The States (Article 152-237)
The Governor (Article 153-162)
The Governor of a State is appointed by the President of India (Article 155).
The same Governor can act as Governor of more than one State (Article 153-162).
According to Article 156 the Governor of the State holds office during the pleasure of the President.
Qualifications
must be a citizen of India,
must be at least 35 years old, and
(c) should not hold any office of profit during his/her tenure.
The Governor like the President can grant pardons, reprieves, remission of punishment to persons convicted under the state Law.
Under Article 163 the Governor enjoys discretionary powers. The courts cannot question his discretion.
According to Article 171 the Governor can nominate some members from amongst those distinguished in literature, science, arts, ooperative movement and social services to state legislature.
The Governor is empowered to. Issue ordinances.
Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)
It is the lower and popular house of the State. Members are chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage from territorial Constituencies (Article 170).
Their number of members varies between 60 and 500. However certain States like Sikkim, Goa, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have less than 60 members. .
The Governor may nominate one Anglo-Indian to it. .
The reservation of seats has been provided for SCs and STs on the basis of their population.
According to Article 172, duration of 4
Assembly is normally 5 years. But it may be dissolved earlier by the Governor.
Its term may also be extended by one year at a time by Parliament during national emergency, though this can in no case be extended beyond 6 months after the proclamation has ceased to operate.
Legislative Council (Article 169)
It is the upper house.
Parliament may by law create or abolish Legislative Council.
It can be created, if the Legislative Assembly of the State passes a resolution to the effect by special majority.
It is not an Amendment to the Constitution and therefore it can be passed like an ordinary piece of legislation.
Article 171 contains various categories of members. According to this:
1/3rd of its members are elected by Legislative
1/3rd by local bodies.
1/6th nominated by the Governor.
1/12th are elected by teachers.
1/5th by university graduates.
The maximum strength of Legislative Council can be l/3rd of the total membership of Legislative Assembly, but in no case less than 40.
Parliament has the final power to decide about its composition.
It is not subject to dissolution. But 1/3"1 of its members retire on the expiry of every 2nd
High Courts (Article 214-232)
The High Courts stand at the head of the judiciary more...
Article 262 Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-state rivers or river valleys.
Article 263 Inter-State Council
Inter States Council
Inter-State Council is one of the important extra judicial bodies formed in 1990 on the recommendation of Sarkaria Commission. The Article 263 of Constitution empowers the President to appoint or establish an Inter-States Council for (1) enquiring into & advising upon inter-states disputes. (2) Investigate & discuss on subjects in which States alone or States & Union have common interest.
The Council is headed by the Prime Minister & its members include 6 Cabinet Ministers & Chief Ministers of States.
Zonal Council
Zonal Councils were constituted on the recommendation of States Reorganization Commission 1956. In 1956, five zonal councils were established - North, South, East, West & Central. In 1971, the 6th Zonal Council was established, i.e. North-east Zonal Council. Its objectives are:--
(a) To promote collective approach & sorting out common problems of the member States.
(b) For providing cooperation for the implementation of development plans & progress.
Composition: The Union Home Minister is the ex-officio chairman of all the Zonal Councils. Each Zonal Council includes the Chief Ministers of the member States & the Administrators of the Union Territories. The Chief Secretaries of the member states are also included.
Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits (Article 264-300A)
Article 266 Consolidated Fund of India
Article 267 Contingency Fund of India
Part XII
Inter-State Trade and Commerce
(Article 301-307)
Article 301: Freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse.
Article 302; Power of Parliament to impose restrictions on trade, commerce and intercourse.
Article 303: Restrictions on the legislative powers of the Union and of the States with regard to trade and commerce.
Article 304: Restrictions on trade, commerce and intercourse among states.
Article 305: Saving of existing laws providing for state monopolies.
Article 306: Power of certain States in Part B of the First Schedule to impose restrictions on trade and commerce (Re-pealed).
Article 307; Appointment of Authority for carrying out the purposes of Articles 301 to 304.
Part XIV
Services under the Union and the States
Article 308-323
Article 312: All India Services.
Article 315: Public Services Commissions for the Union and for the States.
On the recommendation of the Lee Commission in the year 1926 the first Public Service Commission was set up.
1935 Government of India Act provided for the establishment of a Federal Public Service Commission and Provincial Public Services Commission.
