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Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG)

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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) promotes accountability, transparency and good governance through high quality auditing and accounting.The Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India is empower to audit all expenses from the combine Fund of the union or state governments, whether incurred within India or outside. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is the Head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) and derives his constitutional standing as the Auditor of the Union and State Governments from Articles 149 to 151 of the Constitution.

Duties of the CAG

• Receipts and expenditure of the Union and the State Governments accounted for in the respective Consolidated Funds.
• Transactions relating to emergency Funds (created for use in circumstances) and the Public Accounts (used mainly for loans, deposits and remittances).
• Trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts kept in any Government Department.
• Accounts of Government organisations, Government companies and Government corporations whose statutes provide for audit by the CAG.
• Authorities and bodies substantially financed from the Consolidated Funds of the Union and the States.
• Any body or authority even though not substantially financed from the Consolidated Fund at the request of the President or the Governor.
• Accounts of bodies and authorities receiving loans and grants from the Government for specific purposes.

The duties of Comptroller and Auditor General includes audit of: ? all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India of Union, of each State and of each Union Territory having a Legislative Assembly with the objective to ascertain whether the moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for and applicable to the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged and whether the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it; ? all transactions of the Union and of the States/Union Territory having a Legislature relating to Contingency Funds and Public Accounts; ? all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts and balance-sheets and other subsidiary accounts kept in any department of the Union or of a State and in each case, to report on the expenditure, transactions or accounts so audited by him; ? receipts and expenditure of bodies or authorities substantially financed from Union or State revenues; ? grants or loans given to other authorities or bodies; ? revenue of the Union and of the State Governments; ? accounts of stores and stock; ? Government Companies and Corporations under the Company’s Act 1956 read with CAG’s (DPC) Act, 1971 ; and ? accounts of other authorities or bodies as per their statute or upon request by the Governor of a State or the Administrator of a Union Territory having a Legislative Assembly.

Compilation of accounts of the State Government; ? preparation of the annual accounts of the States Governments and Union Territories having a Legislative Assembly; and ? rendering accounting information and assistance to the State Governments.

CAG presents a number of Audit Reports on the basis of audit of the Union Government and the State Governments to the Parliament and State Legislature respectively under Article 151 of the Constitution of India.  In addition, CAG certifies the Appropriation Accounts and Finance Accounts of the Union Government and of the State Governments and forwards them to the President / Governors of States for being laid on the Table of Parliament and State Legislature respectively. CAG also submits Separate Audit Reports on all statutory corporations and autonomous bodies, for which he is the sole auditor.

Comptroller-and-Auditor-of-General-CAG

Privileges and immunities of Parliament and its Members

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Parliamentary privilege  is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. The Presiding Officer i.e. Speaker in case of Lok Sabha and Chairman in case of Rajya Sabha, is the custodian of the rights and privileges of the House, its Committees and Members.

Article 105 of the Constitution of India which provides for the powers, privileges and immunities of the Houses of Parliament and of the Members and the Committee thereof reads as follows:—

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution and to the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of Parliament, there shall be freedom of speech in Parliament.

(2) No Member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any Committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication or under the authority of either House of Parliament of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.

(3) In other respects, the powers, privileges and immunities of each House of Parliament and of the members and the Committees of each House, shall be such as may from time to time be defined by Parliament by law, and until so defined, shall be those of that House and of its members and committees immediately before the coming into force of section 15 of the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.

(4) The provisions of clauses (1), (2) and (3) shall apply in relation to persons who by virtue of this Constitution have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of a House of Parliament or any Committee thereof as they apply in relation to Members of Parliament.

Some of the more important privileges of each House of Parliament and of its Members and Committees are as follows:

(i) Freedom of Speech in Parliament [of Article 105(1) of the Constitution].

(ii) Immunity to a Member from any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any Committee thereof [of Article 105(2) of the Constitution].

(iii) Immunity to a person from proceedings in any court in respect of the publication by or under the authority of either House of Parliament of any report, paper, votes or proceedings [of Article 105(2) of the Constitution].

(iv) Prohibition on the courts to inquire into proceedings of Parliament [of Article 122 of the Constitution].

(v) Freedom from arrest of members of civil cases during the continuance of the Session of the House and forty days before its commencement and forty days after its conclusion (of Section 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

(vi) Right of the House to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment and release of Member (of Rules 222A and 222B of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha).

(vii) Prohibition of arrest and service of legal process within the precincts of the House without obtaining the permission of the Chairman/Speaker.

(viii) Prohibition of disclosure of the proceedings or decision of a secret sitting of the House.

(ix) Members or officers of the House cannot give evidence or produce documents in courts of law, relating to the proceedings of the House without the permission of the House (of First Report of Committee of Privileges of Rajya Sabha presented to the House on the 1st May, 1958).

(x) Members or officers of the House cannot attend as a witness before the other House or a Committee thereof or before a House of State Legislature or a Committee thereof without the permission of the House and theycannot be compelled to do so without their consent (of Sixth Report of Committee of Privileges of Second Lok Sabha, adopted by Lok Sabha on the 17th December, 1958 and Thirty-Third Report of the Committee of Privileges of Rajya Sabha, adopted by the House on 30th March, 1993).

(xi) All Parliamentary Committees are empowered to call for persons, papers and records relevant for the purposes of the inquiry by a Committee. A witness may be summoned by a Parliamentary Committee who may be required to produce such documents as are required for the use of a Committee.

