Well today is certainly a big one. A very big one. In fact, people call it the largest democracy in the world. And that is India. You may have heard of India lately in the news due to the massive Farmers Protests that are going on there at the moment. The protests relate to three acts (and include some other demands) that were passed by their parliament and the movement wants them to be repealed, viewing them as anti-farmer and corporate friendly, some fears include hurting farmers’ earnings, minimum support prices controversy, effects on middlemen, loss of states’ revenue, lack of statutory support, and low bargaining power of the farmers among other things. These Acts are The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
India’s history is very long and complex and so this is going to be a very, very, very simplified roundup of it as best I can, but there will be major parts not included as it would become too much for this blog post.
India is a country located in South Asia and it borders the countries of Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, the island nation of Sri Lanka is also nearby off its Southern tip coast in the Laccadive Sea, India also shares maritime borders with Thailand and Indonesia. India’s long coast also goes along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, all of which is a part of the Indian Ocean. India’s capital city New Dehli is located in the North of the country.
India has a number of major territorial disputes with Pakistan and China, this includes the most known dispute over Jammu & Kashmir which is seen as a dangerous flashpoint between nuclear powers and of which several wars have broken out over, another is Ladakh where there was a war with China that went bad for India, but tensions remain high with numerous deadly clashes having happened there in recent times.
Modern humans were said to have arrived in the Indian subcontinent no later than 55,000 years ago. Peoples begun as hunter-gatherers and their long existence has led to the region being one of the most highly diverse, only 2nd to Africa itself in human genetic diversity. Settled life begun in the Indus River basin around 9,000 years ago and evolved into the Indus Valley Civilisation in the third millennium BCE.
Archaic forms of Sanskrit diffused into India from the northwest and this enabled the dawning of Hinduism to be recorded, meanwhile Dravidian languages emerged in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE castes had emerged within Hinduism, which introduced social stratification. Buddhism and Jainism also rose with social orders unlinked to hereditary status.
Early political consolidation rose as the Maurya and Gupta Empires, they were loose-knit and notable for wide-ranging creativity but declining status for woman. In the early medieval era Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism developed roots in India’s Southern and Western coasts. Intermittently Muslim armies would overrun India’s northern plains and the Dehli Sultanate was eventually established. The Vijayanagara Empire came in the 15th Century in the South of India, and it established a long-lasting Hindu culture there. Sikhism also emerged in the Punjab region during this time, aiming to reject institutionalized religion.
In 1526 came the Mughal Empire where there came two centuries of relative peace, the empire included modern day India as well as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The empire created and left much architecture of historical note. The decline of the Mughal Empire led to the British East India Trading Company’s expanding rule, turning India into a colonial economy, eventually British Crown rule begun from 1858, where India became the British Raj.
Before the British Crown took control there had been a major uprising called the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the rule and influence of the British East India Company. Although it was ultimately unsuccessful, it laid the road for further nationalist movements, of particular note was that of nonviolent resistance, with one of its notable leaders being Mahatma Gandhi. These movements ultimately became a major factor into the ending of British rule in India. In 1947 the British Raj was partitioned into two independent dominions within the British Commonwealth, this was the Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan and the Hindu-majority Dominion of India. India then transformed into a Republic in 1950. India remains a part of the Commonwealth of Nations but is not a part of the Commonwealth Realm.
India’s four largest religions in order are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism. The official languages are Hindi and English, but there are numerous regional languages recognised at the State levels and there are at least 447 native languages. The country’s currency is the Indian rupee and India’s population is the 2nd largest in the world at over 1,388,222,600+, its population is predicted to overtake China’s at some point and become the world’s most populous country.
Government Type
India is a semi-presidential democratic republic that operates as a federation/union of states, there is a President who is Head of State and a Prime Minister who is Head of the Union Government and the bicameral Parliament of India makes up the union government legislature, the Indian government oversees and legislates for the whole country while as a federation (or union) all states within India have their own governments lead by a Governor and legislatures with lawful constitutional rights.
This post will be solely focusing on the union’s government system. From here on I will sometimes use federal in place of union, but treat them as meaning the same thing, which they basically do.
Multiple parties are allowed.
The Executive Government
The President of India is the Head of State and the executive power of the Union is vested in the President. The President can either exercise this power directly or through officers subordinate to him (usually the Prime Minister) in accordance with the Constitution. The President is the Supreme Commander of India’s Defense Forces, which is regulated by law.
There is also a Vice-President who assists the President in duties and can be made Acting President if the presidency becomes vacant or can discharge duties while the President is absent. The Vice-President is also ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States (upper House of Federal Parliament), if the Vice-President becomes Acting President or discharges functions under Article 65, then during that time they cannot perform duties of the Chairman of the Council of States or take its salary or allowance.
