Introduction - Indian polity & Constitution

Introduction - Indian polity & Constitution

• The term Political Science is intimately related to the word "Politics".  Which itself is derived from the Greek word - "Polis" - that means a city-state, the general form of political organization in ancient Greece. The Sophists (the wandering teachers of wisdom) particularly Protagoras and Georgias in Athens were the first to expound a political theory. Later on Socrates, Plato and Aristotle continued to conduct the scientific study of the various problems concerning the state and the government.
• Aristotle, the world-famous Greek philosopher, however, exelled his teacher - Plato and his teacher's teacher - Socrates. Now Aristotle is regarded as the father of the science of Politics in the west, whileManu is considered to be the first political thinker of India. His famous book "Manusmriti" is regarded as the first book of law in India.
• Later on it was Kautilya (Chanakya) who formed and formulated thinking and gave it a concrete form in the shape of a book named "Arthashastra", a well-known book of Indian Polity.
• In his famous book, "Politics", Aristotle has asserted: "Man is by nature a political animal and he, who by nature and not by mere accident is without state, is either above humanity or below it."

Republic of India

• INDIA, a union of states, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution, which was adopted by Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and came into force on January 26,1950.
• The Constitution which envisages parliamentary form of government is federal in structure with unitary features. The President of India is the constitutional head of executive of the union.
• Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President who shall in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The real executive power thus vests in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.
• The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Similarly, in states, the Governor is the head of executive, but it is the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head in whom real executive power vests.

• The Council of Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the state. The Constitution distributes legislative power between Parliament and State Legislatures and provides for vesting of residual powers in Parliament. The power to amend the Constitution also vests in Parliament.
• The Constitution has provision for independence of judiciary, Comptroller and Auditor-General, Public Service Commissions and Chief Election Commission.

Government of India

Constitution:

Constitution is the foundational law of a country which ordains the fundamental principles on which the government (or the governance) of that country is based. It lays down the framework and principal functions of various organs of the government as well as the modalities of interaction between the government and its citizens. With the exception of the United Kingdom (U.K.), almost all democratic countries possess a written constitution. India also possesses an elaborate written constitution which was enacted by a constituent assembly specifically set up for the purpose.