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GS Paper: GS2-01.Indian Constitution-Historical underpinnings & evolution; Features, amendments, significant provisions, basic structure of Constitution

  • What is PESA Act?

    A Political Party has declared a six-point “guarantee” for tribals in Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur district, including the “strict implementation” of The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA Act).

    What is PESA Act?

    • The PESA Act was enacted in 1996 to provide for the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas.
    • Other than Panchayats, Part IX, comprising Articles 243-243ZT of the Constitution, contains provisions relating to Municipalities and Cooperative Societies.
    • Under the PESA Act, Scheduled Areas are those referred to in Article 244(1), which says that the provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
    • The Fifth Schedule provides for a range of special provisions for these areas.

    How is the PESA Act, 1996 supposed to work?

    • The PESA Act was enacted to ensure self-governance through Gram Sabhas (village assemblies) for people living in the Scheduled Areas.
    • It recognises the right of tribal communities to govern themselves through their own systems of self-government, and also acknowledges their traditional rights over natural resources.
    • In pursuance of this objective, the Act empowers Gram Sabhas to play a key role in approving development plans and controlling all social sectors.

    Special powers accorded by PESA Act includes the:

    1. Processes and personnel who implement policies
    2. Exercising control over minor (non-timber) forest resources
    3. Minor water bodies and minor minerals
    4. Managing local markets
    5. Preventing land alienation and
    6. Regulating intoxicants among other things

    States and PESA Act

    • State governments are expected to amend their respective Panchayati Raj Acts without making any law that would be inconsistent with the mandate of PESA.
    • Ten states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Telangana — have notified Fifth Schedule areas that cover partially or fully several districts in each of these states.
    • After the PESA Act was enacted, the central Ministry of Panchayati Raj circulated model PESA Rules.
    • So far, six states have notified these Rules, including Gujarat.

    What is the issue in Gujarat?

    • Gujarat notified the State PESA Rules in January 2017, and made them applicable in 4,503 gram sabhas under 2,584 village panchayats in 50 tribal talukas in eight districts of the state.
    • The provisions of the law deem the Gram Sabhas as “most competent”.
    • However, the Act has not been enforced in letter and spirit.
    • The Act lays down that the state must conduct elections in such a way that the tribal representation is to be dominant in the Gram Sabha Committees.
    • Yet again, there has been no attempt to proportionally increase the representation.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The Government enacted the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in 1996. Which one of the following is not identified as its objective?

    (a) To provide self-governance

    (b) To recognize traditional rights

    (c) To create autonomous regions in tribal areas

    (d) To free tribal people from exploitation

     

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  • Manipur House gives nod to National Register of Citizens (NRC)

     

    Bowing to demands from tribal groups, the Manipur Assembly has resolved to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and establish a State Population Commission (SPC).

    To date, Assam is the only northeastern State to have implemented the NRC.

    What is National Register of Citizens (NRC)?

    • The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by the 2003 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
    • The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India.
    • Its purpose is to document all the legal citizens of India so that the illegal immigrants can be identified and deported.
    • It has been implemented for the state of Assam starting in 2013–2014.
    • The GoI announced plans to implement it for the rest of the country in 2021, but it has not yet been implemented.

    NRC and Assam

    • Assam, being a border state with unique problems of illegal immigration, had a register of citizens created for it in 1951 based on the 1951 census data.
    • However, it was not maintained afterwards.
    • For decades, the presence of migrants, often called “bahiragat” or outsiders, has been a loaded issue here.
    • The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 was then passed by the Parliament, creating a separate tribunal process for identifying illegal migrants in Assam.
    • The Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional in 2005, after which the Centre agreed to update the Assam NRC.

    Who is a Foreigner in Assam?

    • The National Register of Citizens now takes its definition of illegal immigrants from the Assam Accord – anyone who cannot prove that they or their ancestors entered the country before the midnight of March 24, 1971, would be declared a foreigner and face deportation.
    • Those who entered on or after March 25, 1971, the eve of the Bangladesh War, would be declared foreigners and deported.
    • This means you could be born in India in 1971 to parents who crossed the border in that year, and still be termed an illegal immigrant at the age of 48.

    CAA and NRC protests

    • These were a series of protests in India against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which was enacted into law on December 12, 2019, and against the nationwide implementation of the NRC.
    • Protesters in all regions are concerned that the upcoming compilation of the National Register of Citizens might be used to deprive a community of its Indian citizenship.

