Daily Quiz #9 UPSC Prelims Marathon – July 10, 2019

Explanation: Features of the Act:
1.It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India and vested in him all civil and military powers. Thus, the act created, for the first time, a Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India. Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India.
2.It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India. The laws made under the previous acts were called as Regulations while laws made under this act were called as Acts.
3.It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body, which became a purely administrative body. It provided that the company’s territories in India were held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.
4.The Charter Act of 1833 attempted to introduce a system of open competition for selection of civil servants, and stated that the Indians should not be debarred from holding any place, office and employment under the Company. However, this provision was negated after opposition from the Court of Directors.

Explanation: The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees. The names of these committees and their chairmen are given below:
Major Committees
1. Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel
4. Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Sardar Patel. This committee had the following five sub-committees:
(a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani
(b) Minorities Sub-Committee – H.C. Mukherjee
(c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub- Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi
(d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar
(e) North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee
6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Jawaharlal Nehru
8. Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

Explanation: The salient features of the Constitution, as it stands today, are as follows:
1.Lengthiest Written Constitution: Constitutions are classified into written, like the American Constitution, or unwritten, like the British Constitution. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written constitutions of the world. It is a very comprehensive, elaborate and detailed document. Originally (1949), the Constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles (divided into 22 Parts) and 8 Schedules. Presently (2016), it consists of a Preamble, about 465 Articles (divided into 25 Parts) and 12 Schedules. The various amendments carried out since 1951 have deleted about 20 Articles and one Part (VII) and added about 90 Articles, four Parts (IVA, IXA, IXB and XIVA) and four Schedules (9, 10, 11 and 12). No other Constitution in the world has so many Articles and Schedules.
2.Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility: Constitutions are also classified into rigid and flexible. A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its amendment, as for example, the American Constitution. A flexible constitution, on the other hand, is one that can be amended in the same manner as the ordinary laws are made, as for example, the British Constitution.
3.Federal System with Unitary Bias: The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two Government, Division of powers, written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism. However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre, all-India services, emergency provisions, and so on.
4.Parliamentary Form of Government: The Constitution of India has opted for the British parliamentary System of Government rather than American Presidential System of Government. The parliamentary system is based on the principle of cooperation and coordination between the legislative and executive organs while the presidential system is based on the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs

Explanation:
1.Promotion of World Peace: India’s foreign policy aims at the promotion of international peace and security. Article 51 of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) directs the Indian State to promote international peace and security, maintain just and honourable relations between nations, foster respect for international law and treaty obligations, and encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration. Besides Peace is necessary to promote the economic development of nations. Jawaharlal Nehru said: “Peace to us is not just a fervent hope; it is emergent necessity”.
2. Anti-Colonialism: The foreign policy of India opposes colonialism and imperialism. India views that the colonialism and imperialism leads to exploitation of the weaker nations by the imperialist powers and affects the promotion of international peace. India advocated the liquidation of colonialism in all forms and supported the liberation movement in Afro-Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Namibia and so on. Thus, India expressed her solidarity with the people of Afro-Asian nations in their struggle against colonial and imperialist forces like Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and so on. The present neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism is also opposed by India.
3. Anti-Racialism: Opposition to racialism in all its forms is an important aspect of Indian foreign policy. According to India, racialism (i.e., discrimination between people on the basis of race), like colonialism and imperialism, leads to exploitation of the blacks by the whites, social inequity and hinders the promotion of world peace. India strongly criticized the policy of apartheid (racial discrimination) being followed by the white minority racist regime of South Africa. It even snapped diplomatic relations with South Africa in 1954 as a protest against the policy of apartheid. Similarly, India played an important role in the liberation of Zimbabwe (earlier Rhodesia) and Namibia from the white domination.
4.Non-Alignment: When India became independent in 1947, the world was divided into two blocs on ideological basis, namely, the capitalist bloc headed by USA and the communist bloc headed by the former USSR. In such a situation of ‘cold war’, India refused to join any of these two blocs and adopted a policy of non-alignment. In this context, Jawaharlal Nehru observed: “We propose to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned against one another, which have led in the past to world wars and which may again lead to disasters on an even vaster scale. I feel that India can play a big part, and perhaps an effective part, in helping to avoid war. Therefore, it becomes all the more necessary that India should not be lined up with any group of power which for various reasons are full of fear of war and prepare for war”.

Explanation: The foreign policy of India is opposed to arms race and advocates disarmament, both conventional and nuclear. This is aimed at promoting world peace and security by reducing or ending tensions between power blocs and to accelerate economic development of the country by preventing the unproductive expenditure on the manufacture of arms. India has been using the UNO platform to check the arms race and to achieve disarmament. India took the initiative of holding a six-nation summit at New Delhi in 1985 and made concrete proposals for nuclear disarmament. By not signing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) of 1996, India has kept its nuclear options open. India opposes NPT and CTBT due to their discriminatory and hegemonistic nature. They perpetuate an international system in which only five nations (USA, Russia, China, UK and France) can legitimately Posses nuclear weapons.