GS II

Contents
GS II............................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Salient Features of the Constitution of India:.........................................................................................................2
Salient features of the Representation of People's Act.........................................................................................11
Role of civil Services in a Democracy.....................................................................................................................13
E Governance-- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential........................................................19
Issues relating to poverty and hunger....................................................................................................................28
Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability...................................................................31
Government policies and interventions for development.....................................................................................37
Statutory, Regulatory and Various Quasi-Judicial Bodies...................................................................................54
Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs..........................................................58
Mechanisms, Laws, Institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable
section....................................................................................................................................................................... 67
Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of
these schemes...........................................................................................................................................................74
Separation of powers between various organs......................................................................................................92
India and its neighbourhood-relations.................................................................................................................100
Pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity................................................112
Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.................................................118
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional
Bodies..................................................................................................................................................................... 139
Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal
structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein...................................163
Salient Features of the Constitution of India:
1. The Preamble
2. Fundamental Rights and Duties
3. Directive Principles
4. Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures
5. Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine
The Constitution of India is considered as a distinctive constitution around the globe. It is the largest written
liberal democratic constitution of the world. It offers for a mixture of federalism and Unitarianism, and
flexibility and with rigidity.
The Constitution of India was outlined by a Constituent Assembly. This Assembly was an indirectly chosen
body. It had laid down certain ideals to be included in the Constitution. These ideals included commitment
to democracy, guarantee to all the people of India, Justice, equality and freedom. It had also proclaimed that
India will be a Democratic Republic.
Reports suggested that the Constituent Assembly held its first sitting on the 9th December, 1946. It
reassembled on the 14th August, 1947, as the sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India.
Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political
principles, establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of the government and spells out the
fundamental rights, directive principles and duties of citizens. Passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26
November 1949, it came into effect on 26 January 1950. The date 26 January was chosen to commemorate
the declaration of independence of 1930. Since its inauguration on 26th January 1950, the Constitution India
has been efficaciously guiding the path and development of India.
With the help of Article 368, Parliament can amend the constitution. Every part of constitution can be
modified by the Parliament except “basic structure” of the constitution as held by the Supreme Court. Any
law which violates the basic structure of the constitution is declared unconstitutional & invalid by the court.
Indian Constitution can be said as the hugely written constitution in the world because of its contents. In its
innovative form, it consisted of 395 Articles and 8 Schedules to which additions have been made through
subsequent amendments. At present, it contains 395 Articles and 12 Schedules, and more than 80
amendments. There are many factors responsible for the long size of the constitution. One major factors was
that the framers of the constitution copied provisions form several sources and several other constitutions of
the world. They have followed and reproduced the Government of India Act 1935 in providing matters of
administrative detail. It was needed to make provisions for a typical problems of India like scheduled castes,
Scheduled Tribes and backward regions. In Indian constitution, provisions were made for elaborate centre-
state relations in all aspects of their administrative and other activities. The size of the constitution became
large, as provisions regarding the state administration were also included. Additionally, a detail list of
individual rights, directive principles of state policy and the details of administration procedure were laid
down to make the Constitution clear and unambiguous for the ordinary citizen. Therefore, the Constitution
of India became an exhaustive and lengthy one.
India has implemented the Parliamentary system as established in Britain. In this system, the executive is
responsible to the legislature, and remains in power only as long as it enjoys the confidence of the
legislature. The president of India, who remains in office for five years is the nominal, titular or
constitutional head. The Union Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head is drawn from the
legislature. It is jointly responsible to the House of People (Lok Sabha), and has to resign as soon as it loses
the confidence of that house. The President, the nominal executive shall exercise his powers according to the
advice of the Union Council of Ministers, the real executive. In the states also, the government is
Parliamentary in nature.
The Constitution of India identifies only single citizenship. In the United States, there is provision of dual
citizenship. In India, people are citizens of India only, not of the respective states to which they belong. This
provision would help to promote harmony and integrity of the nation.
India is a secular state, because it does not discriminate between individuals on the basis of religion. Neither
it encourages nor discourages any religion. In contrast, right to freedom of religion is ensured in the
Constitution and people belonging to any religious group have the right to acknowledge, practice or
propagate any religion they like.
The salient features of the Constitution of India are as under:
1. Preamble of the Constitution: The Constitution of India initiates with a Preamble. The Preamble
consists of the ideals, objectives and basic principles of the Constitution. The salient features of the
Constitution have developed directly and indirectly from these objectives which flow from the Preamble.
The Preamble is described as an introduction or preface of a book. As an overview, it is not a part of the
contents but it explains the purposes and objectives with which the document has been written. So is the
case with the ‘Preamble’ to the Indian Constitution. As such the ‘Preamble’ provides the guide lines of the
Constitution. Basically, it is a brief introductory statement that sets out the guiding purpose and principles of
the document, and it indicates the source from which derives its authority, meaning, and the people.
The Preamble describes the objectives of the Constitution in two ways: one, is about the structure of the
governance and secondly, it explains the ideals to be achieved in independent India. It is because of this, the
Preamble is considered to be the major element of the Constitution.
The objectives, which are laid down in the Preamble, are:
1. Description of Indian State as Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic. (Socialist, Secular
added by 42nd Amendment, 1976).
2. Provision to all the citizens of India i.e.
a. Justice social, economic and political.
b. Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.
c. Equality of status and opportunity.
d. Fraternity assuring dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation.
The Preamble to the Constitution of India is a well drafted document which signifies the values of the
constitution. It asserts India to be a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and a welfare state
committed to secure justice, liberty and equality for the people and for promoting fraternity, dignity the
individual, and unity and integrity of the nation. The Preamble is the nature of Indian state and the objectives
it is committed to secure for the people.
2. Fundamental Rights and duties:
The Constitution of India grants and guarantees Fundamental Rights to its citizens. It is called the Indian Bill
of Rights. Initially, seven Fundamental Rights were granted but after the deletion of the Right to Property
from the list of Fundamental Rights (44th Amendment Act 1979) their number came down to six.
Prof. H.J. Laski stated that "A state is known by the rights it maintains". The constitution of India confirms
the basic principle that every individual is permitted to enjoy certain basic rights and part III of the
Constitution deals with those rights which are known as fundamental right.
The Six Fundamental Rights are under:
1. Right to Equality:
It provides for Equality before Law, End of Discrimination, Equality of Opportunity, Abolition of
untouchability and Abolition of Titles.
2. Right to Freedom:
It incorporates six fundamental freedoms that include freedoms of speech and expression, freedom to form
associations, freedom to assemble peaceably without arms, freedom to move freely in India, freedom of
residence in any part, and freedom of adopting any profession or trade or occupation. It safeguards personal
freedom and protection in respect of conviction for certain offences.
The Constitution lays down that the freedom of life and liberty cannot be limited or denied except in
accordance with the procedure established by law. Now under Art 21A Right to Education for the children
between the ages of 6-14 years has been granted. Art. 22 guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and
detention.
3. Right against Exploitation:
This Fundamental Right forbids sale and purchase of human beings, forced labour (begaar) and employment
of children in hazardous jobs and factories.
4. Right to Freedom of Religion:
The objectives of this right include the freedom of conscience, religion and worship. Any person can follow
any religion. It gives to all religions freedom to establish and maintain their religious institutions. Citizens
cannot be compelled to pay any tax for the propagation of any religion. The state cannot levy a tax for any
religion and constitution prohibits the imparting of religious instructions in schools and colleges.
5. Cultural and Educational Rights:
In this right, the Constitution guarantees the rights of the minorities to maintain and develop their languages
and cultures. It also confers upon them the right to establish, maintain and administer their educational
institutions.
6. Right to Constitutional Remedies (Art. 32):
This fundamental right is the key of the entire Bill of Rights. It provides for the enforcement and protection
of Fundamental Rights by the courts. It empowers the Supreme Court and High Courts to issue writs for the
enforcement of these rights.
It is stated that these fundamental rights are justiciable and the individual can move to the higher judiciary
that is the Supreme Court or the High Courts, if there is an encroachment on any of these rights. The right to
move to the Supreme Court straight for the enforcement of fundamental rights has been guaranteed under
Article 32 (Right to Constitutional Remedies). However, fundamental rights in India are not absolute.
Reasonable constraints can be imposed keeping in view the security-requirements of the state.
It is further added by political scientist that fundamental rights for Indians have also been intended to
overturn the inequalities of pre-independence social practices. Precisely, they have also been used to abolish
untouchability and thus prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.
They also prohibit trafficking of human beings and forced labour. They also protect cultural and educational
rights of ethnic and religious minorities by allowing them to preserve their languages and also establish and
administer their own education institutions. They are covered under articles 14 to 32 of the Indian
constitution.
Fundamental Duties of constitution are as under:
A new part IV (A) after the Directive Principles of State Policy was combined in the constitution by the
42nd Amendment, 1976 for fundamental duties. These duties are mentioned below:
1. To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the
National Anthem.
2. To apprize and follow the noble ideals, which inspired our national struggle for freedom.
3. To sustain and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
4. To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.
5. To promote coordination and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India
transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities, to renounce practices derogatory
to the dignity of woman.
6. To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
7. To protect and improve the natural environments including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to
have compassion for living creatures.
8. To develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
9. To defend public property and to abjure violence.
10. To endeavour towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation
constantly rises to higher levels of Endeavour and achievement.
The main aim of integrating these duties in the Constitution is to remind the people that while enjoying their
right as citizens, should also perform their duties as rights and duties are correlative.
Directive Principles:
Directive Principles of State Policy. A unique aspect of the Constitution is that it comprises of a chapter in
the Directive Principles of State Policy. These principles are in the nature of directives to the government to
implement them to maintain social and economic democracy in the country.
It exemplifies important philosophies such as adequate means to livelihood, equal pay for both men and
women, distribution of wealth so as to serve the common good, free and compulsory primary education,
right to work, public assistance in case of old age, unemployment, sickness and disablement, the
organisation of village Panchayats, special care to the economically disadvantaged group in country. Most of
these principles could help in making India welfare state. These principles have been stated a; "fundamental
in the governance of the country".
Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures:
Parliamentary System:
The Constituent Assembly decided to espouse Parliamentary form of government both for the Centre and
the states. A parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance of a state where the executive
branch derives its democratic legitimacy from the legislature and is also held responsible to that legislature.
In a parliamentary system, the head of state is normally a different person from the head of government.
In Indian parliamentary system, distinction is made between nominal and real executive head. The Council
of Ministers is responsible before the Lok Sabha, The lower house of union parliament. There are close
relations between executive and legislature. The tenure of the Council of Ministers is not fixed as it stays in
office till it enjoys the confidence (Shashishekhar Gopal Deogaonkar, 1997).
 Figure: Structure of Indian parliament

There are limited powers of parliament in Indian constitution:

It can pass laws on those subjects which have been entrusted to it by the constitution.
The bills passed by the Parliament need the approval of the President.
The Supreme Court can exercise the powers of judicial review over the laws passed by the parliament and
can declare unconstitutional the laws which it considers are against the constitution.
Amending the Constitution of India: Amending the Constitution of India is the procedure of making
modifications to the nation's fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the
constitution is laid down in Part XX (Article 368) of the Constitution of India. This procedure guarantees the
sanctity of the Constitution of India and keeps a check on uninformed power of the Parliament of India.
Though, there is limitation imposed on the amending power of the constitution of India, which developed
during conflicts between the Supreme Court and Parliament, where Parliament wants to exercise
discretionary use of power to amend the constitution while the Supreme Court wants to restrict that power.
This has led to the laying down of various principles or rules in regard to checking the validity/legality of an
amendment. The most famous among them is the Basic structure doctrine as laid down by the Supreme
Court in the case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala.
The Constitution of India offers a distinctive amending process when comparing with the Constitutions of
other nations. It can be defined as partly flexible and partly rigid. The Constitution provides for a variety in
the amending process. This feature has been commended by Australian academic Sir Kenneth Wheare who
realized that uniformity in the amending process imposed “quite unnecessary restrictions” upon the
amendment of parts of a Constitution. An amendment of the Constitution can be initiated only by the
introduction of a Bill in either House of Parliament. The Bill must then be approved in each House by a
majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members
of that House present and voting. There is no provision for a joint sitting in case of disagreement between
the two Houses. The Bill, passed by the required majority, is then presented to the President who shall give
his assent to the Bill. If the amendment seeks to make any change in any of the provisions mentioned in the
proviso to article 368, it must be approved by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States.
Although, there is no set time limit for ratification, it must be completed before the amending Bill is
presented to the President for his assent.
Every constitutional amendment is articulated as a statute. The first amendment is called the "Constitution
(First Amendment) Act", the second, the "Constitution (Second Amendment) Act". Each amendment has the
long title "An Act further to amend the Constitution of India".
Judicial Review:
The judiciary has significant position in Indian Constitution and it is also made independent of the
legislature and the executive. The Supreme Court of India stands at the peak of single integrated judicial
system. It operates as defender of fundamental rights of Indian citizens and guardian of the Constitution.
The entire judicial system of India is systematized into a hierarchical order. Supreme Court is at the highest
position of judicial administration below that there are high courts at the state level and there are district
courts at the district level. All the courts of India are bound to accept the decisions of the Supreme Court.
Figure: structure of the judiciary
The constitution of India makes provisions for the independence of judiciary because only independent
judiciary can protect the rights and authorities of the people, can protect the supremacy of the constitution:
In judiciary:
1. - An impartial method has been implemented for the appointment of the judges.
2. - High qualifications have been fixed for the judges.
3. - The judges of the Supreme Court stay in office till 65 years of age and of High courts till 62 years
of age.
4. - Difficult method has been espoused for the elimination of the judges as they can be removed only
through impeachment by the union parliament.
5. - There is prohibition of practice after the retirement of the judges.
If any law passed by the legislature or action taken by the executive contravenes the provisions of the
Constitution, they can be declared as null and void by the Supreme Court. Therefore, it has the power of
judicial review. Judicial Review denotes to the power of the judiciary to interpret the constitution and to
declare any such law or order of the legislature and executive void, if it finds them in conflict to the
Constitution of India.
In Indian constitution, the judiciary is provided with the power of judicial review through the constitution
which means that all the laws passed by the parliament and State Legislatures, constitutional amendments,
ordinances and executive orders issued by the executive are reviewed by the judiciary and in case judiciary
finds that any one of these is against the constitution, the judiciary has the power to declare it
unconstitutional.
After independence, the inclusion of explicit provisions for judicial review were compulsory in order to give
effect to the individual and group rights guaranteed in the text of the Constitution. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who
headed the drafting committee of Indian Constituent Assembly, had described the provision related to the
same as the ‘heart of the Constitution’. Article 13(2) of the Constitution of India prescribes that the Union or
the States shall not make any law that takes away or abridges any of the fundamental rights, and any law
made in contravention of the aforementioned mandate shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void.
While judicial review over administrative action has grown on the lines of common law principles such as
‘proportionality’, ‘legitimate expectation’, ‘reasonableness’ and principles of natural justice, the Supreme
Court of India and the various High Courts were given the power to rule on the constitutionality of
legislative as well as administrative actions to protect and enforce the fundamental rights guaranteed in Part
III of the Constitution. The higher courts are also approached to rule on questions of legislative competence,
mostly in the context of Centre-State relations since Article 246 of the Constitution read with the 7th
schedule, contemplates a clear demarcation as well as a zone of intersection between the law-making powers
of the Union Parliament and the various State Legislatures.
Judicial Review is the power of the Judiciary by which:
The court reviews the laws and rules of the legislature and executive in cases that come before them; in
litigation cases.
The court determines the constitutional validity of the laws and rules of the government.
The court rejects that law or any of its part which is found to be unconstitutional or against the Constitution.
But judicial review in India constitutes a middle path between the American judicial supremacy in one hand
and British Parliamentary supremacy in the other.
Basic Structure doctrine:
The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial norm that the Constitution of India has certain basic
features that cannot be changed or destroyed through amendments by the parliament.
The "basic features" principle was first explained in 1964, by Justice J.R. Mudholkar in his disagreement, in
the case of Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan. He wrote, "It is also a matter for consideration whether
making a change in a basic feature of the Constitution can be regarded merely as an amendment or would it
be, in effect, rewriting a part of the Constitution; and if the latter, would it be within the purview of Article
368 ?"
The basic features of the Constitution have not been openly defined by the Judiciary. At least, 20 features
have been described as "basic" or "essential" by the Courts in numerous cases, and have been incorporated
in the basic structure. In Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Naraian and also in the Minerva Mills case, it was
witnessed that the claim of any particular feature of the Constitution to be a "basic" feature would be
determined by the Court in each case that comes before it.
Several aspects of the Constitution termed as "basic" are mentioned below:
1. Supremacy of the Constitution
2. Rule of law
3. The principle of Separation of Powers
4. The objectives specified in the Preamble to the Constitution
5. Judicial Review
6. Articles 32 and 226
7. Federalism (including financial liberty of states under Articles 282 and 293)
8. Secularism
9. The Sovereign, Democratic, Republican structure
10. Freedom and dignity of the individual
11. Unity and integrity of the Nation
12. The principle of equality, not every feature of equality, but the quintessence of equal justice
13. The "essence" of other Fundamental Rights in Part III
14. The concept of social and economic justice - to build a Welfare State: Part IV in toto
15. The balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
16. The Parliamentary system of government
17. The principle of free and fair elections
18. Limitations upon the amending power conferred by Article 368
19. Independence of the Judiciary
20. Effective access to justice
21. Powers of the Supreme Court under Articles 32, 136, 141, 142
22. Legislation seeking to nullify the awards made in exercise of the judicial power of the State by
Arbitration Tribunals constituted under an Act
Important elements among these "basic features", are the fundamental rights granted to individuals by the
constitution. The policy forms the basis of a limited power of the Supreme Court to review and strike down
constitutional amendments passed by the Parliament which conflict with or seek to alter this "basic
structure" of the Constitution. The basic structure doctrine applies only to constitutional amendments. The
basic structure doctrine does not apply to ordinary Acts of Parliament, which must itself be in conformity
with the Constitution.
Initial position of the Supreme Court on constitutional amendments was that no part of the Constitution was
unamendable and that the Parliament might, by passing a Constitution Amendment Act in compliance with
the requirements of article 368, amend any provision of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights
and article 368.
In 1967, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier decisions in Golaknath v. State of Punjab. It held that
Fundamental Rights included in Part III of the Constitution are given a "transcendental position" and are
beyond the reach of Parliament. It also declared any amendment that "takes away or abridges" a
Fundamental Right conferred by Part III as unconstitutional. By 1973, the basic structure doctrine succeeded
in Justice Hans Raj Khanna's judgment in the landmark decision of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala.
Previously, the Supreme Court had held that the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution was
unfettered. However, in this breakthrough ruling, the Court refereed that while Parliament has "wide"
powers, it did not have the power to destroy or weaken the basic elements or fundamental features of the
constitution.
Although Kesavananda was decided by a narrow margin of 7-6, the basic structure doctrine has since gained
widespread approval and legality due to subsequent cases and judgments. Primary among these was the
imposition of a state of emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975, and her subsequent attempt to suppress her
trial through the 39th Amendment. When the Kesavananda case was decided, the underlying apprehension
of the majority bench that elected representatives could not be trusted to act responsibly and was perceived
as unparalleled. However, the passage of the 39th Amendment by the Indian National Congress' majority in
central and state legislatures, proved that in fact such apprehension was well-founded. In Indira Nehru
Gandhi v. Raj Narain and Minerva Mills v. Union of India, Constitutional Benches of the Supreme Court
used the basic structure doctrine to knock down the 39th Amendment and parts of the 42nd Amendment
respectively, and paved the way for restoration of Indian democracy. The Supreme Court's position on
constitutional amendments laid out in its judgements is that Parliament can amend the Constitution but
cannot destroy its "basic structure".
To summarize, all these features of the Indian Constitution is a constitution suitable to the Indian
environment. The Constitution assist India to organise and operate government and administration in an
effective way both in the times of peace and war. The basic structure of the Constitution and its most
fundamental features are Preamble, Fundamental Rights, and Directive Principles.
Salient features of the Representation of People's Act
Elections form the support of Indian Democratic system. Indian democratic setup gives on us the right to
elect the representatives of the state. The Representation of People Act, 1951 is an act of Parliament of India
which provides the conduct of elections of the Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the
Legislature of each State, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership of those Houses, the
corrupt practices and other offences at or in connection with such elections and the decision of doubts and
disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections. The Act was endorsed by the provisional
parliament under Article 327 of Indian Constitution, before the first general election. The act also manages
issues like qualification and disqualification of members of both houses of Parliament (Loksabha and
Rajyasabha) and the state legislatures (State Legislative Assembly and State Legislative Council). The acts
were modified many times but one of the noteworthy alterations is the Representation of the People
(Amendment) Act, 1966 (47 of 1966), which eliminated the election tribunals and transferred the election
petitions to the High Court whose orders can be appealed to Supreme Court. However, election disputes
regarding the election of President and Vice-President are directly heard by the Supreme Court.
It was established that after India's independence, an elected constituent assembly was set up to develop the
constitution. Most of the articles of the constitution came into force on 26 January 1950 that are called as the
Republic Day. Part XXI of the constitution contained the translational provisions. Articles 379 and 394 of
Part XXI which contained provisions for provisional parliament and other articles which contained
provisions like citizenship, came into force on 26 November 1949, the date in which the constitution was
drafted. The provisional parliament enacted the Act vide Act No.43 of 1951 for the first general election
conducted on 25 October 1951.
Representation of Peoples Act 1950 (RPA Act 1950) offers for the following conduct:
1. Qualification of voters.
2. Preparation of electoral rolls.
3. Delimitation of constituencies.
4. Allocation of seats in the Parliament and state legislatures.
Highpoints of RPA Act 1951
1. Actual conduct of elections.
2. Administrative machinery for conducting elections.
3. Poll.
4. Election offences.
5. Election disputes.
6. By-elections.
7. Registration of political parties.
The Representation of People Act, 1951 has great significance for good functioning of Indian egalitarianism
because it checks the entry of persons with illegal background into the representative bodies.
Prominent features of the Representation of People's Act
1. Part 21 of the Indian Constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly had mentioned for a
provisional parliament. The provisional parliament enacted Representation of People's Act 1951, so
that general elections could be conducted according to the rules mentioned.
2. Citation is Article No 43 of 1951.
 3. Representation of People's Act contains 13 parts (2 parts added as amendments). Each part is divided
into different sections making it a total of 171 numbered sections (including those sections which
were repealed later.).
4. Expressions not used in 1951 act, but listed in Representation of the People Act 1950 (43 of 1950)
have the same meaning.
5. Chief Electoral Officer is mentioned in section 13A.
6. Corrupt practices are mentioned in section 123.
7. Election means an election to fill a seat or seats in either House of Parliament or in the House or
either House of the Legislature of a State other than the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The recent RPA (Amendment and Validation) bill which was initiated in Rajya Sabha during monsoon
session was enacted on the same day and later was sent to Lower House Lok Sabha where the bill got finally
passed on September 06, 2013. The Bill seeks to modify the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RPA,
1951). The two major amendments were done in Bill that include:
1. A person can file his nomination even though he is shunned from being voting owing to be in jail or
in police custody during elections or before.
2. The past act has not defined on what grounds, a person can be disqualified. In this act the grounds
are clearly stated as disqualification can be on conviction for certain specified offences and can be on
no other ground. As a result if one is proved for any conviction of any one of the offences, then
his/her name will be wiped off from electoral roll and shall cease to be a voter.
To summarize, The Representation of the People Act postulates the provisions for the allocation of seats in,
and the demarcation of constituencies for electoral purposes, the House of the People and the Legislatures of
States, the qualifications of voters at such elections, the preparation of electoral rolls, the manner of filling
seats in the Council of States to be filled by representatives of Union territories and matters connected
therewith.
Role of civil Services in a Democracy
India is a democratic country and in this system, power confers with the people. The power is exercised
through its designated representatives who have the command to manage them for particular period. The
civil services by quality of its knowledge, experience and understanding of public affairs support the chosen
representatives to device effectual policy and have great responsibility to implement these policies for the
welfare of society and enhancement of nation. Parliamentary democracies are generally pigeonholed by a
permanent civil service which helps the political policymakers and political executives. India is a
constitutional fairness and its operations are usually depends upon four supports that include Legislature,
Executive, Judiciary, and Free Press. Each one of these has been assigned its role in democratic
establishment. First pillar is associated with the governance of the State. Effective and efficient institutions
form the strength of an efficacious development and governance process.
What is the purpose of the civil service exam?
One of the basic components of Indian governance planning is the concept of an unbiased, honest, efficient
and valiant civil service which is the core of the Executive whether it is All India Services or the other Civil
Services. They form the stable structure and support of Indian Administration System.
Importance of Civil Services Exams
Civil society of nation

The civil service is a subdivision of government which is usually grouped with the Executive, and without
which governments cannot function. These are men and women who establish the permanent staff of the
departments of governments. They are expert administrators. Some academicians refer jointly to these
employees as public administration or the bureaucracy, or public service. Olaopa (2008) stated that civil
service, although commonly used, is usually misinterpreted. According to Lawson, (1974), the civil service
is the term used to designate servants of the state or the central government employed as civilians. It does
not include ministers or cabinet members or the Judiciary. In some countries, it usually does not cover local
government employees nor the staff of public enterprises. In this framework, the civil service will embrace
civilian employees of state and federal governments only, excluding cabinet ministers and the judiciary.
Idode, (1986), explained civil service as the "array of administrative and professional staff employed, on
permanent and pensionable basis to established posts, by the state, to advise on and execute its policies.
Historical review of civil services: Civil service is described as the body of government officials who are
recruited in civil administration that are neither political nor judicial. The public administration system in
India has been established since ancient times. Therefore, the notion of civil service was predominant in
India from earlier period in history. In the past era, the civil servants performed the role of servants of the
king. The Mauryan administration employed civil servants in the name of adhyakshas and rajukas. The
investigation for civil servants in those days too was very stringent as revealed by Kautilya's Arthasastra.
The expanse of the region and the need to hold it intact made it vital for the Mauryan administration to
recruit civil servants based on excellence.
In the medieval period, civil servants became State Servants, who contributed their efforts in the
development of land revenue system during the Moghul period. The East India Company has a civil service
to perform their commercial functions. Afterward, during the British rule they started as servants to the
Crown, but slowly they started becoming 'Public Servants'. The British Government established the civil
services basically with the aim of strengthening the British administration in India. In this period, the role
of civil services was to promote the British interest and its role was totally regulatory. Later on, they
assumed developmental roles also. After the coming into force of the Constitution of independent India, the
civil services has modified considerably.
The modern history of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) began with the East India Company. In the period of
1800 AD, Lord Wellesley realised that the administrators of the Empire must be qualified, expertise, and
character established the College of Fort William where every worker of the company was to be sent for a
three-year course of education of the standards of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Among other
subjects taught were ethics and international law, and in addition, Indian history and oriental languages. The
Directors, however, while accepting the proposal decided that the college should be in England. This is how
that, for a whole half-century and more, all members of the Civil Service were qualified and specially
trained at the East India College at Haileybury. The method of employment was by competitive examination
but the method of entry was by nomination of the Directors.
There is immense importance of the civil service system in the administrative system which acts as most
vital tool for governance of India. In post-independent, India civil service was reorganised. There are three
tiers of administration that include Union/Central Government, State Government, and Local Government.
At the central level, the civil service include the All India Services, namely the Indian Administrative
Service (IAS). Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Forest Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS).
Besides these, there are other Central Services such as the Indian Revenue Service, Indian Railways Service,
etc. at central level. The State Governments have their own set of services like State Civil Service.
Gradually, with time, the role of civil services has transformed that depend on the schedule of the
governance of that specific period. During British period, enforcement of law and order and collection of
revenue was major issue of civil services officers. After independence of India, when the Government has
attained the role of Welfare State, civil services has imperative role in implementing national and state
policies of welfare and planned development.
The importance of the civil service to the Indian administrative system develops from the following factors:
1. Service presence throughout the country and its strong binding character.
2. Non-partisan advice to political leadership in the midst of political instability and uncertainties.
3. Effective policy-making and regulation.
4. Effective coordination between institutions of governance.
 5. Leadership at different levels of administration.
6. Service delivery at the cutting edge level.
7. Provide "continuity and change" to the administration.
It has been observed that civil services are considered as main component of Indian administrative system
that has the responsibility to accomplish the development objectives and welfare of the state. If these
objectives have any failure or shortcomings, it has been thought that it is a failure of civil services. It is
thought that India's vast administration is maintained at huge cost by the country's taxpayer whose average
income is among the lowest in the world. But public perceives for the members of the civil service, who are
responsible for higher coordination and policy makers as `burdensome low-performers' and corrupt and
incompetent to govern the country.
Major responsibilities of civil servants to government and society: It has been found that The Civil
Servant has crucial role to ensure continuity and change in administration. The civil servants are dictated by
the rules and procedures.
1. The prime responsibility of civil services executives to society is to serve the government it has
elected. It denotes that civil services must offer same standard of free, frank, impartial and
responsive advice, and the same level of professionalism in administration and delivery of services,
policies, programs irrespective of political party in power.
2. Another accountability of civil services executive is to openly involve in all actions within the
framework of ministerial actions to government and legislature.
3. Specifically, civil servants are responsible for public interest in maintaining the law and ensuring that
proper procedures are followed.
4. Civil servants has close relations with society as they serve array of services. It entails that they must
adopt ethical practices to deal with public.
5. Civil servants need to serve the society by ensuring that entitlement and services provided to it under
law and government policies are delivered effectively, impartially, courteously and professionally.
6. Civil services officers also responsive to the need of people, treating its member with courtesy and
with sensitivity to their rights and aspirations.
Civil Service Accountability
In civil services, Clearness is a necessary part of accountability. To enhance accountability, experts have
recommended following measures:
1. Strengthening and streamlining reporting mechanisms
2. Streamlining and fast-tracking departmental enquiries
3. Linking performance with incentives
4. Overhaul of employee grievance procedures
5. Action on audit findings
6. Implementation of Citizens Charters' for monitoring service delivery
7. Right to Information Act and its enforcement
8. Code of conduct for civil servant
Major criticisms of Indian civil services are as follows:
1. Lack of expertise and poor capacity building
2. Alienation from the public and they do not have good understanding of what people want.
3. Inefficient incentive systems that do not appreciate upright and outstanding civil servants but reward
the corrupt and the incompetent.
4. Outdated rules and procedures that restrict the civil servant from performing successfully.
5. Lack of performance culture and focus on outputs and outcomes and inappropriate performance
appraisal.
6. Systemic irregularities in promotion and empanelment.
7. Lack of adequate transparency and accountability procedures. There is also no safety for whistle
blowers.
8. Arbitrary and whimsical transfers. Insecurity in tenures impedes institutionalization.
9. Political interference and administrative compliance.
10. A gradual erosion in public service values, ethics and self-esteem.
Many experts argued that role of the civil service as a tool in a state's socio-economic and political
development is undisputable. In some regions of world, however, the civil service seems incapable to cope
with the fundamental ideological, political and economic changes as well as the management innovations. In
other parts of the world, particularly in Africa, the institutional and capacity weakness, of the civil service is
considered one of the fundamental causes of socio-political disturbances and economic crunch. With
awareness of such facts, since last decade, many countries are introducing major changes in the structure and
operations of their civil services.
Major challenges of civil services include Political support and will, Management capacity to implement
reforms, Nurturing support from civil servants themselves, and Safety nets must be in place for those people
who are adversely affected, Reforms must reflect the political and institutional environment of a country
and developing communication between all the stakeholders.
Major benefits of having an independent, permanent and impartial civil service are as follows:
I. Having a trustworthy recruitment process through a neutral agency provides a defence against such
abuse.
II. Public policy today has become a difficult exercise requiring in-depth knowledge and expertise in
public affairs. A permanent civil service offers continuity and develops expertise as well as
institutional memory for effective policy making.
III. A permanent and unbiased civil service is more likely to assess the long-term social payoffs of any
policy while the political executive may have a tendency to look for short term political gain.
IV. A permanent civil service assists to ensure consistency in public administration and also acts as a
uniting force particularly in immense and culturally diverse nations.
V. A permanent civil service is likely to develop over time on principled basis for its functioning.
It is well recognized in theoretical studies that smooth functioning civil service helps to nurture good
policymaking, effective service delivery, accountability and responsibility in utilizing public resources
which are main attributes of good governance. "Good Governance" is being used as an all-inclusive
framework not only for administrative and civil service reform, but as a link between Civil Service
Improvement and an all-embracing framework for making policy decisions effective within practical
systems of responsibility and citizen participation. Main intent of civil services is to strength the
administrative capacity to perform important government functions. These reforms raise the quality of
services to the citizens that are essential to the advancement of supportable economic and social
development. There is continuous need of civil services reforms for betterment of society.
The main components of Civil Service Reform
From thorough review, it is established that the basic role of the civil servant is to initiate and actively
participate in all the processes leading to the development of policy and ensure that the policy is agreed by
government and it is faithfully and honestly executed. The civil service is the most important single
institution affecting the lives of the citizens of a state. Its influence is all persistent, in the modern world
where most states perform extensive functions in providing social services and regulating the economic life
of their inhabitants.
To summarize, civil services in India constitute a major support in governing rules and implementing
policies. It has vital role in the Indian governance system. From the British rule in India, civil services had
been modified and effective in its operations. The role of civil services has changed over the time. Currently,
rapid economic growth has led to increase in the quantum of work. The Government is not perceived as a
law enforcer or a controller of national resources. It is progressively viewed as a provider although an
efficient provider of basic services and public goods. Populace of India expect from Government to facilitate
growth and development. With reference to civil services, civil servants have been trained to deal with
upcoming challenges arising out of globalisation. They will have to shift their orientation from being
controllers to facilitators and from being providers to enablers. They need to prepare themselves with the
essential skills and capabilities to tackle these new challenges. They need to be proficient in new
technologies and new styles of functioning for the growth of nation.
E Governance-- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential
In the arena of advanced technology, e-government has distinct place and it facilitates to huge number of
customers to perform their task speedily. As the Internet supported digital communities grow, they present
the national governments with numerous challenges and opportunities. e-Governance which also known as
electronic governance is basically the application of Information and Communications Technology to the
processes of Government functioning in order to bring about 'Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and
Transparent' governance (Governance for The Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), Planning Commission,
November, 2001 ). E governance involve the use of ICTs by government organisations for Exchange of
information with citizens, businesses or other government departments, Faster and more efficient delivery of
public services, Improving internal efficiency, Reducing costs / increasing revenue, Re-structuring of
administrative processes and Improving quality of services.
Concept of e-Governance: E governance has gained more popularity in convoluted business world. Many
management scholars have described the concept of e governance which is emerging as an important
activity in the business field. It is established that E-governance is the application of information and
communication technologies to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of
informational and transactional exchanges with in government, between government & govt. agencies of
National, State, Municipal and Local levels, citizen & businesses, and to empower citizens through access &
use of information (Mahapatra, 2006).
World Bank explained the E governance as the use by government agencies of information technologies
(such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform
relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of
different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and
industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management.
The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth,
and or cost reductions."
According to international organization, UNESCO, "Governance refers to the exercise of political, economic
and administrative authority in the management of a country's affairs, including citizens' articulation of their
interests and exercise of their legal rights and obligations. E-Governance may be understood as the
performance of this governance via the electronic medium in order to facilitate an efficient, speedy and
transparent process of disseminating information to the public, and other agencies, and for performing
government administration activities". The Council of Europe elaborated e-Governance as "the use of
electronic technologies in three areas of public action such as relations between the public authorities and
civil society, functioning of the public authorities at all stages of the democratic process (electronic
democracy) and the provision of public services (electronic public services).
E governance:

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, has envisaged e-Governance in the Indian framework as
"A transparent smart e-Governance with seamless access, secure and authentic flow of information crossing
the interdepartmental barrier and providing a fair and unbiased service to the citizen."
Historical review and current position of e-governance: It has been documented that in the decade of
nineties, there was major Global shifts towards increased deployment of IT by governments due to
emergence of the World Wide Web. The technology as well as e-governance enterprises have come a long
way since then. With the upsurge in Internet and mobile connections, people are learning to utilize their new
mode of access in various ways. They have started expecting more and more information and services online
from governments and corporate organizations to advance their public, professional and personal lives.
E governance maturity model ( Source: Garnter, 2000)

Objectives of E governance: The tactical objective of e-governance is to support and streamline governance
for all parties such as government, citizens and businesses through effective use of ICTs.
E-governance evolution in India: The notion of e-governance evolved in India during the seventies with a
focus on development of in-house government applications in the areas of defence, economic monitoring,
planning and the deployment of information technology to manage data intensive functions related to
elections, census, and tax administration. In Indian scenario, there was great efforts of the National
Informatics Center (NIC) to join all the district headquarters during the eighties. In the beginning of nineties,
IT technologies were improved by ICT technologies to extend its use for broader sectorial applications with
policy emphasis on reaching out to rural areas and taking in greater inputs from NGOs and private sector as
well. There has been an increasing involvement of international donor agencies under the framework of e-
governance for development to catalyse the expansion of e-governance laws and technologies in developing
nations.
Stages of e-Governance: It is apparent in various research studies that e-Governance is fundamentally
linked with the development of computer technology, networking of computers and communication systems.
In developing nations such technologies and systems became available with observable time lag as
compared to developed nations. When appraising the e governance model in India, it is established that with
the liberalization of the economy from the early 1990s onwards, there has been a convergence in the
availability of progressive technologies and opportunities in this field. The inception of e-Governance
proceeded through four stages in India.
1. Computerisation: In the first stage, with the availability of personal computers, majority of
Government offices are well equipped with computers. The use of computers began with word
processing, quickly followed by data processing.
2. Networking: In this stage, some units of a few government organizations are connected through a
hub leading to sharing of information and flow of data between different government entities.
3. On-line presence: In the third stage, with increasing internet connectivity, a need was felt for
maintaining a presence on the web. This resulted in maintenance of websites by government
departments and other entities. Generally, these web-pages/ web-sites contained information about
the organizational structure, contact details, reports and publications, objectives and vision
statements of the respective government entities.
4. On-line interactivity: A natural significance of on-line presence was opening up of communication
channels between government entities and the citizens, civil society organizations etc. The main
objective of this stage was to lessen the scope of personal interface with government entities by
providing downloadable Forms, Instructions, Acts, Rules.
It has been observed that there was more emphasis on automation and computerization, state governments
have also endeavoured to use ICT tools into connectivity, networking, setting up systems for processing
information and delivering services. At a micro level, this has ranged from IT automation in individual
departments, electronic file handling and workflow systems, access to entitlements, public grievance
systems, service delivery for high volume routine transactions such as payment of bills, tax dues to meeting
poverty alleviation goals through the promotion of entrepreneurial models and provision of market
information. The push has varied across initiatives, with focusing on facilitating the citizen-state interface
for various government services, and others focusing on bettering livelihoods. Every state government has
taken the initiative to form an IT task force to outline IT policy document for the state and the citizen
charters have started appearing on government websites.
Interactions in e-Governance: The three abbreviations in the figure, G2C, G2B and G2G.
  e-Democracy e-Government
External      
G2C: Government to Citizen X X  
G2B: Government to Business   X  
Internal      
G2G:  Government to Government   X  
E-Governance enables interaction between different stake holders in governance.
1. G2G (Government to Government): In this interaction, Information and Communications
Technology is used to reorganize the governmental processes involved in the functioning of
government entities as well as to increase the flow of information and services within and between
different entities. Gregory (2007) indicated that G2G is the online communications between
government organizations, departments and agencies based on a super-government database. This
kind of interaction happen horizontally such as between different government agencies as well as
between different functional areas within an organisation, or vertical such as between national,
provincial and local government agencies as well as between different levels within an organisation.
Main intent of this interaction is to increase efficiency, performance and output.
2. G2C (Government to Citizens): G2C maintains the relationship between government and citizens. It
allows citizens to access government information and services promptly, conveniently, from
everywhere, by use of multiple channels. Government-to-Citizens (G2C) model have been designed
to facilitate citizen interaction with the government. In this situation, an interface is generated
between the government and peoples which enables the citizens to benefit from efficient delivery of
array of public services. This expands the availability and accessibility of public services on the one
hand and improves the quality of services on the other. In G2C model, clienteles have instant and
convenient access to government information and services from everywhere anytime, via the use of
multiple channels. Additionally, to make certain transactions, such as certifications, paying
governmental fees, and applying for benefits, the ability of G2C initiatives to overcome possible time
and geographic obstacles may connect citizens who may not otherwise come into contact with one
another and may in turn facilitate and increase citizen participation in government (Seifert, 2003).
3. G2B (Government to Business): In this type of interaction, e-Governance tools are used to help the
business organizations that provide goods and services to seamlessly interact with the government.
G2B can bring significant efficiencies to both governments and businesses. G2B include various
services exchanged between government and the business sectors that include distribution of
policies, memos, rules and regulations. Business services offered include obtaining current business
information, new regulations, downloading application forms, lodging taxes , renewing licenses,
registering businesses, obtaining permits, and many others (Pascual, 2003). The major aim of this
interaction is to cut red tape, save time, reduce operational costs and to create a more transparent
business environment when dealing with the government.
4. G2E (Government to Employees): G2E denotes to the relationship between government and its
employees only. The aim of this relationship is to serve employees and offer some online services
such as applying online for an annual leave, checking the balance of leave, and reviewing salary
payment records, among other things (Seifert, 2003). In this case, Government is major employer
and it has to interact with its employees on a regular basis. This interaction is a two-way process
between the organisation and the employee. Use of ICT tools helps in making these interactions fast
and efficient on the one hand and increase satisfaction levels of employees on the other.
Interactions between main groups in e-governance

E-Governance implemented by government of India, allows for government transparency. Government

transparency is significant because it allows the public to be informed about what the government is working
on as well as the policies they are trying to implement. It encourages accountability in all government
dealings, in recent times many Indian states have come up with various e Governance patterns to expedite
smooth functioning in their daily administrative activities.
Though extreme efforts have been made to develop infrastructure and internal information handling by
government officials as well as public services, the diffusion of technologies in moving towards e-
governance have been slow. There are some reason for sluggishness.
1. Lack of IT Literacy and awareness regarding benefits of e-governance: There is lack of awareness
regarding benefits of e-governance projects. The administrative structure is not geared for
maintaining, storing and retrieving the governance information electronically. The general tendency
is to obtain the data from the files as and when required instead of using Document Management and
workflow technologies.
2. Underutilization of existing ICT infrastructure: Second reason is that the computers in the
department are used for word processing only, resulting in the underutilization of the computers in
terms of their use in data mining for supporting management decisions. The time gap between the
procurement of the hardware and development of the custom applications is so large that by the time
application is ready for use, the hardware becomes out-dated.
3. Attitude of Government Departments: Government officials have different attitude as compared to
private sectors. Conventionally the government executives have derived their sustenance from the
fact that they are important repositories of government data. Thus any effort to implement DMS and
workflow technologies or bringing out the change in the system is met with resistance from the
government servants.
4. Lack of coordination between Government Department and Solution developers: Designing of any
application requires a very close interaction between the government department and the agency
developing the solutions. Currently, the users in govt. departments do not make efforts to design the
 solution architecture. Subsequently, the solution developed and implemented does not address the
requirements of an e-governance project and hence does not get implemented.
5. Resistance to re-engineering of departmental processes: Many experts have stated that in order to
implement e-governance projects successfully, executives must make efforts in restructuring in
administrative processes, redefining of administrative procedures and formats which finds the
resistance in almost all the departments at all the levels. Moreover, there is lack of expertise of
departmental MIS executives in exploiting data mining techniques, updating and collection of real
time content onto website. Therefore the content as is collected or maintained by various e-
governance portals is unreliable or full of gaps. In such a situation, it is difficult for any e-
governance solution to accomplish its anticipated results.
6. Lack of Infrastructure for sustaining e-governance projects on national level: In Indian scenario,
Infrastructure to support e-governance initiatives does not exist within government departments. The
frustrating fact is that the government departments are not prepared to be in a position to project the
clear requirements nor are there any guidelines for involving private sector. The infrastructure
creation is not guided by a constant national policy, but is dependent on the needs of individual
officers championing a few projects. Therefore, the required networking and communication
equipment is either non-existent in government departments, or if it exists at all, it does not serve any
concrete purpose as far as the requirement of e-governance project is concerned. The use of
connectivity options provided by govt. agencies are used in a very limited manner for data
transmission purpose between various locations.
Most state government have established the IT task force and have their IT policies in place. Although
policies may have supercilious goals, much seems to have happened only in automation and
computerization. The disadvantage is that these IT policy documents are not made based upon the
requirements and intrinsic capabilities of the state but are based on the surveys and strategies used by other
nations or other states.
A tentative action plan is presented to help implement the e-governance initiatives as under:
E-Governance Action Plan in India: Government officials in India have realized that e-governance is vital
technology for economic progress of country in highly competitive environment. It requires an increased
participation from citizens. Providing services online is no longer going to remain optional for local and
central government as demand for providing services @ internet speed has been coming from the citizens. In
this period of accountability and performance measurement, government will face huge pressure to make the
services more accessible to their inhabitants. The pressure comes directly from the new legislatures and
govt. policies to implement high-end technologies in governing the nations; but also indirectly and perhaps
more intensely from citizens.
E-governance is about more than streamlining processes and improving services. It plays major role in
transforming Governments and renovating the way citizens participate in democracy.
For governments, the more overt inspiration to shift from manual processes to IT-enabled processes to
increase efficiency in administration and service delivery, the will be visible to all. This change can be
conceived as a valuable investment with huge returns.
Some of the recent e-governance projects are implemented by various state government.

