Indian Polity Revision Test Part 1 in English

The saffron at the top represents valour and sacrifice. The green at the bottom represents fertility and prosperity. The white band in between represents honesty peace and purity. The Ashoka chakra or the wheel in navy blue represents truth and peace. Out National Flag’s length and width proportion is 3:2 respectively and the Ashoka’s chakra has 24 spokes in it.

The National flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya from Andhra Pradesh. The tricolour flag is our National flag. The three colours are of the same width and are arranged horizontally.

The first Indian Flag was woven at Gudiyatham in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. This flag was hoisted by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 15th August 1947 at Red Fort (Delhi). This flag is now an exhibit at the St. George’s Fort Museum, Chennai.

“Satyameva Jayate” is taken from Mundaka Upanishad. The four lions on top of the Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath was chosen to be our National emblem. The national emblem was accepted on 26th January 1950, ‘Satyameva Jayate” has been inscribed at its bottom. It means ‘Truth alone triumph. The National emblem consists of two parts the upper and the lower parts.

The lower part has an elephant, a horse, a bull and a lion. The ‘Wheel of righteousness’ is placed between them. This emblem is found at the top of the government communication, Indian currency and passport.

The rules to be observed while singing the National Anthem are: the anthem has to be sung at a duration of 52 seconds. Everyone should stand erect while singing the national anthem. One should understand the meaning while singing.

On 27th December 1911, National anthem was sung for the first time during the Congress committee meet held at Kolkata.

“India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters” is our national pledge. The pledge was written by Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao in Telugu.

‘Jana Gana Mana’ is our National anthem. It symbolises the sovereignty and intergrity of our nation. This anthem was written by Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali. This was trans-scripted in Hindi and was accepted by the Constituent Assembly on 24th January 1950. The symbol of rupees was designed by D. Udhayakumar from Tamil Nadu in the year 2010. The curd which we consume every day is curdled from milk by a micro-organism called Lacto bacillus delbrueckii. This was accepted as our national micro-organism in the year 2012.

Tiger, Elephant, River dolphin of Ganges, Peacock, King Cobra, Banyan tree, mango, The Ganges and lotus are the natural national symbols.

The Drafting committee was formed with eight members and its Chairman was B.R. Ambedkar; B.N. Rao was appointed as an advisor. The committee met for the first time on 9th December 1946. On the same day, the drafting of constitution of India started.

It took a period of 2 years, 11 months, and 17 days to complete the constitution. It was completed on 26th November 1949. The constitution was accepted by the Constituent Assembly. So, 26th November is celebrated as the Day of the Constitution.

When the Constitution was drafted, there were 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules.

Directive Principles are certain guidelines to be followed while the governments frame laws. Though these are not mandatory, they should be taken into account.

The 42nd Amendment enlarged the Preamble of the Indian Constitution from “Sovereign Democratic Republic” to a “Sovereign, Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”.

The 42nd Amendment changed the words “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation.” Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi enacted the 42nd Amendment in 1976, during the Emergency, obviously to emphasise the latent secular and socialist ideals as inalienable sprit of the constitution.

The Indian Constitution separates the power horizontally amongst institutions like the legislature, executive and judiciary that prevents any of the organs from subverting the Constitution and enhances its success and durability.

Federal provisions, office of Governor, judiciary, public service commissions, emergency provisions, and administrative details were adopted from the Government of India Act, 1935.

Fundamental Rights, Judicial Review, Independence of Judiciary, Impeachment of the President, removal of Supreme Court Judges, High Court Judges and Vice-President were adopted from the US Constitution.

The Directive Principles of State Policy, were adopted from the Irish Constitution.

Republic and the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity in the Preamble, were adopted from the French constitution.

Procedure for amendment to the Constitution, and election of the members of Rajya Sabha, were on South African model. The final and amended draft was adopted on 20th November 1949.

The Indian Constitution is considered to be the longest written constitution in the world. It contains different provisions for states and centre and their interrelationship. The framers of the Constitution have borrowed provisions from several sources and several other constitutions of the world. The Indian Constitution contains the detailed list of individual rights as fundamental rights, directive principles of state policy and details of administrative procedures.

