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Polity notes by Apala Mishra

Basic sciences (Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences)

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Polity notes by Apala Mishra

09/07/20 9:17 AM

Words- in your answer, don’t forget citizen-citizen awareness, public trust

and credibility, citizen empowerment .

Don’t forget DIGITAL aspect

• Confidence building measures
• Unfolding an ambitious roadmap of peace and progress
• Ushering in new era of inclusive development and transparent
governance
• Participatory socio economic development
• Responsive governance tailored to meet local exigencies

Notes by Apala Mishra (Upsc AIR 09)

• Indian Constitution- historical

underpinnings, evolution,
features, amendments,
significant provisions and basic
structure.

• The Brandenburg Test is a legal framework used to determine whether or not free
speech can be limited in cases where it stands to incite violence
or crime. According to the Brandenburg Test, the government may legally prohibit
speech if: Speech is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless
action" and Speech is "likely to incite or produce such action"
• Talking to the American political journalist, Norman Cousins, in 1961, Jawaharlal
Nehru shared his idea of democracy: “I would say that democracy is not only
political, not only economic, but something of the mind.” Nehru emphasised
democracy as “a certain tolerance of others and even of others’ opinions... a
certain contemplative tendency and a certain inquisitive search for truth.”
Democracy for Nehru was akin to a political culture where a hundred opinions
could bloom.
• Nehru, Discovery of India- "a buddhist or jain in India is 100% product of Indian
thought and culture, yet neither is a Hindu by faith."
• Octavio Paz in book IN LIGHT OF INDIA- "India as a county and as a history is
much greater than Hinduism"
• 1774 EDMUND Burke's famous speech on representation - representative should
think of what is good for the country and not just for his constituents.
• Pluralism and tolerance are essential virtues and constitute the building blocks of a
truly free and democratic society.
• Our constitution is a consequence of our democratic culture which reflects our
ancient values
• Pillars of democracy : 3D i.e. Debate, Discuss and Dialogue
• Democracy can’t be restricted to elections and government. Democracy is
strengthened by “Jan Bhagidari” i.e. People Participation
• Jan Bhagidari is the biggest asset of democracy
• Dissent is the safety valve of a democracy
• “man is born free but everywhere he goes he is in chains” rousseau
• Gandhiji "I understand democracy as something that gives the weaker the same
chance as the strong."
• Erosion of democracy occurs when there is excessive concentration of power in a
single authority , accompanied with curbs on the media.
• Abraham lincoln gettysburg speech- democracy of the people, for the people, by
the people.
• Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the
freeness of speech.Benjamin Franklin
• John Locke’s dictum that ‘wherever law ends, tyranny begins.’ Also- ‘justice is
the first virtue of social institutions’ and that in ‘a just society the liberties of
equal citizenship are taken as settled and the rights secured by justice and are not
subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interest.’
• SEDITION- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), though, has only been
collecting separate data on sedition cases since 2014. In 2014, there were 47
cases of sedition but that number increased to 70 in 2018
• Kerela law curbing free speech

• Functions and responsibilities • As Gandhi knew: We can either be free together or not at all. (ON FEDERALISM)
of the Union and the States, • S. R. Bommai case- SC held that states are not mere "appendages" of the centre
issues and challenges • MGNREGA- Kerela is stepping up pressure on the centre to release its Rs.1114
pertaining to the federal crore due to workers
structure, • conclusion for federalism—>

• Separation of powers between Hand written notes.

various organs dispute
redressal mechanisms and
institutions.

• Parliament and State • FALL IN NUMBER OF BILLS GOING FOR PARLIAMENTARY SCRUTINY-
Legislatures - structure,
functioning, conduct of • In 14th Lok sabha, 60 percent of bills were sent to standing committees
business, powers & privileges • 15th ls- 71 percent
and issues arising out of • 16th lok sabha- only 26 percent
these. • PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES-

