UPSC IAS PRELIMS 2023 | INDIAN POLITY | DEMO CLASS | Drishti IAS English
Drishti IAS : English
Today in Drishti IAS' UPSC IAS PRELIMS 2023 - Indian Polity Demo Class, I will be
discussing the sources of the Indian Constitution and providing some memory
techniques to help you recall this information during the exam. Abhishek Mishra
will give you an insight into Constitution and Polity - what is Constitution and
what is Polity? The state includes the government, union government, state
government, local government, any statutory or non-statutory body established by
any law and even private agencies that act as an instrument of state. For it to be
considered a state, it must have a defined territory, a permanent population,
sovereign government and the capacity to conduct international relations.
Constitution ensures that all laws and regulations must be in accordance with it.
Federalism implies that there are multiple levels of governments - central, state
and local; this is an essential feature of federalism. Constitution is theory but
polity is practice; when the Constitution comes into practice, it becomes a
political system. It provides certain protections to citizens known as fundamental
rights. Lastly, democracy implies Rule of the People by the People and for the
People.
The Rule of Law is a fundamental principle of governance and is characterized by
the supremacy of law, quality of law, equality before law, and an independent
Judiciary to enforce the law. Democracy is defined as the rule of the People by the
people and for the people; however, North Korea, officially known as the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is anything but democratic. The Indian
Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949, coming into full force on 26 January
1950 after two years, eleven months and eighteen days of deliberation. The
Constitution originally contained 395 articles arranged in 22 parts and eight
schedules in Hindi. It is also important to note that our Indian Constitution is
based on the Government of India Act 1935, which was itself very bulky.
Consequently, our Indian Constitution has become very voluminous and bulky.
The Government of India Act 1935 proposed a federation of British provinces and
princely states, though it never came into effect. This was the basis of the
federal scheme we adopted. The Parliamentary form of government and parliamentary
privileges were taken from the British Constitution, while fundamental rights were
inspired by the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, concepts such as judicial review,
the impeachment of the president and the office of vice president have been taken
from the U.S Constitution too. The Weimar constitution of Germany, Russian
Constitution, Irish Constitution and Canadian Constitution have also had an
influence on our own constitution. The Canadian constitution has a strong
centre-vegetarian approach, where powers are not divided between the centre and
state. Moreover, we adopted the idea of joint sitting of both houses from the
Australian Constitution and emergency provisions relating to suspension of
fundamental rights from the Government of India Act 1935.
Drishti IAS : English
Today in Drishti IAS' UPSC IAS PRELIMS 2023 - Indian Polity Demo Class, I will be
discussing the sources of the Indian Constitution and providing some memory
techniques to help you recall this information during the exam. Abhishek Mishra
will give you an insight into Constitution and Polity - what is Constitution and
what is Polity? The state includes the government, union government, state
government, local government, any statutory or non-statutory body established by
any law and even private agencies that act as an instrument of state. For it to be
considered a state, it must have a defined territory, a permanent population,
sovereign government and the capacity to conduct international relations.
Constitution ensures that all laws and regulations must be in accordance with it.
Federalism implies that there are multiple levels of governments - central, state
and local; this is an essential feature of federalism. Constitution is theory but
polity is practice; when the Constitution comes into practice, it becomes a
political system. It provides certain protections to citizens known as fundamental
rights. Lastly, democracy implies Rule of the People by the People and for the
People.
The Rule of Law is a fundamental principle of governance and is characterized by
the supremacy of law, quality of law, equality before law, and an independent
Judiciary to enforce the law. Democracy is defined as the rule of the People by the
people and for the people; however, North Korea, officially known as the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is anything but democratic. The Indian
Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949, coming into full force on 26 January
1950 after two years, eleven months and eighteen days of deliberation. The
Constitution originally contained 395 articles arranged in 22 parts and eight
schedules in Hindi. It is also important to note that our Indian Constitution is
based on the Government of India Act 1935, which was itself very bulky.
Consequently, our Indian Constitution has become very voluminous and bulky.
The Government of India Act 1935 proposed a federation of British provinces and
princely states, though it never came into effect. This was the basis of the
federal scheme we adopted. The Parliamentary form of government and parliamentary
privileges were taken from the British Constitution, while fundamental rights were
inspired by the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, concepts such as judicial review,
the impeachment of the president and the office of vice president have been taken
from the U.S Constitution too. The Weimar constitution of Germany, Russian
Constitution, Irish Constitution and Canadian Constitution have also had an
influence on our own constitution. The Canadian constitution has a strong
centre-vegetarian approach, where powers are not divided between the centre and
state. Moreover, we adopted the idea of joint sitting of both houses from the
Australian Constitution and emergency provisions relating to suspension of
fundamental rights from the Government of India Act 1935.