The President of India, remaining in office for a five-year duration, is the nominal, titular or constitutional head, and the executive head.

The Rajya Sabha means “Council of States,” and it is the upper house of the Parliament of India. The Rajya Sabha held its first sitting (1st session) on 13th May 1952, and recent sitting (246th session) held on 1st August 2018.

Article 368 of the Indian Constitution has the provision through which Parliament may in the exercise of its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this Constitution by the procedure laid down in this article.

A unique blend of rigidity and flexibility: Indian Constitution may be called rigid as well as flexible based on its amending procedure.

Indian Constitution has the provision for single citizenship provided by the union and recognized by all the states across India.

The Fundamental Duties were added to the Indian Constitution through the 42nd Amendment. Fundamental duties provided in part IVA Article 51A are moral conscience which ought to be followed by the Indian Citizens.

250 Members: 238 representing states/UTs and 12 nominated by President of India.

The Government of India Act, 1919 provided for the creation of a ‘Council of State’ as a second chamber of the then legislature with a restricted franchise which came into existence in 1921.

Under Article 333 of the Constitution of India, the Governor nominated one Member representing from Anglo-Indian Community.

There are three types of Constitutional Amendments, they are; A simple majority (requires addition) Amendment can be made by a special majority of the two houses of the Parliament. (2/3 of members present and at least 50 percent of the total members) The third method requires a special majority of the Parliament and consent of half of the State legislatures.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Indian Constitution, had refused to draft Article 370. Gopalaswami Ayyangar eventually drafted article 370.

In 1956, Sankarlinganar started to fast on demand for change in the name of the state from Madras to Tamil Nadu. He started his hunger strike on 27th July on 1956 in Virudhunagar for 12 demands. Despite the request of C.N. Annadurai, M.P Sivaganam, and Jeevanardham, he continued to fast and died on the 76th day on 13th October 1956.

On 26 January 1950, it was formed as Madras State by the Government of India. As a result of the 1956 States Reorganisation Act, the state's boundaries were re-organized following linguistic lines. The state was finally renamed as Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969 by C.N. Annadurai, Chief Minister.

The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 is a private member bill introduced by Trichy Shiva, which seeks to end the discrimination faced by transgender people in India. The Bill was passed by the upper house Rajya Sabha on 24 April 2015.It was introduced in the lower house Lok Sabha on 26 February 2016. The Bill is considered historic as for being the first private member’s bill to be passed by any house in 36 years and by Rajya Sabha in 45 years.

Initially there was a provision for Right to Property under Article-31 which was also a Fundamental Right. The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 had omitted Right to Property from the Fundamental Rights Part and added it as Article 300A therefore considered as a legal right.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs, on February 27, 2015 that amends the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Though federal in form, the Indian Constitution, unlike other federal Constitutions, is both unitary as well as federal according to the requirements of the times and the circumstances. The Union is not strictly a federal polity but a quasi-federal polity with some vital elements of unitariness.

India is an indestructible Union with destructible states which means it acquires a unitary character during the time of emergency.

The Final meeting held on 24.01.1950 with the title of “Signing of the Constitution” and Dr. Rajendra Prasad is the Chairman of the debate.

A state which is not secular is a Theocratic State. Theocratic state has an official religion (State religion), and all the high posts of the country are reserved for the followers of the religion. Pakistan, Israel etc., are some examples of a Theocratic State.

Decentralization of power is required for the safeguard of liberty. Power should be divided into central, provincial and local government and such decentralization leads to efficient administration.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA: The constitution has been drawn up and enacted by the people through their representatives, and not handed down to them by a king or any outside powers.

Safeguard of Liberty depends upon the independence of judiciary. It should be free from the control of the executive. In the communist countries or in the countries which have dictatorship, fundamental rights are given to the people but judiciary is not free from the influence of the executive. In such countries, the safeguard and security of fundamental rights, liberty and constitution is not possible.

The Constitution is the fundamental law of a country which reflects the fundamental principles on which the government of that country is based. The concept of constitution was first originated in U.S.A.

