Miscellaneous
President Rule
In India, President’s rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Central Government rule in a state. Similarly, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, failure of governmental function results in Governor’s rule, imposed by invoking Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.
President Rule in Rajasthan
First 13-03-1967 to 26-04-1967
Second 29-04-1977 to 22-06-1977
Third 16-02-1980 to 05-06-1980
Fourth 15-12-1992 to 04-12-1993
Seventh Schedule
The Seventh Schedule in Constitution of India gives allocation of powers and functions between Union & States. It contains 3 lists:
- Union List (For Union Govt) 97 Subjects.
- States List (Powers of State Govt) 66 subjects – Currently 61
- Concurrent List (Both Union & States) 47 subjects.
There are the following three lists:
- Union list: only the union can make laws on the subjects contained in these lists. It includes all the subjects of central importance like defence.
- State list: only the state is empowered to make laws on such subjects barring few exceptional situations. Subjects like land feature in this list.
- Concurrent list: Both the state and the centre can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list.
Dr. Ambedkar is known as the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’.
On the basis of the reports of these committees, a Draft of the constitution was prepared by a seven-member drafting committee under the chairmanship of Dr B.R.Ambedkar. Though the major part came to force on January 26, 1950, the provisions relating to citizenship, elections, provisional parliament and temporary and transitional provisions came into force with immediate effect from November 1949.
The Constitution of India was not completely an original document, the framing committee having freely borrowed good features from other constitutions. However, while adopting those features, they made necessary modifications that would be suitable for Indian conditions and avoided their defects. The constitutions which exercised profound influence on the Indian constitution were those of UK, USA, Ireland and Canada.
Objectives of the Indian Constitution
The objectives of the constitution were outlined in the objective resolution moved by Nehru in December 1946 and unanimously adopted by the constituent assembly on January 22, 1947.
The main principles were:
- Resolve to proclaim Indians an independent sovereign republic.
- To establish a democratic union with an equal level of self government for all constituent parts.
- All power and authority of the union government and governments of constituent parts are derived from the people
- To guarantee and secure for all people of India justice, socio-economic and political; equality of status, of opportunity and before law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action.
- Adequate safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas.
- To maintain the integrity of the territory of the republic and its sovereign rights on land, sea and air according to justice and law of civilized nations.
- To secure for India its rightful and honoured place in the world
- To contribute to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind.
Preamble
The Constitution of India is preceded by a preamble which i) indicates the source from which it derives authority, and ii) states the objective which the constitution seeks to achieve.
Citizenship
The constitution of India provides for single citizenship. All persons residing in different parts of the country enjoy Indian citizenship (article 5). There is no separate citizenship of states. According to the constitution, the following three categories of persons are entitled to citizenship
- Person domiciled in India
- Refugees who migrated to India from Pakistan
- Indians living in other countries
Amendment of citizenship act
In 1986, the citizenship act was amended and acquisition of citizenship by persons coming to India as refugees from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries was made difficult. In December 2003 the citizenship act 1955 was amended to facilitate the reacquisition of the Indian citizens and former Indian citizens. However, the act made the acquisition of Indian citizenship and naturalization more stringent to prevent illegal migrants from becoming eligible for Indian citizenship.
Every person who is a citizen of a commonwealth country, by virtue of that citizenship enjoys the status of commonwealth citizenship in India. The Indian citizenship act 1955 empowers the central government to make provisions on the basis of reciprocity for enforcement of all or any of the rights of a citizen of India on the citizens of UK, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth countries.
Dual citizenship to People of Indian Origin (PIOs)
In December 2003, a new law was passed which permits the people of Indian origin residing in 16 countries, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, Portugal, Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland UK and USA to have dual citizenship status. This will enable them to participate in certain economic activities in India.
Significance of citizenship
The significance of citizenship lies in the fact that all fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution are available to citizens alone. Further, only citizens can vote in state and national elections.