In the previous post, we have studied Key features of Indian Constitution. So, now, we have known some of the important features like Judicial Review, Parliamentary Democracy, Federal with unitary bias etc.
Now in this post, we will study the most known but least understood features of the Indian Constitution.
Indian Constitution: Fundamental Rights
Fundamental rights are the most interesting feature of the Indian Constitution, which everybody discusses but no-one understands. Though we will elaborate on the Fundamental Rights section of Constitution precisely in an upcoming post.
But here, we will read fundamental rights as a part of the Indian Constitution. The Fundamental Rights are meant for promoting the idea of Political democracy. Part III of the Indian Constitution comes with Fundamental Rights provision.
So, there are presently six fundamental Rights:
- Articles 14-18: Right to Equality
- Articles 19-22: Right to Freedom
- Right against Exploitation (Articles 23-24)
- Right to freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28)
- Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30)
- Right to Constitutional Remedies (Articles 32)
Always remember a very genuine fact that fundamental rights are enforceable by the courts.
Indian Constitution: Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs)
Dr B R Ambedkar called,
The Directive Principles of State Policy is a “novel feature” of the Indian Constitution.
Part IV of the Indian Constitution deals with DPSPs. This part mentions guidelines for the state. Okay Okay!!!🥺(I understood, I am being more bookish 🤭🤗)Okay, let’s make it interesting, let me explain to you by the following diagram.
So, from the above diagram, you guys can understand that DPSPs contains principles on which state should work to provide social-economic development. DPSPs seek to establish a welfare state in India.
One more interesting thing, Government of India act of 1935, came with Instrument of Instructions, which is later called as DPSPs. So, DPSPs are not-justiciable or non-enforceable by the court.
Indian Constitution: Fundamental Duties
People always shout for their fundamental rights.😃Very few of the people know that power always comes with certain responsibilities!!!! Confused?? 🤔🤔🤔
Let’s understand this, Fundamental Rights are the powers that the Indian Constitution offers to the people of India. Whereas Fundamental Duties are the responsibilities of people of India, towards their nation.
Though originally, fathers of Constitution did not ask their children to bear some responsibilities. But then some situations arose because of that the then leaders recognized need for the duties.
So, the 42nd Constitutional amendment(also called mini-constitution),1976, during the internal emergency added Fundamental Duties on the recommendations of the Swarn Singh committee.
So, the Part IV-A of the Indian Constitution (Article 51-A) specifies the 11 fundamental duties.
Adult Suffrage (Universal Adult Franchise)
This part of the constitution promotes the policy of ‘one person one vote’. Every citizen who is 18 years or above age has the right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy, wealth etc.
So, initially, the voting age was 21 years, but after the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988, age is reduced to 18 years.
Single Citizenship: Indian
The Indian Constitution is federal. But it has a dual polity (centre and state), Presently there are 29 state and 7 Union Territories (after recent development related to Jammu and Kashmir Article 370, 28 states and 9 Union Territories proposed) in India. And all citizens enjoy common uniform citizenship (Indian Citizenship).
Independent Bodies: ECI, CAG, UPSC
There are some Independent bodies, which are supposed to keep political parties aside and to do their work with full integrity. These bodies strengthen democracy in India. The following are the independent bodies,
- Election Commission for a free and fair election,
- Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India to audit accounts of Central and state governments,
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to conduct examinations for recruitment to all India services and advise the president on disciplinary matters,
- And the State Public Service Commission (SPSC) to conduct state service examination.
Emergency Provisions
Emergency Provisions enable the President to deal with an extraordinary situation effectively. These provisions provide safeguard to the sovereignty, unity, integrity, and security of the country. So, the three types of Emergency,
- National Emergency on the ground of the war and external aggression (Article 352),
- State Emergency (President’s rule) on the failure of Constitutional Machinery in the state (Article 365),
- Financial Emergency on the ground of threat to the financial stability of India (Article 360).
Three Tier Government
Article 263 of the Indian Constitution proposes a three-tier government system. Though originally the Indian Constitution provided a dual political system with regard to the organisation and powers of the centre and states.
Later, the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional recognition to ‘Panchayats‘ (rural local government). And the 74th Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional recognition to ‘municipalities‘ (urban local government).
This is done because it was a bit difficult to reach out the common masses by the two-tier system. The need for a decentralised system gave birth to the Municipalities and Panchayats.
So, this was all about the key features of the Indian Constitution. In the upcoming posts, we will study these features in an exclusive manner.
Thanks and Stay Civilised. 😊
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