jbp123/hello · Datasets at Hugging Face

instruction stringlengths 1 84	input stringlengths 1 85	output stringlengths 1 83
British Constitution.	The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible, but a	synthesis of both. Article 368 provides for two types of
amendments:	(a) Some provisions can be amended by a special majority of	the Parliament, i.e., a two-third majority of the members of
each House present and voting, and a majority of the total	membership of each House.	(b) Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority
of the Parliament and with the ratification by half of the total	states.	At the same time, some provisions of the Constitution can be
amended by a simple majority of the Parliament in the manner of	ordinary legislative process. Notably, these amendments do not	come under Article 368.
4. Federal System with Unitary Bias	The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of	Government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz.,
two Government, division of powers, written Constitution,	supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent	judiciary and bicameralism.
However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number	of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single	Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution,
integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre,	all-India services, emergency provisions and so on.	Moreover, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the
Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand, describes India as a	‘Union of States’ which implies two things: one, Indian Federation	is not the result of an agreement by the states; and two, no state
has the right to secede from the federation.	Hence, the Indian Constitution has been variously described as	‘federal in form but, unitary in spirit’, ‘quasi-federal’ by K.C.
Wheare, ‘bargaining federalism’ by Morris Jones, ‘co-operative	federalism’ by Granville	Austin, ‘federation with a centralising tendency’ by Ivor
Jennings and so on.	5. Parliamentary Form of Government	The Constitution of India has opted for the British Parliamentary
principle of co-operation and co-ordination between the legislative	and executive organs while the presidential system is based on	the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs.
The parliamentary system is also known as the ‘Westminster’10	Model of Government, responsible Government and Cabinet	Government. The Constitution establishes the parliamentary
system not only at the Centre, but also in the states.	The features of parliamentary government in India are:	(a) Presence of nominal and real executives;
(b) Majority party rule,	(c) Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature,	(d) Membership of the ministers in the legislature,
(e) Leadership of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister,	(f) Dissolution of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Assembly).	Even though the Indian parliamentary system is largely based
on the British pattern, there are some fundamental differences	between the two. For example, the Indian Parliament is not a	sovereign body like the British Parliament. Further, the Indian
State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has	hereditary head (monarchy).	In a parliamentary system whether in India or Britain, the role of
the Prime Minister has become so significant and crucial that the	political scientists like to call it a ‘Prime Ministerial Government’.	6. Synthesis of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial
Supremacy	The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the	British Parliament, while the principle of judicial supremacy with
that of the American Supreme Court.	Just as the Indian parliamentary system differs from the British	system, the scope of judicial review power of the Supreme Court
in India is narrower than that of what exists in US. This is because	the American Constitution provides for ‘due process of law’	against that of ‘procedure established by law’ contained in the
Indian Constitution (Article 21).	Therefore, the framers of the Indian Constitution have preferred	a proper synthesis between the British principle of parliamentary
sovereignty and the American principle of judicial supremacy. The	Supreme Court, on the one hand, can declare the parliamentary	laws as unconstitutional through its power of judicial review. The
Parliament, on the other hand, can amend the major portion of the	Constitution through its constituent power.	7. Integrated and Independent Judiciary
The Indian Constitution establishes a judicial system that is	integrated as well as independent.	The Supreme Court stands at the top of the integrated judicial
system in the country. Below it, there are high courts at the state	level. Under a high court, there is a hierarchy of subordinate	courts, that is, district courts and other lower courts. This single
system of courts enforces both the central laws as well as the	state laws, unlike in USA, where the federal laws are enforced by	the federal judiciary and the state laws are enforced by the state
judiciary.	The Supreme Court is a federal court, the highest court of	appeal, the guarantor of the fundamental rights of the citizens and
the guardian of the Constitution. Hence, the Constitution has	made various provisions to ensure its independence–security of	tenure of the judges, fixed service conditions for the judges, all the
expenses of the Supreme Court charged on the Consolidated	Fund of India, prohibition on discussion on the conduct of judges	in the legislatures, ban on practice after retirement, power to
punish for its contempt vested in the Supreme Court, separation	of the judiciary from the executive, and so on.	8. Fundamental Rights
Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six11 fundamental	rights to all the citizens:	(a) Right to Equality (Articles 14–18);
(b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19–22);	(c) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23–24);	(d) Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25–28);
The Fundamental Rights are meant for promoting the idea of	political democracy. They operate as limitations on the tyranny of	the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature. They are
justiciable in nature, that is, they are enforceable by the courts for	their violation. The aggrieved person can directly go to the	Supreme Court which can issue the writs of habeas corpus,
mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto for the	restoration of his rights.	However, the Fundamental Rights are not absolute and subject
to reasonable restrictions. Further, they are not sacrosanct and	can be curtailed or repealed by the Parliament through a	Constitutional Amendment Act. They can also be suspended
during the operation of a National Emergency except the rights	guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21.	9. Directive Principles of State Policy
According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State	Policy is a ‘novel feature’ of the Indian Constitution. They are	enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution. They can be classified
into three broad cat-egories–socialistic, Gandhian and	liberalintellectual.	The Directive Principles are meant for promoting the ideal of
social and economic democracy. They seek to establish a ‘welfare	state’ in India. However, unlike the Fundamental Rights, the	directives are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they are not
enforceable by the courts for their violation. Yet, the Constitution	itself declares that ‘these principles are fundamental in the	governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to
apply these principles in making laws’. Hence, they impose a	moral obligation on the state authorities for their application. But,	the real force (sanction) behind them is political, that is, public
opinion.	In the Minerva Mills case12 (1980), the Supreme Court held that	‘the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance
The original constitution did not provide for the Fundamental	Duties of the citizens. These were added during the operation of	internal emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran	Singh Committee. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of	2002 added one more fundamental duty.