The Chairman and other members of the UPSC are appointed by the President of India.
At least half of the members are civil servants with at least 10 years’ experience in central or state services.
The tenure of each member is six years or upto more...
As per the provisions of the Peoples Representation Act, 1951 political parties are registered with the Election Commission of India.
The Anti-defection law, passed in 1985, prevents the MPs or the' MLAs elected as candidates from one party forming or joining a new party unless they comprise more than one-third of the original party, in the Legislature.
Recognition and Reservation of Symbols
A party registered with the Election Commission may be granted recognition as a National or a State party on the basis of its performance in polls.
Political Parties & Pressure Group
Political Parties
Meaning: Group of persons who agree on some ideology & seek to capture the power & form the government on the basis of collective leadership.
Type of Party System in India: Multi-Party System:
Calling Attention: Moved to call the attention of a Minister to matters of public importance. The 'Calling Attention' procedure does not exist in the Raj'ya Sabha, which has, instead the 'Motion of Papers'
Floor Crossing: The practice of floor crossing refers to the defection of a Member of Parliament from the party he/she was elected to another political party. The practice of defection indicates the lack of ideological hold of the party over its members and it leads to instability in the Government or disregard to the people's mandate.
Hung Parliament: When in a General election no political party or coalition of the political parties is in a position to form a majority Government, such a Parliament is called a Hung Parliament.
Interim Government: This Government is formed during the transitional phase of the history of the country. It is a full-fledged Government and can take any policy decisions. In India, the interim Government came to power with the Independence of India Act on 15th August and lasted till March, 1952.
Minority Government: A form of Government which does not enjoy the confidence of the Lok Sabha on its own and survives on support of other political parties from outside the Government. For example, the Chandrashekhar Government in 1990 - 1991, the Deve Gowda and the I. K. Gujral Governments during 1996 - 1997 survived on the Congress support from outside.
Ordinance: An ordinance is a law promulgated by the head of the State in a situation of urgency when the Legislature cannot frame the law because either it is not in session or it is dissolved. An ordinance has the same effect as a law made by the Legislature. However, it is a temporary measure and has to be approved by the Legisla-
ture within a prescribed period, other wise it ceases to be in operation.
Question Hour: The first one hour period (usually 11: 00 a. m. to 12: 00 m.) each day during the meetings of the Parliament is allotted for asking the questions by the members to be
replied by the Ministers, is called the Question Hour. A ten days prior notice is required for asking questions in the Parliament by its members.
Quorum: It refers to the required presence of the minimum member of members of a body to hold its meetings and conduct its business. For example, the presence of members (quorum of) is required to hold the meetings of the Parliament. In the absence of the quorum, the meeting is adjourned and no business is conducted.
Whip: This is an official appointed by a political party to regulate and monitor the behaviour of its members in the more...
Amendments of Constitution
There are three types of bills that seek to amend the Constitution (Art. 368):
Bills that are passed by Parliament by Simple Majority.
Bills that have to be passed by Parliament by Special Majority.
Bills that have to be passed by Special Majority and also to be ratified by not less than one-half of the State Legislatures.
Important Amendments
The first Amendment Act to the Indian Constitution was made in the year 1951. ccording to it, Articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174,176,341, 342, 376 were amended and Articles 31A and 3IB inserted and Ninth Schedule was added.
The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971: It affirmed the power of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. After this amendment, the President is bound to assent to Constitution Amendment Bill. Education was transferred to the Concurrent List by this amendment.
The Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973: increased the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545. Under the Act, the upper
limit of representatives of the States goes up from 500 to 525 and that of the Union Territories decreases from 25 to 20.
The Constitution (36th Amend- ment) Act, 1975: By this Act, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.
The Constitution (37th Amendment) Act, 1975: was passed by Parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country's north-easternmost Union Territory.
The Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and got Presidential assent on August 9, 1975. The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.
The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: It was enacted during the period of National Emergency. It was passed by Parliament on November 11,1976 and received Presidential assent on December 18,1976.
The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over the other wings of Government: gave the Directive Principles precedence over the Fundamental Rights; enumerated for the first time a set of ten Fundamental Duties.
The Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1978: It restores civil liberties by deleting Article 3ID which gave powers to Parliament to curtail
even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of legislation for the prevention of anti-national activities. The Supreme Court will now
have power to invalidate State laws, a power taken away by the 42nd Amendment Act.
The Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978: Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended during a national emergency.
The number of poor in India is now estimated at 148 million in 2014 as compared to 396 million in 2004-05.
Goa ranks best with least poverty of 5.09% and Chattisgarh has the most poverty with 39.93%.
Poverty is concentrated among agricultural labourers, casual workers, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
According to Economic Survey 2013-14, poverty ratio declines to 21.9 percent.
The survey to measure below poverty line is conducted by National Sample Survey [NSS).
National Sample Survey determines poverty line using the mixed recall period method in which consumer spending for five items such as clothing, durable goods, footwear, education and institutional medical expenses are collected from a 365 days period.
Unemployment in India
The country's overall unemployment rate was estimated to be 15 per cent in 2015-16.
In case of women living in urban areas the unemployment rate was 12.1 per cent, while in rural areas, it was 7.8 percent.
The overall unemployment among women was 10.0 per cent across the country.
Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate of 1.2 per cent, as per the fourth Annual Employment & Unemployment Survey report for 2013-14, released by Labour Bureau, under Union Ministry
of Labour and Employment.
As per the study, the unemployment rate per 1,000 persons aged more than 15 years was lowest in Gujarat at 12, followed by Karnataka at 18, Maharashtra at 28, UT Chandigarh at 28, Madhya Pradesh at 29 and Telangana at 33.
Different Types of Unemployment in India
Structural Unemployment: This type of unemployment is associated with economic structure of the country, i.e. rapidly growing population, technological change and their immobility fall in rate of capital formation.
Under-employment: Those labourers are under-employed who obtain work but their efficiency and capability are not utilised at their optimum and as a result they contribute in the production upto a limited level.
Disguised Unemployment: If a person does not contribute anything in the production process or in other words, if he can be removed from the work without affecting the productivity adversely, he will be treated as disguisedly unemployed. The marginal productivity of such unemployed person is zero.
Open Unemployment: When the labourers live without any work and they don't find any work to do, they come under the category of open unemployment. Educated and unskilled labourers unemployment are included in open unemployment.
Wom
Schemes for Women and Child Development
Ahimsa Messengers
Scheme of Ministry of women and child development launched by UFA in 2013.
Industries: Public Sector Enterprises, Navratnas and Maharatnas
Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) is a government-owned corporation owned by Union Government of India or one of the many state or territorial governments, or both.
They are under the Department of Public Enterprises of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
There are currently 254 PSU companies in India.
Financial autonomy:
Maharatna
Navratna
Miniratna CPSEs (itself divided .into Category I & Category II)
As on 26 October, 2014 there are 7 Maharatna, 17 Navratna and 72 Miniratna CPSE's,
Criteria for giving
Maharatna Status:
Company already holds Navratna status,
It is listed on the Indian stock exchange fulfilling the minimum prescribed public shareholding according to the SEB1 regulations.
7 Maharatna CPSEs namely:
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
Coal India Limited
Gail ( India ) Limited
Indian Oil Corporation Limited
NTPC Limited
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited
Steel Authority of India Limited
Criteria for giving Navratna Status
Company must have 'Miniratna Category - 1'status along with a Schedule 'A' listing.
It should have at least 3 'Excellent' or 'Very Good' Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the last five years.
There are 17 Navratna CPSEs in the country, these are:
Bharat Electronics Limited
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Container Corporation of India Limited
Engineers India Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Limited Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
National Aluminium Company Limited
National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited
NMDC Limited
Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited
Oil India Limited
Power Finance Corporation Limited
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited
Shipping Corporation of India Limited
Industrial Policy 1991
(A) Objectives
to maintain a sustained growth in productivity.
to enhance gainful employment.
to achieve optimum utilisation of human resources.
to attain international competitiveness.
to transform India into a major partner and players in the global arena.
Main Focus on
deregulating Indian industry.
allowing the industry freedom and flexibility in responding to market forces, and
providing a policy regime which facilitates and fosters growth of Indian industry.
(C) Policy Measures
Liberalisation of Industrial Licensing Policy.
Introduction of Industrial Entrepreneur's Memorandum [i.e. no industrial approval is required for industries not more...