Some E-governance Initiatives

State/Union Initiatives covering departmental automation, user charge collection, delivery of
Territory policy/programme information and delivery of entitlements
Andhra Pradesh e-Seva, CARD, VOICE, MPHS, FAST, e-Cops, AP online—One-stop-shop on the
Internet, Saukaryam, Online Transaction processing
Bihar Sales Tax Administration Management Information
Chattisgarh Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, Treasury office, e-linking project
Delhi Automatic Vehicle Tracking System, Computerisation of website of RCS office,
Electronic Clearance System, Management Information System for Education etc
Goa Dharani Project
Gujarat Mahiti Shakti, request for Government documents online, Form book online, G R book
online, census online, tender notice.
Haryana Nai Disha
Himachal Lok Mitra
Pradesh
Karnataka Bhoomi, Khajane, Kaveri
Kerala e-Srinkhala, RDNet, Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for the Disbursement of
Services (FRIENDS)
Madhya Pradesh Gyandoot, Gram Sampark, Smart Card in Transport Department, Computerization MP
State Agricultural Marketing Board (Mandi Board) etc
Maharashtra SETU, Online Complaint Management System—Mumbai
Rajasthan Jan Mitra, RajSWIFT, Lokmitra, RajNIDHI
Tamil Nadu Rasi Maiyams–Kanchipuram; Application forms related to public utility, tender notices
and display
North-Eastern States
Arunachal Community Information Center. Forms available on
Pradesh,
Manipur, the Meghalaya website under schemes related to
Meghalaya,
Mizoram & social welfare, food civil supplies and consumer affairs, housing transport etc.
Nagaland
Advantages of E governance: e-Governance is improvement in governance which is enabled by the
resourceful use of Information and Communications Technology. E governance bring better access to
information and excellence services for inhabitants. It also makes simplicity, efficiency and accountability in
the government. Through the use of ICT to governance combined with comprehensive business process
reengineering would lead to simplification of complicated processes, simplification in structures and
changes in statutes and regulations. E governance is advantageous to citizens and government as rapid
growth of communications technology and its adoption in governance would support to bring government
machinery to the doorsteps of the citizens.
There are many challenges in implementing E governance model in India as well as at global scale. The
actual challenge is how to develop and withstand successful e-governance projects and deliver state of the
art e-services to inhabitants. Unfortunately, it is not as easy to develop e governance website in service
delivery mechanism. Efficacious e-governance initiatives can never be taken in hurriedness. With reference
to India, e-Governance should enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information
across the state and central government.
There are several security drawbacks of an E-Governance mechanism.
1. Spoofing: In this practice, the attacker attempts to gain the access of the E-Governance system by
using fallacious identity either by stealth or by using false IP address. Once the access is gained, the
assailant abuses the E-Governance system by elevation of the privileges.
2. Tampering of E-Governance system: As soon as the system is compromised and privileges are
raised, the classified information of the E-Governance mechanism becomes very much susceptible to
illegal adjustments.
3. Repudiation: Even the attacker can mount refutation attack during the E-Governance transaction,
which is the ability of the user to reject its performed transaction.
4. Disclosure of E-Governance Information: In case of the compromised E-Governance system, the
undesirable information disclosure can take place very easily.
5. Denial of Service: In this technique, attacker can perform Denial of Service (DoS) attack by flooding
the E-Governance server with request to consume all of its resources so as to crash down the
mechanism.
6. Elevation of privilege: Once an E-Governance system is compromised; the attacker pretending to be
a low profile user attempts to escalate to the high profiles so as to access its privileges to initiate
further damage to the system.
7. Cyber Crimes: Advancement of science and technology increase the rate of the cybercrime. It is a
threat to the transactions accomplished between the Government and its Citizenry within the E-
Governance methodology.
Requirements for implementing successful e-governance across the nation are:
1. e-Governance framework across the nation with enough bandwidth to service a population of one
billion.
2. Connectivity framework for making the services to reach rural areas of the country or development
of alternative means of services such as e-governance kiosks in regional languages.
3. National Citizen Database which is the primary unit of data for all governance vertical and horizontal
applications across the state and central governments.
4. E-governance and interoperability standards for the exchange of secure information with non-
repudiation, across the state and central government departments seamlessly.
5. A secure delivery framework by means of virtual private network connecting across the state and
central government departments.
6. Datacenters in centre and states to handle the departmental workflow automation, collaboration,
interaction, exchange of information with authentication.
To develop successful e-governance project and superior service delivery, it is vital that the government
organisation focus on whole citizen experience. Focusing on the citizen is indispensable for long term
success. The government agency needs to assimilate information from all points of citizen interaction.
General architecture for e-Governance needs to make certain that the architecture components are extensible
and scalable to acclimate to the changing environments.
To summarize, E-governance is explained as delivery of government services and information to the public
using electronic media. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as Information
Technology. With the development of Information and Communications Technology, there is faster and
better communication, efficient storage, retrieval and processing of data and exchange and utilization of
information to its users, whether they are individuals, groups, businesses, organizations or governments.
In India, it is tough task to accomplish goals of implementing e-governance and transforming India which
goes far beyond computerization of separate back office operations. Implementation of e governance will
require basic change in work culture and goal orientation, and simultaneous change in the existing
processes. It is necessary to create a culture of maintaining, processing and retrieving the information
through an electronic system and use that information for decision making. It will need skilled navigation to
ensure a smooth transition from old processes and manual operations to new automated services without
hampering the existing services. This can be realised by initially moving ahead in smaller informed
initiatives in a time bound manner and avoiding large and expensive steps without understanding the full
social implications.
Issues relating to poverty and hunger
Poverty and hunger have been a universal and increasing menace to humankind. Research reports have
indicated that most of the people in African countries are exposed to poverty and hunger. About 70% of
Africa's poor are rural inhabitants. There are many inter-related issues that cause hunger and poverty that are
related to socio-economic and other factors. A large proportion of people have very limited access to
income, resources, education, health care and nutrition.
Hunger: Hunger is the condition where both adults and children cannot access food constantly and have to
decrease food intake, eat poor diets, and often go without any food. (Dillon and Marquand, 2011). Hunger is
also explained as the troubled or painful sensation caused by lack of food. According to Amartya Sen, he
discovered that the real cause for hunger is the lack of ability to pay for food.
Root causes of hunger

Hunger at global scale is one of the main problems that large number of the global population faces
presently. Hunger varies with severity. World hunger has many annoying factors and major causes, such as
insufficient economic systems, misinformation, and climate changes. But the main unbearable factor is
poverty as poverty always has led to people going without regular meals because they cannot afford to eat.
There are majority of people in developing countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia that are in
desperate need of food. It has been observed that with the growth of population, the number of hungry
people also increases at an uneven rate.
Table: Global Hunger Index of India and Neighbouring Countries (Source: Global hunger Index 2012
International Food Policy and Research Institute and Green Scenery and Concern Worldwide)

Climate change is also a major issue for world hunger. With the amount of rain that a country gets increases,
it can possibly lead to serious flooding. This can devastate an entire year's harvest, destroying whatever the
farmer may have prepared for his family or the market. Flooding adversely affects how much food is
produced and available to the impoverished and raises the costs of these farm products. This indicates that
the poor can afford even less than they would usually be able to buy. Many people in developing countries
depend on farmers in order to live, so with the weather changing so drastically with each season, it ruins
their chances of growing food to either eat or sell. (Climate changes is worsening world hunger, 2013). It
makes difficult for them to produce food because changes in weather are increasing severely. Farmers
already scuffle with growing food, so with the climate changes increasing, it is not only affecting them but
also affecting their nation's budget.
Among numerous issues, Hunger and malnutrition are closely associated in Indian scenario. The Global
Study revealed that 42% children in India are underweight and 58% of children are stunted by two years of
age. The results of the HUNGaMA Survey Report also indicated the same findings that 59%, instead of
58%, children are stunted. Furthermore, hunger and malnutrition have a separate gender dimension and are
prevalent among the women and mothers. Malnutrition occurs when a person's body receives little or no
nutrients. People who are malnourished get sick more often and as a result in many cases die. According to
Muller & Krawinkel (2015), "Malnutrition is consequently the most important risk factor for the problem of
disease in developing countries. It is the direct cause of about 300,000 deaths per year and is indirectly
responsible for about half of all deaths in young children" (p. 279). When the individual does not eat a
proper meal that provides nutrients and vitamins, it contributes to malnutrition. It not only harms the body
but also the mind.
It can be said that world hunger must be taken seriously and should be approached with all deliberate and
instant policies. There are different issues of world hunger but the three main ones are poverty, climate
changes, and also feeble economies.
Poverty: According to many scholars, poverty is a condition characterised by lack of basic needs such as
water, health care, foods, sufficient access to social and economic services, and few opportunities for formal
income generation. Poverty is often described in terms of the income level below which people are unable to
access sufficient food for a healthy working life. Poverty has grabbed attention of the international
academician and health experts during the last decade. Successive Summits have made commitments to
radically reduce the misery from which so many humans suffer throughout their lives. Hunger and food
insecurity are the most serious forms of extreme poverty. To eradicate these issues from society is the prime
concern of international organizations. Extreme poverty remains an upsetting problem in the world's
developing regions, regardless of the advances made in the 1990s. Progress in poverty reduction has been
concentrated in Asia and especially East Asia. In other areas, the number of people in extreme poverty has
increased especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Table: Poverty statistics in world (Source: World Bank, Development Research Group, 2009)

Poverty in India is primarily due to improper government policies and the misuse of the financially weaker
section by the wealthier community. The main outcome of poverty is hunger. Hunger's seriousness can be
understood easily from the fact that every year, 5.8 million children die from hunger related-causes around
the world (FAO Hunger Report 2008). Customarily, poverty has been explained as income inadequacy. In
developing countries, poverty has been conventionally evaluated with reference to sufficient calorie
consumption. Poverty involves more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable
livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic
services, social discrimination and elimination as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.
Various social groups bear uneven burden of poverty. Reports of World Bank revealed that India is one of
the poorest countries in the world. Some of the main issues associated with prevalent poverty in India are
poor health services, and insufficient education and training. Almost half of India's population drops out of
school by the age of thirteen and only one in ten people receive some form of job training.
Poor health services: It has been observed that People of developing countries have less access to good
health services as compared to industrialized nations. Deficiencies that lead to ill health are common in
developing countries, and the poor community in developing countries are particularly at risk (World bank.
2000). The relationship between poverty and access to health care can be seen as part of a larger cycle,
where poverty leads to ill health and ill health maintains poverty (Wagstaff, A. 2002).
Child malnutrition: The occurrence of under-nutrition in India is amongst the highest levels found in any
country in the world and in spite of the development in food production, disease control and economic and
social development, India is facing an acute problem of child malnutrition.
Insufficient education and training: In developing countries, children do not have access to basic
education because of inequalities that originate in sex, health and cultural identity. These children find
themselves on the margins of the education system and do not get benefit from learning which is vital for
their intellectual and social development. It has been revealed in reports that illiteracy and lack of education
are common factor that lead to poverty. Governments of developing countries often cannot have enough
money to provide for good public schools, especially in rural areas. Poor people also often sacrifice
schooling in order to concentrate on making a minimal living. Additionally, developing countries tend to
have few employment opportunities, especially for women. As a result, people do not want to attend school.
Rooted factors associated with poverty in many developing countries are political power, corruption and
warfare. Political power is unreasonably centralized. Instead of having a network of political legislatures
distributed equally throughout society, in centralized systems of governance one major party, politician, or
region is in charge for decision-making throughout the country. This often causes development problems. In
these situations politicians make decisions about places that they are unaware with, lacking sufficient
knowledge about the context to design effective and appropriate policies and programs.
Another issue related with poverty is corruption often accompanies centralization of power, when leaders
are not accountable to those they serve. Corruption hinders development when leaders help themselves to
money that would otherwise be used for development projects. In other cases, leaders reward political
support by providing services to their factions.
Warfare also lead to entrenched poverty by diverting scarce resources allocated for reducing poverty to
maintaining a military. Environmental degradation is also a major issue in increasing poverty. In the
developing world, the poor communities depend on natural resources to fulfil their basic needs through
agricultural production and gathering resources essential for household maintenance, such as water,
firewood, and wild plants for consumption and medicine. Therefore, the depletion and impurity of water
sources directly impend the livelihoods of those who depend on them. One of the more deep-rooted sources
of poverty around the globe is social inequality that stems from cultural ideas about the relative worth of
different genders, races, ethnic groups, and social classes.
Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability
Governance is described as the formation and stewardship of the formal and informal rules that regulate the
public realm, the arena in which state as well as economic and societal actors interact to make decisions
(ODI). The notion of "Governance" is used from prehistoric time by human civilization. Governance can be
used in several contexts such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and
local governance. Governance elucidates the mechanisms an organization uses to make certain that its
components follow its established processes and policies. It is the primary way to maintain oversight and
accountability in a loosely coupled organizational structure.
Many theorists defined the notion of governance of current years. It is explained by group of academicians
that "Public sector governance refers to the way that the state acquires and exercises the authority to provide
and manage public goods and services, including both public capacities and public accountabilities (Levy,
2007). UNDP Strategy Note on Governance for Human development described that governance is "a system
of values, policies and institutions by which a society manages its economic, political and social affairs
through interactions within and among the state, civil society and private sector. It is the way society
organizes itself to make and implement decisions achieving mutual understanding, agreement and action. It
consists of the mechanisms and processes for citizens and groups to articulate their interests, mediate their
differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations. It is the rules, institutions and practices that set the
limits and provide incentives for individuals, organizations and firms" (UNDP, 2007). Other professionals
explained the concept of governance as distinct from government, and is the process through which various
stakeholders articulate their interests, exercise their rights, and mediate their differences (Debroy, 2004).
Three players in Governance

The role of governance on national and local level: Key factors of development include education, health,
and security which are public goods to be provided by central and local governments. The share of GDP
managed by government is positively correlated with the level of country's development. Performance of
government is a central component of governance and a pre-requisite for successful development of a
country.
In India, according to tenth Five Year Plan, "Governance relates to the management of all such processes
that, in any society, define the environment which permits and enables individuals to raise their capability
levels, on one hand, and provide opportunities to realise their potential and enlarge the set of available
choices, on the other" (Planning Commission, 2008).
Plentiful research have been done to elucidate the ideologies of governance. According to Tandon (2002),
good governance is "the joint responsibility of the state, market and citizens to mobilize public resources and
promote public decision-making towards the advancement of common public goods." The theoretical
concept that explicate and prioritise public goods, institutional mechanisms and structures for delivery of
those public goods, and processes by which such structures and mechanisms operate. It emphasizes
articulation of interests by various stakeholders, specially the hitherto excluded and the marginalized.
Governance identifies that differences among various interests around public goods, and the preferred modes
of delivering the same, would necessarily exist in a democratic society, and it, hence, lays emphasis on
negotiated and dialogical approaches to deal with those differences.
The Eleventh Plan presents six benchmarks of such democratic governance:
1. Free and fair and timely elections of all spheres of political authority.
2. Transparency and accountability of all institutions of the state to citizens.
3. Efficient and effective delivery of socio-economic public services.
4. Effective devolution of authority, resources and capabilities to PRIs and municipalities.
5. Rule of law, where legal rights are clear and understood, and legal compliance and enforcements of
those rights is time-bound and swift.
6. Needs and interests of hitherto excluded sections of society are privileged and included, with dignity.
It has been revealed in reports that the Government of India is following a set of standards for reforming
governance in the nation, which are essentially citizen-centric transparency, accountability and efficiency of
all institutions, agencies and actors of the government, with particular attention to those citizens who have
been basically excluded so far. Governance is the exercise of economic, political, and managerial authority
to manage account affairs at all level. It consists of the mechanisms processes, and institutions levels
(UNDP, 1997)
Characteristics of governance: The main features of good governance as described below:
Elements of governance:

1. Participation: Researchers have stated that Participation is a major factor both by males and females
for good governance. Participation could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate
institutions or representatives. It can be established that representative democracy does not
necessarily mean that the concerns of the most susceptibility in society would be taken into
consideration in decision making. Participation needs to be informed and organized.
2. Rule of law: Good governance requires impartial legal structures that are prescribed neutrally. It also
requires full defence of human rights, particularly those of minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws
requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. Basically, the rule
of law is termed as the institutional process of setting, interpreting and implementing laws and other
regulations. It means that decisions taken by government must be founded in law and that private
firms and individuals are protected from arbitrary decisions. Reliability entails governance that is
free from distortionary incentives through corruption, favouritism, patronage or capture by narrow
private interest groups; guarantees property and personal rights; and achieves some sort of social
stability. This offers a degree of reliability and predictability that is vital for firms and individuals to
take good decisions.
3. Responsiveness: Governance needs that institutions and processes try to serve all stake holders
within reasonable timeframe.
4. Consensus oriented: Good governance necessitates intervention of various interest groups in the
culture to reach a broad agreement in a society for the benefit of the whole community and the way it
can be accomplished. It also requires broad and long-term perspective for needs of sustainable
human development and how to achieve goals of such development.
5. Equity and inclusiveness: The welfare of a society depends on ensuring that all its members feel that
they have a stake in it and do not feel that they have been excluded from the mainstream of the
 society. This requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunity to improve or
maintain their wellbeing.
Transparency in Governance: Transparency is broadly accepted as a major principle of good governance
(World Bank (2000) the UNDP has perceived that transparency means "sharing information and acting in an
open manner" (1997). Furthermore, transparency allows stakeholders to collect information that may be
critical to uncovering abuses and defending their interests. Transparent systems have flawless procedures for
public decision-making and open channels of communication between stakeholders and officials, and make
a wide range of information available UNDP (1997).Transparency represents that decisions taken and their
enforcement are done in a way that follows rules and regulations. It also entails that information is easily
available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement.
According to Tandon (2002), transparency means that the criteria, process and systems of decision-making
are openly known to all in a public manner. The declaration of Right To Information Act (2015) set the stage
for the transparency in the functioning of the government and its various agencies. Under this Act, access to
information from a public agency has become a statutory right of every citizen. In its enactment, it has been
contended that the system of government in India is so impervious that ordinary peoples do not have much
information about how decisions are made and how public resources are utilized. In effect, RTI Act is a
media for greater transparency about the manner of functioning of public agencies. A recent study (PRIA,
2008) on implementation of RTI Act in 12 states established following facts:
1. Information about who the designated Public Information Officers (PIOs) were in the district was not
available in 90% of the districts;
2. Nearly half of all respondents felt that PIOs were not at all cooperative in giving information even
when asked (Kerala and MP behaving worse than UP, Bihar, Orissa and Haryana);
3. Self-disclosure mandated under section 4 of the RTI Act was not made in 90% of the districts in
these states.
Major provisions of this Act is self-disclosure of information in public domain. It is expected that if passable
information is available, citizens can demand services and claim rights due to them from suitable authorities
and officials. The status of self-disclosure is rather poor countrywide. Current study conducted by PRIA and
CHRI (2009) about status of self-disclosure in the field of food security exhibited that Food Corporation of
India and PDS (civil supply departments) have sensibly clear web-based self-disclosure at national level.
But, the quality and convenience of such self-disclosed information at district level becomes very poor and
non-existent. It indicated that an ordinary resident eager of accessing food from the PDS system cannot get
any clear information from the system of self-disclosure currently being practiced in these states (including
Karnataka, Gujarat and HP, which are generally deemed to be better governed states). Disclosure of
information at state or national levels only, mostly in English language, and largely through only web-based
tools have resulted in systematic rejection of the very same citizens in whose name and interests of right to
information has been endorsed.
Transparency is required to make the system of public service delivery effective. It allows ready information
to the citizens in a manner that they may be able to claim their entitlements. However, sheer knowledge of
what entitlements are, and who is responsible for fulfilling them, is not sufficient to ensure that public
services are passably and effectively delivered to the 'intended' recipients.
Accountability in Governance: Accountability become crucial concept in maintaining good governance.
Simply defined, accountability means being answerable for the performance of tasks assigned to a person; if
task assigned is selection of beneficiaries for a scheme, then accountability will indicate whether the
selection has been carried out by applying the criteria, and following the procedures laid down, in the timely
manner within the budgets specified. Consequently, accountability necessitates the clear specification of
tasks to be performed, the time frame and budget available for performing those tasks. Additionally, it is
also important to be clear about the responsibility for performance of those tasks; person responsible and
whether it is clear to them. It also states that whether responsible authorities have the necessary capacities
and resources to perform those tasks.
Accountability is imperative to Governance as it evaluates the ongoing effectiveness of public officials or
public bodies ensures that they are performing to their full potential, providing value for money in the
provision of public services, imparting confidence in the government and being responsive to the
community they are meant to be serving. There are many types of accountability in governance that include
Horizontal and Vertical Accountability. The dominant interpretation is that institutions of accountability,
such as parliament and the judiciary, offer horizontal accountability, or the capacity of a network of
relatively autonomous powers that can call into question, and eventually punish, wrong ways of discharging
the responsibilities of a given official. Horizontal accountability is the capacity of state institutions to check
exploitations by other public agencies and branches of government, or the requirement for agencies to report
sideways. Otherwise, vertical accountability is the means through which citizens, mass media and civil
society seek to enforce standards of good performance on bureaucrats. Social Accountability is an approach
towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, specifically a situation whereby ordinary
citizens and civil society organizations contribute directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. Such
accountability is termed as society driven horizontal accountability. Political accountability usually
establishes itself in the notion of individual ministerial responsibility.
Characteristically in all government agencies, accountability is specified in a vertically upwards manner.
Answerability to the designated boss above the departmental hierarchy. All government systems and
agencies have elaborate practices and procedures for such upward reporting and answerability in respect of
performance of designated tasks within the time and budget frameworks available. In addition to this
ascending vertical accountability, all government agencies have systems of horizontal accountability which
ensure the checks and balances. For example, Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) audits the planned
expenditures of national and state governments.
It can be established that accountability can only be determined if
1. Tasks are clearly specified.
2. Time and budget details for completion of the task are concretely laid down.
3. The person/position/team responsible for the task performance is clear to all.
4. There is a clear laid down procedure for reporting progress and completion of the task to an authority
upward in the hierarchy.
5. A mechanism for course-correction for effective task performance exists.
Link between Transparency and Accountability: Accountability is the harmonising function of
Transparency; if system of governance is apparent enough it would promote accountability, Transparency
and Accountability are related in its mission of an organization, (Tandon, 1995). There are many advantages
of transparency and accountability in governance. Transparency and Accountability in the Governance
reduces occurrence of corruption, favouritism, nepotism and improves the accountability of the staff.
Practically, the governance movement will encounter major drawbacks. Poor governance is being
increasingly considered as major root causes of all corrupt practices within societies. There are numerous
challenges in maintaining good governance. First is the corruption. In every civilization, huge percentage of
national expenditure is wasted in corrupt practices. Another major factor is process of globalization.
Rosabeth Kanter stated that globalization can be described as a process of change stemming from
amalgamation of increasing cross- border activity and information technology enabling virtually instant
communication at international level. There are many challenges that arise from globalization that will affect
to the good governance. The arrival of foreign labour because of the borderless economy. Foreign
companies are easily entering in national market. Globalization also affects law and regulations especially in
terms of trade, import and export taxes, migration of foreign worker, SMEs, and excise duty. Political
intervention also adversely impact process of good governance. Experts advised that it is important for civil
servants to have neutral attitude when it comes to political believe. Extremism also disrupt good governance.
It is believed that a good governance system is a democratic system. It is participatory, transparent,
accountable and equitable and it promotes the rule of law. This infers the creation of an institutional
framework recognizing the legitimate will of the people. Extremism has certainly become the menace in
many parts of the world these days. Extremism is any ideology considered to be far outside the mainstream
arrogances of society or to interrupt common moral standards.
With the thorough appraisal of governance features, it is found that enriched governance needs an
integrated, long-term strategy built upon cooperation between government and inhabitants. It involves
participation of institutions. The Rule of Law, Accountability, and Transparency are technical and legal
matters at some levels, but also interactive to produce government that is legitimate, effective, and usually
supported by peoples, as well as a civil society that is strong, open, and plays a positive role in politics and
government.
To summarize, governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are
implemented. Government is one of the actors in governance. Good governance must be responsive to
administration and has fair legal system to provide protection to societal members. Good governance regards
accountability, transparency, openness, predictability, participation, political legitimacy, freedom of
association and participation in the process of governance, an established legal outline based on the rule of
law and the independence of judiciary to protect human rights and freedom of information and expression.
Governance is dependable with the rule of law and the spirit of the law, does not result from nor can it be
justified by illegal or legally-suspect actions. Poor governance can undermine the legitimacy of public
institutions and interrupt policy goals. External drive to strategy change is to be replaced by local
commitment and ownership of reform ideas to enhance governance. Governance is effort of all states,
societies and organizations to realize minimum of governance for ensuring their sustainability.
Government policies and interventions for development
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their
design and implementation. India is developing country and has implemented growth strategies in different
sectors to enhance its economic status. At global scale. It has continually shown high growth rate during the
post-liberalisation period through the execution of economic reforms in the beginning of 1990s. After
independence, development of the country and the community has always been the major objective of the
government. It has attained excellence in several key areas that range from information technology and
pharmaceuticals to automotive parts, and is currently considered as one of the rapidly growing economies of
the world. Though India has gained success in some areas and there is positive developments, it is still
among the countries with some of the lowest indicators of human development. The levels of malnutrition,
illiteracy and poverty are unsatisfactorily high in India. There are numerous issues like the increase in
income disparities and regional discrepancies which disrupt the growth of nation. Though employment
opportunities have increased but the jobs created are not of high quality. Although there has been an increase
in several social services like health, nutrition and education, the quality of most of these services remains
poor in most of the rural areas. Major issue is irresistible majority of the population deprived of basic social
protection. Policy-makers are facing with inconsistency in the persistence of deprivations and increasing
uncertainties among majority of public in growing wealth and prosperity for some groups.
The Constitution of India authorised the Government to establish a democratic social order to secure the
people and provide social, economic and political justice. Therefore, the country embarked onto a path of
planned socio-economic development to attain the goals of justice. However, the patterns of development
have changed with time based on experiences. During the early decades, development was considered in
terms of economic development and the importance was on a growing public sector with huge investments
in basic and heavy industries. Major objectives of development were formulated and prioritized by a
centralized planning system. Actually, it was basically a ‘government-led, bureaucracy managed and expert-
guided’ enterprise. Main aim of government for development was to attain material affluence through
economic, industrial and infrastructural development. This basic approach to development continued to
guide policy makers for the subsequent few decades until new realizations started dawning upon them.
Mahbubul Haq, the originator of the UN’s HDR stated that “The basic purpose of development is to enlarge
people’s choices”. It means creating and permitting environment for them to exercise choices. Any
development strategy, must aim at human development by focusing on facilitating greater access to
knowledge; Better nutrition and health services; More secure livelihoods; Security against crime and
physical violence; Satisfying leisurely hours; Political and cultural freedoms; and A sense of participation in
community activities. Likewise, Nobel laureate, Prof. Amartya Sen specified that “development meant
expansion of human freedoms, i.e. enhancement of the capacity of individuals to fully lead the ‘kind of lives
they value”.
It has been said by economists that if certain basic rights of the individuals, such as right to elementary
education, right to basic health care, right to work are secured then there will be rapid growth of country. In
other words, development must move beyond economic growth. It must incorporate major social goals such
as reducing poverty, enhanced opportunities for better education and health and, in general improved quality
of life.
Experts have categorized some areas where government has to play a vital role.
1. Creating a good policy environment for economic growth which is investor-friendly and supportive
of inclusive growth. Such a policy environment will allow the creative spirit of farmers and
entrepreneurs to get full expression. Creating such a policy environment will include Macro-
economic stability, Efficient functioning of markets, Good financial system for allocating financial
resources, Good governance with emphasis on transparency, accountability and rule of law.
 2. Developing the critical infrastructure: It is required in both rural and urban areas to support broad
and inclusive growth.
3. Introducing special programmes: For livelihood support for the poor and the vulnerable, aimed at
directly improving their income earning capabilities and at mainstreaming them in the overall growth
process.
4. Social development: It must be ensured that every inhabitant must have access to essential public
services of acceptable quality in health, education, skill-development, safe drinking water, sanitation.
Furthermore, in many of these areas of governmental interventions, the state governments have the major
implementing role.
The government of India has following strategy to improve the effectiveness of its interventions.
1. One of the strategies has been to target specific services. For instance, during the last decade, a
number of programmes were initiated that aimed at improving the social services, or services relating
to health, education and income opportunities for less advantaged in society, such as MGNREGA,
NRHM, SSA, ICDS. Additionally, focus on social sector development will also address the
objectives of human development and inclusive justice.
2. Another related strategy is the identification of the concentration of deficiencies among certain
socio-economic groups, geographic groupings, gender, and demographic classes. This recognition
has led to targeting of programmes to specific groups of populace.
3. Since convergence of interventions also improves the effectiveness of each intervention, government
has gone about a multi-pronged intervention strategy. Such as offering access to health as well as
education together with laying down critical infrastructure addresses multiple deficiencies
concurrently.
4. Other strategy of government is to make better institutional arrangements and espousal of innovative
technology solutions for effective and efficient service delivery. For instance, e-governance, DBT,
PPP mode, partnering with NGOs.
5. Establishing collaboration between public and private sector providers of social services.
Numerous flagship schemes were launched towards development of Social Sector including rural
development. According to the 12th Plan document, “Economic growth, though important but cannot be an
end in itself. Higher standards of living as well as of development opportunities for all, stemming from the
greater resources generated by economic growth, are the ultimate aim of development policy of the
government.” Therefore, Government’s policy documents recognise that ultimate objective of development
is to guarantee improvement in incomes and living standards for the citizens. Government can accomplish
this tough objective through quicker economic growth accompanied by economic and social support
programmes.
Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors:
In earlier period, there was more focus of government to accumulate wealth. Economic growth itself was
regarded as the function of capital inputs in the decades of 80s. The main quest of economic policy was to
organize the resources required for achieving a desired rate of growth. Acceleration in the rate of growth
was supposed to take care of both economic and social problems. Several contemporary developmental
economists such as Mahboob-ul-Haq, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and others stressed the failures of
governance in terms of human and social development in the developing world including India. When
evaluating the various sector development, the social sector development involves the following
constituents:
1. Poverty alleviation and employment generation
 2. Access to education
3. Access to improved health services and public health
4. Development of critical rural infrastructure, e.g. rural roads, housing, sanitation, availability of safe
drinking water, electricity etc.
5. Urban infrastructure, housing, sanitation, sewage, waste disposal, urban transport etc.
6. Skill development for better livelihood means
7. Enhanced social security
8. Development of backward regions/ district in the country
Major Governmental Interventions in the Social Sector are as follows:
1. Health: The immediate policy objective in health sector is to follow an inclusive approach towards
healthcare that included equitable and comprehensive individual healthcare, improved sanitation,
clean drinking water, nutritious food, hygiene, good feeding practices, and development of delivery
systems responsive to the needs of the people.
Governmental Interventions in Health Arena are as follow:
1. NRHM/NHM: The NRHM launched during the 10th Plan , made an important start in expanding
health care facilities in rural areas. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) was launched in
October 2007 to offer health insurance cover to BPL families. This has been an important step in
supplementing the efforts being made to provide quality healthcare to the poor and underprivileged
population. It provides cashless health insurance cover up to Rs 30,000 per annum per family.
2. JSY (Janani Suraksha Yojana): This scheme was launched to promote institutional deliveries, the
scheme provides cash incentives to expectant mothers who opt for institutional deliveries. JSY is
being proposed by way of modifying the existing National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) under
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and is fully funded by GOI. Under this scheme, all pregnant
women belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) households and of the age of 19 years or above
for up to two live births are benefited. Benefits would be extended to a woman belonging to a BPL
family even after a third live birth if the mother of her own accord chooses to undergo sterilisation
immediately after the delivery.
3. National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme
4. PMSSY (Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana): The programme is visualised to correct the
imbalances in availability of affordable or reliable tertiary level health care in the country in general
and to enhance facilities for quality medical education in the under-served states. This involves
establishing of big health institutions like AIIMS and upgrading certain existing institutions across
various states.
5. AYUSH (Aayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddhi, Homoeopathy): Mainstreaming AYUSH
into health services at all levels was also an important strategy for the 11th Plan.
Currently, India’s health care system include combination of public and private sector providers of health
services. Networks of health care facilities at the primary, secondary and tertiary level, run mainly by State
Governments, provide free or very low cost medical services. There is also an extensive private health care
sector, covering the entire range from individual doctors and their clinics, to general hospitals and super
specialty hospitals.
Issues
Though government has effectual polices in health care, there are numerous issues in implementing
schemes. Availability of health care services both in public and private sectors taken together is
quantitatively insufficient due to huge unavailability of healthcare specialists. Another concern is
affordability of health care which pose serious problem for the majority of the population, especially in
tertiary care and due to government’s over reliance on private provision of healthcare. It has been observed
that Quality of healthcare services varies significantly in both the public and private sectors. Though there
has been action on curative healthcare, but there are no adequate and effective interventions in the sphere of
public health that will include preventive healthcare, such as provision of safe drinking water supply,
improved sanitation, immunization, nutritious food, hygiene, and good feeding practices. Other issues
related to health care are that Health personnel not well-trained, Initiatives towards community
empowerment, improving monitoring and accountability not effective, most of the public health institutions
are not well-equipped to conduct deliveries, and Utilization of public facilities for chronic disease remains
low.
Education
In India, there is growing rate of young population and government put more emphasis to offer better
facilities to equip youth for future development of country. School education and literacy was accorded a
very high priority in the 11th Plan as an instrument for achieving human development and inclusive growth.
Recognising the importance of education in national development, the 12th Plan also puts an extraordinary
focus on the expansion of education, on significantly improving the quality of education imparted and on
ensuring that educational opportunities are available to all segments of the society.
Government’s policy in the field of education has been to increase access to education at all three levels
such as elementary, secondary and post-secondary and also improve the quality of education. The four main
priorities for education policy have been.
1. Access to education,
2. Equity in education
3. Quality education
4. Governance
Following are the initiative of government in the field of education:
1. RTE (Right to Education): For national development, India has been committed to offer free and
compulsory education to all children. Indian Parliament has enacted a legislation (RTE Act, 2009) making
free and compulsory education a Right of every child in the age group 6-14 years which has come into force
from 1st April, 2010. This act has following attributes:
1. Every child in the age group of 6-14 has the right to free and compulsory education in a
neighbourhood school, till the completion of elementary education.
2. It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to a class appropriate to his age.
3. Private schools will have to take 25% of their class strength from the weaker section and the
disadvantaged group of the society through a random selection process. Government provides fund
for education of these children.
4. No seats in this quota can be left vacant. These children will be treated on par with all the other
children in the school and subsidized by the State at the rate of average per learner costs in the
government schools (unless the per learner costs in the private school are lower).
5. All schools will have to prescribe to norms and standards laid out in the Act and no school that does
not fulfil these standards within 3 years will be allowed to function.
 6. All private schools will have to apply for recognition, failing which they will be penalized to the tune
of Rs 1 lakh and if they still continue to function will be liable to pay Rs 10,000 per day as fine.
7. Norms and standards of teacher qualification and training are also being laid down by an Academic
Authority. Teachers in all schools will have to subscribe to these norms within 5 years.
8. No donation and capitation fee is allowed.
9. No admission test or interview either for child or parents.
10. No child can be held back, expelled and required to pass the board examination till the completion of
elementary education.
11. There is provision for establishment of commissions to supervise the implementation of the act.
12. A fixed pupil and teacher ratio (PTR) is to be maintained.
13. All schools have to adhere to rules and regulations laid down in this act, failing which the school will
not be allowed to function. Three years suspension period has been provided to school to implement
all that is required of them.
14. Norms for teachers training and qualifications are also clearly mentioned in the act.
15. All schools except private unaided schools are to be managed by School management Committees
with 75% of parents and guardians as members.
Major issues for this program are as follows:
First is the Psychological Uncertainty. There has been a sense of insecurity into the minds of people from all
the sections of society on the clause pertaining to reservation of 25 per cent of seats for children with
disadvantaged background. While parents have raised concern against the behavioural traits their child is
likely to learn on mixing with children from underprivileged background and the long term impact of such
an environment later in life. Teachers are worried on the issue of handling children with different academic
credentials, home environment and cultural backgrounds and have expressed their incapability to do so.
Though the enactment of The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which guarantees free and
compulsory education, several schools are charging capitation fees for education in pre-primary. They are
also interviewing parents and/or children. Parents also complaints that several schools took their interview
and asked questions about their family income, car, income certificates, pan card details and even the size of
their flats, one of the schools even asked parents to get a character clearance certificate from the local police
station. Other issue is teachers training. The existing teacher‘s training and education programs are not good
to meet the contemporary understanding of students’ needs.
2. SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan): The already running Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) towards
universalisation of primary education has been integrated with RTE Act. This scheme is one of India’s
major programmes, which addresses the national resolve of universalizing the elementary education (UEE).
Major objective of this scheme are mentioned below:
1. To provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the age group of 6-14 years.
2. To bridge the social, regional and gender gaps with active participation of community in the
management of schools.
3. To inspire enrolment of girls and teacher training.
4. Achieve significant enhancement in learning levels of children.
Main Attributes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
i. The programme covers all states and UTs.
 ii. SSA focuses on girl’s education through the NPEGEL (National Programme for Education of Girls
at Elementary Level) and KGBVs (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas).
iii. SSA targets the geographical areas in districts and blocks with predominance of SC, ST, OBC and
Minority population in the matter of allocation of funds and school infrastructure to promote
education of those who were deprived of education on account of economic and social
backwardness.
3. MDMS (Mid-Day Meal Scheme): MDMS is the major programme that provides cooked mid-day meal
to children. In keeping with the Constitutional provisions to raise the level of nutrition of children and allow
them to develop in a healthy manner, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education
(NP-NSPE) was launched as a CSS in 1995. But there are several issues in implementation of the MDMS
such as;
1. Wide variations in enrolment, attendance and actual coverage of children.
2. Discrepancy of food grains and cash fund utilisation.
3. Lack of controls over the quantity and quality of meals.
4. Irregular and uncertain supply of meals.
5. Poor quality of grains in certain States.
Major issue of this program is improper food preparation which causes ill health and sometimes death of
children. Other issues range from delayed payments, poor food quality, worms in the food, cooks not
receiving pay and food not being delivered or being wasted. There is even embezzlement of the money by
way of fake enrolments.
4. Sakshar Bharat (National Mission on Female Literacy: an adult education programme): Saakshar
Bharat has been articulated in 2009 with the objective of achieving 80% literacy level by 2012 at national
level, by focusing on adult women literacy seeking to reduce the gap between male and female literacy to
not more than 10 percentage points . The mission has four broader objectives, namely imparting functional
literacy and numeracy to non-literates; acquiring equivalency to formal educational system; imparting
relevant skill development programme; and promote a leaning society by providing opportunities for
continuing education.
5. RMSY (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan): It has been launched recently as a step to
universalize secondary education. Concurrently, efforts are being made to create a robust and massive
system of higher and technical education. This is a major scheme launched in March 2009. It has the
following objectives:-
i. Making secondary education of good quality, available, accessible, and affordable to all young
persons in the age group of 15 –16 years.
ii. Removing gender, socio-economic, and disability barriers (i.e. to promote the inclusive agenda).
iii. Making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms.
iv. Achieving a GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) of 75 % in secondary education in a period of five years.
v. Providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017.
vi. Universal retention by 2020.
6. Model School Scheme: The Model School scheme aims to offer quality education to talented rural
children through setting up of 6,000 model schools at the rate of one school per block as benchmark of
excellence. The scheme has the following objectives:
1. To have at least one good quality senior secondary school in every block.
 2. To have a pace setting role.
3. To try out innovative curriculum and pedagogy.
4. To be a model in infrastructure, curriculum, evaluation and school governance.
7. RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan): Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is a
Centrally Sponsored Scheme, launched in 2013 aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher
educational institutions. The central funding (in the ratio of 65:35 for general category States and 90:10 for
special category states) would be norm based and outcome dependent. The funding would flow from the
central ministry through the state governments/union territories to the State Higher Education Councils
before reaching the identified institutions. The funding to states would be made on the basis of critical
appraisal of State Higher Education Plans, which would describe each state’s strategy to address issues of
equity, access and excellence in higher education. Major objectives of this scheme are to:
1. Improve the overall quality of state institutions by ensuring conformity to prescribed norms and
standards and adopt accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework.
2. Usher transformative reforms in the state higher education system by creating a facilitating
institutional structure for planning and monitoring at the state level, promoting autonomy in State
Universities and improving governance in institutions.
3. Ensure reforms in the affiliation, academic and examination systems.
4. Ensure adequate availability of quality faculty in all higher educational institutions and ensure
capacity building at all levels of employment.
5. Create an enabling atmosphere in the higher educational institutions to devote themselves to research
and innovations.
6. Expand the institutional base by creating additional capacity in existing institutions and establishing
new institutions, in order to achieve enrolment targets (mhrd.gov.in/rusa).
Skill development: The Skill Development Mission has been launched to skill at least 50 million
individuals by the end of the 12th Plan. Skill development programmes in the past have been run mainly by
the government, with inadequate connection to market demand. To make sure that skills match demand,
special efforts are needed to ensure that employers and enterprises play an integral role in the conception
and implementation of vocational training programmes, including managing Industrial Training Institutes
(ITIs) and in the development of faculty. A three-tier institutional structure has been set up to take forward
the Skill Development Mission, which is as follows:
1. The Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development
2. The National Skill Development Coordination Board
3. The National Skill Development Corporation
National Skill Development Mission: ‘National Skill Development Initiative will authorize all individuals
through improved skills, knowledge, nationally and internationally recognized qualifications to gain access
to decent employment and ensure India’s competitiveness in the global market’.
Major objectives of this program are as follows:
1. Create opportunities for all to acquire skills throughout life, and especially for youth, women, and
disadvantaged groups.
2. Promote commitment by all stakeholders to own skill development.
3. Develop a high-quality skilled workforce relevant to current and emerging market needs.
4. Enable establishment of flexible delivery mechanisms that respond to the characteristics of a wide
range of needs of stakeholders.
5. Enable effective coordination between different ministries, the Centre and states, and public and
private provider.
Major functions of proposed National Skill Development Authority:
1. To launch a National Skill Development Mission to, inter alia, skill 5 crore persons during the
Twelfth Plan through appropriate strategies, including support to State Governments/State Skill
Missions, and for active engagement with the private sector, NGOs and so on.
2. To lay down strategies, financing and governance models to expedite skill development activities
and coordinate standards of skill development working in close coordination with regulators
concerned like NCVT, AICTE, Sector Skill Councils.
3. To assist Central Ministries in enhancing their skill development capacities.
4. To act as a nodal agency for guiding State Skill Development Missions and providing funds to them
to increase level of skill development activities.
5. To act as the nodal agency for the launch and operations of National Skills Qualifications
Framework (NSQF) and keeping the NSQF constantly updated and ensuring its implementation of
the same.
6. To monitor, evaluate and analyse the outcomes of various schemes and programmes relating to skill
development through a technology-enabled national monitoring system, and suggest/initiate mid-
course corrections, additions and closure of parts or whole of any particular programme/scheme.
7. Promote greater use of Technology in the area of Skill Development.
8. To oversee the advocacy campaign to ensure that aspirational aspect and enrolment in skill
development programmes continue to rise.
9. To advise as well as take required measures in various matters related to skill development like
training of trainers, apprenticeship training, assessment, accreditation, certification systems and
national occupational standards.
10. Discharge any other functions and assume any other responsibility related to skill development as
may be assigned to it by the Government of India.
11. Overseeing and supporting the on-going skill development efforts of Central and State/UTs
Ministries and Departments and ensure that the estimated training target during the Plan is achieved.
Issues:
The first problem in the skill acquisition process is under-investment by all stakeholders. This is because the
cost of skill acquisition exceeds the benefit to any single stakeholder. Since the benefits of skill attainment
do not accrue exclusively to the trainees, It can be viewed that training as a public good and formulate the
unwillingness to invest in skill acquisition or the under-provision of training as the free rider problem.
Another issue is that Students are unwilling to invest because they do not fully understand the benefits of
acquiring training and are not assured of jobs on completion of the training program. It is also observed that
Employers or private firms are unwilling to invest in training employees or contributing towards training the
unemployed due to the possibility of the trainee choosing to work for another firm after training. The skills
imparted by the training institutes are not sufficiently relevant to the industry, which makes them reluctant to
recruit graduates from such institutes. According to the 11th Five Year Plan document, India has about
5,114 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Additionally, the Central Government provides training for topics
like electronics and process instrumentation through six Advanced Training Institutes (ATIs). However,
none of the courses cater to people who have not completed Class 8. The existing infrastructure is totally
insufficient considering the projected demand for skilled labour. There are also acute regional differences in
the spread of ITIs and ITCs, with over half of them located in the southern states. The employment in skill
institutes like ITIs, ITCs and polytechnics, has remained relatively low. Private skill institutes often face
very high drop-out rates, in excess of 50% at some institutes. One of the major challenges faced by skill
institutes is the lack of good trainers. Student-teacher ratios vary from 9 to 50 at different ITIs depending on
capacity utilization. Other issue is that the current formal education system provides limited options for
vocational training, while vocational training systems have limited options involving mathematics and
language learning. This lack of options makes it difficult for a candidate enrolled in the formal education
system to get industry relevant skills and leaves a person enrolled in vocational training with limited soft
skills.
Structural Framework of the Education and Skill Development Sector in India (Source: FICCI)

4. Rural development: Rural development is the priority of Indian government for enhancement of nation.
Government has made the development efforts to create adequate livelihood opportunities and providing for
a better quality life of the poor populace. The 12th plan focuses on enlargement of income opportunities in
the farm sector and a progressive absorption into non-agricultural activity as one of the strongest method to
lessen rural poverty.
Government program under rural development include the following:
1. Employment programmes, for example the MGNREGA and the SGSY/NRLM:
The achievements of MGNREGA include following:
1. The share of SC/ST families in the work provided under MGNREGA has been 55 % and 45 % of
workers are women.
2. Average wages of workers have gone up by 54 per cent over the last five years and wages have now
been so indexed that workers will be protected from the ravages of inflation.
3. Approximately, 10 crore bank/post office accounts of poorest people have been opened and around
80 per cent of MGNREGA payments are made through this route, an unprecedented step in the
direction of financial inclusion.
4. Distress migration has been stopped in several areas. Some State Governments have been leaders in
this and the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisations on MGNREGA has also set up
examples of excellent work.
 5. The programme created in rural areas and the operation of the Keynesian multiplier played a crucial
role in generating demand for industry during the time of the recession and assisted in our
comparatively faster emergence out of it.
Issues of its design and implementation are Lack of flexibility with respect to choice of work, does not result
in creation of durable and valuable assets, poor quality work, not truly ‘demand- driven’ work, not-so-
successful in preventing distress migration.
Another effective program, NRLM is the restructured form of the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana
(SSGSY) that was launched in April 1999 after reforming the IRDP and allied programmes. It is a type of
self-employment programme which has objective to offer sustainable income to rural BPL families. Main
features of NRLM include Social mobilization, Institution building, Financial inclusion, Livelihoods
promotion, Convergence and partnerships.
Issues of SGSY: The SGSY policy was that the poor need to be structured and their capacities built up
systematically so that they can access self-employment opportunities. In the 10 years of implementing
SGSY, there is a widespread acceptance in the country of the need for poor to be organised into SHGs and
SHG federations as a prerequisite for their poverty reduction.
2. Bharat Nirman: This flagship program was launched by government of India during 2005-06, to build
infrastructure particularly in rural India. This programme was a time-bound business plan implemented in
partnership with State Governments and PRIs over a period of four years from 2005-06 to 2008-09. The
programme had following components:
i. Rural housing
ii. Rural connectivity
iii. Rural water supply
iv. Rural telecommunication connectivity
v. Irrigation
3. Housing via the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY): Indira Awas Yojana which has been in operation since
1985-86, has been brought under Bharat Nirman. An effectual scheme provide houses for BPL families in
rural areas. Major issue with this scheme is that there has been continuous problem of shelter-less-ness in
rural India on a large scale despite such ambitious programmes & schemes. Quality of housing has not been
acceptable.
4. Sanitation through the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC): The main objectives of the TSC are as
follows:
i. Bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas.
ii. Accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to access to toilets to all.
iii. Motivate communities and PRIs promoting sustainable sanitation facilities through awareness
creation and health education.
iv. In rural areas, cover schools and Anganwadis , with sanitation facilities and promote hygiene
education and sanitary habits among students.
v. Encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable
sanitation.
vi. Develop community managed environmental sanitation systems focusing on solid & liquid waste
management.
Major issues of this scheme include:
 1. Continued open defecation by over 600 million people
2. Less of technology options.
3. Poor funding.
4. Absence of a dedicated implementation agency.
5. The powerful element of TSC is the emphasis on IEC (Information, Education and Communication)
activities to bring about behavioural change and a real demand for improved sanitation.
Unfortunately, this has been ignored in implementation.
5. Provision of drinking water: It is provided through the National Rural Drinking Water Programme
(NRDWP). This program concentrate on following factors:
1. Moving forward from achieving habitation level coverage towards household level drinking water
coverage.
2. Moving away from over dependence on single drinking water source to multiple sources, through
conjunctive use of surface water, groundwater and rainwater harvesting.
3. Ensuring sustainability in drinking water schemes and preventing slip back.
4. Encouraging water conservation methods including revival of traditional water bodies.
5. Convergence of all water conservation programmes at the village level.
6. Ensuring household level drinking water security through water budgeting and preparation of village
water security plans.
7. Deliberately moving away from high cost treatment technologies for tackling arsenic and fluoride
contamination to the development of alternative sources in respect of arsenic contamination and
alternate sources/dilution of aquifers through rainwater harvesting for tackling fluoride
contamination.
8. Developing the capability of preliminary drinking water testing at the Gram Panchayat level.
9. Establishing Water Testing Laboratory facilities with respect to drinking water, at the district and
subdivision level.
10. Linking of Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance with the Jalmani guidelines for implementation
of standalone drinking water purification systems in rural schools.
11. Encouraging handing over of management of rural drinking water schemes (RWS) to the Panchayati
Raj Institutions (incentive of 10% of the NRDWP allocation for the States that transfer the
management, is introduced).
6. Watershed development: It can be done through the Integrated Watershed Management Programme
(IWMP). The benefit of this program are to increase in availability of surface water and groundwater,
changes in cropping pattern from one to two crops annually, increase in fodder availability, increase in milk
yield, and increase in agriculture.
7. Road connectivity: The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is implemented to fulfil this
goal. This program was launched on 25 December 2000 as a fully-funded CSS to provide road connectivity
in rural areas of the country.
8. Electrification: There is the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) for this. This
scheme was launched by the Government of India in April 2005 as a comprehensive scheme for providing
access of electricity to all rural households. The scheme involved electrification of all un-electrified villages
and a free connection for BPL households.
9. Social security: It can be provided through the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), the Indira
Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), and the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension
Scheme (IGNDPS).
Women and child development: The Eleventh Plan acknowledged women as change agents and
understand the rights of children regardless of vulnerabilities of their class, caste, religion, ethnicity,
regional, and gender status. The Plan anticipated inclusive growth and encouraged to stop the exclusion and
discrimination faced by women and children.
There are many programs run by government in this area:
1. ICDS -implemented by MoWCD: The ICDS programme for children and pregnant and lactating
women, is the world’s largest programme for early childhood development and care. The services offered by
ICDS include:
1. Supplementary nutrition.
2. Non-formal pre-school education.
3. Immunization.
4. Health check-ups.
5. Referral services.
6. Nutrition and health education.
2. Sabala/RGSEAG (Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls): The morbidity and
mortality rates for women and children have revealed limited improvement. Since the health and well-being
of a new born is intrinsically linked to the health of her mother, improvements in nutritional standards of girl
children are essential to break the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition. The scheme is intended to
empower adolescent girls along with improving their nutritional and health status. Major goals of this
effectual scheme are as follows:
1. Enabling self-development and empowerment of adolescent girls.
2. Improving their nutrition and health status.
3. Spread awareness among them about health, hygiene & nutrition.
4. Reproductive and Sexual Health, family and child care.
5. Upgrade their home based skills, life skills and vocational skills.
6. Mainstream out of school adolescent girls into formal or non-formal education.
7. Inform and guide them about existing public services, such as PHC, CHC, Post Office, Bank, and
Police Station.
3. IGMSY (Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana): The Eleventh Plan was dedicated to conditional
maternity benefits. It provides cash to a pregnant woman immediately before and after delivery to ensure
that she receives adequate rest and nutrition and is able to breastfeed her child. The scheme was introduced
in October’ 2010. Main objective of this scheme is to improve the health and nutrition status of the pregnant
and lactating women and their young infants by promoting appropriate practices. The scheme aims to
promote, precise maternal and young infant feeding behaviours, increase demand for health services and
also provide partial compensation for the wage loss so that the woman is not under compulsion to work till
last stage of pregnancy and can take adequate rest before and after delivery.
4. NMEW (National Mission for Empowerment of Women): The National Mission for Empowerment of
Women was launched by the Government of India on International Women’s Day in 2010 with the aim to
support overall processes that promote all-round Development of women. It has the mandate to strengthen
the inter-sector convergence; facilitate the process of coordinating all the women’s welfare and socio-
economic development programmes across ministries and departments. The Mission aims to provide a
single window service for all programmes run by the Government for Women under aegis of various Central
Ministries. Major strategies of this program are
1. Inter-sectoral convergence of schemes for women; monitoring and review of progress.
2. Strengthening institutional framework for greater efficiency in support to women.
3. Focused research, review of schemes, programmes and legislations, and gender audits for evidence
based policy making.
4. Investment in skill and entrepreneurship development, micro-credit, vocational training and SHG
development for economic empowerment of women.
5. Support to Panchayati Raj institutions; women’s movements and community representatives for
strengthening of local bodies 360 degree approach on media and communication for behaviour
change and social mobilization for gender equality.
5. RMK (Rashtriya Mahila Kosha): Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) was launched by the Government of
India in March, 1993 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development. It was
registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. The major objectives of the Kosh are to assume
activities for the promotion of credit as an instrument of socio-economic change and development through
the provision of package of financial and social development services, to establish and replicate
participatory approaches in the organization of women’s groups for effective utilization of credit resources
leading to self-reliance, to promote and support experiments in the voluntary and formal sector using
innovative methodologies, to promote research, study, documentation and analysis, to promote the
federation and networking of women’s organisations for shaping and exchange of experience and
information and to develop skills in response management & social mobilization, to promote and support the
expansion of entrepreneurship skills among women, and promote and support grassroots level societies and
organisations and other participatory structures for providing for women actual access to decision making.
6. Policies to address violence against women such as PWDVA: Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act 2005 was launched by government of India to protect females. This act addresses these
unspoken and usually unmentioned issues and provides a legal recourse to women (wives and live in
partners) facing domestic violence be it physical, mental, sexual, emotional or economical.
Issues: There are many challenges that create obstacle in implementation of polices for women’s right in
India are -
i. To change the attitude of society towards women.
ii. To develop the qualities of inferiority, subservience and domesticity among the girl child especially
in rural, tribal and poor families for her education and development.
iii. The lower enrolment of girls in schools and playing the role of second mother by shouldering the
responsibilities of household work such as looking after the siblings are the critical areas to be given
attention in India.
iv. Incompetent laws and amendments as the fundamental problems lie in the attitude of the society
which is highly biased against women
6. Social security: After Independence in 1947, India has created complex social security system. Purpose of
social security is to give individuals and families the confidence that their level of living and quality of life
will not corrode by social or economic contingency, to provide medical care and income security against the
consequences of defined contingencies, to facilitate the victims of physical and vocational rehabilitation, to
prevent or reduce ill health and accidents in the occupations, to protect against unemployment by
maintenance and promotion of job creation and to provide benefit for the maintenance of any children.
Contingencies of social security