• According to data shared by the chairman VP Venkiah Naidu, only 18 out of

the 80 RS MPs attended all the meetings of their committees. The chairman
also stressed that the absence of MPs has a larger impact, as each member of
a committee represents 25 of his parliamentary colleagues in these meetings.
• Woodrow Wilson, before he became the 28th president of the United States,
wrote in 1885: “...it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in
session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee
rooms is Congress at work.”
• Since time on the floor of the house is allocated on the basis of party
strength, many MPs only get a couple of minutes to make their point. This
is not the case with committee meetings, where MPs can contribute
extensively to the discussions of the committee.
• Venkaiah Naidu had recently suggested that MPs should have longer tenure in
committees so that they could build up their expertise in subject areas. Very
often, MPs experience a knowledge gap when dealing with specialised subjects.
In 2005, speaker Somnath Chatterjee was inclined towards associating
external experts with parliamentary committees to support the committees
in analysing legislations and policies.
• Conclusion- Parliamentary committees are the brain of Parliament. They
give the institution the ability to identify pressing and prospective issues,
suggest solutions, and highlight gaps in implementation. Supporting and
encouraging MPs to engage in Parliamentary committees will ensure that the
Parliament becomes the intellectual compass for good governance in the
country
• Modi ji + Vajpayee- rajya sabha may be second house but not secondary.
• Section 94 of the Representation of People Act upholds the privilege of the
voter to maintain confidentiality about her choice of vote.

• Structure, organisation and • 2nd ARC recommendations on office of

functioning of the Executive Profit: The Law should be amended to define office of
and Ministries and profit based on the following principles:
Departments of the All offices in purely advisory bodies where the experience, insights and
Government; pressure groups expertise of a legislator would be inputs in governmental
and formal/informal policy shall not be treated as offices of profit. All offices involving
associations and their role in executive decision making and control of public funds, directly deciding
the Polity. policy or authorizing or approving expenditure shall be treated as offices of
profit.
If a serving Minister is a member or head of certain organizations, whe
re close
coordination between the Council of Ministers and the organization is vit
al for the functioning of government, it shall not be treated as office
of profit.
• 267 law commission report- hate speech
• NEW DESPOTISM- it has been seen that Rule of Law isn’t practiced in its real
sense. Several reasons are attributed for it: 1.Growth of Administrative Law
2.Growth of Delegated Legislation 3. Internal and External Emergencies. These
developments have been termed as ‘New Despotism’. New Despotism: it is defined
as prevalence of conditions wherein Bureaucrats enjoy disproportionate power.
• Anti defection law example- Haryana speaker disqualifies five INLD MLAs under
anti-defection law in September 2019
• Educational institutions and non-profits that get “substantial funds” from the
government fall under the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005, said
the Supreme Court on September 17, 2019.
• DISSENT- Amartya Sen in his “The Argumentative Indian” is of the view that
India has been a land of debate since ancient times. Through debate our civilization
has evolved. However the quality of political debate in India is decreasing
• Winston Churchill - first came the nation, then the constituents and then the
party.
• "Rule of law and maintenance of order is the science of governance" kautilya
arthashastra.
• 43% newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs have criminal record: ADR
• GOVERNOR

• CONCERNS-
• the appointment process of Governors has made the office vulnerable to the
influence of the Union government. Over the years, occupants of this office
have continued to look towards New Delhi for guidance. The dangers of this
habit are cautioned by lawyer and constitutional expert A.G. Noorani, who
argued that a “state’s autonomy comes to naught if its people’s mandate can
be defied or ignored by a central appointee.”
• In the Karnataka and Maharashtra cases, it is evident that the Governors
invited the leader of the Ruling party when they did not have the support of
the majority in the respective Legislative Assemblies.
• The Justice P.V. Rajamannar Committee, which was tasked by the Tamil
Nadu government to look into Centre-State relations in 1969, recommended
that State governments be included in the appointment process of Governors
to drastically reduce their discretionary powers. The call to rectify the
imbalance in Centre-State equations must begin with such a reform.
• Furthermore, for too long, Governors have enjoyed a legal immunity, granted
by the Constitution, on account of their sovereign functions
• A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the court in the Bommai case, which is
the reigning authority on the use and misuse of Article 356, had held that
political whim or fancy cannot form the basis for the President to proclaim
central rule in a State.

• judiciary AND Police • In Anita Kushwaha v. Pushpa Sudan (2016) the Supreme Court ruled “Access to
justice is and has been recognised as a part and parcel of right to life in India and
in all civilised societies around the globe.

Notes by Apala Mishra • Conclusion- judiciary has the most imp role in maintaining trust and credibility in

(UPSC AIR-09) democracy in a diverse country like india.