The Part IV-A of the Constitution (which consists of only one	Article 51-A) specifies the eleven Fundamental Duties viz., to	respect the Constitution, national flag and national anthem; to
protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country; to	promote the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people;	to preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture and so on.
The fundamental duties serve as a reminder to citizens that	while enjoying their rights, they have also to be quite conscious of	duties they owe to their country, their society and to their fellow-
citizens. However, like the Directive Principles, the duties are also	non-justiciable in nature.	11. A Secular State
The Constitution of India stands for a Secular State. Hence, it	does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the	Indian State. The following provisions of the Constitution reveal
the secular character of the Indian State:	(a) The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian	Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of
1976.	(b) The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief,	faith and worship.
(c) The State shall not deny to any person equality before the	law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).	(d) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the
ground of religion (Article 15).	(e) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public	employment (Article 16).
(f) All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and	the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion	(Article 25).
(g) Every religious denomination or any of its section shall have	the right to manage its religious affairs (Article 26).	(h) No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the
promotion of a particular religion (Article 27).	(i) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational	institution maintained by the State (Article 28).
(j) Any section of the citizens shall have the right to conserve its	distinct language, script or culture (Article 29).	(k) All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer
educational institutions of their choice (Article 30).	(l) The State shall endeavour to secure for all the citizens a	Uniform Civil Code (Article 44).
The Western concept of secularism connotes a complete	separation between the religion (the church) and the state (the	politics). This negative concept of secularism is inapplicable in the
Indian situation where the society is multireligious. Hence, the	Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism,	i.e., giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions
equally.	Moreover, the Constitution has also abolished the old system of	communal repre-sentation13 , that is, reservation of seats in the
legislatures on the basis of religion. However, it provides for the	temporary reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and	scheduled tribes to ensure adequate representation to them.
12. Universal Adult Franchise	The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a	basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative
assemblies. Every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age has	a right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion,	sex, literacy, wealth and so on. The voting age was reduced to 18
years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional	Amendment Act of 1988.	The introduction of universal adult franchise by the
Constitution-makers was a bold experiment and highly remarkable	in view of the vast size of the country, its huge population, high	poverty, social inequality and overwhelming illiteracy.14
Universal adult franchise makes democracy broad-based,	enhances the self-respect and prestige of the common people,	upholds the principle of equality, enables minorities to protect their
interests and opens up new hopes and vistas for weaker sections.	13. Single Citizenship	Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual
polity (Centre and states), it provides for only a single citizenship,	that is, the Indian citizenship.	In countries like USA, on the other hand, each person is not
only a citizen of USA, but also a citizen of the particular state to	which he belongs. Thus, he owes allegiance to both and enjoys	dual sets of rights–one conferred by the National government and
another by the state government.	In India, all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are	born or reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of
citizenship all over the country and no discrimination is made	between them.	Despite the constitutional provision for a single citizenship and
uniform rights for all the people, India has been witnessing the	communal riots, class conflicts, caste wars, linguistic clashes and	ethnic disputes. This means that the cherished goal of the
Constitution-makers to build a united and integrated Indian nation	has not been fully realised.	14. Independent Bodies
The Indian Constitution not only provides for the legislative,	executive and judicial organs of the Government (Central and	state) but also establishes certain independent bodies. They are
envisaged by the Constitution as the bulkworks of the democratic	system of Government in India. These are:	(a) Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections to the
Parliament, the state legislatures, the office of President of	India and the office of Vice-president of India.	(b) Comptroller and Auditor-General of India to audit the
the guardian of public purse and comments on the legality	and propriety of Government expenditure.	(c) Union Public Service Commission to conduct examinations
for recruitment to all-India services15 and higher Central	services and to advise the President on disciplinary matters.	(d) State Public Service Commission in every state to conduct
examinations for recruitment to state services and to advice	the governor on disciplinary matters.	The Constitution ensures the independence of these bodies
through various provisions like security of tenure, fixed service	conditions, expenses being charged on the Consolidated Fund of	India, and so on.
15. Emergency Provisions	The Indian Constitution contains elaborate emergency provisions	to enable the President to meet any extraordinary situation
effectively. The rationality behind the incorporation of these	provisions is to safeguard the sovereignty, unity, integrity and	security of the country, the democratic political system and the
Constitution.	The Constitution envisages three types of emergencies,	namely:
(a) National emergency on the ground of war or external	aggression or armed rebellion16 (Article 352);	(b) State emergency (President’s Rule) on the ground of failure
of Constitutional machinery in the states (Article 356) or	failure to comply with the directions of the Centre (Article	365); and
(c) Financial emergency on the ground of threat to the financial	stability or credit of India (Article 360).	During an emergency, the Central Government becomes all-
powerful and the states go into the total control of the centre. It	converts the federal structure into a unitary one without a formal	amendment of the Constitution. This kind of transformation of the
16. Three-tier Government	Originally, the Indian Constitution, like any other federal	Constitution, provided for a dual polity and contained provisions
with regard to the organisation and powers of the Centre and the	states. Later, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts	(1992) have added a third-tier of Government (i.e., local) which is
not found in any other Constitution of the world.	The 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional	recognition to the panchay-ats (rural local governments) by adding
a new Part IX17 and a new Schedule 11 to the Constitution.	Similarly, the 74th Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional	recognition to the municipalities (urban local governments) by
adding a new Part IX-A18 and a new Schedule 12 to the	Constitution.	17. Co-operative Societies
The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2011 gave a	constitutional status and protection to co-operative societies. In	this context, it made the following three changes in the
Constitution:	1. It made the right to form co-operative societies a	fundamental right (Article 19).