    Back2Basics: National Population Register (NPR)

    • The NPR is a database containing a list of all usual residents of the country.
    • Its objective is to have a comprehensive identity database of people residing in the country.
    • It is generated through house-to-house enumeration during the “house-listing” phase of the census, which is held once in 10 years.
    • A usual resident for the purposes of NPR is a person who has resided in a place for six months or more, and intends to reside there for another six months or more.
    • Once the basic details of the head of the family are taken by the enumerator, an acknowledgement slip will be issued. This slip may be required for enrolment in NPR, whenever that process begins.
    • And, once the details are recorded in every local (village or ward), sub-district (tehsil or taluk), district and State level, there will be a population register at each of these levels.
    • Together, they constitute the National Population Register.

     

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  • Jagdeep Dhankhar is new Vice-President

    National Democratic Alliance candidate and former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the 14th Vice-President of the country.

    About Vice President of India

    • The VP is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, the President of India.
    • His/her office is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the order of precedence and first in the line of succession to the presidency.

    Qualifications

    • As in the case of the president, to be qualified to be elected as vice president, a person must:
    1. Be a citizen of India
    2. Be at least 35 years of age
    3. Not hold any office of profit
    • Unlike in the case of the president, where a person must be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, the vice president must be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
    • This difference is because the vice president is to act as the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

    Roles and responsibilities

    • When a bill is introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the vice president decides whether it is a money bill or not.
    • If he is of the opinion that a bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha is a money bill, he shall refer it to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
    • The vice president also acts as the chancellor of the central universities of India.

    Election procedure

    • Article 66 of the Constitution of India states the manner of election of the vice president.
    • The vice president is elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament and NOT the members of state legislative assembly.
    • The election is held as per the system of proportional representation using single transferable votes.
    • The voting is conducted by Election Commission of India via secret ballot.
    • The Electoral College for the poll will comprise 233 Rajya Sabha members, 12 nominated Rajya Sabha members and 543 Lok Sabha members.
    • The Lok Sabha Secretary-General would be appointed the Returning Officer.
    • Political parties CANNOT issue any whip to their MPs in the matter of voting in the Vice-Presidential election.

    Removal

    • The Constitution states that the vice president can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by an Effective majority (majority of all the then members) and agreed by the Lok Sabha with a simple majority( Article 67(b)).
    • But no such resolution may be moved unless at least 14 days’ notice in advance has been given.
    • Notably, the Constitution does not list grounds for removal.
    • No Vice President has ever faced removal or the deputy chairman in the Rajya Sabha cannot be challenged in any court of law per Article 122.

     

     

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  • Election Symbols Issue in Maharashtra

     

    The Supreme Court has said it would decide the question of referring the battle between a political party leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister over the “real” heir of a political party to a Constitution Bench.

    What is the news?

    Why the split leader (the CM) is making such claims?

    • One of the cardinal issues, as pointed out by the CJI, would be whether the dissent of split faction, without subsequently forming a new party or merging with another, amounted to a “split” from the original political party.
    • The anti-defection law cannot be an “anti-dissent” law.

    Issues raised by the apex Court

    • The Bench warned that if the split is completely ignoring the political party after being elected then it is a danger to democracy.

    Note: For aspirants, one thing is very clear. The Supreme Court will definitely give another landmark judgment in this regard. Arriving at a conclusion is a tight rope walk for the judiciary too. But our judiciary never disappoints!

    EC’s powers in Election Symbol Dispute

    • The question of a split in a political party outside the legislature is dealt by Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968.
    • It states that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) may take into account all the available facts and circumstances and undertake a test of majority.
    • The decision of the ECI shall be binding on all such rival sections or groups emerged after the split.
    • This applies to disputes in recognized national and state parties.
    • For splits in registered but unrecognized parties, the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court.

    How did the EC deal with such matters before the Symbols Order came into effect?

    • Before 1968, the EC issued notifications and executive orders under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
    • The most high-profile split of a party before 1968 was that of the CPI in 1964.
    • A breakaway group approached the ECI in December 1964 urging it to recognize them as CPI(Marxist). They provided a list of MPs and MLAs of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal who supported them.
    • The ECI recognized the faction as CPI(M) after it found that the votes secured by the MPs and MLAs supporting the breakaway group added up to more than 4% in the 3 states.