(xii) The evidence tendered before a Parliamentary Committee and its report and proceedings cannot be disclosed or published by anyone until these have been laid on the Table of the House.

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Gandhian thoughts and its relevance

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Introduction

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was ‘a man of millennium’ who imparts the lesson of truth, Non- violence and peace. The philosophy and ideology is relevant still today.The philosophy of Gandhi was based on truth, sacrifice, non- violence selfless service and cooperation. In modern times, nonviolent methods of action have been a powerful tool for social protest. According to Gandhi one should be brave and not a coward. He should present his views, suggestions and thoughts without being violent. One should fight a war with the weapons of truth and non violence. Gandhi said that ‘There is no god higher than truth’. According to Gandhi’s thoughts nonviolence is ultimate solution of every kind of problem in the world. Gandhi was single person who fought against the British with the weapons of truth and Non-violence by persuading countrymen to walk on the path of non-violence. Gandhi leading a decades-long nonviolent struggle against British rule in India, which eventually helped India, wins its independence in 1947. By the efforts of Gandhi India became independent. Gandhi initiated non violence activities like Quit India movement and non-operation movement. Gandhi could never have done what he did alone, but with his ability to identify a seed here, a seed there and nurture it, he was able to create a forest of human change. He understood that it was not enough to be a leader, but to create leaders.

In quite simple and clear words, Gandhism consists of the ideas, which Mahatma Gandhi put forth before human world. Along with that, to the maximum possible extent, Mahatma Gandhi treated his individual life in accordance with these ideas. Clearly; Gandhism is a mixture of Gandhi’s concepts and practices. The basic ground ship of Gandhism happens to be non-violence. The non-violence is the most ancient eternal value. This non-violence is the ground of ancient-most civilization and culture of India.Mahatma Gandhi said on this very account while making his concepts and practices based on non-violence: ‘I have nothing new to teach you’ Truth and non-violence are as old as hill. As we know, non-violence and truth are two sides of the same coin. After knowing Gandhism, it is imperative for us to know clearly the concept of non-violence also as it accords the ground for Gandhism. Gandhi’s importance in the political world scenario is twofold. First, he retrieved non-violence as a powerful political tool and secondly manifestation of a higher spiritual goal, culmination in world peace. For Gandhi, means were as important as the end and there could be only one means – that of non-violence.

As a situation opposite to violence is non-violence, we can firmly state, total nonviolence consists in not hurting some other one’s intellect, speech or action per own thought, utterance or deeds and not to deprive some one of his life. Mahatma Gandhi fully agrees with above-mentioned derivation of non-violence. He himself has said, Non-violence is not a concrete thing as it has generally been enunciated. Undoubtedly, it is a part of non-violence to abstain from hurting some living being, but it is only an iota pertaining to its identity. The principle of nonviolence is shattered by every evil thought, false utterance, hate or wishing something bad unto someone. It is also shattered per possession of necessary worldly things. In this chain Mahatma Gandhi clarified in an edition of Young India: ‘To hurt someone, to think of some evil unto someone or to snatch one’s life under anger or selfishness, is violence. In contrast, purest non-violence involves a tendency and presuming towards spiritual or physical benefit unto every one without selfishness and with pure thought after cool and clear deliberations’. The ultimate yardstick of violence or non-violence is the spirit behind the action. There are many examples of their use like resistance, non-violent resistance, and civil revolution. Mahatma Gandhi had to struggle in his whole life, but he never disappointed, he continued his innate faith in non-violence and his belief in the methods of Satyagraha. The significance of Satyagraha was soon accepted worldwide. Martin Luther King adopted the methods of Satyagraha in his fight against the racial discrimination of the American authorities in 1950. Gandhism is very much contextual today on this accord. It is significant. We should grasp importance of Gandhism while analyzing it.

Presently a big portion of the world happens to be under Democratic system of Government. Theoretically, this system stands out to be the best up to now. This is a truth. It is the best because people are connected with it directly or indirectly at every level. Not only this, it is this very system, which provides maximum opportunities of public progress and development. People can themselves decide in this system the mode of their welfare. However, even though being theoretically the best system of government, if we peruse the democratic nations, we first of all find that there is non-equal development of the citizens. We subsequently find that these nations are more or less victimized by regionalism. They have problem relating to language. They are under clutches of terrorism and communalism. There is also the problem of negation of human rights in these nations. There are other vivid problems akin to mention above and peace is far away so long as these problems exist. All citizens must have equal development and they should have communal harmony towards making all citizens collective and unified partners in progress. But, in reality, it is not so. It is essential that the nations of democratic system of government should be free from above-mentioned problems, must be capable of ensuring equal development of their all citizens and the citizens concerned must march forward on path of progress in unified way along with rendering contribution to world peace.

Gandhi demonstrated to a world, weary with wars and continuing destruction that adherence to Truth and Non-violence is not meant for individuals alone but can be applied in global affairs too. Gandhi’s vision for the country and his dreams for the community as a whole still hold good for India. He got the community to absorb and reflect true values of humanity and to participate in tasks that would promote the greater good. These issues are still relevant to what free India is and represents. The main cause of worry today is intolerance and hatred leading to violence and it is here the values of Gandhi need to be adhered to with more passion.

Gandhian Strategy

Gandhian strategy is mainly comprised with:

  • Satyagraha
  • Truth and honesty
  • Non-violence
  • Co-operation
  • Peace and love

Satyagraha – A holistic approach towards life, based on the ideals of truth and moral courage.

