Tamil Nadu HSE Second Year Political Science cheat sheet

Sovereignty: supreme and final authority within a territory; internal sovereignty is highest power over subjects, external sovereignty is independence from other states.

Liberty is classified as negative (absence of restraint, Isaiah Berlin's 'freedom from') and positive (capacity for self-mastery, 'freedom to').

Justice: distributive justice concerns fair allocation of benefits and burdens; procedural justice concerns fair rules and processes; retributive justice concerns punishment fitting the offence.

Equality types: formal/legal equality (same rules for all), political equality (one person one vote), and substantive equality (differential treatment to equalise outcomes).

Rights: natural rights are claimed as inherent and pre-state; legal rights are granted by law; moral rights rest on ethical justification independent of enforcement.

Power vs authority: power is the capacity to compel by force or reward; authority is the recognised right to command, classified by Weber as traditional, charismatic and legal-rational.

State elements (Montevideo criteria): population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter relations with other states; recognition is declaratory or constitutive in doctrine.

Democracy types: direct democracy (referendum, initiative, recall) versus representative democracy; liberal democracy adds constitutional limits and protected minority rights.

Citizenship acquisition: jus soli (by birth on territory), jus sanguinis (by descent), and naturalisation; loss occurs by renunciation, deprivation or prolonged absence.

Regulating Act 1773 created the Governor-General of Bengal (Warren Hastings) and a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774); Pitt's India Act 1784 set up a Board of Control over the Company.

Charter Acts: 1813 ended the Company's trade monopoly except tea and China trade; 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India (William Bentinck); 1853 introduced open competition for the civil service.

Government of India Act 1858 abolished the East India Company and transferred power to the Crown after the 1857 revolt; the Secretary of State for India was created.

Indian Councils Acts: 1861 began legislative devolution and portfolio system; 1892 introduced indirect elections; 1909 (Morley-Minto) introduced separate electorates; 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford) introduced dyarchy in provinces; 1935 introduced provincial autonomy and a federal structure.

Constituent Assembly: formed under the Cabinet Mission Plan 1946; first sitting 9 December 1946; Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru on 13 December 1946; Constitution adopted 26 November 1949 and came into force 26 January 1950.

Drafting bodies: Drafting Committee chaired by B. R. Ambedkar; Constitutional Adviser B. N. Rau; President of the Assembly Rajendra Prasad; the Preamble's 'socialist, secular, integrity' words added by the 42nd Amendment 1976.

Key features: parliamentary system, federalism with strong Centre, single citizenship, independent judiciary with judicial review, fundamental rights (Part III) and directive principles (Part IV), and emergency provisions (Part XVIII).

Amendment procedure under Article 368: simple majority for ordinary matters, special majority for most amendments, and special majority plus ratification by half the state legislatures for federal provisions.

President: elected indirectly by an electoral college of elected MPs and elected MLAs using the single transferable vote and proportional representation; impeachment under Article 61 for violation of the Constitution.

Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Article 75(3)); the President acts on ministerial advice (Article 74) after the 42nd and 44th Amendments made that advice binding, with one reconsideration.

Parliament: Lok Sabha maximum strength 552; Rajya Sabha maximum 250, of which 12 are nominated by the President for expertise in literature, science, art and social service.

Money Bill (Article 110) is introduced only in the Lok Sabha with the President's recommendation and the Rajya Sabha must return it within 14 days; the Speaker certifies it as a Money Bill.

Supreme Court: Article 124; judges retire at 65; original jurisdiction in Centre-state disputes (Article 131); advisory jurisdiction (Article 143); writ jurisdiction under Article 32 for fundamental rights.

High Court: Article 214; writ jurisdiction under Article 226 is wider than Article 32 because it covers ordinary legal rights as well as fundamental rights.

Governor: appointed by the President under Article 155, holds office during the President's pleasure, and can reserve Bills for the President under Article 200.

Election Commission (Article 324) conducts elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President; the Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only like a Supreme Court judge.

Comptroller and Auditor General (Article 148) audits Union and state accounts and reports to Parliament through the President; the CAG is called the guardian of the public purse.

Party system: India has a multi-party system; a party is recognised as a state party or national party by the Election Commission using criteria based on vote share and seats won.

Anti-defection: Tenth Schedule (added 1985) disqualifies a legislator who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against the party whip, with an exception for a split of one-third before the 91st Amendment raised the bar to two-thirds merger.

Electoral reforms: voting age lowered from 21 to 18 by the 61st Amendment 1988; NOTA introduced in 2013; VVPAT used with EVMs; expenditure limits and disclosure of criminal and financial details via affidavits required by the Supreme Court.

Reservation policy: Mandal Commission (1980) recommended 27% OBC reservation, implemented in 1990; 103rd Amendment 2019 provided 10% for economically weaker sections; 106th Amendment 2023 reserved one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Pressure groups in India include trade unions (AITUC, INTUC), farmer organisations, business chambers (FICCI, CII), and professional associations; they use lobbying, strikes, and satyagraha rather than contesting elections directly.

