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MAHATMA GANDHI PART - II
Dr, KaushikMitra
Head, Department of Political Science, Lucknow Christian Degree
College, Lucknow..
MAHATMA GANDHI PART - II
SARVODAYA
OR NON-VIOLENT SOCIALISM
Ø Gandhji’s
concept of welfare state includes the idea of sarvodaya.
Ø Gandhi
brought the concept of sarvodaya from Gita.
Ø Sarvodaya
is based on the concept of the unity of existence.
Ø Meaning
of Sarvodaya – Sarva (all) + Uday (rising) i.e. Rising of all, welfare of all.
Ø According
to him individual labour creates capital, and capital has a social utility.
Ø Gandhi
reconstructed the concept of private property.
Ø One
can have private property but not for one’s use. It should be utilized for
social needs.
Ø Gandhiji
believed in the doctrine of limits.
Ø Self-regulation
of one’s needs helps oneself in creating a sarvodaya.
Ø One
should voluntarily limit one’s property and practice self-renunciation.
Ø Gandhiji
asked the rich to consider themselves as the trustees for the community and
spend their property in the interests of the community as a whole, because the
rich cannot accumulate wealth without the cooperation of the poor in society.
Ø It
is a type of distributive justice.
Ø Vinoba
Bhave developed an idea of sarvodaya in a practical sense. According to him
concentration of land in the hands of few creates a basis for rural violence.
Rural rich must participate in voluntary distribution of land.
Ø Thus,
sarvodaya aims to replace the politics of power by the politics of
co-operation.
DECENTRALIZATION
OF POLITICAL & ECONOMIC POWER
Ø
According to Gandhi
centralization of political power in a small group cannot help in creating
popular and participatory democracy.
Ø
Gandhji’s sarvodaya
centers around the small republic where the mass of people manage their affairs
without depending on the state.
Ø
In Gandhi’s scheme, village
panchayat plays a crucial role in policy making.
Ø
Gandhi was conscious of
the historical fact that colonization had destroyed the basic institutions of a
village society. Revival of these institutions in a true spirit may strengthen
democracy.
Ø
Political institutions
of the grass roots level may be able to restrict the power of state;
Ø
Gandhiji’s concept of
state is that of a limited state, which does not interfere in the day to day
activities of people.
Ø
An Indian society
consists of a large number of villages. Village republic can be a nucleus of a
democratic organization.
Ø
Once village panchayat
is formed, it is easy to create a sarvodaya economy. Village panchayat must
look after the economy of the village which will help the prosperity of village
people.
Ø
Panchayat will take
care of education, health, sanitation.
Ø
Gandhiji wanted India
to become a network of self-governing and self-sustaining village republics,
each one of them leading an autonomous existence.
Ø
In Gandhiji's sarvodaya
society there is space for industrialization and technological advancement.
Ø
But he said it should
not go beyond control. It should not destroy the ecological basis of a society
and should not lead to concentration of economic power.
Ø
Gandhiji was not
against the use of machines when it was for the good of the society.
Ø
Gandhiji wanted the
immense manpower and cattle power of India to be utilized first, before turning
to large-scale machinery.
Ø
He wanted the
indigenous industries to be developed. He gave emphasis to cottage industries
and hand spinning and hand-weaving.
Ø
He advocated the
revolutionary doctrine that “land belongs to him who tills it”.
Ø
The Charkha also
symbolized the dignity of labour.
Ø
Thus, Gandhiji's
economic thought is related largely to rural development.
Ø
According to him village
society is the soul of India.
Ø
He emphasized on self-sufficiency
of the village society.
Ø
In villages
agricultural economy and allied agro-industries must take care of the needs of
the village people.
Ø
For him, that government
is the best, which governs the least.
Ø
The state must follow
persuasive rather than coercive methods.
Ø
A sarvodaya social
order can be created by giving Nai-talim. Gandhiji stressed on
compulsory primary education. He called it basic education.
GANDHIJI
ON RELIGION IN POLITICS
Ø
Gandhiji never-separated
religion from politics. He said state and government have no links with
religions, but a politician must be a religious man.
Ø
The guiding principle
of a politician is to serve others in an ethical manner, otherwise political
power might be able to corrupt a politician.
Ø
Government must not be
allowed to interfere in the religious domain.
Ø
Thus, Gandhi's concept
of government is basically secular government.
Ø
According to Gandhi,
this disassociation of politics from morality enables the rich and the strong
to manipulate the politics and government to their advantage at the expense of
the poor and weak.
GANDHIJI’S
POPULARITY
Ø Mahatma
Gandhi appeared on the Indian political scene at a very crucial period of the
Indian national movement.
Ø The
people had lost faith in the principle of political moderation as imperialistic
exploitation and oppression had become extremely severe.
Ø The
moderate leaders had been rejected, but the extremists and terrorists were
equally frustrated and leaderless.
Ø In
Gandhi’s personality, there was the harmonious blending of the best elements of
political moderation and extremism.
Ø He
was a humanist and radical revivalist who fought not only against the
colonialism and imperialism of foreigners, but also against superstitious
practices religious hatred, casteism in India with equal vigour and dynamism.