• Pendency of cases-
• VP M Venkaiah Naidu made the following suggestions;
• Institute four regional Benches to tackle the enormous backlog of cases,
and to ensure their speedy disposal.
• The court should be split into two divisions.
• Judicial pendency- while simplistic input-output model suggests to increase
the number of judges, the suggestion conveniently masks the deeper systemic
flaw in the judicial system that causes such high pendency.
• "Zero pendency Courts" project in Delhi
• DAKSH- a Non profit org based in Bengaluru working on judicial reforms.
• Suggestions from Economic Survey 2018: Expanding judicial capacity in the
lower courts and reducing the existing burden on the high court and Supreme
Court. Need to downsize original and commercial jurisdiction of High courts
and enabling the lower judiciary to deal with such cases.

• DEATH PENALTY
• It is not the severity of punishment, but the CERTAINTY of the punishment
that deters rule violations.(ON DEATH PENALTY)
• The severity of punishment is not a substitute for state capacity (ON
DEATH PENALTY)
• Justice can never be instant. Justice would lose it's character if it became
'revenge' - SA Bobde
• JUSTICE J.S. VERMA COMMITTEE 2013- against death penalty for rape
cases
• 262 law commission report 2015- against death penalty except in terror
cases
• POLICE
• A new report titled “Status of Policing in India Report 2019: Police
Adequacy and Working Conditions” was released by Common Cause and the
Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
(CSDS).
• 28% police personnel believe that pressure from politicians is the biggest
hindrance in a crime investigation.
• The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983,
recommended the introduction of a police commissionerate system in cities
with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special
conditions.

• PRISON REFORMS_

• National crime records bureau "prison statistics of India 2017 report" -

avg occupancy rate of 115% with as high as 165% in states like U. P.
• As per a Law Commission report from 2001, more than 14 lakh people
(14,57,779) were held under preventive laws in India.

• Amitava Roy committee recommendations-

Key recommendations:

• Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to

his family members to see him through his first week in jail.
• Modern cooking facilities, canteens to buy essential items and
trial through video-conferencing should be made available.
• Speedy trial remains one of the best ways to remedy the
unwarranted phenomenon of over-crowding.
• There should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners,
which is not the case at present.
• Special fast-track courts should be set up to deal exclusively
with petty offences which have been pending for more than five
years.

• Justice Mulla Committee

Two points.
1. National Prison Commission,NPC- to bring modernisation of
prisons
2. Indian prisons and correctional services as an all India service.
• Krishna Iyer committee on women prisoners: recommended recruitment
of more women in police force.

• Sandeep Saxena committee formed to look into voting rights of prisoners.

Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,
individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of
imprisonment after conviction cannot vote.
• “In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there
are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than
the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger
than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of
Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.
• Supreme court- public authority. CJI- under RTI.
• "judicial independence is not secured by the secrecy of cloistered halls" justice
D Y Chandrachud.
• India’s per capita expenditure on free legal aid is 75 paise per annum.
According to the India Justice report 2019.
• Fake encounters- As many as 2,560 cases of extra-judicial killings have been recorded in the
country since 1993, of which the 1, 224 were found to be fake encounters by the NHRC
ENCOUNTER KILLINGS
¥ JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED, JUSTICE HURRIED IS JUSTICE BURRIED.
¥ INCREASINGLY REFLECT THE IDEA OF "POWER" RATHER THAN "JUSTICE".
¥ Such executions will "only kill the criminals, not the crime"
¥ We, in India, continue to follow a "culture of control" and a tendency to "govern
through crime"
¥ Revived the debate on "right to kill"
¥ Fake encounters and extra judicial killings= ugly reality of our country
¥ Is India moving from "rule of law" to "rule of gun"?
¥ Instance justice can never be based on revenge - CJI S. A. Bobde
¥ Right thing to do? - appoint senior judges in fast track courts with time limits. No
adjournments.
¥ UN working group on "enforced or involuntary disappearances" noted that guilty
officials are generally not punished incase of fake encounters.
¥ India is bound by Resolution 1989/65 of May 24,1989 which had recommended
principles on tha "Effective prevention and investigation of extra legal arbitrary
and summary executions"
¥ SC in Om Prakash & ors vs state of jharkhand 2012 - such killings must be
deprecated. They are not recognized as legal by our criminal justice
administration system. They amount to State Terrorism. "
¥ NEED OF THE HOUR
§ 1. Fast track courts to deal with crimes of heinous nature. As per the latest
National Crime Records Bureau data, there were 1.33 lakh rape cases and
90,205 POCSO cases pending trial at the end of 2016.
§ 2. Manual on Human Rights for Police Officers, issued by the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) needs to be adhered to. This calls for
reforms in police training.
§ 3. The Supreme Court 16 point guidelines in the matters of investigating
police encounters laid down in PUCL v. State of Maharastra needs to be
adhered to.
§ 4. There is an urgent need for reforms in the criminal justice system as the
conviction rate for rape cases stood at 25.5 percent as per NCRB data.
§ 5. Judicial vacancies also result in the pendency of cases and delayed
justice.
§ 6. Institutional reform of police processes, including investigation of crimes,
professionalization and rationalization of court systems with the induction of
technology and limiting appeal procedures to the minimum required.
• Instances like the 2017 Ryan International School murder case and the Arushi Talwar murder
case, where innocent persons were framed by police initially, highlight how hysteric media
trials shape public opinion.

