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Basic Structure of Constitution | Indian Polity notes

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Basic Structure of Constitution

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Basic Structure of Constitution

What is the Basic Structure of Constitution? 

Basic Structure of Constitution

The concept of ‘Basic Structure of Constitution’ derives its origin from the Basic Structure Doctrine given by Supreme Court of India in the landmark judgment of ‘Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala case (1973)’. 

In Kesavananda Bharati Case, the Constitutional bench of SC held that “Although Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution including Fundamental Rights, it cannot alter/ abrogate the ‘Basic structure of the Constitution’ even by a constitutional amendment.” 

It also implied that the judiciary can strike down any amendment passed by Parliament if it is in conflict with the basic structure of the Constitution. 

Although Supreme Court did not define the term ‘Basic Structure’ in 1973, it has listed many principles/provisions from time to time which are to be considered as the part of basic structure of the Constitution. 

Since 1973, following provisions have been interpreted by SC through various judgements to be the part of Basic structure of Constitution: 

  • The supremacy of the Constitution 
  • Rule of law 
  • Independence of the judiciary and Judicial review 
  • Doctrine of separation of powers 
  • Sovereign republic nature of India State 
  • Parliamentary form of government 
  • Principle of free and fair elections 
  • Core values such as federalism, secularism, democracy 
  • Balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles 
  • India to be a welfare state 

Important point to note about the Basic Structure doctrine is that the word ‘Basic Structure’ is nowhere mentioned in the constitution.  It was Justice Mudholkar who used the phrase ‘Basic structure/feature’ of the Constitution for the first time in the  Sajjan Singh case of 1965.

History/Background of Basic structure doctrine :

Doctrine of basic structure was the outcome of serious of judgments given by Supreme court to strike a balance between the Amending power of parliament(Art. 368) and Fundamental rights of Citizens.

Shankari Prasad Case (1951) – Supreme Court held that the  power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution under Article 368 also includes the power to amend Fundamental Rights. 

Golaknath case (1967) – Supreme Court reversed its earlier stance. It ruled that the Parliament cannot abridge or take away the Fundamental Rights.   A constitutional amendment act is also a law within the preview of Article 13 and hence, it would be null and void if it violates any of the Fundamental Rights. 

 24th Amendment Act (1971) – It declared that Under Article 368, the Parliament has the power to abridge or take away any of the Fundamental Rights. 

 Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) – Supreme Court reversed its judgement in the Golak Nath case (1967) and upheld the validity of 24th Amendment Act (1971).  

 In its landmark judgement, SC ruled that Parliament has the power under Article 368 to abridge or take away any of the Fundamental Rights however it cannot alter/destroy the ‘Basic structure of the Constitution’.   This was for the first time when Basic structure doctrine was introduced in the Indian legal arena. 

 This judgement implied that the power to amend does not empower the parliament to destroy the constitution. 

Critical Analysis of Basic structure doctrine:

Argument in favour of Basic structure doctrine:  

 Political scientists consider the concept of Basic structure acts as a safety valve against majoritarianism and authoritarianism. 

Argument in against of Basic structure doctrine: 

Many Political scientists are of the opinion that since un-elected judges can strike down a constitutional amendment which is brought by the chosen representatives of people, it is against the core democratic values. 

With this, we complete our study of Basic Structure of Constitution.

You can read complete Indian Polity Notes in Chapterwise format here – Indian Polity Notes

You can solve Indian Polity chapterwise MCQs here – Indian Polity Chapterwise MCQs

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Key features of Indus Valley Civilization

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The Great Bath of IVC
The Great Bath of IVC

Indus Valley Civilization

Most important features of Indus Valley Civilization

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Key features of Indus Valley Civilization

Indus Valley Civilization

A Bronze Age Civilization that flourished between 2500-1750 BC in the north western parts of India and present-day Pakistan.

Also called the ‘Harappan Civilization’ after the name of its first discovered site.

Geographical Extent

Town Planning

Most unique feature - Divided into two sections:

Citadel – Smaller but built on higher platform.

Lower Town – Much larger but lower.

Economic life

Main crops - Wheat and barley 

Animals were domesticated However, The use of horse is not firmly established.

People of this civilization did not know about Iron.