    Options for ECI

    • The ECI in all likelihood can freeze the symbol so that neither of the two sides is able to use it until a final decision is made.
    • EC hearings are long and detailed and may take at least six months.

    What was the first case decided under Para 15 of the 1968 Order?

    • It was the first split in the Indian National Congress in 1969.
    • Indira Gandhi’s tensions with a rival group within the party came to a head with the death of President Dr Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969.

    Is there a way other than the test of the majority to resolve a dispute over election symbols?

    • In almost all disputes decided by the EC so far, a clear majority of party delegates/office bearers, MPs and MLAs have supported one of the factions.
    • Whenever the EC could not test the strength of rival groups based on support within the party organization (because of disputes regarding the list of office bearers), it fell back on testing the majority only among elected MPs and MLAs.

    What happens to the group that doesn’t get the parent party’s symbol?

    • The EC in 1997 did not recognize the new parties as either state or national parties.
    • It felt that merely having MPs and MLAs is not enough, as the elected representatives had fought and won polls on tickets of their parent (undivided) parties.
    • The EC introduced a new rule under which the splinter group of the party — other than the group that got the party symbol — had to register itself as a separate party.
    • It could lay claim to national or state party status only on the basis of its performance in the state or central elections after registration.

     

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  • Important role of vigilant Opposition in democracy

    Context

    Role of Opposition in indispensable in the democracy.

    Reasons for adopting parliamentary democracy

    • The Indian Constitution adopted the parliamentary system and not the presidential system.
    • B.R. Ambedkar provided the rationale for this: “A democratic executive must satisfy two conditions –
    • (1) It must be a stable executive and
    • (2) it must be a responsible executive.
    • Unfortunately it has not been possible so far to devise a system which can ensure both in equal degree.
    • Assessment of executive: In England, where the parliamentary system prevails, the assessment of responsibility of the executive is both daily and periodic.
    • Daily assessment: The daily assessment is done by members of Parliament, through questions, resolutions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions and debates on addresses.
    • Periodic assessment: Periodic assessment is done by the electorate at the time of the election.
    • The daily assessment of responsibility which is not available under the American system it is felt far more effective than the periodic assessment and far more necessary in India.

    Role of Opposition in democracy

    • Democracy is the basic feature of the Constitution.
    • The presence of a vigilant Opposition is necessary not just for a vibrant democracy but for its very survival.
    • When the Opposition criticises the government or carries on an agitation to arouse public opinion against a party’s misdeeds, it is performing a duty that is assigned by the Constitution.
    • Without an effective Opposition, democracy will become dull and legislature will become submissive.

    Significance of anti-defection law

    • Encouraging defections from the parties in power in States will sound the death knell for democracy.
    • The Tenth Schedule has failed to serve its purpose.
    • The Supreme Court, in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992), while upholding the 52nd Amendment said that: “On the one hand there is the real and imminent threat to the very fabric of Indian democracy posed by certain levels of political behaviour conspicuous by their utter and total disregard of well recognised political proprieties and morality… On the other hand, there are… certain side-effects which might affect and hurt even honest dissenters and conscientious objectors.”
    • In upholding the law, the court held: “But a political party functions on the strength of shared beliefs… Any freedom of its members to vote as they please independently of the political party’s declared policies will not only embarrass its public image and popularity but also undermine public confidence in it.”
    • What is whip? The whip system is part of the established machinery of political organisation in the House and does not infringe on a member’s rights or privilege in any way.
    • Some political thinkers have recognised as an additional device the ‘theory of recall,’ so that a member whose personal behaviour falls below standards expected of his constituents goes back and seek their approval.
    • This power is particularly apt when a member shows disloyalty to his party but declines to resign from his seat and to fight an immediate by-election.
    • The anti-defection law was supposed to be the justification underlying the power of recall.

    Way forward

    • Political parties, the judiciary and civil society must take steps to ensure that democracy does not fail.
    • The Opposition must be tolerated because if it is left for the party in power to decide what is healthy and unhealthy criticism, then every criticism of the latter will be treated as unhealthy.
    • while the Opposition must be credible and strong, it is for the Opposition to make itself credible and strong. It must feel the pulse of the people.
    • Unless it makes itself respectable, it cannot demand any respect. This is the biggest challenge facing the nation today.

