Uttar Pradesh: Polity and Administration

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Preliminary Examination, Paper I: General Studies-I:

Indian Polity and governance: Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues etc.

Note: Candidates are expected to have general awareness about the above subjects with special reference to Uttar Pradesh.

Topics in detail

State government

• The Governor: appointment, powers, discretion, ordinances (Article 213), assent to bills and reservation for the President (Article 200)
• The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers
• The bicameral legislature: Vidhan Sabha (403 elected members) and Vidhan Parishad (100 members); Speaker and Chairman; how the Vidhan Parishad is constituted (members elected by the Assembly, local authorities, graduates and teachers, and members nominated by the Governor); law making and committees
• State finances in the Constitution: Consolidated Fund of the State and Contingency Fund of the State; the state budget; audit of state accounts by the CAG
• Representation of the state in Parliament: 80 Lok Sabha and 31 Rajya Sabha seats
• Advocate General; Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (Prayagraj, 1937): composition and functions; State Election Commission and elections to local bodies
• Political parties in the state: national and state parties, recognition
• Official language: Hindi under the Uttar Pradesh Official Language Act 1951, with Urdu as the second official language (1989)

Judiciary

• Allahabad High Court: history (established in 1866 at Agra, moved to Allahabad), the Lucknow Bench, jurisdiction
• Subordinate courts; Lok Adalats; State Legal Services Authority

Administration

• Secretariat and departments; Chief Secretary; Board of Revenue
• Divisional Commissioner, District Magistrate (Collector), Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar and Lekhpal; Block Development Officer and the development block
• District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD) and district-level planning
• Police administration; commissionerate system in major cities
• Lokayukta (Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta and Up-Lokayuktas Act 1975); State Human Rights Commission; State Information Commission; state commissions for women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, backward classes and minorities
• Public service delivery: the Uttar Pradesh Janhit Guarantee Adhiniyam 2011 (time-bound services), the Jansunwai integrated grievance redressal system, citizens' charters
• e-governance and citizen services in the state

Local self-government

• Panchayati Raj in the state: Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act 1947 (gram sabha, gram panchayat, nyaya panchayat); Kshetra Panchayat and Zila Panchayat Adhiniyam 1961; three tiers (Gram Panchayat, Kshetra Panchayat, Zila Panchayat)
• Urban local bodies: Nagar Nigam (Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1959), Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat (Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act 1916)
• State Finance Commission; reservation in local bodies

Land reforms

• Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950; types of tenure (bhumidhar, asami)
• Consolidation of Holdings Act 1953; ceiling on land holdings (1960); the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code 2006

Overlaps

The political system, public service, High Court, local self-government, good governance and land reforms of the state are all lines of Mains General Studies V.