Internal trade was extensive - Based on barter system.

Foreign trade was mainly conducted with Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, Iran and Oman.

Art and Crafts

Figure of a dancing girl from Mohenjodaro made of bronze.

Experts in bead-making.

Pottery - Plain/ Red and black painted .

Seals with engravings.

Pashupati Seal from Mohenjo Daro. 

Script

Pictographic, still not fully deciphered.

Boustrophedon method ( written from right to left in first line and from left to right in second line ) adopted.

Social Life

Used sewn clothing - Figure of a bearded man found in Mohenjo-Daro.

Use of Beads, ornaments and cosmetics was common.

Complete burial and post-cremation burial common.

Lothal and  Harappa - Evidence of coffins burial.

Political Authority
  • No evidence of any ruler or any governing system
  • No evidence of warfare.
Important Sites and findings

Harappa

  • Row of six granaries
  • Evidences of coffin burial.

Mohenjo-Daro

  • The Great Bath
  • bronze dancing girl
  • Steatite statue of bearded priest

Chanhudaro

  • City without Citadel
  • Bead makers shop

Kalibangan (Black Bangles)

  • Fire-Altars
  • Ploughed field

Dholavira

  • City with 3 divisions
  • Unique water management system
  • Several large reservoirs

Lothal

  • Artificial dockyard
  • Remains of rice husk

Rangpur

  • Remains of rice husk

Surkotda

  • Evidence of remains of the horse bones.

Rakhigarhi

  • Largest Indus Valley site in India
  1.  
Decline of Indus Valley Civilization

Various theories have been given. Some of them are :

Combination of natural factors like,

  1. Recurring floods
  2. Drying up of rivers
  3. Dramatic shifts in the river courses
  4. Changes in patterns of rainfall
  5. Decreasing fertility of the soil due to excessive exploitation and occasional earthquakes

Aryan invasion

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Who are NRIs ? | Indian Polity notes

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NRI

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Who are NRIs ?

NRI

Non resident Indians(NRIs) are the Indian citizens who are temporarily living abroad. They are the integral part of vibrant Indian Diaspora.

Government of India has specified two conditions for a person to be designated as Non resident Indian(NRI). If a person satisfies either of the two conditions, He is considered as a NRI.

  • If an Indian citizen residing outside India for a total of at least 183 days in a financial year.

          OR

  • If an Indian citizen resides in India for less than 365 days during the past 4 years preceding the current year and less than 60 days in the current year.

Important points you should know about the Non resident Indians are :

  1. NRIs are the Citizen of India. They enjoy the same voting rights as normal Indian citizens.
  2. NRIs are required to pay the income tax on their Indian income like the normal resident Indians.
  3. NRIs hold an Indian Passport.
  4. If a NRI wishes to take up foreign citizenship, he/she will have to give up the Indian citizenship.

Great Scientists of India – C. V. Raman

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C. V. Raman

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

C. V. RamanChandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist who won Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in the field of light scattering popularly know as Raman Effect in 1930.

In 1986, the Government of India designated February 28th as National Science Day to commemorate the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman effect”.

What is Raman Effect ?

When a stream of light passes through a liquid medium, most of the light emerging from the liquid sample is the same color as the incident beam, the so called Rayleigh scattered light.

Raman Effect

However, in 1928, Raman discovered that a fraction of the light particles scattered by the liquid is of a different colour( and different wavelength, frequency). It happens because the liquid molecule either takes up energy from or gives up energy to the light particles/ photons, which are thereby scattered with decreased or increased energy and hence with lower or higher wavelength and frequency.

Subsequently, Raman was also able to prove that the blue colour of the ocean water was due to the scattering of the sunlight by water molecules.

It is to be notes here that Raman Effect is a very weak effect. Only one in a million of the scattered light particles actually exhibits the change in wavelength and frequency.

Freedom fighters of India – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

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V D Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar ( Veer Savarkar )

V D SavarkarVinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly called as Veer Savarkar was born on 28 May 1883 near Nasik in Maharashtra.

He was a great freedom fighter. He was the first person who called the 1857 revolt as the first war of independence .

He founded Abhinav Bharat Society (In Pune) and Free India Society (In London).