    Conclusion

    The Opposition must also work constructively. Our constitutional goal was to establish a sovereign, democratic republic.

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  • Droupadi Murmu elected 15th President of India

    Former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu was elected the 15th President of India, the first (santhal) tribal woman to be appointed to the position and the youngest as well.

    Here’s a look at some interesting facts about the past Presidents of India:

    * Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. He is also the only President to have served two consecutive terms.

    * Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second President. He was the first to have served as Vice President before being elected to the top post.

    * Zakir Hussain was the third President of India, and the first Muslim President. He also was the first President to die in office. He was the shortest serving President of India (less than two years).

    * On his election, fourth President V.V. Giri became the first one to have also been an acting President.

    * Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth President and the second Muslim to hold the post. The Emergency was declared during his tenure. He is the second President to have died in office.

    * Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President. He became the youngest to take the post at the age of 64. He is also the only one to have been elected unopposed.

    * Giani Zail Singh was the seventh President of India and the first Sikh President.

    * Eighth President Ramaswamy Venkataraman was the first President to have worked with four Prime Ministers and appointed three: V. P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P. V. Narasimha Rao.

    * Shankar Dayal Sharma was the 9th President. He also worked with four PMs and appointed three of them in his last year: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H. D. Deve Gowda, I. K. Gujral.

    * Kocheril Raman Narayanan was the 10th President of India and the first Dalit President. At 76 years and 271 days, he was the oldest President to be elected.

    * APJ Abdul Kalam was the 11th President and first Muslim President to serve an entire term.

    * Elected as the 12th President, Pratibha Patil was the first woman President of India.

    * Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President, was the first Bengali to hold the post.

    * 14th President Ram Nath Kovind was the first BJP candidate to be elected to the post.

    * 11 Presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. 8 were from Congress, 2 from BJP, 1 from Janata Party, and the rest were Independents.

    The President of India

    • The President of India is recognized as the first citizen of the country and the head of the state.
    • The elected President of India is a part of the Union Executive along with several other members of the parliament including the Prime Minister, Attorney-General of India and the Vice – president.

    Electing the President

    • The provisions of the election of the President are laid down in Article 54 of the Constitution of India.
    • The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act 1952 led to the establishment of this Constitutional provision.

    Qualifications to become the President of India

    The qualification of being the President of India are given below:

    • He/ She must be an Indian citizen
    • A person must have completed the age of 35.
    • A person must be qualified for election as a member of the House of the People.
    • Must not hold a government (central or state) office of profit
    • A person is eligible for election as President if he/she is holding the office of President or Vice-President.

    Actual course of election

    • The President of India is elected indirectly by an Electoral College following the system of proportional representation utilizing a single transferable vote system and secret ballots.
    • MPs and MLAs vote based on parity and uniformity values.

    Electoral College composition-

    (1) Legislative Assemblies of the States:

    • According to the provision of Article 333, every state’s Legislative Assembly must consist of not less than 60 members but not more than 500 members.

    (2) Council of States:

    • 12 members are nominated by the President of India based on skills or knowledge in literature, arts, science, and social service to act as the members of the Council of States.
    • In total, 238 represent act as representatives from both the States and Union Territories.

    (2) House of the People:

    • The composition of the House of People consists of 530 members (no exceeding) from the state territorial constituencies.
    • They are elected through direct election.
    • The President further elects 20 more members (no exceeding) from the Union Territories.

    Uniformity in the scale of representation of states

    To maintain the proportionality between the values of the votes, the following formula is used:

    Value of vote of an MLA= total no. of the population of the particular state/ number of elected MLAs of that state divided by 1000.

    Single vote system

    • During the presidential election, one voter can cast only one vote.
    • While the MLAs vote may vary state to state, the MPs vote always remain constant.

    MPs and MLAs vote balance

    • The number of the total value of the MPs votes must equal the total value of the MLAs to maintain the State and the Union balance.

    Quotas:

    • The candidate reaching the winning quota or exceeding it is the winner.
    • The formula sued is ‘Winning quota total number of poll/ no.of seats + 1’.

    Voters’ preference:

    • During the presidential election, the voter casts his vote in favor of his first preferred candidate.
    • However, in case the first preference candidate does not touch the winning quota, the vote automatically goes to the second preference.
    • The first preferred candidate with the lowest vote is eliminated and the votes in his/her favor are transferred to the remaining candidates.