Public policy cycle: agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation; NITI Aayog (2015) replaced the Planning Commission as a policy think tank without fund-allocating powers.

Rights-based welfare laws: MGNREGA 2005 guarantees 100 days of wage employment per rural household per year; Right to Education Act 2009 covers ages 6 to 14; National Food Security Act 2013 covers up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population.

Social movements: the RTI movement led to the Right to Information Act 2005; the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 created an anti-corruption ombudsman at Union and state levels.

Non-Alignment: India's policy of not joining either Cold War bloc, articulated by Nehru; the Non-Aligned Movement was founded at Belgrade in 1961 with Nehru, Nasser, Tito, Sukarno and Nkrumah.

Panchsheel: five principles of peaceful coexistence signed with China in 1954 (mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence).

India-China: 1962 war; Line of Actual Control remains undemarcated; Doklam standoff 2017; Galwan clash 2020 led to disengagement agreements and military confidence-building measures.

India-Pakistan: Simla Agreement 1972 converted the ceasefire line into the Line of Control; Lahore Declaration 1999; Agra summit 2001; Indus Waters Treaty 1960 allocates eastern rivers to India and western rivers largely to Pakistan.

India and the UN: India is a founding member (1945) and a leading claimant for permanent Security Council membership through the G4 group with Brazil, Germany and Japan.

Groupings: BRICS (2009 summit-level), SCO (India joined 2017), QUAD (India, US, Japan, Australia), IBSA, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association; SAARC and BIMSTEC anchor regional cooperation.

Nuclear policy: India conducted Pokhran-I in 1974 and Pokhran-II in 1998; the doctrine is No First Use with credible minimum deterrence; the 2008 India-US civil nuclear agreement ended nuclear isolation.

Foreign policy objectives: national security, territorial integrity, economic development, and strategic autonomy; the neighbourhood-first policy and Act East policy illustrate regional priorities.

73rd Constitutional Amendment 1992 gave constitutional status to panchayats: three tiers (village, intermediate, district), five-year term, State Election Commission, and State Finance Commission; the 74th Amendment 1992 covers urban local bodies.

Mandatory panchayat elections and the reservation of one-third seats for women (now 50% in Tamil Nadu) come from the 73rd Amendment; the Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects for panchayats and the Twelfth Schedule lists 18 for municipalities.

Tamil Nadu panchayat structure: village panchayats at the base, panchayat unions at the intermediate level, and district panchayats at the apex, with Chennai having a corporation and other urban bodies as municipalities and town panchayats.

Tamil Nadu was the first state to conduct local body elections after the 73rd Amendment and has a strong tradition of panchayat raj; the state has a separate Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development.

Tamil Nadu legislature: 234 Assembly seats; the state was formed on 1 November 1956 on linguistic lines after the States Reorganisation Act, with Madras State renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.

State institutions: the Governor is the constitutional head; the Chief Minister heads the Council of Ministers; the state has a High Court at Chennai (established 1862) with jurisdiction over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Tamil Nadu's political parties include the DMK and AIADMK as the major Dravidian parties, with the Congress, BJP, and Left parties as allies; the Dravidian movement shaped the state's social justice and language policy.

Local government finance: property tax, professional tax, and state grants are major sources; the State Finance Commission recommends devolution of funds to local bodies every five years.

Tamil Nadu's reservation policy: 69% reservation under the 1994 Act (BC 30%, MBC 20%, SC 18%, ST 1%) upheld by the Supreme Court in 2016, with the 103rd Amendment adding EWS reservation.

Kautilya's Arthashastra: a treatise on statecraft, taxation, diplomacy (mandala theory of concentric circles of allies and enemies), and the saptanga theory of the seven elements of the state.

Gandhi: satyagraha (truth-force), ahimsa (non-violence), swaraj (self-rule), swadeshi (local production), and trusteeship; criticised Western industrial civilisation in Hind Swaraj (1909).

Ambedkar: social justice, annihilation of caste, constitutional morality, and the idea that political democracy must be accompanied by social democracy; drafted the Constitution as chair of the Drafting Committee.

Nehru: democratic socialism, scientific temper, secularism, and non-alignment; wrote The Discovery of India and Glimpses of World History.

M. N. Roy: a founder of the Communist Party of India and later a radical humanist who advocated people's committees and opposed the Congress-dominated transfer of power.

Contemporary issues: climate change and India's commitments under the Paris Agreement (updated NDC targets), digital governance and data protection, unemployment and skilling, and women's representation in legislatures.

Globalisation debates: proponents stress growth, technology transfer and integration; critics point to inequality, cultural homogenisation and vulnerability of small producers.

Human rights and security: debates over UAPA, sedition law (Section 124A), and the balance between national security and civil liberties; the Supreme Court has read down or stayed several provisions.

Political thinkers in the Indian context: Raja Ram Mohan Roy (social reform), Jyotirao Phule (anti-caste), Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (self-respect movement and rationalism), and Ram Manohar Lohia (socialism and anti-Congress politics).