Th e Assembly worked through various committees and the draft of the Constitution was prepared by the Drafting Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He is recognised as the ‘Father of the Constitution of India.

Prem Behari Narain Raizada was the calligrapher of the Indian Constitution. The original constitution was handwritten by him in a flowing italic style.

The Preamble to the Indian Constitution is based on the ‘Objective Resolution’, drafted by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were the important slogans during the French Revolution in 1789. They are given importance in the Preamble of our Constitution.

When the President makes a Proclamation of Emergency under Article 352, the freedoms guaranteed under Article 19 are automatically suspended. The President can suspend other fundamental rights through specific orders.

The Union Parliament has the power to legislate for the whole or any part of the territory of India, which includes not only the States but also the Union Territories or any other area for the time being, included in the territory of India. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution embodies three lists namely, the Union List, State List and Concurrent List.

The Union List, State List and Concurrent List consisting at present 100, 61 and 52 items respectively. The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 transferred five subjects to Concurrent List from State List. Both Parliament and State Legislatures have power to legislate on subjects contained in the Concurrent List. But in case of conflict between the law of the State and the Union on a subject in the Concurrent List, the law of Parliament prevails.

Article 268-293 in Part XII deal with the Financial relations between centre and the states. The Centre and States are empowered by the Constitution to impose various kinds of taxes.

Certain taxes are imposed and collected by the centre and divided between centre and states based on the recommendation of the Finance Commission appointed by the President under Article 280 of the Constitution.

Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appointed the Sarkaria Commission in 1983 to make an enquiry into the Centre-State relations. The Central government has implemented 180 (out of 247) recommendations of the Commission. The most important is the establishment of the Inter-State Council in 1990.

Part XVII of the Constitution deals with the official language in Articles 343 to 351. Its provisions are divided into four heads namely, Language of the Union, Regional languages, Language of the judiciary and texts of laws and Special directives.

The First language committee was appointed in 1955. It submitted its report in 1956. As a follow up of the report, parliament enacted the Official Language Act, 1963.

In 2004, the Government of India decided to create new category of languages called as “classical languages”. So far, the six languages are granted the classical language status namely Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013) and Odia (2014).

The Central Government has been vested with extraordinary powers to deal with conditions of emergency. Three types of emergencies are envisaged in the Constitution.

The President under Article 352 can declare emergency if he is satisfied that India’s security is threatened due to war, external aggression or armed rebellion, or if there is an imminent danger or threat. This type of emergency has been declared three times so far: in 1962, 1971 and 1975.

Under Article 356, the President can declare an emergency in a state if the Governor reports that a situation has arisen under which the government of a State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

In state emergency, the States lose much of their autonomy in legislative and executive matters. After such an announcement state legislature is suspended and the State is governed by the Governor on behalf of the President.

Under Article 356, the President can declare an emergency in a state. For the first time, the President’s Rule was imposed in Punjab in 1951.

The continuance of State emergency beyond one year is possible only if emergency under Art. 352 are in operation or the Election Commission certifies that there are difficulties in holding Assembly elections. Maximum duration of the emergency can be three years.

Article 360 authorises the President to declare financial emergency if he is satisfied that the financial stability or credit of India or of any of its parts is in danger. This type of emergency has not been declared in India so far.

Article 368 of the Constitution in Part XX, deals with the powers of Parliament to amend the Constitution and its procedure.

The term amendment denotes change, improvement and modification. 42nd amendment of the Constitution is known as the mini Constitution.

The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution was set up by a resolution of the Government of India in 2000 headed by M.N. Venkatachaliah.

The Parliament House in India was designed by the British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-13 and construction began in 1921 and ended in 1927.

Articles 324 to 329 in part XV of the Constitution make the following provisions with regard to the electoral system in our country.

There are 28 states and 9 Union territories in the country. Union Territories are administered by the President through an Administrator appointed by him/her.

This article 3 empowers the parliament to form a new state by separation of a part of territory of an established state or to unite two or more states or parts of states or by uniting any territory to a part of any state. This article provides that area of any state can reduced or increased and alter the boundaries or change the name of a state. Even though the state boundaries are subject to change, their area cannot be acquired by a foreign state.

Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit is based on Article 2

The One Hundred and Third Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, introduces 10% reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) of society for admission to Central Government-run educational institutions and private educational institutions (except for minority educational institutions), and for employment in Central Government jobs. The Amendment does not make such reservations mandatory in State Government-run educational institutions or State Government jobs. However, some states have chosen to implement the 10% reservation for economically weaker sections.

It was introduced as the One Hundred and Twenty Second Amendment Bill of the Constitution of India 101st act, The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a Value added Tax (VAT) proposed to be a comprehensive indirect tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods as well as services at the national level.

President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to four key legislations on Goods and Services Tax (GST), paving the way for the roll out of one-nation-one- tax regime from July 1.

In Our Constituent Assembly This Twenty-Sixth Day Of November, 1949, Do Hereby Adopt, Enact And Give To Ourselves This Constitution.

At present our Indian Constitution contains 448 articles in 25 parts and 12 schedules.

76th Amendment Act, 1994 Included the Tamil Nadu Reservation Act of 1994 (which provided for 69 percent reservation of seats in educational institutions and posts in state services) in the Ninth Schedule to protect it from judicial review. In 1992, the supreme court ruled that the total reservation should not exceed 50 percent.

86th Amendment Act 2002 Made elementary education a fundamental right. The newly added Article 21-A declares that ‘the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may determine.

92nd Amendment Act, 2003 Included four more languages in the Eighth Schedule. They are Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Maithili (Maithili) and Santhali. With this, the total number of constitutionally recognised languages increased to 22.

100th Amendment Act, 2014 This amendment is the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh.

42nd Amendment Act 1976 is also known as Mini-Constitution. It was enacted to give effect to the recommendations of Swaran Singh Committee.

Till Now, only Fourteen Private Member’s bill have been passed by the Parliament. If any member other than a minister introduces a bill, it is called a private member bill. The bill can be introduced by both ruling and opposition party MP’s.

Article 40 states that the State shall take steps to organize village panchayat and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Gandhi wanted the central government to have minimal power, and he wanted the villages to rule themselves traditionally with village chiefs and councilors. According to Ambedkar, village possessed a cruel reality of communalism and caste system; thus it will lead to the cornering of minorities. Many Gandhians persuaded the committee to have a provision for the village panchayats in Part IV of the Indian Constitution titled Directive Principle of State Policy vesting the responsibility in State legislatures.

some members of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India: N. Madhava Rao, Saiyid Muhammad Saadulla, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar and Sir B. N. Rao, S.N. Mukherjee. Jugal Kishore Khanna and Kewal Krishnan.

Provinces and princely states or group of states were allotted seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of 1:1 million. The seats of each province were distributed among three main communities, namely, the Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, in proportion to their respective populations in their province.

Two hundred eighty-four members were present on 26 November 1949 and appended their signature to the Constitution as finally passed.

The 1st meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place in Constitution Hall, New Delhi, on Monday, the 9th December 1946, at Eleven of the Clock. The title of the first debate was “Election of Temporary Chairman,” Acharya J. B. Kripalani (United Provinces: General) requesting Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha to take the Chair as temporary Chairman. (Constituent Assembly Debates)

The Weimar constitution influenced the constitutional provision for the suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency.

Freedom of trade, commerce, and the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament were inspired by the Australian Constitution.

Parliamentary government, single citizenship, rule of law, cabinet system, legislative procedure, prerogative writs were adopted from the Britain.

Fundamental Rights as categorized into six heads, firstly Right to Equality, secondly Right to Freedom, thirdly Right against Exploitation, fourthly Right to Freedom of Religion, fifthly Cultural and Educational Rights and lastly Right to Constitutional Remedies.

The Indian constitution provides a bicameral legislatures at centre consisting of Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People) (Article 79).

The Indian constitution described India as a 'Union of States' (Article 1), which implies that Indian federation is not the result of any agreement among the units and the units cannot secede from it.

The preamble has been amended only once so far. On 18 December 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Indira Gandhi government pushed through several changes in the Forty-second Amendment of the constitution.

The power in India is decentralized among the legislative, executive, judiciary.