Satyagraha’s goal is winning over people’s hearts, and this can be achieved only with tremendous patience, Satyagraha is more than a political tool of resistance. The similarities of the Satyagraha to some of the greatest philosophical and religious tenets of the world have been observed and much written about. However, in the specific context of India, Satyagraha was an immense influence. It went a long way in instilling among the Indians a dignity for hard labor and mutual respect. In the traditional Indian society torn apart by caste and creed based discriminations, Satyagraha stated that no work was lowly. It championed secularism and went a long way in eradicating untouchability from the heart of India’s typically stratified society. Satyagraha glorified the role of women as an important member of the society. All in all, Satyagraha instilled in the Indian mind a dignity and a self respect that is yet unprecedented in its modern history. Gandhi’s system of Satyagraha was based on nonviolence, non-cooperation, truth and honesty. Gandhi used non violence in India’s freedom struggle as main weapon and India became independent from British rule.

Truth – The most powerful weapon.

Gandhism is more about the spirit of Gandhi’s journey to discover the truth, than what he finally considered to be the truth. It is the foundation of Gandhi’s teachings, and the spirit of his whole life to examine and understand for oneself, and not take anybody or any ideology for granted. Gandhi said: ‘The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction’. Truth or ‘Satya’ was the sovereign principle of Mahatma Gandhi’s life. The Mahatma’s life was an eternal conquest to discover truth and his journey to that end was marked by experiments on himself and learning from his own mistakes. Fittingly his autobiography was titled ‘My Experiments with Truth.’ Gandhi strictly maintained that the concept of truth is above and beyond of all other considerations and one must unfailingly embrace truth throughout one’s life. Gandhi pioneered the term Satyagraha which literally translates to ‘an endeavor for truth . ‘In the context of Indian freedom movement, Satyagraha meant the resistance to the British oppression through mass civil obedience. The tenets of Truth or Satya and nonviolence were pivotal to the Satyagraha movement and Gandhi ensured that the millions of Indians seeking an end to British rule adhered to these basic principles steadfastly.

Non-violence is ever lasting.

Gandhian strategy is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy. The fundamentals of Gandhi’s non violence theory, Jainism and Buddhism were the most important influence. Both Jainism and Buddhism preached non-violence as the basic principal of existence. Gandhi was also influenced By Bhagvad Gita with its stress on non attachment and selfless action, Christianity, along with its massage of love and compassion, extended even to one’s enemies, was another important influence on Gandhi’s life. Gandhi’s life was based on truth, honesty and moral courage.

Mahatma Gandhi was great national hero, who served the nation with truth and non violence. Gandhi was against violence. He always disliked war on the ground of its violent nature. That’s why when the Second World War began in 1939; he opposed the stand of British government dragging India into war without consulting Indian leaders. Gandhi was in favor of non violence; therefore he was against in any cooperation in war efforts. According to Gandhi the use of non violence consists of anger, selfishness, hatred and enmity. According to him violence cannot do anything good to human beings. A Gandhian strategy for confronting terrorism, therefore, would consist of the following:

Stop an act of violence in its tracks. The effort to do so should be nonviolent but forceful. To focus solely on acts of terrorism, Gandhi argued, would be like being concerned with weapons in an effort to stop the spread of racial hatred. Gandhi thought the sensible approach would be to confront the ideas and alleviate the conditions that motivated people to undertake such desperate operations in the first place. As we know, non-violence and truth go side by side. After knowing Gandhism, it is imperative for us to know clearly the concept of non-violence also as it accords the ground for Gandhism.

For Gandhi, means were as important as the end and there could be only one means- that of non-violence. What is non-violence? Ordinarily, we attribute nonviolence as a dictum that prescribes non-snatching of anyone’s life. Really, this is not complete derivation pertaining to the concept of non-violence. Non-violence is quite opposite to violence. As such, it would be better to know the position relating to violence in order to know non-violence and to be in knowledge of its meaning. According to a Jain scholar: ‘Whenever, we hurt some other living being through our thought, utterance or action under non-cordial stipulation and non-apt learning, such an impure spirit or act of destroying life of some other one, including the impure tendency, utterance or presuming, is taken to be full of vice of violence. In such a situation, even if there is no sort of violence externally, it intrinsically ipso facto remains a tendency of violence’. There are three categories of violence:-

When we hit physically anybody.

When we think wrong and feel jealous with anybody.

When we aggressively speak and abuse to anybody.

All these categories create negative energy in human body. The negative energy has adverse affect on human body. Gandhi criticized violence. It is a body of ideas and principles that describes the inspiration, vision and the life work of Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea and practice of non violence resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The term “Gandhism” also encompasses what Gandhi’s ideas, words and actions mean to people around the world, and how they used them for guidance in building their own future.  Gandhism also permeates into the realm of the individual human being, non-political and nonsocial. A Gandhian can mean either an individual who follows, or a specific philosophy which is attributed to, Gandhism.

In context of non-violence being perpetual, Mahatma Gandhi states, ‘When we peruse the era from beginning unto now relating to the period for which we gain historical evidence, we find that man has been ultimately treading path of nonviolence’. It is, as such, that non-violence came into existence along with man. In case it has not been with man from the very beginning, there might have been self-doom by man.  As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and non-existence.”

