Write any four

(i) We the people of India:  The Constitution has been drawn up and enacted by the people through their representatives, and not handed down to them by a King or any outside powers.

 (ii) Sovereign:  People have supreme right to make decisions on internal as well as external matters. No external power can dictate the government of India.

 (iii) Socialist:  Wealth is generated socially and should be shared equally by the society. Government should regulate the ownership of land and industry to reduce socio-economic inequalities.

 (iv) Secular:  Citizens have complete freedom to follow any religion. But there is no official religion. Government treats all religious beliefs and practices with equal respect.

(v) Democratic:  A form of government where people enjoy equal political rights, elect their rulers and hold them accountable.

(vi) Republic:  The head of the state is an elected person and its not a hereditary position.

 (vii) Justice:  Citizens cannot be discriminated on the grounds of caste, religion and gender. Social inequalities have to be reduced. Government should work for the welfare of all, especially for the disadvantaged groups.

 (viii) Liberty:  There are no unreasonable restrictions on the citizens about what they think, how they wish to express their thoughts and the way they wish to follow up their thoughts in actions.

(ix) Equality:  All are equal before the law. The traditional social inequalities have to be ended. The government should ensure equal opportunity for all.

(x) Fraternity:  All of us should behave as if we are members of the same family. No one should treat a fellow citizen as inferior.

Individual freedom
• The first point to note about the Constitution is its commitment to individual freedom.

• Remember Rammohan Roy protested against curtailment of the freedom of the press by the

British colonial state.

• It is not surprising therefore that freedom of expression is an integral part of the Indian Constitution. So is the freedom from arbitrary arrest.

• The infamous Rowlatt Act, which the national movement opposed so vehemently, sought to deny this basic freedom.

Social Justice

Classical liberalism always privileges rights of the individuals over demands of social justice and community values.

The liberalism of the Indian Constitution differs from this version in two ways.

• First, it was always linked to social justice. The best example of this is the provision for

reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution. The makers of the Constitution believed that the mere granting of the right to equality was not enough to overcome age-old injustices suffered by these groups or to give real meaning to their right to vote.

• Special constitutional measures were required to advance their interests. Therefore the constitution makers provided a number of special measures to protect the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes such as the reservation of seats in legislatures. The Constitution also made it possible for the government to reserve public sector jobs for these

groups.

Respect for diversity and minority rights

• The Indian Constitution encourages equal respect between communities.

• This was not easy in our country, first because communities do not always have a relationship of

equality; they tend to have hierarchical relationships with one another (as in the case of caste).

• Second, when these communities do see each other as equals, they also tend to become rivals (as

in the case of religious communities).

• It was important to ensure that no one community systematically dominates others. This made

it mandatory for our Constitution to recognize community based rights.

• One such right is the right of religious communities to establish and run their own educational institutions.

• Such institutions may receive money from the government. This provision shows that the Indian

Constitution does not see religion merely as a private matter concerning the individual.

Secularism

• The term secular was not initially mentioned; the Indian Constitution has always been secular.

• The mainstream, western conception, of secularism means mutual exclusion of state and religion

in order to protect values such as individual freedom and citizenship rights of individuals.

• The term mutual exclusion means this: both religion and state must stay away from the internal affairs of one another. The state must not intervene in the domain of religion; religion likewise should not dictate state policy or influence the conduct of the state. In other words,

mutual exclusion means that religion and state must be strictly separated.

• To protect religious freedom of individuals, therefore, state must not help religious

organizations. But at the same time, state should not tell religious organisations how to manage their affairs.

Rights of Religious Groups
• The Indian Constitution grants rights to all religious communities such as the right to establish and maintain their educational institutions. Freedom of religion in India means the freedom of religion of both individuals and communities.

State's Power of Intervention
• The state simply had to interfere in the affairs of religion.

• The state could also help religious communities by giving aid to educational institutions run by them.

• The state may help or hinder religious communities depending on which mode of action promotes values such as freedom and equality.