    Why need Proportional representation?

    • The President of India is elected through proportional representation using the means of the single transferable vote (Article 55(3)).
    • It allows the independent candidates and minority parties to have the chance of representation.
    • It allows the practice of coalition with many voters under one government.
    • This system ensures that candidates who are elected don’t represent the majority of the electorate’s opinion.

    Why is President indirectly elected?

    If Presidents were to be elected directly, it would become very complicated.

    • It would, in fact, be a disaster because the public doesn’t have absolute clarity of how the president-ship runs or if the candidate fits the profile of a president.
    • Another reason why the direct election system isn’t favorable is that the candidate running for the president’s profile will have to campaign around the country with the aid of a political party.
    • And, this will result in massive political instability.
    • Moreover, it would be difficult and impossible for the government to hand out election machinery (given the vast population of India).
    • This will cost the government financially and may end up affecting the economy as well.
    • The indirect election system is a respectable system for the First Man of India (rightly deserving).
    • The system/method of indirect electing of the president also allows the states to maintain neutrality and minimize hostility.

     

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  • Women have Right to Safe Abortion: SC

    Denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion violates her personal autonomy and freedom, the Supreme Court held in an order.

    What did the SC say?

    • A woman’s right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
    • She has a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity, the court quoted from precedents.
    • The court said forcing a woman to continue with her pregnancy would not only be a violation of her bodily integrity but also aggravate her mental trauma.

    Indispensable clause of safety

    • The court ordered a medical board to be formed by the AIIMS to check whether it was safe to conduct an abortion on the woman and submit a report in a week.

    What is the case?

    • A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was hearing the appeal of a woman who wanted to abort her 24-week pregnancy after her relationship failed and her partner left her.
    • The lower court had taken an “unduly restrictive view” that her plea for a safe abortion was not covered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
    • This was since the pregnancy arose from a consensual relationship outside wedlock.

    What was the last amendment?

    • The court noted that an amendment to the Act in 2021 had substituted the term ‘husband’ with ‘partner’, a clear signal that the law covered unmarried women within its ambit.

    Reiterating the live-in recognition

    • Chastising the lower court, the Bench said live-in relationships had already been recognised by the Supreme Court.
    • There were a significant number of people in social mainstream who see no wrong in engaging in pre-marital sex.
    • The law could not be used to quench “notions of social morality” and unduly interfere in their personal autonomy and bodily integrity.

    Back2Basics: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act

    • Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years since the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971.
    • The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s access to safe and legal abortion services.
    • Abortion is covered 100% by the government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion.

    The idea of terminating your pregnancy cannot originate by choice and is purely circumstantial. There are four situations under which a legal abortion is performed:

    1. If continuation of the pregnancy poses any risks to the life of the mother or mental health
    2. If the foetus has any severe abnormalities
    3. If pregnancy occurred as a result of failure of contraception (but this is only applicable to married women)
    4. If pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or rape

    These are the key changes that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, has brought in:

    1. The gestation limit for abortions has been raised from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but only for special categories of pregnant women such as rape or incest survivors. But this termination would need the approval of two registered doctors.
    2. All pregnancies up to 20 weeks require one doctor’s approval. The earlier law, the MTP Act 1971, required one doctor’s approval for pregnancies upto 12 weeks and two doctors’ for pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks.
    3. Women can now terminate unwanted pregnancies caused by contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law specified that only a “married woman and her husband” could do this.
    4. There is also no upper gestation limit for abortion in case of foetal disability if so decided by a medical board of specialist doctors, which state governments and union territories’ administrations would set up.

     

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  • Renouncement of Indian Citizenship

    Over 1.6 lakh Indians renounced their citizenship in 2021, highest in the past five years, according to information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

    Destination US

    • Over 78,000 Indians acquired the US citizenship, the highest among all other countries.
    • India does not allow dual citizenship (Pakistan does allow).
    • As many as 362 Indians living in China also acquired Chinese citizenship.

    Citizenship in India

    • Citizenship is in the Union List under the Constitution and thus under the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament.
    • The Constitution does not define the term ‘citizen’ but gives, in Articles 5 to 11, details of various categories of persons who are entitled to citizenship.
    • Unlike other provisions of the Constitution, which came into being on January 26, 1950, these articles were enforced on November 26, 1949 itself, when the Constitution was adopted.

