Fundamental Duties

Fundamental Duties

There are eleven fundamental duties incorporated in Art. 51A [ Part IV A], which has been incorporated by the 42^nd Amendement Act. 1976.

Under this Article it is the duty of every citizen of India:

1     
        1.  To abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and instituitons, the National Flag and 

             the National Anthem;

        2. To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired oue National Struggle for freedom; 

3      3. To uphold and respect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

        4. To defend the Country;

5      5. To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongstall the people of India;

6      6. To value and respect the rich heritage of our composite culture;

7      7. To protect and improve the natural environment;

8      8. To develop the scientific temper and spirit of inquiry;

        9. To safeguard public property;

      10. To strive towards excellence in all sphere of individual and collective activity;

      11.  To provide opportunity for education to his child or ward as the case may be between the age 

            of six and fourteen years.

Note :- The 11^th Fundamental Duty was added by the 86^th Constitution Amendement Act. 2002.

There is no provision in the Constitution for the direct inforcement of any of the Fundamental Duties nor for any sanction to prevent their voilation.

Planning Commission /NITI Aayog( National Institute For Transforming India)

Planning Commission /NITI Aayog( National Institute For Transforming India) 


The Planning Commission (Yojana Āayog) was not mentioned in the constitution.The Planning Commission was an institution in the Government of India, which formulated India's Five-Year Plans, among other functions.In his first Independence Day speech in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his intention to dissolve the Planning Commission. It has since been replaced by a new institution named NITI Aayog.It was an economic advisory body set up by a resolution of the Union Cabinet in March, 1950.

➤ Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru was the first and Narender Modi is the last chairman of planning commission.
➤ It consist of The chairman, Four Ministers as part time members and seven full-time members.
➤ Prime Minister had been the Chairman of Planning Commission
➤ On 15th August, 2014 the Prime minister Narender modi announced that a newinstitution would  be formed in place of the Planning Commission.
➤ On 1st January, 2015 the NITI Aayog was announced.

History

Rudimentary economic planning, deriving from the sovereign authority of the state, was first initiated in India in 1938 by Congress President and Indian National Army supreme leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had been persuaded by Meghnad Saha to set up a National Planning Committee. M. Visvesvaraya had been elected head of the Planning Committee. Meghnad Saha approached the great engineer and requested him to step down. He argued that planning needed a reciprocity between science and politics. M. Visvesvaraya generously agreed and Jawaharlal Nehru was made head of the National Planning Committee.The so-called "British Raj" also formally established a planning board that functioned from 1944 to 1946. Industrialists and economists independently formulated at least three development plans in 2012. Some scholars have argued that the introduction of planning as an instrument was intended to transcend the ideological divisions between Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru. Other scholars have argued that the Planning Commission, as a central agency in the context of plural democracy in India, needs to carry out more functions than rudimentary economic planning.

After India achieved Independence, a formal model of planning was adopted, and accordingly the Planning Commission, reporting directly to the Prime Minister of India, was established on 15 March 1950, with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the Chairman. Authority for creation of the Planning Commission was not derived from the Constitution of India or statute; it is an arm of the Central Government of India.

The first Five-Year Plan was launched in 1951, focusing mainly on development of the agricultural sector. Two subsequent Five-Year Plans were formulated before 1965, when there was a break because of the Indo-Pakistan conflict. Two successive years of drought, devaluation of the currency, a general rise in prices and erosion of resources disrupted the planning process and after three Annual Plans between 1966 and 1969, the fourth Five-Year Plan was started in 1969.

The Eighth Plan could not take off in 1990 due to the fast changing political situation at the Centre, and the years 1990–91 and 1991–92 were treated as Annual Plans. The Eighth Plan was finally launched in 1992 after the initiation of structural adjustment policies.

For the first eight Plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, the emphasis on the public sector has become less pronounced and the current thinking on planning in the country, in general, is that it should increasingly be of an indicative nature.

In 2014, Narendra Modi government decided to wind down the Planning Commission. It was replaced by the newly formed NITI Aayog.

Organisation

The composition of the Commission underwent considerable changes since its initiation. With the Prime Minister as the ex officio Chairman, the committee had a nominated Deputy Chairman, with the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. Cabinet Ministers with certain important portfolios acted as ex officio members of the Commission, while the full-time members were experts in various fields like economics, industry, science and general administration.

Ex officio members of the Commission included the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, Home Minister, Health Minister, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, Information Technology Minister, Law Minister, Human Resource Development Minister and Minister of State for Planning.

The Commission worked through its various divisions, of which there were two kinds:
General Planning Divisions
Programme Administration Divisions

The majority of the experts in the Commission were economists, making the Commission the biggest employer of the Indian Economic Service.