Procedure for the Amendment of the Indian Constitution:

1. Amendment by simple majority: The Indian Parliament has the power to amend some of the provisions of the Constitution by its own initiative or by the initiatives of some of the Legislative Assemblies of the States. Amendment in the following cases can be made by simple majority in the Parliament:

(a) Matter related to Article 3 of the Constitution whereby a new State is formed or change in the name of boundary of the State is proposed. These matters can be carried out by simple majority of both the Houses of Parliament. But such a legislation will be put before the Parliament only on the desire of the President who will consult the related states on the amendment before putting such a legislation before the Parliament. The State Reorganisation Act of 1956 was carried out by means of this Article. Afterwards many new States were formed or the name boundaries of old States were changed.

(b) Matter related to Article 169 on the formation or abolition of the second chamber or the Legislative Council of states can be decided by simple majority by the Parliament after fulfilling certain formalities.

(c) Amendment on matters related to Article 240 on the good administration of the centrally administered territories can be made by simple majority.

2. Amendment by a special majority in the Parliament: The process of amending the Constitution is given in Article 368. The article or subjects which are not given in this Article, can be amended by the Parliament alone with a special majority. The Bill for such an amendment may be introduced in any of the two Houses. If both the Houses pass it with absolute majority or 2/3 majority of the members present and voting, it will be sent to the President. The Constitution will stand amended on that point, when the Bill is signed by the President. All the subjects which are not mentioned in the first list of the amendment and as well as the third list of the amendment can be amended through this procedure.

3. Amendment by a special majority in Parliament alongwith the consent of the States: If an amendment is concerned with the article and the subjects given in Article 368, it must be approved by one-fourths of the State Assemblies after being passed by both the Houses with absolute majority or 2/3 majority of the members present and voting. The amendment will come into force after being signed by the President. The subjects given in Article 368 are as follows:

(a) Election of the President,

(b) Removal of the President,

(c) Extent of the executive power of the Union,

(d) Extent of executive power of the States,

(e) High Court for Union Territories,

(f) Union Judiciary,

(g) The High Courts in the states,

(h) Legislative relations between the Centre and States,

(i) Lists of the VII Schedule,

(j)The representation of States in Parliament, and

(k) Article 368 itself.

In India, like most other democracies in the world, some rights are mentioned in the Constitution. These rights are fundamental to our life and are given a special status. They are called Fundamental Rights. It talks about securing for all its citizens equality, liberty and justice. Fundamental Rights are an important basic feature of the Indian Constitution. These are preserved in the Part III of the Constitution. Importance' of Fundamental Rights: 
(i) Fundamental Rights create a feeling of security amongst the minorities in the country. 
(ii) No democracy can function in the absence of basic rights such as freedom of speech and expression. 
(iii) Fundamental Rights grant the standards of conduct, citizenship, justice and fair play. They act as a check on the government.
 

The term bureaucracy may refer both to a body of non-elected governing officials and to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials. Today, bureaucracy is the administrative system governing any large institution, whether publicly owned or privately owned. The public administration in many jurisdictions and sub-jurisdictions exemplifies bureaucracy, but so does the centralized hierarchical structure of a business firm.

Bureaucracy in a political theory is mainly[quantify] a centralized form of management and tends to be differentiated from adhocracy, in which management tends more to decentralization.

Various commentators have noted the necessity of bureaucracies in modern society. The German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) argued that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which human activity can be organized and that systematic processes and organized hierarchies are necessary to maintain order, to maximize efficiency, and to eliminate favoritism. On the other hand, Weber also saw unfettered bureaucracy as a threat to individual freedom, with the potential of trapping individuals in an impersonal "iron cage" of rule-based, rational control.

ANSWER
Direct democracy is also called 'pure democracy'. It is a form of democracy in which people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on) policy initiatives directly. It is distinct from representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then enact policy initiatives.

The article 326 defines a universal adult franchise as the basis for elections to all levels of the elected government. The universal Adult Franchise refers that all citizens who are 18 years and above irrespective of their caste or education, religion, colour, race and economic conditions are free to vote.