However, it has not been that and not only human race is alive in such a huge number but there has been gradual enhancement in development and nearness in spite of presence of various obstacles and nuisances. This could never have been, but because non-violence is perpetual, it happened. Mahatma Gandhi was against any form of exploitation and injustice. According to him, evils must be opposed at any cost. But he insisted that the weapons must be non violent and moral ones. The adoption of peaceful method made one superior and put the enemy at a disadvantage but the condition is the opponent must be dealt with mutual respect and love. Gandhi believed that only through love an enemy could be permanently won. Non violence is not passive. It is active, creative, provocative and challenging. Gandhi described non-violence as ‘A force more powerful than all the weapons of world combined’. Non violence is the greatest and most active force in the world. Gandhi wrote, It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of humanity. When we tap into the spirit of non-violence, it becomes contagious and can topple empires. In relation to violence, there are two options in the world. These options are, we fight back or run away. Non violence gives us third option: creative active, peaceful resistance to injustice. Non violence means standing unmoving against injustice until injustice is transformed into justice. Non-violence dose not harm to others and does not adversely affect other directly .but it works internally. Instead of killing others, we should do in the nonviolent struggle for justice and human rights. Non-violence begins in the heart then it moves out to our families, local communities, cities, nation and world.

Gandhi thought, debased those who adopted it. A violent posture adopted by public authorities could lead to a civil order based on coercion. For this reason Gandhi insisted on means consistent with the moral goals of those engaged in the conflict.

Conclusion

Gandhi dreamed of a new world of non-violence with overall peaceful environment. Non-violence is a universal phenomenon and it has great relevance and significance. It is the ultimate solution of all kinds of problems and conflicts in the society, nation and world. However, its result depends upon its understanding and proper application. The present scenario of violence and exploitation all over the world has raised an important issue. Any nation which has been suffered with communalism, dictatorship, corruption and power games really needs to go back to Gandhi’s conviction of nonviolence and truth as his mission. By adopting nonviolence, social, political, economic and religious conflicts shall be removed. Undoubtedly, the social doctrine of non violence that has emerged from Gandhian ideas has now become the key to forge and sustain the new social and political order. Today, there is need to adopt Ghandhian philosophy and ideology in overall world to remove all kind of problems and creating peaceful environment. Gandhi is not the past, he is the future. He is an early sign of what we can be.

Presently a big portion of the world happens to be under Democratic system of Government. Theoretically, this system stands out to be the best up to now. This is a truth. It is the best because people are connected with it directly or indirectly at every level. Not only this, it is this very system, which provides maximum opportunities of public progress and development. People can themselves decide in this system the mode of their welfare. However, even though being theoretically the best system of government, if we peruse the democratic nations, we first of all find that there is non-equal development of the citizens. We subsequently find that these nations are more or less victimized by regionalism. They have problem relating to language. They are under clutches of terrorism and communalism. There is also the problem of negation of human rights in these nations. There are other vivid problems akin to mention above and peace is far away so long as these problems exist. These nations should get themselves rid of these problems, all citizens of them must have equal development and they should have communal harmony towards making all citizens collective and unified partners in progress. But, in reality, it is not so.

It is essential that the nations of democratic system of government should be free from above-mentioned problems, must be capable of ensuring equal development of their all citizens and the citizens concerned must march forward on path of progress in unified way along with rendering contribution to world peace. Gandhism is very much contextual today on this accord. It is significant.

Gandhi inspires an alternative vision of politics and resistance at a time when oppression is not only getting more overt and physical but also more insidious. His ideology of nonviolence is a good point to start from. It may not succeed, but it opens a world of possibilities and encourages us to think outside the box. His life also illustrates how radical ideas are first dismissed, only to be tested and embraced later. Gandhi demonstrated to a World, weary with wars and continuing destruction that adherence to Truth and Non-violence is not meant for individuals alone but can be applied in global affairs too. Gandhi’s vision for the country and his dreams for the community as a whole still hold good for India. He got the community to assimilate and reflect true values of humanity and to participate in tasks that would promote the greater good. These issues are still relevant to what free India is and represents. The main cause of worry today is intolerance and hatred leading to violence and it is here the values of Gandhi need to be adhered to with more passion. He is relevant not yesterday or today but forever!!

Federal Structure: Union-State relations.

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The Indian constitution provides for a federal framework with powers (legislative ,executive and financial) divided between the center and the states. However, there is no division of judicial power as the constitution has established an integrated judicial system to enforce both the central laws as well as state law. The Indian federation is not the result of an agreement between independent units, and the units of Indian federation cannot leave the federation.Thus the constitution contains elaborate provisions to regulate the various dimensions of the relations between the centre and the states.

To understand the topic first we must understand the concept of federalism….

Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government. Generally, an overarching national government governs issues that affect the entire country, and smaller subdivisions govern issues of local concern. Both the national government and the smaller political subdivisions have the power to make laws and both have a certain level of autonomy from each other.

A federation is traditionally constituted when two or more independent neighboring states forge a Union for defined purposes of common interest by divesting themselves of a measure of sovereignty which is vested with the federal government. “The urge for union comes from the need for collective security against aggression and economic co-ordination for protection and expansion of trade and commerce. The federation is given only enumerated powers, the sovereignty of the states in the Union remains otherwise unimpaired”.

“A Federation in USA is of this type. Alternatively, a federation is formed when a sovereign authority creates autonomous units and combines them in a Union.” Once constituted, the national and state governments possess co-ordinate authority derived from the several constitutions and enjoy supremacy in their respective spheres of authority and jurisdiction. Canadian federation belongs to this category. However, the differences between the two lie in the degree and extent of emphasis on unitary features.

