ARISTOTLE

 

Do you know who Aristotle was? If you have interest in political science, then you must know Aristotle. He actually credited with coining the term ‘Political Science’ by his thoughts. So let’s know something more about Aristotle who influenced the world from his thoughts.

EARLY LIFE

Aristotle life was as interesting as his thoughts.  He was born at 384 B.C. in Greece at Stagira. His father Nicomachus was a physician of the king of Macedonia. When he was just 17 year, he came to Athens and studied in the Plato’s ‘Academy’. He established a branch of Academy in Asia Minor. Plato impressed from his intelligence and called him ‘brain of Academy’.

 He served as tutor of king Philip’s son Alexander the great in 343 BC. In 335 BC he established his school ‘lyceum’, where he worked for twelve years. After the death of Alexander, Athenians revolted and prosecuted the accused person of whom Aristotle was one of the many. He died on Euboea (Island in Greece) of natural causes in 332 BC at the age of 62. 

FAMOUS BOOKS

He wrote many books not only on political science but also on Economic, Philosophy, zoology, Logic, Art of Speech, Poetry, Psychology, Biology, Music, Ethics etc. Some of the important books are –

• Politics – This is very huge and important book, which is divided into eight section and different topics have been described in each section.

Constitution of Athens – In this book, he described about the constitution of Athens. This book divided into two parts. The first part deals with the different forms of the constitution and second part describes the city’s institution, citizenship, magistrates and the courts.

WHY HE IS CALLED FATHER OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

 

Plato is called father of Political philosophy because his ideas was based on imagination and idealism and was not possible to implement. But Aristotle is called as father of Political Science because his ideas was based on experience and somehow could be implementing.

 

There are some other reasons too that why he is called Father of Political Science –

SEPARATE ETHICS FROM POLITICS – Plato inter linked state and ethics. He keep focused his attention more on ethics than politics.  But Aristotle separated the state and ethics and he created politics as science that’s seen in his thoughts.

 

REALISTIC APPROACH – We can say that Aristotle laid the foundation of a real political science by his practical approach and systematic study of the subject whereas the views of his guru were based on imagination.  Aristotle, despite being influenced by his guru, had realistic ideas.

 

SCIENTIFIC AND LOGICAL THEORIES – Before giving any theory, Aristotle collected and studied all the facts related to it.  He studied the constitution of 158 countries before creation of the ‘Politics’ and that’s why he is called the first scientific thinker.

 

Here are some theories of Aristotle-

Theory of the State– the State is a natural Association of a family or village and it meant to secure all aspects of good life.  So the State is necessary as well as Natural for human being.

 

Theory of Education –   He classified this system in three parts and described the subject for every stage of life.

Classification of the Constitution -

 *Common welfare – where the ruler is devoted to interest of the City-State

**Welfare ignored - where the ruler is devoted to interest of herself.

According to him, the Constitution is necessary for the State as it describes “aim of the State”. Before giving this classification, 158 case studies of various city- state were prepared, which were examined by Aristotle himself.  That’s why his classification was scientific and modern.

Theory of Justice - justice is the most important for the State. It is concerned with the regulation of human relation.

1.   Universal Justice – this theory applies to all citizens of the City-State where Aristotle emphasised on two things:

a)   Development of moral qualities.

b)  Superiority of Human character.

2.   Particular Justice – this theory applies to the individual City-State where virtue and good behaviour with others citizens is given significance.

My view about Aristotle

 

If we look Aristotle’s views then it seems justifiable to call him father of Political science. His ideas were very modern and scientific as of that time. Some of his views were in the disagreement of Pluto’s which shows the individualities of his theories. He was a good Teacher, Thinker, Writer and Motivator also. That’s why he will always be remembered in the Politics.

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

We all know about the Constitution and Constituent assembly. We all are aware that the makers of the constitution faced many difficulties. But do you know the Constituent assembly also faced many difficulties in its formation. So here I would be sharing some points about formation of the Constituent assembly and its challenges.

JOURNEY OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The first view of the Constituent Assembly is in ‘Swarajya Bill’ which was released by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1895.

 In 1922, Mr. Gandhi also said in his weekly magazine ‘Harijan’ that “The constitution of Indians will be according to their will”.  The credit of its popularity goes to J.L.Nehru.  Simon Commission came to India in 1927, in their report they disqualified Indians for making their own Constitution. In that response, Nehru prepared the Nehru report in 1928 called as the mini constitution made by any Indian for the first time.  In 1934, M.N.Roy also forwarded that idea.

In 1938, Nehru told in Lucknow conference that “India is an independent country and its constitution should be framed by the constituent assembly”.

 The demand of constituent assembly by Indians was accepted for the first time by the British Government in August proposal (1940) in this proposal government said that “Indians will make the constitution themselves”.

  Then Cripps mission came to India in 1942 under the chairmanship of Stafford Cripps. But his plan was refused by the Muslim league because their demand was that India should be divided into two parts and separated Constituent Assembly should be formed for both of them.

