NATIONAL SYMBOLS

POLITY

BestCurrentAffairs.com INDIA, a union of states, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution, which was adopted by Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and came into force on January 26, 1950. The Constitution which envisages parliamentary form of government is federal in structure with unitary features.  The President of India is the constitutional head of executive of the union. Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President who shall in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The real executive power thus vests in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.  India comprises 28 states and nine union territories. The states are: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.  Union territories are: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.  The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was enacted (MHA, SO No. 3979 (E) dated November 2, 2019) to provide for reorganisation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the two union territories - one to be eponymously called Jammu and Kashmir, and the other Ladakh.  October 31, 2019 was notified as the appointed day for all purposes of the Act. A bill for the Act was introduced in the Rajya Sabha, on 5 August 2019 and was passed on that day. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 6 August 2019. It received the President’s assent on 9 August 2019.  The introduction of the bill was preceded by a presidential order under Article 370 of the Indian constitution that revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and mandating, inter alia, that all the provisions of the Indian Constitution would be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Accordingly, the “State Legislature including Legislative Council of the State” has been abolished and shall from now onwards be construed as “Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”.  All the provisions of the constitution as amended from time to time have become applicable to the existing Jammu and Kashmir with effect from August 5, 2019, and any notification issued or order, rule or appointment made during the period between the August 5, 2019 and October 31 are “required to be protected, as if such actions have been taken in accordance with law”. There are references in the state laws that have been applied to the expressions ‘permanent residents’ or ‘hereditary state subjects’ are now omitted.  Girish Chandra Murmu is the first-ever lieutenant governor (L-G) of J&K, while Radha Krishna Mathur, is the new L-G of Ladakh.  The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the whole of India. Every person who was at the commencement of the Constitution ( January 26, 1950) domiciled in the territory of India and: (a) who was born in India; or (b) either of whose parents were born in India; or (c) who has been ordinarily resident in India for not less than five years became a citizen of India.  The Citizenship Act was amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which was passed by the Parliament on December 11, 2019 and received the President’s assent on December 12, 2019. The amended Act makes foreign illegal migrants of six religious communities i.e., Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. It is applicable to those who have taken shelter in India due to persecution on grounds of religion or fear of such persecution in their countries and have entered into India on or before December 31, 2014.  On acquiring citizenship, such migrants shall be deemed to be Indian citizens from the date of their entry into India and all legal proceedings regarding their status as illegal migrants or their citizenship will be closed. The Third Schedule to the Act has been amended to make applicants belonging to the said communities from the three countries eligible for citizenship by naturalisation, if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of the previous requirement of eleven years.  The provisions of the Act, however, do not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the areas where ‘The Inner Line Permit’ is applicable including the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.  The Constitution offers all citizens, individually and collectively, some basic freedoms. These are guaranteed in the Constitution in the form of six broad categories of Fundamental Rights which are justifiable. Articles 12 to 35 contained in Part III of the Constitution deal with Fundamental Rights.  By the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution, adopted in 1976, Fundamental Duties of the citizens have also been enumerated. Article 51 ‘A’ contained in Part IV A of the Constitution deals with Fundamental Duties.  The Constitution lays down certain Directive Principles of State Policy, which though not justifiable, are ‘fundamental in governance of the country’ and it is the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws. These have been contained in Part IV from Articles 36 to 51 of the Constitution.  The Union executive consists of the President, the Vice-President and the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as the head to aid and advise the President.