His important literary works are ‘Joseph Mazzini- Biography and Politics‘ , ‘The Indian War of Independence‘ and ‘Hindutva: who is hindu?‘.

He served as the president of Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943. He was also an active member of India House founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma in London.

In his honour the Port Blair airport has been named as Veer Savarkar International Airport.

Revolutionary leaders of India and their contribution

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Revolutionary leaders of India

A complete list of revolutionary leaders of India and their contribution in struggle for independence.

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Chandrashekhar Azad

Dushman ki goliyon ka hum samna karenge, Azad hi rahein hain, azad hi rahenge!

chandrashekhar AzadChandra Shekhar Azad was an Indian revolutionary leader who was born on July 23, 1906. He was popularly known as Azad.

Chandra Shekhar Azad was deeply saddened by massacre of the Jallianwala Bagh which took place in 1919. It was after this incident, he decided to join the Non-Cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 . He was only 15 years old when he got arrested for the first time.

He organised the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) in 1924 and became very famous for the Kakori Train robbery in 1925 and the killing of Saunders in 1928.

He had vowed that he would never be arrested by the British police and kept his promise by using his last bullet to shoot himself than be arrested. He died on 27 February 1931 at Azad Park in Allahabad while fighting with the police.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar ( Veer Savarkar )

V D SavarkarVinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly called as Veer Savarkar was born on 28 May 1883 near Nasik in Maharashtra.

He was a great freedom fighter. He was the first person who called the 1857 revolt as the first war of independence .

He founded Abhinav Bharat Society (In Pune) and Free India Society (In London).

His important literary works are ‘Joseph Mazzini- Biography and Politics‘ , ‘The Indian War of Independence‘ and ‘Hindutva: who is hindu?‘.

He served as the president of Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943. He was also an active member of India House founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma in London.

In his honour the Port Blair airport has been named as Veer Savarkar International Airport.

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Revolutionary leader of India – Chandrashekhar Azad​

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chandrashekhar Azad

Chandrashekhar Azad

Dushman ki goliyon ka hum samna karenge, Azad hi rahein hain, azad hi rahenge!

chandrashekhar AzadChandra Shekhar Azad was an Indian revolutionary leader who was born on July 23, 1906. He was popularly known as Azad.

Chandra Shekhar Azad was deeply saddened by massacre of the Jallianwala Bagh which took place in 1919. It was after this incident, he decided to join the Non-Cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 . He was only 15 years old when he got arrested for the first time.

He organised the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) in 1924 and became very famous for the Kakori Train robbery in 1925 and the killing of Saunders in 1928.

He had vowed that he would never be arrested by the British police and kept his promise by using his last bullet to shoot himself than be arrested. He died on 27 February 1931 at Azad Park in Allahabad while fighting with the police.

Important Personalities of Modern India and their contribution

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Mahatma Gandi
Mahatma Gandi

Important Personalities of Modern India and their Contribution

Read in detail about the Important Personalities of India and their contribution.

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Table of Contents

Chandrashekhar Azad

Dushman ki goliyon ka hum samna karenge, Azad hi rahein hain, azad hi rahenge!

chandrashekhar AzadChandra Shekhar Azad was an Indian revolutionary leader who was born on July 23, 1906. He was popularly known as Azad.

Chandra Shekhar Azad was deeply saddened by massacre of the Jallianwala Bagh which took place in 1919. It was after this incident, he decided to join the Non-Cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 . He was only 15 years old when he got arrested for the first time.

He organised the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) in 1924 and became very famous for the Kakori Train robbery in 1925 and the killing of Saunders in 1928.

He had vowed that he would never be arrested by the British police and kept his promise by using his last bullet to shoot himself than be arrested. He died on 27 February 1931 at Azad Park in Allahabad while fighting with the police.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar ( Veer Savarkar )

V D SavarkarVinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly called as Veer Savarkar was born on 28 May 1883 near Nasik in Maharashtra.

He was a great freedom fighter. He was the first person who called the 1857 revolt as the first war of independence .

He founded Abhinav Bharat Society (In Pune) and Free India Society (In London).

His important literary works are ‘Joseph Mazzini- Biography and Politics‘ , ‘The Indian War of Independence‘ and ‘Hindutva: who is hindu?‘.

He served as the president of Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943. He was also an active member of India House founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma in London.