Sedition • Section 124A of IPC

• Came into existence in 1870
• British used sedition against freedom fighters like Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• Defined as- whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, brings or
attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or disaffection towards government
establishes by law.
• Kedarnath Singh vs state of Bihar- sedition only in case of incitement of violence
• Balwant Singh vs state of Punjab case- raising pro Khalistan slogans cannot amount
to sedition.
• Law commission- working paper- criticising the government does not amount to
sedition.
• Examples- sedition charges on Kangana Ranaut, Aseem Trivedi, Umar Khaled
• Bombay HC= “ need to conduct workshops for police officers for judicious use of
invoking section 124 A.

• Salient features of the

Representation of People's
Act.

• Appointment to various • NHRC: Only 20% of the NHRC’s staff is women and since 2004, there hasn’t
Constitutional posts, powers, been a single woman on the governing body. The legislative requirement of having
functions and responsibilities an ex-CJI as Chairperson and choosing members of the senior judiciary restricts
of various Constitutional the potential pool of candidates who can be appointed, especially women.
Bodies., Statutory, • Earlier Supreme Court (SC) has termed CBI as a caged parrot with many
regulatory and various quasi- masters on account of political interference in CBI’s functioning.
judicial bodies • PSC 85th report wanted to replace Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE)
Act of 1946 by a new CBI law
• • The ‘Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India’ was
prepared by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan and the Centre for Equity
Studies.- The State and Central Information Commissions, which are the courts
of appeal under the Act, failed to impose penalties in about 97% of the cases
where violations took place in 2018-19.
• The Election Commission of India released the statistical report for general election
2019.
• Key findings of the report:
• The overall polling percentage in the last parliamentary election, including postal
ballots, was 67.4%, which is the highest ever turnout in a Lok Sabha poll.
• On the final vote share of national parties, BJP polled 37.76% of valid votes,
Congress 19.7%, Trinamool 4.11%, BSP 3.67%, CPM 1.77%, NCP 1.4% and CPI
0.59%.
• The national turnout among women electors was marginally higher at 67.18% as
compared to male electors (67%).
• As per the state-wise turnout figures, Lakshadweep recorded the highest turnout
at 85.21% across all states and UTs, followed by Nagaland (83%). Jammu and
Kashmir recorded the lowest turnout at 44.97%.
• Remedies for electoral bond - 1. Complete transparency 2.political parties under
RTI. 3. Voters need to demand changes- must reject candidates that overspend.
•

.
RTI-
Vacancies- Tripura and Jharkhand have no information commissioners atall
• State Info commissions do not have chief info commissioner

• Important cases

Notes by Apala Mishra (UPSC AIR-09)

MACHHI SINGH CASE (1983) • Supreme court held that death penalty can be awarded only in rarest of rare
AND DEVENDER PAL SINGH cases.
CASE (2002)

Selvi & Ors vs State of • a Supreme Court Bench ruled that no lie detector tests should be administered
Karnataka & Anr (2010) “except on the basis of consent of the accused”. It said that the ‘Guidelines for
the Administration of Polygraph Test on an Accused’ published by the National
Human Rights Commission in 2000, must be strictly followed.The Bench took into
consideration international norms on human rights, the right to a fair trial, and
the right against self-incrimination under Article 20(3) of the Constitution.
Bharat Kumar vs Cpm case • Sc held that Bandh is ' illegal because it involves an element of coercion . It
threatens a total Shutdown and paralyses normal life on the other hand a hartal is
not illegal provided that proper procedure is followed by hartalis.