Presidential Vacancy and Absence
If the presidency becomes vacant due to removal, death or resignation then fresh elections via the Electoral College will elect a new President within 6-months. The Vice-President will be Acting President until a new President is elected.
If the President cannot discharge functions due to absence, illness or other cause then the Vice-President discharges the functions of President until the President returns.
Presidential Duties & Powers
The President has the power of pardon and to suspend, remit or commute sentences or grant reprieve and respite, this is in all cases where punishment or sentence is by Court Martial, all cases where punishment or sentence is for offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, and in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.
Executive power extends to matters with respect to which the Federal Parliament has power to make laws (of which shall not, unless expressed by the constitution or any law made by Parliament, extend in any State to matters with respect to which the Legislature of the State has also power to make laws) and to exercise of rights, authority and jurisdiction as is exercisable by the Government of India by virtue of any treaty or agreement.
The President summons sessions of the Houses of the Parliament of India and can prorogue either one chamber or both at the same time, which is basically suspending them for a period of time. The President can also dissolve the House of the People, this is for scheduled elections or can be done early, for example at the direction of the Council of Ministers, which could be due to some kind of crisis or deadlock in the chamber.
The President has the right to address or send messages to one or the other or both Houses together. Addresses can require attendance of members of such or both Houses. Messages can relate to pending bills or otherwise and serve to spur consideration. The President makes Special addresses to the House of the People after each General Election and to both Houses assembled together at the first session of each year.
The President appoints the Judges of the Supreme Court of India which have been recommended by the National Judicial Appointments Commission.
The National Judicial Appointments Commission is made up of the Chief Justice of India who is the Chairperson; two other Senior Judges of the Supreme Court of India; Union Minister in charge of law and justice; and two eminent persons nominated by committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition (or other largest opposition party if no clear Leader) in the House of the People. At least one of these eminent persons must be nominated from amongst persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, minorities or women. Such eminent person will be nominated for 3-years and cannot be renominated.
The President appoints other public offices and Union Commissions as provided by the constitution and which may be subject to laws made and passed by Parliament of India, such as the Auditor-General or Comptroller of India or such as the Public Service Commission and Election Commission.
State Governors are appointed by the President.
Presidential Urgency Powers and Emergency Provisions
At any time while both House of Parliament are not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render necessity for him to take immediate action, he has in that case decree power to promulgate Ordinances as circumstances appear to him to be required. These Ordinances promulgated under this way will have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament. The President can end the Ordinances at any time.
Such Ordinances must be reviewed by Parliament when they are reassembled and from this point, they will either automatically expire within 6-weeks or if resolutions have been passed to disapprove of such Ordinances, they will then become void.
The President can make a Proclamation of Emergency if they are satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby security of India or any other part of the territory is under threat, such as by war, external aggression, or armed rebellion. These proclamations can temporarily suspend certain rights and guarantees and give increased powers to authorities for the purpose of more easily solving such threats or crisis.
Such of the above requires notification of the Union Council of Ministers and Prime Minister and approval by both Houses of Parliament or after one month they will expire. If approved they will expire in six months unless approved again and so on.
Presidential Removal
A proposal to impeach the president for violation of the constitution can be brought forth by either house of the federal parliament, it requires proposal and to be moved by at least one-fourth of the total number of members and then the proposal requires adoption by at least two-thirds of the total house membership. This will then trigger an investigation in the other House of Parliament, the President will have the right to appear and be represented in such investigation. Following the investigation if a majority of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of that House (which investigated) sustains the charge, then the President is removed from office.
If removed fresh elections via the Electoral College will take place to elect a new President within six months of the removal from office. Fresh elections for Vice-President take place as soon as possible if they were removed instead.
The Vice-President can be removed via an absolute majority resolution originating in the Council of States (upper federal parliament) that is agreed to by the lower federal house.
Federal Government, Council of Ministers, Prime Minister
The Council of Ministers is the highest executive decision-making body of the Government of India. The Prime Minister, who is the Head of the Government of India, is by that also the head of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister aids and advises the President, the President acts in exercise of his functions in accordance with such advice.
The President can require the Council of Ministers to reconsider any such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President will then act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President after Parliamentary elections have concluded and after a majority is formed in the House of the People (lower house of federal parliament) and a person is nominated. The President also appoints the other Ministers of Government on advice of the Prime Minister.
The total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers cannot exceed 15-percent of the total number of members of the House of the People (lower federal parliament). Ministers hold office during the pleasure of the President. A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.
