Indian Polity

Indian Polity On Tutorial

Indian Polity is a discipline that includes a wide range of topics such as the development of the Constitution, Citizenship, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, the Executive, the President, the Prime Minister & Council of Ministers, Judiciary, State Governments, Local Government, Election system, and many more. Indian Polity is one of the essential disciplines of Social Science that makes us understand our democratic governance as well as our rights.

This tutorial is divided into different chapters and explains the concept of Indian Constitution and democratic type of governance.

Indian polity Introduction

The constitution of a country is a document that comprises a set of written rules accepted by everyone living together in that country.

The Constitution of a country is the supreme law of the land and it determines the relationship among people living in that country and also regulates the government and its policies towards its citizens.

Indian Polity -Constitution Formation

Historical Background

In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted a constitution for India.

In 1931, Indian National Congress in its session at Karachi passed a resolution on how the constitution of independent India should look like.

Both these two documents have included the right of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality, and to protecting the rights of minorities.

Later, the provisions of these documents provided a background of the certain basic values, which were accepted by all leaders and included in the constitution of independent India.

British rule had introduced weak legislatures in India by the given voting rights to a few elite persons only.

Elections were held in 1937 to Provincial Legislatures all over British India, which were not fully democratic governments. However, the working with these legislative institutions provided useful experience to Indians, which helped in setting up native institutions in independent India.

Like South Africa, India’s Constitution was also drawn up under very difficult circumstances.

The makers of the Indian Constitution have adopted its fundamental structure from the Government of India AAAssembly.

Factors Of Constitution Formation.

The factors that contributed to the making of Indian Constitution were −

French Revolution;

Parliamentary democracy in Britain;

Bill of Rights in the US; and

Socialist revolution in Russia

Key Features of Indian Constitution

Following are the important features of the Indian Constitution −

Indian Constitution is a ‘written’ constitution.

Indian Constitution is ‘flexible’ (it can be amended), but it is also ‘rigid’ (as some part, i.e., its ‘basic structure’ cannot be amended).

Indian Constitution is ‘Unitary’ (as Center has more power), but it is also ‘Federal’ (as power is divided between the Center and the State).

Other Facts of Constitution

The Indian National Congress made a demand for a Constituent Assembly in 1934, which came into existence for drafting the constitution of India on 9 December 1946.

The Constituent Assembly drafted the Constitution for independent India between 9 December 1946 and 26 November 1949.

We, the people of India, have adopted and enacted the Indian Constitution on 26 November 1949; however, it was made fully functional on 26 January 1950.

Constitution is a fundamental set of rules and principles on the basis of which the people of this country obliged to be governed by.

The fundamental rules of Constitution define the type of government and its constituent’s parts as well as the nature of the policies to be adopted by the country.

So, the Constitution serves as a pivot in striking a balance between the differences and provides safeguards to the interests of each of its citizen.

Likewise, the Constitution of India makes India a democratic country and determines −

the procedures of government formation;

the methods and process of government’s functionality; and

the process of interactions among the different parts of the government in the specific area of their work.

In addition, the Constitution also defines a list of Fundamental Rights that are an important part of the Constitution to protect the interest of every citizen against the tyranny of the state as well as from the dominance of a particular community (Who are in majority and in power).

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and the source of all the powers and authority of the government and its organs. Likewise, the government not only derives its origins from the Constitution, but discharges its functions and responsibilities within the framework of the Constitution.