Ø He
introduced the Spiritualization of Politics. He stressed
on purity of ends and means. He said the means must be ethically right. If not,
the end itself loses its value. The right and just means must be adopted to
achieve right and just ends e.g. to achieve Swaraj Gandhiji adopted non-violent
means.
Ø He
critiqued modern civilization, not because it was western or
scientific, but because it was materialistic and exploitative. He argued that
while modern civilization may have brought and increased bodily comforts
through better houses, cloths, travel and mechanized production etc, these have
failed to bring happiness of the people.
Ø It
made men slaves of many luxuries and divorced from ethics and morality.
Ø For
him progress of human civilization is to be measured in the scale of ethics,
and not in the scale of pure materialism. T
Ø For
him true civilization consists not in the accumulation of commodities but in a
deliberate and voluntary reduction of wants.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS REVISION PART – II
Dr, Kaushik Mitra
Head, Department of Political Science, Lucknow Christian Degree College, Lucknow.
B. A. Semester-II
Political Science - Paper II
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS REVISION PART – II
IV. Right to Freedom of Religion
(Art. 25 to 28)
v Freedom
of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (Art.25
v Freedom
to manage religious affairs. ( Art. 26)
a) To
establish and manage institutions for religious and charitable purposes.
b) To
manage its own affair in matters of religion;
c) To
own and acquire moveable and immovable property;
d) To
administer such property in accordance with law.
v Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion. (Art. 2
( i.e. Exemption of Tax on money donated for religious work)
v Freedom
as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain
educational institutions. (Art. 28) (i.e. Religious education prohibited in
educational institution managed by the state.)
v Freedom
as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain
educational institutions. (Art. 28) (i.e. Religious education prohibited in
educational institution managed by the state.)
V. Cultural and Educational Rights
(Art. 29 & 30)
v
Protection
of interests of minorities. (Art. 29)
v
(Every
group of Citizen shall have the right to protect their language, script and culture.
v
Right
of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. (Art. 30)
(Such community
shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of
its choice and the state shall not discriminate in granting aid to the
institution maintained by a minority community.)
v Compulsory
acquisition of property. (Art. 31) - (Repealed by the Constitution Forty-fourth
Amendment Act, 1978. w.e.f. 20.06.1979)
Saving
of Certain Laws:
v Saving
of laws providing for acquisition of estates, etc. (Art. 31A)
v Validation
of certain Acts and Regulations. (Art.31B)
v Saving
of laws giving effect to certain directive principles. (Art.31C)
v Saving
of laws in respect of anti-national activities.(Art. 31D) (Repealed by the
Constitution Forty-third Amendment Act,1977)
VI. Right to Constitutional
Remedies (Art. 32 to 35)
1.
Remedies for enforcement of rights
conferred by this Part. (Art. 32)
I. Writ
of Habeas Corpus: It literally means ‘to have a body’ it
is an order calling upon the person who has detained another to produce the
latter before the Court, in order to let the Court know on what grounds he has
been Confined and to set him free if there is no legal justification for the
imprisonment.
II. Writ
of Mandamus: It literally means a ‘Command’. It commands the person to whom it is addressed
to perform some public or quasi-public legal duty which cannot be enforced by
any other adequate legal remedy. It can be issued against Officer’s as well as
the Government itself, inferior courts & Judicial bodies. (Exemptions –
President, Governors Etc.)
III. Writ
of Quo-Warranto: The word Quo-Warranto literally means
"by what warrants?" It is a writ issued with a view to restraining a
person from acting in a public office to which he is not entitled. The writ of
quo-warranto is used to prevent illegal assumption of any public office or
usurpation of any public office by anybody.
IV. The
Writ of Prohibition: Writ of prohibition means to
forbid or to stop and it is popularly known as 'Stay Order'. This writ is
issued when a lower court or a body tries to transgress the limits or powers
vested in it. It is a writ issued by a superior court to lower court or a tribunal
forbidding it to perform an act outside its jurisdiction.
V. The
Writ of Certiorari : Literally, Certiorari means to be
certified. The writ of certiorari is issued by the Supreme Court to some
inferior court or tribunal to transfer the matter to it or to some other
superior authority for proper consideration.
2.
Constitutional validity of State laws
not to be considered in proceedings under article 32. (Art. 32A Repealed by the
Constitution Forty-third Amendment Act, 1977. w.e.f. 13.04.1978)
3.
Power of Parliament to modify the rights
conferred by this Part in their application to Forces, etc. (Art. 33)
4.
Restriction on rights conferred by this
Part while martial law is in force in any area. (Art. 34)
5.
Legislation to give effect to the
provisions of this Part. (Art. 35)
CONSTITUTION OF SWITZERLAND PART III
Dr, KaushikMitra
Head, Department of Political Science, Lucknow Christian Degree College, Lucknow.
Constitution Of Switzerland Continued.....
Constitution of Switzerland
MAIN HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SWITZERLAND
MAIN HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF
SWITZERLAND PART - III
10.