In his honour the Port Blair airport has been named as Veer Savarkar International Airport.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

C. V. RamanChandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist who won Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in the field of light scattering popularly know as Raman Effect in 1930.

In 1986, the Government of India designated February 28th as National Science Day to commemorate the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman effect”.

What is Raman Effect ?

When a stream of light passes through a liquid medium, most of the light emerging from the liquid sample is the same color as the incident beam, the so called Rayleigh scattered light.

Raman Effect

However, in 1928, Raman discovered that a fraction of the light particles scattered by the liquid is of a different colour( and different wavelength, frequency). It happens because the liquid molecule either takes up energy from or gives up energy to the light particles/ photons, which are thereby scattered with decreased or increased energy and hence with lower or higher wavelength and frequency.

Subsequently, Raman was also able to prove that the blue colour of the ocean water was due to the scattering of the sunlight by water molecules.

It is to be notes here that Raman Effect is a very weak effect. Only one in a million of the scattered light particles actually exhibits the change in wavelength and frequency.

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Various stages in making of Indian Constitution

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Indian Polity and Constitution
Indian Polity and Constitution

making of constitution of India

Study about the various stages and the stakeholders involved in making of constitution of India.

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Introduction

The Constitution of India is the fundamental and supreme law of the land. All the three organs of government ( Legislature, Executive and Judiciary) owe their origin to the constitution.

In this article, we will read about the various stage and different stakeholders involved in making of this organic document known as the constitution of India.

How was the Indian Constitution made?

Constitution was made by the Constituent Assembly which had been elected for undivided India. 

The idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N. Roy in 1934. Later in 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC) officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.

This demand was finally accepted by the British Government in the ‘August Offer’ of 1940. However no further action was taken by British in 1940.

As the WW-II progressed, there was an immense pressure on British government to solve the constitution problem in India and seek active participation of Indians in WW-II.

In 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a Member of the Cabinet, came to India with a draft proposal of the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution of India to be adopted after the World War II.However, The Cripps Proposals were rejected by Congress and Muslim League.

Finally, In 1946, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India. The Cabinet Mission was composed of three Cabinet Ministers of England :

  1. Sir Pethick Lawrence
  2. Sir Stafford Cripps
  3. A.V. Alexander

The Cabinet mission arrived on March 24, 1946 and announced its recommendations on May 16, 1946. The scheme for the Constituent Assembly which more or less satisfied both Muslim League and Congress.

Hence, The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan.

Composition of Constituent Assembly

As per the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan :

The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was fixed to be 389. Of these, 296 seats were allotted to British India and 93 seats to the princely states.

Each province and princely state were allotted seats in proportion to their respective population. Roughly, one seat was allotted for every million population.

Seats allocated to each British province were divided among the three principal communities–Muslims, Sikhs and General in proportion to their population.

The representatives of each community were to be elected by members of that community in the provincial legislative assembly. The voting in provincial legislative assembly was to be done by the method of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.

Representatives of the princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states.

Nature of Constituent Assembly

Constituent Assembly was neither completely elected nor completely nominated body. It was a mix of both.  

Representatives from the British Provinces were elected by the provincial legislative assemblies by the method of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. 

The representatives of the princely states were nominated by the heads of the princely states. 

Hence, we can conclude that the Constituent Assembly created to frame the constitution of India was partly elected and partly nominated body.  

How constituent assembly functioned ?

Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9th December 1946.  

On this day, Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was elected as the temporary President of the as he was the oldest member of the assembly. 

Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent President of the Assembly.  

H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly.  

On 13th December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru presented the historic ‘Objectives Resolution’ in the Assembly which laid down the fundamentals and philosophies based on which Constitution was to be made. 

Later, this Objectives Resolution with few modifications became the Preamble of the constitution. 

All the points of Objectives Resolution are not important for exam and need not to be remembered. However, to give you a context, we are listing few important points of the objective resolution: 

  1. To proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic. 
  2. Secure to all the people of India social, economic and political Justice;  
  3. Provide all the people of India equality of status, opportunity and equality before the law. 
  4. Guarantee all the people of India freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship etc. Subject to certain restrictions. 
  5. Provide safeguards to minorities, backwards, tribals and other depressed classes. 
  6. Secure the sovereign rights of India on land, sea and air thereby maintaining the unity and integrity of India. 