• In a democracy, a universal adult franchise is important, as it is based on the idea of equality. It states that every adult in a country, irrespective of their wealth and the communities she/he belongs to, has one vote.
• The Indian Constitution has adopted universal adult franchise as a basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
• Representation of States in Lok Sabha:Members are directly elected by the people from the territorial constituencies in the states
  Election Principle used – Universal Adult Franchise
  Eligibility to Vote: Any Indian Citizen of/above 18 years of age

Simple (general) Majority

• This refers to a majority of more than 50% of the members present and voting in the House.
• Also known as Functional or Working majority.
• This is the most commonly used type of majority.
• When the law does not specify the kind of majority needed, a simple majority is used for passing bills or motions.
• Ordinary bills require only a simple majority.
• For example, in the Lok Sabha, out of the total strength of 545, suppose 45 were absent and 100 abstained from voting. This means, only 400 members were present and voting. In this case, the simple majority needed is 201 (50% + 1).
• Instances where a simple majority is needed:
  • To pass money bill/financial/ordinary bills
  • To pass Adjournment Motion/Non-Confidence Motion/Censure Motion/Confidence Motion (Read about Parliamentary Proceedings’ Devices.)
  • To declare a financial emergency
  • To declare President’s Rule (state emergency)
  • To elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha
  • Constitution Amendment Bill under Article 368 which needs to be ratified by the states needs only a simple majority at the State Legislatures.

When Indian got independence in 1947, present-day Meghalaya comprised two districts of Assam and enjoyed partial autonomy within the state of Assam.

A movement began in 1960, demand for a separate Hill State.

The Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act of 1969 accorded an autonomous status to Meghalaya.

The Act came into effect on 2 April 1970, and an autonomous state of Meghalaya was created in  Assam.

The autonomous state had a 37-member legislature in at par  Sixth schedule to the Indian constitution.

Composition of the Rajya Sabha:

1. It is the Upper House of the Parliament. It has a total strength of 250 members.

2. Out of these, 238 members are elected by the State Legislative Assemblies.

3. The rest of the members (12) are nominated by the President. These members are those who have earned fame in the fields of Science, Art, Literature and Social Service.

4. It is a Permanent House. One-third of the members retire after every two years and new ones are elected. Thus, every member has a tenure of six years.

Answer: A Money Bill contains the matters like imposing, reducing, expenditure, loan, payments, etc. A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha by a minister and not in the Rajya Sabha.

The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by the elected members of the provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four chief Commissioners provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
Each Province and each Indian state or Group of States were allotted the total number of seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of one to a million.
Mr. B N Rao was the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
The first meeting of the Constitution Assembly was on 9th December 1946 in which Dr. Sachidanand was the interim President of it. On December 11, 1946 Dr. Rajendra prasad was elected as its president.
There was 13 Committees for framing the Constitution.
The all Important the Committee who take the responsibility of drafting the Constitution called Drafting Committee formed on 29th August, 1947.

The country of Nepal has witnessed several people’s struggles for democracy. There was a people’s struggle in 1990 that established democracy that lasted for 12 years until 2002. In October 2002, King Gyanendra, citing the Maoist uprising in the countryside as his reason, began taking over different aspects of the government with the army’s assistance. The King then finally took over as the head of government in February 2005. In November 2005, the Maoists joined other political parties to sign a 12-point agreement. This agreement signalled to the larger public an imminent return to democracy and peace. In 2006, this people’s movement for democracy began gaining immense force. It repeatedly refused the small concessions that the King made and finally in April 2006 the King restored the Third Parliament and asked the political parties to form a government. In 2007, Nepal adopted an interim Constitution. The above photos show scenes from the people’s movement for democracy in 2006.

Nepal, a country that borders India on the north. Until quite recently, Nepal was a monarchy. The previous Constitution of Nepal, which had been adopted in 1990, reflected the fact that the final authority rested with the King. A people’s movement in Nepal fought for several decades to establish democracy and in 2006 they finally succeeded in putting an end to the powers of the King. Now the people have to write a new Constitution to establish Nepal as a democracy. The reason that they do not want to continue with the previous Constitution is because it does not reflect the ideals of the country that they want Nepal to be, and that they have fought for.

• The Gram Panchayat should be given the powers to open and maintain schools and Libraries in the village to maintain primary education.
• Gram Panchayats should enjoy the powers to ensure better health and life of citizens to provide basic civil amenities.