RBSE VU Political Science cheat sheet

Constituent Assembly: formed under Cabinet Mission Plan 1946; first meeting 9 Dec 1946; Dr Sachchidananda Sinha temporary chairman; Dr Rajendra Prasad permanent President; Drafting Committee chaired by Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

Objectives Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 Dec 1946; adopted 22 Jan 1947; formed preamble basis.

Constitution adopted 26 Nov 1949; came into force 26 Jan 1950; original text had 395 Articles, 22 Parts, 8 Schedules.

Sources: Government of India Act 1935 (federal scheme, governor's office, emergency); US (fundamental rights, judicial review, impeachment of President); UK (parliamentary system, rule of law, single citizenship); Ireland (DPSP); Canada (strong centre, residuary powers); Australia (concurrent list); USSR (fundamental duties, ideals of justice).

Key amendments: 1st (1951) added Ninth Schedule; 7th (1956) reorganised states on linguistic basis; 42nd (1976) added socialist, secular, integrity and fundamental duties; 44th (1978) removed property right from fundamental rights; 73rd/74th (1992) panchayats and municipalities; 101st (2016) GST.

Preamble: sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic; justice, liberty, equality, fraternity; words socialist, secular, integrity added by 42nd Amendment.

Schedules: 1st (states and UTs), 2nd (salaries), 3rd (oaths), 4th (Rajya Sabha seats), 5th (scheduled areas), 6th (tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram), 7th (three lists), 8th (22 languages), 9th (land reform laws), 10th (anti-defection), 11th (panchayats), 12th (municipalities).

Constitution is longest written national constitution; borrowed concept of 'procedure established by law' from Japan; due process from US.

Part III (Articles 12-35) covers Fundamental Rights; enforceable through writs under Article 32 (Supreme Court) and Article 226 (High Courts).

Article 12 defines 'State' for Part III; Article 13 makes laws inconsistent with fundamental rights void; doctrine of eclipse applies to pre-constitution laws.

Right to Equality (Articles 14-18): equality before law (14), no discrimination (15), equality of opportunity (16), abolition of untouchability (17), abolition of titles (18).

Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22): six freedoms under 19; protection in respect of conviction (20); protection of life and personal liberty (21); right to education (21A); protection against arrest (22).

Right against Exploitation (Articles 23-24): prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour; prohibition of child labour below 14 years in factories, mines and hazardous work.

Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28); Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30); Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32) called 'heart and soul of the Constitution' by Ambedkar.

Article 21 expanded by judicial interpretation: right to privacy (K.S. Puttaswamy, 2017), right to clean environment, right to speedy trial, right to livelihood.

Fundamental rights are not absolute; subject to reasonable restrictions; can be suspended during national emergency except Articles 20 and 21 (44th Amendment).

Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV (Articles 36-51); borrowed from Irish Constitution; non-justiciable but fundamental in governance.

Article 37: DPSP not enforceable by courts but principles fundamental in governance; Article 38 social order; Article 39 policy principles; Article 40 panchayats; Article 41 right to work, education, public assistance; Article 42 just and humane conditions; Article 43 living wage; Article 44 uniform civil code; Article 45 early childhood care; Article 46 SC/ST welfare; Article 47 prohibition and nutrition; Article 48 agriculture and animal husbandry; Article 48A environment; Article 49 monuments; Article 50 separation of judiciary from executive; Article 51 international peace.

Fundamental Duties in Part IVA (Article 51A), added by 42nd Amendment 1976 on Swaran Singh Committee recommendation; originally 10, 11th added by 86th Amendment 2002 (education of children 6-14).

Conflict between Fundamental Rights and DPSP: Champakam Dorairajan (1951) gave FR primacy; 42nd Amendment gave DPSP primacy but Minerva Mills (1980) restored balance; basic structure doctrine protects FR.

DPSP classified as socialist (38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 43A, 47), Gandhian (40, 43, 43B, 46, 47, 48), liberal-intellectual (44, 45, 48, 48A, 49, 50, 51).

Article 51A duties include respecting Constitution, national flag and anthem, defending country, promoting harmony, preserving composite culture, protecting environment, developing scientific temper, safeguarding public property, abjuring violence, striving for excellence.

Fundamental Duties are non-justiciable; Parliament can enforce them by law; courts may consider them while interpreting laws.

Parliament: President, Rajya Sabha (max 250; 238 elected, 12 nominated), Lok Sabha (max 552; 530 states, 20 UTs, 2 Anglo-Indians nominated - provision expired 2020).

President: elected by electoral college of elected MPs and MLAs; impeachment under Article 61 for violation of Constitution; pardon powers under Article 72; ordinance power under Article 123.

Prime Minister and Council of Ministers: Article 74; collective responsibility to Lok Sabha (Article 75); Council of Ministers max 15% of Lok Sabha strength (91st Amendment).