BudgetBudget is an annual financial statement. The Budget in India is divided into 2 parts-Revenue Account & Capital Acount.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, World Leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an investment in a business by an investor from another country for which the foreign investor has control over the company purchased. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines control as owning 10% or more of the business. Businesses that make foreign direct investment are after called Multinational Corporations [MNCs] or Multinational Enterprises [MNEs).
A MNE may create a new foreign enterprise by making a direct investment, which is called a greenfield investment.
A MNE may make a direct investment by the acquisition of a foreign firm, which is called an acquisition or prownfield investment.
Advantages of foreign Direct Investment
Economic Development Stimulation.
Easy International Trade.
Employment and Economic Boost.
Development of human capital Resources.
Tax incentives.
Resource Transfer.
Reduced disparity between revenues and costs.
Increased productivity.
Increment in income.
Disadvantages of Foreign Direct Investment
Hindrances to domestic Investment
Risk from political changes.
Negative influence on exchange rates
Higher costs.
Economic non-viability.
Modern-day Economic colonialism.
FDI, being a non-debt capital flow, is a leading source of external financing especially for the developing economies. Under the current policy regime, there are three broad entry options for foreign direct investors.
In some sectors, FDI is not permitted (negative list);
In another small category of sectors, foreign investment is permitted only till a specified level of foreign equity participation, and
The third category, comprising all the other sectors, is where foreign investment up to 100 % of equity participation is allowed. The third category has two subsets -
One consisting of sectors where automatic approval is granted for FDI (often foreign equity participation less than 100 %), and
the other consisting of sectors where prior approval from the Foreign Investment Approval Board (FIPB) is required.
The following are some of the sector with 100% FDI
Advertising, agriculture, air transport services (domestic airlines), courier services, drugs and pharmaceutical, electricity, power, films and studios, hotel and tourism, housing and real estate, construction, mass rapid transport system, mining [gold and silver), NBFC, marketing, pipelines and' refining of petroleum products, tourism, transport infrastructure, townships, SEZs, railways, single more...
Pliocene deposits in Siwaliks. It came to be known as Ramapitheus, a type of early hominid.
Inscriptions either on stone or on metal plates are old records of Ancient India. The study of inscriptions is called epigraphy.
Coins: The study of coins is called numismatics.
The Punch Mark Coins (silver & copper) are the earliest coins of India.
Monuments: Monuments reflect the material prosperity and development of culture e.g. Taxshila monuments about Kushans and Stupas, Chaityas and Vihars about Maurya.
Vedas: Vedas point out features and development of different dynasties, e.g. Rigveda deals about Archery and known as "The first testament of mankind."
Samveda says about the art of music (i.e. melodies)
Yajurveda: It is known as ritual Veda.
Atharvaveda: It is the latest of the four. It is about beliefs and superstitions.
Upanishad: It is anti-ritualistic in nature. It deals about the theories of creation of the universe and doctrine of action.
Sutras: Sutras deal about rituals, Sanskaras, social life, Medical science etc.
Puranas; Puranas describe the genealogies of various royal dynasties, i.e. Maurya, Andhra, Shishunag, Gupta, etc.
Jatak Kathas: These are the parts of art and literature of 3rd century B.C.
Arthashastra: It is the analysis of political and economic conditions of the Mauryas, composed by Kautily (Chanakya).
Mudrarakshasa: It tells about the establishment of the Maurya dynasty, the fall of Nanda, Ramgupta, etc.
Rajtarangini: It was written by Kalhana in 12th century A.D. It is about the rulers of Kashmir. It is considered the, "first historical book of India"
Foreign travellers: wrote about the information of India. For examples -
Megasthenes: He wrote book, "INDICA" about the dynasty of Maurya.
Fahien: He wrote about the Gupta Emperor.
Hieun-Tsang: He wrote about the Buddhist record of the western world during period of Harshavardhan.
Albiruni: He wrote ' Tarikh-ul-Hind.'
Ibna-Batuta: He wrote about India under the rule of Muhammad Tughlaq.
7 Maharatna CPSEs namely:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, World Leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an investment in a business by an investor from another country for which the foreign investor has control over the company purchased. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines control as owning 10% or more of the business. Businesses that make foreign direct investment are after called Multinational Corporations [MNCs] or Multinational Enterprises [MNEs).