Ministers have competence and responsibility over general policy and management within areas/departments they are assigned to via the advice of the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers is competent and responsible towards general policy and acts of Government.
The Prime Minister and Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the House of the People, they must retain the chambers confidence to remain in power. It is the duty of the Prime Minister to communicate to the President all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to administration of the affairs of the Union and proposals for legislation, to also furnish such information relating to administration of affairs of the Union and legislative proposals as the President may call for, and if required by the President, submit for the consideration of the Council of Ministers any matter on which a decision has been taken by a Minister but which has not been considered by the Council.
There is an Attorney-General of India who gives legal advice to the Government of India and performs other duties of a legal character that may from time to time be assigned by the President, they are appointed by the President, the person appointed must be qualified to be a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Every Minister and the Attorney-General of India have the right to speak in, and otherwise take part in proceedings of either House, any joint-sitting, or any committee of Parliament they may be named a member, but do not have the entitlement to vote.
The Legislative Government
The Parliament of India is a Parliament of the Union, it is a bicameral Parliament which includes the lower primary chamber or house which is the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the upper chamber or house which is the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).
The job of the parliament is to have bills introduced and to debate them and possibly amend them and either pass or reject such bills. A bill passed by one house will go to the other for approval. Bills can be introduced in either house, apart from Money bills which must first be introduced to the House of the People. A bill passed by one house but rejected by the other will have the bill return to the House of origin or if a bill passed by one House is then amended in the other House it will return to the originating House for approval, if the amended bill is rejected it will return to the other House without the amendment for approval again and so on.
If there is disagreement over a bill between the two Houses that lasts for longer than six months of the bill being received by the other House then the President can summon a joint-sitting of both Houses to try to come to an agreement on the said bill to get it passed, the joint-sitting must pass the bill by absolute majority for it to pass and if this happens the bill will be considered to have been passed by both Houses.
Money bills passed by the House of the People will go to the Council of States for any recommendations, such will be considered then by the House of the People but they can reject some or all recommendations, whatever the case the Money bill will then be considered fully passed. If the Council of States fails to return a Money bill passed by the House of the People within 14-days then the Money bill will automatically pass.
Bills passed fully by Parliament of India go to the President for assent, the President can choose to withhold consent and return the bill to the Parliament of India for reconsideration along with notes for reasons why and recommendations, if the bill is passed again by the Parliament of India then the President must give assent. The President cannot withhold assent from passed Money bills.
The other job of the Parliament, more specifically the House of the People, is to provide oversight of the actions and competence of the Government of India.
House of the People
The House of the People is the lower chamber or house of the Parliament of India, it currently has 543 members but can have as many as 552 members under the constitution. There can be up to 530 directly elected members from territorial constituencies in States and up to a further 20 members chosen to represent Union territories. 131 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Its members serve 5-year terms.
There are a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People elected by its members from among themselves. They act impartial within these roles and maintain orderly debate and operation, they can also cast tie-breakers. Speaker or Deputy Speaker can be removed via a resolution supported by an absolute majority of members. If the Speaker vacancy cannot be filled by a deputy then the President appoints someone.
Council of States
The Council of States is the upper chamber or house of the Parliament of India, it currently has 245 members but can have up to 250 members under the constitution, I explain how they are chosen/elected under the Electoral System section. Its members serve 6-year terms.
The Chairman of the Council of States is ex-officio the Vice-President of India. Members of the Council of State elect a member from among themselves to be the Deputy Chairman. They act impartial within these roles and maintain orderly debate and operation, they can also cast tie-breakers. The Deputy Chairman can be removed by a resolution supported by an absolute majority of members. The Vice-President can also be removed from office in this fashion. If the Chairman vacancy cannot be filled by a deputy then the President appoints someone.
The Electoral System
Presidential Elections
Presidential elections happen every 5 years. The President and Vice-President are elected via an Electoral College system (similar to how the US President is elected) and this College is made up of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of each State, including the assemblies of the National Capital Territory of Dehli and the Union territory of Pondicherry.
The Electoral College in India differs from that in the US, each elector of the Electoral College has more than one vote and the number of votes they have is determined via a mathematical formula based on populations of each State and numbers of elected legislature members…
So, every elected member of the legislative assembly of a State has as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of elected members of the Assembly – if after doing this the remainder is not less than five hundred, then the vote of each member is further increased by one.
And then each member of the elected federal Houses of Parliament has such number of votes as may be obtained by dividing total number of votes assigned to members of the State Assemblies by the total number of elected members of the federal Houses of Parliament – then fractions exceeding one-half are counted as one and other fractions are disregarded.
