Polity & Governance (GS- 2)

 

 TOPIC- LINES AND ROLES

Constitutional Conflict

• Signs of a confrontation between Raj Bhavan and the elected government in a State are not infrequent

in the country.

• The onus often appears to be on the Chief Ministers to avert a constitutional crisis rather than pursue a confrontational
• The problems may have to do with the way Governors understand their own powers.
• Constrained by the ‘aid and advice’ clause in their routine functioning.
• Some Governors seem to be using the discretionary space available to them to keep regimes on tenterhooks

Supreme Court Guidelines

• A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court laid down in 1974 that the President and Governor shall

“exercise their formal constitutional powers”

• But only upon and in accordance with the advice of their Ministers.
• Except in a few well-known exceptional situations” — “situations” also illustratively
• Yet, there is the extraordinary situation of some Governors not acting upon requests to grant clemency

or assent to Bills.

• For instance in Tamil Nadu, a reluctance to reserve for the President’s consideration a Bill that

expressly requires Presidential assent.

Limitations in The Constitution Itself

• Under Article 163, Governors have an unusual power to choose what is in their discretion and what is not.
• Courts are barred from inquiring into whether any advice and, if so, what advice was given to the Governor.
• The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations recommended no change in this scheme, but it is time it is

Way Forward

• Governors indeed have a duty to defend the Constitution and encourage or caution the elected regime.
• Governors are not obliged to heed Cabinet advice persists in some
• Identifying areas of discretion, fixing a time-frame for them to act.
• Making it explicit that they are obliged to go by Cabinet advice on dealing with Bills can be considered.

• As suggested by the M. Punchhi Commission, ending the practice of burdening Governors with the office of Chancellor in universities should also be considered

Question Framed From Editorial

• While the Governor has wider “Discretionary Powers” than the president, Unwanted Discretion of governor acts as an obstacle for center-state Critically Evaluate (250 words)

Ethics/ Essay (GS 4)

 

TOPIC- AN APPETITE FOR WAR,NO PLACE FOR PEACE 

Author: – Rajeev Bhargava

 

Anti War Consciousness

• Around 260 BCE, Ashoka famously renounced war and conquest.
• Ordinary people have railed against war ever
• Massive popular protests against wars have been witnessed in our own
• There is no other incident in History apart from Ashoka, when a conqueror denounces his own actions and takes humankind in a new moral
• War had tragic consequences for practically every resident of
• The regret and remorse at the suffering in Kalinga is not the regret of a man moved by a passing emotion
• But the meaningful contrition of a man who was consciously aware of the sorrow he had caused.

What Is True Glory?

• True glory lies in elevating life-sustaining goods of ordinary persons above Power & Conquest.
• War and conquest upset the physical security of
• The only kind of fame and glory Ashoka wished for is one that is achieved by obeying and following the Dhamma, e. public and political morality.
• Although it is hard to imagine a world without anger and
• Multiple ways exist to manage and contain
• Large-scale violence and war are

Humanity’s Refusal To Learn

• Alternatives to organised violence stare us in the face but powerful rulers carry on regardless.
• Worse, they invariably justify their cruelty that war is a part of human nature and violence ingrained in our DNA.
• Of course, bad things have unintended consequences that may in the long run be good for
• But that is not reason enough to aim to bring about the
• We must seek out the best peaceful alternatives to secure the

No Respite From Wars

• Ironically, human awareness against the inevitability of war has grown at a time when the frequency and scale of war have increased
• Wars bring devastation to the many in order to bring enormous material gains to the few.
• The 20th century can be aptly described as the Age of Wars with the first quarter of the 21st century already an extension of the 20th

• It is more than 2,000 years since we developed a well-articulated moral consciousness against war.

Question Framed From Editorial

• “For Peace to be Sustainable, War is Necessary”. Do you Agree? How is Ashoka’s Life journey relevant for today’s (250 words)

Ethics/ Judicial Governance/ Essay (GS-4/ GS-2/ Essay)

 

TOPIC- COLLECTIVE MORAL DECAY

Author: – Arjun Joshi & Surabhi Vaya

 

Context

• 13 years after the blasts in 2008 (in July) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the session court conducted a speedy trial decided the fate of 78 of the accused
• In this seeming silence and secrecy, on a video-conference link, 49 people were
• Within a week, the court sentenced 38 of 49 people to death.
• Court read out the names of convicts, almost like a school roll call & ordered “to tie a noose around the neck and hang the convict until he is ”
• A total of 488 prisoners in India (as of 2021) were on death row, which is an increase of nearly 21% from 2020.

Degree Of Retributive Justice

• Debates on the death sentence often focus on its efficacy or
• The death sentence grants the state the monopoly of violence.
• This monopoly is justified by claiming that such a step prevents crime or that it is a measure of long- due justice.
• At its core, death as a punishment for the ‘rarest of rare’ crimes is the highest measure of retributive justice in criminal
• Fundamentally, ‘rarest of rare’ is a standard that allows a court of law to use public sentiment as a

judicially reliable standard in handing out the death sentence.

• But in reality, the ‘rarest of rare’ standard gives an institution the power to bracket people as those who deserve to live imprisoned and those who deserve to be institutionally

Evidence Of Humanity

• There is a need to add a thin layer of compassion when both outcomes — incarceration or death —

are fundamentally inhuman!

• Court must see a person instead of a convict.
• As the keeper of public conscience, the court’s decision to ignore all reasons to let someone live says more about our collective
• Calling it the death ‘penalty’ itself is problematic.
• Such a permanent sentence requires us to assume that our institutions are infallible and user-proof.

Question framed From Editorial

• “The Death sentence opens the door for greater misuse of a questionable power to end a life without any oversight” (250 words)