British Constitution.

The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible, but a

synthesis of both. Article 368 provides for two types of

amendments:

(a) Some provisions can be amended by a special majority of

the Parliament, i.e., a two-third majority of the members of

each House present and voting, and a majority of the total

membership of each House.

(b) Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority

of the Parliament and with the ratification by half of the total

states.

At the same time, some provisions of the Constitution can be

amended by a simple majority of the Parliament in the manner of

ordinary legislative process. Notably, these amendments do not

come under Article 368.

4. Federal System with Unitary Bias

The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of

Government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz.,

two Government, division of powers, written Constitution,

supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent

judiciary and bicameralism.

However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number

of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single

Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution,

integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre,

all-India services, emergency provisions and so on.

Moreover, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the

Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand, describes India as a

‘Union of States’ which implies two things: one, Indian Federation

is not the result of an agreement by the states; and two, no state

has the right to secede from the federation.

Hence, the Indian Constitution has been variously described as

‘federal in form but, unitary in spirit’, ‘quasi-federal’ by K.C.

Wheare, ‘bargaining federalism’ by Morris Jones, ‘co-operative

federalism’ by Granville

Austin, ‘federation with a centralising tendency’ by Ivor

Jennings and so on.

5. Parliamentary Form of Government

The Constitution of India has opted for the British Parliamentary

principle of co-operation and co-ordination between the legislative

and executive organs while the presidential system is based on

the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs.

The parliamentary system is also known as the ‘Westminster’10

Model of Government, responsible Government and Cabinet

Government. The Constitution establishes the parliamentary

system not only at the Centre, but also in the states.

The features of parliamentary government in India are:

(a) Presence of nominal and real executives;

(b) Majority party rule,

(c) Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature,

(d) Membership of the ministers in the legislature,

(e) Leadership of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister,

(f) Dissolution of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Assembly).

Even though the Indian parliamentary system is largely based

on the British pattern, there are some fundamental differences

between the two. For example, the Indian Parliament is not a

sovereign body like the British Parliament. Further, the Indian

State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has

hereditary head (monarchy).

In a parliamentary system whether in India or Britain, the role of

the Prime Minister has become so significant and crucial that the

political scientists like to call it a ‘Prime Ministerial Government’.