It is some big brained stuff. The President and Vice-President (elected separately) are then elected by this Electoral College via proportional representation via a single transferable voting system. Single Transferable Vote means there can be multiple preference votes for different candidates, and so if a candidate is eliminated votes are not wasted and instead transferred to 2nd preference choice and so on until one candidate is left (one for President, one for Vice-President) and becomes the winner.
Candidates require nomination by at least 50 electors (of the Electoral College) who propose them and then another 50 electors who second them, presidential candidates also need a security deposit of 15,000 rupees. The candidates must also obviously be a citizen of India, be at least 35-years of age, and also meet the qualifications of that to be elected to the House of the People (India’s lower federal parliamentary chamber) if they are a presidential candidate or qualifications to be elected to the Council of States (upper Federal Parliament) if they are a Vice-Presidential candidate. The President and Vice-President must not hold any other office of profit and cannot be a member of the federal or any state parliament and if they are must vacate their seat.
As can be seen the general populace do not vote in a presidential election themselves which is different to the US, in India electors have more power to choose the Presidential candidates and ultimately the President, while in the US electors are basically bound by the popular vote of their corresponding state. Electors in India are members of State and Federal Parliament while in the US electors are nominated differently and cannot be members of Federal office. Electors in India also nominate presidential candidates while in the US this is done via party primaries or caucuses state-by-state where state popular votes (that may or may not require party affiliation) pledge delegates to determine presidential candidate of each party. US Presidential elections are ultimately first-past-the-post (first passed 270 electors) and does not include transferable votes of either voters or electors. Electors votes in India are via secret ballot while US electors are not.
Another difference is there are no term limits on the Indian Presidency while for the US it is limited to two 4-year terms – and of course the India President serves 5-year terms.
The Indian Supreme Court decides on disputes over the election of President and Vice-President. If the election of a President or Vice-President is made void by the Supreme Court, this does not invalidate the actions they had taken up until that point.
Elections to Council of States
Parliamentary elections for the Council of States are staggered, there are elections for it each year, but generally around a third are elected every 2-years, overall members have 6-year terms. Currently this chamber has 245 members, 233 which are elected (by State legislatures and Union territories) and 12 members who are appointed by the President, those appointed are based on social contributions to art, literature, science and social services.
The 233 other members are elected by Union territories and the legislative assemblies of the States, each having a fixed number of representatives based on degressive proportionality to the population of each state or union territory, this system allows more favourable representation to states or union territories with smaller populations. The members are elected via a proportional representation system which is the Single Transferable Vote, of which has been explained above under Presidential Elections.
Union territory representatives are chosen in a way as Parliament may by law prescribe.
Parliamentary/General Election of the House of the People
Federal Parliamentary elections for the House of the People in India, which take place every 5-years, are a truly herculean effort due to the sheer number of eligible voters across the country, the election for the House of the People is staggered over several weeks which can last over a month to enable everyone to vote who so chooses to vote.
Up to 530 of the members are directly elected from single-seat constituencies within States using a first-past-the-post system where the winner is determined by simple majority. A further 20 members at most can be chosen to represent Union territories and these are chosen/elected in such a manner as Parliament may prescribe by law.
Currently 131 of the seats are reserved to scheduled Castes and scheduled Tribes – they are still directly elected but those elected to these reserved seats must be to as provided.
The number seats/constituencies each State has is determined by their population.
Members of both Houses must be citizens of India and must be at least 25-years-old for the House of the People or at least 30-years-old for the Council of States. They may also need to possess such other qualifications as determined under laws made by the Parliament.
To vote in elections one must be an Indian citizen who is at least 18-years-old. Voting is not mandatory.
Sources
The source for this constitution comes from India’s 1949 constitution with amendments through to 2016 (constituteproject.org) and so should be as up to date as possible but this one was a big-boy so there is the possibility of me having misinterpreted some things and missed other things either by accident or as the blogpost may have become too long and complex and of course the constitution can be amended and this post may become outdated and as such it is suggested to cross-research if using this in a serious capacity.
The constitution can be amended by suggestion of either chamber, amendment adoption requires absolute majority support and further two-thirds majority support from both Houses of the Parliament of India and then given assent by the President.
If the Amendments seek to change or amend articles 54, 55, 73, 162, 241, or 279A, or Chapter IV of Part V, Chapter V of Part VI, Chapter I of Part XI, or any Lists in the Seventh Schedule, or any provisions to do with amendment of the very Constitution itself then such amendments also require ratification of resolutions of approval of no less than one-half of State Legislatures.
Next up will be the government system of Indonesia.
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