In India, three types of social security schemes are formulated that include preventive, promotion and
protected schemes. There are following programs for social security:
1. AABY (Aam Admi Bima Yojana): Aam Admi Bima Yojana, a Social Security Scheme for rural
landless household was launched on 2nd October, 2007. The head of the family or one earning member in
the family of such a household is covered under the scheme. The premium of Rs.200/- per person per annum
is shared equally by the Central Government and the State Government. The member to be covered should
be aged between 18 and 59 years.
2. RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana): RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and
Employment, Government of India to offer health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL)
families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising
out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization
coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization. Government has even fixed
the package rates for the hospitals for a large number of interventions. Pre-existing conditions are covered
from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the
head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. Beneficiaries need to pay only Rs. 30/- as registration
fee while Central and State Government pays the premium to the insurer selected by the State Government
on the basis of a competitive bidding.
3. SSAs (Social Security Agreements): The Indian social security system provides retirement and
insurance benefits to employees working in factories or other establishments covered by the system, in
India. The system is governed by the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952
(PF Act) and the schemes made there under, namely, the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme (EPF) and the
Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), a statutory body
established by the government of India, administers the social security regulations in India.
4. The Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008: The main features of this act are as follows:
1. The Act covers unorganized workers, including both self-employed and wage workers.
2. It provides for formulation of schemes by the Central Government for different sections of
unorganized workers on matters relating to: a) life and disability cover, b) health and maternity
benefits, c) old age protection, d) any other benefit as may be determined by the Central
Government.
3. It provides for formulation of schemes relating to provident fund, employment injury benefits,
housing, educational schemes for children, skill up gradation, funeral assistance and old age homes
by the state governments.
4. It provides for a National Social Security Board under the chairmanship of the Union Minister for
Labour and Employment. The Board, among others, also provides for representatives of unorganized
workers and employers of unorganized workers as well as persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes
(SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), other minorities and women. There is provision for the constitution
of similar Boards at the state level.
5. The Act prescribes record-keeping functions by the district administration with the help of the
District Panchayats in rural areas and urban local bodies in urban areas.
6. Provision is also made for setting up of Workers‟ Facilitation Centres to disseminate information on
social security schemes available to them and to facilitate registration of workers by the district
administration and enrolment of unorganised workers. The ten schemes included in the Act are: (i)
Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, (ii) National Family Benefit Scheme, (iii) Janani
Suraksha Yojana, (iv) Handloom Weavers‟ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme, (v) Handicraft
Artisans‟ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme, (vi) Pension to Master Craftspersons, (vii) National
Scheme for Welfare of Fishermen and Training and Extension, (viii) Janashree Bima Yojana, (ix)
Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (Life Insurance Scheme for Common People), and (x) Rashtriya Swasthya
Bima Yojana (National Health Insurance Scheme).
5. NSAP (National Social Assistance Programme): The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)
was implemented from 15th August, 1995. It represents a significant step towards the fulfilment of the
Directive Principles in Article 41 of the Constitution. The programme introduced a National Policy for
Social Assistance for the poor and aims at ensuring minimum national standard for social assistance in
addition to the benefits that states are currently providing or might provide in future. NSAP at present,
comprises of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow
Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), National
Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna.
Issues with all these schemes are that they are not demand driven schemes. Every scheme has a fixed annual
target to achieve, they cannot provide more than that. And each scheme is meant only for the people who are
below poverty line.
6. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO): The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization
(EPFO) was set up under the 1952 EPFO Act. It is an unusual national provident fund in three respects.
First, it administers two separate schemes: (i) a defined contribution scheme (EPF) and (ii) a defined benefit
scheme (Employees’ Pension Scheme).
Main issue with EPFO scheme is that it has made partial progress to reshape its investment policies and
performance. Its assets are primarily in public sector debt instruments. It has begun trading in debt
instruments, and is considering investing in passive index-linked equity products. It has no development
investment management expertise in-house, and therefore continues to out-source investment activities.
Recently, some contestability has been introduced as investment managers are now chosen through a
bidding process. This has the potential to reduce investment management costs.
Major challenges of EPFO are as under:
i. Cumbersome governance structure and limited access to outside expertise.
ii. Poor design of its schemes.
iii. Lack of appropriate organizational and individual incentives.
iv. Outmoded budgetary and record-keeping systems due to modest IT systems and an absence of
appropriate investment in human resources.
v. Unable to provide quality of service and retirement income security commensurate with the costs
imposed on the economy.
7. Civil service pensions: Civil servants are beneficiaries of pension schemes as well as being formulators
and implementers of the schemes. To improve its civil service pension system, the Government of India
introduced in January 2004 the New Pension Scheme (NPS), a defined contribution scheme with distinct
mandatory and voluntary components. The NPS architecture consists of a Central Record-keeping Agency
(CRA), auctioning of investment mandates, and points of presence (PoP), which acts as distributional and
collection agent.
6. Urban Development: Major initiatives taken under the 11th Plan are as follows:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM): JNNURM was launched in
December 2005. It has a mission period of seven years with the objectives of empowerment of Urban Local
Bodies (ULBs), planned and holistic development of cities and making them inclusive. The scheme
mandated preparation of City Development Plans (CDP) and a set of urban reforms at State and Municipal
levels. Thus, JNNURM renewed the focus on urban renewal and gave impetus to many urban reforms.
Main issues related to this scheme during implementation are as follows:
1. Low-level of service delivery.
2. Failure to mainstream urban planning.
3. Incomplete reforms.
4. Slow progress in project implementation.
5. Grossly insufficient availability of resources.
6. Lack of capacity at different levels of the government.
7. Delay in securing land for projects.
Other major inadequacy was the limited success in leveraging of JNNURM fund by locating non-budgetary
financial resources including funds under PPP framework.
2. National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM): The National Urban Livelihoods Mission aims to lessen
poverty of urban poor households by offering them avenues for self-employment and skilled wage
employment opportunities. It will also provide shelter equipped with essential services to the urban
homeless in a phased manner. It is intended to address the livelihood concerns of urban street vendors by
earmarking suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to them.
Under the programme, City Livelihood Centres will be established in mission cities to provide a platform to
the urban poor to market their services and access information on self-employment, skill training and other
benefits. The NULM will target all cities with a population of one lakh or more and district headquarter
towns with a population of less than one lakh as per Census 2011.
Issues: It has been observed that main conception of National Urban Livelihoods Mission is that the poor
are entrepreneurial and have innate desire to come out of poverty. The challenge is to uncheck their
capabilities to generate meaningful and sustainable livelihoods. The first step in this process is motivating
the urban poor to form their own institutions. They and their institutions need to be provided sufficient
capacity so that they can manage the external environment, access finance, expand their skills, enterprises
and assets. This requires continuous and carefully designed handholding support. An external, dedicated and
sensitive support structure, from the national level to the city and community levels, is required to induce
social mobilisation, institution building and livelihoods promotion.
To summarize, the Government of India has vital role for the overall development of nation and offer best
facilities for normal living of all sections of inhabitants. Since many years, the government has launched
various schemes and policies for people of India. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment works
towards educational development, economic and social empowerment of needy people. Though schemes in
various sectors are designed tactfully but some implementation issues are there in some policies.
Statutory, Regulatory and Various Quasi-Judicial Bodies
Statutory Bodies
Statutory bodies are established by acts which Parliament and State Legislatures can pass. These bodies are
entities shaped by an Act of Parliament or state legislatures and set up by the government to consider the
data and make judgments in some arena of activity. Basically, a statutory body is an organisation of
government which is not demarcated in Constitution of India but it gets its powers, service rules, authority
by an act of parliament or state legislatures. They are generally established to perform specific functions
which a government considers effectively performed outside a traditional departmental executive structure.
They fulfil the requirement for some operational independence from the government; funding arrangements
that are not dependent on the annual appropriations processes; or to establish a separate legal body. Statutory
bodies are normally set up in countries which are ruled under parliamentary democracy form of political
setup. Under law, statutory bodies are organisations with the authority to monitor that the activities of a
business and check whether these institutions are legal and follow official rules. For example, the General
Medical Council is the statutory body which regulates doctors.
The statutory bodies may be established to permit a certain level of independence from government, the
government is still accountable to guarantee that taxpayers funds expended in the operations of statutory
bodies are spent in the most, effective and economic way. These bodies are subject to varying degrees of
ministerial control which are identified in the statutory body’s enabling legislation. Ministers are
accountable to Parliament for the operation of all government boards and agencies within their portfolios,
and are necessary to table their annual reports in Parliament. A state representatives have authority for many
reasons such as transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and bipartisanship.
The meaning of a ‘statutory body’ may change depending upon the legislation. For example, a local council
is not a statutory body for the purposes of the Financial Accountability Act, but it is for the purposes of the
Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act. All statutory bodies are established and operate under the
provisions of their own enabling legislation, which sets out the purpose and specific powers of the agency.
The enabling legislation may also include provisions for the levels of fees to be charged for services /
products provided by the statutory body, the power of the statutory body to borrow or invest funds, whether
the board can delegate powers to officers of the statutory body and whether the body represents the State .
The example of statuary body is The University Grants Commission, a statutory organization established by
an Act of Parliament in 1956 for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university
education. Apart from providing grants to eligible universities and colleges, the Commission also
recommends the Central and State Governments on the measures which are necessary for the development
of Higher Education. It functions from New Delhi as well as its six Regional offices located in Bangalore,
Bhopal, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
Important Statutory Bodies:
 National Human Rights Commission
 National Commission for Women
 National Commission for Minorities
 National Commission for Backward Classes
 National Law Commission
 National Green Tribunal
 National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
 Armed Forces Tribunal
Regulatory Body
A regulatory body also called regulatory agency is a public authority or a government agency which is
accountable for exercising autonomous authority over some area of human activity in a regulatory or
supervisory capacity. It is established by legislative act in order to set standards in a specific field of activity,
or operations, in the private sector of the economy and to then implement those standards. Regulatory
interventions function outside executive observation. Because the regulations that they adopt have the force
of law, part of these agencies’ function is essentially legislative; but because they may also conduct hearings
and pass judgments concerning adherence to their regulations, they also exercise a judicial function often
performed before a quasi-judicial official called an administrative law judge, who is not part of the court
system. Some independent regulatory agencies perform investigations or audits, and some are authorised to
fine the important parties and order certain measures.
The notion of the regulatory agency was initiated in the USA and it has been basically an American
establishment. The first agency was Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), established by Congress in
1887 to control the railroads. It was stopped in 1996 but long served as the model of such an agency.
Initially, the ICC was to serve only as an advisory body to Congress and the courts, but it was soon granted
these powers itself. Furthermore, an independent commission could be unbiased and nonpartisan, a necessity
for impartial regulation. The ICC was the first step taken to control industries instead of taking each on a
case-by-case basis, as had been previously done.
The proclamation of governmental control in other industries led to the formation of many other regulatory
agencies modelled upon the ICC, chief among these being the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 1914),
Federal Communications Commission (FCC, 1934), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, 1934).
Additionally, regulatory powers were convened upon the ordinary executive departments. The functions of
the FTC illustrate those of regulatory agencies in general. It supervises the packaging, labelling, and
advertising of consumer goods. It applies broadly stated legislative policies to concrete cases of trade
competition by a procedure patterned after that of the courts. It grants licenses to those interested in export
business. It also regulates collection and circulation of credit information. Regulatory agencies use a
commission system of administration, and their terms of office are fixed and often very long.
All nations outside the USA, the role of regulatory agencies is taken by the regular administrative
departments of government and, in the case of utilities and public transportation, often by means of state
ownership. Regulatory agencies are generally a part of the executive branch of the government, or they have
statutory authority to execute their functions with oversight from the legislative branch. Their actions are
generally open to legal review. Regulatory authorities are usually established to implement standards and
safety, or to oversee use of public goods and regulate business.
Important Regulatory bodies are as under:
 Advertising Standards Council of India
 Competition Commission of India
 Biodiversity authority of India
 Press council of India
 Directorate General of Civil Aviation
 Forward Markets Commission
 Inland Waterways Authority of India
 Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
 Reserve Bank of India
  Securities and Exchange Board of India
 Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal
 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
 The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
 Central pollution control board
 Financial Stability and Development Council
 Medical Council of India
 Pension fund regulatory and development authority
Quasi Judicial Bodies:
Quasi-judicial bodies are institutes which have powers analogous to that of the law imposing bodies but
these are not courts. They primarily oversee the administrative zones. The courts have the power to
supervise over all types of disputes but the quasi-judicial bodies are the ones with the powers of imposing
laws on administrative agencies. These bodies support to lessen the burden of the courts. Quasi-judicial
activity is restricted to the issues that concern the particular administrative agency. Quasi-judicial action
may be appealed to a court of law.
These organizations generally have authorities of settlement in matters like breach of discipline, conduct
rules, and trust in the matters of money or otherwise. Their powers are usually limited to a particular area
of expertise, such as financial markets, employment laws, public standards, immigration, or regulation.
Awards and judgements of a quasi-judicial bodies often depend on a pre-determined set of rules or
punishment depending on the nature and gravity of the offence committed. Such punishment may be legally
enforceable under the law of a country, it can be challenged in a court of law which is the final vital
authority.
Important quasi-judicial bodies in India are as under:
 National Human Rights Commission
 State Human Rights Commission
 Central Information Commission
 State Information Commission
 National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
 State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
 District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum
 Competition Commission of India
 Appellate Tribunal for Electricity
 State Electricity Regulatory Commission
 Railway Claims Tribunal
 Income Tax Appellate Tribunal
 Intellectual Property Appellate Tribunal
 Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal
 Banking Ombudsman
 Insurance Ombudsman
 Income tax Ombudsman
 Electricity Ombudsman
 State Sales tax Appellate Tribunal
Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs
Voluntary actions of people are always appreciated and are an important part of human culture and social
tradition. The need for organizing people into attributed associations and their participation especially in
rural development have now been fully acknowledged. Presently, such voluntary organizations have
increased in considerable number, developed greater importance and did many new experiments for the
growth of country. Non-governmental organizations, abbreviated as NGOs have great significance and plays
vital role for the enhancement of populace at global scale. Non-governmental organizations accelerate
growth of any country. A non-governmental organization is an organization that is not a subdivision of a
government institutions and was not founded by states. Non-governmental organizations are typically
independent of governments.
Non-governmental organizations are basically voluntary organizations and these are called as NGOs because
they are unrestricted from governmental control to perform their function. They are self-governing and open
to all those wishing to become member of the organization voluntarily and serve the civilisation. These
organizations are established for ordinary citizens and may be funded by governments, foundations,
businesses, or private persons. NGOs engage in array of activities, and take different forms in different parts
of the world. Some may have charitable status, while others may be registered for tax exemption based on
recognition of social purposes. Others may be fronts for political, religious, or other interests. Therefore,
they have important position in civil society, which is fast emerging presently due to the weakening of the
state. NGO is a popular term, which has gained popularity at global level and commands respect in society
due to its wellbeing services. The term "non-governmental organization" was first devised in 1945, when the
United Nations was created. The UN, itself an inter-governmental organization, made it possible for certain
approved specialized international non-state agencies.
Non-governmental organizations does seek financial support from the government but it operates, at least
theoretically, on its own principles and programmes (Punalekar, 2004).According to the World Bank as
"private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the
environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development". Edwin Masihi composes
that "it is wrong to label such organizations as free-for-all in that anyone who seeks admission gets it on
demand. In contrast, these organizations have their own rule of suitability for admission and only those who
fulfil these eligibility norms are accepted as members, although with the approval of the existing members.
In that reference, these organizations are voluntary in relative terms only" (Masihi, 2004). In theoretical
studies, many theorists defined the term non-government organization. Turner and Hulme (1997, p. 200)
described NGOs as "associations formed from within civil society bringing together individuals who share
some common purpose." Hulme (2001) exemplified them (as well as civil society) as "peopled organizations
[that] are both not part of the state structures, are not primarily motivated by commercial considerations or
profit maximization, are largely self-governing, and rely on voluntary contributions (of finance, labour or
materials) to a significant degree." According to Fowler (2000), "for our purpose, business is not included."
To support this view, Edwards and Hulme (1995) explicated that "most organizations referred to as NGOs
thus belong, analytically, to the private sector, albeit to the service (i.e., not-for-profit) sub-sector thereof."
Non-governmental organizations originated from both internal and external factors. Internally, the gradual
retreat of the government in public service delivery has left a vacuum that NGOs try to fill. The retreat is
due to governments' incapability to provide high-quality public services to citizens. From after World War II
to the late 1970s, the role of governments was mainly to run the public sector, supervise the economy, and
treat its peoples as consumers. As a result, citizens could not realize their potential to organize and make
optimal use of their human, financial, and natural resources.
As the Commonwealth Secretariat (1996) argues, "the capacity of the public sector to establish the right
regulatory frameworks for development, to enforce them, to develop national productive capacity, to attract
capital, and to act as producer, are all in question."
Into this gap stridden NGOs, with new approaches to improve effectiveness in providing public services and
infrastructure. At the same time, NGOs have crucial role in enabling people to organize themselves and
share responsibility for governance. According to Mitlin, Hickey, and Bebbington (2005), "NGOs exist as
alternatives" to a governmental, centrally led economy.
NGOs are dynamic and changing. They may conglomerate several roles or activities at any one time, and
will need to be understood in terms of their relationships with other development performers, such as states
and donors, and their particular historical and cultural contexts. Korten's (1990) generation model is
beneficial because it discovers the way that some NGO change and affected by external and internal
pressures.
Korten's schema of the four development NGO strategy 'generations' (1990)

  Generation

First Second Third( Susta Fourth

(Relief (Community inable (People's
and development) systems movements)
welfare) development
)

Problem Shortage Local inertia Institutional Inadequate

definitio and policy mobilizing
n constraints vision

Time Immediat Project life 10-20 years Indefinite future

frame e

Scope Individual Neighbourhoo Region or National or

or family d or village nation global

Main NGO NGO plus All relevant Loosely defined

actors community public and networks of
private people and
institutions organizations

NGO Doer Mobilizer Catalyst Activist/educato

role r

History of NGOs in India:

Non-governmental organizations have existed in India since ancient time. Earlier, people in this country
offer help to others who were in trouble. Since centuries, there exists the tradition of voluntary service to the
poor and helpless in the country. In the beginning, these services were rendered by people inspired by their
religious spirits. People of India believed that service to people would be the service to God and, therefore,
would be a means to achieve spiritual salvation and sometimes to compensation for any immoral act. Spirit
of charity and self-sacrifice guided the charitable action in the past, which had found expression in diverse
forms even outside the formal established religious channels (Punalekar, 2004). Many people including
monarchs have stepped the path of charitable service to their fellow beings and adopted it as their life
mission. In the worst situations due to floods, fires, earthquakes, epidemic outbreaks and other kinds of
disasters, people were motivated to voluntary help those who were trapped in disastrous situations.
Community life was very strong and people were guided by the cooperative feeling and selflessness to
extend their individual support. The help and support used to be individual, spontaneous and transitory.
During late 18th and early 19th century, associations and organizations were being formed to render such
activities in a more organized and permanent profile.
The restructuring movements of the 19th century were possibly the first systematized forms of voluntary
action in the service of society. This was the period when the caste inflexibilities were strong, untouchability
was in practice, and other social evils like child marriage, cursed status of widow's were prevalent in the
Indian society against which voluntary organizations came forward to launch transformation. These
organizations were liberal and cut across caste and creed lines and worked morally as a liberal and secular
entity. "In the beginning of 20th century, the religious passion gave way to more rationalist principles. The
birth of the Servants of India Society laid the foundation of secular voluntary action in India"(Punalekar,
2004).
The concept of NGOs and Social welfare in India has a wonderful custom of Voluntary organisations. In the
pre-Independence days, Rabindranath Tagore in his Santiniketan experiments displayed how rural
development could be brought about by incorporation of education and culture. Gandhiji in his Wardha
experiment presented how village industries could bring about the development of the deprived sections of
the people in India. (Malik, 1995). Mahatma Gandhiji was strongly concerned with the glitches and evils of
societies that affected the life of common populace. He, along with his war against the British rule, wanted
to eradicate the social evils and promote the people of India to come out of the evil traditions like
untouchability, caste segregation, and subservience to the landholding castes and general backwardness. To
accomplish these goals, numerous voluntary organizations were established under the influence of the
principles of Gandhiji. A few of them are Sewa, Eklavya, Disha etc., which were instituted in Gujarat and
some others might have been formed in other states also. A significant development of Non-governmental
organizations started after the independence of India. Egalitarianism was established and people became
aware of freedom of speech, the charm of equality and the value of humanity and brotherhood. Conversely,
the government started planning for development and in this effort, launched inter alia the schemes of
Community Development Programme and later on the Green Revolution.
Many reports indicated that after independence, India was declared as a welfare state and relevant provisions
were included in the Constitution of India. Social welfare was included as part of the Five Year Plans. The
major responsibility of organizing social welfare services sustained with the voluntary organizations.
Currently, it is the voluntary organizations that are taking care of welfare actions (Basanta Kumar, 1995). In
the VII plan (1992-97), more focus was on the role of voluntary organizations in rural development. The
plan document represents that "A nation-wide network of NGOs will be created. In order to facilitate the
working of this network, three schemes relating to the creation/replication/multiplication and consultancy
development have been worked out by the planning commission (Malik, 1995)". With the renewal and
strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions, consequent upon the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act,
1992- the NGO's role has become more significant. In order to support holistic and integrated development
with the effective development schemes and programmes, the role of NGOs services and their involvement
in the development process is acknowledged (Malik, 1995).
It has been documented in reports that million NGOs are following their economically lucrative activities.
Evaluation of the accomplishments of the schemes were found to be ineffective in offering for the minimum
necessary requirements and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor in rural areas, instead rather
increasing it. The independence also enhanced the processes of industrialization, urbanization, expansion of
education, politicization and democratization and modernization. These processes stimulated people to be
sensitive to the existing disparities like economic inequalities (landed inequality in particular), gender
inequality, inhuman kind of social segregations like caste inequalities and untouchability, other social evils
like child marriage, child labour, restriction on widow marriage and many other stigmas and prohibitions.
Industrialization and urbanization led to the rise of the problems of rural-urban relocation that caused
imbalance in the rural division of labour, over-urbanization of many cities with the development of slum and
pavement dwellers, urban unemployment, pollution and depletion of natural resources. Consumerism and
over-consumption are also other serious issues of development. Most of the cities of the world in general,
and those of the less developed countries in particular, have the serious problem of garbage disposal. Thus,
there are number of problems which have emerged and sensitized the citizens to organize themselves to
work for their solution either by their own personal contribution or by pressurizing the government to solve
the problem. Huge number of Non-governmental organizations have appeared in India that made significant
contributions for the development of society. "These NGOs believe in the tasks of mobilizing and
consentization of the masses or their specific target groups be they women, children, agricultural labourers,
construction workers or the social castaways like widows, devdasis or under trial prisoners. They trust
sincerely in educating the people and preparing them for continuing struggle. They believe in social
awakening including legal literacy and confidence-building" (Punalekar, 2004).
Role of NGOs in Development:
Voluntary action inspired and promoted by voluntary actions engaged in development has imperative role at
basic level in the Indian social structure. NGOs contribute a lot in bringing about social change and
development. It has been recognized that NGOs provide robust forces for social, political, and economic
development (Edwards, 2005).
The various roles of Non-governmental organizations are as under:
a. Catalyze Rural Population
b. Build Models and Experiment
c. Supplement Government Efforts
d. Organizing Rural Poor
e. Educate the Rural People
f. Provide Training
g. Disseminate Information
h. Mobilize of Resources
i. Promote Rural Leadership
j. Represent the Rural People
k. Act as Innovators
l. Ensure People's Participation
m. Promote Appropriate Technology
n. Activate the Rural Delivery System
The major development roles attributed to NGOs are to act as:
 Planner and implementer of development programmers
 Mobiliser of local resources and initiative
 Builder of self-reliant sustainable society
 Mediator of people and government
Supporter and partner of government programme in activating delivery system implementing rural
development programmes are
 Agents of information
 Factor of improvement of the poor
 Facilitator of development education, training, professionalization
It is observed that role of NGOs differ over the years as the policy of government changes. NGOs are manly
relied on polices of government. Socio economic development is a shared responsibility of both i.e.
government and NGOs.
At grass root level, Non-governmental organizations role is to make people for change. They empower the
people to manage psychological problem and opposition of oppress.
Some NGOs visualize themselves as winners of the poor, promoting government to give them a better deal.
Others play a regulator role, ensuring that governments and utilities remain honest. Still another group of
Non-governmental organizations prefer to focus at ground level, finding ways to bring communities together
to provide basic services to those in most need. Many Non-governmental organizations look to combine
these roles within one organisation. Partnerships can struggle to accommodate these different visions,
making it hard to harness the skills, abilities and local contacts that NGOs offer to best effect. NGOs
themselves can be uncertain between engaging other stakeholders in order to provoke change from the
inside and maintaining their independence from the outside.
Non-governmental organizations are funded by private donors and are also funded by Government
Initiatives. Non-Governmental organizations function in the following areas of enhancing the lives of the
disadvantaged.
1. Health, Housing and Food - Providing for basic facilities
2. Gender Inequality Issues in Developing countries
3. Care for HIV -AIDS affected children and adults
4. Elder Care: A large proportion of elders are being neglected and many NGOs and private donors
have built orphanages for elders and senior citizens
5. Offering for education and vocational training such as Computer Typing.
Non-governmental organizations have done many social reforms. Every fortunate inhabitant of the world
should think calmly about charity and upliftment of the subjugated in some aspect or the other. It may not be
necessary to own a supporter NGO, but just a thought to donate money, medicines and other assets to the
poor is sufficient.
In the context of India, this countries terrain of villages and the Government of India has implemented
numerous rural development programmes for the enhancement of rural communities. Non-government
organizations with their benefit of non- rigid, locality specific, felt need based, beneficiary oriented and
committed nature of service have recognised multitude of roles which can effect rural development. Several
Non-governmental organizations have been active in rural community development, besides government
involvement. The NGO sector effectively works towards improvement of the socio-economic status of the
poor communities. In present scenario of liberalisation and globalisation where market forces adopt major
role, it becomes vital for the NGO sector to take a lead to assist poor to fight the challenges posed by the
system. Non-governmental organizations can help the poor by offering access to the system, information on
market opportunities, training facilities, and information on sources of credit. In order to meet the ambitions
of rural poor communities, there is a need of special training programmes to extend for the officials for
better management of the organization and developmental initiatives. Non-Government Organizations have
critical role to manage development initiatives of various kinds at the rural level. Even the Government of
India has recognized the critical role of the NGOs in the Five Year Plans, as they have commitment,
credibility with the masses and professional approach to the people's issues unlike the charitable
organizations of earlier days. However, despite their good intentions, huge number of NGOs has difficulty to
withstand in the long run such as sustainability of organizations as well as sustainability of developments.
Role of NGOs in Social Mobilization:
Currently, many Non-Governmental organisations are focusing on social mobilization on existing issues
such as women empowerment, human rights, and implementation of various central and state government
development programmes. The Non-governmental organizations in India have contributed generously
towards social mobilization and social activism through their intensive campaigns, people's mobilization
programmes and effective networks. The NGO act as a social force and assists collective action and people
mobilization for the purpose of achieving the desired objectives. The NGOs are deploying various people-
oriented as well as people centred strategies, and these organizations build rapport with the people and
mobilize them. The NGOs run environmental awareness campaign to generate wakefulness among populace
about environmental issues and sensitive to take part in the development process (Biswambhar Panda et.al,
2003).
It is believed that Non-governmental organizations are more efficacious to reach poor in poverty reduction
and also resulted in rapid growth of funding for NGOs by government and external donors. As far as the
government funding is concerned, there are approximately 200 government schemes introduced by the
central and state governments through which NGOs can have direct access to resources for rural
development (Reddy and Rajasekhar, 1996).
Rural Development Schemes and NGO: The important schemes available from Government of India for
Rural Development are:
1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
2. Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY)
3. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY)
4. Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)
5. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)
6. Department of Land Resouces-DoLR
7. National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)
8. Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)
The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP): The Integrated Rural Development Programme is a
rural development program of the Government of India sprang in Financial Year 1978 and extended
throughout India by 1980. It is a self-employment program aimed to raise the income-generation capacity of
target groups among the poor people. The target group consists of small and marginal farmers, agricultural
labourers and rural artisans living below the poverty line. This is a major self-employment programme for
Poverty Alleviation. The major goal of IRDP is to provide suitable income generating assets through a mix
of subsidy and credit to below poverty line families with a view to bring them above the poverty line.
Another objective of IRDP is to allow identified rural poor families to cross the poverty line by providing
productive assets and inputs to the target groups. The assets which could be in primary, secondary or tertiary
sector are provided through financial assistance in the form of subsidy by the government and term credit
advanced by financial institutions. The program is implemented in all the blocks in the country as a centrally
sponsored scheme funded on 50:50 basis by the Centre and State. The Scheme is combined with another
Scheme named Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) since 01.04.1999.
An assessment of the Role of NGO's in Rural Development: Non- government organizations have active
participation in rural development. The rural poor and socially miserable classes are mainly depending upon
the operations of NGOs. There is a huge competition among the NGOs to extend the services for the benefit
of the poor.
The following are the significant activities should take up for the development of the poor.
1. Agricultural related programs: Several activities can be undertaken under agriculture sector. The
jobs/projects like distributing planting materials, cattle, poultry, minor irrigation, free medical care
for cattle's, safe drinking water for animals etc.
2. Health programmes for human and non-human beings: NGOS also supervise the works like pit
drainage, housing, creation of smokeless environment, good drinking water for animals and human
beings, regular health check-ups camps which can improve the health conditions of the human and
non-human beings.
3. Community development programs: The community development programs such as adoption of
villages for development, moral support during flood and famine period, supply of food and drinking
water during flood, common well, training programs for the rural youths, housing projects, repair and
renovation of houses will satisfy the basic necessities. The important program like training programs
for the rural poor will hold the youths from rural migration.
4. Human Resource Development programs: The personality development programs, skill development
programs, educational programs, integrated development projects will empower the rural poor to
earn money for survival.
5. Trade and industrial promotion: The important problem is availability of the market for the products
of rural enterprises. Therefore, an NGO has a direct link with the government for marketing of the
goods. Besides this, NGO can also go for training of the rural youths in fabrication works,
woodworks, agarbatti manufacturing, and printing press.
6. Government support: The government (central, state or local) support at all level is expected for rural
development. NGOs alone cannot help poor and reform the villages. Therefore, the government
should watch and ward the working of NGOs at phase wise manner. Thus, the fund should directly
move to beneficiaries. The NGOs should be responsible for the managing funds.
Active role of non-government organizations in following areas:
1. The NGOs are active to encourage education, particularly among that section of population, which
has remained un-benefited or less benefited by the measures adopted by the government. The
education of girls, and other deprived people, particularly the SCs and STs, has been their target
objective.
2. Women are the other susceptible section of society. Gender discrimination is a pervasive cultural
reality. Girls are discriminated in the rearing pattern in the family. Larger numbers of the
malnourished are from amongst the girls. Retention of girls in schools is much less as compared to
boys. Women are forced to work as housewife and deprived of participation in gainful economic
activities outside homes. NGO are also playing active role in this arena.
The role of women voluntary organizations have been wonderful. Sewa, Sathin, Eklavya, Disha,
Environmental Action Group and Agrani Foundation are some of the thousands of NGOs recognized
for their role in development by generating awareness among people and interventions, if required.
3. The role of NGO is really visible and admirable. Many voluntary organizations are at work to
promote people and governments against environmental degradation and depletion of resources.
4. The NGOs also have active role for the cause of people's relocation and are also performing
praiseworthy job in this direction. The projects like the construction of dams, road highways and
railways have often made some sections of people, particularly in rural areas, vulnerable and are
displaced without being properly reimbursed.
Voluntary organizations, working at both national and international levels are providing great
 services in social development. These organizations are creating awareness and enthusiasm for
participation in development projects.
Role of NGO in mental health of people:
Non- government organizations are energetic in a range of mental health issues such as child mental health,
schizophrenia and psychotic conditions, drug and alcohol abuse, dementia. Their actions have included
treatment, rehabilitation, community care, research, training and capacity building, awareness and lobbying.
There are range of activities of the mental health NGOs which are categorized in the following sections:
 Treatment: Care and rehabilitation
 Community-based activities and prevention
 Research and training
 Advocacy and empowerment
Treatment: Care and rehabilitation:
Several mental health nongovernmental organization identify treatment and rehabilitation as their priorities,
based on the felt and largely unmet needs of the populations they wished to serve. Models of care and
rehabilitation have been developed. While most state-run organizations concentrate on medical treatment,
psycho-social rehabilitation is miserably ignored though major facet of mental health nongovernmental
organization programs. It is due to untrained staff to carry out psycho-social rehabilitation activities. Hence,
many NGOs have taken it upon themselves to develop modules of PSR in both urban and rural areas. The
programs include a range of activities such as individual and group counselling, vocational rehabilitation
and livelihood skills training, cognitive retraining, family support and counselling, self-help groups,
recreation and leisure activities. Out-patient clinics, in-patient care, day care programs and long term
residential care are services provided by mental health nongovernmental organizations, especially the ones
dealing with chronic psychotic conditions.
Community programs and prevention:
Nongovernmental organizations have introduced numerous community-based mental health programs
emphasizing on services in a variety of community, including home-based, settings and offer array of PSR
activities. These programs range from primary prevention activities such as suicide prevention to provision
of treatment in community clinics, increasing awareness and providing community based rehabilitation.
Major primary prevention programs include the telephone help lines for depressed and suicidal persons,
early intervention for babies born at risk for developmental delay and education programs in schools and
workplaces for prevention of substance abuse.
Secondary prevention focuses on lessening the handicaps related with an existing mental disorder such
programs include CBR programs for child and adult mental disabilities and school programs to help children
with hyperactivity and dyslexia stay in school. CBR is an essential element of community care programs.
SCARF, as part of vocational support activities, has distributed livestock, cows and helped expansion of
petty shops in rural areas to help persons with schizophrenia. Non-government organizations such as
SNEHA (Chennai) provided a range of community based counselling and mental health interventions.
NGOs such as Banyan and Anbagam in Chennai, Ashadeep in Guwahati and Samarpan in Indore have
developed wide-ranging services for people who are mentally ill.
The Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance, a network of centres and individuals working in de-addiction have
released an "Alcohol Atlas of India" as a reference guide for policy makers and professionals. The National
Addiction Research Centre (NARC), established in 1985 an active NGO focusing on substance abuse who
have sustained their activities, in part due to the growing emphasis on drug users as a target population for
HIV/AIDS control.
Research and training:
Mental health nongovernmental organizations were principally concerned with service provision and
support related activities. Research was considered as an academic exercise, best reserved for universities
and teaching hospitals. This has changed considerably in recent years that today MHNGOs are at the front of
revolutionary health research in India. Major research programs in health areas are now conducted under the
sponsorship of NGOs. The SCARF studies on schizophrenia are the most extensive research on the subject
from any developing countries (Thara and McCreadie, 1998). Many mental health nongovernmental
organizations actively invest in the development of skills of their staff and of other stakeholder groups.
Participation in workshops, conferences and seminars, and formal training in courses such as rehabilitation
are often offered as opportunities for career development. Most of the MHNGOs offer opportunities for
training other professionals and health workers in specific areas of mental health, such as counselling skills
(Kalyanasundaram and Varghese, 2000).
Advocacy and building awareness: Supporting the needs of underprivileged sections of the populace is
major goal of mental health nongovernmental organizations. Currently, there is very low awareness of the
medical advancement of the causes and treatment of mental disorders in India. This low awareness, together
with the enormous humiliation attached to mental illness, means that the needs and rights of mentally ill
persons are largely overlooked. Mental health nongovernmental organizations have generated awareness in
different sectors of the community, such as health workers, teachers and lay persons, a priority area.
Role of NGOs in disaster management:
NGOs have become more significant actors than ever before in disaster relief in the region. The role of NGO
undertakes significance in view of their broader engagement in public and development initiatives. Several
international non-governmental organizations specifically focus to provide humanitarian aid to disaster
victims. In India, NGOs have active participation in emergency response and rehabilitation following recent
disasters; the 1993 earthquake at Latur, which killed 7601 people, the 1999Orissa super cyclone which
killed 8931 people and the 2001 Gujarat earthquake which killed over 13,000 people (S. L. Goel, 2004).
To summarize, Non-Governmental Organizations are meant for the enhancement of the people and society,
and it's their duty also. There are several types of NGOs which have particular area of focus and it works
according to their interest area. Presently, Non-governmental organizations have gained immense
significance and are increasing rapidly. Though non-governmental organizations are intended for betterment
of people but it is observed that many NGOs fail to perform their roles.
Mechanisms, Laws, Institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of
these vulnerable section
Mechanisms to Protect the Interests of Vulnerable Sections
1. Constitution: The Constitution of India contains various provisions which provides for several rights and
safeguards for the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes .While most of these provisions are common
to both ,SC and the ST. There are various provisions for safeguarding the interests of vulnerable sections.
The constitutional rights of the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes include right to equality, right to
freedom, and right against exploitation. Right to Equality is vital in a society of India. The purpose of this
right is to establish the rule of law where all the citizens should be treated equal before the law. It has five
provisions (Articles 14-18) to provide for equality before law or for the protection of law to all the persons
in India and also to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
Another constitutional right is right to freedom which is intense desire of every living being. This Right is
stipulated under Articles 19-22. The following are categories of Rights to Freedom:
1. Freedom of speech and expression.
2. Freedom to assemble peacefully and without arms.
3. Freedom to form Associations and Union.
4. Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India.
5. Freedom to reside and settle in any part of India.
6. Freedom to practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
The Constitution makes provisions against exploitation. The inhabitants have been guaranteed the right
against exploitation through Articles 23 and 24 of the Constitution.
2. Legislature: Union and State levels: Various bills for vulnerable sections.
3. Executive: Various Ministries under Central and State Governments.
4. Judiciary: For delivering social justice.
5. Decentralized Administration (extending to Panchayati Raj Level to reach vulnerable sections).
6. National and State commissions for vulnerable sections (Like National Commission for Women).
There are administrative mechanisms mentioned as under:
i. Reservation.
ii. Subsidy.
iii. PDS.
iv. Scholarships.
v. Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
Laws for the development and betterment of vulnerable sections:
Laws about vulnerable sections can be seen in two dimensions.
i. Constitutional
ii. Statutory
iii. Constitutional Provisions for Vulnerable Sections
There are certain constitutional provisions which cover all vulnerable sections (common to all). Also, there
are provisions which deals only with specific sections.
Constitutional Provisions for the vulnerable section of SC/ST/OBC and minorities:
Art. 15(4) : Clause 4 of article 15 is the fountain head of all provisions regarding compensatory
discrimination for SCs/STs. This clause was added in the first amendment to the constitution in 1951 after
the SC judgement in the case of Champakam Dorairajan vs State of Madras. It states thus, "Nothing in this
article or in article 29(2) shall prevent the state from making any provisions for the advancement of any
socially and economically backward classes of citizens or for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes." This
clause started the era of reservations in India.
In the case of Balaji vs State of Mysore, the SC held that reservation cannot be more than 50%. Further, that
Art. 15(4) talks about backward classes and not backward castes thus caste is not the only criterion for
backwardness and other criteria must also be considered.
Finally, in the case of Indra Sawhney vs Union of India, SC upheld the decision given under Balaji vs State
of Mysore that reservation should not exceed 50% except only in special circumstances. It further held that it
is valid to sub-categorize the reservation between backward and more backward classes. However, total
should still not exceed 50%. It also held that the carry forward rule is valid as long as reservation does not
exceed 50%.
Art. 15 (5) : This clause was added in 93rd amendment in 2005 and allows the state to make special
provisions for backward classes or SCs or STs for admissions in private educational institutions, aided or
unaided.
Art. 16(4): This clause allows the state to reserve vacancies in public service for any backward classes of the
state that are not adequately represented in the public services.
Art. 16 (4A): This allows the state to implement reservation in the matter of promotion for SCs and STs.
Art. 16(4B): This allows the state to consider unfilled vacancies reserved for backward classes as a separate
class of vacancies not subject to a limit of 50% reservation.
Art. 17: This eradicates untouchability and its practice in any form. Although the term untouchability has not
been demarcated in the constitution or in any act but its meaning is to be understood not in a literal sense but
in the context of Indian society. Due to the varna system, some people were relegated to do menial jobs such
as cleaning toilets. Such people were not to be touched and it was considered a sin to even touch their
shadow. They were not even allowed to enter public places such as temples and shops.
The constitution struggles to remove this abhorring practice by not only making the provision a fundamental
right but also allows punishment to whoever practices or abets it in any form. Towards this end, Protection
of Civil Rights Act 1955 was enacted. It has implemented several measures to eradicate this evil from the
society. It stipulates up to 6 months imprisonment or Rs.500 fine or both. It impresses upon the public
servant to investigate fully any complaint in this matter and failing to do so will amount to abetting this
crime. In the case of State of Kar. vs Appa Balu Ingle, SC upheld the conviction for preventing a lower caste
person from filling water from a bore well.
In Asiad Projects Workers case, SC has held that right under Art 17 is available against private individuals
as well and it is the duty of the state to ensure that this right is not violated.
Art. 19(5): It allows the state to impose restriction on freedom of movement or of residence in the benefit of
Scheduled Tribes.
Art. 40: Provides reservation in 1/3 seats in Panchayats to SC/ST.
Art. 46: Enjoins the states to promote with care the educational and economic interests of the weaker
sections, especially SC and STs.
Art. 164: Appoint special minister for tribal welfare in the states of MP, Bihar, and Orrisa.
Art. 275: Allows special grant in aids to states for tribal welfare.
Art. 330/332: Allows reservation of seats for SC/ST in the parliament as well as in state legislatures.
Art. 335: Allows relaxation in qualifying marks for admission in educational institutes or promotions for
SCs/STs.
In the case of State of MP vs Nivedita Jain, SC held that complete relaxation of qualifying marks for
SCs/STs in Pre-Medical Examinations for admission to medical colleges is valid.
Art. 338/338A/339: Establishes a National Commission of SCs and STs. Art. 339 allows the central govt. to
direct states to implement and execute plans for the betterment of SC/STs.
Art. 340: Permits the president to appoint a commission to investigate the condition of socially and
economically backward classes and table the report in the parliament.
Lawful Provisions for Women
There are numerous legal provisions to enhance the status of women which is more susceptible group in
Indian society.
Art. 15(3): It permits the state to make special provisions for women and children. Several acts such as
Dowry Prevention Act have been passed including the most recent one of Protection of women from
domestic violence Act 2005.
Art. 23: Under the fundamental right against exploitation, flesh trade has been banned.
Art. 39: Guarantees equal pay to women for equal work. In the case of Randhir Singh vs Union of India, SC
held that the concept of equal pay for equal work is indeed a constitutional goal and is capable of being
enforced through constitutional remedies under Art. 32.
Art. 40: Provides 1/3 reservation in panchayat.
Art. 42: Offers free pregnancy care and delivery.
Art. 44: It compels the state to implement unchanging civil code, which will help progress the condition of
women across all religions. It has, however, not been implemented due to politics. In the case of Sarla
Mudgal vs Union of India, SC has held that in Indian Republic there is to be only one nation i.e. Indian
nation and no community could claim to be a separate entity on the basis of religion. There is a plan to
provide reservation to women in parliament as well.
Constitutional Provisions for Children
Art. 19 A: Education up to 14 yrs has been made a fundamental right. Thus, the state is required to provide
school education to children.
In the case of Unni Krishnan vs State of AP, SC held that right to education for children between 6 to 14 yrs
of age is a fundamental right as it flows from Right to Life. After this decision, education was made a
fundamental right explicitly through 86th amendment in 2002.
Art. 24: Children have a fundamental right against exploitation and it is prohibited to employ children below
14 yrs of age in factories and any hazardous processes. Recently the list of hazardous processes has been
updated to include domestic, hotel, and restaurant work.
Several PILs have been filed in the benefit of children. For example, MC Mehta vs State of TN, SC has held
that children cannot be employed in match factories or which are directly connected with the process as it is
hazardous for the children.
In the case of Lakshmi Kant Pandey vs Union of India, J Bhagvati has laid down guidelines for adoption of
Indian children by foreigners.
Art. 45: Urges the state to provide early childhood care and education for children up to 6 yrs of age.
Age, and high levels of economic necessity and/or disability combine to create high levels of vulnerability to
long-lasting poverty. While old age pension schemes are in place neither the small amounts made available
nor the hassle of accessing them make this a solution to the problem of chronic poverty among the elderly.
With the high occurrence of chronic ailments and health care needs of the elderly, declining family size,
migration and breakdown of traditional family structures that provided support, this group of the population
is awfully vulnerable to poverty.
Constitutional Provisions for Aged
In Constitution of India, entry 24 in list III of Schedule IV deals with the "Welfare of Labour, including
conditions of work, provident funds, liability for workmen's compensations, invalidity and Old age pension
and maternity benefits.
Further, Item No. 9 of the State List and Item No. 20, 23 and 24 of the Concurrent List relates to old age
pension, social security and social insurance, and economic and social planning.
Article 41 of the Directive Principle of the State Policy has particular relevance to Old Age Social Security.
According to this Article, "the State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make
effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in case of undeserved
want."
Constitutional Provisions for Socially & Educationally Backward Classes (OBCs)
The constitution does not describe the term backward classes. It is up to the centre and the states to postulate
the classes that belong to this group. However, it is understood that classes that are not represented
adequately in the services of the state can be termed backward classes. Further, the President can, under Art.
340, can constitute a commission to investigate the condition of socially and educationally backward classes.
Based on this report, the president may specify the backward classes. Commission for Enquiring into
Conditions of Backward Classes
Article 340: Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes.
Safeguards relating to Educational & Public Employment
Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
Article 16: Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.
Art. 15 (4): “Nothing in this article or in article 29(2) shall prevent the state from making any provisions for
the advancement of any socially and economically backward classes of citizens or for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes.” This clause started the era of reservations in India. You may please note that Art. 15(4)
talks about backward classes and not backward castes thus caste is not the only criterion for backwardness
and other criteria must also be considered.
Art. 15 (5): This clause was added in 93rd amendment in 2005 and allows the state to make special
provisions for backward classes or SCs or STs for admissions in private educational institutions, aided or
unaided.
Art. 16(4): This clause allows the state to reserve vacancies in public service for any backward classes of the
state that are not adequately represented in the public services.
Art. 16 (4A): This allows the state to implement reservation in the matter of promotion for SCs and STs.
Art. 16(4B): This allows the state to consider unfilled vacancies reserved for backward classes as a separate
class of vacancies not subject to a limit of 50% reservation.
Constitutional Provisions relevant to Social Justice & Empowerment as a whole
Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.
Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
Article 37: Application of the principles contained in this Part (DPSP).
Article 38: State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people.
Article 39: Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State.
Article 39A: Equal justice and free legal aid.
Article 46: Promotion of Educational and Economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and
other weaker sections.
Definition and Specification of SCs
Article 341: Scheduled Castes.
Article 366: Definitions.
Social Safeguards
Article 17: Abolition of Untouchability.
Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
Political Safeguards
Article 330: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People.
Article 332: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies
of the States.
Article 334: Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after sixty years.
Article 243D: Reservation of seats (in Panchayats).
Article 243T: Reservation of seats (in Municipalities).
Agency for Monitoring Safeguards
Article 338: National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
Constitutional Provisions relating to Persons with Disability and the Old
Article 41: Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases.
In Constitution of India, entry 24 in list III of Schedule IV deals with the "Welfare of Labour, including
conditions of work, provident funds, liability for workmen's compensations, invalidity and Old age pension
and maternity benefits. Further, Item No. 9 of the State List and Item No. 20, 23 and 24 of the Concurrent
List relates to old age pension, social security and social insurance, and economic and social planning.
Article 41 of the Directive Principle of the State Policy has particular significance to Old Age Social
Security. According to this Article, “the State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and
development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance
in case of undeserved want."
Constitutional Provisions relating to Prevention of Substance Abuse:
Article 47: Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public
health.
Some General Provisions
Article 12: Definition [Part III: Fundamental Rights].
Article 36: Definition [Part IV: Directive Principles of State Policy].
Division of Legislative & Executive Powers between the Union & the States
Article 246: Subject-matter of laws made by Parliament and by the Legislatures of States.
Article 73: Extent of executive power of the Union.
Article 162: Extent of executive power of the State.
Devolution of Powers and Responsibilities on Panchayat & Municipalities.
Article 243G: Powers, Authority and Responsibilities of Panchayat.
Article 243W: Powers, Authority and Responsibilities of Municipalities, etc.
Seventh Schedule (See Art.246)
Union List Entries 59, 97.
State List Entries 8, 9.
Concurrent List Entries 15, 16, 19, 20, 23.
Eleventh Schedule (See Art.243G)
Entries 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Twelfth Schedule (See Art.243W)
Entries 3, 6, 9. 10, 11.
Statutory Provisions for Vulnerable Sections
The Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1955: For SC.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989: For SC and ST.
The National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993: For Backward Classes.
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple
Disability Act, 1999.
Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. : For PWD.
Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007: For Social Defence.
Dowry Prevention Act.
Protection of women from domestic violence Act 2005.
Institutions for the Development of Vulnerable Sections
National Institute of Social Defence.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute of Physically Handicapped, New Delhi.
National Institute for the Orthopedically Handicapped, Kolkata.
National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehradun.
National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad.
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai.
National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research, Cuttack.
National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, Chennai.
Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation, Training & Research (SVNIRTAR), Orissa.
The Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre, New Delhi.
The National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation.
The National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation.
The National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation.
The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation.
Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation, Kanpur.
Dr. Ambedkar Foundation.
Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation
Bodies for the development of vulnerable sections
National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
National Commission for Backward Classes.
National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes – NCST.
Statutory Bodies for vulnerable sections.
The Rehabilitation Council of India.
The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and
Multiple Disabilities.
National Commission for Women, New Delhi, India.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, India.
Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the
performance of these schemes
Vulnerable groups are those groups of society which would be susceptible under any unfavourable situations
such as where the adults are not capable to provide a satisfactory living for the household due to health
issues like disability, illness, age or some other characteristic, and groups whose resource endowment is
poor to provide sufficient income from any available source. In India, there are numerous socio-economic
difficulties that members of particular groups experience which limits their access to health and healthcare.
For government, it is not an easy task to identify the vulnerable groups. Besides there are multiple and
complex factors of vulnerability with different layers and more often than once it cannot be analysed in
isolation. There are several conspicuous factors on the basis of which individuals or members of groups are
differentiated in India, i.e., structural factors, age, disability and discrimination that act as barriers to health
and healthcare. The vulnerable groups that face impartiality include, Women, Scheduled Castes (SC),
Scheduled Tribes (ST), Children, Aged, Disabled, Poor migrants, People living with HIV/AIDS and Sexual
Minorities. Sometimes, each group faces many obstacles due to their multiple individualities. For example,
in a patriarchal civilisation, disabled women have to face double discrimination of being a women and being
disabled.
There is caste system in India since ancient times and therefore sudras have been browbeaten for the ages. In
earlier period, they were deprived of the right to education and thus were left suffering behind, socially and
economically. Such people have been categorized into Scheduled Castes. Tribal communities, who never
mixed with the main society, are similarly challenged and are categorized into Scheduled Tribes.
Backward Classes: The constitution of India does not define the term backward classes. It is up to the centre
and the states to postulate the classes that belong to this group. However, it is assumed that classes that are
not signified passably in the services of the state can be termed backward classes. Further, the President can,
under Art. 340, can establish a commission to scrutinise the condition of socially and educationally
backward classes. Structural standards are attached to the different relationships between the subordinate
and the prevailing group in every society. The norms act as structural obstacles giving rise to various forms
of disparity.
There are some structural Discrimination Faced by these vulnerable groups. In India, members of gender,
caste, class, and ethnic identity experience structural discrimination that has adversely impacted on their
health and access to healthcare. Women also face dual discrimination being members of specific caste, class
or cultural group apart from experiencing gendered susceptibilities. Women have less control on the
resources and on important decisions related to their lives. In India, early marriage and childbearing affects
women’s health unfavourably. About 28 per cent of girls in India, get married below the legal age and
experience pregnancy (Reproductive And Child Health – District level Household Survey 2002-04, August
2006). These have serious consequences on the health of women. Reports indicated that maternal mortality
is at rising trend in India. The average maternal mortality ratio at the national level is 540 deaths per 100,000
live births (National Family Health Survey-2, 2000). It varies between states and regions, i.e., rural-urban. In
most cases the deaths occur from avoidable causes. Huge percentage of women are reported to have
received no antenatal care. In India, institutional delivery is lowest among women from the lower economic
class as against those from the higher class. It has been documented in reports that major proportion of the
lower castes and Dalits are still dependent on business and upper class for their living. Dalits does not refer
to a caste but suggests a group who are in a state of subjugation, social disability and who are helpless and
poor. Earlier, they were called as ‘untouchables’ mainly due to their low jobs i.e., cobbler, scavenger,
sweeper. In a caste-dominated country such as India, Dalits who comprises more than one-sixth of the
Indian population, stand as a community whose human rights have been sternly dishonoured. Literacy rates
among Dalits are very low, about 24 per cent. Their living conditions are very poor or have low access to
resources and entitlements. In rural India, they are landless poor agricultural labourers attached to rich
landowners from generations or poor casual labourers doing all kinds of available work.
In the metropolitan, they get low level job as wage labourers at several work sites, beggars, vendors, small
service providers, domestic help, etc. They live in slums and other temporary shelters without any kind of
social security. The members of these groups face systemic violence in the form of disavowal of access to
land, good housing, education and employment. Structural discrimination against these groups occurs in the
form of physical, psychological, emotional and cultural abuse which receives legitimacy from the social
structure and the social system. Physical separation of their settlements is common in the villages forcing
them to live in the most unhygienic and inhabitable conditions. All these factors affect their health status,
access to healthcare, and quality of health service received. There are high rates of undernourishment
reported among the downgraded groups resulting in mortality, morbidity and anaemia. Access to and
utilization of healthcare among the marginalized groups is influenced by their socio-economic status within
the society.
It is observed that structural discrimination unswervingly obstructs equal access to health services by way of
prohibiting. The undesirable attitude of the experts towards these groups also acts as an obstacle to receiving
quality services from government. A large proportion of Dalit girls drop out of primary school in spite of
reservations and academic aptitude, because of poverty, humiliation, isolation or bullying by teachers and
classmates and punishment for scoring good grades (National Commission Report for SC/ST, 2000). The
scavenger community among the Dalits is susceptible to stress and diseases with reduced access to
healthcare. The Scheduled Tribes like the Scheduled Castes face structural discrimination within the Indian
society. Likewise the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes also face marginalization based on ethnicity.
There is a desperate need for development of the weaker sections such as the SCs, STs, and OBCs. The SCs,
STs and OBCs have been forced to remain as the Weaker Sections of India, and the women confined or
oppressed to be the most and multiply exploited sections of the country, for many decades. This worst
situation, cannot and should not continue anymore. There is a need for the Government to act to free and
unshackle the weaker Sections, from the lethargies of oppression, marginalisation and backwardness. They
have to be elevated to the levels of normal human-beings of the world.