 At last Cabinet mission arrived in India (Delhi) on 24 march 1946 and its report released on 16 may 1946. Finally constituent assembly was formed according to their report.

CABINET MISSION

REPORT OF CABINET MISSION

·        Total Number of members in Assembly  -       389

                                            

                                               British India  -        296

                                                                                  +  

                                         Princely States -            93

                                                                                   +                            

                     Chief Commissioner Areas   -           4

 

·         One Representative on 10 Lakh population.

·        Three communities voting in assembly –

1.      General

2.      Muslim

3.      Sikh

 

IMPORTANT NOTE

·        Election was held on July 1946.

·        Result –

       Congress won total seat              208

                                                                  +       

 Muslim League won total seat          73

                                                                   + 

                                  Non party               8

                                                                   +

                                       Others -              7

 

Election held for total members         296  

 

·        The Muslim league had lost this election so they didn’t participate in it.

·        First meeting was held on 9 December 1946.

·        President of first meeting was Dr. Rajendra Prasad and temporary president was Sachidanand Sinha.

·        B.N.Rao was appointed as legal advisor.

·        Drafting committee was formed on 29 august 1947 with their seven members and president was Dr. B.R.Ambedkar.

·        Total sessions and meetings of the Constituent Assembly were eleven and one forty one.

·        Last session was held on 26 January 1950.

·        17 Committees were formed to make the Constitution. Some important Committees of the Constituent Assembly and their Chairman=

 

1.     Union power Committee –                 j.L.Nehru

2.     Union Constitution Committee-        j.L.Nehru

3.     Advisory Committee-                           V.B. Patel

4.     Fundamental right sub Committee - J.B. Kriplani

5.     Provincial Constitution Committee – V.B.Patel

6.     Drafting Committee-                             B.R.Ambedkar

·        To frame Constitution, Assembly took two years eleven month and eighteen days.

·        Constitution came into force after three reading.

·        284 members signed the Constitution.

·        The estimated cost of the Constitution was 6.3 Crore.

·        Some important part was applied on 26 November 1949 which is celebrated as a Constitution day of India.

·        Final Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.

·        Father of the Constitution is Dr. B.R.Ambedkar.

·        Our constitution was not effected in J&K, this only State had its own constitution but on 5 August 2019, the home minister Amit Shah introduced  the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 2019” in Rajya Sabha to cover J&K into two separate Union Territories namely –

1.     J&K

2.     Ladakh

  And this bill was passed by majority in both houses. The two union territories came into existence on 31 October 2019, which is the birthday of Sardar Patel who united all the Princely States in independent India. Article 370 & 35A also removed by the Government. J&k is not a separate State now. 

INCREDIBLE INDIA

We all are Indians, but do we know everything about our country. I am talking about minor but interesting things about our country that everyone doesn’t know. These are small things but really very important to know being an Indian. So in this article we will discuss about those things.

Origin of the Name “India”

You must have heard about different names of India but do you know how India got those names?

• Hindustan – This name became very popular at the time of independence. This name has come from the name of Sindhu River. The Persians used to pronounce ‘Sindhu’ as ‘Hindu’ and this became as ‘The land of Hindus’ means ‘Hindustan’ and how this name arrived.

• Bharat – In our Constitution ‘Bharat and India’ are official names. Bharat name derived from the name of the Bharat who was a great king and his land known as “Bharatversha”.

• India – This name came from a great book ’Indica’ which was written by Megasthenes. He visited India at the period of Chandragupta Maurya, he described about India in his book.

The National Flag

Every country is identified by its flag. Before the revolution of 1857, there were plans to make a flag for India too. But this plan got stuck in the middle because of the revolution was failing.

After that, first flag made by Swami Vivekananda’s student Bhagini nivedita in 1906. This flag had three colors which were red, yellow and green and wrote vande mataram in center.

The Tricolor flag was accepted by the congress in 1931, having charkha in the center.

And present national flag adopted on  22 July 1947,with Ashoka Chakra in center. And it is called “Tiranga”. Ashoka Chakra has twenty four sticks that means – ‘ Life is moving twenty four hours day and night and stopping means death’.

The National Song

• The National song ‘Vande Mataram’ was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee originally in Sanskrit.

• This song has taken from his novel ‘Ananda math’ Published in 1882. Its english translation was done by Aurobindo Ghosh 

• It was sung for the first time at the session of congress in 1896 at Calcutta by Rabindranath Tagore.

• Adopted as The National Song on 22 July 1950.

The National Anthem

• ‘Jana gana mana’ was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, originally in Bengali.

• Firstly published in January 1912 under the title ‘Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’ in Tatva Bodhini Patrika.

• Its english translation was done in February 1919 by Tagore with title ‘The Morning song of India’.

• Adopted as The National Anthem on 24 January 1950.

The National Emblem

• Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka adopted as The National Emblem on 26 January 1950.

• It has four lions which faces are in all four directions (E, W, N, and S). Three lions are visible but fourth lion is being hidden.

