Rapid Revision Book (Special Edition) for Prelims2023

🔺️ DEMERITS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM

1. Unstable Government

The ministers depend on the mercy of the majority legislators for their continuity and survival in office.

2. No Continuity of Policies

The parliamentary system is not conductive for the formulation and implementation of longterm policies. This is due to the uncertainty of the tenure of the government.

3. Dictatorship of the Cabinet

When the ruling party enjoys absolute majority in the Parliament, the cabinet becomes autocratic and exercises nearly unlimited powers. 

4. Against Separation of Powers

The legislature and the executive are
together and inseparable. The cabinet acts as the leader of legislature as well as the executive.

5. Government by Amateurs

The parliamentary system is not conducive to administrative efficiency as the ministers are not experts in their fields.

🔺️ FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

1. ‘Federation’ is drived from a Latin word foedus which means ‘treaty’ or ‘agreement’.

2. The units of a federation are known by various names like states (as in US) or cantons (as in Switzerland) or provinces (as in Canada) or republics (as in Russia).

3. A federation can be formed in two ways, -  by way of integration or by way of disintegration.

4. In the first case, a number of militarily weak or economically backward states (independent) come together to form a big and a strong union, as for example, the
US.

5. In the second case, a big unitary state is converted into a federation by granting autonomy to the provinces to promote regional interest (for example, Canada).

6. The US is the first and the oldest federation in the world.  The Canadian Federation, comprising 10 provinces (originally 4 provinces) is also quite old–formed in 1867.

🔺️ DISTINCTION BETWEEN INDIAN AND BRITISH MODELS.

1. India has a republican system in place of British monarchical system.

2. British system is based on the doctrine of the sovereignty of Parliament, while the Parliament is not supreme in India and enjoys limited and restricted powers.

3. In Britain, the prime minister should be a member of the Lower House of the Parliament. In India, the prime minister may be a member of any of the two Houses.

4.  Usually, the members of Parliament alone are appointed as ministers in Britain. In India, a person who is not a member of Parliament can also be appointed as minister.

5. Britain has the system of legal responsibility of the minister while India has no such system.

6. ‘Shadow cabinet’ is an unique institution of the British cabinet system. It is formed by the opposition party to balance the ruling cabinet and to prepare its members for future ministerial office. There is no such institution in India.

■ UNITARY FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION.

□ Strong centre

◇ The division of powers is in favour of the Centre and highly inequitable from the federal angle.

• Firstly, the Union List contains
more subjects than the State List.

• Secondly, the more important
subjects have been included in the Union List.

• Thirdly, the Centre has overriding authority over the Concurrent List.

• Finally, the residuary powers have also been left with the Centre, while in the US, they are vested in the states.

□ States Not Indestructible

◇ Unlike in other federations, the states in India have no right to territorial integrity. The Parliament can by unilateral action change the area, boundaries or name of any state.

◇ Moreover, it requires only a simple majority and not a special majority.

◇ Hence, the Indian Federation is “an indestructible Union of destructible states”.

□ Single Constitution

◇ The Constitution of India embodies not only the Constitution of the Centre but also those of the states.

□ Flexibility of the Constitution

◇ The process of constitutional amendment is less rigid than what is found in other federations.

◇ The bulk of the Constitution can be amended by the unilateral action of the Parliament, either by simple majority or by special majority.

◇ Further, the power to initiate an amendment to the Constitution lies only with the Centre.

□ No Equality of State Representation

◇ The states are given representation in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of population. Hence, the membership varies from 1 to 31.

□ Emergency Provisions

◇ The Constitution stipulates three types of emergencies–national, state and financial.

◇ During an emergency, the Central government becomes all powerful and the states go into the total control of the Centre. It converts the federal structure into a unitary one without a formal amendment of the Constitution.

□ Single Citizenship

◇ In spite of a dual polity, the Constitution of India, like that of Canada, adopted the system of single citizenship.

◇ All citizens irrespective of the state in which they are born or reside enjoy the same rights all over the country.

□ Integrated Judiciary

◇ The Indian Constitution has established an integrated judicial system with the Supreme Court at the top and the state high courts below it. This single system of courts enforces both the Central laws as well as the state laws.

□ All-India Services

◇ In India, the Centre and the states have their separate public services. But, in addition, there are all-India services (IAS, IPS, and IFS) which are common to both the Centre and the states.

◇ The members of these services are recruited and trained by the Centre which also possess ultimate control over them.

■ SYNTHESIS OF PARLIAMENTARY  SOVEREIGNTY AND JUDICIAL SUPREMACY

◇ The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the  British Parliament, while the principle of judicial supremacy with that of the American Supreme Court.

◇ Just as the Indian parliamentary system differs from the British system, the scope of judicial review power of the Supreme Court in India is narrower than that of what exists in US.

◇ This is because the American Constitution provides for ‘due process of law’ against that of ‘procedure established by law’ contained in the  Indian Constitution (Article 21).

🔘REWARD Scheme

In News

Impressed with Karnataka’s performance in the implementation of the Rejuvenating Watershed for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development (REWARD) scheme, the World Bank has decided to get agricultural officers from Sub-Saharan countries to visit the State to learn from its experience.

About

◾️The project aims to help national and state institutions adopt improved watershed management practices to help increase farmers’ resilience to climate change, and promote higher productivity and better incomes.

◾️REWARD is being implemented in three to four Indian States for 6 years for: prevention of soil run-off, regeneration of natural vegetation, rainwater harvesting, and recharging of the groundwater table.

◾️Enabling multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities.

◾️Karnataka has been identified as a “lighthouse partner” by the World Bank in developing the science-based watershed model.

◾️It is the first State to develop a Land Resource Inventory portal ( the portal will contain the details on the appropriate measures to be taken for different types of land with respect to agriculture, groundwater, crop, and soil health) that has details of 14 lakh hectares of land coming under the project

◾️Watershed Management: The conservation of water and improvement of water quality and conservation of the soil is called watershed management.

Tri-party Repo (TREPS) is a repo contract where a third entity acts as an intermediary between a borrower and a lender. Which of the following entities can participate in the Tri-party Repo market in India?

1. Public Sector Banks.

2. Co-operative Banks

3. Mutual Funds

Select the correct answer using the code
given below.

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Sea of Marmara: It seperates Black sea and Aegean sea

▪️ Countries bordering Agean sea : Turkey and Greece

▪️ Countries Bordering Sea of Marmara :
The Sea of Marmara, a northeastern extension of the Mediterranean Sea, separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey (Trace), thus it separates the two continents. Bordered completely by Turkey, it connects to the Aegean Sea via the Dardanelles Strait, and to the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. @SecureIAS

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water

▪️Bordering countries to Caspian Sea - Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. @SecureIAS

𝗝𝗔𝗠 (𝗝𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗵𝗮𝗻-𝗔𝗮𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗮𝗿-𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲) trinity is the initiative by Government of India to link Jan Dhan accounts, Mobile numbers and Aadhar cards of Indians to directly transfer subsidies to intended beneficiaries and eliminate intermediaries and leakages. @SecureIAS

Strait of Malacca waterway connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean). It runs between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and peninsular Malaysia  to the east..