Characteristic Features of Federalism are:-

(i) Supremacy of Constitution:-Supremacy of the Constitution is a doctrine where by the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and all the State organs including Parliament and State Legislatures are bound by it. They must act within the limits laid down by the Constitution. They owe their existence and powers to the Constitution and, therefore, their every action must have its support in the Constitution.

(ii) The distribution among bodies with limited and co-ordinate authority, of different powers of government;

(iii) The authority of the courts as interpreters of the Constitution;

(iv) Double citizenship is another characteristic of some of the Federation.

A unitary system on the other hand has the highest degree of centralization. In a unitary state, the central government holds all the power. Lower-level governments, if they exist at all, do nothing but implement the policies of the national government. In a purely unitary state, the same set of laws applies throughout the nation, without variation. Unitary states create national policy, which is then applied uniformly. This uniformity sometimes serves as an advantage because people and businesses know exactly what to expect from the laws, regardless of geographical location. At the same time, to maintain its uniformity, a unitary government must overlook local differences that might call for different rules or policies.

Now coming back to our main topics Administrative, Legislative and Financial Relationship between centre and state

Administrative relations between the Centre & the States:

The administrative relations between the Centre and the States have been stated from Article 256 to Article 263 of the Constitution. As a rule, the Central Government exercises administrative authority over all the matters on which the Parliament has the power to make laws, whereas the State Governments exercise authority over the matters included in the State List.   The executive power of the State is to be exercised in compliance with laws made by the Parliament. Also, the Union Executive is empowered to give directions to a State, when necessary like- construction and maintenance of means of communications, declared to be of national and military importance, and also on the measures for the protection of Railways.Article 256 of the Constitution states that the executive power of the states shall be so exercised as to ensure compliance with the laws of Parliament.

Also the union executive power extends to the giving of such directions to the states as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for the purpose.  It is further stipulated under Article 246 of the Constitution that if the state government fails to endorse the laws passed by the Parliament within its jurisdiction, the union government can issue directions to the states to ensure their compliance. This article lays down that it shall be the duty of the states to exercise its executive power so as to ensure that due effect is given within the state to every act of Parliament and to every existing law which apply in that state. This is a statement of constitutional duty of every state.

Legislative relations between the Centre & the States:

  • Union List Only Parliament can make laws in the case of a subject listed in the Union list. It has 100 subjects for now.
  • State List Only state can make laws in the case of a subject listed in the State List. It has 61 subjects for now.
  • Concurrent  List:- Parliament and state (both) are allowed to make laws on the subjects listed in this list. If both have made laws on the same subject then the central law overrides the state law. It has 52 subjects for now.

42nd Amendment Act, 1976 transferred 5 Subjects from state list to concurrent list. (those five subjects were – education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds and administration of justice; constitution and organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the high courts.

 

Financial relations between the Centre & the States:
• The essence of federalism is not just the distribution of functions but also the distribution of resources necessary for the adequate & effective performance of
these functions.
• No system of federation can be successful unless both the union and the states have at their disposal adequate financial resources to enable them to discharge their respective responsibilities under the constitution.
• In the Indian constitution, the union – state financial relations are given in Chapter one of Part XII running from Art. 264 to 293.

Under the Constitution the financial resources of the State are very limited though they have to do many works of social uplift under directive principles. In order to cope with their ever-expanding needs, the Central Government makes grants-in-aid to the States. Grant- in-aid to States , through it Central Government exercises a strict control over the States because grants are granted subject to certain conditions.

The Indian constitution provides for a federal framework with powers divided between the Centre and the states. The Financial powers entrusted by the Constitution reflect a clear asymmetry between the taxation powers and the functional responsibili-ties, with the Centre being assigned taxes with higher revenue potential and States being entrusted with more functional responsibilities.  The Constitution provides, under Article 280, the institutional mechanism of Finance Commission and other enabling provisions for the transfer of resources from the Centre.

The Role of the Finance Commission under Indian Constitution are to make recommendation to the President with regard to following matters:
a) To determine the scheme that governs the matters relating to the distribution of net proceeds of taxes which are in the divisible pool, between the Centre and States.
b) To make recommendations, to determine the principle that would regulate or govern the revenues to the States from the Central Revenue in the form of Grant in Aid to the needy States
c) This function of the Commission is included by the way of 73rd and 74 Constitutional Amendment to strengthen the financial Status of the local bodies by providing the supplement to the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the States on the basis of the recommendation of State Finance Commission from the Consolidated fund of the State.
d) The last function of the Commission as provided by the Constitution under Article 280 3(d) is very vast any matter relating to the Fiscal interest between the intergovernmental bodies can be referred to the Commission by the President, These function or Terms of Reference, which broadly fixed by the Constitution itself; while at the same time an element of flexibility is built into these terms of reference under sub clause (d) of Article 280(3). Under this Clause the President has a power to refer any matter to the Commission ‘in the interests of sound finance.

 

consolidation and reorganization within the country

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Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country. 

Its a new topic added to the syllabus but the question regarding the state reorganization have been asked in the past… few institutes are suggesting india after gandhi by ghua or India since independence by bipin chandra… i dont feel that we shud read such large books for the said topic rather den i am uploading two files go through them
 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_FR6Jkv0z2cOGFoWWdzcjdGRUE/edit?usp=sharing
and
 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_FR6Jkv0z2cbHNoSlVBcjYzZEk/edit?usp=sharing
and still who want big books the links are as follows
india after gandhi 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_FR6Jkv0z2cZ0pKOUZJbVJqYVk/edit?usp=sharing

SUCCESSION

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a universal process of directional change in vegetation, on an ecological time scale. occurs when a series of communities replace one another due to large scale destruction either natural or manmade.

continously -one community replacing another community, until a stable, mature community develops.