Governor: appointed by President (Article 155); discretionary powers; pardon under Article 161; ordinance under Article 213.

Supreme Court: Article 124; judges appointed by President; retirement at 65; original jurisdiction Article 131; appellate jurisdiction Articles 132-134; advisory jurisdiction Article 143; writ jurisdiction Article 32; judicial review; collegium system evolved through Second and Third Judges Cases.

High Courts: Article 214; writ jurisdiction Article 226 wider than Article 32; supervisory power Article 227; retirement age 62.

Legislative procedure: ordinary bill - First Reading, Second Reading, Third Reading, other House, President's assent; money bill defined in Article 110, introduced only in Lok Sabha with President's recommendation, Rajya Sabha can only recommend within 14 days; joint sitting under Article 108 for ordinary bills.

Parliamentary committees: Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, Departmentally Related Standing Committees; zero hour, question hour, adjournment motion, no-confidence motion.

India is a federation with strong unitary features: single citizenship, single constitution, integrated judiciary, All India Services, emergency provisions, Governor's role.

Seventh Schedule: Union List (97 entries), State List (66 entries), Concurrent List (47 entries); residuary powers with Union (Article 248).

Article 249: Parliament can legislate on State List if Rajya Sabha passes resolution by two-thirds; Article 250 during emergency; Article 252 by consent of states; Article 253 for international treaties.

Article 356: President's rule on failure of constitutional machinery in state; Article 360 financial emergency; Article 352 national emergency.

Inter-State Council under Article 263; Zonal Councils statutory bodies; Finance Commission under Article 280; GST Council under Article 279A (101st Amendment).

Asymmetrical federalism: special provisions for Jammu and Kashmir (Article 370, abrogated 2019), Nagaland (Article 371A), Assam (371B), Manipur (371C), Andhra Pradesh (371D), Sikkim (371F), Mizoram (371G), Arunachal Pradesh (371H), Goa (371I).

Centre-state relations: Sarkaria Commission (1983), Rajamannar Committee (1969), Punchhi Commission (2007) recommended reforms.

Cooperative and competitive federalism; NITI Aayog replaced Planning Commission in 2015.

73rd Amendment (1992) added Part IX and Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects) for panchayats; 74th Amendment added Part IXA and Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects) for municipalities.

Three-tier panchayat system: village, intermediate, district; Gram Sabha (Article 243A) consists of all registered voters in village.

Reservation for SC/ST in proportion to population; one-third seats for women; State Election Commission (Article 243K) conducts panchayat elections; State Finance Commission (Article 243I) reviews finances.

District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD) and Metropolitan Planning Committee (Article 243ZE).

Urban local bodies: Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Nagar Panchayat; wards committees.

Centre-state administrative relations: Article 256 (compliance with union laws), Article 257 (control over states), Article 258 (delegation of functions), Article 263 (Inter-State Council).

Financial relations: Article 268 (duties levied by Union but collected by states), Article 269 (taxes levied and collected by Union but assigned to states), Article 270 (taxes shared), Article 275 (grants-in-aid), Article 282 (discretionary grants).

Local government reforms: 73rd/74th amendments mandatory; PESA Act 1996 extends panchayat provisions to Scheduled Areas.

Election Commission of India: Article 324; constitutional body; Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners; CEC removal like Supreme Court judge.

Election process: notification, nomination, scrutiny, withdrawal, polling, counting; Model Code of Conduct enforced by ECI; EVMs and VVPAT used.

Qualifications: Lok Sabha candidate must be citizen of India, at least 25 years old, registered voter; Rajya Sabha candidate at least 30 years; disqualifications under Article 102 and Representation of People Act 1951.

Anti-defection law: Tenth Schedule, added by 52nd Amendment 1985; disqualification on voluntary giving up party membership or voting against whip; Speaker decides; 91st Amendment 2003 strengthened it.

Political parties: registration under Section 29A of RP Act 1951; recognised national party requires 6% vote share in four states plus 4 Lok Sabha seats or 2% Lok Sabha seats from three states; state party requires 6% vote share plus 2 assembly seats or 3% assembly seats or 3 Lok Sabha seats.

Public opinion: shaped by media, social media, interest groups, political parties, elections; pressure groups and NGOs influence policy.

Electoral reforms: lowering voting age to 18 (61st Amendment 1988), expenditure limits, disclosure of criminal antecedents, NOTA option (2013).

Coalition politics and regional parties have increased since 1989; hung parliaments and alliance governments.

State: four elements - population, territory, government, sovereignty; theories of origin: social contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau), organic, divine right, force.

Sovereignty: supreme and final authority; Austin's monistic view (legal sovereign), pluralist critique (Laski, Cole); popular sovereignty vs legal sovereignty; de jure and de facto sovereignty.

