The UPSC serves as a beacon of meritocracy, ensuring that India's administrative services are entrusted to the most qualified individuals. This section provides an overview of the UPSC's mandate, its historical evolution, and its crucial role in nation-building.
History and Evolution:
Tracing i...
Sources of Indian Constitution
In this foreign music course, I, Abhishek Mishra, will be discussing the sources of
Indian Constitution. As we know, quality is a crucial segment of UPSC Prelims, and
we need to be aware of various articles and provisions in the constitution to
answer questions correctly. Therefore, we need to have this information handy and
remember it during crunch time in the examination. In today's class, I will be
discussing the following:
The basics of constitution and polity
The definition of state and its various contexts
The features of Indian Constitution, including parliamentary form of government,
federalism, independent judiciary, secularism, and separation of powers
Let's begin by understanding what constitution and polity mean. The constitution is
the basic law of the land, which defines how the state will be governed. It is a
collection of fundamental principles and regulations that govern the country. The
constitution is framed by a specialized body called the Constituent Assembly. The
constitution is a power map that allocates power among the different organs of the
state, including the executive, legislature, and judiciary. The constitution is the
supreme law of the land, and all laws and regulations must be in conformity with
it.
The state has three organs - executive, legislature, and judiciary. The executive
implements the laws, the legislature makes the laws, and the judiciary interprets
the laws. The Indian Constitution has several features, including:
Parliamentary form of government
Federalism
Independent judiciary
Secularism
Separation of powers
India has a parliamentary form of government, which means we have a real executive
and a nominal executive. The head of the state is the President, but the real
executive is the Prime Minister who heads the Council of Ministers. India also has
federalism, which means we have levels of government - central and state. Our
constitution also guarantees an independent judiciary, which is a crucial feature
of federalism. India is a secular country that does not have an official religion
or a state religion. Lastly, our constitution mandates separation of powers among
the organs of the state, as defined in Article 50.
The concept of power separation means that each organ of the state should have
supremacy in their own sphere and should not encroach upon the areas of the other
organs. This is mentioned in Article 50 of the Indian Constitution, which separates
the executive and judiciary. Another important feature is the fundamental rights
mentioned in Part III of the Constitution, protecting citizens against the
arbitrary use of power by the state.
Polity refers to the political system of the country, which is made up of laws
created by the legislature and enforced by the judiciary. India is a democratic
polity, with rule of law and periodic free and fair elections. The rule of law
includes the concepts of supremacy of law, equality before law, and an independent
judiciary to enforce the law.
Other features of a democratic political system include people's participation,
conflict resolution through dialogue, and equality and justice for all citizens.
The Indian Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, with 395 articles
arranged in 22 parts and 8 schedules. Currently, there are over 450 articles, 25
parts, and 12 schedules.
The constituent assembly that framed the Constitution took two years, 11 months,
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