The first plant to colonise an area is called the pioneer community. The final stage of succession iscalled the climax community.

The stage leading to the climax community are called successional stages

or seres. characterised by the following: increased productivity, the shift of nutrients from’ the reservoirs, increased diversity of organisms with increased niche development, and a gradual increase in the complexity of food webs.

Primary Succession

In primary succession on a terrestrial site the new site is first colonized by a few hardy pioneer species that are often microbes, lichens and mosses.

The pioneers through their death any decay leave patches of organic matter in which small animals can live.

The organic matter produced by these pioneer species produce organic adds during decomposition that dissolve and etch the substratum releasing nutrients to the substratum. Organic debris accumulates in pockets and crevices, providing soil  in which seeds can become lodged and grow.

As the community of organisms continues to develop, it becomes more diverse and competition increases, but at the same time new niche opportunities develops.

The pioneer species disappear as the habitat conditions change and invasion of new species progresses, leading to the replacement of the preceding community.

Secondary Succession

Secondary Succession occurs when plants recognize an area in which the climax community has been disturbed.

Secondary Succession  is the sequential development of biotic communities after the complete or partial destruction of the existing community.

This abandoned farmland is first invaded by hardy species of grasses that can survive in bare, sun-baked soil. These grasses may be soon joined by tall grasses and herbaceous plants.

These dominate the ecosystem for some years along with mice, rabbits, insects and seed- eating birds.

 

Eventually, some trees come up in this area, seeds of which may be brought by wind or animals. And over the years, a forest community develops. Thus an abandoned farmland over a period becomes dominated by trees and is transformed into a forest.

The differences between primary and secondary succession, the secondary succession starts on a well-developed soil already formed at the site. Thus secondary succession is relatively faster as compared to primary succession which may often require hundreds of years.

Autogenic and Allogenic Succession

When succession is brought about by living inhabitants of that community itself, the process is called autogenic succession, while change brought about by outside forces is known as allogenic succession.

Autotrophic and Heterotrophic succession

Succession in which, initially the green plants are much greater in quantity is known as autotrophic succession;  and the ones in which the heterotrophs are greater in quantity is known as heterotrophic succession.

Succession would occur faster in area existing in the middle of the large continent. This is because, here all prop gules or seeds of plants belonging to the different seres would reach much faster, establish and ultimately result in climax community.

Citizens’ Charter

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Citizen charter

The Citizens’ Charter is an instrument which seeks to make an organization transparent, accountable and citizen friendly. A Citizens’ Charter is basically a set of commitments made by an organization regarding the standards of service which it delivers. Every citizens’ charter has several essential components to make it meaningful; the first being the Vision and Mission Statement of the organization. This gives the outcomes desired and the broad strategy to achieve these goals and outcomes. This also makes the users aware of the intent of their service provider and helps in holding the organization accountable. Secondly, in its Citizens’ Charter, the organization must state clearly what subjects it deals with and the service areas it broadly covers. This helps the users to understand the type of services they can expect from a particular service provider. These commitments/promises constitute the heart of a citizens’ charter. Even though these promises are not enforceable in a court of law, each organization should ensure that the promises made are kept and, in case of default, a suitable compensatory/remedial mechanism should be provided. Thirdly, the Citizens’ Charter should also stipulate the responsibilities of the citizens in the context of the charter.

Background

The Citizens’ Charter, when introduced in the early 19 90’s, represented a landmark shift in the delivery of public services. The emphasis of the Citizens’ Charter is on citizens as customers of public services. The Citizens’ Charter scheme in its present form was first launched in 1991 in the UK. The aim was to ensure that public services are made responsive to the citizens they serve.

A Citizens’ Charter is a public statement that defines the entitlements of citizens to a specific service, the standards of the service, the conditions to be met by users, and the remedies available to the latter in case of non-compliance of standards. The Charter concept empowers the citizens in demanding committed standards of service. Thus, the basic thrust of Citizens’ Charter is to make public services citizen centric by ensuring that these services are demand driven rather than supply driven. In this context, the six principles of the Citizens’ Charter movement as originally framed were:

Quality : improving the quality of services;

Choice : for the users wherever possible;

Standards : specifying what to expect within a time frame;

 Value : for the taxpayers’ money;

Accountability : of the service provider (individual as well as Organization);

Transparency : in rules, procedures, schemes and grievance redressal.

These were revised in 1998 as nine principles of service delivery in the following manner:

  • Set standards of service;
  • Be open and provide full information;
  • Consult and involve;
  • Encourage access and promote choice;
  • Treat all fairly;
  • Put things right when they go wrong;
  • Use resources eff ectively;
  • Innovate and improve; and
  • Work with other providers

Government of India in 1996 commenced a National Debate for Responsive Administration. A major suggestion which emerged was bringing out Citizen Charters for all public service organisations.  idea received strong support at the Chief Ministers’ Conference in May 1997; one of the key decisions of the Conference was to formulate and operationalise Citizens’ Charters at the Union and State Government levels in sectors which have large public interface such as Railways, Telecom, Post & Public Distribution Systems, Hospitals, and the Revenue & Electricity Departments. momentum for this was provided by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) in consultation with the Department for Consumer Affairs. Department of AR & PG simultaneously formulated guidelines for structuring a model charter as well as a list of do’s and don’ts to enable various government departments to bring out focused and effective charters. Since May 1997, when the programme was launched in India, different Ministries, Departments, Directorates and other organizations at the Union level have formulated 115 Citizens Charters.

