(Notes) Civil Services (Prelims) Examination : Indian Constitution - Quick Revision Notes (I)

Quick Revision Notes : Civil Services (Prelims) Examination Special

Indian Constitution

36. Maximum age to remain a High Court judge is 62 years and maximum age to remain a Supreme Court judge is 65 years.

37. The process for removal of Comptroller and Auditor General of India is same as that of judges of the Supreme Court.

38. Attorney General is the law expert to government. He can participate and speak in both Houses of Parliament, but is not allowed to vote.

39. The idea of having a Lokpal to check corruption at the highest level has been borrowed from “Ombudsman” of Sweden. In the States, we have the Lok Ayukta.

40. There are three types of Emergencies that can be proclaimed by the President.

Emergency under Article 352—due to war or internal rebellion. (Implemented three times (1962, 71, 75).)

Emergency under Article  356—Constitutional problems. (Implemented many times, in various States like J&K, Punjab, etc.)

Emergency under Article 360—Financial Emergency. (Not implemented so far).

41. The Constitution initially recognised 14 National Languages. Later, four more ere added. These were:  Sindhi (21st amendment), Nepali, Konkani and Manipuri (71st amendment).

42. To gain the status of a National Party, a political party must be recognised in four or more States, attaining at least 4% votes on national scale and 9% in each State.

43. The flag of the Congress party was accepted as the National Flag (with few changes) on July 22, 1947.

44. The new Flag Code of India gives freedom to individuals to hoist the flag on all days, but with due respect to the flag.

45. The Question hour in the Parliament is observed from 11 am to 12 noon. The Zero hour is observed from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm.

46. Balwant Rai Mehta Committee suggested a three-tier structure for Panchayati Raj—Gram Panchayat village level, Panchayat amiti at block level and Zila  Parishad in districts.

47. First Constitutional Amendment—1951—put a ban on propagating ideas to harm friendly relations with foreign countries.

48. Planning Commission is only an advisory and specialist body. Its chairman is the Prime Minister.

49. National Development Council is the main body concerned with the ctual planning process. Its  chairman is also the Prime Minister.

50. The first leader of the Opposition was Ram Subhag Singh, in 1969.

51. The shortest Lok Sabha span was 13 days (12th Lok Sabha in 1998).

52. Although the Parliament can pass impeachment motion against judges, their conduct cannot be discussed by it.

53. There are at present 18 High Courts in India.

54. Article 370 gives special status to Jammu & Kashmir.

55. The Indian Constitution was the first of the preceding two centuries which was not imposed by an imperial power, but was made by the people themselves, through representatives in a Constituent Assembly.

56. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution is not enforceable in a court of law. It states the objects which the Constitution seeks to establish.

57. The Indian Constitution endows the Judiciary ith power of declaring a  law as unconstitutional if it is beyond the competence of the Legislature according to the distribution of powers provided by the Constitution, or if it is in contravention of the fundamental rights or of any other mandatory provision, e.g. Articles 286, 299, 301 and 304.

58. As part of the integration of various Indian States into the Dominion of India a three-fold process of integration, known as the Patel Scheme, was implemented.

(i) 216 States were merged into the respective Provinces, geographically contiguous to them. These merged States were included in the territories of the States in Part B in the First Schedule of the Constitution. The process of merger started with the merger of Orissa and Chattisgarh States with the then province of Orissa, on January 1, 1948. The last instance was merger of Cooch-Behar with West Bengal in January 1950.

(ii) 61 States were converted into Centrally-administered areas and included in Part C of the First Schedule.

(iii) The third form was consolidation of groups of States into new viable units, known as Union of States. The first Union formed was the Saurashtra Union on February 15, 1948. The last one was Union of Travancore- Cochin on July 1, 1949.

As many as 275 States were integrated into five Unions—Madhya Bharat, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Travancore- Cochin. These were included in Part B of the First Schedule. Besides, Hyderabad, J&K and Mysore were also included in Part B.

59. At the time of accession to the Dominion of India, the States had acceded only on three subjects (Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications). Later, revised Instruments of Accession were signed by which all States acceded in respect of all matters included in Union and Concurrent Lists, except only those relating to taxation.

60. The process of integration culminated in the Constitution (7th Amendment) Act, 1956, which abolished Part B States as a class and included all the States in Part A and B in one list.  

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