Tamil Nadu HSE Second Year Political Science flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Sovereignty

The supreme and final authority of a state within its territory and its independence from external control; internally it is the highest law-making power, externally it means freedom from foreign domination.

Negative liberty

The absence of external restraints on individual action, often called freedom from interference; associated with Isaiah Berlin and classical liberalism, it focuses on the area in which a person is left undisturbed.

Positive liberty

The capacity of a person to be self-governing and to realise their potential, described as freedom to act; it can justify state support for education and welfare but risks paternalism if overextended.

Legal-rational authority

Max Weber's type of authority based on rules, laws and office rather than personal qualities; obedience is owed to the legally established order and to officials acting within their defined jurisdiction.

Regulating Act 1773

British statute that created the office of Governor-General of Bengal, first held by Warren Hastings, and provided for a Supreme Court at Calcutta established in 1774; it began parliamentary control over the Company.

Government of India Act 1858

Enacted after the 1857 revolt, it abolished East India Company rule and transferred authority to the British Crown, creating the office of Secretary of State for India and ending the dual system of Company and Board control.

Dyarchy

System introduced by the Government of India Act 1919 in the provinces, dividing subjects into transferred subjects administered by Indian ministers and reserved subjects administered by the Governor with his executive council.

Objectives Resolution

Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946, setting out the aims of the Constitution including sovereignty, justice, liberty, equality and safeguards for minorities.

Article 368

Constitutional provision laying down the amendment procedure: ordinary legislation for some matters, special majority in both Houses for most amendments, and ratification by half the state legislatures for federal provisions.

Money Bill

A Bill dealing only with taxation, borrowing or expenditure from the Consolidated Fund, certified by the Speaker under Article 110, introduced only in the Lok Sabha and returnable by the Rajya Sabha within 14 days.

Article 32

Right to constitutional remedies empowering the Supreme Court to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto for enforcement of fundamental rights; Ambedkar called it the heart of the Constitution.

Collective responsibility

Principle under Article 75(3) that the Council of Ministers is jointly answerable to the Lok Sabha; loss of confidence in the House requires the entire ministry to resign, ensuring parliamentary accountability.

CAG of India

Constitutional officer under Article 148 who audits receipts and expenditure of the Union and states, reports to Parliament through the President, and is often described as the guardian of the public purse.

Anti-defection law

Tenth Schedule provision disqualifying legislators who voluntarily leave their party or defy a party whip; the 91st Amendment 2003 permits only a merger involving two-thirds of members.

NOTA

None of the Above option on electronic voting machines, introduced after the Supreme Court's 2013 judgment, allowing voters to reject all candidates; it does not trigger a re-election if it gets the most votes.

MGNREGA 2005

Rights-based law guaranteeing at least 100 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household each year, with unemployment allowance if work is not provided within fifteen days of demand.

NITI Aayog

Policy think tank established in 2015 replacing the Planning Commission; it promotes cooperative and competitive federalism and advises on development strategy but does not allocate funds to states.

Panchsheel

Five principles of peaceful coexistence agreed between India and China in 1954, covering mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

Non-Aligned Movement

Grouping of states refusing alignment with Cold War blocs, founded at the Belgrade summit of 1961 with Nehru, Nasser, Tito, Sukarno and Nkrumah as leading figures; India was a founding member.

No First Use

India's declared nuclear doctrine of not being the first to use nuclear weapons against a nuclear-weapon state, paired with credible minimum deterrence and civilian control through the Nuclear Command Authority.

Line of Control

Military control line between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, derived from the 1949 ceasefire line and renamed by the Simla Agreement of 1972; it is not an internationally recognised border.

73rd Amendment 1992

Constitutional amendment giving panchayats constitutional status through Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, mandating three tiers, five-year terms, reservations for women, and State Election and Finance Commissions.

Eleventh Schedule

List of 29 subjects, including agriculture, rural housing, drinking water and poverty alleviation, that state legislatures may devolve to panchayats under Article 243G added by the 73rd Amendment.

District panchayat

Apex tier of the three-tier panchayat system in Tamil Nadu, functioning at district level above panchayat unions and village panchayats, with members elected from territorial constituencies and ex-officio members.

State Finance Commission

Body constituted every five years under Article 243-I to recommend the distribution of state taxes and grants between the state government and local bodies and to suggest measures to improve their finances.

69% reservation Tamil Nadu

State reservation policy under the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Act 1994 providing 30% for backward classes, 20% most backward, 18% scheduled castes and 1% scheduled tribes, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Satyagraha

Gandhi's method of non-violent resistance based on truth and ahimsa, using civil disobedience, non-cooperation, fasting and boycott to convert the opponent through moral pressure rather than coercion.

Arthashastra

Ancient Sanskrit treatise attributed to Kautilya dealing with statecraft, taxation, espionage and diplomacy; it sets out the saptanga theory of the seven elements of the state and the mandala theory of foreign policy.

Constitutional morality

Ambedkar's idea that adherence to constitutional means and to liberty, equality and fraternity must guide political conduct, so that political democracy is sustained by social democracy rather than mere legal text.

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Tamil social reformer who led the Self-Respect Movement, campaigned against caste and Brahminical dominance, promoted rationalism and women's rights, and founded the journal Kudi Arasu.

Trusteeship

Gandhi's economic idea that owners of wealth should hold it in trust for the community, using it for social welfare rather than personal profit, as a non-violent alternative to class conflict and expropriation.

Radical humanism

Philosophy developed by M. N. Roy after leaving Marxism, rejecting both parliamentary democracy and communism in favour of decentralised people's committees, rationalism and freedom of the individual.