Scheduled Castes/Tribes Welfare Schemes

NGOs Schemes:
Scheme of Grant in Aid to Voluntary Organisations working for Scheduled Castes
Ministry’s Schemes:
Central Sector Scheme of 'Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship' for Providing Scholarships to Scheduled Caste
Students to pursue Programmes in Higher Education such as M.Phil and Ph.D (Effective from 01-04-2010)
Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)
Government of India have approved implementation of a new Centrally-sponsored Pilot Scheme called
Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) from the financial year, 2009-10, for integrated
development of 1,000 villages in the country, each with more than 50% Scheduled Castes (SC) population.
PMAGY aims to achieve all-round, integrated development of selected villages.
Primarily, through convergent implementation of all relevant Central and State schemes in them, and By
meeting needs which cannot be met through above then through provision of "gap-filling" funds for which
central assistance to be provided Rs.10 lakh per village revised to Rs. 20 lakhs per village at an average
w.e.f. Sep. 2011, with State Government also expected to make a suitable, preferably matching,
contribution. State, District and Block wise abstract of villages selected under PMAGY (M Laxmikanth,
2014).
Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (Letter, Annexures, and National Allocation for 2009-10):
The scheme of construction of hostels is effective way to enable and encourage students belonging to
scheduled castes to attain quality education. The scheme for construction of hostels for girls is in operation
from 3rd Five Year Plan while for boys, the same was started from the year 1989-90. The object of the
Scheme is to provide residential accommodation facilities to SC Boys and Girls studying in middle schools,
higher secondary schools, colleges and Universities. The State Governments/Union Territory
Administrations and the Central & State Universities/institutions will be eligible for central assistance, both
for new construction of hostel buildings and for renovation repair extension expansion of the existing hostel
facilities while NGOs and deemed Universities in the private sector only for expansion of their existing
hostel facilities.
Post-Matric Scholarship for SC Students
The Post Matric Scholarships enables huge number of Scheduled Caste students to obtain post-matric and
higher level of education resulting in their overall educational and economic development. The Scheme
offers for 100 per cent Central Assistance to the State Governments and UT Administrations over and above
the respective committed liability of the State/UT. The committed liability of the North Eastern States have,
however, been dispensed with.
Pre-Matric Scholarships for the Children of those Engaged in Unclean Occupations
The Government of India has implemented the Scheme of Pre-Matric Scholarship to children of those
engaged in 'unclean' occupations since 1977-78. Under the scheme, 100% central assistance is provided to
State Governments/UT Administrations from the Government of India for the total expenditure under the
Scheme, over and above their respective Committed Liability to implement this Scheme. The object of the
scheme is to provide financial support to children whose parents/guardian belongs to one of the following
categories, to pursue Pre-matric education:
i. Persons who are either presently engaged in manual scavenging or were so engaged up to or after
1.1.97 or the date on which "The Employment of manual scavengers and construction of Dry latrines
(Prohibition) Act 1993" came into force in their State/UT, whichever is earlier;
ii. Tanners
iii. Flayers.
Central Sector Scholarship Scheme of Top Class Education for SC Students (Effective from June
2007):
The Scheme has an objective at recognizing and promoting quality education amongst students belonging to
SCs, by providing full financial support. The scheme will cover SC students for pursuing studies beyond
12th class. The scheme will work in all institutions notified by the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment.
Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS)
The Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) was announced in January,
2007. It has an objective of rehabilitating the remaining manual scavengers and their dependents in
alternative occupations by March, 2009. Major aim of this scheme is to assist the manual scavengers,
identified during various surveys, for their rehabilitation in alternative occupations (M.Laxmikanth, 2014).
Central Government has reviewed the SRMS for rehabilitation of all the manual scavengers identified under
the provisions of the MS Act, 2013. The main features of the Scheme include one-time cash assistance,
training with stipend and concessional loans with subsidy for taking up alternative occupations.
Centre sector scheme of National Overseas Scholarships for Scheduled Castes (SC):
It is a Central Scheme to offer financial assistance to meritorious students for pursuing higher studies in
foreign university in specified files of Master Level Courses, Ph.D and Post-Doctoral research programmes,
in the field of Engineering, Management; Pure Sciences; Agricultural Science; Medicine Technology and
Science. The Scheme was announced during the year 1954-55 and has since been revised from time to time.
This was Non-Plan Scheme, which became a Plan Scheme from 2007-08.
Salient features of this scheme are as under:
1. Financial assistance is provided to 15 meritorious students (13 for ST and 2 for PTG) for pursuing higher
studies abroad at the Masters level and Ph. D and Post-Doctoral research programmes in 35 specified
disciplines of Engineering, Technology and Sciences.
2. The Scheme attempts at enhancing the employment avenues for ST candidates.
3. 100% Central Assistance is provided directly to the candidates.
4. The prescribed financial assistance is provided till completion of the course/ research or the following
period, whichever is earlier:-
(a) Post Doctoral Research - 1&1/2 years (One and a half year)
(b) Ph.D. - 4 years (four years)
(c) Masters Degree –3 years ( three years)
The extension of stay beyond prescribed period for levels of courses as mentioned above, may be considered
without financial assistance of any kind except the air passage to return to India, on the recommendation of
the competent authority in the educational institution/ university as well as the Indian Mission abroad.
Eligibility Criteria
The candidate should belong to Scheduled Tribe community.
1. The candidate should be First Class with 60% marks or equivalent grade in relevant degree for
Master Degree, Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research.
2. The age of the candidate should below 35 years.
3. Total income from all sources of the employed Candidates or his/her parents/guardian should not
exceed Rs. 25000/- per month (excluding such allowances as are not treated as part of the total
income for the purpose of income tax).
4. Not more than one child of the same parents/guardian is eligible.
5. Candidates who are in employment must forward their applications through their employer
alongwith their NOC.
The finally selected candidates are required to obtain admission and join an accredited university/ institution
abroad within three years from the date of communication of selection.
Special Educational Development Programme for Scheduled Castes Girls belonging to low Literacy
Levels:
Centre sector scheme of Up gradation of Merit of SC Students:
The Scheme of Up gradation of Merit of SC students provides for 100% central assistance to States/UTs for
arranging remedial and special coaching for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students studying in
class IX to XII. While remedial coaching aims at removing deficiencies in school subjects, special coaching
is provided with a view to prepare students for competitive examinations for entry into professional courses
like Engineering and Medical. The main objective of the scheme is to upgrade the merit of Scheduled Caste
students by providing them with facilities for all round development through education in residential/non-
residential schools. There will be no bar for any student to avail coaching for both the purposes (viz.
Remedial and special).
It is planned to be done by:
i. Removing their educational deficiencies.
ii. Facilitating their entry into professional courses by upgrading their merit so that they can compete
with other students for admission to higher education courses and for senior administrative and
technical occupations.
iii. Generating self-confidence and self-reliance in them. The States will pay adequate attention to
maintenance of hostel buildings and other infrastructural facilities.
Salient features of the scheme are as under:
i. The State Government/UT Administration selects certain schools in different Districts/towns with
hostel facilities which show excellence in performance of students from class IX to XII.
ii. The Ministry fixes the total number of awards for each State annually.
iii. Coaching starts from class IX in the identified schools and continues till the awardees complete class
XII.
iv. Coaching is provided in languages, science, mathematics as well as special coaching for admission to
professional courses like engineering and medicine.
v. While selecting the ST students the aim is to include at least 30% girl students and 3% disabled
students.
vi. The scheme provides for 100% central assistance to the States/UT's
Centre sector Scheme of free Coaching for SC and OBC Students
Government has major concern for the empowerment of the weaker sections since independence. A scheme
for providing free coaching to students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) was started during 6th Five
Year Plan. Main intent of the Scheme is to provide coaching of good quality for economically disadvantaged
Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) candidates to enable them to appear in
competitive examination and succeed in obtaining an appropriate job in Public/Private sector. The
programme covers special coaching for:
i. Group A and B examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the Staff
Selection Commission (SSC) and the various Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB);
ii. Group A and B examinations conducted by the State Public Service Commissions;
 iii. Officers’ Grade examinations conducted by Banks, Insurance Companies and Public Sector
Undertakings (PSUs).
iv. Finishing courses/job-oriented courses for employment in the private sector like IT, Bio-technology
etc. in need of soft skill as well.
National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC)
Vision of this scheme is to Fight Poverty through Entrepreneurship. The National Scheduled Castes Finance
& Development Corporation (NSFDC) was set up in 1989 as a "Company not for profit" under Section 8 of
the Companies Act 2013. National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation is an institution
under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India for financing, facilitating and
mobilizing funds for the economic empowerment of persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes families
living below Double the Poverty Line. It finances income generation schemes for the target group through
the State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) nominated by respective State/UT Governments.
Major objective of this institution is the apex institution for financing, facilitating and mobilizing funds from
other sources and promoting the economic development activities of the persons belonging to the Scheduled
Castes living below double the poverty line.
Eligibility Criteria:
The beneficiary should be from the Scheduled Caste Community.
Annual family income of the beneficiary (ies) should not exceed Double the Poverty Line (DPL) income
limit (presently ' 98,000/- p.a. for rural areas and ` 1,20,000/- p.a. for urban areas).
National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
It is totally government of India Undertaking under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (M/o
SJ&E) which was set up on 24th January 1997 as a Company “Not for Profit" under Section 25 of the
Companies Act, 1956. NSKFDC is in operation since October, 1997, as an Apex Corporation for the all-
round socio-economic upliftment of the Safai Karamcharis, Scavengers and their dependants throughout
India, through various loan and non-loan based schemes.
The Mission of NSKFDC is to empower the Safai Karamcharis, Scavengers and their dependents to break
away from their traditional occupation, depressed social condition and poverty and leverage them to work
their own way up the social and economic ladder with self-respect.
Major objective of this scheme is as under:
1. To promote economic development activities of Safai Karamcharis and their dependents;
2. To promote self-employment ventures for the benefit and /or rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis and
their dependents.
3. To assist, through the State Scheduled Castes Development/finance corporation or any other
Channelizing Agency designated by the State Government or Union Territory Administration and
subject to the directions given by the Government from time to time, Safai Karamcharis and their
dependents, either individually or in groups, by way of grants, subsidy, loans or advances for
economically and financially viable income generating schemes and projects.
4. To grant concessional finance to Safai Karamcharis and their Dependents in collaboration with the
Ministries or Departments of GOI or Governments of States/UTs under relevant programmes;
5. To extend loans to students from the community of Safai Karamcharis for pursuing `professional or
technical education.
6. To promote training, quality control, technology upgradation, and common facility centers for
carrying out sanitation works.
 7. To assist state level organizations dealing with development o Safai Karamcharis and their
dependents by way of providing financial assistance and in obtaining commercial funding or by way
of re-financing.
8. To work as an apex institution for coordinating and monitoring the work of all Corporations, Boards
set up by the State Governments/Union Territories administrations for assisting Safai Karamcharis
and their dependents for their economic development.
9. To help in furthering the policies and programs of the Government for socioeconomic development
of Safai Karamcharis and their dependents.
10. To help in the up-gradation of technical and entrepreneurial skills of persons belonging to the
community of Safai Karamcharis or their dependants for proper and efficient management of
production and service units set up by them.
11. To support self-employed individuals or groups of individuals from the community of Safai
Karamcharis including their dependants or units/cooperatives set up by them in procurement of raw
materials or other outputs and marketing of finished goods or services.
Assistance to Scheduled Castes Development Corporations (SCDCs)
The main purposes of SCDCs include identification of eligible SC families and motivating them to
undertake economic development schemes, sponsoring the schemes to financial institutions for credit
support, providing financial assistance in the form of the margin money at a low rate of interest, providing
subsidy out of the funds made available to the States under the Scheme of Special Central Assistance to
Special Component Plan of the States to reduce the repayment liability and providing necessary tie up with
other poverty alleviation programmes. For aiding loans to Scheduled Castes, the SCDCs tie up with the local
banks, National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) and National Safai
Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC). Thus the SCDCs are playing an important
role in providing credit and missing inputs by way of margin money loans and subsidy to the target group.
The SCDCs finance the employment oriented schemes covering diverse areas of economic activities which
inter-alia include (i) agriculture and allied activities including minor irrigation (ii) small scale industry (iii)
transport (iv) trade and service sector.
Supporting Project of All India Nature of SCs
Under the scheme, financial aid is provided to reputed Social Science Research Agencies and Universities
which have necessary expertise and are willing to undertake the purposeful studies and hold seminars and
workshops preferably on the socio-economic programmes undertaken by Government bodies. This scheme
is run through NGOs (Gyan Publishing House, 2005).
National Comission for Safai Karamcharis
The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis was established on 12th August, 1994 for a period of 3
years under the provision of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993 to promote and
safeguard the interests and rights of Safai Karamcharis. The National Commission has, inter alia, been
empowered to investigate specific grievances as well as matters relating to implementation of programmes
and scheme for welfare of Safai Karamcharis. The Commission is required to be consulted on all major
policy matters affecting Safai Karamcharis.
Vital schemes/programme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs are as under
Special Central Assistance & Grants Under Article 275(1) Of The Constitution:
Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India offers such sums as Parliament may by law provide
shall be charged on the consolidated Fund of India in each year as grants-in-aid of the revenues of such
States as Parliament may determine to be in need of assistance, and different sums may be fixed for different
States: Provided that there shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India as grants-in-aid of the
revenues of a State such capital and recurring sums as may be necessary to enable that State to meet the
costs of such schemes of development as may be undertaken by the State with the approval of the
Government of India for the purpose of promoting the welfare of Scheduled Tribes in that State or raising
the level of administration of the Scheduled Areas therein to that of the administration of the rest of the areas
of that State".
This is a Central Sector Scheme and 100% grants are provided to the States. This scheme is effective in
States such as Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh , Assam , Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan , Sikkim , Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand and West Bengal having Scheduled Tribe Population..
Salient features of this scheme are as under:
The grants are provided to the States on the basis of ST population percentage in the State to the total tribal
population of the Country.
The funds are released to the State Governments against specific projects for the welfare of Scheduled
Tribes and strengthening of administration of tribal areas from the year 2000- 2001. A part of funds are also
utilised to establish Eklavya Model residential Schools to provide quality education to ST students from
class VI to XII
Scheme of Development of Primitive Tribal Groups (Ptgs)
Central government has provided special assistance to States/UTs to supplement their efforts in tribal
development through Tribal Sub-Plan. This assistance is basically meant for family-oriented income-
generating schemes in the sectors of agriculture, horticulture, minor irrigation, soil conservation, animal
husbandry, forests, education, cooperatives, fisheries, village and small scale industries and for minimum
needs programme. Based on pre-agricultural level of technology, low level of literacy, declining or stagnant
populations, 75 tribal communities in 17 States and 1 Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Island, have
been identified and categorized as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). Considering the vulnerability of these
groups, a Central Sector Scheme was introduced in the year 1998-99 for the all-round development of PTGs.
The scheme is very flexible, and include housing, infrastructure development, education, health, land
distribution/development, agriculture development, cattle development, social security, insurance, etc.
During 2007-08, comprehensive long term “Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) Plans” for PTGs have
been formulated for Eleventh Plan period through baseline surveys conducted by respective State
Governments/Union territory. These Plans envisage a synergy between efforts of State Governments and
non-governmental organizations.
Tribal Research Institutes
Fourteen Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) have been established by Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,
Manipur and Tripura. These Institutes are engaged in providing planning inputs to the State Governments,
conducting research and evaluation studies, collection of data, codification of customary law and conduct of
training, seminars and workshops. Some of these Institutes are also having museums exhibiting tribal
artefacts.
Girls / Boys Hostels for STs: Girls/ boys scheme was started in third five year plan with the aim of
providing residential facilities to tribal girls in the pursuit of education. Central assistance of 50% cost of
construction to the states, cent percent to the Union territories is provided under the scheme. The boys hostel
scheme was started in 1989- 90 under the same pattern as the girls hostel (Y. K. Singh, 2008).
Ashram Schools In Tribal Sub-Plan Areas: This centrally sponsored scheme was started in 1990-91 to
provide central assistance to state and union territories on 50% and 100 % basis (Y. K. Singh, 2008).
Vocational Trainig Centres in Tribal Areas: This scheme under the central sector introduced in 1992-93
with the aim of developing the skills of the tribal youth in order to get employment or self-employment
opportunities. The scheme envisages setting up of vocational training centres (Y. K. Singh, 2008). The
proposals by NGOs are required to be routed through State Government and the recommendation of the
“State Committee for Supporting Voluntary Efforts” constituted under the chairmanship of Principal
Secretary/Secretary, Tribal Welfare/Development Department of the State/UT are mandatory. The
recommendation of State Committee is valid for that financial year in which it is made.
Grants-in-aid to State Tribal Development Cooperative Corporations and others
Major objective of the scheme is to augment the reach of welfare schemes of Government and fill the gaps
in service deficient tribal areas, in the sectors such as education, health, drinking water, agro-horticultural
productivity, social security net etc. through the efforts of voluntary organizations (VOs)/non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and to provide an environment for socio-economic upliftment and overall
development of the Scheduled Tribes (STs). Any other innovative activity having direct impact on the socio-
economic development or livelihood generation of STs may also be considered through voluntary efforts.
Under this scheme 90% grant is provided by the ministry and 10% cost is required to be borne by the non-
governmental organizations from their own resources, except in Scheduled Areas where the Government
bears100% cost. The scheme provides a list of categories of projects viz. residential school, non-residential
schools, 10 or more bedded hospitals, mobile dispensaries, computer training centres, etc., which could be
covered under the scheme, and also prescribes fixed financial norms. The scheme does not provide any
construction cost.
The Proposals by NGOs are required to be routed through State Government and the recommendation of the
"State Committee for Supporting Voluntary Efforts" constituted under the chairmanship of principal
Secretary/Secretary, Tribal Welfare/Development Department of the State/UT are mandatory. The
recommendation of State Committee is valid for that financial year in which it is made.
Post-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Tribes Students
The objective of the scheme is to offer financial assistance to students belonging to Scheduled Tribes
pursuing Post-Matriculation recognized courses in recognized institutions. The scheme covers professional,
technical as well as non-professional and non-technical courses at various levels and the scheme also
includes correspondence courses including distance and continuing education. The scheme is implemented
by the State Government and UT Administrations, which receive 100% Central Assistance over and above
the committed liability which is required to be borne by them from their own budgetary provisions. The
committed liability is equal to the expenditure reached in the last year of the Plan period. Accordingly, the
expenditure incurred in the last year of the Xth plan period, i.e. 2006-2007, has become the committed
liability of State/UTs, which is required to be borne by them during each year of the 11th Five Year Plan
period. The requirement of committed liability of North Eastern State has been dispensed with from 1997-
98. The Scheme is in operation since 1944-45.
Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme (RGNF)
This Scheme was introduced in the year 2005-06. Under the Scheme, fellowship is provided to ST students
for pursuing higher studies such as M.Phil. and Ph. D. The maximum duration of a fellowship is 5 years.
Every year 667 fellowships are to be provided to ST students. The scheme is being implemented by
University Grant Commission (UGC) on behalf of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Any ST student who has
passed post-graduation from a UGC recognized University can apply under the scheme.
Major schemes for Women which are also vulnerable section of society
Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY): The Government of India in the Ministry of Women
and Child Development is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme namely, Indira Gandhi Matritva
Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) for pregnant and lactating women to
enhance their health and nutrition status to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives to
pregnant and nursing mothers. It is being implemented using the platform of Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) Scheme. The scheme was introduced in October 2010 on pilot basis now operational in 53
selected districts.
Eligibility Criteria:
Any woman is entitled to receive the benefit of the Woman must fulfil 4 criteria:
1. Pregnant women
2. Not less than 19 years old
3. This is her first or second live birth
4. She or her husband does not work in Government / Public Sector Undertaking (Central and State)
AWWs and AWHs may also avail the benefit under the Scheme if they are not receiving paid maternity
benefits from the Government and fulfill the above-mentioned 4 criteria
Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)
This scheme is also called SABLA. It is a centrally sponsored scheme, implemented through the State
Governments/UTs with 100% financial assistance from the Central Government for all inputs, except
nutrition provision for which Government of India will share up to the extent of 50% of the financial norms
or the actual expenditure incurred, whichever is less. A combined package of services is to be provided to
Adolescent Girls that would be as follows:
i. Nutrition provision
ii. Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation
iii. Health check-up and Referral services
iv. Nutrition & Health Education (NHE)
v. Counselling/Guidance on family welfare, ARSH, child care practices and home management
vi. Life Skill Education and accessing public services
vii. Vocational training for girls aged 16 and above under National Skill Development Program (NSDP)
The objectives of the scheme are as under:
i. Enable self‐development and empowerment of AGs.
ii. Improve their nutrition and health status.
iii. Spread awareness among them about health, hygiene, nutrition, Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual
Health (ARSH), and family and child care.
iv. Upgrade their home‐based skills, life skills and vocational skills.
v. Mainstream out‐of‐school AGs into formal/non formal‐education.
vi. Inform and guide them about existing public services, such as PHC, CHC, Post Office, Bank, Police
Station, etc.
There are two major components under the Scheme that include Nutrition Component and Non Nutrition
Component.
I) Nutrition Component: Take Home Ration or Hot Cooked Meal
11‐14 years: Out of school girls
14 ‐18 years: both out of school and in school girls
II) Non Nutrition Component
.For Out of school Adolescent Girls: (2 – 3 times a week)
a) 11‐18 years
- IFA supplementation,
- Health check‐up and Referral services,
- Nutrition & Health Education (NHE),
- Counselling / Guidance on family welfare, ARSH, child care practices
- Life Skill Education and accessing public services
b) 16‐18Years
- Vocational training under National Skill Development Program
. For In school Adolescent Girls: (twice a month – average)
c) 11‐18 years
‐ Nutrition & Health Education (NHE)
Swadhar Yojna
Swadhar Scheme was introduced in 2001-02 with the identification of need for a project based approach to
address the requirements of women in difficult circumstances. Major objective of the scheme is to
comprehensively rehabilitate widows, victims of trafficking, victims of natural calamities, mentally
challenged and destitute women. The scheme offers for support like food and shelter, counselling, medical
facilities and vocational training to women. The scheme also envisages setting up help-lines for women in
distress. In the latest Union Budget, it was proposed to merge Swadhar scheme with Short Stay Homes and
renamed as Swadhar Greh. No. of Swadhar Homes to be converted into Swadhar Greh depends on receipt of
requisite information from State Governments.
STEP (Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women) (20th October 2005):
The Ministry has administered ‘Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)
Scheme' since 1986-87 as a 'Central Sector Scheme'. The major objective of STEP Scheme is to provide
skills that give employability to women and to provide competencies and skill that enable women to become
self-employed/entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to benefit women who are in the age group of 16
years and above across the country. The grant under the Scheme is given to an institution/ organisation
including NGOs directly and not the States/ UTs. The assistance under STEP Scheme is available in any
sector for imparting skills related to employability and entrepreneurship, including but not limited to the
Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Processing, Handlooms, Tailoring, Stitching, Embroidery, Zari etc,
Handicrafts, Computer & IT enable services along with soft skills and skills for the work place such as
spoken English, Gems & Jewellery, Travel & Tourism, Hospitality.
Stree Shakti Puraskaar Yojna
Stree Shakti Puraskar is institutes in the name of eminent women in Indian history (Ajit Kumar Sinha,
2008). It is a series of India's national nobilities conferred on individual women for their excellent
accomplishment. The award is given in six categories, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development,
Government of India. It recognises the spirit of courage of a woman in difficult circumstances, who has
established this spirit of courage in her personal or professional life. The award also recognises the
pioneering contribution of an individual in empowering women and raising women's issues. This scheme
was instituted in 1991, the award is conferred by the President of India on the occasion of International
Women's Day, 8 March every year at New Delhi.
Major objectives of this scheme are as under:
1. To strengthen the process of economic development of rural women and create a conducive
environment for social change.
2. To form one lakh Self Help Women Groups based on thrift and credit principles which builds self-
reliance and enable women to have greater access to control over resources.
3. To create self confidence in rural women by involving them in income generating activities thereby
contributing to poverty alleviation.
4. To provide opportunities to the members of the groups to avail the benefits of other departmental
schemes by converging the services of various departments and lending institutions to ensure
women’s access to credit financing.
Short Stay Home for Women and Girls (SSH)
The Government of India initiated a programme in 1969 in the Central Sector known as the Short Stay
Homes for Women & Girls to shield and rehabilitate those women and girls who are facing social and moral
danger due to family glitches mental tensions, social ostracism, exploitation or other causes. The services
extended in these Homes include medical care; case work services; occupational therapy; education cum
vocational training and recreational facilities.
The need for providing Short Stay Homes for Women and Girls has been due to the changing pattern of life,
rapid urbanization and industrialization and the resulting migration from rural to urban areas. The breakup of
social institutions like the joint family, contributes considerably in creating problems of adjustment for
women and young girls. Cases of marital conflict and emotional disturbance occur. This effort is made to
help the women to rehabilitate themselves within a short period of time. These Short Stay Homes have been
established by voluntary organizations.
UJJAWALA
A Comprehensive Scheme for Prevention of trafficking and Rescue, Rehabilitation and Re-integration of
Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. Eligibility Criteria: Women and children who
are vulnerable to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and women and children who are victims of
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
Advantages are as under: It prevents trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation
through social mobilisation and involvement of local communities, awareness generation programmes,
generate public discourse through workshops/seminars and such events, and any other innovative activity.
Scheme facilitates rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in a safe custody.
It provides rehabilitation services, both immediate and long-term, to the victims by providing basic
amenities/needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment, including counselling, legal aid and
guidance and vocational training. It also facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at
large. Scheme enables repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.
General Grant-in-Aid Scheme in the field of Women and Child Development
Vulnerability of children and aged
Children and the ageing population face different types of vulnerability. Mortality and morbidity among
children are caused by poverty, their sex and caste position in society. All these have consequences on their
nutrition intake, access to healthcare, environment and education. These factors directly impacts food
security, education of parents and their access to correct health information and access to health care
amenities. Undernourishment and chronic hunger are the important causes of death among children from
poor families. Diarrhoea, acute respiratory diseases, malaria and measles are some of the main causes of
death among children, most of which are either preventable or treatable with low-cost interventions. Tetanus
in newborns remain a problem in at least five states: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West
Bengal, and Assam (UNICEF, India).
The vulnerability among the ageing population is not only due to illness and disability, but also due to their
economic dependency upon their partners, children and other younger family members. Vulnerability among
the elderly also depends on their living arrangement since the elderly are less capable of taking care of
themselves compared to younger persons and need the care and support of others in several aspects. The
significance of the living arrangement among the elderly becomes evident when seen in the context of their
level of economic dependence. Lack of economic dependence has an impact on their access to food, clothing
and healthcare. Among the basic needs of the aged people, medicine features are the highest unmet need.
Healthcare of the elderly is a major concern for the society as ageing is often accompanied by multiple
illnesses and physical ailments. One out of two elderly in India suffers from at least one chronic disease
which requires life-long medications. Providing healthcare to elderly is a burden for especially poor
households.
Among the aged, the widows, poor and disabled constitute those who are more underprivileged. Widows
face structural disadvantages related with gender and marital status. There is striking gender differential that
exists in the ownership of property and assets and in the participation of their management. At all India
level, aged women like those in other age groups suffer from lack of ownership of property and financial
assets and participation in their management compared to aged men in both urban and rural India.
Street Children and Orphans
Street children are also vulnerable group of society that needs greater attention from the government. There
are groups for whom the street more than their family has become their real home, a situation in which there
is no protection, supervision, or direction from responsible adults. Human Rights closely watch and
estimated that approximately 18 million children live or work on the streets of India. Majority of these
children are involved in crime, prostitution, gang related violence and drug trafficking.
In India, approximately 26% of the Indian population lives below the poverty line and 72 % live in rural
areas. Even though the percentage of the Indian population infected with HIV/AIDS is low, it has the second
largest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the world, the first being South Africa. Despite the
many recorded gains in the recent past, issues such as gender inequity, poverty, illiteracy and the lack of
basic infrastructure hinder in HIV/ AIDS prevention and treatment programs in India. The impact of the
AIDS crisis has not begun to fully emerge in India and AIDS related orphaning has not been recognized.
Yet, it is assessed that India has the largest number of AIDS orphans of any country and this number is
expected to double in coming years. It is projected that 14% of the 4.2 million HIV/AIDS cases are children
below the age of 14. In a study conducted by the ILO found that children of infected parents are heavily
discriminated, 35% were denied basic amenities and 17% were forced to take up petty jobs to augment their
income.
Child labour in India is a complex problem and is deep-seated in poverty. Census 1991 data suggests that
there are 11.28 million working children in India. Conservative estimates state that around 300, 000 children
in India are engaged in commercial sex. Child prostitution is socially acceptable in some sections of Indian
society through the practice of Devadasi. Young girls from socially deprived communities are given to the
'gods' and they become a religious prostitute. Devadasi is banned by the Prohibition of Dedication Act of
1982. This system is predominant in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Uttar Pradesh and Assam. More than 50 % of the devadasis become prostitutes: of which approximately 40
per cent join the sex trade in urban brothels and the rest are involved in prostitution in their respective
villages. According to the National Commission on Women, 250,000 women have been devoted as
Devadasis in Maharashtra-Karnataka border.
Schemes for Vulnerable Children
The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS): The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) is a
governmental program implemented by the Government of India to help secure the safety of children, with a
special emphasis on children in need of care and protection, juveniles in conflict or contact with the law and
other vulnerable children. Main objective of this scheme is to create a central structure to provide oversight
and standardization for pre-existing and evolving child protection schemes in India. Proposed in 2006 and
implemented in 2009, the ICPS is administered at the state level by state child protection committees and
societies and at the district level by district child protection societies, among other institutions. Basically,
ICPS is based on the ideologies of ‘protection of child rights’ and ‘best interests of the child’ and aims to
institutionalize services for emergency outreach, family and community based care, counselling and support.
ICPS sensitizes functionaries in the system towards child protection, and raise public awareness. It seeks to
put in place both preventive and curative mechanisms for a child needing protection from exploitation,
harassment, and health hazards. The model adopts government-civil society partnership to ensure child
protection and create a safe and healthy environment for the children of India.
National Awards for Child Welfare: In order to boost the voluntary sector, the Government of India, in
1979, introduced a scheme of giving ‘National Award for Child welfare’ to deserving institutions and
individuals for their outstanding performance in the field of child development and welfare, this scheme was
started, with a view to give recognition to such voluntary action.
National Child Awards for Exceptional Achievements: The National Child Award for Exceptional
Achievement was introduced in 1996 and is presented by the Department of Women & Child Development,
government of India to children between ages 4 to 15 with exceptional capabilities. The awards are
generally presented on 14 November, Children's Day, usually by the President of India in Durbar Hall of the
Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award For Service To Children: To boost voluntary action, the Government
of India has been instituted an Award to honour individuals who makes outstanding contribution towards
service for children. Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY): The Balika Samriddhi Yojana introduced in 1997 is
an important initiative of the government to raise the status of the girl child. The aim of scheme is changing
the negative attitude of families and communities towards the girl child, to increase enrolment and retention
of girls in schools, to raise the marriage age of girls and to create income opportunities and activities. A
series of incentives are incorporated into the Yojana, such as a gift of Rs. 500/- to the mother on delivery of
a baby girl and the condition of an annual scholarship for the girl child education. In 1999-2000 the scheme
was modified to benefit the girl child. Hence now the girl child can receive:
A post birth grant amount of Rs. 500/-
She will be eligible for annual scholarships for education according to class.
Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY):
The Kishori Yojana, financed by Government of India is being conducted in 70 Child Development projects
of the State. Kishori Shakti Yojana under the domain of ICDS has an objective to empower adolescent girls
and their holistic development by improving their self-perception and creating opportunities for realizing
their full potential through Balika Mandals. The scheme principally aims at breaking the intergenerational
life cycle of nutritional & gender disadvantage and providing a supportive environment for self-
development.
Major objective are as under:
i. To provide the required literacy and numeric skills through the non-formal stream of education.
ii. To stimulate a desire for more social exposure and knowledge and to help them improve their
decision making capabilities.
 iii. To improve the nutritional, health and development status of adolescent girls, promote awareness on
health, hygiene, nutrition and family care.
iv. To link them to opportunities for learning life skills, to train and equip the adolescent girls to
improve/upgrade home based and vocational skills.
v. To help them gain a better understanding of their social environment and take initiatives to become
productive members of the society.
Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG)
The Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls was launched in 2002-03 to fulfil nutritional needs of
adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Under this scheme, 6 kg of food-grains were given
to under nourished adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers according to their weight. It was
primarily started as a pilot project in 51 districts of the country and was taken up again in 2003-04. It was
stopped for a year in 2004-05 but taken on as a full project, in 2005-06, to be implemented by the Ministry
of Women and Child Development. The scheme was started in 51 backward districts and was restricted to
only undernourished adolescent girls. The scheme continues on a pilot project basis. The funding is done by
the central government to the state government in the form of 100% grants. The food is meant to be
provided through the public distribution system for no cost to the families identified in this scheme. The
scheme targets girl children between the ages of 11 -19 who are less than 35 kgs.
Early Childhood Education for 3-6 Age Group Children Under the Programme of Universaliation of
Elementary Education: That Early Childhood Education has immense importance for overall growth of the
child. The main objectives of educational development according to sixth Five Year Plan 1980-85, is "to
ensure essential minimum education to all children up to the age of 14 years within the next 10 years. The
main tasks during the Sixth Plan for Elementary Education are as under.
I. To achieve additional enrolment of 180 lakhs of children in classes I-VIII.
II. To ensure drastic reduction in the drop-out rates.
Scheme for welfare of Working Children in need of Care and Protection:
The intent of the Scheme for Working Children in Need of Care and Protection is to offer working children
with essential educational services such as non-formal education, and vocational training. The training must
aim at entering or re-entering children in the mainstream formal education system in cases where they have
never attended school and where children have discontinued school. The programme aims at averting and
stopping the exploitation of working children and safeguarding their right to education.
Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA)
The aim of CARA is to guarantee that every orphan, destitute and surrendered child has an affectionate and
caring family. It currently comes under the purview of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
CARA was formed in 1990 under the Ministry of Welfare. Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
conferred onto CARA the responsibility of upholding the Hague Convention on Protection of Children &
Cooperation in respect of Inter-country Adoption of 1993. It became an autonomous body in 1999 by
registering it under the Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. After the passing of the Juvenile
Justice Act 2000 and its amendment in 2006, CARA was transferred to the MWCD. In India a child can be
placed with a family under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
and Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme For the Children of Working Mothers
This scheme is developed for the need of working women. It has been recognized that with growing
employment opportunities for women and the rising need to supplement household income, more and more
women are entering in the job market. Creche and Day Care Services are required by working mothers as
well as women belonging to poor families, who require support and relief for childcare as they struggle to
cope with burden of activities, within and outside the home. The Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme was
refurbished in 2006. The present scheme will provide assistance to NGOs for running crèches for infants (0-
6 years) and would provide assistance to ensure sleeping facilities, healthcare, supplementary nutrition,
immunisation, etc. for running a creche for 25 infants for eight hours.
Major Schemes for Aged Population
1. National social Assistance program Scheme: The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)
which came into effect from 15th August, 1995 represents a significant step towards the fulfilment of the
Directive Principles in Article 41 and 42 of the Constitution. It presents a National Policy for Social
Assistance benefit to poor households in the case of old age, death of primary bread-winner and maternity.
This programme is being implemented in rural areas as well as urban areas. NSAP signifies a significant
step towards the fulfilment of the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution of India
which command upon the State to undertake within its means a number of welfare measures.
The Programme has three components, namely The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Government of India that offers financial support to the old people,
widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pension.
2. National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS): This scheme is 100% funded by the Central Government.
National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) is a component of National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
Under National Family Benefit Scheme, Central Assistance is given in the form of lump sum family benefit
for households below the poverty line on the death of the primary breadwinner in the bereaved family. The
amount of benefit is Rs.10000/- in case of death of primary breadwinner due to natural or accidental causes.
The family benefit is paid to such surviving member of the household of the deceased who, after local
inquiry is determined to be the head of the household. There is some eligibility criteria. The assistance is
available on fulfilling the following conditions:
1. The primary breadwinner shall be a member whose earnings contribute substantially to the
household income.
2. The death of such primary breadwinner occurs while he or she is more than 18 years and less than 65
years of age.
3. The bereaved family qualifies as one below the poverty line according to the criteria prescribed by
the Govt. of India.
3. National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS)
The National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) was announced in 2001 to deliver nutrition support to
pregnant women. Under this scheme, pregnant women living below the poverty line are given a one-time
payment of Rs. 500, 8–12 weeks prior to delivery. In the year 2005, the government of India launched the
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide cash incentives
for women choosing to have institutional deliveries. NMBS was merged into Janani Suraksha Yojana in the
same year; however, with Supreme Court’s intervention, the benefits under the NMBS were retained,
irrespective of the place of delivery (International Labour Office, 1999).
Guidelines for National Old Age Pension Scheme
i. The age of the applicant (male or female) shall be 65 years or higher.
ii. The amount of the old age pension will be Rs. 75/- per month for purpose of claiming Central.
iii. The applicant must be a destitute in the sense of having little or no regular means of subsitence from
his/her own sources of income or through financial support from family members or other sources. In
order to determine destitution, the criteria, if any currently in force in the state/UT govt. may also be
 followed. The Govt. of India reserve the right to review these criteria and suggest appropriate revised
criteria..
iv. The ceiling on the total number of old age pension for purpose of claiming Central assistance is
specified by Govt. of India.
v. Village, Panchayat and relevant authorities shall report for every case of death of pensioners
immediately after its occurrence to the appropriate sanctioning authority.
Other Senior Citizens Pensions
The National Policy on Older Persons was declared by the Government of India in the year 1999. It was a
step in the right direction in enactment of the UN General Assembly Resolution 47/5 to observe 1999 as
International Year of Older Persons and in keeping with the assurances to older persons contained in the
Constitution. The welfare of senior citizens is mandated in the Constitution of India under Article 41. "The
state shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for
securing the right to public assistance in cases of old age". The Right to Equality is guaranteed by the
Constitution as a fundamental right. Social security is the concurrent responsibility of the central and state
governments. The policy and plans were put in place by central and state governments for the welfare of
older persons. The state governments issued their policies and programmes for the welfare of older persons.
These Schemes were partially modified in 1998 based on the suggestions received from various corners and
also on the basis of the feedback received from the State Governments.
Vulnerability Due To Migration: Migrants and their disavowal of rights have to be understood from the
existing contradictions within and across nations from skilled and voluntary migrants at one end of the
gamut to the poor and unskilled migrant population on the other end intended to be excluded from the fabric
of the host nation/areas. For the latter, the intersection of human rights and migration is a negative one, with
bad experiences throughout the migratory ‘life cycle’, in areas of origin, journey or transit and destination.
The connection of health and human rights becomes even more complex when irregular or illegal migration
clashes with the interest of the area of destination. India has huge number of international migrants.
Adjacent countries are the main sources of origin of the international migrants to India with the bulk of these
migrants coming from Bangladesh, followed by Pakistan and Nepal. But these are migrants who have
entered the country lawfully. There are many who enter the country illegally. Those are the one who are
most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by employers, migration agents, corrupt bureaucrats and criminal
cliques. In many situations, migrants do not know what rights they are entitled to and still less how to claim
them, hence the cases of abuse go unrecorded. Another area where exploitation is widespread is forced
labour which takes place in the illicit underground economy and hence tends to escape national statistics.
Illegal migrants often live on the margins of society, trying to avoid contact with authorities and have little
or no legal access to prevention and healthcare services. They face higher risks of exposure to dangerous
working conditions. Internal migration of poor labourers has also been on the rise in India. This population
is at high risk for diseases and faces reduced access to health services.
Among the migrants who are vulnerable, the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) deserve mention. Internal
displacement arises out of ethnic conflicts, religious conflicts, political reasons, development projects,
natural disaster etc. The Internally Displaced People are vulnerable to health risks and access to treatment.
The emotional stress of displacement and the toll that this takes does have a great impact on physical as well
as mental health. Many mental health problems are reported among Internally Displaced People. Stress
disorder leads to cardio-vascular stress, psycho-trauma, endocrine stress, musculo-skeletal stress, stress-
belly (ulcers etc) and cranial stress (tension headaches and migraines). Migrants suffer greater vulnerability
due to reduced economic choices and lack of social support in the new area of destination. Women and
children in an asymmetrical situation are doubly vulnerable owing to their lack of proper legal status and
high risk of sexual exploitation and suffer from poor antenatal care coverage, prevalence of anemia,
prevalence of reproductive tract infections experience high incidences of violence.
To summarize, in the Constitution of India, the three supports of human rights are the right to equality
including the prohibition of discrimination in any form, the six vital freedoms of citizens (including the right
to speech and expression) and the right to life guaranteed to all persons. These rights have been documented
to be unchallengeable, unalterable and part of the basic structure of the Constitution which cannot be
abrogated. India’s Supreme Court has understood the right to life as including the right to live with self-
respect, right to health, education, human environment, speedy trial and privacy. The focus of governmental
activity has to increase the delivery of services through grass-roots local self-governance institutions,
particularly in rural areas. India has taken good initiative for the empowerment of women by reserving one-
third of all seats for women in urban and local self-government, bringing over one million women at the
grassroots level into political decision making. India has assured human rights to all people in India
including the defence of minorities.
India has protected their right to practice and preserve their religious and cultural beliefs as a part of the
Chapter on Fundamental Rights. Jurisdictive and executive measures have been taken for the effective
implementation of protections provided under the Constitution for the protection of the interests of
vulnerable sections. India’s constitution is taking care of the need to empower the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and is fully dedicated to resolve issues of any discrimination against them at every level.
The Constitution of India eradicated “untouchability” and prohibits its practice in any form. There are also
explicit and elaborate legal and administrative provisions to address caste-based discrimination in the nation.
India specified that at independence, after the departure of the colonizers, all the people, including its tribal
people, were considered as native to India. This position has been elucidated on various occasions, including
while extending India’s support to the acceptance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples at the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.
Separation of powers between various organs
The separation of powers, sometimes vaguely used interchangeably with the ‘Trias politica’ principle is a
model for the governance of a state. It is established in documents that dogma of separation of powers
considers the idea that the governmental functions must be based on a tripartite division of legislature,
executive and judiciary. The three organs should be separate, distinct and independent in its own sphere so
that one does not intrude the territory of the other. Previous literature denoted that Aristotle who first
perceived and saw that there is a specialization of function in each Constitution developed this doctrine.
Later many theorists such as Montesquieu, John Locke and James Harrington described these functions as
legislative, executive and judicial. All the theories originated by these political thinkers in relation to the
principle of separation of powers were on a basic presumption that the liberties of the people should be
protected from the tyrannical and despotic rulers when all the powers are vested and exercised by the very
same persons (Vishnoo Bhagwan, 2010).
The model was first developed in ancient Greece. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each
with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in
conflict with the powers associated with the other branches. The typical division of branches is into a
legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. It can be differentiated with the merging of powers in a
parliamentary system where the executive and legislature are unified. Theory of Separation of Powers is
based on the concept and based on the the idea that for the sake of individual freedom. Cooley emphasizes
the prominence of the doctrine of separation of powers as “This arrangement gives each department a certain
independence, which operates as a restraint upon such action of others as might encroach on the rights and
liberties of the people, and makes it possible to establish and enforce guarantees against attempts at tyranny.
The modern design of the principle of separation of powers was elaborated in constitutional theory of John
Locke (1632-1704). He wrote in his second treaties of Civil Government as follows: ‘It may be too great a
temptation for the humane frailty, apt to grasp at powers, for the same persons who have power of making
laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from the
law, both in its making and execution to their own private advantage'.
Major objectives of the doctrine of separation of powers:
The main objective of the doctrine is to prevent the abuse of power within different spheres of government.
In our constitutional democracy public power is subject to constitutional control. Different spheres of
government should act within their boundaries. The courts are the ultimate guardian of our constitution, they
are duty bound to protect it whenever it is violated. Moseneke CJ also stated that the courts are more likely
to confront the question of whether to venture into the domain of other branches of government while
performing their functions as entrusted by the constitution. Within the context of the doctrine of separation
of powers the courts are duty bound to ensure that the exercise of power by other branches of government
occurs within the constitutional context. The courts must also observe the limit of their own power.
Different researchers also rebounded their views on the purpose of the doctrine. Montesquieu stated that
‘When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of
magistrates there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate
should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Again, there is no liberty if the judicial
power be not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and
liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were
joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression'.
According to Dicey, the doctrine rests on ‘the necessity of preventing the government, the legislature and the
courts from encroaching upon one another’s province’. Only few countries are attempting to implement the
doctrine of separation of powers.
Elements of separation of powers:
It is generally acknowledged that there are three main categories of governmental functions-
1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judicial
Likewise, there are three main organs of the Government in a State-
 Legislature
 Executive
 Judiciary.
The theory of Separation of Powers confers all the three organs of the government should be separated from
each other. Each department should be assigned to a different set of persons limited to its own sphere of
activities having independent jurisdictions from, the other. No organ of the government should release any
functions which it is not obliged to do. The theory signified that, each branch of the Government must be
confined to the exercise of its own function and not allowed to interrupt upon the functions of other
branches. In this way each branch will be a check to others and so single group of people will be able to
control the machinery of the state.
The theory of separation of the powers signifies the following three different things:
That the same person should not form part of more than one of the three organs of the government.
That one organ of the government should not interfere with any other organ of the government.
That one organ of the government should not exercise the functions assigned to any other organ. This is
traditional concept of theory of separation of power, which is dissimilar from modern conception. New
concept of separation of power has arisen because in those days when these researchers and theorists
explained their ideas as the economy was very simple. Furthermore, in earlier period, areas of governmental
activities were not broad. Social problems were not very complex and national and international situations
were not that tricky.
Major grounds for revival of separation of powers are as under:
The modern state has been forced to increase its activities in the economic field. This has become,
unescapable due to technical and industrial re-orientation. Presently, every state particularly developing
nations, have realized that planning both at regional and national levels, is unavoidable. It is debated that an
economy as intricate as that of a modern State cannot be controlled effectively by a government, based on
the theory of separation of powers. In a modern state, it is necessary to combine efficiency with freedom.
Other reason is that throughout the 18th century, it was assumed that the government was a necessary
malicious and as such it was most essential that its activities should be checked. Currently, whole concept
has transformed. It is now believed that for wealth of the nation, it was most unavoidable that government
should be made to function effectively.
The principle of separation of powers is an inseparable fragment of the development of democracy.
Democracy edicts a system in which every inhabitant can, without fear of revenge, breathe, express himself,
and follow his or her interests. It allows him to live a life of his choice to the extent he does not impinge
upon the rights of the other people. It can be presupposed that a system of balances and counter balances
exists among the three organs of the government to guarantee a strong nurtured democratic system. The
Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive are the supports of democracy. No democracy indeed
anticipates conferment of absolute power in any single authority. According to Lord Acton: “Power corrupts
and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely"
Therefore, the system of checks and balances is one of the most striking aspects of Indian constitutional
scheme. The three organs can practically not be segregated into three incontrovertible compartments due to
their interdependence on each other to ensure effective governance. They have to work in harmony and in
consonance to attain a meaningful sustenance and purposeful progress of inhabitants. Though, minimum
infringement is always desirable. Hon’ble Chief Justice Balakrishnan stated that, "the Constitution lays
down the structure and defines the limits and demarcates the role and function of every organ of the State
including the judiciary and establishes norms for their inter relationships, checks and balances.” Therefore,
all the three organs are expected to work in concord instead of giving importance to only one of the organs.
Checks and balances on the principle of separation of powers:
The aim of checks and balances is to safeguard that different branches of government control each other
internally (checks) and serve as counter weights to the power possessed by the other branches (balances). In
simple form, the objective of separation of functions and employees is to limit the power; to make the
branches of government accountable to each other. The most noticeable example of a check is the power of
the judiciary to appraise executive conduct and ordinary laws for the compliance with the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights. Judicial review in this case constitutes neither executive nor judicial function, it is a mere
check on the exercise of executive and legislative power. It is a power exercised by the judiciary to
guarantee constitutional compliance and not to exercise the power of another specialist.
Separation of power: Check and balance

The Legislature:
The Legislature has been considered as high-esteem in the Indian Constitution. It is mainly associated with
enactment of general rules of law that are relevant to all aspects of the conduct of its inhabitants and
institutions. The Parliament is the Union Legislature of India consists of two bodies such as Lok Sabha and
the Rajya Sabha. It passes laws, impose taxes, authorizes borrowing, and prepares and implements the
budget, has sole power to declare war, can start investigations, especially against the executive branch,
appoints the heads of the executive branch and sometimes appoints judges as well as it has the power to
ratify treaties. As it is presenters for the will of the people by safeguarding a true and complete democracy, it
can be supposed that it cannot be done all by the Legislature itself. It is an impending threat to democracy if
an absolute power is given to the nation’s purse holder. By making the executive responsible to the popular
house, the Constitution safeguards a proper mechanism of checks and balances to the dogma of separation of
powers. The entire system has other facades which can help achieve the same. Therefore, this brings the role
of the other two pillars: the judiciary and the Executive.
The Judiciary:
Indian constitution is drafted so precisely that it provides for an independent and unprejudiced Judiciary as
the interpreter of the Constitution and as custodian of the rights of the populations through the process of
judicial review. This mandates the judiciary to interpret the laws but not to make them. They are not to lay
down the general norms of behaviour for the government. Judiciary is an important organ of the government
(Harihar Bhattacharyya, 2015). The Supreme Court of India is one of the very powerful courts in the world.
Since 1950, the judiciary has played vital role in interpreting and in protecting the Constitution.
The higher judiciary in India, especially the honourable Supreme Court has become an epicenter of debate
over its role in entertaining and deciding public-interest-petitions. In deciding these petitions, the judiciary
issues many directions to the Government which includes framing of legislation in many areas. The role of
the judiciary should only be limited to inspecting the constitutionality of the legislation and not directing the
government to enact legislation. The scope of judicial review does not extend beyond enquiring whether a
questioned legislation or an executive action falls within the competence of the Legislature or of the
executive authority or is consistent with the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution or with its
other mandatory provisions.
Independence of Judiciary means that:
i. The other organs of the government like the executive and legislature must not restrain the
functioning of the judiciary in such a way that it is unable to do justice.
ii. The other organs of the government should not interfere with the decision of the judiciary.
iii. Judges must be able to perform their functions without fear or favour.
Structure of the judiciary:
The Constitution of India provides for a single assimilated judicial system. This means that India does not
have separate State courts. The structure of the judiciary in India is pyramidal with the Supreme Court at the
top, High Courts below them and district and subordinate courts at the lowest level.