6. Synthesis of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial

Supremacy

The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the

British Parliament, while the principle of judicial supremacy with

that of the American Supreme Court.

Just as the Indian parliamentary system differs from the British

system, the scope of judicial review power of the Supreme Court

in India is narrower than that of what exists in US. This is because

the American Constitution provides for ‘due process of law’

against that of ‘procedure established by law’ contained in the

Indian Constitution (Article 21).

Therefore, the framers of the Indian Constitution have preferred

a proper synthesis between the British principle of parliamentary

sovereignty and the American principle of judicial supremacy. The

Supreme Court, on the one hand, can declare the parliamentary

laws as unconstitutional through its power of judicial review. The

Parliament, on the other hand, can amend the major portion of the

Constitution through its constituent power.

7. Integrated and Independent Judiciary

The Indian Constitution establishes a judicial system that is

integrated as well as independent.

The Supreme Court stands at the top of the integrated judicial

system in the country. Below it, there are high courts at the state

level. Under a high court, there is a hierarchy of subordinate

courts, that is, district courts and other lower courts. This single

system of courts enforces both the central laws as well as the

state laws, unlike in USA, where the federal laws are enforced by

the federal judiciary and the state laws are enforced by the state

judiciary.

The Supreme Court is a federal court, the highest court of

appeal, the guarantor of the fundamental rights of the citizens and

the guardian of the Constitution. Hence, the Constitution has

made various provisions to ensure its independence–security of

tenure of the judges, fixed service conditions for the judges, all the

expenses of the Supreme Court charged on the Consolidated

Fund of India, prohibition on discussion on the conduct of judges

in the legislatures, ban on practice after retirement, power to

punish for its contempt vested in the Supreme Court, separation

of the judiciary from the executive, and so on.

8. Fundamental Rights

Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six11 fundamental

rights to all the citizens:

(a) Right to Equality (Articles 14–18);

(b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19–22);

(c) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23–24);

(d) Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25–28);

The Fundamental Rights are meant for promoting the idea of

political democracy. They operate as limitations on the tyranny of

the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature. They are

justiciable in nature, that is, they are enforceable by the courts for

their violation. The aggrieved person can directly go to the

Supreme Court which can issue the writs of habeas corpus,

mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto for the

restoration of his rights.

However, the Fundamental Rights are not absolute and subject

to reasonable restrictions. Further, they are not sacrosanct and

can be curtailed or repealed by the Parliament through a

Constitutional Amendment Act. They can also be suspended

during the operation of a National Emergency except the rights

guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21.

9. Directive Principles of State Policy

According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State

Policy is a ‘novel feature’ of the Indian Constitution. They are

enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution. They can be classified

into three broad cat-egories–socialistic, Gandhian and

liberalintellectual.

The Directive Principles are meant for promoting the ideal of

social and economic democracy. They seek to establish a ‘welfare

state’ in India. However, unlike the Fundamental Rights, the

directives are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they are not

enforceable by the courts for their violation. Yet, the Constitution

itself declares that ‘these principles are fundamental in the

governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to

apply these principles in making laws’. Hence, they impose a

moral obligation on the state authorities for their application. But,

the real force (sanction) behind them is political, that is, public

opinion.

In the Minerva Mills case12 (1980), the Supreme Court held that

‘the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance

The original constitution did not provide for the Fundamental

Duties of the citizens. These were added during the operation of

internal emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional

Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran

Singh Committee. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of

2002 added one more fundamental duty.

The Part IV-A of the Constitution (which consists of only one

Article 51-A) specifies the eleven Fundamental Duties viz., to

respect the Constitution, national flag and national anthem; to

protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country; to

promote the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people;

to preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture and so on.

The fundamental duties serve as a reminder to citizens that

while enjoying their rights, they have also to be quite conscious of

duties they owe to their country, their society and to their fellow-

citizens. However, like the Directive Principles, the duties are also

non-justiciable in nature.

11. A Secular State

The Constitution of India stands for a Secular State. Hence, it

does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the

Indian State. The following provisions of the Constitution reveal

the secular character of the Indian State:

(a) The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian

Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of

1976.

(b) The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief,

faith and worship.

(c) The State shall not deny to any person equality before the

law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).

(d) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the

ground of religion (Article 15).

(e) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public

employment (Article 16).

(f) All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and

the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion

(Article 25).

(g) Every religious denomination or any of its section shall have

the right to manage its religious affairs (Article 26).

(h) No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the

promotion of a particular religion (Article 27).

(i) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational

institution maintained by the State (Article 28).

