analyse the salient features of indian constitution
Answers
There are many salient features, some of them are
Self made and written : After long debates in elected constituent assembly, the constitution was adopted in 1949 and enacted on 26 january 1950.
Preamble:Introduction or summary to the constitution, which consists of following
Democracy:A nation led by leaders chosen from the people by the people and for the people by universal adult franchise
Socialist:generation of wealth socially and distributed equally without concentrating it in one hand
Republic:Elected head of state
Justice
Social justice:absence of social explotation no discrimination against any citizen on grounds of caste, creed, colour, religion, sex or place of birth.
Econmic justice : Equitable distribution of wealth.
Political justice: Equal political rights to all citizens.
Secular:Respect for all religion and no state religion, all citizens are free to practice any religion.
Federation :union of states and the states of India do not enjoy the right to secede from the Union.
Fundamental Rights: Grants rights to people protected by law, for example Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights, Right to Constitutional Remedies.
Fundamental duty: Describes duty of citizens towards the country. Not enforceable by courts.
Directive principles of state policy: Instructions to the state for securing socio-economic developmental objectives through its policies.
Bicameral legislation:Bicameral Legislature at the Union level Lok sabha and rajya sabhaand provision for the same in states Legislative assembly and legislative council.
Parliamentary system: President with nominal powers with full authority in Council of ministers qith prime minister at helm.
Independent judiciary: single integrated judicial system common for the Union and the states. The Supreme Court of India works at the apex level, High Courts at the state level and other courts work under the High Courts.
Judicial review: The Supreme Court acts as the guardian protector and interpreter of the Constitution and check constitutional validity of any new law, also takes care of basic structure of constitution.
Single citizenship: No separate citizenship of each and every state.
Provision for minorities and depressed class:protecting the interests of people belonging to minorities by special provisions like Reservations.
Multiple languages:22 different languages
Rule of law: Constitution is sole and supreme law.
One of repeated criticism of the Indian constitution is that it is very little original and mostly borrowed from other constitutions. Even Dr. Ambedkar admitted in the Constituent Assembly that many elements were borrowed from foreign constitutions but they were not “slavish imitations” but adoption of time-tested constitutional principles like the “Rule of Law” or “Equality before Law” to serve the interests of the people.
The first feature of Indian constitution is the most voluminous constitution ever created in human history. In its original shape the constitution had 395 articles and several schedules. Our constitution have been amended from time to time. There 99 odd amendments (as on Dec’ 2014) since 1950 only add to the bulk of the constitution. When contrasted with the six effective articles and 27 ratified amendments of the U. S. constitution, one appreciates how bulky our constitution is.
The great bulk of the Indian constitution is due to several factors.
The framers of our constitution have borrowed some of the great constitutional principles from the foreign constitutions. The loopholes of these foreign constitutions were properly avoided to ensure healthy political life to the citizens. Thus, the Parliamentary form of government were adopted from the British, the fundamental rights from the U. S. constitution, the Directive principles from the Irish constitution and the idea of emergency from the German Constitution and the Government of India Act of 1935.
Unlike other constitutions, the Indian constitution provides not only the basic law. It also provides very detailed and minute administrative provisions. This was to prevent subversion of the constitution through legislative process. These details saves a lot of time.
The vastness of the country and its population size and diversity, compelled the framers of the constitution to make provisions for the protection and promotion of the interests of different regions and groups in the country. Thus, the constitution has elaborate provisions for the minorities, scheduled castes and tribes, etc.
Finally, the Indian constitution is an omnibus constitution. It is at the same time a constitution for the whole nation as well as for the component states of the Union.
Second main feature of the Indian constitution is that it is a federal constitution. The term federal has not been used in the constitution. Instead India has been described as a “Union of States.” However all the characteristics of a federation viz. two sets of government—national government and a number of governments of the component units, and the division of powers between the national government and the governments of the units. The constitution is the supreme and both the centre and the state government derive its power from it. There is a federal judiciary to act as the guardian of the constitution and to settle disputes between the centre and the units—are all present in the Indian constitution.
Third feature of the Indian constitution it that it provides for parliamentary form of government both at the centre and in the states. This is borrowed from the Westminster model. The adoption of this model is partly due to India’s long familiarity with it during the British rule. However, in the face of existence of multiplicity of parties in India, some political scientists question the wisdom of this step.
Fourth feature of Indian Constitution is that though India has a written constitution which is a federal necessity, India’s constitution is far less rigid than a normal federal constitution. Truly, it is more flexible than rigid. Because of this flexibility, it has been possible to amend the constitution 99 times in less than sixty-five years. By contrast the U. S. constitution could be amended only 27 times in about 200 years.
Fifth important feature of Indian Constitution is that the constitution like any modern written constitution has a preamble before it. The preamble is very lucid exposition of the philosophy of the constitution. The original preamble declared India to be a Sovereign Democratic Republic. The 42nd amendment makes India “a Sovereign, Secular Socialist Democratic Republic”.
Our Constitution was judiciously, keenly and carefully created to suit the norms of Indian society. And we the the citizens of India are proud of it.
MARK BRAINLIEST..