Indian Constitution, Political System and Governance

What the official syllabus says

RPSC, RAS/RTS Preliminary Examination, General Knowledge and General Science, under “Indian Constitution, Political System & Governance”:

• Framing of the Constitution, Preamble, Citizenship, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and fundamental Duties.
• Union Government- Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
• Union State Relations, Emergency provisions.
• Urban and Rural local Government.
• Election Commission, Union Public Service Commission, National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for women, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Niti Aayog.
• Public Policy, Citizen Charter, Social Audit and Grievance Redressal system.
• Lokpal, Central Vigilance Commission, Central Information Commission.

Topics in detail

Framing of the Constitution and its basic parts

• Constituent Assembly: composition, committees, B.R. Ambedkar and the Drafting Committee, adoption (26 November 1949) and commencement (26 January 1950)
• Sources and salient features; Preamble and its key words (sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic; justice, liberty, equality, fraternity); the 42nd Amendment
• Citizenship: Articles 5-11, the Citizenship Act, 1955, ways of acquiring and losing citizenship, OCI
• Fundamental Rights (Articles 12-35): equality, freedom, against exploitation, religion, cultural and educational rights, constitutional remedies and the writs
• Directive Principles (Articles 36-51): classification, relation with Fundamental Rights, important cases
• Fundamental Duties (Article 51A): the 42nd and 86th Amendments
• Amendment of the Constitution (Article 368) and the basic structure doctrine

Union Government

• President: election, powers (executive, legislative, ordinance, pardoning, emergency), impeachment; Vice-President
• Prime Minister and Council of Ministers; collective responsibility; Cabinet Secretariat
• Parliament: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Speaker and Chairman, law-making, money and finance bills, budget process, committees, anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule)
• Supreme Court: composition, appointment of judges (collegium), jurisdiction, judicial review, public interest litigation; Attorney-General; CAG

Union-State relations and emergency provisions

• Legislative relations (Seventh Schedule lists), administrative and financial relations; GST Council
• Role of the Governor; inter-state councils; zonal councils; Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions
• Emergencies: national (Article 352), President’s rule (Article 356) and the S.R. Bommai case, financial emergency (Article 360); the 44th Amendment safeguards

Local government

• 73rd Amendment: Part IX, Gram Sabha, three tiers, reservation, State Election Commission and State Finance Commission, Eleventh Schedule
• 74th Amendment: Part IXA, municipal bodies, Twelfth Schedule, District and Metropolitan Planning Committees
• PESA Act, 1996 for Fifth Schedule areas

Constitutional and statutory bodies named in the syllabus

• Election Commission (Article 324): composition, powers, model code of conduct, electoral reforms
• Union Public Service Commission (Articles 315-323): composition, functions, independence
• National Human Rights Commission (Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993)
• National Commission for Women (1990 Act) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2005 Act)
• NITI Aayog (2015): structure, functions, its difference from the Planning Commission

Governance

• Public policy: meaning, the policy cycle (formulation, implementation, evaluation), actors
• Citizen’s Charter: meaning, components, limitations; Sevottam model
• Social audit: meaning, the MGNREGA social audits, Rajasthan’s role in the right-to-information movement
• Grievance redressal: CPGRAMS, public service delivery laws, ombudsman institutions
• Lokpal (Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC Act, 2003), Central Information Commission (RTI Act, 2005)

Overlaps

Mains Paper III (Unit I) covers Indian polity and governance in descriptive form. Rajasthan’s own institutions are on Political and Administrative System of Rajasthan.