Amalgamation of Parliamentary and Presidential Forms:
The Swiss system of
government is a unique system which encompasses the features of parliamentary
as well as presidential systems. There is a close relationship between the Swiss Federal Parliament and the Swiss Executive. The members of the Executive
(Federal Government) participate in the deliberations of the legislature.
The members of Federal
Government (Ministers of Federal Government) are responsible before the Federal
Parliament for their work and activities. These two are parliamentary features.
The Swiss Executive - the Federal Government
enjoys a fixed tenure and it cannot be voted out of power by the Federal
Parliament.
It is constituted by
all the political parties and it is a Plural Executive. It cannot dissolve
the Federal Parliament. These are indeed presidential features. As such, the
Swiss system is parliamentary as well as presidential in its organisation and
working.
11.
Plural/Collegial Executive:
A unique feature of the
Swiss constitution is that is provides for a Collegial/Plural Executive. All the executive powers of the
federation are exercised by a Seven - Member
Federal Government. All the seven members collectively exercise power. Article 177(1) declares “The Federal Government shall take it decisions as a
collective body.”
Every year one of its
seven members of the collegium is elected as the President and another as the
Vice-president.
Next year the
Vice-president becomes the President and a new member is elected as the
Vice-president. This process continues and each member gets a chance to be the
President and Vice-president. The President performs all the functions of the
head of the state for one year.
The members of the
Federal Government do not resign whenever the Federal Parliament rejects any
measure or policy sponsored by it. There is no such thing as collective
responsibility before the Federal Parliament. Thus, the Federal Government of
Switzerland is a Unique Plural Executive.
12.
Bicameral Legislature:
Swiss Federal
Parliaments is a bicameral body. Its two houses are:
Ø The
House of Representatives and
Ø The
Senate.
The former is the lower, popular, national house which
represents the people of Switzerland and the latter is the upper house which represents the Cantons and their sovereign
equality. Each full Canton has two and each half Canton has one seat in the
Senate.
The House of
Representatives has tenure of 4 years
whereas the tenures of the members of the Senate depend upon the Cantons which
they represent. In fact the members of the upper house are not elected
simultaneously.
The Federal Parliament enjoys legislative, executive, financial and
judicial powers which are jointly exercised by both the Houses. Both the
Houses have equal powers in all spheres. In the words of C.F. Strong, “The Swiss legislature like the
Swiss executive, is unique. It is the only legislature in the world, the powers
of whose upper house are in no way different from those of the lower house.”
13.
Lack of Independent and Powerful Judiciary:
The Swiss Federal Court is the only federal
court and in a way, it has the status of being the Supreme Court of Switzerland. However, it enjoys a secondary
position in the constitutional system. The
judges of the Federal Court are elected by the Federal Parliament for a period
of six years, though the convention of re-electing the judges ensures a
long tenure for the Judges.
The
Judges are responsible before the Federal Parliament.
The Federal Court has been given the responsibility to apply laws voted by the
Federal Parliament. It has no power to reject federal laws. It submits an
annual report of its working to the Federal Parliament. Thus, Swiss judiciary
occupies a back seat in the constitutional system.
14.
No Judicial Review over Federal Laws:
The Swiss Federal Court
has been given the power of judicial review only in respect of the laws made by
the Cantonal legislatures. The laws passed by the Federal Parliament are not
subject to its power of judicial review. The provision for referendum as the
means of popular review over the laws made by the Federal Parliament has been
the main reason behind the denial of this power to the Federal Court.
However, for protecting
the sanctity of the Federal Constitution, it has been given the power to review
the constitutions and laws of the Cantons and declare all such measures as
Ultra vires, which it finds to be in conflict with the Swiss Constitution.
In other words, the
Swiss Federal Court has no power to determine the constitutional validity of
federal laws. The right to interpret the Swiss constitution belongs to the
Federal Parliament.
15.
Conventions of the Swiss Constitution:
The history of the
evolution of the Swiss constitutional system since 1848 has produced several
constitutional conventions which have been regulating the behaviour of almost
all the political institutions of Switzerland. In the Federal Government, when
the President completes his term of one year, the Vice-president becomes the
President and a new Vice-president is elected. This practice is repeated every
year.
The Vice-chairmen of
the two Houses of the Federal Parliament become chairman in the next year. Constitutionally,
both the House of Representatives and the Senate have equal powers, but by a
convention, the former exercises more powers than the latter. Each judge of the Federal Court has a
tenure of six years but by a convention, he is repeatedly elected
unopposed.
The members of the
Federal Government are also repeatedly elected so long as they continue to
serve well. By another convention, the Cantons speaking the three main
languages are always given a seat each in the Federal Government. Further, the
Cantons of Berne, Geneva and Vaud are always given a berth in the
Federal Government.
16.
Dual Citizenship:
The system of double
citizenship prevails in Switzerland. The Constitution states that every citizen
of a Canton shall be a citizen of Switzerland. This entitles a person to enjoy
the citizenship of his Canton as well as that of the Swiss Federation.
TO BE CONTINUED...............
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Dr, KaushikMitra Head, Department of Political Science, Lucknow Christian Degree College, Lucknow.. B.A. THIRD SEMESTER COMPARATIVE GOVERNM...