The Supreme Court of India is most powerful courts anywhere in the world. However, it functions within
the limitations imposed by the Constitution. The functions and responsibilities of the Supreme Court are
defined by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has specific jurisdiction or scope of powers. It has been
recognized that the judiciary is trusted with the job of protecting rights of individuals. The Constitution
provides two ways in which the Supreme Court can remedy the violation of rights. First, it can restore
fundamental rights by issuing writs of Habeas Corpus; mandamus etc. (article 32). The High Courts also
have the power to issue such writs (article 226).
Secondly, the Supreme Court can declare the concerned law as unconstitutional and therefore non-
operational (article 13). It can be said that the role of the judiciary in modern society is to assist in delivering
justice. The major role of the judiciary is to apply the law to factual situations and provide a just resolution
for the parties as well as for society.
The three organs have to perform their functions keeping in mind certain constitutionally assigned
impingements. Therefore, if any of the three organs attempts to expand its jurisdiction, it would follow an
inevitable conflict and affect the harmonious effectiveness of the tripartite system of government. No organ
has to supervise over the exercise of powers and functions of another, unless the Constitution strictly so
mandates. The Honourable Supreme Court has itself interpreted that the concept of Separation of powers is a
“basic feature” of the Constitution. So if one encroaches the territory of the other it would be a clear
violation of the basic structure of the Constitution and judiciary is not an exception to the same.
Executive:
The Executive can refuse laws, can command of the military, makes verdicts or declarations and disseminate
lawful regulations and executive orders, can reject to spend money allocated for certain purposes, can
appoints judges, and has the power to grant pardons to convicted criminals. The Executive is strong support
of democracy and equally expected to be free of intrusions from the other two organs of constitution. It is
established that Executive is independent of the two but the incongruity persists. It is completely eroded in
actual practice. The reason is that each time the executive is questioned for its actions by the judiciary and
the Legislature. This weakens the independence of the Executive to the maximum. It is not that the question
of responsibility pops up only in the case of executive. The judiciary and legislature are equally answerable
but in their cases, a built-in system from within would be available for discharging those functions. This is
the real state of affairs, which exists in practice.
Though the Indian Constitution allocates executive powers to the President and Governors (Article 53 (1)
and Article 154 (1), they are authorised with certain legislative powers (Articles 123, 213 and 356) and
certain judicial powers (Articles 103 and 192). Likewise, the legislature exercises certain judicial functions
(Articles 105 and 194) and judiciary exercises few legislative and executive functions (Articles 145, 146,
227 and 229). However, the judiciary is made separate from the executive in the public services of the State
(Article 50). In some states, complete separation of judiciary from executive has been accomplished through
legislation.
According to Article 52 and 53 of Indian constitution:
52. The President of India - There shall be a President of India.
53. Executive power of the Union. - (1) The executive power of the Union shall be vested in the President
and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this
Constitution.
(3) Nothing in this article shall-(a) be deemed to transfer to the President any functions conferred by any
existing law on the Government of any State or other authority; or (b) prevent Parliament from conferring by
law functions on authorities other than the President.
Executive powers: All the executive actions of the Union government are taken in his name. He assigns
officials of the Union Government, Prime Minister, and Council of ministers at the advice of the Prime
Minister, Chief Justice and judges of Supreme Court and High Court at the advice of the Chief Justice of
India. He appoints the chairman of UPSC, Comptroller and Auditor general of India, Attorney General of
India, Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, Governor of the states, members of
Finance Commission and ambassadors.
Judicial powers:
The President appoints the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and other judges on the advice of the Chief
Justice. The President enjoys legal protection. He can grant pardon, reprieve, and respite or remise
punishment. The President can terminate the judges by two-thirds majority of the members present in two
houses. If they consider a question of law or a matter of public importance which has arisen, they can ask for
the advisory opinion of the Supreme Court. However, they may or may not accept that opinion.
Legislative powers:
The President summons both houses of the Parliament and prorogues the session of the two houses and can
dissolve the Lok Sabha but uses these powers according to the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by
the Minister. The introductory speech of the Parliament at the beginning of the first session each year is
delivered by him where he outlines the new policies of the government. A bill that the Parliament has passed
can become a law only after the President gives their agreement to it. He can return a bill to the Parliament
for reconsideration but this is not so in case of money bill. But in case the Parliament sends it back for the
second time, the President is obliged to sign it. The President can promulgate ordinances when the
Parliament is not in session but must get it approved within six weeks. Furthermore, this is so only in case of
the Union and Concurrent list.
Separation of Powers: Each branch of the federal government (legislative, executive and judicial) operates
independently of the other branches.
Legislative Executive Judicial
The main The The Judicial branch is led by the Supreme court.
duties of the executive
legislature branch
branch are enforces
to write, the laws
debate, and of the
pass bills country
that are
then passed
up to the
President
for approval

It is important to uphold the separation of powers between the executive and the legislature is where the
legislators exercise executive powers. Legislators exercise their check over the executive many a times
through their power to head executive boards and agencies of various descriptions, the capacity to contribute
in executive committees which award contracts or select beneficiaries of various welfare schemes.
Furthermore, the grant of an annual fund to the legislators to carry out activities in their constituency gives
them executive powers in disguise which leads to corruption over a period of time. Article 74(1) make it
clear that the executive head has to act in accordance with the aid and advice given by the cabinet. Certain
constitutional provisions also provide for Powers, Privileges and Immunities to the MPs, Immunity from
judicial scrutiny into the proceedings of the house, etc. Such provisions are thereby making legislature
independent.
The executive and the judiciary in the Indian constitution:
The rapport between the judiciary and the executive has always been sensitive. A society governed by Rule
of law always demands for separation of the judiciary from the executive. The rule of law is always exposed
to the risk of being intruded by the executive. Therefore, proper functioning of a democracy requires a clear
separation of the two. The primary function of the judiciary is the administration of justice and justice can
never be rightly administered without the fear or favour unless there is a separation of the judiciary from the
executive. Article 50 of the Constitution provides that “The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary
from the executive in the public services of the State.” The intention of the developers of the Constitution
was to bring about changes wherever possible and shall be done immediately, without any delay, and where
immediate operation of this principle is not possible, it shall however be accepted as an imperative
responsibility.
The judiciary and the legislature under the Indian constitution:
According to Article 122 of the Indian Constitution, the Court shall not call validity of any proceedings in
Parliament in question on the basis of any alleged irregularity of procedure. And Article 212 provides that
the Court should not investigate into the proceedings of the Legislature. But certain judicial irregularity has
been felt in the recent past. The most noticeable and popular Jagdambika Pal case of 1998 involving the
Uttar Pradesh Assembly and the Jharkhand Assembly case of 2005. The Interim Order of the Supreme Court
in both the cases is a clear violation of the principle of separation of powers between the Judiciary and the
Legislature. The judiciary blames Legislature for not doing anything worthwhile over the past three decades,
whereas Legislature accuses Judiciary of doing the job of the legislature. At a glance, the doctrine of
Separation of Powers is accepted in India.
In I.C.Golak Nath v. State of Punjab, it was perceived: “The Constitution brings into existence different
constitutional entities, namely, the Union, the States and the Union Territories. It creates three major
instruments of power, namely, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. It demarcates their
jurisdiction minutely and expects them to exercise their respective powers without overstepping their limits.
They should function within the spheres allotted to them."
Studying the constitutional provisions carefully, it is evident that the policy of Separation of Powers has not
been recognised in India in strict manner. In India, not only there is functional overlying but there is
personnel overlapping also. The Supreme Court has power to declare annulled the laws passed by the
legislature and the actions taken by the executive if they violate any provision of the Constitution or the law
passed by the legislature in case of executive actions. The executive can affect the functioning of the
judiciary by making appointments to the office of Chief Justice and other judges. One can go on listing such
examples yet the list would not be exhaustive.
In Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, it was perceived: “That in the Indian Constitution there is separation
of powers in a broad sense only. A rigid separation of powers as under the American Constitution or under
the Australian Constitution does not apply to India. Chandrachud J. also observed that the political
usefulness of doctrine of Separation of Power is not widely recognized. No constitution can survive without
a conscious adherence to its fine check and balance. The principle of Separation of Power is a principle of
restraint which has in it the precept, innate in the prudence of self-preservation, that discretion is the better
part of valour."
It can be said with the observation of Mukherjee, J. in Ram Jawaya v. State of Punjab: “The Indian
Constitution has not indeed recognized the doctrine of separation of powers in its absolute rigidity but the
functions of the different parts or branches of the Government have been sufficiently differentiated and
consequently it can very well be said that our Constitution does not contemplate assumption, by one organ
or part of the State, of functions that essentially belong to another."
It can be concluded that the conception of Separation of Powers is a model for the authority of independent
states. The three branches of the government that include the legislative, the executive and the judiciary are
the three separate activities in every government through which the will of the people are communicated.
The legislature devises laws, the executive applies them and the judiciary applies them to the specific cases
arising out of the breach of law. Therefore, it has become a model for the governance of democratic States.
This model is also called as Trias Politica, which in the non-political context means ‘separation of duties’.
Advocates of the separation of powers believe that it shields democracy and forestalls tyranny. Whereas, the
others say that there occurs considerable overlap of powers in parliamentary democracies.
India and its neighbourhood-relations
India is land where people believe in cooperation and maintain healthy relationship with its neighbour. India
has always been known as a “peace-loving country”. India has official political relations with most nations.
India is considered as the world's second most populous and democratic country. Its economy is the fastest
growing around the world. With the world's eighth largest military expenditure, third largest armed force,
seventh largest economy by nominal rates and third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity.
India is a regional power, an embryonic global power and has capability to become superpower. India has a
developing international influence and a prominent voice in global businesses.
India is a progressing industrialised nation. It has a history of partnership with several countries, is a
component of the BRICS and a major part of developing world. India was one of the founding members of
several international organisations, most notably the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, G-20
major economies and the founder of the Non-Aligned Movement. India has also played an important and
influential role in other international organisations like East Asia Summit, World Trade Organisation,
International Monetary Fund (IMF), G8+5 and IBSA Dialogue Forum. Locally, India is a part of SAARC
and BIMSTEC.
Foreign policy of India has always regarded the concept of neighbourhood as one of broadening concentric
circles, around a central axis of historical and cultural commonalities. Millions people of Indian origin, live
and work abroad and constitute an important link with the mother country. An important role of India's
foreign policy has been to guarantee their welfare and wellbeing within the framework of the laws of the
country where they live.
The Ministry of External Affairs is the Indian government's agency look after the foreign relations of India.
The Minister of External Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. Sushma
Swaraj is current Minister of External Affairs. When reviewing historical approach, India's international
influence varied over the years after independence. Indian prestige and moral authority were high in the
1950s and enabled the acquisition of developmental assistance from both East and West. Although the
prestige stemmed from India's nonaligned stance, the nation was incapable to prevent Cold War politics
from becoming intertwined with interstate relations in South Asia.
In the decade of 1960 and 1970s, India's international position among developed and developing countries
faded in the course of wars with China and Pakistan, disputes with other countries in South Asia, and India's
effort to balance Pakistan's support from the United States and China by signing the Indo-Soviet Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation in August 1971. Although India obtained substantial Soviet military and
economic aid, which helped to strengthen the nation, India's influence was undercut regionally and
internationally by the perception that its friendship with the Soviet Union prevented a more forthright
disapproval of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. In the late 1980s, India developed relations with the
United States, other developed countries, and China while continuing close ties with the Soviet Union.
Relations with its South Asian neighbours, especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, occupied much of the
energies of the Ministry of External Affairs.
In the mid-1990s, India fascinated the world attention towards the terrorism supported by Pakistan in
Kashmir. The Kargil War resulted in a major diplomatic victory for India. The United States and European
Union recognised the fact that Pakistani military had illegally infiltrated into Indian Territory and pressured
Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil. Several anti-India militant groups based in Pakistan were labelled as
terrorist groups by the United States and European Union.
After disastrous terrorist attack in September 11 in 2001, Indian intelligence agencies provided the U.S. with
significant information on Al-Qaeda and related groups' activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. India's
extensive contribution to the War on Terror, along with a surge in its economy, has assisted India's
diplomatic relations with several countries.
India championed the cause of peace in the world. Being a large country, India has a long border and many
neighbours with them have traditionally maintained welcoming and good neighbourly relations. Countries
nearby India include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Maldives,
Bhutan, and Nepal. These neighbourhood countries are the member countries of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The constituent countries individually as well as
collectively represent a world of historical links, shared legacies, commonalities as well as diversities which
are elaborately reflected in their ethnic, linguistic, religious and political fabric. China and Myanmar, the
other two neighbours, are no less complex.
The South Asian region is also full of inconsistencies, disparities and paradoxes. In the post-colonial period,
the South Asia has been a theatre of blood spattered interstate as well as civil wars. It has witnessed
liberation movements, nuclear rivalry, military dictatorships and continues to suffer from insurgencies,
religious fundamentalism and terrorism, besides serious problems associated with drugs and human
trafficking.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has remained in existence for over two
decades, yet South Asia is considered as the least integrated of the global regions. This is despite the
stipulation in its Charter that "bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded” from its deliberations, thus
making it possible to put the contentious issues on the back burner and focus on areas of possible
cooperation. On the positive side, the region has been registering good growth during the past several years.
Also democratic forms of governance are beginning to gain some ground in most parts of the region.
India’s position is unique in its neighbourhood. As a matter of geographic factor, India shares borders with
all other South Asian nations whereas no other South Asian nation (except Afghanistan and Pakistan) shares
borders with any other South Asian nation. Notwithstanding some inadequacies, democracy and rule of law
as instruments of political governance are well engrained in India. Transfer of power has been more or less
peaceful and transparent. In relative terms, India can be debatably considered as the most stable country in
the region, progressing at speedy rate, even though the growth has of late slowed down. In terms of its
population, territory, GDP, its image as an evolving world economy and a responsible de-facto nuclear
State, and as a country which is intended to play vital role at international stage.
Effect of pollutant on plants (Source: Rao, 1989)

India has many achievements. But, in the regional perspective, there is neighbours’ bitterness. There are
unfair and erroneous perceptions about India floating around in the region. India treats its neighbours as an
ignored courtyard. There are vested interests and lobbies for whom being anti-Indian is synonymous with
being patriot and nationalist. There are strong institutions within the framework of a more or less failed State
in the neighbourhood (Pakistan) which would like to see relations with India in a state of perpetual
suspension. India’s intentions are suspected even in cases of innocent proposals for economic cooperation
which would lead to win-win situations.
Afghanistan:
India’s relations with Afghanistan are healthy and there is co-operation in economic, technical and cultural
fields. India applauded the UN-sponsored Geneva Agreement on Afghanistan in 1988. India recapped its
stand for an independent, non-aligned Afghanistan. Country realized that the Afghans themselves should be
allowed to decide upon their future without external pressure. To maintain friendly relations, India provided
Rs.10 crore assistance for relief and rehabilitation of Afghan refugees. India is also supporting Afghanistan
in public health, small-scale industries, and education. Bilateral relations between India and Afghanistan
have been customarily strong and pleasant. While India was the only South Asian country to identify the
Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Its relations were weakened during the
Afghan civil wars and the rule the Islamist Taliban in the 1990s. India assisted the rebellion of the Taliban
and became the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid. The new constitutionally
elected Afghan government strengthened its ties with India in wake of persisting tensions and problems with
Pakistan, which is continuing to shelter and support the Taliban. India espoused a policy of cooperation to
boost its standing as a regional power and contain its competitor Pakistan, which supports Islamic militants
in Kashmir and other parts of India. India is the major regional investor in Afghanistan, having committed
more than US$2.2 billion for rebuilding purposes.
India offers aid programs for Afghanistan include infrastructure development, institutional capacity
building, small development projects, as well as food security assistance in the form of ongoing deliveries of
wheat to Afghanistan. Since 2001, more than 10,000 Afghan students have studied in India on ICCR
scholarships, with approximately 7,000 returning home armed with an education and technical skills, which
they are using to drive Afghanistan’s stabilization and development. In the meantime, many officers in the
Afghan government have benefited from the technical capacity building programs of ITEC and the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, while some 8,000 Afghan students are pursuing self-financed degrees in
different fields across India.
Despite many transit obstacles, the volume of Indo-Afghan trade stood at $680 million during 2013-2014,
which is continually rising, following the full implementation of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Trade and
Transit Agreement (APTTA). Furthermore, air connectivity between the two nations has grown
progressively. There are four to five flights operating daily between Kabul and Delhi, bringing to India
nearly 1,000 Afghans, many of them medical tourists, seeking treatment in Delhi hospitals.
To expand economic ties between the two nations, the Afghan Embassy in Delhi has frequently engaged
with the national and local chambers of commerce and industries of India. The embassy has so far signed
five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) covering commercial and medical cooperation between
Afghanistan’s respective chambers of commerce and hospitals, while it has initiated another 20 MOUs with
state chambers and hospitals across India among these few are in the coming months. Indian investors are
more interested in the many “virgin markets” of Afghanistan, including mining, agriculture and
agribusiness, information and technology, telecommunications, and others.
Furthermore, to strength relation between Afghans and Indians, the Afghan Embassy in Delhi has introduced
the creation of sister-city relations between major Indian cities and states and their Afghan counterparts.
Presently, the embassy has proposed the creation of relations between Delhi and Kabul, Mumbai and
Kandahar, Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan) and Herat, Hyderabad and Jalalabad, Ahmadabad (Gujrat) and
Asadabad (Kunar), as well as the State of Assam and the Province of Helmand.
It can be assessed that India remains a vital part of Afghanistan’s stable progress in institutionalizing peace,
pluralism, and prosperity. Links between Afghanistan and India go beyond the traditionally strong relations
at the government level. Since ancient time, the peoples of Afghanistan and India have interacted with each
other through trade and commerce, peacefully coexisting on the basis of their shared cultural values and
commonalities. This history has become the foundation of mutual trust. Public opinion polls in Afghanistan
confirm this, as well as the sentiment Afghans share about feeling at home whenever they visit India.
Bangladesh:
Indian government believe in maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries. Bangladesh is one of
its close neighbour. India had recognised Bangladesh as a separate and independent state, did so on 6
December 1971. India fought together with the Bangladeshis to liberate Bangladesh from West Pakistan in
1971. Bangladesh and India share a common tradition. They are pleasant and both nations make great efforts
to solve the problem of waters of Ganga at Farakka and Tin Bigha corridor in a spirit of give and take. India
has helped Bangladesh in the recovery of cyclone victims in 1985. In broad sense, the relations between the
two nations continue to be amiable. But major issues in relation with these two nation is that of about
145,000 Chakma refugees who crossed over to India. Bangladesh's relationship with India has been difficult
in terms of irrigation and land border disputes post 1976. Nevertheless, India has maintained favourable
relationship with Bangladesh during governments formed by the Awami League in 1972 and 1996. The
solutions of land and maritime disputes have taken out nuisances in ties.
At the beginning, India's relations with Bangladesh have not been stronger because of India's absolute
support for independence and opposition against Pakistan in 1971. During the independence war, many
refugees fled to India. When the struggle of resistance matured in November 1971, India also interfered
militarily and has helped in bring international attention to the issue through Indira Gandhi's visit to
Washington, D.C. Afterwards India furnished relief and reconstruction aid. India also withdrew its military
from the land of Bangladesh when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman requested Indira Gandhi to do so during the
latter's visit to Dhaka in 1972. Indo-Bangladesh relations have been somewhat less friendly since the fall of
Mujib government in August 1975. But as the time passed, many issues emerged such as South Talpatti
Island, the Tin Bigha Corridor and access to Nepal, the Farakka Barrage and water sharing, border conflicts
near Tripura and the construction of a fence along most of the border which India explains as security
provision against migrants, insurgents and terrorists. Bilateral relations began to friendly in 1996, due to soft
Indian foreign policy and the new Awami League Government. A 30-year water-sharing agreement for the
Ganges River was signed in December 1996, after an earlier bilateral water-sharing agreement for the
Ganges River lapsed in 1988. Both nations also have cooperated on the issue of flood warning and
readiness. The Bangladesh Government and tribal insurgents signed a peace accord in December 1997,
which allowed for the return of tribal refugees who had escaped into India, beginning in 1986, to escape
violence caused by an insurgency in their homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Bangladesh Army
maintains a very strong presence in the area presently. The army is progressively concerned about problem
of cultivation of illegal drugs.
There are also small pieces of land along the border region that Bangladesh is tactfully trying to reclaim.
Padua, part of Sylhet Division before 1971, has been under Indian control since the war in 1971. This small
strip of land was re-occupied by the BDR in 2001, but later given back to India after Bangladesh
government decided to solve the problem through diplomatic negotiations. The Indian New Moore Island no
longer exists, but Bangladesh repeatedly claims it to be part of the Satkhira district of Bangladesh.
India has increasingly complained that Bangladesh does not secure its border well. It fears an increasing
flow of poor Bangladeshis and it accuses Bangladesh of sheltering Indian separatist groups like ULFA and
alleged terrorist groups. The Bangladesh government has snubbed to accept these allegations. India
estimates that over 20 million Bangladeshis are living unlawfully in India. Since 2002, India has been
building an India - Bangladesh Fence along much of the 2500 mile border. The failure to resolve migration
disputes bears a human cost for illegal migrants, such as imprisonment and health risks, namely HIV/Aids.
Presently, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina have
completed a revolutionary deal redrawing their disordered shared border and there by solving disputes
between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh and India have signed a historic agreement to simplify their
border by exchanging more than 150 enclaves of land.
Bangladesh also offer India transit route to travel through Bangladesh to its North East states. India and
Bangladesh also have free trade agreement in June 7, 2015. Both nations solved its border dispute on June 6,
2015. To connect Kolkata with Tripura via Bangladesh through railway, the Union Government on 10
February 2016 sanctioned about 580 crore rupees. The funds were sanctioned for constructing the 15-
kilometer railway track between Kolkata and Tripura. The project that is expected to be completed by 2017
will pass through Bangladesh. The Agartala-Akhaura rail-link between Indian Railway and Bangladesh
Railway will reduce the current 1700 km road distance between Kolkata to Agartala via Siliguri to just 350-
kilometer by railway. These projects are high level and on Prime Minister's 'Act East’ Policy, and is
anticipated to increase connectivity and increase trade between India and Bangladesh.
Bhutan:
Relations between India and Bhutan are friendly since past and it is strengthened recently. Co-operation in
economic field between the two countries has advanced them. India has helped Bhutan in industry
development such as in the field of telecommunications, hydel survey, education and forestry. Historically,
there have been strong ties with India. Both countries signed a friendship treaty in 1949, where India would
support Bhutan in foreign relations. On 8th February 2007, the Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty was
substantially revised under the Bhutanese King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Whereas in the Treaty
of 1949 Article 2 read as "The Government of India undertakes to exercise no interference in the internal
administration of Bhutan. On its part, the Government of Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the
Government of India in regard to its external relations." In the revised treaty, it is described as, "In keeping
with the abiding ties of close friendship and cooperation between Bhutan and India, the Government of the
Kingdom of Bhutan and the Government of the Republic of India shall cooperate closely with each other on
issues relating to their national interests. Neither government shall allow the use of its territory for activities
harmful to the national security and interest of the other". The revised treaty also includes in it the preamble.
The Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty of 2007 supports Bhutan's position as an independent and sovereign
nation. The hydropower sector is one of the main supports of bilateral cooperation. It demonstrates mutually
beneficial synergy by providing clean energy to India and exports revenue to Bhutan (power contributes
14% to the Bhutanese GDP, comprising about 35% of Bhutan's total exports). Three hydroelectric projects
(HEPs) totaling 1416 MW, (336 MW Chukha HEP, the 60 MW Kurichu HEP, and the 1020 MW Tala
HEP), are already exporting electricity to India. In 2008, the both governments identified ten more projects
for development with a total generation capacity of 10,000 MW. Of these, three projects totalling 2940 MW
(1200 MW Punatsangchu-I, 1020 MW Punatsangchu-II and 720 MW Mangdechu HEPs) are under
construction and are scheduled to be commissioned in the last quarter of 2017-2018. Out of the remaining 7
HEPs, 4 projects totalling 2120 MW (600 MW Kholongchhu, 180 MW Bunakha, 570 MW Wangchu and
770 MW Chamkarchu) will be constructed under Joint Venture model, for which a Framework Inter-
Governmental Agreement was signed between both governments in 2014. Of these 4 JV-model projects,
pre-construction activities for Kholongchhu HEP have commenced.
It is assessed that India continuously involved in business relations and development partner of Bhutan.
Planned development efforts in Bhutan began in the early 1960s. The First Five Year Plan (FYP) of Bhutan
was launched in 1961. Since then, India has been extending financial assistance to Bhutan’s FYPs. The 10th
FYP ended in June 2013. India's overall help to the 10th FYP was a little over Rs.5000 crores, excluding
grants for hydropower projects.
Burma/Myanmar:
India maintained political relations after Burma's independence from Great Britain in 1948. Burma is located
to the south of the states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India and the
proximity of the People's Republic of China gives strategic importance to Indo-Burmese relations. Since
many years, Indo-Burmese relations were strong due to cultural links, prosperous commerce, common
interests in regional affairs and the presence of a significant Indian community in Burma. Burma is one of
the good neighbour with whom India shares a long and sensitive border. Relations between the two
countries have been friendly. When serious turbulence erupted in Burma in 1988, India expressed sympathy
for the democratic aspirations of the people in that country. Additionally, India allowed Burmese inhabitants
to stay in camps in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
India offered good support when Burma struggled with regional rebellions. However, the revolution of the
democratic government by the Military of Burma led to strains in ties. India condemned the suppression of
democracy and Burma ordered the exclusion of the Burmese Indian community, increasing its own isolation
from the world. Only China maintained healthy relations with Burma while India supported the pro-
democracy movement.
However, due to geo-political concerns, India revitalised its relations and acknowledged the military junta
ruling Burma in 1993, overcoming strains over drug trafficking, the clampdown of democracy. The Indo-
Burmese border stretches over 1,600 kilometres and some insurgents in North-east India seek refuge in
Burma. Subsequently, Indian government is interested in military cooperation with Burma in its counter-
insurgency activities.
In 2001, the Indian Army completed the construction of a major road along its border with Burma. India has
also been building major roads, highways, ports and pipelines within Burma to increase its influence in the
region and also to counter China's rising strides in the Indochina peninsula. Indian companies have also
sought active participation in oil and natural gas exploration in Burma. In February 2007, India announced a
plan to develop the Sittwe port, which enabled ocean access from Indian North-eastern states like Mizoram,
via the Kaladan River.
India is a major purchaser of Burmese oil and gas. In 2007, Indian exports to Burma totalled US$185
million, while its imports from Burma were estimated US$810 million, consisting mostly of oil and gas.
India has granted US$100 million credit to fund highway infrastructure projects in Burma, while US$57
million has been offered to advancement of Burmese railways. A further US$27 million grants was pledged
for road and rail projects. India has also offered military assistance to the Burmese junta. Nonetheless, there
has been increasing pressure on India to cut some of its military supplies to Burma. Relations between the
two nations are healthy which was apparent in the outcome of Cyclone Nargis, when India provided relief
and rescue aid proposals that were accepted by Burma's ruling junta.
China:
China is also close neighbour of India. The relation between these two nations are changeable. Though it is
observed that India had traditionally friendly relation. In 1962, China invaded India and occupied huge
areas. After that the relations between the two countries became strained. India always make efforts to
improve relation with China. India wants good solution of the boundary issues. But China wants to delay
solution to the border issue. With respect to the boundary disagreement, India’s has clear position. In 1988,
former P.M. Rajiv Gandhi said that any solution to Indo-China boundary issue must be reasonable not only
to the two government but also to the people of the two countries. Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China in
December 1988 was considered as beginning in the relations between the two nations. It was sensed that a
favourable climate and condition should be created for good solution to the issues between two nations.
Chinese P.M. Li Peng also visited to India in December 1991and helped to develop good understanding.
However co-operation and exchange of delegations in areas like culture, sports and trade has been resumed,
but the boundary issue remained to be sorted out.
In spite of persistent suspicions remaining from the 1962 Sino-Indian War and continuing boundary disputes
over Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh, Sino-Indian relations have improved progressively since 1988.
Both countries have sought to reduce tensions along the frontier, swell trade and cultural ties, and normalise
relations.
In both nation, high-level delegates and ministers regularly visit. Such efforts have helped to improve
relations. In December 1996, PRC President Jiang Zemin visited India during a tour of South Asia. While in
New Delhi, he signed with the Indian Prime Minister a series of confidence-building measures for the
disputed borders. Sino-Indian relations suffered a brief setback in May 1998 when the Indian Defence
minister justified the country's nuclear tests by citing potential threats from the PRC. Nevertheless, in June
1999, during the Kargil crisis, then-External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh visited Beijing and stated that
India did not consider China a threat. By 2001, relations between India and the PRC were improved, and
both nations handled the move from Tibet to India of the 17th Karmapa in January 2000 with delicacy and
tact. In 2003, India formally accepted Tibet as a part of China, and China recognised Sikkim as an official
part of India in 2004.
Since 2004, the economic growth of China and India has also helped furnace closer relations. Sino-Indian
trade reached US$65.47 billion in 2013-14, making China the single largest trading partner of India. The
growing economic reliance between India and China has also bought the two nations closer administratively,
with both India and China excited to resolve their boundary dispute. They have also worked together on
several issues ranging from WTO's Doha round in 2008 to regional free trade agreement. Alike Indo-US
nuclear deal, India and China have also agreed to cooperate in the field of civilian nuclear energy. Though,
China's economic interests have conflicted with those of India.
Indian government always tries to improve relations with Islamabad and the PM has developed an excellent
relationship with the Chinese leadership “The Prime Minister has particularly developed an excellent
relationship even with the Chinese leadership. India has a boundary issue with them. And the boundary issue
is unresolved. There are other several issues related to China, which are of our concern. But at least the tense
situation around the boundary does not exist.
Maldives:
India has retained cordial relations with Maldives. Maldives is located south of India's Lakshadweep Islands
in the Indian Ocean. As friendly neighbours, India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious
and commercial links steeped in antiquity and enjoy cordial and multi-dimensional relations. Indian troops
landed in Maley in November 1988 and saved Maldivian hostages who had been detained in a coup.
Maldives has been guaranteed by India of its full support and assistance in the economic growth.
India has considerable influence over Maldives' foreign policy and offers extensive security co-operation
especially after the Operation Cactus in 1988 during which India repelled Tamil mercenaries who occupied
the country.
As a founder member in 1985 of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC, which
brings together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, India has
vital role in SAARC. The Maldives has taken the lead in calling for a South Asian Free Trade Agreement,
the formulation of a Social Charter, the initiation of informal political consultations in SAARC forums, the
lobbying for greater action on environmental issues, the proposal of several human rights measures such as
the regional convention on child rights and for setting up a SAARC Human Rights Resource Centre. The
Maldives also promotes greater international profile for SAARC such as through formulating common
positions at the UN.
India and Maldives signed a trade agreement in 1981, which provides for export of vital commodities.
Indian exports to the Maldives include agriculture and poultry produce, sugar, fruits, vegetables, spices, rice,
wheat flour (Atta), textiles, drugs and medicines, a variety of engineering and industrial products, sand and
aggregate, cement for building etc. Indian imports primarily scrap metals from the Maldives. Under the
bilateral agreement, India offers essential food items like rice, wheat flour, sugar, dal, onion, potato and eggs
and construction material such as sand and stone aggregates to Maldives on favourable terms.
India has begun the process to bring the island country into India's security grid. The move comes after the
moderate Islamic nation approached New Delhi earlier over fears that one of its island resorts could be taken
over by terrorists given its lack of military assets and surveillance capabilities. India also signed an
agreement with the Maldives in 2011 which focuses on the following factors:
India shall permanently base two helicopters in the country to improve its surveillance capabilities and
ability to respond swiftly to threats. One helicopter from the Coast Guard was handed over during A. K.
Antony's visit while another from the Navy will be cleared for transfer shortly.
Maldives has coastal radars on only two of its 26 atolls. India will support set up radars on all 26 for
seamless coverage of approaching vessels and aircraft.
The coastal radar chain in Maldives will be networked with the Indian coastal radar system. India has
already undertaken a project to install radars along its entire coastline. The radar chains of the two nations
will be interlinked and a central control room in India's Coastal Command will get a seamless radar picture.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) will perform regular Dornier sorties over the island nation to look out for
suspicious movements or vessels. The Southern Naval Command will facilitate the inclusion of Maldives
into the Indian security grid.
Military teams from Maldives will visit the tri-services Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) to observe
how India manages security and surveillance of the critical island chain.
Nepal:
Nepal is also friendly neighbour country of India. There has been a long tradition of free movement of
people across the borders. Nepal has an area of 147,181 sq. kms and a population of 29 million. It shares a
border of over 1850 kms in the east, south and west with five Indian States – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and in the north with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic
of China. Relations between India and Nepal are strong though there are some troubles stemming from
border disputes, geography, economics, and the problems in-built in big power-small power relations, and
common ethnic and linguistic identities that overlap the two countries' borders. Mainly relation between
India and Nepal are based on century’s traditional cultural ties. India has supported a lot to Nepal in its
development projects. The trade and transit treaty issue created some differences between the two
neighbours. But the issue has since been resolved. Fortunately, these two neighbours have always good
understanding on disputed matters and they resolve intelligently.
In 1950 New Delhi and Kathmandu introduced their intertwined relationship with the Treaty of Peace and
Friendship and accompanying secret letters that defined security relations between the two countries, and an
agreement governing both bilateral trade and trade transiting Indian land. According to the 1950 treaty and
letters, "neither government shall tolerate any threat to the security of the other by a foreign aggressor" and
obligated both sides "to inform each other of any serious friction or misunderstanding with any neighbouring
state likely to cause any breach in the friendly relations subsisting between the two governments", and also
granted the Indian and Nepali people’s right to get involved in any economic activity such as work and
business related activity in each other's region. Such treaties solidified relationship between India and Nepal
that granted Nepalese in India the same economic and educational opportunities as Indian inhabitants.
Relations between India and Nepal weakened during 1989 when India imposed a 13-month-long economic
barrier of Nepal. But Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Nepal in 2014 and normalized relations. This clearly
indicates that the Modi government wants to maintain affable bilateral ties with the Nepalese government.
According to news report, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wound up his "historic" visit to Nepal with a
slew of sops focusing on the 4 Cs cooperation, connectivity, culture and constitution to enhance bilateral
ties.”
There are regular exchanges of senior leader’s visits and interactions between India and Nepal. Nepalese
Prime Minister Shri Sushil Koirala visited India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi on 26 May 2014. In 2014, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Nepal twice, in
August for a bilateral visit and in November for the SAARC Summit, during which several bilateral
agreements were signed. India and Nepal have several bilateral institutional dialogue mechanisms, including
the India-Nepal Joint Commission co-chaired by External Affairs Minister of India and Foreign Minister of
Nepal.
In devastating earthquake occurred in Nepal on 25 April 2015, the Government of India swiftly dispatched
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and special aircrafts with rescue and relief materials to
Nepal.
In 2015, a blockade of the India-Nepal border has effected relations. The barrier is led by ethnic
communities annoyed by Nepal's recently promulgated new constitution. However, the Nepalese
government blamed India of deliberately worsening the embargo, but India denies these allegations.
On political front, with the commencement of the 12-Point understanding reached between the Seven Party
Alliance and the Maoists at Delhi in November 2005, Government of India has applauded the roadmap laid
down by the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement of November 2006 towards political stabilization in
Nepal, through peaceful reconciliation and inclusive democratic processes. India has steadily responded with
a sense of urgency to the needs of the people and Government of Nepal in ensuring the success of the peace
process and institutionalization of multiparty democracy through the framing of a new Constitution by a
duly elected Constituent Assembly. India work on the policy that only an inclusive Constitution with the
broadest possible consensus by taking on board all stakeholders would result in durable peace and stability
in Nepal. India’s major interest in Nepal is a united Nepal’s peace and stability which has a bearing on India
as well because of the long and open border shared between India and Nepal.
India and Nepal has strong economic ties also. Since 1996, Nepal’s exports to India have grown rapidly and
bilateral trade more than seven times. The main items of exports from India to Nepal are petroleum
products, motor vehicles and spare parts, billets, machinery and spares, medicines, hot rolled sheets, wires,
coal, cement, threads and chemicals. The main items of exports from Nepal to India are polyester yarn,
textiles, jute goods, threads, zinc sheet, packaged juice, cardamom, G.I. pipe, copper wire, shoes and
sandals, stones and sand. Indian firms hugely invested in Nepal. There are approximately 150 operating
Indian ventures in Nepal involved in manufacturing, services (banking, insurance, dry port, education and
telecom), power sector and tourism industries. Some big Indian investors include ITC, Dabur India,
Hindustan Unilever, VSNL, TCIL, MTNL, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance
Corporation of India, Asian Paints, CONCOR, GMR India, IL&FS, Manipal Group, MIT Group Holdings,
Nupur International, Transworld Group, Patel Engineering, Bhilwara Energy, Bhushan Group, Feedback
Ventures, RJ Corp, KSK Energy, Berger Paints, Essel Infra Project Ltd. and Tata Power.
Government of India offers significant financial and technical development assistance to Nepal, which is a
broad-based programme focusing on creation of infrastructure at the grass-root level, under which various
projects have been implemented in the fields of infrastructure, health, water resources, education and rural &
community development. Recently, India has been assisting Nepal in development of border infrastructure
through development of roads in the Terai areas. Development of cross-border rail links at Jogbani–
Biratnagar, Jaynagar-Bardibas, Nepalgunj Road-Nepalgunj, Nautanwa-Bhairhawa, and New Jalpaigudi-
Kakarbhitta; and establishment of Integrated Check Posts at Raxaul-Birgunj, Sunauli-Bhairhawa, Jogbani-
Biratnagar, and Nepalgunj Road-Nepalgunj.
India has also helped Nepal in the field of education and prove to be best neighbour. India’s contribution to
the development of human resources in Nepal has been one of the major aspects of bilateral cooperation.
In cultural arena, Government of India initiatives to promote people-to-people contacts in the area of art &
culture, academics and media include cultural programmes, symposia and events organized in partnership
with different local bodies of Nepal, as well as conferences and seminars in Hindi. Assistance is also
provided to several India-Nepal Friendship Organizations working to promote Indian culture and India-
Nepal bilateral relations.
Pakistan:
Pakistan has been antagonistic when maintaining relations with India. But India has made extreme efforts to
improve and stabilize relations with Pakistan. Pakistan has been buying arms from the USA. From Indian
viewpoint, it would create tension in the region. Reports indicated that Pakistan assist and conduct training
for terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir. Pakistan has been raising the Kashmir issue on various international
media. India has conveyed its concern to Pakistan over all these issues. India has assured Pakistan that it
would never attack Pakistan, but the actions of Pakistan are conflicting to the ideologies of bilateralism
enshrined in the Simla Agreement. Thus the relations between India and Pakistan are bitter.
Though there are historical, cultural and ethnic links between them, relations between India and Pakistan
have been afflicted by years of distrust ever since the partition of India in 1947. Major cause of dispute
between India and Pakistan has been the Kashmir conflict. After an invasion by Pashtun tribesmen and
Pakistani paramilitary forces, the Hindu Maharaja of the Dogra Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari
Singh, and its Muslim Prime Minister, Sheikh Abdullah, signed an Instrument of Accession with New Delhi.
The First Kashmir War started after the Indian Army entered Srinagar, the capital of the state, to secure the
area from the occupying forces. The war ended in December 1948 with the Line of Control dividing the
erstwhile princely state into territories administered by Pakistan and India. Pakistan challenged the legality
of the Instrument of Accession since the Dogra Kingdom has signed a standstill agreement with it. The Indo-
Pakistani War of 1965 began following the failure of Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to
infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule by India. This five-week
war took thousands of human life on both sides. It ended in a United Nations (UN) instructed ceasefire and
the successive issuance of the Tashkent Declaration. In 1971, India and Pakistan went to war again. This
time the conflict being over East Pakistan. The large-scale atrocities committed there by the Pakistan army
led to millions of Bengali refugees entering into India. India, along with the Mukti Bahini, overpowered
Pakistan and the Pakistani forces surrendered on the eastern front. The war resulted in the creation of
Bangladesh.
In 1998, India performed the Pokhran-II nuclear tests which was followed by Pakistan's Chagai-I tests.
Following the Lahore Declaration in February 1999, relations between two nations slightly improved. A few
months later, Pakistani paramilitary forces and Pakistan Army, penetrated in huge numbers into the Kargil
district of Indian Kashmir. This started the Kargil War after India moved in thousands of troops to
successfully kick out the infiltrators. Although the conflict did not result in a full-scale war between India
and Pakistan, relations between the two nations again worsened even further following the involvement of
Pakistan-based terrorists in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 in December 1999. India again
tried to make friendly relations and came forward to organize the Agra summit held in July 2001, but it also
failed. Some devastating events, an attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, which was blamed
on Pakistan. This resulted in military standoff between the two countries which lasted for nearly a year
raising fears of a nuclear warfare. However, a peace process, started in 2003, led to improved relations in the
following years.
To begin the peace process, several confidence-building-measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan have
been taken. The Samjhauta Express and Delhi-Lahore Bus service are two of these successful measures
which had played vital role to expand people-to-people contact between the two countries. The initiation of
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus service in 2005 and opening of a historic trade route across the Line of Control
in 2008 augment keenness between the two sides to improve relations.
The 2008 Mumbai assaults seriously destabilised the relations between the two countries. India alleged
Pakistan of harbouring militants on their land, while Pakistan fervently denies such claims.
Sri Lanka:
India and Sri Lanka has conventionally close to each other. Huge numbers of Tamil of Indian origin live in
Sri Lanka. This created cultural problem in Sri Lanka. Although the problem of the people of Indian origin
settled in Sri Lanka was solved by P.M. Lal Bahadur Shastri in a friendly manner, but the killings of the
Tamil in that country worsen the relations between the two countries. With the signing of Indo-Sri Lanka
Accord in 1987 relations improved. The Indian Peace-keeping Forces have returned to India after having
performed their job. Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE activities put the relations between the two
countries in melancholies.
Though bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and India have been generally pleasant, but were affected by
the Sri Lankan Civil War and by the failure of Indian intervention during the civil war as well as India's
support for Tamil Tiger militants. India is Sri Lanka's only neighbour, separated by the Palk Strait. Both
nations occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security authority in
the Indian Ocean.
Over the years, India-Sri Lanka relations have undergone major transformation. Political relations are close,
trade and investments have increased radically, infrastructural linkages are continually being increased,
defence collaboration has increased and there is broad-based improvement across all sectors of bilateral
cooperation. India was the first nation to respond to Sri Lanka's request for assistance after the tsunami in
December 2004. In July 2006, India evacuated 430 Sri Lankan nationals from Lebanon, first to Cyprus by
Indian Navy ships and then to Delhi and Colombo by special Air India flights.
Political relations are built through high-level exchanges of visits. Prof. G.L.P eiris, Minister of External
Affairs of Sri Lanka visited India for the eighth meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission which was
held on 22 January 2013. Former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited Sri Lanka from 20-24
January 2012 to launch the ‘National Plan for a Trilingual Sri Lanka’, at the invitation of the President of Sri
Lanka.
There is an agreement within the Sri Lankan polity on the importance of India in Sri Lanka's external
relations matrix. Both the major political parties in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the United
Nationalist Party have contributed to the rapid development of bilateral relations in the last many years. Sri
Lanka has supported India's contention to the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
News report have shown that from being in the middle of a disturbed neighbourhood, under the leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s relations with its neighbours have improved.
India and Sri Lanka has also close commercial relations. India and Sri Lanka has good trade and investment
relationship, with bilateral trade growing speedily in last decade and a numerous big Indian private sector
companies investing in Sri Lanka and establishing a presence in this country. Sri Lanka is India's largest
trade partner in South Asia. India in turn is Sri Lanka's largest trade partner globally. Trade between the two
countries grew particularly rapidly after the entry into force of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in
March 2000.
It is assessed that both nations have built upon an inheritance of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic
intercourse. Relations between the two countries have also matured and diversified with the passage of time,
encompassing all areas of contemporary relevance. Recently, the relationship has been marked by close
contacts at the highest political level, growing trade and investment, cooperation in the fields of
development, education, culture and defence, as well as a broad understanding on major issues of
international interest.
To summarize, India is a huge country with manifold cultures. It has high status in the South East Asia.
India has vast cultural advancement therefore nation has maintained good and sociable relations with all its
neighbours. India’s foreign policy is to maintain peace, freedom and mutual co-operation among the nations.
Its foreign policy is based on the philosophies of Panchsheela, nonalignment disarmament. India’s
immediate neighbours are Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Burma, China and
Afghanistan. India has cordial historical, religious, economic, ethnic and linguistic relationships with all of
these states. Preferably, India would prefer a peaceful, wealthy neighbourhood responsive to its own needs
and wishes. But from the outset of its history as an independent country, India’s major challenges have
included the promotion of internal cohesion and the management of its often troubled relations with its
neighbouring countries, the two often being closely linked, for example in relation to Pakistan, Nepal and
Sri Lanka. In India, political leaders and populace always look forward for friendly relationship with
neighbouring countries, though many conflicts emerged in past.
Pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity
Pressure Groups:
Pressure group is generally a group of persons who are structured and enthusiastic to promote or shield their
common interest. The phrase ‘pressure group’ is used as the group which tries to transform the public policy
by exerting pressure on the government.
Pressure Groups are also called Interest Groups or Vested Groups. There is huge number of formal /informal
groups that influence the institution of any nation, from the foundation of government itself to day-to-day
governance matters. Superficially, all the formal and informal associations jointly called ‘Interest Groups’
because all groups have conferred interests related to the general governance of the country. Interest groups
are plentiful and of many kinds but whenever they become active in order to accomplish their interests by
their attempts of persuading the public affairs at administrative or legislative level they are termed Pressure
groups.
It is also documented in reports that pressure groups are demoted as ‘Anonymous Empire’ & ‘legislation
behind legislature’ due to their strong existence and influence in the polity. Main attribute of any pressure
group is that they try to influence governmental affairs without any personal interest to have any direct
control over it. Pressure groups are different from political parties. Political parties seek to create change by
being elected to public office, while pressure groups attempt to influence political parties. Pressure groups
may be better able to focus on specialized issues, whereas political parties tend to address a wide range of
issues.
The pressure groups dissimilar to the political parties are formed to solve their immediate problems. They
are comparatively more temporary than political parties. A pressure group may appear for a short time if it
does not present any long-range program. However, where the interests of the group are of long-range, the
pressure group may also last longer. In such cases it may even project the sectarian interests as general or
universal interests. It depends on the imagination of their leadership.
The study of pressure groups within a theoretical framework establishes an interesting as well as major
subject of Indian politics that has been chosen by well-known writers in various phrases. It highpoints those
fundamental forces and processes through which political power is organised and applied in organized
societies, preferably in democracies. It does not infer their total non-existence in a society having an
authoritarian system for the simple reason that even in a totalitarian order such groups exist though they are
highly restricted and thereby “serve only as instruments of the state for securing ends which are state-
determined, or they may become part of the frontage of government for legitimizing decisions.
A pluralistic society, with a democratic order, identifies their existence and ensures broadest possible
contribution to the extent of making them the principal opportunities of activity out of the ‘official
administration’. A totalitarian order encourages and permits them to work in a particular direction affable to
its own interest. However, important fact is that in every society, whether democratic or totalitarian, interest
groups seek to influence public policy in a desired direction without being ready to accept the responsibility
of public office as well as by declining to hold direct responsibility for ruling the country.
It is established in studies that pressure groups find favourable policy decisions and administrative natures.
They tend to regulate the form of their activities not so much to the formal constitutional structure of
governments as to the distribution of effective power within a governmental machine. Thus, the form of
group politics is determined by the interaction of governmental structures, activities and attitudes vis-a-vis
the scope or intensity of their interest. In other words, the form and nature of group polices is conditioned by
the structure and administrative agencies, activities of the political organization and attitudes of
governmental agencies towards them. A pressure group may undertake a very important, powerful and well-
organised post even at the national level if the work of policy-making and its implementation is assigned to
the central branch of administration (W.N. Coxall, 2014).
It is said that the outlooks of administrative organisations towards pressure groups also play a vital part. If
popular ministers and elected representatives occupying legislative seats are very receptive to the demands
of these groups, they feel a sense of preferred access to the government. Contrariwise, when the
management is of an authoritarian or of a traditional or conservative type working to the disadvantage of a
particular group in a single dominant political party or a military regime, the groups may develop a feeling
of displeasure and start operating through more inconspicuous channels (W.N. Coxall, 2014).
Types of pressure groups:
Pressure groups are categorized in following way:
1. Cause or 'promotional' groups
2. Interest or 'sectional' groups
3. Insider groups
4. Outsider groups
1. Cause or 'promotional' groups: These have open membership from the public. They promote a
cause, such as Friends of the Earth, which is concerned with protecting the environment.
2. Interest or 'sectional' groups: These groups are open only to certain persons, like the members of a
trade union, e.g. the National Union of Journalists.
3. Insider groups: Such groups have strong links with the government. They will give advice and will
be consulted prior to legislation which may affect that group, such as the British Medical Association
will be consulted on matters relating to health.
4. Outsider groups: These groups often take action of which the government disapproves.
Organisations like Greenpeace often involve in civil disobedience or direct action in order to
reinforce their point. Some outsider groups are also wealthy and use a great deal of publicity to
attract people to promote their cause.
Nature of the pressure group:
Pressure groups differ vastly in size, composition, knowledge and status:
1. Size - in general, the bigger and more representative the group, the more influence it is likely to
have.
2. Social composition - those groups with membership drawn from those with public school and
Oxbridge backgrounds are likely to have very good contacts within the decision making elite.
3. Knowledge - those groups with a great deal of information who can advise and inform decision
makers are more likely to attain insider status.
4. Status: the more important a group is in society - for example, those with high professional standing -
the more likely the government is to take notice of its opinions.
Functions of Pressure groups:
Promote discussion and debate and mobilise public opinion on key issues
1. Perform a role in educating citizens about specific issues.
2. Groups can enhance democratic participation, pluralism and diversity.
3. Groups raise and articulate issues that political parties perhaps won't touch because of their
sensitivity.
 4. They offer an important access point for those seeking redress of grievance.
5. They represent minorities who cannot represent themselves.
6. Groups can be an important source of specialist information / expertise for an overloaded legislature
and civil service.
7. Many groups play vital role in implementing changes to public policy.
8. Pressure groups encourage a decentralisation of power within the political system.
9. They act as a check and balance to the power of executive government.
Procedures Used by Pressure Groups:
1. Electioneering: Placing in public office persons who favour their interests.
2. Lobbying: Persuading public officers to adopt and enforce policies of their interest.
3. Propagandizing: Influencing the public opinion.
Pressure groups may take help of media to transmit their views in public and win support. They may publish
statistics in favour of their claims. However, sometimes they may even resort to unlawful and illegal
methods like strikes, violence or even bribes.
When elaborating techniques of Pressure groups in India, it can be said that they make use of conventional
procedures like invoking caste, region or religion based loyalties in key persons keeping in view their
background based on these parameters. Modern techniques of pressure groups include lobbying, funding
political parties and supporting favourable person in legislature in addition to key administrative posts.
Since independence, there was supremacy of single political party over government for long time and role of
pressure groups was restricted. These groups are visualized negatively but presently their role are taken to be
constructive and self-governing.
Conventional Pressure Groups are based on caste, community, religion-based. Regional groupings play
pivotal role in Indian polity.
It is observed that in present scenario, majority of political parties do not have any clear nationalist
philosophy & they remain supported by certain groups especially religious and minority communities.
It is also heard that there is presence of foreign lobbies in parliament (e.g. lobbying by US companies in case
of FDI). Institutional pressure groups such as FICCI, CII also influence policy judgements.
Pressure groups are more concerned on administration instead of policy decisions. They attempt to influence
general administration.
Pressure groups make use of party policy to propose their matters but they do not align with any specific
political party for long.
There are some groups which are sponsored by political parties themselves such as Youth Congress, ABVP,
and SFI etc.
There are some groups that continually developing and dissolving according to situations or for specific
purpose. For example, anti-dowry, anti-sati.
Pressure groups in India are more dependent on means of direct action like hunger strike, demonstrations,
chakka jaams.
Pressure groups use several ways to promote their cause. Demonstrations are an example of direct action,
which may or may not have an effect on a government. Petitions are another way to raise awareness among
politicians of public feeling about a specific issue. Media advertising may also be used to attract public
sympathy and this may help the pressure group in its efforts to influence the government.
They influence government through Direct Mailing. Pressure groups can send mail to thousands of people to
gain finance and support and raise awareness of their concerns.
Letter writing encourages people to write to government to discourage sectarianism. Pressure groups use
mass media to transmit their views. When Trade Unions protest the media often reports on the events which
often have thousands of people in attendance.
Figure: Pressure group use following techniques to influence government

