Dalits (SC) and Tribals (ST) are the most marginalized sections of Indian society. Many atrocities have been committed against them since time immemorial. The SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act protects them against discrimination and atrocities. However, the SC/ST act can never be called a successful legislation. Dalits and Tribals still face …
A doctrine is a belief, principle or position – usually upheld by authorities like courts. As far as Indian Judiciary is concerned, there are many doctrines. Many of you may be familiar with the Doctrine of Basic Structure. In this article, we will be dealing all important Indian Judicial Doctrines. …
In Indian democracy, the term of an MP or an MLA is 5 years (the term of the house). There exists no recourse for the electorate if they are unhappy with their elected representative. What if they have a right to recall legislators before the end of the term? What …
Arbitration in India is gaining importance given the overstressed judicial system with the huge pendency of cases. With a lot of commercial disputes, it’s necessary to have a proper arbitration mechanism in place for faster resolution of issues. In this article, we discuss topics like the importance of arbitration, the …
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a function to celebrate the completion of 50 years of Delhi High Court on October 31, 2016, sought a debate on creating the All-India Judicial Services. The present government has tried to convince parties to support its move to set up an all-India judicial …
In a landmark judgement on 24-08-2017, a nine-judge Supreme Court Constitutional bench declared Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right. The stand taken by Supreme Court may turn as a massive setback to the Government’s push to link multiple identities with Aadhaar – which is alleged to compromise privacy. The …
Article 35A of Indian Constitution – which is connected with Jammu and Kasmir – is in news, over its constitutional validity. While Article 370 provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35A gives powers to the state legislature to define permanent residents of the state and their privileges. What …
Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has asked Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to put up a proposal for lateral entry into Civil Services – the prestigious career option of millions. In this article, we discuss the need of reforms in Indian Civil Services and whether lateral entry system should be …
Criminal defamation is in news recently for multiple reasons. Questions have been raised on whether defamation should be treated as a civil wrong or criminal offence or both. It is argued that criminalizing defamation has a harsh effect on the right to freedom of speech and expression provided under article …
When a child is born, doctors say, “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl.” The assigned sex of the new born is based on biology. But a person’s gender identity – the inner sense of being male, female, or both – doesn’t always match their biology. Transgender people are assigned …
Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units. Indian Federalism is different from the type of Federalism practiced in the countries like the United States of America. In this post, we analyze in detail 15 issues/challenges pertaining to Indian …
The way Police forces work in India needs a lot of reforms. Police need more autonomy, professionalism, fixed tenure and so on. This article is on Police reforms in India – the history, the reforms so far, the Supreme Court directives, recent cases like T P Senkumar Case etc. Police Reforms: …
The Inter-State River Water Disputes are one of the most contiguous issues in the Indian federalism today. In the extreme cases, it may hamper the relationship between the different states. The recent cases of the Cauvery Water Dispute and the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal case are examples. Various Inter-State Water Disputes …
In 2017, after the election results in 5 states of Punjab, Manipur, UP, Goa, and Uttarakhand are announced there have been allegations of tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). This has put a question mark on the fairness of elections in our democracy. Let us discuss EVMs in detail and …
The issue of the Uniform Civil Code has emerged into India’s political discourse recently mainly because many Muslim women, affected adversely by the personal laws, have begun knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court to uphold their fundamental rights to equality and liberty in keeping with constitutional provisions. The …
The idea of holding elections simultaneously to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies is recently in the news after it got a push from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this article let us discuss the concept of simultaneous elections, its advantages, disadvantages, feasibility, and other related issues. What is meant …
Jallikattu is a bull taming event practiced in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations. Jallikattu is recently in news because of the Supreme Court rulings, Government interventions and agitations from the public against the Jallikattu ban. In this post, let’s analyze, Jallikattu and other important issues associated with …
We know there is a government in India at the Center and State levels. But there is another important system for local governance. The foundation of the present local self-government in India was laid by the Panchayati Raj System (1992). But the history of Panchayati Raj starts from the self-sufficient …
A litigant is person who is involved in a lawsuit ie. someone who is suing another person or is being sued by another person. Government litigation reportedly constitutes nearly half of all litigation in the Indian judiciary. In this post let us examine the problem of excessive government litigation and …
There are more than 3 crore cases pending in different courts of India. Many of these cases are pending for more than 10 years. Below are the approximate number of cases pending in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate courts in India. Around 60,000 cases are pending in …
Contempt of court is the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful towards a court of law. Being disrespectful to legal authorities in the courtroom, or wilfully failing to obey a court order may attract Contempt of Court proceedings. A judge may impose sanctions such as a fine or jail for …
Judicial Review, Judicial Activism and Judicial Overreach are terms which come often in news. In this post, we shall compare Judicial Review vs Judicial Activism vs Judicial Overreach. Judicial Review Though legislature has the power to make laws, this power is not absolute. Judicial Review is the process by which the Judiciary review the …
You might have noticed about the Demand for Grants while going through Indian Budget. These are demands usually made in respect of the grant proposed for each Ministry. But Parliament being the authority to check the expenditure of the government, it may not approve all demands. Cut motions are motions in …
While studying Budget related topics, many are confused about the difference between full budget and vote on account. In this post, we try to explain the difference between full budget and vote on account. We will also be dealing with the interim budget. Basic concept: Executive (Government) needs the approval …
A tribe is a social division in a traditional society consisting of families linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect. A tribe possesses certain qualities and characteristics that make it a unique cultural, social, and political entity. This post is about the major tribes in India. …
In this post, we discuss the Anti-Defection Law which is part of Indian Constitution since 1985. The law sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party (Eg: If elected MPs of Congress shift their allegiance to BJP or vice versa). We will …
This small write-up covers the different aspects related to ragging in India including the psyche behind ragging, rights issue and the steps that can be taken to prevent ragging. What is ragging? Ragging is defined as an act that violates or is perceived to violate an individual student’s dignity. Done …
When there is a conflict between Fundamental Rights(FR) and Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), which should prevail? FR? or DPSP? The answer is not as simple as one would think. There are some important Supreme Court judgement regarding this. We shall see them in detail. When there is a conflict between Fundamental …
What is the difference between the absolute majority and effective majority? How is simple majority different from the special majority required by article 368? Confusing questions! The majority required to pass a resolution, motion or a bill varies depending upon the purpose. As this is one of the most confusing …
We sometimes read news about lapsed bills with respect to Indian Parliament as well as State Legislatures. But when does a bill lapse? Normally, bills lapse in connection with the dissolution of Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly. But there are multiple sub-cases regarding this. In this post, we discuss …
In this post, let us learn the differences between certain terms related with sessions of Parliament. The terms we deal here include – summoning, adjournment, adjournment sine die, prorogation and dissolution. Sessions of Indian Parliament A session of Indian Parliament is the time period during which a House meets almost every day continuously …
Government of India has replaced the old planning commission started in 1950 with a new institution called NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015. It works under the chairmanship of Prime Minister. NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) will seek to provide a critical directional and strategic input into the …
We had discussed Central Schemes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in our earlier posts. Candidates appearing for most exams (like those conducted by UPSC, SSC or PSCs) have to understand the details of various schemes. In this post, let’s see how to get a grasp of the most recent scheme of the Central …
In this post under Clear IAS polity series on Indian Constitution, we discuss the Officers of the State Legislature. We have so far covered till Article 177 of Indian Constitution (previous posts can be accessed from the link Clear IAS Free Online Study Materials →Indian Polity Study Materials). In this post, we …