(j) Any section of the citizens shall have the right to conserve its

distinct language, script or culture (Article 29).

(k) All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer

educational institutions of their choice (Article 30).

(l) The State shall endeavour to secure for all the citizens a

Uniform Civil Code (Article 44).

The Western concept of secularism connotes a complete

separation between the religion (the church) and the state (the

politics). This negative concept of secularism is inapplicable in the

Indian situation where the society is multireligious. Hence, the

Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism,

i.e., giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions

equally.

Moreover, the Constitution has also abolished the old system of

communal repre-sentation13 , that is, reservation of seats in the

legislatures on the basis of religion. However, it provides for the

temporary reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and

scheduled tribes to ensure adequate representation to them.

12. Universal Adult Franchise

The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a

basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative

assemblies. Every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age has

a right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion,

sex, literacy, wealth and so on. The voting age was reduced to 18

years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional

Amendment Act of 1988.

The introduction of universal adult franchise by the

Constitution-makers was a bold experiment and highly remarkable

in view of the vast size of the country, its huge population, high

poverty, social inequality and overwhelming illiteracy.14

Universal adult franchise makes democracy broad-based,

enhances the self-respect and prestige of the common people,

upholds the principle of equality, enables minorities to protect their

interests and opens up new hopes and vistas for weaker sections.

13. Single Citizenship

Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual

polity (Centre and states), it provides for only a single citizenship,

that is, the Indian citizenship.

In countries like USA, on the other hand, each person is not

only a citizen of USA, but also a citizen of the particular state to

which he belongs. Thus, he owes allegiance to both and enjoys

dual sets of rights–one conferred by the National government and

another by the state government.

In India, all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are

born or reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of

citizenship all over the country and no discrimination is made

between them.

Despite the constitutional provision for a single citizenship and

uniform rights for all the people, India has been witnessing the

communal riots, class conflicts, caste wars, linguistic clashes and

ethnic disputes. This means that the cherished goal of the

Constitution-makers to build a united and integrated Indian nation

has not been fully realised.

14. Independent Bodies

The Indian Constitution not only provides for the legislative,

executive and judicial organs of the Government (Central and

state) but also establishes certain independent bodies. They are

envisaged by the Constitution as the bulkworks of the democratic

system of Government in India. These are:

(a) Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections to the

Parliament, the state legislatures, the office of President of

India and the office of Vice-president of India.

(b) Comptroller and Auditor-General of India to audit the

the guardian of public purse and comments on the legality

and propriety of Government expenditure.

(c) Union Public Service Commission to conduct examinations

for recruitment to all-India services15 and higher Central

services and to advise the President on disciplinary matters.

(d) State Public Service Commission in every state to conduct

examinations for recruitment to state services and to advice

the governor on disciplinary matters.

The Constitution ensures the independence of these bodies

through various provisions like security of tenure, fixed service

conditions, expenses being charged on the Consolidated Fund of

India, and so on.

15. Emergency Provisions

The Indian Constitution contains elaborate emergency provisions

to enable the President to meet any extraordinary situation

effectively. The rationality behind the incorporation of these

provisions is to safeguard the sovereignty, unity, integrity and

security of the country, the democratic political system and the

Constitution.

The Constitution envisages three types of emergencies,

namely:

(a) National emergency on the ground of war or external

aggression or armed rebellion16 (Article 352);

(b) State emergency (President’s Rule) on the ground of failure

of Constitutional machinery in the states (Article 356) or

failure to comply with the directions of the Centre (Article

365); and

(c) Financial emergency on the ground of threat to the financial

stability or credit of India (Article 360).

During an emergency, the Central Government becomes all-

powerful and the states go into the total control of the centre. It

converts the federal structure into a unitary one without a formal

amendment of the Constitution. This kind of transformation of the

16. Three-tier Government

Originally, the Indian Constitution, like any other federal

Constitution, provided for a dual polity and contained provisions

with regard to the organisation and powers of the Centre and the

states. Later, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts

(1992) have added a third-tier of Government (i.e., local) which is

not found in any other Constitution of the world.

The 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional

recognition to the panchay-ats (rural local governments) by adding

a new Part IX17 and a new Schedule 11 to the Constitution.

Similarly, the 74th Amendment Act of 1992 gave constitutional

recognition to the municipalities (urban local governments) by

adding a new Part IX-A18 and a new Schedule 12 to the

Constitution.

17. Co-operative Societies

The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2011 gave a

constitutional status and protection to co-operative societies. In

this context, it made the following three changes in the

Constitution:

1. It made the right to form co-operative societies a

fundamental right (Article 19).