Pressure Groups in India: There are several pressure group in India.

1. Business Groups – FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, AIMO, FAIFDA etc. (Institutional groups).
2. Trade Unions – AITUC, INTUC, HMS, CITU, BMS etc.
3. Agrarian Groups- All India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Kisan Union etc.
4. Student’s Organisations- ABVP, AISF, NSUI etc.
5. Religious Groups – RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Jamaat-e-Islami etc.
6. Caste Groups – Harijan Sevak Sangh, Nadar Caste Association etc
7. Linguistic Groups – Tamil Sangh, Andhra Maha Sabha etc
8. Tribal Groups – NSCN, TNU, United Mizo federal org, Tribal League of Assam etc.
 9. Professional Groups – IMA, BCI, IFWJ, AIFUCT etc
10. Ideology based Groups – Narmada Bachao Andolan, Chipko Movement, Women Rights
Organisation, India Against Corruption etc.
11. Anomic Groups – ULFA, Maoists, JKLF, All-India Sikh Student’s Federation etc.
Rights and responsibilities of Pressure Groups:

Merits and demerits of pressure groups: There are some merits of forming pressure groups. It is realized that
to get success in democratic system, there is a need to generate a public opinion, so that policy in question
may be supported or condemned. Pressure groups support to train people, compile data and provide specific
information to policy creators. In this way, they work as an informal source of information. Active
constructive participation of numerous groups in polity helps to reunite general interest with individual
group interests.
Besides, benefits, there are some negative aspect of pressure groups. Sometimes, these groups have biased
interests limited to few members. Most pressure groups except business groups and big community groups
do not have independent existence. They are unsteady and lack promise, their devotions swing with political
situations which intimidates general welfare. In some situation, these groups resort to un-constitutional
means such as violence; Naxalite movement started in 1967 in West Bengal. Since pressure groups are not
elected, it is not good that they decide crucial policy decisions in egalitarianism.
It is observed in social scenario that some pressure groups are more successful than others. Success factor in
pressure groups is appraised by the group’s capability to affect government policy, raise an issue in the
political agenda and the ability to change people’s values, perceptions and behaviour. To accomplish these
powers, it is considered that a pressure group needs wealth, size, organization and good leadership.
Another factor that give success to pressure group is money. Wealth provides pressure groups huge financial
and economic power. This means that the government must seek their cooperation, regardless of their
philosophical beliefs. Business groups are the most powerful of all of these as they are the main source of
employment and investment. Because the governments listen to them, they have effectively achieved the
ability to affect government policy.
Other success factor is group strength. Large pressure groups can claim to represent public opinion. Huge
groups also have philosophical power as large memberships allow groups to organize political movements
and protests. From this they can rally support, raise mindfulness and eventually, change people’s ideologies
to lean towards their causes or interests.
It can be reviewed that Pressure groups are associations which fight for changes in the law or new legislation
in specific areas. As such, they can have great influence on public opinion and voting behaviour. Pressure
groups allow populace the opportunity to partake in democracy by being involved in social change without
necessarily joining a political party. Pressure groups may be regarded as indispensable to fairness because
they allow the free expression of opinion and the opportunity to influence governments. Because of this,
pressure groups are not accepted in non-democratic nations.
Pressure groups increase the accountability of decision makers to electorates if enough influence is made.
Although it is irrefutable that pressure groups have significant role in politics particularly in today’s less
differential society, perhaps it is not the suggested one of the pluralist model. It is also visualized that
pressure groups improve participation but in an uneven way, benefiting the powerful and organised and
disadvantaging the weak and unorganised. The groups themselves may not be representative of their
members as many members' views are ignored if they do not obey with the ideologies of the leaders or
decision makers of that group. The methods of influence by some groups use are to increase social
dissatisfaction and political unpredictability by increasing social frustration and injustice felt by certain
sections of the population. This can ignore the good of the whole of the community and this kind of civil
disobedience cannot be defensible in democratic system.
In brief, pressure groups can detract to strengthen democracy to a certain extent. Pressure groups are an
important dimension of any democracy, yet they can imperil it if sectional groups weaken the public interest
or if the methods they use are immoral or threatening.
Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
A constitution is a set of rules through which a country or state operates.Some countries have unwritten
constitutions which means there is no formal constitution written in one particular document. Their
constitutional rules are originated from a number of sources. Britain sources its constitution from a number
of important statutes, or laws, as well as principles decided in legal cases and conventions. New Zealand and
Israel are two other countries that do not have formal written constitutions.Other nations have formal written
constitutions in which the structure of government is defined and the respective powers of the nation and the
states are written in one single document. These systems may also include unwritten conventions and
constitutional law which can inform how the constitution is interpreted. Australia, India and the United
States are examples of countries with a written constitution.
Some constitutions may be modified without any special process. The documents that make up the New
Zealand Constitution may be amended simply by a majority vote of its Parliament. In other countries a
special procedure is adopted before their constitution can be changed. Australia has a constitution which
requires a referendum in order to change it.
Indian Constitution has many sources that include the imaginative ambitions of the nationalist leaders, the
actual working of the Government of India Act, 1935, and the experience gained from the genuine working
of some of the Constitutions of significant countries of the world. Its sources include not only the sources
upon which the founding fathers of our Constitution drew but also the developmental sources such as the
judicial decisions, constitutional amendments, constitutional practices and others.
Importance of constitution:
The role of a constitution is to make certain that the government operates efficiently and in a fair and
responsible manner. It does this in three ways:
-It holds the government to the law.
-It provides distinction of power so that no one part of the government is any more powerful than another.
-It provides a series of checks and balances so that when laws are made or amended, the government follows
the correct procedure to pass a Bill.
Constitution of India-At a glance:
The Indian Constitution is inimitable in its contents and spirit. India, also called Bharat, is a Union of States.
It is an Independent Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The
Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was accepted by the Constituent Assembly
on 26th November, 1949 and came into force on 26th January, 1950. The Constitution offers for a
Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary characteristics. The
constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of
India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses known as the
Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution
provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to help and advise the
President, who shall exercise his/her functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is
vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.
Though, constitution borrowed from every constitution of the world, the constitution of India has numerous
salient attributes that differentiate it from the constitutions of other countries. It isprominent at the beginning
that a number of original features of the Constitution have undergone a considerable change, on account of
several amendments, particularly 7th, 42nd, 44th, 73rd and 74th Amendments. In fact, the 42nd Amendment
Act (1976) is known as ‘Mini Constitution’ due to the important and large number of changes made by it in
various parts of the Constitution. However, in the KesavanandaBharati easel (1973), the Supreme Court
ruled that the constituent power of Parliament under Article 368 does not enable it to alter the ‘basic
structure’ of the Constitution.
Text of the Constitution-Preamble:
The American Constitution was the first to initiate with a Preamble. Many countries, including India,
followed this practice. The term ‘preamble’ is described as the introduction or preface to the Constitution. It
contains the summary of the Constitution. N APalkhivala, renowned jurist and constitutional expert, called
the Preamble as the ‘identity card of the Constitution.’ The Preamble to the Indian Constitution is based on
the ‘Objectives Resolution’, drafted and moved by Pandit Nehru, and adopted by the Constituent Assembly.
It has been revised by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1976), which added three new words such
as socialist, secular and integrity.
Ingredients of the Preamble:
The Preamble reveals four ingredients or components:
Source of authority of the Constitution:
The Preamble states that the Constitution derives its authority from the people of India.
Nature of Indian State: It declares India to be of a sovereign, socialist, secular democratic and republican
polity.
Objectives of the Constitution: It postulates justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as the objectives.
Date of adoption of the Constitution: It stipulates November 26, 1949 as the date.
Striking Features of the Constitution:
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.
Though, the Indian Constitution also covershuge 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, and emergency provisions.
Furthermore, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand,
defines 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.
Parliamentary Form of Government:
The Constitution of India has chosen the British parliamentary System of Government instead of American
Presidential System of Government. The parliamentary system is based on the principle of collaboration and
coordination between the legislative and executive organs while the presidential system is based on the
principle of separation of powers between the two organs.
The parliamentary system is also called the ‘Westminster’ 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 basic attributes 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)
Though the Indian Parliamentary System is mainly based on the British system, there are some important
differences between the two. For example, the Indian Parliament is not anindependent body like the British
Parliament. Additionally, the Indian State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has
hereditary head (monarchy).
Parliament: Structural and Functional Dimensions:
Under article 79 of the Indian Constitution, there is a Parliament consists of the President and two
chambers/houses called the Council of States or the Rajya Sabha and the House of People or the Lok Sabha.
The President of India is not only the head of the executive but anessential part of the legislature as he/she
performs numerous functions vis-a-vis the Parliament. He/she does not sit or participate in the dialogs in
either of the two houses. The President summons and prorogues the two houses of the Parliament from time
to time. He/she is a crucial part of the legislation process, for every bill has to be signed by him, after its
passage in the Parliament, in order to become a law. The power to dissolve the Lok Sabha vests in him.
He/she has the right to address one or both the houses and send messages to them. At the beginning of the
first session after each general election to the Lok Sabha and at the commencement of the first session each
year, the President addresses both the chambers which is called the special address. Under article 123, when
the Parliament is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it
necessary for him to take immediate action, the President can promulgate an ordinance which has the same
force and effect as a law made by the Parliament.
Synthesis of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy:
The principle of sovereignty of Parliament is related with the British Parliament while the principle of
judicial supremacy with the American Supreme Court.
The Indian parliamentary system differs from the British system and the scope of judicial review power of
the Supreme Court in India is narrower than US.
Therefore, the developers of the Indian Constitution have chosen a proper synthesis between the British
principle of parliamentary sovereignty and the American principle of judicial authority.
The Supreme Court can declare the parliamentary laws as unconstitutional through its power of judicial
review. The Parliament can modify the major portion of the Constitution through its constituent power.
Power of Judicial Review:
Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court to scrutinize the constitutionality of legislative
enactments and executive orders of both the Central and state governments. While investigation, if they are
found to be violation of the Constitution (ultra-vires), they can be declared as illegal, unconstitutional and
invalid by the Supreme Court. Consequently, they cannot be enforced by the Government.
There is great significance of Judicial review due to following reasons:
I. To uphold the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution.
II. To maintain federal equilibrium (balance between Centre and states).
III. To protect the fundamental rights of the citizens.
The Supreme Court used the power of judicial review in several cases, such as, the Golaknath case (1967),
the Bank Nationalisation case (1970), the Privy Purses Abolition case (1971), the KesavanandaBharati case
(1973), the Minerva Mills case (1980) and others.
Though the phrase ‘Judicial Review’ has been used in the Constitution, the provisions of several articles 12
clearlydiscuss the power of judicial review on the Supreme Court. The constitutional validity of a legislative
enactment or an executive order can be challenged in the Supreme Court on the following three grounds:
I. It infringes the Fundamental Rights (Part III).
II. It is outside the competence of the authority which has framed it.
III. It is repugnant to the constitutional provisions.
Universal Adult Franchise: The Indian Constitution espouses universal adult franchise as a basis of elections
to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. Every inhabitant 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.
Though the Indian Constitution is federal and foresees a dual polity (Centre and states), it provides for only
a single citizenship, that is, the Indian citizenship.
In many nations like USA, 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 regardless 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 excepting in few cases
like tribal areas, Jammu and Kashmir.
Despite the constitutional establishment for a single citizenship and uniform rights for all the people, India
has been beholding the communal riots, class conflicts, caste wars, linguistic clashes and ethnic
disputes.This means that the valued goal of the Constitution-makers to build united and integrated Indian
nation has not been fully realized.
Parliamentary Sovereignty: Transcendental and Absolute Authority
The sovereignty of Parliament develops exceptional unique feature of the British Constitution. The British
Parliament is composed of three parts such as the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the
Monarch. But no one part can make law on its own. Today the Monarch’s function is purely ceremonial,
while the powers of the House of Lords have been greatly reduced. Hence the real legislative authority lies
in the House of Commons and parliamentary sovereignty, thus refers to the authority of the House of
Commons.
There is, under the British constitution, no difference between ordinary and constitutional law. It can be said
that the Parliament possess unlimited constituent powers. It can pass any constitutional act in the same way
as ordinary law can be passed. The Parliament can pass a simple law which may change the whole structure
of the constitutional fabric.
There is no “Judicial Review” in England. The judiciary has recognized every act of the Parliament as valid
law. The British Judiciary does not interfere with the supreme authority of the Parliament. The Parliament is
free to conduct with its own business and the court has no power to interfere with its proceedings.
Parliamentary form of Government:
Great Britain is the characteristic home of parliamentary form of government. The Prime Minister, as the
head of the cabinet, is the most powerful ruler in a parliamentary system of government. The Cabinet
dominates in this system. Collective responsibility and political homogeneity are also essential features of
the Cabinet system. All the ministers are collectively responsible to the House of Commons. The Ministers
are also preferably from a homogeneous political party, or a combination of political parties having similar
views and policies. The latter course is known as coalition, but it is very infrequent in British political
history. Absence of strict separation of powers is another important feature on parliamentary form of
government. There is harmonious co-operation between the executive and the legislature and both work
hand-in-hand. Parliamentary forms of government is not based on strict separation of powers. The theory
has been in principle in Great Britain, but in practice the cabinet being omnipotent and all powerful in
executive as well as legislative arena, denies the theory in principle.
Major principle represented in the Constitution of India is federalism. Powers are split between the central
government, state governments, and local governments. The central government has exclusive power that
involves in the foreign policy, defence of the country, communications, the building of railroads, taxation on
corporations, and currency. The state and local governments have the sole power to legislate on some
subjects that include law and order, public health and sanitation, entertainment, taxation on agriculture
income, betting and gambling, and alcoholic beverages. All of the governments can concern themselves into
the criminal law, contracts, population control, social security, education, and marriage and divorce of an
area. The Constitution of India also involves the theory of checks and balances. The president has three veto
powers which include that he can refuse to agree to a law, which would mean an absolute veto. He can also
send the bill back to the parliament for changes, or he could take no action on the bill. If the president
refuses to agree or sends the bill back for changes he can be overridden by a simple majority vote in the
legislature. The Supreme Court of India can rule laws invalid if they are not following the Constitution. This
way all the branches keep each other in check.
Constitutional System in UK:
The constitution of the United Kingdom includes laws and principles that form the body politic of the
United Kingdom. It concerns both the relationship between the individual and the state, and the functioning
of the legislature, the executive and judiciary. Different to other nations, the UK has no single constitutional
document. Much of the British constitution is exemplified in written documents, within statutes, court
judgments, works of authority and treaties. The constitution has other unwritten sources, including
parliamentary constitutional conventions.
Executive Branch in UK:
Executive branch: chief of state
Head of government: Prime Minister
Cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
Elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the
leader of the majority coalition usually becomes the prime minister.
Constitutional System in Switzerland:
The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal
constitution of Switzerland. It creates the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons (states).
The document contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights (including the right to call for popular
referenda on federal laws and constitutional amendments), delineates the responsibilities of the regions and
the confederation and establishes the federal authorities of government.
switzerland’s Parliament:
Switzerland is a federal state consisting of 26 districts. Government, parliament and courts are structured on
three levels that include federal, cantonal and communal. The federal constitution describes the areas where
federal legislation defines standardised solutions, sets guidelines only or leaves things to cantonal autonomy.
Switzerland has a two-chamber parliament on national level: The National Council, consisting of 200
members elected under the Proportional Representation System while the Council of States (46 members)
represents the cantons.
Both chambers of parliament form several commissions. Some to control the work of the administration,
some commissionsdiscuss new laws in depth. Specialists in fields like health, military and others are elected
to represent their party in these commissions. All parties of minimal size (5 members of parliament) are
embodied at least in a few commissions and smaller parties may join to form a fraction giving them the right
to work in commissions.
National Council:
The National Council is Switzerland’s “house of representatives”. The 200 members are chosen every four
years according to a refined proportional representation system in principle, but since every canton forms a
constituency and cantons have extremely different numbers of populaces, five smaller cantons may only
send one deputy to the national council, which results in majority elections for these deputies.
Council of States: The Council of States characterises the cantons. Most regions may send two members.
For historical reasons, six cantons are considered half-cantons and may send only, giving a total of 46
members. The rules how to elect the members are made under cantonal legislation, so they may differ from
region to region. A majority of regions does elect their members of the Council of States every four years on
the same day as the members of the National Council.
The National Assembly: While modified laws are to be discussed in both chambers of parliament separately,
they unite in common sessions in special occasions for the purpose of elections (government members,
judges of the federal court).
Militia System: The phrase “militia” usually means a military force recruited from among the civilian
population, supplementing the regular, expert army in emergency. The Swiss Army, not having professional
soldiers relies completely on militia-men and the same term is used in Switzerland for members of
parliament as well, because they do not legislate as a full-time job.
The four parliamentary sessions per year last for a few weeks only and members of parliament are not paid
corresponding to a full time job. Between sessions, each representative has to read proposals for new laws
individually and to attend one-day conferences of commissions.
However, most members of parliament do indeed work in a normal profession in parallel to their
parliamentary directive and most of the time they live in their constituency, not in the federal capital. This
results in more intense informal contacts with the electorate than in other nations. Because of the huge
burden, several attempts have been madesince last decades to change the system and introduce a full-time
parliament in Switzerland. All of them have been rejected, however, with the main dispute that the militia
system would guarantee for much better contacts between representatives and population.
Switzerland’s Legislation Process:
In Switzerland, laws are formed in four steps:
1. Draft by the administration
2. Consultation of federal states, political parties, entrepreneurs, unions and other interested groups.
3. Parliamentary debate and final version passed
4. Possibility of a referendum
The formal consultation results in comments, demands for changes and even alternate propositions.
Normally, they are made public so that the electorate is informed what is going on and what are the
advantages and disadvantages of the new law. If a strong party or lobby intimidates to call for a referendum
in a later stage if their demands are not met, a new law may be completely revised by the administration
after the consultation.
Commissions of both chambers of parliament study and converse the proposal as well as the arguments put
forward during consultation in detail and prepare a recommendation to their chamber. Sometimes, the
commissions find a compromise, sometimes they do not. A speaker for the commission presents the new law
to the parliament chamber to start the public debate.
Both chambers debate new laws separately. Sometimes, they have to repeat a dialogue if the other chamber
has passed a different version of a law. Which chamber is discussing a new proposal first is not determined
by the constitution but results from the time the chambers spend discussing on each law.
If National Council and Council of States pass the same version of a change to the constitution or decide to
join an international union, a date is fixed for the mandatory referendum. In case of all other laws and
international treaties citizens have three months’ time to collect 50,000 signatures among the electorate to
demand for a referendum. The result of a referendum is compulsory. The constitution may only be changed
if both a majority of the votes and a majority of the results in the regions favour it. Therefore, smaller
cantons may block changes to the constitution with comparatively few votes. Normal laws do only need a
majority of the total votes. Laws making procedure is slow in Switzerland, which may be a handicap with
more technically oriented laws.
Constitutional System in Germany:
The current German political system is based on the constitution dating from 1949 when the American,
British and French zones of occupation were consolidated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany). In 1990, the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic.
Though, the 1949 constitution holds a central feature of the original German constitution of 1871 which
brought together Prussia with Europe’s other German states (except Austria) and the Weimar Constitution of
1919. Constitution involved a sharing of power between the central government and local Lander (states)
namely a dispersal of authority between different levels of government. So the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of
1949 deliberately distributes power between the central government and the Lander.
The strength of Germany’s democratic system and the quality of its political leadership Chancellors such as
Konrad Adenauer (1949-1963), Willy Brandt (1969-1974), Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982) and Helmut Kohl
(1982-1998) have been enormously inspiring.
The Executive: The head of state is the President, a mainly ceremonial position, elected for a maximum of
two five-year terms. The voters in the election for President are known collectively as the Federal
Convention, which consists of all members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members nominated
by the state legislatures. It is a total of 1,244.The head of the government is the Chancellor (equivalent to the
British Prime Minister). Every four years, after national elections and the convocation of the newly elected
members of the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected by a majority of the members of the Bundestag upon
the proposal of the President. This vote is one of the few cases where a majority of all elected members of
the Bundestag must be achieved, as opposed to a mere majority of those that are currently assembled. This is
referred to as the Kanzlermehrheit (Chancellor’s majority) and is designed to ensure the establishment of a
stable government.
Most notably, the Chancellor cannot be dismissed by a vote of no confidence.
Since Germany has a system of proportional representation for the election of its lower house, no one party
wins an absolute majority of the seats and all German governments are therefore coalitions.
The Bundestag:
The lower house in the German political system is the Bundestag. Its members are chosen for four-year
terms. The process of election is called mixed member proportional representation (MMPR). It is a
complicated system than first-past-post but one which gives a more proportional result (a variant of this
system known as the additional member system is used for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh
Assembly).
Half of the members of the Bundestag are chosen directly from 299 constituencies using the first past the
post method of election. Then the other half another299 are elected from the list of the parties on the basis of
each Land (the 16 regions that make up Germany). This entails that each voter has two votes in the elections
to the Bundestag. The first vote allows voters to elect their local representatives to the Parliament and
decides which candidates are sent to Parliament from the constituencies. The second vote is cast for a party
list and it is this second vote that decides the comparative power of the parties represented in the Bundestag.
The 598 seats are only distributed among the parties that have gained more than 5% of the second votes or at
least 3 direct mandates. Each of these parties is allocated seats in the Bundestag in proportion to the number
of votes it has received. This system is intended to block membership of the Bundestag to small, extremist
parties. As a result, there are always a small number of parties with representation in the Bundestag.
At least 598 members of the Bundestag are chosen in this procedure. Additionally, there are certain
circumstances in which some candidates win what are known as an overhang seat when the seats are being
distributed. This situation occurs if a party has gained more direct mandates in a land than it is entitled to
according to the results of the second vote, when it does not forfeit these mandates because all directly
elected candidates are guaranteed a seat in the Bundestag.This electoral system results in a varying number
of seats in the Bundestag.
One remarkable difference between the Bundestag and the American Congress or the British House of
Commons is the lack of time spent on serving constituents in Germany. In part, that difference results from
the fact that only 50% of Bundestag members are directly elected to represent a specific geographic district.
In part, it is because constituency service seems not to be perceived, either by the electorate or by the
representatives, as a critical function of the legislator and a practical constraint on the expansion of
constituent service is the limited personal staff of Bundestag members.The Bundestag elects the Chancellor
for a four-year term and is the main legislative body.
The Bundesrat:
The German Bundesrat is a governmental body that represents the sixteen Lander (federal states) of
Germany at the national level. The upper house in the German political system is the Bundesrat. The
Bundesrat partakes in legislation, alongside the Bundestag, the directly elected representation of the people
of Germany, with laws affecting state competences and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of
the body.
Apparently, the composition of the Bundesrat looks analogous to other upper houses in federal states such as
the US Congress since the Bundestag is a body representing all the German Lander (or regional states).
Nevertheless, there are two basic differences in the German system:
1. Its members are not elected, neither by popular vote nor by the state parliaments but are members of
the state cabinets which appoint them and can remove them at any time. Usually, a state delegation is
headed by the head of government in that Land known in Germany as the Minister-President.
2. The states are not represented by an equal number of delegates, since the population of the respective
state is a major factor in the allocation of votes to each particular Land. The vote’s allocation can be
approximated as 2.01 + the square root of the Land’s population in millions with the additional limit
of a maximum of six votes so that it is consistent with something called the Penrose method based on
game theory. This means that the 16 states have between three and six delegates.
This isatypical method of composition provides for a total of 69 votes (not seats) in the Bundesrat. The state
cabinet then may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, but is under no obligation to do so; it can
limit the state delegation even to one single delegate. The number of members or delegates representing a
particular Land does not matter formally since, in stark contrast to many other legislative bodies, the
delegates to the Bundesrat from any one state are required to cast the votes of the state as a bloc (since the
votes are not those of the respective delegate). This means that in practice it is possible that only one of the
delegates casts all the votes of the respective state, even if the other members of the delegation are present in
the chamber. The Bundesrat has the power to veto legislation that affects the powers of the states.
The Judiciary:
Germany’s Supreme Court is called the Federal Constitutional Court and itplays vital role as guardian of the
constitution. There are 16 judges divided between two panels called Senates, each holding office for a non-
renewable term of 12 years. Half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat, in both
cases by a two-thirds majority. Once appointed, a judge can only be removed by the Court itself.
While the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have moved from Bonn to Berlin, the Constitutional Court is located
in Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Political Parties:
As other nations such as Britain, France, and the USA, Germany has two major party groupings:
1. Centre-Right
2. Centre-Left
The Centre-Right group comprises of two political parties that operate in different parts of the country so
that there is no direct electoral competition between them. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) operates
in all the Lander except Bavaria, while the Christian Social Union (CSU) operates only in Bavaria.
The Centre-Left party is the Social Democratic Party (SPD in German).
The other parties represented in the Bundestag are:
- The Free Democratic Party (FDP) – a Rightist party
- The Left Party – built on the former Communist Party
- The Alliance ’90/The Greens – the German Green party
The electoral system in the German political system is like coalition governments. The Social Democratic
Party was in coalition with the Greens -the Red/Green coalition – from 1998-2005 and, from 2005-2009,
there was a ‘grand coalition’ between the CDU/CSU and the SDP. Since 2009, the CDU/CSU has been in a
coalition with the FDP.
Strangely political parties in Germany receive considerable public funds and the costs of election campaigns
are substantially met from the public money.
The Lander: During the initial profession of Germany after the Second World War the territory in each
Occupation Zone was restructured into new Lander (singular Land) to avoid any one Land from ever
dominating Germany (as Prussia had done). Later the Lander in the western part of the former German
Reich were constituted as administrative areas first and subsequently federated into the Bund or Federal
Republic of Germany.
The Basic Law accords significant powers to the 16 Lander. Additionally, there is a strong system of state
courts.
Politics at the state level often carries implications for federal politics. Opposition triumphs in elections for
state parliaments, which take place throughout the federal government’s four-year term, can decline the
federal government because state governments have assigned seats in the Bundesrat.
The German one has its strengths and limitations. The strength of the system is the consensual nature of its
decision-making processes. The Bundesrat serves as a control mechanism on the Bundestag. Since the
executive and legislative functions are closely intertwined in any parliamentary system, the Bundesrat’s
ability to revisit and slow down legislative processes could be seen as making up for that loss of separation.
It can be argued that the system makes decision-making obscure. Some claim that the opposing majorities in
the two chambers lead to an increase in politics where small groups of high-level leaders make all the
important decisions and then the Bundestag representatives only have a choice between agreeing with them
or not getting anything done at all.
The Constitution of South Africa: South Africa’s Constitution was the result of outstandingly detailed and
inclusive negotiations that were carried out with an acute consciousness of the injustices of the country’s
non-democratic past. It is extensively considered as the most progressive constitution in the world, with a
Bill of Rights second to none.The Constitution of South Africa is the best law of the country of South
Africa. It offers the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, sets out the rights and responsibility of
its populace, and describes the structure of the government.The Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa, 1996, was approved by the Constitutional Court (CC) on 4 December 1996 and took effect on 4
February 1997.
Characteristics of the South African Constitution:
- Promotion of Self-Determination
- National Democracy
- Universal Franchise
- Separation of Powers
- Regular Election
- Promotion of Basic Human Rights
- Promotion of Equality
- Ensuring Balance between Political Control and the Security Forces
- Promotion of Accountability and Transparency
- Respect for Cultural Diversity
The Constitution of Canada:
The Constitution of Canada is the utmost law in Canada.The country's constitution is a combination of
codified acts and un-codified traditions and conventions. It is one of the oldest working constitutions in the
world, with a basis in Magna Carta. The constitution outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the
civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada. Canadian constitutional law relates to the
interpretation and application of the constitution.
The Constitution is Canada’s premier political institution, demonstrating the basic “rulebook” by which
Canadian politics operate. It is one of the nation’s more multifaceted political concepts to understand.
Canada’s Constitution is not a single document as in the United States. It is made up of acts of the British
and Canadian Parliaments, as well as legislation, judicial decisions and agreements between the federal and
provincial governments.
It also includes unwritten elements such as British constitutional conventions, established custom, tradition
and precedent. Responsible government, in which the Cabinet is jointly responsible to the elected House of
Commons and must resign if it loses a vote of confidence, is a fundamental, but unwritten, element of
Canadian parliamentary democracy at the federal and provincial levels.
The Constitution’s basic written foundations are the Constitution Act, 1867, which created a federation of
four provinces Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick under the British Crown, and the
Constitution Act, 1982, which transferred formal control over the Constitution from Britain to Canada and
entrenched a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and procedures for constitutional amendment.
The Constitution of Australia:
The Constitution of Australia is a law under which the government of the Commonwealth of Australia
operates, including its relationship to the States of Australia. It comprises of several documents. The most
significant is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, which is called the "Constitution" in the
remainder of this article. The Constitution was accepted in a series of referendums held over 1898–1900 by
the people of the Australian colonies, and the approved draft was enacted as a section of the Commonwealth
of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp), an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Australian Constitution is the set of rules by which Australia is governed. Australians voted for the
national constitution in a series of referendums. The Australian Constitution creates the composition of the
Australian Parliament, and explains how Parliament works, what powers it has, how federal and state
Parliaments share power, and the roles of the Executive Government and the High Court. It took effect on 1
January 1901. In addition to the national Constitution, each Australian state has its own constitution. The
Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory have self-government Acts which were passed by the
Australian Parliament. The politics of Australia happen within the framework of a federal constitutional
parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. Australians choose parliamentarians to the federal
Parliament of Australia, a bicameral body which incorporates elements of the fused executive inherited from
the Westminster system, and a strong federalist senate, adopted from the United States Congress. Australia
mainly operates as a two-party system in which voting is necessary.
The Constitution of Russia:
The Russian Federation was the biggest nation to become known from the disintegration of the Soviet Union
in December 1991. Following the constitutional catastrophe of 1993, Russia espoused a new constitution in
a referendum of December 1993. Essentially, the country is described as a federal presidential republic.
1. Executive branch in Russia:
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the authorization of the Duma and is first-in-line to
the presidency in the case of the President’s death or resignation.
Traditionally, the role of Prime Minister has been very much submissive to that of the President. However,
this situation changed in March 2008 when Vladimir Putin stepped down as President as he was
constitutionally required to do and became Prime Minister while the First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev stepped up to the Presidency.
In May 2012, Putin returned to the Presidency and former President Medvedev became Prime Minister in an
exchange of roles.
The president: The constitution of 1993 provides strong powers for the President. The President has broad
authority to issue verdicts and directives that have the force of law without legislative review, although the
constitution notes that they must not disregard that document or other laws. Certainly, Russia’s strong
presidency is sometimes compared with that of Charles de Gaulle in the French Fifth Republic (1958-69).
The Law on Presidential Elections requires that the winner receive more than 50% of the votes cast. If no
candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates in term of votes must face each other
in a run-off election. Under the original 1993 constitution, the President was chosen for a four-year term but,
in November 2008, the constitution was amended to make this a six year term. The President is entitled for a
second term but constitutionally he is barred from a third consecutive term.
2. Legislative branch in Russia:
The lower house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the State Duma. It is the more influential house, so all
bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the Duma. However, the
Duma’s power to force the resignation of the Government is severely limited. It may express a vote of no
confidence in the Government by a majority vote of all members of the Duma, but the President is allowed
to disregard this vote.
The Duma has 450 members who are known as deputies. Formerly seats in the Duma were elected half by
proportional representation (with at least 5% of the vote to qualify for seats) and half by single member
districts. Nevertheless, President Putin passed a verdict that from the November 2007 election all seats are to
be elected by proportional representation with at least 7% of the vote to qualify for seats. This 7% threshold
is one of the highest in Europe and, by introducing this, Putin eliminated independents and made it
effectively impossible for small parties to be elected to the Duma. Also the registration process for
candidates in elections is complicated, so that only very few of the parties that want to field candidates are
allowed to do so. All these points have been highlighted by critics of the Russian system of politics.
The federation council: The upper house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the Federation Council. The
Council has 168 members who are known as senators. Each of the 84 federal subjects of Russia sends two
members to the Council.
The federal subjects are the 21 republics, the 47 oblasts, the eight krais, the two federal cities, the five
autonomous okrugs and one autonomous oblast (each category of which has different powers). One senator
is chosen by the provincial legislature and the other is nominated by the provincial governor and confirmed
by the legislature.
As a result of the territorial nature of the upper house, terms to the Council are not nationally fixed, but
instead are determined according to the regional bodies the senators represent.
The Council holds its sessions within the Main Building on BolshayaDmitrovka Street in Moscow, the
former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroi).
Under the original 1993 constitution, elections were held every four years but, in November 2008, the
constitution was amended to make the Duma’s term five years. The last Duma election was held in
December 2011, so the next one is to be held in December 2016.
3. Judicial Branch in Russia: The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation comprises of 19 judges,
one being the Chairman and another one being Deputy Chairman. Judges are appointed by the President
with the consent of the Federation Council.
The Constitutional Court is a court of limited subject matter jurisdiction. The 1993 constitution authorized
the Constitutional Court to adjudicate disputes between the executive and legislative branches and between
Moscow and the regional and local governments. The court also is authorised to rule on infringement of
constitutional rights, to inspect appeals from various bodies, and to participate in impeachment proceedings
against the President.
Though in theoretical statement, the judiciary is independent but most evaluators believe that major
elements of the judiciary along with the police and prosecution authorities are under the political control of
the Kremlin and specially Vladimir Putin.
4. Local Government in Russia: Under the Russian constitution, the central government maintainsimportant
authority, but regional and local governments have been given several powers. For example, they exercise
authority over municipal property and policing, and they can impose regional taxes. Owing to a lack of
assertiveness by the central government, Russia’s administrative divisions, oblasti(regions),minority
republics, okruga (autonomous districts), kraya(territories), federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg), and
the one autonomous oblastexerted considerable power in the initial years after the passage of the 1993
constitution. The constitution offers equal power to each of the country’s administrative divisions in the
Federal Assembly. Nonetheless, the power of the divisions was diluted in 2000 when seven federal districts
(Central, Far East, Northwest, Siberia, Southern, Urals, and Volga), each with its own presidential
representative, were established by the central government. In 2010 the south-easternpart of the Southern
district was modernized as an eighth federal district, North Caucasus. The districts’ presidential
representatives were given the power to execute federal law and to synchronize communication between the
president and the regional governors. Legally, the envoys in federal districts had solely the power of
communicating the executive guidance of the federal president. Practically, the guidance served more as a
directive, as the president was able to use the envoys to enforce presidential authority over the regional
governments.
In comparison to the federal government, regional governments generally have insufficient tax revenue to
support compulsory items in their budgets, which have barely been able to cover wages for teachers and
police. The budgets of regional governments also are overloaded by pensions.
Many administrative divisions established constitutions that devolved power to local jurisdictions, and,
though the 1993 constitution guaranteed local self-governance, the powers of local governments
differsignificantly. Some local authorities, particularly in urban centres, exercise significant power and are
responsible for taxation and the licensing of businesses. Moscow and St. Petersburg have particularly strong
local governments, with both possessing a tax base and government structure that dwarf the country’s other
regions. Local councils in smaller communities are commonly rubber-stamping agencies, responsible to the
city administrator, who is appointed by the regional governor. In the mid-1990s, municipal government was
reorganized. City councils (dumas), city mayors, and city administrators replaced former city soviets.
Legislation has further confirmed the power of the federal government over the regions. For example, the
regional governors and their deputies were forbidden from representing their region in the Federation
Council on the basis that their sitting in the Federation Council violated the principle of the separation of
powers; however, under a compromise, both the legislative and executive branch of each region sent a
member to the Federation Council. Legislation passed in 2004 legalized the president to appoint the regional
governors, who were electedearlier. In the beginning of the 21st century, the country began to undergo
administrative transformation aimed at subordinating smaller okruga to neighbouring members of the
federation.
Underthese transformations in regional government, the new federal districts began to reinstate the 11
traditional economic regions, mainly for statistical purposes. The Central district unites the city of Moscow
with all administrative divisions within the Central and Central Black Earth economic regions. The
Northwest district combines the city of St. Petersburg with all areas in the North and Northwest regions,
including Kaliningrad oblast. The Southern district includes portions of the Volga and North Caucasus
economic regions; the North Caucasus district encompasses the remaining units of the latter economic
region. The Volga district merges units of the Volga, Volga-Vyatka, and Ural economic regions. The Urals
district consists of the remaining administrative divisions of the Ural economic region along with several
from the West Siberia economic region. The Siberia district unites the remainder of the West Siberia
economic region and all of East Siberia. At last, the Far East district is congruent with the Far East economic
region.
5. Political party system in Russia:
The main political party is known as United Russia. It was established in April 2001 as a result of
anamalgamation between several political parties. It illustrates itself as centrist, but it is essentially a
creation of Vladimir Putin and supports him in the Duma and the Federation Council. In the last Duma
elections of December 2011, even with the alleged voting irregularities, United Russia’s share of the vote
fell by 15% to just over 49% and the number of its deputies fell by 77 to 238.
The main opposition party is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation led by Gennady Zyuganov. In
the last election, it won 19% of the vote and took 92 seats.
The only other parties retaining seats in the Duma are the fake opposition party A Just Russia with 64 seats
and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia with 56 seats.
The Western-orientated reform party Yabloko, the next highest in ranking of votes won a mere 3.43% in the
last election.
Constitutional System in France:
France is a republic and the institutions of governance of France are defined by the Constitution, more
specifically by the current constitution, being that of the Fifth Republic. The Government of the French
Republic exercises executive power in the French Republic. It is composed of the Prime Minister of the
French Republic, who is the head of government, and both junior and senior ministers.The Constitution has
been customized several times since the start of the Fifth Republic, most recently in July 2008, when the
French “Congress” approved by 1 vote over the 60% majority required in constitutional changes proposed
by President Sarkozy.
In France, The Prime Minister ensures the implementation of laws and exercises regulatory power, subject
to the signature by the Head of State of ordinances and decrees which have been deliberated upon in the
Council of Ministers. He may, in exceptional circumstances, replace the President of the Republic as
chairman of the Council of Ministers. He is also responsible for national defence, even though the broad
guidelines are often set by the President of the Republic.
The general policy statement is a tradition in the Fifth Republic but is not an obligation laid down by the
Constitution. Article 49, paragraph 1 stipulates that the Prime Minister can commit the Government by
means of a vote of approval by members of parliament on its programme or “potentially on a general policy
statement”. The Prime Minister uses this speech to imprint a style and adopt the role of head of the
parliamentary majority.
The Fifth Republic: The fifth republic was established in 1958, and was mainly the work of General de
Gaulle its first president, and Michel Debre his prime minister. It has been amended 17 times. Though the
French constitution is parliamentary, it gave relatively extensive powers to the executive (President and
Ministers) compared to other western democracies.
The executive branch:
The head of state and head of the executive is the President, elected by universal suffrage. Since May 2012,
France’s president is François Hollande. Originally, a president of the Fifth Republic was elected for a 7-
year term (le septennat), renewable any number of times. Since 2002, the President has been elected for a 5-
year term. Since the passing of the 2008 Constitutional reform, the maximum number of terms a president
can serve has been limited to two.
The President, who is also supreme commander of the military, determines policy with the aid of his
Council of Ministers. The residence of the President of the French Republic is the Elysee Palace in Paris.The
President appoints a prime minister, who forms a government.
Traditionally, ministers are chosen by the PM in practice unless the President and the PM are from different
sides of the political spectrum (a system known as la cohabitation), PM and president work together to form
a government. The President must approve the appointment of government ministers.
The legislative branch:
The French parliament is made up of two houses or chambers. The lower and principal house of parliament
is the Assembleenationale, or national assembly, the second chamber is the Senat or Senate. Members of
Parliament, called Deputes, are elected by universal suffrage, in general elections that take place every five
years. Senators are elected by “grand electors”, who are mostly other local elected representatives. The
electoral system for parliamentary elections involves two rounds.A candidate can be chosen on the first
round by obtaining an absolute majority of votes cast. The second round is a runoff between two or more
candidates, usually two.
The judicial branch:
While the Minister of Justice, le Garde des Sceaux, has powers over the organization of the justice system
and public prosecutors, the judiciary is powerfully independent of the executive and legislative branches.
The official handbook of French civil law is theCode Civil.
Promulgation of Laws:
New bills proposed by government, and new private members bills must be approved by both chambers,
before becoming law. However, by virtue of Article 49.3 of the French constitution, a government can make
ineffective parliamentary opposition and pass a law without a parliamentary vote. This does not happen
normally, and in the framework of constitutional amendments, president Sarkozy curtailed the possibility of
using 49.3.
Laws and decrees are promulgated when the official text is published in the Official Journal of the French
Republic, le Journal Officiel.
The Constitutional Council:
The Constitutional Council determine the constitutionality of new legislation or decrees. It has powers to
strike down a bill before it passes into law, if it is deemed unconstitutional, or to demand the withdrawal of
decrees even after promulgation. The Council is made up of nine members, appointed (three each) by the
President of the Republic, the leader of the National Assembly, and the leader of the Senate, plus all
surviving former heads of state.
Political Parties:
In 2012, France is governed by the Socialist Party and allies. The main political parties are as under:
On the right: The Popular Union Movement (UMP – Union pour unMouvementPopulaire),
Centre right: the New Centre (Nouveau Centre), and the Union of Democrats and Independents (launched in
2012) l’Union des democratesetindependants,
Centre left: The Democratic Movement (MouvementDemocratique, MoDem)
On the left: the Socialist party (PartiSocialiste, PS) – since June 2012 the party in power.
The French Communist Party (partiCommunisteFrançais – PCF).
The Green Party (Europe Ecologie Les Verts.
France also has some surprisingly resilient extremist parties on the left and on the right, including the NPA
(Nouveau partianticapitaliste) and the trotskyist Workers’ Party (Lutteouvriere), and the National Front
(Front National).
The cabinet, le Conseil des ministres, meets on a weekly basis, and is presided over by the president.
Ministers determine policy and put new legislation before Parliament in the form of bills within the
framework of existing law, they apply policy through decrees.
The Constitution of Ireland: The Irish Constitution was enacted in 1937. It is the fundamental legal
document that sets out how Ireland should be governed through a series of 50 Articles. Every part of the
Constitution is set out in both the Irish and English language. It asserts the national autonomy of the Irish
people. The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of Ireland. The constitution falls broadly within
the tradition of liberal democracy being based on a system of representative democracy. It guarantees certain
fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executive president, a bicameral parliament based on
the Westminster system, a separation of powers and judicial review.
Features of the Constitution:
-National independence: The constitution emphasizes the “inalienable, indefeasible, and sovereign right” of
the Irish people to self-determination (Article 1). The state is affirmed to be “sovereign, independent, and
democratic” (Article 5).
-Popular sovereignty: It is stated that all powers of government “derive, under God, from the people”
(Article 6.1). However, it is also stated that those powers “are exercisable only by or on the authority of the
organs of State” established by the Constitution (Article 6.2).
-Name of the state: The Constitution declares that “the name of the State is Eire, or, in the English language,
Ireland” (Article 4). Under the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, the term “Republic of Ireland” is the official
“description” of the state; the Oireachtas, however, has left unaltered “Ireland” as the formal name of the
state as defined by the Constitution.
-United Ireland: Article 2, as substituted after the Good Friday Agreement, emphasizes that “every person
born in the island of Ireland” has the right “to be part of the Irish Nation”; however, Article 9.2 now limits
this to persons having at least one parent as an Irish citizen. Article 3 declares that it is the “firm will of the
Irish Nation” to bring about a united Ireland, provided that this occurs “only by peaceful means”, and only
with the express consent of the majority of the people in Northern Ireland.
Organs of government:
The Constitution ascertains a government under a parliamentary system. It provides for a directly
designated, largely ceremonial President of Ireland (Article 12), a head of government called the Taoiseach
(Article 28), and a national parliament called the Oireachtas (Article 15). The Oireachtas has a dominant
directly elected lower house known as DailEireann (Article 16) and an upper house Seanad Eireann (Article
18), which is partly appointed, partly indirectly elected and partly elected by a limited electorate. There is
also an independent judiciary headed by the Supreme Court (Article 34).
The Constitution of Japan:
The Constitution of Japan is the primary law of Japan. It was passed on 3 May 1947 as a new constitution
for post-war Japan. The constitution offers for a parliamentary system of government and assures certain
fundamental rights. Under its terms, the ruler of Japan is “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the
people” and exercises a solely ceremonial role without the control of sovereignty.
Preamble: In the LDP outline, the Preamble announces that Japan is reigned by the Emperor and espouses
the popular sovereignty and triaspolitica principles. The current Preamble refers to the government as a trust
of the people (implying the “natural rights codified into the Constitution by the social contract” model) and
guarantees people “the right to live in peace, free from fear and want”, but both mentions are deleted in the
LDP draft. The political affairs of Japan are conducted in a structure of a parliamentary representative
democratic realm where the Prime Minister of Japan is the chief of government and the head of the Cabinet
that directs the executive branch. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, which consists of the House of
Representatives and the House of Councillors. Japanese politics includes the multi-party system. The
judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and lower courts. In educational studies, Japan is generally
considered a constitutional kingdom with a system of civil law.
The Constitution of Japan describes the ruler to be “the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.”
He performs ceremonial duties and holds no real power, not even emergency reserve powers. Political
power is held mainly by the Prime Minister and other elected members of the Diet. The Imperial Throne is
succeeded by a member of the Imperial House of Japan as designated by the law. Independence is vested in
the Japanese people by the constitution. Though his official status is doubtful, on diplomatic occasions, the
ruler tends to behave as the head of state.
The chief of the executive branch, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the Emperor as directed by the Diet.
He must be a member of either house of the Diet and a civilian. The Cabinet members are nominated by the
Prime Minister, and they must also be inhabitant. Since the Liberal Democratic Party (the LDP) was in
power, it has been convention that the President of the party serves as the prime minister.
The Cabinet is composed of Prime Minister and ministers of state, and is responsible to the Diet. The Prime
Minister has the authority to appoint and remove the ministers, a majority of whom must be the Diet
members. The liberal conservative LDP was in power from 1955 to 2009, except for a very short-lived
coalition government formed from the likeminded opposition parties in 1993.The largest opposition party
was the social liberal Democratic Party of Japan in the late 1990s and late 2000s. The constitution, also
known as the “Postwar Constitution” or the “Peace Constitution”, is most characteristic and well-known for
the rejection of the right to wage war contained in Article 9 and to a lesser extent, the provision for de jure
popular dominion in combination with the monarchy. The constitution was drawn up under the Allied
profession that followed World War II and was intended to reinstate Japan’s previous militaristic and
absolute monarchy system with a form of liberal democratic system.
Prominent characteristics of its constitution are under:
1. The constitution offers for a parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental
rights.
2. The constitution, also known as the "Postwar Constitution" is most characteristic and famous for the
renunciation of the right to wage war contained in Article 9 and to a lesser extent, the provision for
de jure popular sovereignty in conjunction with the monarchy.
3. It is an inflexible document and no subsequent amendment has been made to it since its adoption.
4. Legislative authority is vested in a bicameral National Diet and, whereas previously the upper house
had consisted of members of the nobility, the new constitution provided that both chambers be
directly elected.
5. Executive authority is exercised by a Prime Minister and cabinet answerable to the legislature, while
the judiciary is headed by a Supreme Court.
Impact and comparison of various constitutions:
In order to compare Indian constitutional scheme with other countries, it is crucial to assess the impact of
various constitution on India and the subsequent features borrowed.
The founding members of the Indian Constitution were intelligent to borrow from the experience gained in
working of various other Constitutions. It is well recognized that the Constitution of India is borrowed from
the various working Constitutions.
1.Comparison of Indian Constitution Vs British Constitution: The British Constitution had immense
impact in many respects such as (i) Constitutional head of State (ii) Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
is more powerful than the Upper House; (iii) Responsibility of Council of Ministers towards Parliament; (iv)
Parliamentary system of Government , and (v) Prevalence of Rule of Law.
UK, US and India countries are labelled as democratic countries of the world. United States is the oldest
democratic country of the world and its constitution was made in 1789. WhereasIndia was the Colonial state
of the United Kingdom till 1947 and the Indian Constitution came into force in 1950. But constitution of
United Kingdom is dissimilar.
Although, UK is the self-governing country but the head of the state is monarch. Besides this one of the
uniqueness of theUK‘s constitution is that it‘s not codified one like the US and India having. The UK
Parliament can make any law or amendment by simply passing it by majority and then send to the monarch
for his assent, which just the formality part. Other dissimilarities among these three countries is that United
State is a true federal country, where each state has its own constitution; India is quasi federal there only one
constitution for whole country but area of operation is divided between the Union and the State
governments. Whereas UK is not having the federal structure, it has the unitary setup of government. In
Federal system of governance, state legislatures have asay in amending the constitution but in unitary setup
it‘s only the Parliament which hassupremacy for amending the constitution.
The British parliament has the power to change and amend the constitution by the ordinary process of
legislation. In contrast to the UK, the constitution amendment has an important place under the written
Constitution like that of the US and India. Its importance increases where the system is Federal. In Federal
system, additional safeguards like the involvement of Legislatures at the state level, are also provided for
with a view to ensure that the Federal set-up does not get changed only at the will of the Federal Legislature.
2. US and Indian Constitution: The Constitution of the United States had its impact in many ways such as
(i) Preamble of the Constitution
(ii) Provision of Fundamental Rights
(iii) Functions of the Vice-President
(iv) Amendment of the Constitution
(v) Nature andfunctions of the Supreme court
(vi) Independence of Judiciary
There are many differences between the Constitution of India, and United States of America. Major
difference between the two constitutions is that India has a prime minister which is like the president but is
actually the head of the legislative branch, whereas the U.S. Constitution has a president, who is the head of
the government, and only works in the executive branch. Under the Indian Constitution, the head of state is
the president while the actual head of the government is the prime minister. The prime minister and his
cabinet has political power, while the president has more power in the name. Other major difference
involves the number of terms a president can run. In America, a president can serve a maximum of two -four
year terms, while in India a president and prime minister can serve an unlimited number of terms that each
last five years.
Both constitutions also differ in power. In the United States, Constitution it makes clear that all the branches
of government are equal in power, but in the Indian Constitution, the legislative branch has absolute
independence, meaning that it is supreme to the executive and judicial branch. The Indian Constitution
makes it mandatory that ministers in the Indian government which are senior members of the executive must
also be members in the legislature, whereas the U.S. government does not permit members of legislature to
hold office in the executive.
Another major difference between the two constitutions is that India does not have the right that individuals
can bear arms, while the U.S. Constitution has that right in the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The
Constitution of India is longer than the U.S. Constitution, with 395 articles and 12 schedules, while the
Constitution of the United States of America only has 7 schedules. In the Indian Constitution, although all
the branches all can check each other to make sure either is not abusing their power, the Supreme Court is
the main branch that checks the power of the two other branches. In the United States Constitution, that
power is divided equally among the three branches. The Constitution of India is not the result of an
agreement between the States, while the American Constitution is an agreement between the states.
Other major difference involves the number of ministers in India sent to the Parliament, which is depended
on the populace of the state, compared to the number of representatives sent to the Senate, which is an equal
amount from each state. In the Indian Constitution, there are the same basic criminal and civil laws in the
whole country. But in the American Constitution, there are different criminal and civil laws differ in every
state. In the Indian Constitution, there is no principle of equality between each state, while in the American
Constitution; there is a principle of equality between each state, irrespective of its population.
The central government of India has the power to develop a new state, change the boundaries of any state, to
expand the area of any state, to decrease the area of any state, to form a new state by uniting two or more
states or parts of states, and it has the power to change the name of any state (Article 3). The American
federal government has no power to exercise their power in this way. The Supreme Court of India has been
given very broad powers, including powerful civil and criminal authority, while the Supreme Court in
America has not been given broad powers that involve civil and criminal authority.
A key difference between the two constitutions is the way the modification process is conducted. In India,
no referendum is needed for a proposal to become an amendment. For an amendment to be added to the
Constitution of India, people do not have to give their approval. If a majority of the members of Parliament
(2/3) agree to the amendment, then it is put into action. In the United States Constitution, consent of the
people is needed before an amendment is passed and put into action. In the Indian Constitution, no state can
separate from Indian Territory. In the American Constitution, a state can separate itself from the federal. In
the American Constitution, all the states that are linked with the Federal Government have their own
constitutions to control their own authority. In India, all the states associated with the Indian Union owe
their commitment only to the Indian Constitution and do not have their own constitution, while each state is
empowered to pass their own laws.
In India, the Lok Sabha or the Lower House is more influential than the Rajya Sabha or Upper House and its
members are directly elected by the people. Whereas in the U.S, the House of Senate or the Upper House is
more powerful than the Lower House. A member of the Rajya Sabha is indirectly elected, while a member
of the Senate is directly elected. A judge in the U.S. can hold his position for life, while in India a district
judge retires at the age of 58, a High Court and a Supreme Court judge retires at the age of 65. The United
States Constitution has only been amended 27 times between the period 1989 and 1992, compared to the
Indian Constitution, which has so far been amended 94 times since it came into force in the year 1950. The
process to amend the Indian Constitution is easier since it involves more types of procedures in which an
amendment could be put into action.
When comparing the constitutions of India and the U.S., some similarities are also found.Both
constituencies havesame principles. There are many principles of government reflected in the Constitution
of India and the United States Constitution. One principle of government that is reflected in both
constitutions is popular sovereignty. A quotation from the Constitution of India that represents popular
autonomy is "We, the people of India... in our constituent assembly... do here by adopt, enact and give to
ourselves this constitution.” (India. Ministry, 1). This quote demonstrates that the decisive power lies with
the people and they are the main source of power of the constitution.
Another conjecture that is mirrored in both constitutions is the separation of powers. There is a legislative,
executive, and judicial branch that each has their own different but equally important duties. The legislature
is a body of elected representatives that consists of the LokSabha and Rajya Sabha. They make the laws of
the country. The executive branch consists of the president, prime minister, other ministers, and civil
servants. They make sure that the laws created by the legislature are being executed correctly. The judicial
branch consists of the Supreme Court, High Courts, and other lower courts. Their duties are to check if the
laws are being correctly executed or not. If there something goes wrong that the law is being followed or if
anyone violates a law, the judicial branch takes action.
Both constitutions have provisions to modify the constitution to fulfil the increasing social, political, and
economic needs and demands of their countries. They are both the biggest democratic countries in the world
and their political structure is based on federalism. When drafting the Indian Constitution, the drafting
committee headed by Dr.Ambedkar, borrowed many things from many different constitutions including the
United States Constitution and entrenched them in their constitution. They both have federal governments in
which many states have acceded to. In both countries, the federal government can override a law enacted by
the states. They both followed Montesquieu’s theory of division of labour and separation of powers, as both
the United States and Indian constitutions have three basic divisions known as the executive, legislature, and
judiciary branches.
In the United States, the general public can communicate their social problems through their elected county
and state officials, while this process is not in practice in India. In India, politicians can directly provoke
racial disgust without facing any consequences through public or private speeches or comments, while
normal citizens can be under arrest for "liking" a Facebook post without making any hate speech.
In most states, the general public is authorized to bear arms, though they cannot show it in public. In India,
this right does not exist, and people are not allowed to keep arms, though army officials and high ranking
people in the Navy are authorized to carry small guns that must be hidden.
3. Comparison of Indian and Australian Constitution: The Indian Constitution, like that of Australia,
espoused the federal arrangement and the creation of a judicial branch wholly independent of the other
branches of government. Judicial review, to keep all recipients of pubic power within the Constitution and
other applicable laws was faithfully imitated. But the Indian Constitution went further. Australian
Constitution gave long list of concurrent powers and the procedure for solving deadlock over concurrent
subjects between the Centre and the States.Under the Australian Constitution, the subjects in the concurrent
list are 39. In India, the Concurrent list had 37 subjects to begin with. They were increased to 52
subsequently. The technique of resolution of disputes between the centre and the states has also been taken
from Australia (Article 251) by the Indian Constitution.
4. Comparison of Indian and Irish Constitution: The Irish Constitution gave India the Directive
Principles of StatePolicy and the method of nominating members of the Rajya Sabha.The directive
principles of state policy have been taken from Irish constitution. The system of election of President of
India through specially constituted Electoral College has been drawn from Irish constitution. Representation
of ability in the Rajya Sabha (to the extent 12) has been borrowed from Irish Republic. In case of India,
these 12 nominated members are to be drawn from persons having special knowledge or practical
experience in respect of matters like science, art, literature or social service.
5. Comparison of Indian and Weimer Constitution of Germany: The Weimer Constitution of Germany
had itsimpact upon the powers of the President.The Emergency powers vested with President of India are on
the pattern of similar powers conferred on the President of German Republic according to Article 48 of
Weimer constitution of Germany. Nonetheless, these powers were later battered by Hitler when he came to
power and assumed dictatorial authority. In India, also emergency powers are said to have been badly
treated during the Prime Minister ship of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. These emergency powers when integrated in
the Indian Constitution led a member of the Constituent Assembly to remark “It is a day of shame, God save
the Indian people.”
6. Comparison of Indian and Canadian Constitution: India borrowed the provisions of a strong nation,
the name ofUnion of Indian and vesting residuary powers with the Union from Canada. India has opted for
Federal structure of Government on Canadian pattern. Like Canada, India has made centre more powerful.
Indian Federal structure is termed ‘Quasifederal’ i.e., Federal with unitary bias’. Canadian Centre is very
influential, so is the case with Indian Union government. Special powers have been accorded to the Union
government for meeting all possible eventualities.The division of subjects between the centre and the units
and provision of lists is to a great extent on Canadian lines. The Canadian constitution provides for lists of
legislative powers, central and provincial. The residuary powers have been given to the centre.
7. Comparison of Indian and South African Constitution: The procedure of amendment with a two-
thirds majorityin Parliament and the election of the members of the Rajya Sabha on the basis ofproportional
representation by the State Legislatures have been borrowed from the South African constituency.
8. Comparison of Indian and Japan Constitution: In India, a balance between Parliamentary sovereignty
and judicial supremacy has been maintained on the pattern of constitution of Japan. The law making
procedure laid down in the Indian Constitution has also been significantly influenced by the constitution of
Japan.
Table: Indian constitution has assimilated various features from other countries into its domain

