated India’s Five-Year Plans, among other functions. Background Rudimentary economic planning, deriving from the sovereign authority of the state, was first initiated in India in 1938 by Congress President and Indian National Army supreme leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had been persuaded by Meghnad Saha to set up a National Planning Committee. M. Visvesvaraya had been elected head of the Planning Committee. Meghnad Saha approached the great engineer and requested him to step down. He argued that planning needed ... Read more

National women’s commission It is said that the best way to know about society, a civilization and a culture, try to know as much possible about the women. In India, women have come a long way from the rare women scholars and sages of the Vedic age to the women in different sectors of society and civilization today, such as the armed forces, arts, information technology, politics and a number of similar sectors which have traditionally been male dominated, while simultaneously balancing the roles of wife, mother and daughter. While Indian women have fought against the patriarchal Indian society and ... Read more