• Motto written on this Emblem is ‘Satyameva Jayate’ which means Truth alone triumphs adopted from ‘Mundaka Upanishad’.

Was the constitution written?

• The Constitution of India was not typed or printed but it was hand written in Hindi and English both languages.

• Prem Bihari Narayan Raizada wrote the entire constitution in Italic style. This work was completed in six month.

• He refused to take any cost for this work but he wanted to write his name on every page of the Constitution and on the last page wanted to write his grand father’s name along with his name and Constituent Assembly was agreed for the same.

Hand crafting on the Constitution

• Each page of the Constitution was decorated by the artists of Shantiniketan mostly Ram Manohar Sinha and Nandlal Bose.

• They used different styles for this work like- Vedic Gurukul, Harappa, Himalayas, ocean, Desert etc.

Where the original Constitution kept?

The original Indian Constitution is kept in special helium filled cases in the library of the Parliament of India.

You must be wondering why only helium gas? 

Because helium gas is inert and non reactive and keeps document safe and unharmed. 

PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM IN INDIA

Everyone knows that India has a Parliamentary System of Governance. But do you know where this system came from? Why India adopted this system only? Why no other else? And what is this system?

 If you also want to know the answers to these questions then you should read this article completely and carefully.

During making of Constitution

The question of which governance system will be adopted was very important for the framers of the Constitution. They had two options -

Presidential System of America

Parliamentary System of Britain

All Members of Constituent Assembly did not agree on one system. They all began to favor the different system and could not come at one conclusion.

But most of the members of Constituent Assembly were in favor of Britain’s Parliamentary system included Jawaharlal Nehru. He told that India is not in position to do any fresh experiment. As we have gained experience of that Parliamentary system for so many years.

India was going through very crucial situation at that time and was not in position to take any further risk just after Independence.

So instead of any experiment with something new, they decided to continue with Britain’s Parliamentary system.  So in this way the British Parliamentary system was included in the Constitution of India, and further divided into articles for state and center governance:  Article 74 & 75 deals with the Parliamentary system at the Centre and Article 163 & 164 deals with at the States.

What is Parliamentary system?

Here are some features of this system that will make it easy to understand –

My view about this system

The Constitution makers chose this system after thinking a lot and in my opinion this system is correct for India. But is this the Constitution what makers thought?  

The level of Parliament that represents our country is falling down. Today Parliament is becoming less a workplace and more like an arena. Commonwealth games scam, 2G spectrum scam, Coal- gate scam and many more are the example that shows the   shortcomings of the government.

Even today, After 72 years of independence government has failed to eradicate major economic issues like poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

One third of the world’s poor is in India and government is trying to reduce the poverty continuing the same.

Minor attendance of Ministers- reduced meetings, reduced number of questions in Parliament, misbehave, lack of discipline, all this shows that members have no interest in working for people and country’s growth and development.

Actually we are also the reason of this situation; our nature of negligence and “move on” is now paying off in negative way. Non- practicing of our voting rights is also one of the causes. 

Today, due to our silence, the county is facing many problems. We will have to take a step forward ourselves for us and our country’s growth and development. Then we will be able to create that India, which our great constitution makers had thought to be. 

INDIAN GOVERNANCE

As you all know, India was ruled by the Britishers for many years. It was very difficult to rebuild India after independence. Nevertheless, our constitution makers made this difficult task easier who gave such a constitution to the country that today India is no less than any developed nation. What do you think they would not have found difficulties in framing the constitution?

Off course must have come at all our constitution is so complex that you and I cannot understand it easily but I can help you to understand this in easy way.

Think, whenever there is one nation then why the government has two? Why union territory formed? Why there are different Governments in State and UT? 

 If such questions arise in your mind too then let's know the answers to these questions. 

 

 

After partition of India

India was divided into many parts after partition there were 552 Princely States. Hence, the reorganization of states started here .Demand for creating a state based on language was started so in 1953 'THE STATE REORGANIZATION COMMISSION' formed. They chose four factors to form states

·         Unity and Security of Country

·         Linguistic and Cultural similarities

·         Financial, Economic and Administrative logic

·         People Welfare

 

They united the country by creating 14 States and 6 UT in 1956, and now India has 28 States and 8 UT in 2020. Recently J&K and Ladakh got the status of UT in Oct 2019 and Daman&Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have been merged and formed one UT.

 

 

Why UT?

Special status has been given to them by formed UT so that we can take special care of them. There are some reasons for forming the UT .

Why different Governments?

 

The Indian Government cannot handle the whole country at once so that’s why State government does its duty in States and Central Government in UTs.  By this Central Government making direct control on UTs for their Development and Welfare. The result of this is that some UTs have got state status like Tripura, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh and some got half state like Delhi, Puducherry and J&K.

 So you saw how our constitution makers made this constitution by thinking so far. Mainly UTs were formed for their own development. So that every area can be developed and it can also be fit to became a State as some UT did and formed two Governments so that the Government should not be under pressure to perform multiple priorities without a plan.