To summarize, Indian Constitution is represented differently by different authors. Some have explained that
Indian constitution is made up from the principles of other countries like UK. Others labelled it mixed
constitution. It is well established that there is immense influence of Foreign Constitutions in making of
Indian constitution.
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various
Constitutional Bodies
Under the Constitution, the President has power to make numerous constitutional appointments. But in
reality he exercises this power on the proposal of the Cabinet. Cabinet decides who is to be appointed and at
what place. The President appoints Governor of States, ambassadors and members of a number of
Commissions. The unseen finger behind all these appointments is, however, of the Cabinet Generally
speaking, the Prime Minister discusses with his other colleagues before the making of such appointments.
Actually, Cabinet accepts the appointments made by the Prime Minister. The Constitutional Bodies in India
are created by the Constitution which assists the Government to operate properly. Each of these permanent
or semi-permanent organizations is accountable for the administration of specific functions. Some additional
bodies help them by providing advisory functions.
Constitutional Bodies in India are the permanent or semi-permanent organization within the machinery of
government. These bodies are responsible for the administration of specific functions. The functions of these
bodies are usually executive type. Furthermore, different types of organization or commissions are used for
advisory functions. The bodies are of national importance and help in the effective function of the
government. India is a Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic country. These constitutional or independent
bodies have extensive administrative functions. The head of these bodies are either appointed by the
president of India or the Prime Minister serves as the chairman.
Appointments to various constitutional posts:
The Constitution of India specifies the setting up of following major constitutional bodies and has given
appointment to various constitutional posts.
The major constitutional bodies in India are as under:
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
- State Public Service Commission
- Joint State Public Service Commission
- The Comptroller and Auditor General of India
- Election Commission of India
- Finance Commission of India
- National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)
- National Commission For Scheduled Tribe
- Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
- Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
A Constitutional body is formed under detailed instructions given in the Constitution. It is compulsory for
the government to set up such a body and it cannot dispense off with it easily when it becomes
uncomfortable. Such bodies or institutions are written into the Constitution of a nation and cannot be
eliminated without amending that part of the Constitution which sometimes also requires consent of the
states.
Constitutional Bodies (powers, functions and responsibilities):
Election Commission of India:
The Election Commission of India, abbreviated as ECI is a constitutional body responsible for administering
elections in India according to the rules and regulations mentioned in the Constitution of India. It was
established on January 25, 1950. Major aim of election commission of India is to define and control the
process for elections conducted at various levels, Parliament, State Legislatures, and the offices of the
President and Vice President of India. It can be said that the Election Commission of India ensures smooth
and successful operation of the democracy.
The Constitution of India has vested in the Election Commission of India according to the article 324 of
Indian constitution the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections
to Parliament and Legislature (state legislative assembly & state legislative council) of every State and to the
offices of President and Vice-President of India.
Initially, the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. Presently, it consists of a Chief Election
Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. For the first time, two additional Commissioners were
appointed on 16th October 1989 but they had a very short term till 1st January 1990. Afterwards, on 1st
October 1993 two additional Election Commissioners were appointed. The concept of multi-member
Commission has been in operation since then, with decision making power by majority vote.
Appointment & Tenure of Commissioners:
1. The President has power to select Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
2. They have tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
3. They have the same status and receive pay and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of
India.
4. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through accusation by
Parliament.
Advisory Jurisdiction & Quasi-Judicial Functions:
1. Under the Constitution, the Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post-election
ineligibility of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures. Additionally, the cases of
persons found guilty of dishonest practices at elections which come before the Supreme Court and
High Courts are also referred to the Commission for its opinion on the question as to whether such
person shall be disqualified and, if so, for what period. The judgment of the Commission in all such
matters is binding on the President or, as the case may be, the Governor to whom such opinion is
tendered.
2. The Commission has the power to prohibit a candidate who has failed to lodge an account of his
election expenses within the time and in the manner set by law.
3. The Commission has also the power to remove or reducing the period of such disqualification as also
other disqualification under the law.
Administrative Powers:
1. To decide the territorial areas of the electoral constituencies throughout the country on the basis of
the Delimitation Commission Act of Parliament.
2. To organize and periodically amend electoral rolls and to register all qualified voters.
3. To inform the dates & schedules of election and to scrutinize the nominations papers.
4. To grant recognition to political parties & allot election symbols to them.
5. To act as court for settling disputes related to granting of recognition to political parties and
allotment of election symbol to them.
Role of Election Commission of India:
Election commission plays vital role in organizing elections. The most critical challenge before the Election
Commission of India is to implement norms and the Model Code of Conduct to ensure free and fair elections
in the country. Its existence and independence are necessitated by history, which has revealed that self-
governing elections are not free from disruption. Towards this end, it has been empowered to supervise
political parties and candidates and take appropriate action in case of violations.
Functions and Powers:
Key functions of the Election Commission of India are as under:
- The Election Commission of India is considered the guardian of free and reasonable elections.
- It issues the Model Code of Conduct in every election for political parties and candidates so that the
decorum of democracy is maintained.
- It regulates political parties and registers them for being eligible to contest elections.
- It publishes the allowed limits of campaign expenditure per candidate to all the political parties, and also
monitors the same.
- The political parties must submit their annual reports to the ECI for getting tax benefit on contributions.
- It guarantees that all the political parties regularly submit their audited financial reports.
Other powers handled by the Election Commission of India are as follows:
- The Commission can repress the results of opinion polls if it deems such an action fit for the cause of
democracy.
- The Commission can recommend for disqualification of members after the elections if it thinks they have
violated certain guidelines.
- In case, a candidate is found guilty of dishonest practices during the elections, the Supreme Court and High
Courts consult the Commission.
- The Commission can postpone candidates who fail to submit their election expense accounts timely.
The main duties of the Election Commission are:
1. To supervise, direct, control and conduct all elections to Parliament and State Legislatures as also to
the office of the President and Vice- President of India.
2. To set down general rules for election.
3. To determine constituencies and to prepare electoral rolls.
4. To give credit to political parties.
5. To allot election symbols to different political parties and individual contestants.
6. To appoint tribunals for the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with
election to parliament and State Legislatures.
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC):
The UPSC is a central agency that has great responsibility for conducting examinations pertaining to Civil
Services, Engineering Services, Defence Services, and Medical Services. It also conducts Economic Service,
Statistical Service, and Police Forces examination. The Union Public Service Commission of India was
formed by the British Government during the British rule. In 1924, Lee Commission had suggested in its
report for the establishment of an independent and impartial Public Service Commission for India and on the
basis of such recommendation, the Union Public Service Commission was established in 1926.
Consequently by the government of India Act 1935, Public Service Commission was established separately
for both the central and the state government services. After independence, arrangements were made to
establish an independent and neutral Union Public Service Commission for the said purpose following the
pattern adopted in the Government of India Act 1935.
Article 315 to 323 of Indian Constitution has a provision for such an agency. According to Act 315 of the
constitution of India, there shall be a permanent Union Public Service Commission for appointment to the
various posts of the central government services. Similarly, as Act 318 of the constitution of India also
stated that the Union Public Service Commission will be constituted with a chairman and a fixed number of
members; the number of such members and the terms and conditions of their service are to be determined by
the President of India. The President, as such, appoints the Chairman and other members of the commission
for a period of six years.
The Commission consists of a Chairman and ten other members. They are appreciative to follow the rules
mentioned in Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969. All the members of the
commission are appointed by the President of India with at least half of the members being the Civil
Servants (working or retired) with no less than ten years of experience in Central or State service.
The constitution of India has also espoused certain measures to guarantee the neutrality and fairness of the
U.P.S.C. The Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission has not been authorized to take any office
of profit under the central or any of the state governments after his retirement from service as chairman.
Furthermore, before the expiry of their term of service, the executive cannot remove the Chairman or any of
the members of the commission from their service. They can be removed only through the means stipulated
in the constitution. Apart from this, once these members are appointed the terms and conditions of their
services cannot be changed. Art. 322 announces that the remuneration and allowances of these members
including the chairman will be considered as expenditure charged upon the consolidated fund of India,
which means that their salaries and allowances are not subjected to the approval of the Parliament.
The Secretariat of UPSC is led by a Secretary, two additional secretaries, joint secretaries, and deputy
secretaries. Every member can hold office for six years or till the time he attains the age of 65 years,
whichever is earlier. A member can submit his resignation at any time to the President of India. On the other
side, the President can eliminate him on the basis of misbehaviour. The UPSC submits a report of its work to
the President annually. The report is then tabled in both houses of Parliament for discussion. The President
places a memorandum in relation to the cases where the commission’s recommendations were not accepted.
The memorandum elucidates the reasons for non-acceptance.
Functions of Union Public Service Commission:
The duty of the Union Public Service Commission will be to conduct examinations for appointment to the
services of the Union. Art. 320 of the constitution of India have categorically itemised the functions of the
Union Public Service Commission (Tummala, 1994).
- Foremost function of Union Public Service Commission is to advocate for appointment in administrative
services the meritorious and potential young men and women after selecting them through All India
competitive examinations.
- Another function of U.P.S.C. is to assists them in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for
any service for which candidates possessing special qualification.
- Union Public Service Commission advises the President on “all matters relating to methods of recruitment
to civil services and for civil posts.
- Principles to be followed in making appointments to civil services and posts and in making promotions and
transfers from the service to another and on the suitability of candidates for such appointments promotions
or transfer.
- Next function is to look at all disciplinary matters affecting a person serving under the Government of
India or the Government of a State in a civil capacity, including memorials or petitions relating to such
matter.
Other function of union public service commissions are as under:
- To conduct examinations for appointment to the services of the Union and conduct interviews for direct
recruitment.
- To advise on any matter referred to them and on any matter which the president may refer to the
appropriate commission;
- To exercise such additional functions as may be provided for by an Act of Parliament regarding the
services of the Union and also with respect to the services of any local authority constituted by law.
- It shall be the duty of the Union Public Service Commission if requested by any two or more states, to
assist those States in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any service.
It is generally compulsory for the Government of India to consult the Union public Service Commission in
respect of all the above matters. Nevertheless, the President has the power to make rules, specifying the
matters in which, either generally or in particular circumstances the commission may not be consulted.
Under the Union Public Service Commission (exemption from consultation) regulations framed by the
President in 1958, it is not obligatory for the President to consult the U.P.S.C. in the following cases.
Posts in respect of which the authority of appointment, has specifically been conferred by the constitution in
the President, Chairman of members of any Board, Tribunal Commission, Committee or any other similar
authority, created under a statute or under the authority of a resolution of either Houses of the Parliament or
by a resolution of the government of India for conducting an enquiry into any matter or advising the
government of specified matters.
Posts concerned with the administration of North-East Frontier Agency and any service or post in respect of
which the commission has agreed that it is not necessary for it to be consulted. The temporary and
officiating appointments can also be made without consulting the U.P.S.C. provided the incumbent is not
likely to hold the post for more than a year. But intimation has to be sent to the commission regarding such
appointment as soon as the posts are filled. Similarly there is no need to make any reference to the
commission regarding the reservation of posts in favour of backward classes, Scheduled Castes, Schedule
Tribes.
Powers of Union Public Service Commission (U.P.S.C):
Main power of Union Public Service Commission is its advisory power. It can give advises to the President
and the governors of any State of the following affairs.
1. On all matters related with the appointment of the civil services of the governments.
2. The evaluation of the standard and efficiencies of the candidates for appointment, promotion or
transfer in all civil posts.
3. On all matters regarding the discipline and punctuality of the employees of all India Services.
4. Affairs associated with the demands and benefits of employees working under the All India Civil
Services and injured while on duty.
5. Whether the payment or expenditure for any work of an employee of All India Civil Services will be
borne by the consolidated fund of India.
6. Regarding discipline and promptness in government functions of paying compensation to a
government employee if he suffers any problem or financial loss due to the negligence on the part of
the government, matters related with the punishment measures of those employees who have violated
 discipline or of all matters related with the interest of the government employees working under the
central government.
The constitution of India has made the Public Service Commission a simple advisory institution which is
required to give advises to the subject sent to it by the President of India or by the Governors of the States.
But to accept or refuse advises is the absolute discretion of the respective governments. This is because India
has adopted a responsible self-governing government where in the council of ministers cannot delegate its
responsibilities to their employees to any other organization. Though at the same time, it should not neglect
advises made by a commission consisting of experienced and expert persons. In brief, The UPSC is the
central recruitment agency in India. It is a sovereign constitutional body being directly created by the
Constitution of India.
Staff Selection Commission (SSC):
The Staff Selection Commission is also significant constitutional body, which is responsible for recruiting
staff for different ministries and departments of the government. Staff Selection Commission is considered
as an attached office of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which comprises of Chairman,
two Members along with a Secretary-cum-Controller of Examinations.
In the period of 1967-68, a Service Selection Commission was made by the Estimates Committee of the
Parliament. The rationale for establishing this commission was to have a central agency for conducting
examinations for recruiting staff to lower categories of posts. In 1975, Subordinate Services Commission
was established for this purpose. Two years later in 1977, the agency was renamed as Staff Selection
Commission. Its functions were redefined in 1999.
The main purpose of SSC is to conduct examinations and/or interviews for recruiting staff in Group B, C,
and D posts for various ministries and departments of the government and their subordinate offices.
Headquarter of the Staff Selection Commission is in New Delhi. It has seven regional offices at Allahabad,
Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, and Mumbai. Its two Sub-Regional Offices are located at
Chandigarh and Raipur.
Functions of Staff Selection Commission:
Staff Selection Commission is responsible for recruitment of manpower in the Group B and non-technical
Group C posts at various ministries and departments of the Government of India. It conducts recruitment in
these groups for the subordinate offices as well.
The staffing of candidates is done through written examinations and personal interview rounds conducted by
the Staff Selection Commission. It conducts the written examination at the various examination centres
online or offline across the country. It also looks after the posting of the candidates so that they can be given
their job to begin from their home state or region. It also takes into account the complaints and grievances
registered by the candidates during the recruitment process and works on to better them in future.
It conducts written examination on a national scale for various posts such as Lower Division Clerks,
Stenographers, Assistants, Inspectors of Central Excise, Income Tax officer, Sub Inspector in CBI,
Divisional Accountants, Auditors, Accountants, Junior Engineer in CPWD, Statistical Investigators, Tax
Assistants, Section Officer etc. for various ministries and departments of the Government of India.
It also conducts examination for different education levels. The purpose to conduct such exam is to make it
possible for people of every educational background candidates to take part in such aspiring government
jobs. The candidates having passed their secondary, senior secondary and Graduation Degrees can apply for
the different examinations and posts in which the SSC recruits its manpower.
The Staff Selection Commission also conducts departmental examination for the promotion of the
candidates placed in various departments at entry level posts. The commission is accountable for the overall
promotion in the departments in which it recruits for the Government of India.
Staff Selection Commission is also responsible for offering ample information and suggestions to the
different government offices concerned, regarding need of manpower in the concerned departments. It also
advices the various departments regarding the probable number of requirement of candidates and their
required educational qualification for the posts concerned.
Staff Selection commission also chooses and prepares the questions of the various written examinations it
conducts throughout the nation and evaluates the papers given by the aspiring candidates making the list of
selected candidates for the concerned posts.
Staff Selection commission is responsible to perform tasks and functions other than these from time to time,
as pointed out by the Central Government.
In brief, Staff Selection Commission has long been the power to recruit various offices and department of
Government of India and its subordinated offices. These recruitments are done in a smooth manner on a
national basis involving huge number of candidates every year, who are willing to join the government
services. These aspiring candidates are selected through written examination, skill test/practical test and
personal interview rounds conducted by SSC at various levels throughout the year periodically for various
posts.
National Human Rights Commission of India:
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is a public body constituted for benefiting the citizens of the
country. It plays vital roles since its establishment on October 12, 1993. Human Rights" means the rights
relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the constitution or embodied in
the International covenants and enforceable by courts in India. This Commission was established after the
thorough assessment of needs for such bodies to address the human rights related issues and by keeping in
consideration the ways and measures to apply for their protection.
The Central Government of India setup the National Human Rights Commission of India in the year 1993
under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance which was made effective the same year itself. Protection
of Human Rights Act, 1993 (TPHRA) gave this Commission a status of a complete statutory basis to act as a
Commission for the fruitful outcome.
National Human Rights Commission has already become an outstanding human rights institution with its
national reputation and by performing the main roles to guard rights. It is one of the important responsible
groups through creating total awareness and to promote the rights which have been given the key importance
in the Act.
Composition of National Human Rights Commission of India:
National Human Rights Commission is an independent body works broadly and consists of highly
knowledgeable team to work in the areas of human rights. The composition of this Commission is the head
or chairperson being selected from the judiciary so any Supreme Court Chief Justice to lead the team
members. Two members are selected from the judiciary out of whom one should be a sitting or former
Supreme Court Judge and the other any High Court’s Chief Justice respectively.
They are the key members besides rest two members whose appointments base on their knowledge level on
both practical and theoretical grounds who could give new direction to human rights issues. Ex office
members of NHRC are the chairpersons of four National Commissions to complete this Commission as a
national body.
President appoints chairperson and the members of National Human Rights Commission for which a
committee nominates the names. This committee consists of chairperson, the Prime Minister and the
members including Home Minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in
Rajya Sabha, Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman.
Major issues tackled by NHRC are as follows:
- Custodial Torture
- Right to Work and Labour Rights
- Extrajudicial Killings
- Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
- Excessive Powers of the Armed Forces and the Police
- Sexual Violence
- Conflict Induced Internal Displacement
- Child Labour
- Manual Scavenging
- Violence and discrimination against Women, Children
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights
- Problems faced by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Religious Minorities, Persons with Disabilities
Role of NHRC in safeguarding human rights:
Since its development, the NHRC has extensively dealt with issues relating to application of human rights.
NHRC has established its reputation for independence and honesty. There is increasing number of
complaints addressed to the Commission seeking redressal of grievances. The NHRC has pursued its
mandate and priorities with determination and considerable success.
Some of the famous interventions of NHRC include campaigns against discrimination of HIV patients. It
also has asked all State Governments to report the cases of custodial deaths or rapes within 24 hours of
occurrence failing which it would be assumed that there was an attempt to suppress the incident. An
important intervention of the Commission was related to Nithari Village in Noida, UP, where children were
sexually abused and murdered. Recently, NHRC helped to bring out in open a multi crore pension scam in
Haryana. It also is looking up the sterilization tragedy of Chattisgarh.
Major Functions of NHRC are as follows:
- Proactively or reactively inquire into infringements of human rights or negligence in the prevention of such
violation by a public servant.
- By leave of the court, to intervene in court proceeding relating to human rights.
- To visit any jail or other institution under the control of the State Government, where persons are detained
or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the
inmates and make recommendations.
- Review the safeguards provided by or under the Constitution or any law for the time being in force for the
protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation.
- Review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend
appropriate remedial measures.
- To study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their
effective implementation.
- Undertake and promote research in the field of human rights.
- Engage in human rights education among various sections of society and promote awareness of the
safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other
available means.
- Support the efforts of NGOs and institutions working in the field of human rights.
It is revealed in reports that the international community has acknowledged the increasing importance of
strengthening national human rights institutions. In this context, in the year 1991 an UN-sponsored meeting
of representatives of national institutions held in Paris, a detailed set of principles on the status of national
institutions was developed, these are commonly known as the Paris Principles. These principles became the
foundation for the establishment and operation of national human rights institutions.
Planning Commission India:
Planning Commission of India is considered as an important institution in India’s governance system. It has
major role in country’s economic planning for the overall growth.
Central Government had formed Planning Commission in India as central body to work comprehensively
with the consecutive term of five years as country’s Five-Year Plans for economic and social sustenance
cum governance. A historic jump was by the freedom fighter, Netaji Subhas Chanrda Bose in 1938 while he
brought an idea of such economic planning which was aimed at country’s independent authority. The first
idea came when he was Congress president and insisted for its development.
A Planning Commission had already been established by the British government before India’s
independence that was for a short tenure from 1944 to 1946. After independence, its democratic setup
involved industrialists as well as economists to work independently and form development plans. It
enhanced country’s economic planning.
First and Subsequent Planning Commissions (India):
India espoused formal model of planning by constituting its 1st Planning Commission after independence on
March 15, 1950. This Commission team was authorized to report to Prime Minister directly as first Prime
Minister, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was its chairman and rest members were supposed to work in
synchronization with Deputy Chairman of this Commission.
Main purpose to constitute 1st Five-year Plan and its launch in 1951 was to assure country’s agricultural
sector getting more support for timely growth and the complete development. Two more plans were made as
succeeding Planning Commissions until 1965 but a break came thereafter due to neighbourhood conflicts
between India and Pakistan during that period.
Other issues hindered development of Planning Commission for two more years when country faced drought
condition and currency devaluation issues correspondingly. These two issues caused rise in general prices.
The 3rd Planning Commission was established from 1966 to 1969 and then things normalized with the setup
of 4th Five-year plan starting from 1969.
Since then Five-yearly Planning Commission continued until disruption in the setting up of 8th Plan in 1990
which did not devise due to country’s political volatility. Two years from 1990-91 to 1991-92 were
considered for annual plans until setting up of 8th Plan in 1992.
Functions of the Indian Planning Commission:
- To make an evaluation of the material, capital and human resources of the country, including technical
employees, and investigate the possibilities of augmenting those are related resources which are found to be
deficient in relation to the nation's requirement.
- To devise a plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of country's resources.
- To define the stages, on the basis of priority, in which the plan should be implemented and propose the
allocation of resources for the due completion of each stage.
- To specify the factors that tends to retard economic development.
- To determine the conditions which need to be established for the triumphant execution of the plan within
the incumbent socio-political situation of the country.
- To determine the nature of the mechanism required for securing the successful implementation of each
stage of the plan in all its aspects.
- To evaluate from time to time the improvement achieved in the implementation of each stage of the plan
and also recommend the adjustments of policy and measures which are deemed important for successful
implementation of the plan.
- To make required recommendations from time to time regarding those things which are deemed necessary
for facilitating the execution of these functions. Such recommendations can be related to the current
economic conditions, current policies, measures or development programmes.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his objective to dissolve the Planning Commission. It
has since been replaced by a new institution named NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog is a Government of India
policy think-tank.
The assured aim for NITI Aayog's formation is to promote involvement and participation in the economic
policy-making process by the State Governments of India. It has adopted a "bottom-up" approach in
planning which is a noteworthy contrast to the Planning Commission's tradition of "top-down" decision-
making. One of the important directives of NITI Aayog is to bring cooperative competitive federalism and
to improve centre state relation.
Composition of Niti Aayog:
The NITI Aayog comprises the following:
Prime Minister of India as the Chairperson, Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all the
States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
Regional Councils formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a
region. These will be formed for a specified tenure. The Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime
Minister and will comprise of the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in the
region. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.
Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the
Prime Minister.
The full-time organizational framework will comprise of, in addition to the Prime Minister as the
Chairperson.
Major objectives of The NITI Aayog:
- To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active
involvement of States in the light of national objectives. The vision of the NITI Aayog will then provide a
framework ‘national agenda’ for the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to provide impetus to.
- To promote cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States
on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.
- To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively
at higher levels of government.
- To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated
in economic strategy and policy.
- To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from
economic progress.
- To design strategic and long term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives, and monitor their
progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used for making
innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections.
- To provide advice and support partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-
minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.
- To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community
of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
- To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectorial and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the
implementation of the development agenda.
- To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best
practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-holders.
- To actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes and initiatives, including the
identification of the needed resources so as to strengthen the probability of success and scope of delivery.
- To focus on technology up-gradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and
initiatives.
- To undertake other activities as may be necessary in order to further the execution of the national
development agenda, and the objectives mentioned above.
Planning Commission was an advisory body, and so is Niti Ayog. Main difference between Planning
commission and Niti aayog is that while the former had powers to allocate funds to ministries and states, this
function will be now of finance ministry. The role of states in the planning commission era was restricted.
The states yearly needed to interact with the planning commission to get their annual plan approved. They
had some limited function in the National Development Council. Since Niti Ayog has all chief ministers of
states and administrators of UT in its Governing Council, it is obvious that states are expected to have
greater role and say in planning/ implementation of policies.
National Commission for Women:
National Commission for Women is also one of the significant statutory bodies established by the
Government of India. It was established in 1992 under the provisions of the National Commission for
Women Act, 1990. The Central Government took the initiative to establish this Commission by keeping in
view the provisions of India’s constitution to strengthen the women in country through addressing plights,
suppressions and other types of violence they use to face. National Commission for Women also takes the
initiatives for overall development of women community in whole country.
Main aim of National Commission for Women is to raise the concern for the women and to represent itself
for their rights. This Commission takes into account the issues and concerns of women community and
advises for the authentic solution of all the problems they face. This Commission takes into consideration
many common issues associated with women and their repression from dowry to religious or political
factors and most importantly their equal representation in job market and other exploitations.
Working of National Commission for Women:
National Commission for Women became statutory body and kept taking many steps for the protection of
women. It also makes a point to work under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 which is the
key guideline for this Commission to suggest and explore initiatives meant for women and their overall
growth.
Composition of National Commission for Women: It was constituted under Mrs. Jayanti Patnaik’s
chairpersonship. Dr. (Mrs.) Mohini Giri was appointed chairperson of the Second NCW on July 1995. While
constituting the Third NCW, the government appointed Mrs. Vibha Parthasarathy as its new chairperson on
January 1999. The successive NCW’s are as follows;
4th NCW constituted on January 2002 with Chairperson Dr. Poornima Advani. 5th NCW constituted on
February 2005 with chairperson Dr. Girija Vyas.
Functions of National Commission for Women:
- Work as the coordinating agency to receive and process all the complaints related to Indian Women
deserted by their Overseas Indian husbands.
- Shall render all possible assistance to the complaints including conciliation, mediation between the parties
and advising the complainant on related issues.
- Associating, networking with NGOs, community organizations in India and overseas and State women
Commissions for wider area coverage, so as to assist easy access and provide support services.
- Shall endeavour towards a coordinated response amongst various Government agencies/organizations such
as State Governments, The National Human Rights Commission, Indian Embassies and Mission, concerned
Ministries etc.
- Provide assistance to the distressed woman in litigation and other issues pertaining to the complainant/case.
- Shall maintain a data bank record of cases registered.
- Seek reports from the State Government and other authorities on the complaints filed and action taken
thereon.
- Shall advice and recommend the government on any policy or issue relating to the NRI marriages.
- Investigate various legal treaties on the issue and advice the Government on the subject, wherever required.
- Shall constitute an advisory committee panel of reputed advocates/NGOs, both in India as well as abroad,
which shall intermittently review the functioning of the cell, cases filed and policy issues.
- Shall constitute a panel of experts (All India) to support the aggrieved wife and rendering legal services
and other assistance, including mediation and conciliation
- Planning of training modules and conducting training on sensitisation on the subject to the various agencies
entrusted with the task of providing justice, vig. Judiciary, police, administration, etc.
- Shall organize awareness campaigns for the masses on the issue.
- This commission has responsibility to encourage /support research and study in the related field like issues
of grievances associated with dual citizenship, enactment of new legislation or signing of international
treaties, marriage laws of other countries, etc.
- NCW must look into complaints and take suo-moto notice on any issue brought to the notice of the NRI
Cell in accordance with Section 10 (1)(f) of the National Commission for Women Act , 1990 read with sub-
section 4 of Section 10 and Section 8 of the Act.
- The cell shall control its own procedures in accordance with the National Commission for Women Act
1990.
- NCW must perform any other function as assigned to it by the Commission/Central Government.
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC):
Central Vigilance Commission, abbreviated as CVC is a top government body, established in 1964 with the
aim of addressing corrupt practices within the government. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
works in coordination with the government authorities for the betterment of the system. The main purpose
for which this important body had been established was to ensure all sorts of corruptions in government
sector could be well prevented and addressed minutely.
It is an autonomous body, responsible for monitoring all vigilance activities under the union government. Its
major role is to recommend government agencies in “planning, executing, reviewing and reforming” their
vigilance capability.
Central Government of India formed CVC in the year 1964 as an important body that could take into
account the measures and steps to prevent all the corruptions especially the governmental ones for a better
system and governance. It has been working as a statutory body and plays crucial role in this regard. It has
already addressed lots of such issues through the steps taken ever since its formation. CVC has been given
several power including its status to work independently as a major sovereign body which remains free from
any type of control from the authorities.
CVC came into existence after the reports submitted by Committee on Prevention of Corruption whose
chairperson Mr. K. Santhanam had suggested for the formation of this Commission. Mr. Nittoor Srinivasa
Rau was appointed as first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India.
It must be informed that Central Vigilance Commission is not an investigating agency. It operates in
coalition with the CBI or the Departmental Chief Vigilance Officers. The only search that Central Vigilance
Commission conducts is that of investigating Civil Works of the government, which is done through the
Chief Technical Officer. Before Central Vigilance Commission can take up investigations into corruption
cases against government officials, it has to be approved by the government. The Central Vigilance
Commission also publishes list of corrupt officials and recommends punitive action against them.
The President of India appoints the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioners on
the recommendation of the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the leader of the opposition in the Lok
Sabha. It clearly indicates that the appointments to CVC are indirectly under the government’s control. CVC
is often considered a powerless agency as it is treated as an advisory body only with no power to register
criminal case against government officials or direct CBI to initiate inquiries against any officer of the level
of Joint Secretary and above. Although CVC is “relatively independent” in its functioning, it neither has the
resources nor the power to take action on complaints of corruption.
Recently, news is flashed that Central Vigilance Commission will be given the power to report discrepancies
or frauds in public sector banks. Moreover, the central vigilance officers (CVOs) are likely to get the
authority to monitor and bring frauds to the notice of bank boards. Besides leveraging technology to prevent
corruption, the CVC has taken new initiatives to improve the standard of vigilance work in the last few
years.
Functions and powers of Central Vigilance Commission: Its main functions include technical audit of
construction works of governmental organizations from a vigilance angle, investigation of specific cases of
complaints relating to construction works and assisting CBI in its investigations involving technical matters.
Other functions of Central Vigilance Commission are:
- To exercise superintendence over the functioning of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) with
respect to investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; or offence under CRPC for certain
categories of public servants and to give directions to the DSPE for purpose of discharging this
responsibility.
- To review the progress of investigations conducted by the DSPE into offences alleged to have been
committed under the PC Act.
- To undertake an inquiry or cause an inquiry or investigation to be made into any transaction in which a
public servant working in any organisation, to which the executive control of the Government of India
extends, is suspected or alleged to have acted for an improper purpose or in a corrupt manner.
- To tender independent and impartial advice to the disciplinary and other authorities in disciplinary cases,
involving vigilance angle at different stages i.e. investigation, inquiry, appeal, review etc.
- To exercise a general check and supervision over vigilance and anti-corruption work in Ministries or
Departments of the Govt. of India and other organisations to which the executive power of the Union
extends.
- To chair the Committee for selection of Director (CBI), Director (Enforcement Directorate) and officers of
the level of SP and above in DSPE.
- To undertake or cause an inquiry into complaints received under the Public Interest Disclosure and
Protection of Informer and recommend appropriate action.
It can be said that Central Vigilance Commission is an apex Indian governmental body to address
governmental corruption. It has the status of an autonomous body, free of control from any executive
authority, charged with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government of India. Central
Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 also empowers the Commission to exercise superintendence over the
functioning of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) now called Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI). The Commission is also empowered to review the progress of investigations conducted by the CBI
and the progress of applications pending with the competent authorities for grant of sanction for prosecution
for offences alleged to have been committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988. The Commission
also exercises superintendence over the vigilance administration of the various organizations under the
Central Government.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission:
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission contributes a lot in the country’s administrative
reforms. This Commission has provided numerous guidelines and advises to government of India on the
regular intervals for systematizing its functionalities that has made it one of the important bodies for the
better and effectual governance in self-governing system.
In 1988, the Government of India established the quasi-judicial National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission to modernize and improve the system of governance in the whole country. This Commission
came into force under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 whose mandates and rule for implementation
needed a thorough assessment and strategy for implementation under a law.
Head office of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission is in Delhi and it has been mandated to
assess all the issues which are of prime importance as far as redressal aspects are concerned. This
Commission has been empowered with the autonomous power to tackle the issues through keeping in
consideration the legal framework from observation to implementation of ideas to taking decisions that can
prove highly result oriented for all types of consumer disputes.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission submits its reports to the Central Government on
regular intervals. As it is a complete research and analysis body, this Commission has already taken several
initiatives which are of the paramount value for redressal purpose. A sitting or retired judge of the Supreme
Court of India heads this Commission to offer the practical oriented reports to the government for
implementation.
University Grants Commission India:
University Grants Commission (UGC) was established to augment educational system in India and
especially to boost university system in the country for overall growth of higher education. This body has
suggested several improvements in the university system and works extensively to bring the institutions of
higher repute into order through constant reforms and by development initiatives.
Central Government established the autonomous statutory body, UGC in 1956 to restructure the university
system in the country. This body has been given special powers to take important decisions from thorough
coordination to taking steps for reforms in the education system. UGC takes the steps to determine and
maintain university education standards for that its team involves in various stages of inspections in the
universities besides providing total support to them.
Important role of UGC is to provide the timely recognition of Indian universities. This Body involves in the
university system through funding them and the colleges which are recognized by the government. It
operates from the headquarters in New Delhi besides Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and
Bangalore based regional centres.
Formal inauguration of UGC was held by the then Education, Natural Resources & Scientific Research
Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on December 28, 1953 but formal establishment of UGC was held in
November 1956. It was constituted under an Act of the Parliament in the year 1956. It has been setup as a
crucial body to work as statutory Government body for the reforms.
With its development, UGC had been mandated to work on various grounds to promote education system in
the country for those recommendations were suggested before country’s independence in 1945. The
Commission has been given major roles to supervise the functioning of central and state level universities
besides all the colleges working under the government.
It works with a Committee system and is entirely entrusted to look into the many affairs of the university
education system of the country. It also suggests guidelines for the existing universities and plans for the
formation of new ones after systematic research about the need and need fulfilment options. Unique features
of UGC functioning is its distinct approach for giving grant to the universities.
Main responsibilities of UGC are as follows:
- Provide funds to the universities for their overall growth and development.
- Helping out the universities for better coordination & maintenance for the fullest of educational
standardization as institutions of higher repute.
- Methodical promotion and best possible coordination for university education system in the country.
- Ensuring that the teaching, examination and research initiatives are well maintained as per the standards
set.
- UGC must frames proper guideline to maintain education standard through keeping in view minimum
standard level.
- Proper supervision of all sorts of developments in higher education in the universities and colleges and for
that it offers them grants for support.
- This independent body works as an important link which coordinates between the Central and State
governments as far as maintaining higher level learning institutes are concerned.
- Guidance and advisory role for the Central and State governments to take the initiative to improve the
education system in the country.
National Commission on Farmers:
The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has great significance since its inception. Its major aim is to
benefit the farmer’s community in this country. This Commission has played several active roles to guide
Indian farmers to organize them for an additional productivity and output through applying the innovating
farming options. Creation of National Commission on Farmers was a big leap on November 18, 2004
through which the Indian Government offered a right platform to all agriculturalists for the better
accessibility in the farming sector. Many scholar such as Professor M.S Swaminathan was assigned to lead
this Commission as its chairman. Commission was mandated to work as an observatory body which could
suggest proper advices through keeping in consideration multiple priorities from the government’s Common
Minimum Program and for the opportunities for a concrete outcome of steps taken.
Composition of the National Commission on Farmers:
Once the National Commission on Farmers was formally recognized, Commission’s body was composed for
its functioning. It was designed with the following hierarchical arrangement.
1. Commission Chairman
2. Full-time Members of the Commission
3. Part-time Members of the Commission
4. Member Secretary of the Commission
The government mandated the National Commission on Farmers to perform its role as an autonomous body
and to do the broad research on the issues which are related to the farmers and offer good solution of
problems they were facing in entire country. Some of the important mandates are mentioned below.
- Plan an all-inclusive medium-term strategy to ensure that there is best food and nutrition security options
for the farmers.
- Workout suggestions and advises for effective techniques that could ease the productivity enhancement
through maximum profitability options and to make things stable.
- Steps to take for sustaining the major farming systems in the whole country.
- Taking steps which collaborate between technology and public policy for the better farming outcomes.
- The Commission to suggest perfect measures which attract and retain the well qualified youths in the
farming sector.
Commission of Railway Safety:
Major aim to establish the Commission of Railway Safety was to ensure the aspects related to rail travel
safety and its operation. This Commission works under the control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the
Government of India which administrates its functioning and crosschecking developments. The Commission
also looks at the specific constitutional functions that had been implemented through the Railways Act
(1989). Nature of this Commission’s functioning is carefully inspectorial, investigatory and advisory. Major
factors on which this Commission concentrates include legislative investigation in case of rail accidents and
the rules associated to them under the framing of Railways Act. Other factors like issuing executive
instructions on regular intervals for which this Commission was set are also important.
Major duties of this Commission include that this Commission assures for confirming whether any new
railway line opened and planned for operation maintains the safety standards as specified by the Ministry of
Railways. The Commission must approve for operation of new line in terms of safety standard whether that
is capable to carry passenger traffic or not. Other roles of the Commission are monitoring gauge conversion
and crosschecking line doubling besides thorough assessment of the lines and existing line electrification.
Commission also conducts inquiry into serious train accidents that might occur any time. It would
recommend safety measures to make best possible Railways safety improvement.
The Government of India appointed a Commission after entrusting private companies especially by
involving the Consulting Engineers to ensure effective control of the construction and operation of India’s
first railways project. All those Consulting Engineers involved in this project were designated as
Government Inspectors on the later stage when the Central Government undertook construction and
operation of railways. Their statutorily recognition was completed in the year 1883 in further extension
process. The Railway Board placed the entire Railway Inspectorate under it in 1905 upon establishment.
The Railway Board was delegated with its powers and functions under the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905
post its establishment under the Notification No.801 that dated to March 24, 1905 issued by the Central
Government’s Department of Commerce and Industry. It was completed under several sections of the
Railway Act with the powers and authorities to create various General Rules for effective railway operation.
Since then, this Railway Board acts in the capacity of Safety Controlling Authority to operate and work for
both Company managed and Government’s railway operations.
The functions were clearly drawn under the Section 181(3) of the Government of India Act of 1935 to plan
them so that safety and security are dealt in clearly in the interest of the public travelling through the
railways. Other functions were proper operation of the railways by ensuring least accidents and most
importantly it was assigned to it to hold all inquiries pertaining to the accidents if any and their major and
minor causes. This authority was totally independent without any other pressure hence the Federal Railway
Authority was formed for such purpose.
Central Legislature permitted the main process to separate Railway Inspectorate in 1940 with the
recommendation of placing the Senior Government Inspectors of the Railways under an authority solely
administered by the Central Government. It followed by all Railway Inspectorate being placed to be
controlled and administered by the Department of “Posts and Air” for which May 1941 was the date fixed. It
was approached for continuation by any of the Ministries to administer that would be under the Civil
Aviation portfolio.
The Commission of Railway Safety is the redesigned form of the former Railway Inspectorate whose
inception on 1.11.1961 was revolutionary step.
Functions of Railway Safety Commission:
1. Approval of safety
2. Auditing and monitoring safety
3. Enforcement of safety
4. Investigation
Law Commission of India:
Law Commission is an executive body that is intended to work for legal improvement. The members of the
commission are mainly legal experts, who work as per the government’s mandate. The Commission is
established for a fixed tenure and works as an advisory body to the Law Ministry. The first Law
Commission was established during the British regime in 1834. Before independence, India saw three more
commissions being established. The first such commission in independent India was set up for a three-year
term in 1955. Since then, 19 more Commissions have been established.
The Commission is supervised by a full-time Chairperson. Its membership primarily comprises legal
experts, who are entrusted a mandate by the Government. The 21st Law commission would be comprised of
a full-time Chairperson four full-time Members (including a Member-Secretary), Secretary, and Department
of Legal Affairs as ex offcio Member, Secretary, Legislative Department as ex offcio Member.
The Commission is established for a fixed tenure (usually three years) and works as an advisory body to the
Ministry of Law and Justice. Before finalising its recommendations, the Commission needs to consult the
law ministry. Law Commission works in synchronisation and under the general instruction of Ministry of
Law and Justice. It generally acts as primary commission for law reform in the country. Internally, the Law
Commission works in a research-oriented manner. The Law Commission employs research analysts and law
students who work in a research-oriented manner. The commission comprises of research employees of
different ranks and secretarial staff who looks after the day-to-day functioning.
This executive body works towards outlining the problems and determining areas for law reform. After due
diligence and extensive research, it prepares report, which is sent to the Law Ministry. Once the proposals
are cleared by other relevant ministries, action is taken to implement those recommendations.
Although an ad-hoc body but the Law Commission has played a major role in law reform in India. At times,
it’s also critical of the government’s policies. The Supreme Court often follows the recommendations of the