    Various provisions for Indian Citizenship

    Article 5

    • It provided for citizenship on the commencement of the Constitution.
    • All those domiciled and born in India were given citizenship.
    • Even those who were domiciled but not born in India, but either of whose parents was born in India, were considered citizens.
    • Anyone who had been an ordinary resident for more than five years, too, was entitled to apply for citizenship.

    Article 6

    • Since Independence was preceded by Partition and migration, Article 6 laid down that anyone who migrated to India before July 19, 1949, would automatically become an Indian citizen if either of his parents or grandparents was born in India.
    • But those who entered India after this date needed to register themselves.

    Article 7

    • Even those who had migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947 but subsequently returned on resettlement permits were included within the citizenship net.
    • The law was more sympathetic to those who migrated from Pakistan and called them refugees than to those who, in a state of confusion, were stranded in Pakistan or went there but decided to return soon.

    Article 8

    • Any Person of Indian Origin residing outside India who, or either of whose parents or grandparents, was born in India could register himself or herself as an Indian citizen with Indian Diplomatic Mission.

    Various Amendments for Citizenships

    • According to Article 11, Parliament can go against the citizenship provisions of the Constitution.
    • The Citizenship Act, 1955 was passed and has been amended four times — in 1986, 2003, 2005, and 2015.
    • The Act empowers the government to determine the citizenship of persons in whose case it is in doubt.
    • However, over the decades, Parliament has narrowed down the wider and universal principles of citizenship based on the fact of birth.
    • Moreover, the Foreigners Act places a heavy burden on the individual to prove that he is not a foreigner.

    (1) 1986 amendment

    • The constitutional provision and the original Citizenship Act gave citizenship on the principle of jus soli to everyone born in India.
    • However, the 1986 amendment to Section 3 was less inclusive as it added the condition that those who were born in India on or after January 26, 1950 but before July 1, 1987, shall be an Indian citizen.
    • Those born after July 1, 1987 and before December 4, 2003, in addition to one’s own birth in India, can get citizenship only if either of his parents was an Indian citizen at the time of birth.

    (2) 2003 amendment

    • The then government made the above condition more stringent, keeping in view infiltration from Bangladesh.
    • Now the law requires that for those born on or after December 4, 2004, in addition to the fact of their own birth, both parents should be Indian citizens or one parent must be Indian citizen and other should not be an illegal migrant.
    • With these restrictive amendments, India has almost moved towards the narrow principle of jus sanguinis or blood relationship.
    • This lay down that an illegal migrant cannot claim citizenship by naturalization or registration even if he has been a resident of India for seven years.

    (3) Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

    • The amendment proposes to permit members of six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — to continue to live in India if they entered India before December 14, 2014.
    • It also reduces the requirement for citizenship from 11 years out of the preceding 14 years, to just 6 years.
    • Two notifications also exempted these migrants from the Passport Act and Foreigner Act.
    • A large number of organisations in Assam protested against this Bill as it may grant citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindu illegal migrants.

    Losing of Indian Citizenship

    • The Citizenship Act, 1955 also lays down the three modes by which an Indian citizen may lose his/her citizenship.
    • It may happen in any of the three ways: renunciation, termination and deprivation.

    (1) Renunciation

    • An Indian Citizen of full age and capacity can renounce his Indian citizenship by making a declaration to that effect and having it registered.
    • But if such a declaration is made during any war in which India is engaged, the registration shall be withheld until the Central Government otherwise directs.
    • When a male person renounces his citizenship, every minor child of him ceases to be an Indian citizen.
    • Such a child may, however, resume Indian citizenship if he makes a declaration to that effect within a year of his attaining full age, i.e. 18 years.

    (2) Termination

    • If a citizen of India voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country, he shall cease to be a citizen of India.
    • During the war period, this provision does not apply to a citizen of India, who acquires the citizenship of another country in which India may be engaged voluntarily.