Liberty: negative liberty (absence of restraint, Isaiah Berlin) vs positive liberty (capacity to act, self-realisation); Mill's harm principle; civil liberty, political liberty, economic liberty.

Equality: formal equality (equality before law) vs substantive equality (affirmative action); equality of opportunity; Rawls's difference principle; Ambedkar's social justice.

Justice: distributive justice (Rawls, Nozick), retributive justice, restorative justice; Plato's justice as harmony; Aristotle's distributive and corrective justice; Amartya Sen's capability approach.

Rights: natural rights (Locke), legal rights, moral rights; human rights universal and inalienable; three generations of rights (civil-political, socio-economic, collective).

Democracy: direct and representative; procedural vs substantive; pluralist and elitist theories; participatory democracy.

Citizenship: liberal, communitarian, republican, multicultural; T.H. Marshall's civil, political, social rights.

Plato: ideal state, philosopher-king, justice as harmony, theory of ideas, communism of property and wives, education system; dialogue 'Republic'.

Aristotle: father of political science; state as natural institution; man as political animal; classification of constitutions (monarchy, aristocracy, polity vs tyranny, oligarchy, democracy); best practicable state; 'Politics'.

Machiavelli: realism, statecraft, 'The Prince'; ends justify means; separation of politics from morality; modern political thought.

Hobbes: social contract, absolute sovereignty, state of nature as war of all against all; 'Leviathan'.

Locke: natural rights (life, liberty, property), limited government, consent, right to revolution; 'Two Treatises of Government'.

Rousseau: general will, popular sovereignty, social contract, direct democracy; 'The Social Contract'.

J.S. Mill: liberty, harm principle, utilitarianism, representative government, women's suffrage; 'On Liberty'.

Karl Marx: historical materialism, class struggle, surplus value, dictatorship of the proletariat, communism; 'Das Kapital', 'Communist Manifesto'.

Kautilya: 'Arthashastra'; statecraft, diplomacy, espionage, taxation; saptanga theory (seven elements of state); mandala theory of foreign policy.

Mahatma Gandhi: satyagraha, ahimsa, swaraj, trusteeship, swadeshi, Gram Swaraj; critique of modern civilisation; 'Hind Swaraj'.

Jawaharlal Nehru: democratic socialism, secularism, non-alignment, mixed economy, scientific temper; 'Discovery of India'.

B.R. Ambedkar: social justice, annihilation of caste, constitutional morality, political democracy with social democracy; 'Annihilation of Caste'.

Rabindranath Tagore: internationalism, humanism, critique of nationalism; 'Gitanjali', 'Nationalism'.

M.N. Roy: radical humanism, critique of Marxism and nationalism; founder of Communist Party of India.

Jayaprakash Narayan: total revolution, Sarvodaya, party-less democracy; led 1974 movement.

Ram Manohar Lohia: socialism, caste critique, small unit democracy, opposition to English; 'Wheel of History'.

Non-Alignment Movement (NAM): founded 1961 Belgrade; Nehru, Nasser, Tito, Sukarno, Nkrumah; India's foreign policy cornerstone.

Panchsheel: Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence signed with China 1954 - mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence.

India and UN: founding member 1945; participated in peacekeeping missions; demand for UNSC permanent seat; G4 group (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan).

SAARC (1985), BIMSTEC, BRICS, G20 (India hosted 2023), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia).

India-US civil nuclear deal 2008; India's nuclear doctrine: no first use, credible minimum deterrence; NSG membership pending.

India-China relations: border dispute, Line of Actual Control, 1962 war, Doklam 2017, Galwan 2020.

India-Pakistan: Kashmir issue, Indus Waters Treaty 1960, Shimla Agreement 1972, Lahore Declaration 1999, Agra Summit 2001.

Look East/Act East policy; Neighbourhood First policy; Indian Ocean security; diaspora diplomacy.

Citizenship Amendment Act 2019: fast-track citizenship for persecuted minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Christian) from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan who arrived before 31 Dec 2014; exempts Muslim community; challenged in courts.

Article 370 abrogation (August 2019): Jammu and Kashmir reorganised into two Union Territories; Supreme Court upheld in 2023.

Farm laws 2020 repealed 2021 after protests; three laws on APMC, contract farming, essential commodities.

COVID-19 pandemic: lockdown 2020, vaccination drive, economic impact; health infrastructure debates.

Climate change: India's commitments under Paris Agreement - reduce emissions intensity by 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030, 40% non-fossil fuel capacity; Panchamrit at COP26 (net zero by 2070).

Digital India, Aadhaar, UPI, data protection (Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023); cybersecurity and misinformation.

Women's Reservation Bill 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) passed: 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies; implementation after census and delimitation.

Economic issues: GST implementation 2017, demonetisation 2016, inflation, unemployment, budget 2024-25; social sector schemes (MGNREGA, Ayushman Bharat).