commission. However, since the commission’s proposals are not binding on the government, often the
critical recommendations made by it are not implemented. The Law commission also works on specific
issues when requested by the Supreme Court.
The Commission evaluations and judicial administration ensures that it is responsive so that delays are
eliminated, arrears are cleared and disposal of cases is quick and cost-effective without sacrificing the
cardinal principle that they are just and fair. The Commission seeks to simplify procedure to control delays
and improve standards of justice. It also promote an accountable and citizen-friendly government which is
transparent and ensures the people's right to information.
Finance Commission of India:
The Finance Commission of India was established on 22nd November, 1951. The Finance Commission has
been provided for the Indian constitution as part of the scheme of division of financial resources between the
two different sets of governments. Finance Commission also serves as constitutional body for the purpose of
allocation of certain resources of income between the Union and the State Governments. It was established
under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution by the President of India. It was formed to describe the financial
relations between the centre and the state.
Key role Finance Commission in India is to act as an instrument to divide proceeds of divisible taxes
between the states and the Union government or in cases of taxes that are collected by the centre but the
proceeds of which are allocated between the states, to determine the principles of such allocation.
The Finance commission of India also determines the principles of governing the grants in aids of the
revenues of states out of the consolidated fund of India. It is an important function of the Indian Finance
Commission.
The commission has the responsibility of considering any matter referred to the commission by the President
in the interest of sound finance.
The President under Article 280 lays the recommendations of the finance commission before each House of
the Parliament with an explanatory note as to the action to be taken on the recommendations.
The Finance Commission distributes of proceeds of Income tax between the union and the states. But, taxes
on the payments of the central government are attributable only to the union territories.
Under Article 280 (C), the President may refer any matter to the Finance commission in the interest of
“sound finance.” Till now the President of India has asked the commission to make recommendations on the
principles governing distribution of the net proceeds of estate duty in respect of property Tax on Railway
fare and excise duties on sugar and tobacco. The President also sought recommendations on the rates of
interest, and terms of repayment of loans to the various states by the government of India.
Finance Commissions mainly focuses on the financial relations between the State government and the
Central government. These recommendations progressively increase share of the state governments in the
proceeds of the income tax. They also increased gradually the amount of grants-in-aids to be given to the
states. As a result the states now enjoy considerable degree of financial autonomy so necessary for the
proper functioning of the federation.
It can be said that the Finance Commission as an autonomous body has served a wonderful purpose. In, as
complex a society as India is, it acted as an agency to bring about coordination and cooperation for smooth
working of a federal system.
Under the Constitution, the basis for sharing of divisible taxes by the Centre and the States and the
principles governing grants-in-aid to the states have to be decided by the Commission every five years. The
President can refer to the Commission any other matter in the interest of sound finance. The
recommendations of the Commission together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken by
the Government on them are laid before each house of Parliament. The Commission has to assess the
increase in the Consolidated Fund of a state to affix the resources of the Panchayat in the state. It also has to
evaluate the increase in the Consolidated Fund of a state to affix the resources of the Municipalities in the
state.
The Commission has been given passable powers to perform its function and within its area of activity. It
has all the powers of the Civil Court as per the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. It can call any witness, or can
ask for the production of any public record or document from any court or office. It can ask any person to
give information or document on matters as it may feel to be useful or relevant. It can function as a civil
court in discharging its duties.
Key functions of Finance Commission:
The commission makes recommendations to the president with regard to:
1. The distribution of the proceeds of taxes between the union and the states.
2. The principles which should govern the grants-in-aid to be given to the states.
3. Any other matter referred to the Commission by the President in the interest of sound finance.
The recommendations of the commission are generally accepted by the Union Government as well as by the
parliament.
State Public Service Commission:
The State Public Service Commission is also a constitutional body. There is a State Public Service
Commission in every state. The same set of Articles (i.e., 315 to 323) of the Constitution also deal with the
composition, appointment and removal of members, power and functions and independence of a State Public
Service Commission.
The composition of the State Public Service Commission is similar to that of the Union Public Service
Commission. The members of the State Public Service Commission are nominated by the Governor. The
functions of both the Commissions are also similar. Only the jurisdiction of the Union Public Service
Commission is far wider than that of the State Public Service Commission. The jurisdiction of the Union
Public Service Commission extends across the entire length and breadth of the country because it is related
to the Civil Service of the Union Government. The Jurisdiction of the State Public Service Commission is
limited within the State.
Powers, Functions and Responsibilities of State Public Service Commission:
A State Public Service Commission performs all those functions in respect of the state services as the UPSC
does in relation to the Central services:
1. It conducts examinations for appointments to the services of the state.
2. It is consulted on the following matters related to personnel management.
(i) All matters relating to methods of recruitment to civil services and for civil posts.
(ii) The principles to be followed in making appointments to civil services and posts and in making
promotions and transfers from one service to another.
(iii) The suitability of candidates for appointments to civil services and posts for promotions and transfers
from one service to another, and appointments by transfer or deputation. The concerned departments make
recommendations for promotions and request the SPSC to ratify them.
The Supreme Court has held that if the government fails to consult the State Public Service Commission in
these matters, the aggrieved public servant has no remedy in a court. In other words, the court held that any
irregularity in consultation with the State Public Service Commission or acting without consultation does not
invalidate the decision of the government. Thus, the provision is directory and not mandatory. Similarly, the
court held that a selection by the SPSC does not confer any right to the post upon the candidate. However,
the government is to act fairly and without arbitrariness.
The additional functions relating to the services of the state can be conferred on State Public Service
Commission by the state legislature. It can also place the personnel system of any local authority, corporate
body or public institution within the jurisdiction of the SPSC. Hence the jurisdiction of SPSC can be
extended by an Act made by the state legislature.
The State Public Service Commission presents, annually, to the governor a report on its performance. The
governor places this report before both the Houses of the state legislature, along with a memorandum
explaining the cases where the advice of the Commission was not accepted and the reasons for such non-
acceptance.
Joint State Public Service Commission:
The Constitution makes a provision for the establishment of a Joint State Public Service Commission
(JSPSC) for two or more states. While the UPSC and the SPSC are created directly by the Constitution, a
JSPSC can be formed by an act of Parliament on the request of the state legislatures concerned. Therefore, a
JSPSC is a statutory and not a constitutional body. The two states of Punjab and Haryana had a JSPSC for a
short period, after the creation of Haryana out of Punjab in 1966.
The chairman and members of a Joint State Public Service Commission are appointed by the president. They
hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier. They can be
suspended or removed by the president. They can also resign from their offices at any time by submitting
their resignation letters to the president.
The number of members of a Joint State Public Service Commission and their conditions of service are
determined by the president.
A JSPSC presents its annual performance report to each of the concerned state governors. Each governor
places the report before the state legislature.
The UPSC can also serve the needs of a state on the request of the state governor and with the approval of
the president.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India:
Arts.148-151 of the Indian constitution forms and regulates the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of
India. Dr. Ambedkar felt that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India shall be the most important
officer under the constitution of India.
The constitution has introduced the British system of responsible government in India. The substance of
responsibility is that the executive i.e. the Prime Minister and the Cabinet remains answerable for all their
activities to the popularly elected chamber of the legislature. It is imperative that there should be an
independent authority to inspect and scrutinize the financial transactions of the government. With this view,
the Government of India Act of 1935, made the Auditor General of India irremovable except “in like manner
and on like grounds as a judge of the Federal Court.” The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is
an adaptation of the office of the Auditor General under the Act of 1935.
The constitution makes the Comptroller and Auditor General the guardian of the public purse. His main duty
is to see that neither the union government nor the government of any state spends any money from the
consolidated fund without legislative appropriation. Since he is the impartial head of the audit and accounts
system of India, it is essential that he should be independent of executive control.
To protect this independence, it has been provided that (1) though appointed by the President; he does not
hold office during the pleasure of the President like other officers of the union government. He may be
removed from office through a process of impeachment. His salary and allowances cannot be varied to his
disadvantage during his tenure of service.
He is appointed for a term of six years. His salary is equal to that of a Supreme Court Judge. He holds the
rank of a secretary to the government of India. The remuneration and allowances of the Comptroller and
Auditor General together with those of his staff are charged on the revenue of India.
The role, function and duties of the Comptroller and Auditor General are expounded by an act of the
Parliament passed in 1971. An amendment of this act in 1976 has relieved him from preparing the accounts
of the government. Presently, the Comptroller and Auditor General audit the account of the union and report
to the President and the Governor. He reports on all expenditures from the Consolidated Fund as well as
from the Contingency Fund. He also audits and reports on the trade and manufacture by government
departments. Accounts of Public Corporations are also audited by him.
The functions of the Comptroller and Auditor General in India is exposed to several criticisms. In India, the
emphasis is almost exclusively on audit rather than on control of expenditures. In India, the Comptroller and
Auditor General comes into the picture only at the audit stage i.e. after the expenditures have already been
made. Some critics also question the knowledge of commenting on extravagance of the government by the
Comptroller and Auditor General.
National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC):
The Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was appointed under Article 338 to
investigate matters relating to the protections provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the
Constitution and report to the President upon the working of these safeguards. Principally, it’s an Indian
constitutional body established to provide safeguards against the exploitation of Scheduled Castes to
promote and protect their social, educational, economic and cultural interests, special provisions were made
in the Constitution.
The first National Commission for Scheduled Castes was established on 2004 with Suraj Bhan as the
Chairperson.
The Second National Commission for Scheduled Castes in series was constituted on May 2007 with Buta
Singh as the Chairperson.
The Third National Commission for Scheduled Castes has been constituted on October 2010 with P.L.Punia
as the Chairperson.
Functions:
The following are the functions of the commission:
- To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Castes under
this Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the Government
and to evaluate the working of such safeguards.
- To investigate into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the
Scheduled Castes.
- To partake and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes
and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State.
- To present to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports
upon the working of those safeguards.
- To prepare such reports recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or any
State for the effective implementation of those safeguards and other measures for the protection, welfare and
socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes.
- To discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement
of the Scheduled Castes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by
rule specify.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribe:
In India, Scheduled Tribes community suffer a lot due to social, educational and economic backwardness.
Unfortunately such miseries were in practice from many centuries because these two communities were
considered untouchables in society. Establishment of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was
considered mandatory for the improvement of this community.
On the 89th Amendment of the Constitution enacted on 19th February 2004, the National Commission for
Scheduled Tribes has been formed under Article 338A on the bifurcation of the former National
Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to supervise the implementation of various
safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution.
The Commission comprises a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three full time Members (including one
lady Member). The term of all the Members of the Commission is three years from the date of assumption of
charge.
The aim of establishing National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was to support and safeguard this
community that was suppressed since the primeval period. The Government of India took an important step
to set up such Commission that could prove helpful for this community to avail all infrastructures and
facilities in the country without any isolation or discrimination.
Purpose of setting up this commission is to safeguard their interests to keep them socially and economically
strong and enhance their living standard. This newly established Commission was established through
amending Article 338 of the Indian Constitution to insert a new Article 338A through 89th Amendment Act,
2003 which smoothened progress of this deprived community. Constitutional amendment paved the way to
the bifurcation of erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into National
Commission for Scheduled Tribes and the second one National Commission for Scheduled Castes with
effect from February 19, 2004 to work independently.
Duties and functions of National Commission for Scheduled Tribe:
Constitution of India under Article 338A has assigned some duties and functions to the Commission which
are same as National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
The Commission shall discharge the following other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and
development and progression of the Scheduled Tribes.
1. Measures that need to be taken over conferring ownership rights in respect of minor forest produce.
2. Measures to be taken to protection rights of the tribal communities over mineral resources, water
resources, etc. as per law.
3. Measures to be taken for the development of tribal and to work for more viable livelihood strategies.
 4. Measures to be taken to improve the efficacy of relief and rehabilitation measures for tribal groups
displaced by development projects.
5. Measures to be taken to prevent alienation of tribal people from land and to effectively rehabilitate
such people in whose case alienation has already taken place.
6. Measures to be taken to elicit maximum cooperation and involvement of tribal communities for
protecting forests and undertaking social afforestation.
7. Measures to be taken to ensure full implementation of the Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the
Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (40 of 1996).
8. Measures to be taken to reduce and ultimately eliminate the practice of shifting cultivation by tribal
that lead to their continuous disempowerment and degradation of land and the environment.
Powers of the Commission:
In order to investigate the matters referred to in sub-clause (a) to inquire into any complaint referred to in
sub-clause (b) of clause 5, the Commission have all the powers of a Civil Court trying a suit and in
particular in respect of the following matters.
1. Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him
on oath.
2. Requiring the discovery and production of any document.
3. Receiving evidence on affidavits.
4. Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office.
5. Issuing summons/communications for the examination of witnesses and documents.
6. Any other matter to which the President may by rule determine.
Consultation by the Union and State Governments with the Commission: According to clause 9 of Article
338A of the Constitution, Union and every State Government must consult the Commission on all major
policy matters affecting Scheduled Tribes.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights:
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, abbreviated as NCPCR was formed in March 2007
under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). The
Commission's Mandate is to guarantee that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms
are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as preserved in the Constitution of India and also the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group.
The Commission envisages a rights-based perspective flowing into National Policies and Programmes,
along with nuanced responses at the State, District and Block levels, taking care of specificities and
strengths of each region. In order to touch every child, it seeks a deeper permeation to communities and
households and expects that the ground experiences gathered at the field are taken into consideration by all
the authorities at the higher level. Thus the Commission observes a crucial role for the State, sound
institution-building processes, respect for decentralization at the local bodies and community level and
larger communal concern for children and their comfort.
Functions: Major functions of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights according to the
CPCR Act 2005 are as under:
1. Examine and review the safeguards provided by or under any law for the time being in force for the
protection of child rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation.
2. Present to the central government, annually and at such other intervals, as the commission may deem
fit, reports upon working of those safeguards.
3. Inquire into violation of child rights and recommend initiation of proceedings in such cases.
4. Inspect all factors that inhibit the enjoyment of rights of children affected by terrorism, communal
violence, riots, natural disaster, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, maltreatment, torture and
exploitation, pornography and prostitution and recommend appropriate remedial measures.
5. Look into the matters relating to the children in need of special care and protection including
children in distress, marginalized and disadvantaged children, children in conflict with law, juvenile
children without family, and children of prisoners and recommend appropriate remedial measures.
6. Study treaties and other international instruments and undertake periodical review of existing
policies, programmes and other activities on child rights and make recommendations for their
effective implementation in the best interest of children.
7. Undertake and promote research in the field of child rights.
8. Generate awareness for child rights literacy among various section of society and promote awareness
of the safeguards available for protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminar and
other available means.
9. Inspect or cause to be inspected any juveniles custodial home, or any other place of residence or
institution meant for children, under the control of the Central Government or any State Government
or any other authority, including any institution run by a social organization, where children are
detained or lodged for the purpose of treatment, reformation or protection and take up with these
authorities for remedial action, if found necessary.
10. Inquire into complaints and take suo motu notice of matter relating to:
- Deprivation and violation of child rights.
- Non implementation of laws providing for protection and development of children.
- Non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships to and
ensuring welfare of the children and provides relief to such children.
- Take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities.
11. The Commission shall not enquire into any matter which is pending before a State Commission or
any other Commission duly constituted under any law for the time being in force.
12. Analyse existing law, policy and practice to assess compliance with Convention on the rights of the
Child, undertake inquiries and produce reports on any aspects of policy or practice affecting children
and comment on proposed new legislation related to child rights.
13. Present to the Central Government annually and at such other intervals as the Commission may deem
fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards.
14. Undertake formal investigation where concern has been expressed either by children themselves or
by concerned person on their behalf.
15. Promote, respect and serious consideration of the views of children in its work and in that of all
Government Departments and Organisations dealing with Child.
16. Produce and disseminate information about child rights.
17. Compile and analyse data on children.
18. Promote the incorporation of child rights into the school curriculum, training of teachers or personnel
dealing with children.
Under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, the National Commission would have all
the powers of the Civil Court while inquiring into matter under the CPC4.
The National Commission while inquiring into matters could seek for the discovery and production of any
document and receive evidence on affidavits. It could also requisition any public record or copy thereof
from any court or office. Apart from having the power to forward a case to a Magistrate, the commission is
also authorised to issue commissions for the examination of witness.
After inquiry the National Commission can recommend initiation of proceedings for prosecution or any
other action the commission may deem fit. It can approach the Supreme Court or the High Court concerned
for such directions, orders or writs as that Court may deem necessary or recommend to the concerned
authority for grant of such interim relief to the victim's family as the Commission may consider necessary.
This Commission had asked to establish special cells in schools to solve problems of children. The cell will
examine the mental and physical torture against children. Complaints regarding sexual harassment mental
harassment, favouritism etc. should be informed to the Taluk/District Legal Services Authority within 48
hours.
Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to
the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges
therein
In Indian constitution, there is a dual polity with a vibrant division of powers between the Union and the
States, each being best within the sphere allocated to it. The States in India are not the formation of the
Centre nor do they draw their authority from the Union Government. Conversely, like the Union
Government, they draw their authority directly from the Constitution and are free to operate in the field
allotted to them by the Constitution. In the beginning, the Constitution of India has made most extravagant
provisions about relationship between the Union and the States. This was done to reduce the conflicts
between the Centre and the States. But the actual operation of the Centre-State relations for all these years
has given rise to a disagreement about the understanding of arrangements made under the Indian
Constitution. Knockers have expressed doubts about the existing arrangements and demanded re-allocation
and adjustment of the Centre-State relations.
The centre government has control over the states through different agencies and varied techniques is
mentioned below:
a. Governor,
b. Directions to the State Government,
c. Delegation of Union functions,
d. All-India services,
e. Grants-in-aid,
f. Inter-State Councils,
g. Inter- State Commerce Commission,
h. Immunity from mutual taxation.
The Constitution of India deals with Union and State executive distinctly but the provisions follow a
common pattern for the Union and the States. The system of distribution of administrative powers between
union and states followed in the Constitution of India in various administrative fields. In addition to the
array of subject allotted in the VII schedule of Constitution, even in normal time parliament can under
certain circumstances, assume legislative power over a subject falling with in the sphere exclusively
reserved for the states. Beside the power to legislate on a very wide field, the Constitution confers in the
Union Parliament, the constituent power or the power to initiate amendment of the Constitution.
With reference to Indian Federation, administration is primarily furnished by the state agencies. Dissimilar
to the other federations where both the federal and state government create their own agencies for the
administration of their laws and the subjects allocated to them in the constitution, even the laws of the union
are left to be administered by the state authorities is order to avoid duplication of administrative machinery.
In every federal constitution, the central and state governments are firmly enclosed and the jurisdiction of
the one excludes the other. The centre is concerned with problems of the union list. The states are with
matters on the state list. There is also provision for the allocation of the powers by the union to the states and
vice versa.
The forte and success of such scheme requires cooperation and coordination between Centre and States. In
India, the central government or the union is responsible for the governance of the whole country. There
should be effective administrative norms between the union and States. The Supreme Court has demarcated
that the executive power of the union is coexistence with power of the parliament, with this limitation that
the executive cannot act against the provisions of the constitution or of any law made by the parliament.
The Union Government is dependent on the States to give effect to its programmes. The scheme of
distribution of administrative powers has some major objectives. It arms, the union government with powers
to have effective control over administration of the state and espouses several advices for intergovernmental
cooperation and coordination. The executive powers in relation to any treaty or agreement has been
discussed on the union by the Constitution, Parliament has also vested executive functions in union over
concurrent list matters under several acts. The executive powers of the Union are assigned by the President
who can exercise it directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with Constitution. The
President has power to appoint and remove certain dignitaries in the states. He appoints the Governor of a
State who holds his office during the rule of the President (Article 155 and Article 156). He also appoints
judges of the high courts (Article 217) and plays a significant role in the removal of High Court Judges as
also members of state public service Commission (Article 317).
The principle of federalism lies not in the constitutional as institutional structure but in the society itself.
Federal Government is scheme by which the federal qualities of the society are expressed and protected. In
the impact of federalizing drifts, the one party dominant system has given way to a multi Party system and
elections have unfavourably affected the fortunes of major national parties, bringing to the fore some
regional parties to critical separates threshold giving them heavy electoral edge. Presently, regional Political
Parties have great dominance in administrative relations.
In order to form state governments by many regional parties, major national parties are under pressure to
adjust their organizational structures to suit the demands of regionalization making required adjustments to
the federal imperatives of the Indian polity and society.
Legislative Relations: The Union State relations in the legislative domain have been dealt by Articles 245 to
254. The Constitution evidently provides that the Parliament shall have special authority to make law for the
whole or any part of the terrain of India with regard to subjects mentioned in the Union List. This list
contains topics like defence, foreign affairs, currency, union duties, and communication. On the other hand,
the State has exclusive power over the 66 items enumerated in the State List. This List comprises of topics
like public order, health, sanitation, agriculture etc. Additionally, there is a Concurrent list containing 47
subjects like criminal law and procedure, marriage, contracts, trust, social insurance etc. over which both the
Union and the State Governments can legislate.
If the law of the Union Government and the State Government clash with each other, the former succeeds.
However, a State law on the Simultaneous List shall prevail over the Central law if the same had been
reserved for the consideration of the President and his consent had been received before the representation of
the Central law on the same subject. This clearly gives some flexibility to the States. The constitution also
vests the residuary powers (viz., the enumerated in any of the three Lists) with the Central Government. It is
established that in this distribution of powers, the Union Government has positively been given a preferred
treatment. It has not only been granted more extensive powers than the States, even the residuary powers
have been granted to it contrary to the convention in other federations of the world, where the residuary
powers are given to the States.
Functions of Union:
Central executive body of the government, the cabinet performs array of functions, there its role is critical
and pivotal.
These functions can be mentioned as under:
1. Formulation, execution, evaluation and revision of public policy in various spheres which the party
in power seeks to progress and practice.
2. Coordination among various ministries and other organs of the government which might indulge in
conflicts, wastefulness, duplication of functions and empire building.
3. Preparation and monitoring of the legislative agenda which translated the policies of the government
in action through statutory enactments.
4. Executive control over administration through appointments, rule making powers and handling of
crises and disasters, natural as well as political.
5. Financial management through fiscal control and operation of funds like Consolidated Fund and
Contingency Funds of India.
6. Review the work of planning and Planning Commission.
Functions of State:
The state government is defined as the government of a country’s subdivisions and shares political power
with the national government. In India, the state governments are the level of government below the central
government. Each state of the country is governed by the state government.
Following are the roles and responsibilities of the state governments:
- State governments have separate departments for efficient functioning of the state. States have jurisdiction
over education, agriculture, public health, sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries and many other departments.
- Internal security: The state governments have to maintain the internal security, law and order in the state.
Internal security is managed through state police.
- Public order: States have jurisdiction over police and public order.
- Education: Providing a public education system, maintaining school buildings and colleges, employment
of teachers, providing help to under privileged students all come under the education department of the state.
- Agriculture: The state governments have to provide support for farmers, funds for best farming practices,
disease prevention and aid during disasters such as floods or droughts.
- Finances: State legislature handles the financial powers of the state, which include authorisation of all
expenditure, taxation and borrowing by the state government. It has the power to originate money bills. It
has control over taxes on entertainment and wealth, and sales tax.
- Reservation of bills: The state governor may reserve any bill for the consideration of the President.
- Transport: State government runs the trains, trams, bus and ferry services and other public transportation in
the cities and towns of the States.
- Water supply: Water supply to cities and towns for drinking, including irrigation for farmers, is the
responsibility of the State governments.
- Budget: State governments make budget for state.
Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure:
Federalism is a Dynamic theory of nation and state building. Political systems are categorized into federal
and unitary forms of governance based on the distribution or concentration of powers between the centre and
the state or in the centre respectively. The term federalism is derived from the Latin word Foedus, which
according to Lewis’ Latin Dictionary means League or treaty or compact or alliance or contract or marriage
contract. Federalism was first devised by the Theologians in the seventeenth century to define the system of
holy enduring covenant between god and man. But later on it became related to the theories of social
contract and was associated with the desire to build political society. Thus, federalism is a notion applied to
a political system characterized by two levels of government deriving powers and functions from an
authority which is not controlled by either level of government. The upper level of government is the
national or central government and the lower level of government may be called a province or state or
canton. Federalism requires understanding and negotiations between the centre and state governments in the
making and implementation of strategies.
India’s political system has vast diversity through the application of the federal principle, and is broadly
considered a robust parliamentary democracy. The sources of the federal idea were already present in the
Government of India Act 1935, which attempted to contain rising national sentiment with the grant of
limited provincial independence.
In contemporary period, federalism is a principle of understanding between two divergent tendencies, viz,
the need for local autonomy and the widening range of common interests, Lord Acton. Indian federalism is
unique, Unity while permitting diversity, oneness, while providing for division, a modern federalism.
Federalism removes friction, stops disintegration, suppress jealousy, checks wars, and creates powerful and
peace-loving nations out of a heterogeneous mass of human beings living apart and in different parts of the
world.
It is recognized in studies that Federalism is based on two powers one is regional and one is central power.
Regional power is related with a particular region and it has its well defined list of powers. Central power is
linked with whole country and it also has its own list of powers which in case of India is more powerful. In
India, Federalism is based on the cooperation between States and Union. In Indian context, concept of
federalism is that each region has its own demand which needs to be better fulfilled by the regional
government but there are many areas which are common for whole country which needs to be governed by
union government. Most notable feature of the Indian Constitution is its federal structure, together with a
form of unitary government with a dual polity and a single set of rights and obligations. Basu stated that
“Indian Constitution is partly rigid and largely flexible”.
Issues between the Centre and the States:
1. Dominance of the Congress Party
2. The Role of the Governor (Discretionary Power and Appointment Issues)
3. Reservation of Bills for Consideration of President
4. Misuse of Article 356
5. The Maintenance of Law and Order in States
6. Encroachment by the Centre on State List
7. The Financial weakness of the State
8. Taxation Powers
9. Issue of Grants
10. Role of Planning Commission
11. Question of Autonomy Issue
1. Dominance of the Congress Party:
There were two phases in history so far as the Union-States conflicts are concerned. The first phase which
finished with the Fourth General Elections in 1967, was marked by the supremacy of Congress party in
Centre as well as on the States. Consequently, the Union-State conflicts were a matter of internal problem of
Congress Party and resolved at that level only. The post 1967 political situation witnessed as the emergence
of non-Congress Governments in the States as well as in the Centre. Now the internal mechanism of the
Congress party could not resolve the conflicts and they not only came to the surface but also became
progressively intensive.
2. The Role of Governor and Discretionary Powers of Governor:
The Governor is appointed by the President of India for five years. But he remains in the office till the
pleasure of the President. It means, he can be recalled any time and his continuation in the office depends at
the will of the Centre. The Supreme Court has held that the Governor’s office is an independent office and
neither it is under control nor subordinate to the Government of India. However, a study of Governors in the
States clearly exposes that most of them have been active politicians before becoming Governor and the rest
were bureaucrats. They are appointed on political basis and therefore hardly expected to play a non-partisan
role. It is the Governor’s biased role that has been the centre point in Union-State skirmishes. The Governors
have advanced the political interests of the ruling party of the Centre in the States. This has been done most
remarkably in the appointment of Chief Ministers, summoning, proroguing and dissolving the State
Assemblies and in recommending President’s rule.
Besides the normal functions which Governor exercises as a constitutional head, he exercises certain
discretionary powers. Some of them have been particularly conferred on him while some others flow by
necessary implication. These are significant particularly in this matters. One is with regard to the
appointment of Chief Minister when neither a single party nor a combination of parties emerges from the
election with a clear majority. In this situation, there is a question of dismissal of Chief Minister on the loss
of majority support or otherwise. The second matter is with regard to making a report to President under
Article 356 about this satisfaction that a situation has risen in which the Government of the State cannot be
carried according to the provisions of the Constitution. Thereby recommending the imposition of President’s
rule, the issue of declaration of President’s rule itself has become a matter of serious tension between union
and state governments.
3. Reservation of Bills for Consideration of President:
According to the Article 200 of the Constitution, certain types of bills passed by the State legislature may be
reserved by the Governor for the consideration of the President. The President may either give his
acceptance or may direct the Governor to send it back for reconsideration by the State legislature along with
his comments. But even after the bill has been passed by the State legislature for the second time, the
President is not bound to give his assent. The main purpose of this provision is that the Centre can observe
the legislation in the national interest. But Governors, and through them the central Government have used
this provision to serve the partisan interests. The opposition reigned States have from time to time raised a
tone and shout against the misuse of these provisions. This has specially been in case where the Governor
has reserved a bill against the advice of the State Ministry. Presumably under the direction of the Central
Government. In its memorandum to Sarkaria Commission, the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the bills
have been reserved for consideration of the President in order to create difficulties for the State
governments. The West Bengal government in its reply to the Sarkaria Commission ‘s questionnaire felt that
Articles 200 and 201 either should be deleted or Constitution should clarify that the Governor would not act
in his discretion but only on the advice of the State Council Ministers.
4. Misuse of Article 356:
Article 356 is the most contentious article of the Constitution. It offers for State emergency or President’s
rule in State if the President, on receipt of report from the Governor of a State or otherwise, is satisfied that a
situation has risen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution. The duration of such emergency is six months and it can be extended further.
In the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar had made it clear that the Article 356 would be applied as a last
option. He also hoped that “such articles will never be called into operation and that they would remain a
dead letter.”
5. Emergency Provision:
Article 356 should be used very carefully, in extreme cases, as a matter of last resort. A warning should be
issued to the disturbed State in specific terms, alternatives must not ordinarily be dispensed with. It should
be provided through proper amendment that nevertheless anything in clause (2) of Article 74 of the
Constitution, the material facts and grounds on which Article 356 (1) is appealed, should be made an
integral part of the proclamation issued under the Article. This will also assure the control of the Parliament
over exercise of this power by the Union Executive, more effective.
Devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein:
Formation of self-governance at the local level can only be accomplished by meaningful and effective
devolution of functions, funds and functionaries (3Fs) to the PRIs. Progress in this direction was in fits and
starts. There was inequality in the devolutions made between States and within States in sectors of
development. The transfer of funds and functionaries did not match decentralizations. Government of India
Ministries did not also reorient their Centrally Sponsored Schemes to provide a dissimilar role for local
bodies. However, gradually these inadequacies are being attended to.
To observe this matter which is slow pace and prevalence of wide disparities, attempts are being made to
build agreement and a series of conferences and round tables with the Centre and States participating have
been organized. Major objectives are, to ensure that there is role clarity between various levels of
Government including local bodies through ‘activity mapping, to match funds with functions and to show
them clearly in the budget, to ensure that plans are prepared at each level which are then consolidated at the
district level, to strengthen the capabilities of local bodies to enable them to manage their affairs and to
deepen the accountability of local bodies to citizens and review of their activities by Gram Sabhas.
In the present development situation, the local self-governing institutions in rural India has a crucial role in
the implementation of development programmes. These institutions have become instrumental in designing
development plans for rural areas and implementing such programmes in keeping the available fiscal and
human resources in mind. The 73rd Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution has extensively purveyed a
set of legitimate powers to these institutions, with a stately objective to develop them as institutions of self-
government. Therefore, the powers and functions categorised for these institutions under the purview of the
Indian Constitution have clearly pronounced the significance of these institutions. However, the current
trend of functioning of rural local self-governing institutions in India provides a miserable scenario because
of their failure to handle critical human development issues.
Despite the presence of a advanced governance system such as the Panchayati Raj, the rural provinces in
India still face severe human development challenges. It is contended that the decentralised governing
institutions can provide a responsible and transparent administration only when certain internal and external
conditions like accountability, transparency, participation and fiscal transfers will be taken into
consideration. The Indian Constitution under its federal character has provided plentiful provision for
sharing the powers between the centre and the states as well as between the states and the local governing
institutions (both at rural and urban level). Centre-State economic relation has provided range of the sharing
powers for revenue generation, taxation and expenditure of revenue under the framework of the Indian
Constitution. However, the legitimate progression of the local self- governing institutions since 1992 (73rd
Amendment) has forced the policy makers to re-examine the constant power sharing mechanism between
the centre and the states in India.
It is believed that, the local self-governing institutions under the Indian federal polity enjoying such residual
powers which are discussed by the state legislatures. The power sharing exercise between the states and the
local level of governments in India provide a dissenting situation. Especially the fiscal power conferred to
the PRIs, often question the issue of rationalisation in power devolution ground, and thereby provide a
platform for the academic robustness. The local self-governing institutions in India have evolved through a
series of historical events, rules, regulations, acts and commissions, and have finally reached a revival stage
in the form of the 73rd Amendment Act (1992) and the PESA Act (1996). It is debated that the political and
economic theories of decentralisation have developed over a period of time, and have paved the way for
institutionalisation of decentralised governing institutions in India. However, the functioning of the local
self-governing institutions in India has faced challenges, which are acute in the case of the financial
transfers. Such challenges troubled the functioning of these institutions. Further, Politicisation of local
democracy and the existence of structural impediments to the effective functioning of local self-governing
institutions emboldens the supremacy of the local elite in these institutions. Therefore, devolution of fiscal
powers to the PRIs has provided unproductive results. The issues of fiscal independence of these institutions
can be seen writ large, notwithstanding the recommendations of the central and the state finance
commissions in that regard. Such situation has hindered the spirit of “self-governing institutions” by
decreasing their functions as “implementing agencies” of government. In the framework of the shifting
political scenario, party system and appearance of structural readjustment since 1991, the macro-economic
scenario has been going through a changeover phase. This scenario also paved the way for a fresh analysis
of fiscal devolution to the PRIs.
Local Self-Governing Institutions and Fiscal Devolution in India-A Historical Analysis:
Democratic decentralisation in India has a robust historical background, the stages of evolution, revival and
growth starting from the ancient Vedic civilisation (1200 BC) to modern India. The notion of “self -rule” in
rural India succeeded during the ancient period in the name of “ sabhas” which were the strong grounds for
making “participatory community based decisions of self-rule” by the designated traditional village head or
a group of heads. The Panchayats had both executive and judicial powers, including the power to decide
land revenue, village administration and providing taxes to higher administrative bodies. According to
Mathew (1994), the important characteristics of these Panchayats were (during ancient period) that they had
been the hinge of administration, the centre of social life, an important economic force and a focus of social
solidarity.
Nonetheless, when the British rule was dominated, the government’s policy towards uplifting the
panchayatiraj institutions in India, to institutions of self-government, was not impressive and commendable.
During this period, administrative and fiscal centralisation was a colonial requirement. At the same time, the
difficulty of administering a large country with a number of principalities, different languages, cultures and
traditions did force the central government to devolve some powers to regional units (Rao, 2000).
Conversely, till the country’s freedom, several policy measures were introduced by the British Government,
including the government of India Acts 1919 and 1929, which paved the way for strengthening decentralised
Governance in pre-independent India. The Government of India Act, 1935 pronounced the period of
federalism by adding the conception of “Quasi -Federalism” (Rao, 2000).
Local Self-Governance and Fiscal Decentralisation during Post-Independence Period:
In the era of the post-independence, the Indian constitution embraced the Panchayat Raj system as a part of
the “directive principles of state policy” in an effort to decentralise the administrative powers to the
grassroots. However, at the same time, the constituent assembly adopted a federal structure with an intention
to create a strong centre. Johnson (2003) stated that the most permanent image of decentralisation in India
has been Gandhi’s vision of village swaraj, in which universal education, economic self-sufficiency, and
village democracy would take the place of caste, untouchability and other forms of rural exploitation. But till
1992, the Panchayati Raj Institutions in India had no authentic powers because of centralised character of
the Indian federalism, which called for strong union, centralised planning and programs for economic
development. Rao (2000) stated that Indian federalism officially evolved as a two-tier structure until 1992.
However, local government units existed both in rural and urban areas, which basically acted as agencies of
the state government. In spite of the presence of state specific initiatives in states such as Kerala, West
Bengal, Karnataka and Odisha, the Panchayati Raj institutions continued in a dormant stage till 1992. This
was due to different factors like insufficient powers, poor finances and lack of political determination. The
important constituent of federalism i.e. fiscal federalism which is based on assignment of satisfactory
revenue powers to local level of governments scarcely existed in many states.
The 73rd Amendment Act: The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act offered push to the LSGs in India by
devolving requisite powers & functions, which are political and economic in nature. Proponents of
decentralised governance in India contended that the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act has ushered a
greater degree of uniformity in structure(Three-tier), Composition (reservation for SCs,STs and women),
powers and functions(financial and planning), of these institutions with an objective to achieve faster social
and economic development.
The important features of the act which pronounced the greater financial autonomy to the PRIs in India:
Devolution of powers including fiscal power: Devolution of powers including fiscal power to the PRIs is the
most noteworthy aspect that mirrored through the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act. It was advocated that
the functions of 29 subjects under the 11th Schedule of the Indian Constitution will be devolved to the PRIs
to ensure effectiveness in functional aspects. Nonetheless, the current trend of power devolution to the PRIs
has provided a gloomy scenario because of the failure of different states in this regard, particularly with
respect to the devolution of fiscal powers.
It is assessed that the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution has appropriately provided fiscal powers
to the local self-governing institutions to make them more efficient and responsible. The act has also
provisioned for the constitution of State Finance Commissions in the states to scrutinize the fiscal scenario
of the local governments and suggest suitable recommendations to the state to that extent. However, after
two decades of enactment of 73rd Amendment, the fiscal positions of PRIs in different States highly frenzy
and unbalanced in nature. The problem of fiscal decentralisation presents two broad situations, policy failure
or failure of state governments and failure of the local governments.
It is contended that fiscal decentralisation is the fiscal empowerment of the lower tiers of the government
and involves the devolution of their taxing and spending powers along with the arrangements for remedying
mismatches in resources & responsibilities (Oommen, 2006). However, the current fiscal power devolution
to PRIs in India has been providing two broad areas in which the problems are predominant.
Policy failure: Rao (2011) contended that vital feature of a successful system of fiscal federalism is the task
of adequate revenue powers to sub-national governments that forge a strong link between revenue and
expenditures at the margin. However, experience from different states exposes that, the fiscal devolution
process has been more or less confined to the mere delegation of authority without devolving powers of
taxation and revenue generation. Failure of the states to decentralise the desired fiscal powers to the local-
level governments slowly turned these institutions to extended wing of the state governments. It has been
observed in the case of fiscal devolution, that there was fiscal delegation in different states, without
devolving powers; this has severely affected the fiscal position of the PRIs. There is no tool devised to
assess the potential source of revenue of the PRIs, and therefore no mandatory targets have been set in this
regard.
Failure of the Local Governments: The 73rd and 74th amendments (for urban local bodies) have made India
the largest democratic establishment with huge representative base in the world. There are 2.5 lakhs local
governments in India with 3 million representatives, which itself demonstrations the massiveness of the
Indian Democratic setup (Oommen, 2010). Nevertheless, the extent of fiscal autonomy enjoyed by these
institutions, in the context of spending and generating revenues, clearly establish their role in the current
development scenario. The PRIs in major Indian states, have been unsuccessful to utilise the potential
revenue generation source, because of their over dependent nature and the serious capacity gap.
Additionally, improving the revenue is mainly linked to two major factors that include appropriate
redesigning of fiscal transfer system and proper institutional arrangements; both are lacking in the case of
PRIs.
Major Challenges:
Confusing power devolution schedule: The critical factor that crippled the fiscal autonomy of the PRIs is the
imperfect process of power devolution to the PRIs by different state governments. While states such as
Kerala, West Bengal, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have devolved the desired powers to the PRIs, other
states such as Odisha and Jharkhand are lagging behind in the process. A study conducted across Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Assam and
Goa also revealed that most states granted several functional responsibilities but there was no executive
follow-up of granting passable powers, staff and additional financial resources (Fernandes, 2003).
Poor budgetary allocation: Fiscal devolution depends on the expenditure responsibilities and revenue
assignments devolved to the lower tiers. However, experiences from different States shows that, the fiscal
allocations to the PRIs have deteriorated severely which has restricted their development agendas (Oommen,
2006).
Tax Decentralisation and the role of SFCs: In most states, the reports regarding the recommendations of the
SFCs were not taken into account which is another grey area in fiscal decentralisation. Economic intellectual
argued that the PRIs should have the right to collect taxes from private taxpayers (Marjeet, 1999) which is
not reflected in States’ tax decentralisation agenda.
Fiscal Dependency: It is debated that financial decentralisation leads to fiscal dependency of the PRIs over
central and state hierarchies. This scenario has led to the fiscal inadequacy of the PRIs by reducing their role
as mere implementer of government programs. For the implementation of different programs the PRIs have
to wait for “sanction orders” from upper level government departments, which hamper the timely and
effective implementation of development programs.
Gap in coordination: One of the most important requirements for efficient fiscal federalism is clarity in the
assignment system. Not only should the assignment system be clear as far as possible, but when there is
coinciding, there should be systems and institutions in place to resolve it (Rao, 2011). However, in the case
of PRIs, the intra and inter institutional coordination gap is also seen in the process of transferring funds to
the PRIs, which is another challenging part in fiscal decentralisation. The flow of funds from higher to lower
tiers has become burdensome affair because of unnecessary delay, technical incompetency and an attitude of
arrogance.
To summarize, the Structure of Indian constitution deals with Union and State executive distinctly but the
provisions follow a common pattern for the Union and the States. The system of distribution of
administrative powers between union and states followed in the Constitution of India in various
administrative fields. The Union Government is reliant on the States to give effect to its programmes. The
system of distribution of administrative powers has two objectives. It enables the union government with
powers to control over administration of the state and at the same time it espouses several advices for
intergovernmental cooperation and coordination (Sarkar RCS, 1986).