Making Citizens’ Charters Effective

The Commission has briefly dealt with the issue of Citizen’s Charters in its Fourth Report on ‘Ethics in Governance’. The Commission observed that in order to make these Charters effective tools for holding public servants accountable, the Charters should clearly spell out the remedy/penalty/compensation in case there is a default in meeting the standards spelt out in the Charter. It emphasized that it is better to have a few promises which can be kept than a long list of lofty but impractical aspirations.

Internal restructuring should precede Charter formulation: As a meaningful Charter seeks to improve the quality of service, mere stipulation to that effect in the Charter will not suffice. There has to be a complete analysis of the existing systems and processes within the organization and, if need be, these should to be recast and new initiatives adopted. Citizens’ Charters that are put in place after these internal reforms will be more credible and useful than those designed as mere desk exercises without any system re-engineering.

One size does not fit all: This huge challenge becomes even more complex as the capabilities and resources that governments and departments need to implement Citizen’s Charters vary significantly across the country. Added to these are differing local conditions. The highly uneven distribution of Citizen’s Charters across States is clear evidence of this ground reality. For example, some agencies may need more time to specify and agree upon realistic standards of service. In others, additional effort will be required to motivate and equip the staff to participate in this reform exercise. Such organizations could be given time and resources to experiment with standards, grievances redressal mechanisms or training. They may also need more time for internal restructuring of the service delivery chain or introducing new systems. Therefore, the Commission is of the view that formulation of Citizen’s Charters should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing broad guidelines.

Wide consultation process: Citizens’ Charters should be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society. Inputs from experts should also be considered at this stage.

Firm commitments to be made: Citizens’ Charters must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible. With the passage of time, an effort should be made for more stringent standards of service delivery.

Redressal mechanism in case of default: Citizens’ Charter should clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery. In addition, wherever there is a default in the service delivery by the organization, citizens must also have recourse to a grievances redressal mechanism. This will be discussed further in the next chapter on grievances redressal mechanisms.

 

Periodic evaluation of Citizen’s Charters: Every organization must conduct periodic evaluation of its Citizens’ Charter preferably through an external agency. This agency while evaluating the Charter of the organisation should also make an objective analyses of whether the promises made therein are being delivered within the defined parameters. The result of such evaluations must be used to improve upon the Charter. This is necessary because a Citizen’s Charter is a dynamic document which must keep pace with the changing needs of the citizens as well as the changes in underlying processes and technology. A periodic review of Citizens’ Charter thus becomes an imperative.

 

Basic Structure of Indian Constitution

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Basic Structure

The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the parliament. Key among these “basic features”, are the fundamental rights granted to individuals by the constitution. The doctrine thus forms the basis of a limited power of the Indian Supreme Court to review and strike down constitutional amendments enacted by the parliament which conflict with or seek to alter this “basic structure” of the constitution.

In 1965, The “basic features” principle was first expounded by Justice J.R. Mudholkar in his dissent in the case of Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan.

In 1973, the basic structure doctrine triumphed 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 landmark ruling, the court adjudicated that while parliament has “wide” powers, it did not have the power to destroy or emasculate the basic elements or fundamental features of the constitution.

In 1975, Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court used the basic structure doctrine to strike down the 39th amendment and paved the way for restoration of Indian democracy.

In 1980, The Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act had been enacted by the government of Indira Gandhi in response to the Kesavananda judgment in an effort to reduce the power of the judicial review of constitutional amendments by the Supreme Court. In the Minerva Mills case, Nani Palkhivala successfully moved the Supreme Court to declare sections 4 & 55 of the 42nd amendment as unconstitutional. Chief Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud explained in the Minerva Mills judgment that since the power of Parliament to amend the constitution was limited, as had been previously held through the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda case, the parliament could not by amending the constitution convert this limited power into an unlimited power (as it had purported to do by the 42nd amendment). In addition, the court also ruled that the parliament’s “power to amend is not a power to destroy”.

The basic structure doctrine applies only to constitutional amendments. It does not apply to ordinary acts of parliament, which must itself be in conformity with the constitution.

In Kesavananda there were differing opinions even among the majority for what the “basic structure” of the constitution comprised.

Chief Justice Sikri, writing for the majority, indicated that the basic structure consists of the following:

  • The supremacy of the constitution.
  • A republican and democratic form of government.
  • The secular character of the Constitution.
  • Maintenance of the separation of powers.
  • The federal character of the Constitution.

Justices Shelat and Grover in their opinion added three features to the Chief Justice’s list:

  • The mandate to build a welfare state contained in the Directive Principles of State Policy.
  • Maintenance of the unity and integrity of India.
  • The sovereignty of the country.

Justices Hegde and Mukherjea, in their opinion, provided a separate and shorter list:

  • The sovereignty of India.
  • The democratic character of the polity.
  • The unity of the country.
  • Essential features of individual freedoms.
  • The mandate to build a welfare state.

Justice Jaganmohan Reddy preferred to look at the preamble, stating that the basic features of the constitution were laid out by that part of the document, and thus could be represented by:

  • A sovereign democratic republic.
  • The provision of social, economic and political justice.
  • Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.
  • Equality of status and opportunity.

