India is a federal union of states comprising 29 states and 7 union territories and possesses double of governments, one at the centre and one each in the states and Union Territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions.
The constitution of India was adopted and enacted by the constituent Assembly of India on November 26, 1949 and it came into force in January 26, 1950. It is a written constitution. The following are the salient features of the constitution of India.
One of the distinctive features of the constitution of India is its It is the most lengthy and detailed constitutional document any country has so far adopted. The original constitution contained as many as 395 Articles and 12 Schedules, to which additions have been made by sub-sequent amendments.
It lies down that India is a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a parliamentary form of government based Universal Adult Franchise.
It is partly federal and partly
It offers seven broad categories of Fundamental Rights.
Like all other constitutions, Indian Constitution incorporates a preamble which embodies the resolved of the people of India to secure for all its citizens: social, economic and political justice; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. The preamble does not constitute an integral part of the constitution.
It declares India a Secular State.
It gives a single common citizenship to all irrespective of religion, caste, color, creed or sex.
It is partly rigid and partly flexible.
It includes a chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
It declares Hindi to be the official language of the nation.
All the subjects of administration have been divided between the Union Government and the State Governments. There are three lists: (1) Union List which contains items of exclusive jurisdiction of Indian Parliament,
(ii) State List, which contains items of jurisdiction of State Legislatures, and
(iii) Concurrent List, which contains such items upon which both the parliament and the State Legislatures can make law concurrently. The residuary powers are vested in the Centre.
Constituent Assembly
Some of the important members included in the Constituent Assembly were: Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, Maulana Azad, Govind Vallabh Pant, K.M. Munshi, Acharya Kripalani, Krishnamachari, etc. The non-Congress members included Shyama Prasad Mukherji, H.N. Kunzru, Dr. Ambedkar, Radhakrishnan, M.R. Jayakar, Gopalaswami Ayengar, Bakshi Tek Chand, T.K. Shah, etc. The Indian womanhood was represented by Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta and Durgabai Deshmukh. The composition of the Constituent Assembly thus represented an amalgam of seasoned administrators, first-rate statesmen, leading lawyers and reputed scholars.
Preamble
A preamble to the Constituent normally expresses the political, moral, economic and religious values which the Constituent is intended to promote. It does not constitute an integral part of the Constitution. But whenever the Constitution is ambiguous and not clear, interpretation of Constitution is based on the spirit of the preamble.
The preamble to the Constitution of India, as amended under the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act, reads as under:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, have solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, faith, belief and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual, and the unity and integrity of the nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.”
The Union and Its Territory
India, that is “Bharat”, is variously called the Republic of India, the Union of India, the Indian Union. It is made up of 29 States, 1 National Capital Territory (Delhi) and 7 Union Territories, with President as the head of the Union, Governor Government of the States and Lt. Governor/Chief Commissioners/Administrators of the Union Territories which are as follows :
States
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal Jharkhand and Telangana.
Union Territories
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Daman and Diu Lakshadweep, Pondicherry.
The Parliament may by passing a law admit into the Union, or establish, new states. It is empowered to form new states, to decrease or increase the area of any state, to alter the name or the boundaries of a State (“State” includes a Union Territory).
No comments:
Post a Comment