Constitution of India
India ie. Bharat is a Union of
States. It is a Sovereign Socialist
Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the
Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th
November 1949 and came into force on 26th January 1950.
The Constitution provides for a
Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain
unitary features. The constitutional
head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of
India, the council of the Parliament of
the Union consists of the President and two Houses to be known as the Council
of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that
there shall be a Council of Ministers with a Prime Minister as its head to aid
and advise the President, who shall exercise his functions in accordance to the
advice. The real executive power is thus
vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.
The Council of Ministers is
collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Every State has a Legislative Assembly. Certain States have an upper House called State
Legislative Council. Governor is the
Head of a State. There shall be a
Governor for each State and the executive power of the State shall be vested in
him. The council of Ministers with the
Chief Minister as its head advises the Governor in the discharge of the
executive functions. The Council of the Ministers
of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the
State.
The Constitution distributes
legislative powers between Parliament and State legislatures as per the lists
of entries in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. The
residual powers vest in the Parliament.
The centrally administered territories are called Union Territories.
The centrally administered territories are called Union Territories.
Residual Powers of the Parliament
Parliament has the exclusive right to legislate in respect of items appearing in
List I, called the ``Union List''.
This list includes area such as defense foreign affairs, currency, income tax, excise duty, railways, shipping, posts and telegraphs, etc.
Residual Powers of State Assembly(s)
State Legislatures have the exclusive power to make laws in relation to items appearing in
List II called the ``State List''.
This includes items like public order, police, public health, communications, agriculture, lotteries, taxes on entertainment and wealth, sales tax and octroi / Local Body Tax (LBT), etc.
Joint Residual Powers of Parliament and State Assembly(s)
Both Parliament and the State Legislatures have the power to legislate in items appearing in
List III of the Constitution which is known as ``Concurrent List''.
This list includes items like electricity, newspapers, criminal law, marriage and divorce, stamp duties, trade unions, price controls, etc.