The interpretation of the basic structure has since evolved in numerous other court rulings since the Kesavananda judgment.

 

Parliament’s control over Executive;

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Parliament is the supreme law making body of the nation.The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha is empowered to pass a vote of censure against the ministry. Whenever such a motion is passed, the ministry has to resign.

There are several means of Parliament’s control over Executive such as, both the houses exercise control over the executive through asking questions, discussing matters of urgent public importance, moving call- attention notices and adjournment motions, and also by appointing various committees such as public accounts committee, estimates committee, committee on public undertakings, committee on government assurances, the committee on privileges, the committee on subordinate legislation etc. All these activities keep the executive alert.

It is the function of Parliament to exercise political and financial control over the Executive and to ensure parliamentary surveillance of administration. Executive responsibility and administrative accountability, are two different functional concepts.

The executive has the right to formulate the budget. But Parliament must authorise by law the levy or modification of taxes. If any tax is imposed without legislative authority, the affected person can approach the courts for relief. In addition to it, the executive cannot spend public revenue without the sanction of Parliament. Parliament has also been provided with the means of ensuring economy in the amount of government expenditure.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) helps Parliament in ensuring that the executive has spent the expenditure sanctioned by Parliament in terms of law. The CAG audits that accounts of the union to see that no money has been spent without parliamentary sanction.

Administrative accountability means the accountability of the administration to Parliament. Parliament does not interfere with day to day administration nor does it control administration. Accountability to it is technical and indirect i.e. through the Ministers, and it is ex post facto i.e. after something is done; after action has ended.

Development of Hindi and Urdu Language

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Development of Hindi and Urdu Language

 

Hindi and Urdu are two Hindustani Languages; spoken mostly in the northern and Central India and in Pakistan.

Hindi and Urdu are two different languages but these languages have many common things.Both Hindi and Urdu are developed in a similar phase and adopted many changes.

We will discuss about the development of both the languages one by one.

 

Development of Hindi:

Hindi in Khariboli form has been accepted as officiallanguage of India. It is written in Devnagari script. It is listed in the 22 scheduled languages of India in our Constitution.

Hindi is one of the youngest languages of India which come in literary only before 2-3 centuries back.

Hindi is 4ththe most speaking languages of the world after Mandarin, Spanish and English.

Now we will dig deep to find the foundation of Hindi language. Hindi is an Indo-Aryan Language which find its root in various Prakrit languages in India. There were various Prakrit was being spoken in various regions of  like Magadhi, ArdhaMagadhi, Himalayan Prakrit, ShaurseniPrakrit etc.

This was around 500-600 century than these Prakritwere developed in their regions under the patron of their rulers. Although Sanskrit was used as official communication and for literary works, yet regional languages were the languages of the masses.

 

 

Hindi language was originally calledHindvi. It started taking shape around 10th century. It was mostly spoken in the present day Delhi. It was highly influenced by the ShaurseniAprabhansha.

The vocabulary is derived mostly from the Sanskrit Language.

We can divide the development of Hindi language in 3 stages for our understanding:

  1. Early Stages
  2. Middle Stage
  • Modern Stage

 

  1. Early Stage: This was the making time of Hindi when it was finding its root in regional Prakrit. The time can be considered form 5th century to 1300 AD. In this time

 

  1. Middle Stage: We can mark this time from 14th century to 1800 Century. In this stage various saints and other poet wrote which was the basis of Modern day Hindi. Kabir, Ramananda, Tulsidas, Gurunanak, Meerabai , Amir Khusrau had much impact on this.

 

 

  • Modern Stage: This was the time when Hindi language developed fully. A lot of development happened during this time from grammar to modern novel writing. A lot of writers and scholars have done a lot for the development of Hindi. BharatenduHarishchandra also known as father of Modern Hindi Literature; did a lot for the development of Hindi and to shape it in standardized form.

 

 

 

Development of Urdu:

The early history of Hindi and Urdu is almost same. The invasion of foreigner from western part of India from Middle East brought many changes in the Indian people. The changes was not only in culture, lifestyle but was in the language as well. The invaders patronized Persian and Arabic form of languages;which influenced the local languages and vice-versa.

Urdu is also a Hindustani language which found its origin in various other languages. Urdu is mostly spoken in the northern parts of India and is official language of some states of India. After the partition of India, Urdu was accepted as national language of Pakistan.

Urdu is developedfrom the medieval Apabhramsa of Shaurseni.

Shaurseni is an Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern languages, including the Punjabi and Hindi dialects.

Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit.

Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech.

 

The development of Urdu can be summarized in three stages:

  1. Early Stage
  2. Middle Stage
  • Modern Stage

 

  1. Early Stage: The early stage of Hindi and Urdu is almost same where it was finding its source in regional Prakrit languages. Invaders of Muslim rulers from West also brought development to initial stages. This period can be marked from 500-1300 AD.

 

  1. Middle Stage: With the upcoming of Muslims rulers from west in India Persian language become prominent. Persian language itself has its roots in Arabic language. Urdu was influenced by the Perso-Arabic language duo and marked its tremendous development. Period: 1400AD -1800 AD

 

 

  • Modern stage: British had played important role in developing Modern day Urdu language. Persian was the official language of many ruler’s court, British were not happy with this and they tried developing Urdu to counter Persian language. Modern writers also played an important role in development of Urdu language.