Krishna Kumar Singh vs. State The Supreme Court has held that the failure to place an ordinance before the
of Bihar legislature constitutes abuse of power and a fraud on the Constitution.

Harish uppal vs UOI 2002 lawyers can't go on strikes.

case-
SC in Om Prakash & ors vs state of Encounters amount to state terrorism
jharkhand 2012 -
faheema shirin vs state of • The Kerala High Court has held that the right to have access to the Internet is
kerela case part of the fundamental right to education as well as the right to privacy under
Article 21 of the Constitution.dit

Sabu Matthew George vs UOI Internet as a basic fundamental right

2018

Baby Manji Yamada Vs UOI • In 2008, a baby (Manji Yamada) born through surrogacy was unable to leave India
2008- for three months after her birth because she held neither Indian nor Japanese
nationality. The case came before the Supreme Court of India.[16] The issue was
resolved after the Japanese government issued a one-year visa to her on
humanitarian grounds.
Supreme Court Bar Association • It was decided that article 142 Cannot be used to over-ride the existing law, but
v. Union of India (1998) only to supplement the law and Can be invoked for procedure purposes only.

"Reptakos" case of 1991 • Supreme Court advocated the concept of right of a living wage.
Hargovind Pant v. Raghukul • SC held Governor is an independent constitutional office and not subordinate to
Tilak 1979- CG

Sarbananda Sonowal versus • The SC had held that massive influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries
UOI, 2005 amounts to “external aggression and internal disturbance”
Surendra Vassant Sirsat case, • The Bombay High Court held that a pro-tem is Speaker of the House “for all
1994 purposes with all powers, privileges and immunities” until the Speaker is elected.

Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok • The concept of curative petition was first evolved by the Supreme Court of India
Hurra and Anr. (2002) in the matter of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra and Anr. (2002)where the
question was whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final
judgement/order of the Supreme Court, after dismissal of a review petition.
• The Supreme Court in the said case held that in order to prevent abuse of its
process and to cure gross miscarriage of justice, it may reconsider its judgements
in exercise of its inherent powers. For this purpose, the Court has devised what
has been termed as a “curative” petition.

1980 Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs ANTICIPATORY BAIL- SC bench ruled that Sec. 438 (1) is to be interpreted in the
State of Punjab case. light of Article 21 of the Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty).
Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. In March 2018, Supreme Court diluted the stringent provisions of SC/ST Act ().
State of Maharashtra

justice Loya case SC said PIL had now become a facade for people hungry for publicity or those who wanted to settle
personal, business or political scores
‘Shirur Mutt’ case in 1954. Doctrine of essentiality

Nikhil Soni case while dealing with the validity of the practice of Santhara, stated that Santhara is
not an essential religious practice and therefore not protected under Article 25
Ismail Faruqui case-

3. Ayodhya case- The Supreme Court upheld the Ismail Faruqui judgment and said a
prayer in the mosque is not part of essential religious practices.
4. Sabarimala Case- The Supreme Court concluded that the practice of banning
women from entering the temple is not an essential part of Hinduism, instead, that
allowing women devotees in the temple is an essential part of the religion.

Navtej Johar case 2018 Struck down section 377 of IPC

SHAFIN JAHAN VS ASOKAN Right to choose ones life partner is an important facet of right to life.
CASE 2018
Chandra Kumar’s case 1997 Writ jurisdiction forms a part of basic structure

Pravasi bhalai sangathan vs UOI SC recognised the adverse and discriminatory impact of hate speech on individuals
PUCL v. State of Maharastra The Supreme Court 16 point guidelines in the matters of investigating police encounters laid
down in PUCL v. State of Maharastra needs to be adhered to.

• HAMDARD DAWAKHANA VS UOI 1960 CASE- "Executive=

power to execute, including power to decide whether to apply
the law to an area or to determine the time and manner
of carrying it into effect"
• 41st Law Commission report 1973- CrPC
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