On 22nd January 1947, The Objective Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly. 

Once the fundamental philosophies of the constitution to be made were clear and adopted unanimously, the actual work on constitution making started.  

To perform various functions of constitution making, the Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees. Out of these, eight were major committees (You need to remember their name and chairman as this factual information is asked in various exams) and the others were minor committees. 

Major committees of the Constituent Assembly: 

  1. Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
  2. Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru
  3. Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel
  4. Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
  5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities andTribal and Excluded Areas – Sardar Patel.
  6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) –Jawaharlal Nehru
  8. Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas (Number 5 above) had various sub-committees (They are also important so I am listing them below).  

  1. Fundamental Rights Sub Committee – J.B. Kripalani 
  2. Minorities Sub Committee – H.C. Mukherjee 
  3. North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bordoloi 
  4. Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar 

Historical Background of Indian Constitution – Quick Revision Guide

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Indian Polity and Constitution
Indian Polity and Constitution

Historical background of Indian constitution

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Historical Background of Indian constitution - Quick Revision Guide

Regulating Act of 1773
  • Indian Polity and ConstitutionThe Regulating Act of 1773 was the first step taken by the British Parliament to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India. 
  • Political and administrative functions of the company were recognized for the first time.
  • Designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor-General of Bengal’.
  • The first such Governor General was Lord Warren Hastings.
  • Provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774).
  • Prohibited the servants of the Company from engaging in any private trade.
Pitt’s India Act, 1784
  • Distinguished between the commercial and political functions of the Company.
  • Court of Directors to manage the commercial affairs of the company
  •  Created a new body called the Board of Control to manage the political affairs.
  • Thus, it established a system of dual(double) government.
Charter Act of 1813
  • It abolished the trade monopoly of the company in India.
  • Allowed the Christian missionaries entry to India.
  • Provided for one lakh of rupees annually for the promotion of Indian education.
Charter Act of 1833
  • English East India Company ceased to be a commercial agency in India.
  • Transformed East India Company from a commercial body to a purely administrative body.
  • Made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India.
  • Lord William Bentick was the first Governor-General of India. 
  • Deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers.
Charter Act of 1853
  • Separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council
  • Created a separate Governor-General’s legislative council having six new members(Also known as Indian Central Legislative Council.). 
  • Introduced local representation for the first time.
  • Introduced an Open competition system for the recruitment of civil servants which was open to Indians also.
Government of India Act of 1858
  • Also known as the Act for the Good Governance of India.
  • Designation of Governor General of India was changed to Viceroy.
  • Governor General Lord Canning became the first Viceroy of India.
  • Board of Control and Court of directors were abolished transferring all their powers to British Crown.
  • New office ‘Secretary of state' was created. 
  • A 15-member council of India was created to assist the Secretary of State for India.
Indian Councils Act of 1861
  • First step to associate Indians to the legislative process.
  • Lord Canning nominated three Indians to his legislative council – the Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao in 1962.
  • Gave recognition to the portfolio system.
  •  Legislative powers of Madras and Bombay presidencies were restored.
Indian Councils Act of 1892
  • Made an indirect provision for election.
  • Increased the number of additional (non-official) members in both Central and provincial legislative councils.
  • Devolved more power to legislative councils (For example, power of discussing the budget and addressing questions to the executive).
Indian Councils Act 1909
  • Also known as Morley-Minto Reforms.
  • Enlarged the size of the legislative council both at Central and Provincial level with more powers to members.
  • First time allowed the association of Indians with the executive council of the Viceroy.
  • Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s executive council as the Law Member.
  • Introduced a system of ‘separate electorate’ for Muslim community. 
Government of India Act of 1919
  • Also called Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms or Mont-Ford Reforms.
  • Provided separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. 
  • Granted franchise to a limited number of people on the basis of property, tax or education.
  • Separated the central and provincial subjects for legislation.
  • Futher divided provincial subjects into two parts– transferred and reserved(Dyarchy).
  • Separated provincial budgets from the Central budget 
  • Introduced bicameralism and direct elections for the first time.
  • Provided for the establishment of a Public Service Commission.

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