Constitution of India

                       Constitution of India and borrowings

The present constitution of India was framed by the Constitution Assembly of India setup under Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

Composition of Constituent Assembly:-

• The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by he elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
• Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total number of seas proportional to their respective population roughly in the ration of one to a million.
• B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
• The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place of Dec 9, 1946 with Dr. Sachidanand Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as its President n Dec 11, 1947.
• The Assembly framing the Constitution.had 13 Committees.
• The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the Constitutional document during the recess of the Constitutent Assembly, from July 1947 to September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947. Its members were:

1.    Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

2.    N. Gopalaswami Ayyar

3.    K.M. Munshi

4.    Syyed Mohd. Saadulla

5.    N.Madhav Rao

6.    D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitan’s Death in 1948)

• It was finally passed and accepted on Nov 26, 1949. The session of the Assembly was held on Jan 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr, Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all the 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.

Following are the borrowed features of constitution from different countries

From U.K.

• Nominal Head – President (like Queen)
• Cabinet System of Ministers
• Post of PM
• Parliamentary Type of Govt.
• Bicameral Parliament
• Lower House more powerful
• Council of Ministers responsible to Lowe House
• Speaker in Lok Sabha

From U.S.

• Written Constitution
• Executive head of state known as President and his being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
• Vice- President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
• Fundamental Rights
• Supreme Court
• Provision of States
• Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
• Preamble
• Removal of Supreme court and High court Judges

From USSR

• Fundamental Duties
• Five year Plan

From AUSTRALIA

• Concurrent list
• Language of the preamble
• Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse

From JAPAN

• Law on which the Supreme Court function

From WEIMAR CONSTITUION OF GERMANY

• Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency

From CANADA

• Scheme of federation with a strong centre
• Distribution of powers between centre and the states and placing. Residuary Powers with the centre

From IRELAND

• Concept of Directive Principles of States Policy(Ireland borrowed it from SPAIN)
• Method of election of President
• Nomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the President

Current Affairs December 2013

Current Affairs December 2013

 

                           : National :

                    

•Indonesian Government announced to build new sanctuary to save World’s rarest Javan Rhinos

•China banned officials from smoking in public places

•Microsoft India launched a new safety application, Guardian

•India and United States signed a contract for six additional C-130J super Hercules aircraft

•The Himachal Pradesh High Court banned plastic packing of junk food on 26 December 2013

•The Union Government launched e-inclusion project to spread e-literate

•National Consumers Right Day was observed across India on 24 December

•RBI launched Inflation indexed Saving Bonds

•Kimberlite rocks containing diamonds discovered at Mount Meredith in East Antarctica

•India Win Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship.

•Kolkata ranked top in public transport among Indian cities: UTIP Study

•Canara Bank get license from the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System to open a branch in New York.

•Minorities Rights Day was observed across the country on 18 December

•International Migrants Day observed across the world on 18 December 2013

•South India’s first high altitude cricket stadium was inaugurated at Krishnagiri in Waynad district of Kerala.

•India and Arab League inked an MoU to elevate the political, trade and cultural relations.

•Vijay Diwas was observed on 16 December

•103-year old Park Mansion of Kolkata awarded KMC-INTACH Heritage Award for 2013

•First India-Japan maritime exercise in Bay of Bengal

•International Olympics Committee cleared Indian athletes to take part in 2014 Winter Olympics

•Antarctica Hits coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth: -94.7C

•Doha Bank gets licence to commence banking operations in India

•Uruguay became the First nation to Legalize Marijuana Trade

•Panruti S. Ramachandran retires from active politics

•Human Rights Day was observed across the world on 10 December

•International Anti-Corruption Day is observed across the world on 9 December

•The 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit (AGPS) was held at New Delhi

•BJP won Assembly Elections 2013 in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

•The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference was concluded at Bali, Indonesia

•Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dedicated GAIL India Ltd’s 1000 km Dabhol-Bangalore natural gas pipeline to the Nation

•The Union Government rejected the demand for introduction of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Meghalaya

•International Day of People with Disability was observed on 3 December

•India Ranked 94th on Global Corruption Perception Index 2013

•The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was observed across the world on 5 December

•President of India Pranab Mukharjee inaugurated the Nagaland’s traditional Hornbill Festival

                        Personalities 

•Anurag Bhushan took the charge as the Dubai Consul General of India

•Sashi Tharoor, the Union Minister of India was named PETA’s Person of the Year for taking steps to advance animal protection

•Chandra Kant Birla resigned from the Directorial post of Hindustan Motors Limited

•Serena Williams and LeBron James won the AP’s Athlete of the Year award

•Devendra Kumar Pathak has been appointed as the Special DG, Border Security Force (BSF)

•Atul Sarpotdar leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena passes away

•Farooq Sheikh, the Bollywood Veteran actor dies, aged 65

•Tyler Armstrong ,9 year-old US boy became the youngest person to reach the summit of Aconcagua.

•Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi on 28 December 2013

•Pradeep Kumar has been appointed as the Managing Director (Corporate Banking) of SBI

•J.N.Chaudhary appointed as New Head of National Security Guard (NSG).

•Arvind Ranjan appointed new chief of Central Industrial Security Force

•Deepika Kumari won 34th National Archery Championship

•Ashok Lavasa appointed the New Civil Aviation Secretary

•Vinod Kumar Duggal, the former Home Secretary appointed as the Governor of Manipur

•Sidharth Birla, Chairman of Xpro India Limited took charge as the President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

•Renowned Kannada poet G. S. Shivarudrappa, Died at 87 years

•Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of AK47 weapon died at 94 years

•M. Veerappa Moily appointed as new Environment and Forest Minister

•South Africa’s legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis will retire from test and first class cricket after the second test against India in Durban.

•Former Rajasthan Agriculture minister Harjiram Burdak died at the age of 84

•Ronnie Biggs, the member of the Great Train Robbery gang in Britain died at the age of 84.

•Puneet Kumar has been appointed as the Secretary General of Apparel Export Promotion Council (APEC)

•Bipan Chandra was awarded Itihas Ratna

•Angela Merkel was elected as the German chancellor for third term

•Lawrence of Arabia star Peter O’Toole died at 81 years

•Mahesh Mangaonkar becomes first Indian to win IMET Squash Open 2013

•Michelle Bachelet won Chile Presidential Elections

•Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma Passes away at 91

•On 15 December 2013 Harsh Kumar Bhanwala appointed as the Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

•Ethiopian Runner Atsedu Tsegay won the Men’s Delhi Half Marathon 2013

•The Union Labour and Employment Minister Sis Ram Ola Passes away

•Irrfan Khan won the best actor award for his film The Lunchbox at the 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival

•Babul Phukan, the former footballer of India Passes away

•Shivraj Singh Chouhan sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

•Malaika and Prakash won Gold Medals at the 57th National Shooting Championship

•Krishna Iyer was appointed President and CEO of Wal-Mart India

•Cheteshwar Pujara wins ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award

•Shah Rukh Khan tops Forbes India celebrity list for the second time

•Olympic medal-winning boxer M C Kom’s Autobiography, titled Unbreakable unveiled

•Sergio Perez joined Sahara Force India with multi-year deal for 2014 F1 season

•BJP leader Raman Singh was sworn in as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh

•Waqar Younis was inducted into the ICC Cricket’s Hall of Fame

•Pope Francis named as Time’s Person of the Year

•Retired Justice DP Buch sworn in as Gujarat Lokayukta

•The Last King of Mysore Royal Family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar passes away

•Wipro Chairman Azim Premji conferred with ET Lifetime Achievement Award 2013

•Shivakumar appointed as the Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo India

•Ranjan Mathai the former Foreign Secretary of India took over as the India’s High Commissioner to the UK

•‘The Sound of Music’ actress Eleanor Parker Dies at 91

•Sushma Singh appointed as the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of India

•Miss Venezuela, Alyz Henrich became Miss Earth 2013

•Sheila Dikshit resigns as Delhi Chief Minister

•Ahmet Uzumcu was re-appointed as the OPCW Director-General

•Anti-apartheid icon and Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela died at 95

•Former Madhya Pradesh Minister and Senior Congress leader Nathuram Ahirwar Passes away

•Malala Yousafzai awarded 2013 United Nations Human Rights Prize

•India-born author Manil Suri wins literary award in Britain

•Mahendra Singh Dhoni won ICC People’s Choice Award 2013

•Gaganjeet Bhullar won Indonesia Open Golf Tournament 2013

                           Astronomy

•Agni-III missile was successfully test-fired from the Wheeler Island of Odisha Coast

•Europe launched Gaia satellite from French Guiana

•India has successfully test-fired the Pinaka rockets from a multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) at Chandipur

•China’s first lunar rover named Jade Rabbit landed on Moon

•ISRO successfully performed first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre of Mangalyaan

•India successfully test fired Nuclear Capable Prithvi -2 Missile

                                      Sports 

•Germany lifted the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2013

•India retained the Kabaddi World Cup for fourth consecutive time

•India won the women’s Kabaddi World Cup 2013

•South Africa clinched the series 2-0 against India

•India bag silver, bronze medals in Indoor Archery World Cup

•India was chosen to host Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017

•India retained Top-spot in ICC ODI Rankings