Executive, Judiciary, Ministries and Pressure Groups

What the official syllabus says

HCS Main Written Examination, Paper IV: General Studies-II:

• Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

Topics in detail

Union executive

• President: election (Articles 54–55), impeachment (Article 61), powers: executive, legislative, financial, judicial, emergency
• Pardoning power (Article 72); veto powers: absolute, suspensive, pocket
• Vice-President (Articles 63–71)
• Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (Articles 74–75): collective responsibility, size limit of 15% (91st Amendment)
• Attorney General for India (Article 76)

State executive

• Governor (Articles 153–162): appointment, powers, discretionary powers (Article 163)
• Chief Minister and Council of Ministers (Article 164); Advocate General (Article 165)
• Governor as the link between Centre and State; reports to the President

Ministries and Departments

• Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules and (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961
• Cabinet Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretary; Cabinet committees
• Prime Minister's Office; ministries, departments, attached and subordinate offices
• State Secretariat, Chief Secretary, directorates; the district administration and the Deputy Commissioner
• Boards, corporations and autonomous bodies

Judiciary

• Supreme Court (Articles 124–147): composition, appointment, removal of judges
• Collegium system: the Second (1993) and Third (1998) Judges cases; the NJAC case (2015); Memorandum of Procedure
• Jurisdiction: original (Article 131), writ (Article 32), appellate, advisory (Article 143), curative petitions
• High Courts (Articles 214–231): writ jurisdiction (Article 226), superintendence (Article 227); common High Court for two or more States (Article 231)
• Subordinate courts (Articles 233–237); district judiciary; judicial services
• Issues: pendency, vacancies, access to justice, e-Courts project, judicial accountability

Pressure groups and associations

• Pressure groups and interest groups: how they differ from political parties
• Types: business associations (FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM), trade unions, farmers' organisations, professional bodies (medical, legal), students' organisations
• Caste, religious, linguistic and regional associations; khap panchayats as informal associations
• Anomic and non-associational groups; new social movements: environment, women, Dalit, tribal
• Methods: lobbying, representations, media campaigns, litigation, protests and agitations
• Role in the polity: aggregation of interests, policy feedback; concerns of capture and disruption

Issues

• Office of the Governor: appointment and removal (B. P. Singhal, 2010), discretion in forming governments
• Concentration of power in the Prime Minister's and Chief Minister's offices
• Delays in judicial appointments; transparency of the collegium
• Relation between the executive and the judiciary in policy matters
• Influence of organised lobbies compared with unorganised groups such as informal workers

Overlaps

The role of the civil service is covered on Governance, Transparency, E-governance and the Civil Services.