    (3) Deprivation

    • Deprivation is a compulsory termination of citizenship of India.
    • A citizen of India by naturalization, registration, domicile and residence, may be deprived of his citizenship by an order of the Central Government if it is satisfied that the Citizen has:
      1. Obtained the citizenship by means of fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact
      2. Shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India
      3. Unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy during a war
      4. Within five years after registration or neutralization, been imprisoned in any country for two years
      5. Ordinarily resident out of India for seven years continuously

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to India, consider the following statements:

    1. There is only ‘one citizenship and one domicile’.
    2. A citizen by birth only can become the Head of State.
    3. A foreigner once granted the citizenship cannot be deprived of it under any circumstances.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 2 and 3 only

     

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  • Minority Status in India is State-dependent: Supreme Court

    The minority status of religious and linguistic communities is “State-dependent”, said the Supreme Court.

    What did the Supreme Court say?

    • Every person in India can be a minority in one State or the other.
    • One can be a minority outside his/her State.
    • Similarly, a Kannada-speaking person may be in minority in States other than Karnataka.

    What was the petition about?

    • The court was hearing a petition complaining that followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Punjab and the North-East States.
    • However, they cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of the non-identification of ‘minority’ at the State level.
    • Religious communities such as Hindus here are socially, economically, politically non-dominant and numerically inferior in several States.

    Various states on Minorities

    • The Centre gave the example of how Maharashtra notified ‘Jews’ as a minority community within the State.
    • Again, Karnataka notified Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu, Lambadi, Hindi, Konkani and Gujarati as minority languages within the State.

    Who are the Minorities?

    • Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
    • As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
    • The population of Muslims are 14.2%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
    • Minority Concentration Districts (MCD), Minority Concentration Blocks and Minority Concentration Towns, have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of Census 2001 of these areas.

    Defining Minorities

    • The Constitution recognizes Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India through Article 29 and Article 30.
    • But Minority is not defined in the Constitution.
    • Currently, the Linguistic minorities in India are identified on a state-wise basis thus determined by the state government whereas Religious minorities in India are determined by the Central Government.
    • The Parliament has the legislative powers and the Centre has the executive competence to notify a community as a minority under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.

    Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, shall have the rights of minorities in India to conserve the same. Article 29 is applied to both minorities (religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India) and also the majority. It also includes – rights of minorities in India to agitate for the protection of language.

    Article 30: All minorities shall have the rights of minorities in India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Article 30 recognizes only Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India (not the majority). It includes the rights of minorities in India to impart education to their children in their own language.

    Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution. It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which one of the following categories of Fundamental Rights incorporates protection against untouchability as a form of discrimination?

    (a) Right against Exploitation

    (b) Right to Freedom

    (c) Right to Constitutional Remedies

    (d) Right to Equality

     

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  • How is the Vice-President of India elected?

    A major political party has declared that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar would be the candidate for the post of Vice-President.

    About Vice President of India

    • The VP is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, the President of India.
    • His/her office is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the order of precedence and first in the line of succession to the presidency.
    • The vice president is also a member of the Parliament as the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

    Qualifications

    • As in the case of the president, to be qualified to be elected as vice president, a person must:
    1. Be a citizen of India
    2. Be at least 35 years of age
    3. Not hold any office of profit
    • Unlike in the case of the president, where a person must be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, the vice president must be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
    • This difference is because the vice president is to act as the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

    Roles and responsibilities

    • When a bill is introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the vice president decides whether it is a money bill or not.
    • If he is of the opinion that a bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha is a money bill, he shall refer it to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
    • The vice president also acts as the chancellor of the central universities of India.

    Election procedure

    • Article 66 of the Constitution of India states the manner of election of the vice president.
    • The vice president is elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament and NOT the members of state legislative assembly.
    • The election is held as per the system of proportional representation using single transferable votes.
    • The voting is conducted by Election Commission of India via secret ballot.
    • The Electoral College for the poll will comprise 233 Rajya Sabha members, 12 nominated Rajya Sabha members and 543 Lok Sabha members.
    • The Lok Sabha Secretary-General would be appointed the Returning Officer.
    • Political parties CANNOT issue any whip to their MPs in the matter of voting in the Vice-Presidential election.

    Removal

    • The Constitution states that the vice president can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by an Effective majority (majority of all the then members) and agreed by the Lok Sabha with a simple majority( Article 67(b)).
    • But no such resolution may be moved unless at least 14 days’ notice in advance has been given.
    • Notably, the Constitution does not list grounds for removal.
    • No Vice President has ever faced removal or the deputy chairman in the Rajya Sabha cannot be challenged in any court of law per Article 122.

     

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