Functions

The Indian Planning Commission's functions as outlined by the Government's 1950 resolution are following:
1. To make an assessment in the material, capital and human resources of the country called India, including technical personal, and investigate the possibilities of augmenting those are related resources which are found to be deficient in relation to the nation's requirement.
2. To formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of country's resources.
3.To define the stages, on the basis of priority, in which the plan should be carried out and propose the allocation of resources for the due completion of each stage.
4.To indicate the factors that tend to retard economic development.
5.To determine the conditions which need to be established for the successful execution of the plan within the incumbent socio-political situation of the country.
6.To determine the nature of the machinery required for securing the successful implementation of each stage of the plan in all its aspects.
7.To appraise from time to time the progress achieved in the execution of each stage of the plan and also recommend the adjustments of policy and measures which are deemed important vis-a-vis a successful implementation of the plan.
8.To make necessary recommendations from time to time regarding those things which are deemed necessary for facilitating the execution of these functions. Such recommendations can be related to the prevailing economic conditions, current policies, measures or development programmes. They can even be given out in response to some specific problems referred to the commission by the central or the state governments.

NITI Aayog

➤ The Prime Minister of India ia the chairperson and Chief Minister of all the States and Lt.    Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Island (UT) are the members of NITI Aayog’s Governing council. ➤ The Aayog will have five full-time members, two permanent members, four Union Ministers as ex-officio members and three Union Minister as special invitees .
 ➤ Arvind panghadiya ( An Indo-US economist and ex chief Economist of Asian Development Bank) is the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog.
➤ The first meeting of the newly constituted planning body, the NITI Aayog was chaired the Prime Minister by Narender Modi on 8th February, 2015.

National Development Council In India

National Development Council In India

The National Development Council was formed in 1952, to associate the states in the formulation of the plans. The National Development Council  or the Rashtriya Vikas Parishad is the apex body for decision creating and deliberations on development matters in India, presided over by the Prime Minister. It was set up on 6 August 1952 to strengthen and mobilize the effort and resources of the nation in support of the Plan, to promote common economic policies in all vital spheres, and to ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country. The Council comprises the Prime Minister, the Union Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers of all States or their substitutes, representatives of the Union Territories and the members of the NITI Aayog.
It is an extra-constitutional and non-statutory body.
First Meeting

The first meeting chaired by Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru on 8–9 November 1952. So far 57 meetings had been held. The 57th Meeting of National Development Council was held on 27 December 2012 at Vidhan Bhavan, New Delhi.

Objectives

It has been set up with four objectives

1. To secure cooperation of the states in the execution of the plan
2. To strengthen and mobilize the effort and resources of the nation in support of the Plan
3. To promote common economic policies in all vital spheres and
4. To ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country.

Functions

The functions of the Council are

1. to prescribe guidelines for the formulation of the National Plan, including the assessment of resources for the Plan;
2. to consider the National Plan as formulated by the NITI Aayog;
3. to make an assessment of the resources that are required for implementing the Plan and to suggest measures for augmenting the important questions of social and economic policy affecting national development; and
4. to review the working of the Plan from time to time and to recommend such measures as are necessary for achieving the aims and targets set out in the National Plan.
5. To recommend measures for achievement of the aims and targets set out in the national Plan.

Meetings

The National Development Council is presided over by the Prime Minister of India and includes all Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of all the States and Administrators of Union Territories and Members of the NITI Aayog. Ministers of State with independent charge are also invited to the deliberations of the Council.

The 58th meeting of NDC

Not yet held

The 57th meeting of NDC

Held on 27 December 2012

The 56th meeting of NDC

The 56th meeting of NDC was held on 22 October 2011 to consider the 12th Plan approach paper. The meeting was presided over by Dr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India. Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Dy Chairman of Planning Commission, raised six major issues for consideration at the NDC:

1. Determining the state level five year plans for the Twelfth Plan period early and set targets for growth and other social indicators. They need to be built into consistent national targets for the Twelfth Plan. Create an economic environment that would support the efforts of farmers and entrepreneurs. It will determine much of the outcome in terms of the flow of investment to the State, and the growth of both output and employment.

2. Mobilization and allocation of resources for the Plan. Since inclusive growth depends on the development of rural and urban infrastructure, provision of health services and extension of education and skill development, adequate provisioning shall be done for these sectors. Centre’s Gross Budgetary Support for the Plan as a ratio of GDP shall be increased while reducing the fiscal deficit. That requires raising of the ratio of tax revenues to GDP, and cut untargeted subsidies. States have to aim at much better revenue performance and also exercise progressive control over subsidies. Early implementation of the GST would not only raise more revenue for both the Centre and the States, it would also create a single market in the country and remove many of the distortions in the indirect tax system. Both the Centre and the States must explore the scope for public private partnership, wherever possible to leverage limited public resources.
3. Agriculture needs more attention and priority at State Government levels (e.g. exempting horticultural products entirely from the application of the APMC Act.)
4. Management of energy resources will be a major challenge because rapid growth will require a significant expansion in domestic energy supplies and also a much greater focus on energy efficiency. The viability of the power sector as a whole depends critically upon the financial viability of the distribution system. The total losses of the distribution system, if properly accounted, are probably as high as Rs 70,000 crores. If the States could cover these losses by subsidies, the system would not be at risk. However, state budgets cannot provide subsidies on this scale and the losses are effectively being funded by the banking system. AT&C losses shall be reduced to 15% by the end of the Twelfth Plan. The electricity tariffs have to be adjusted in line with costs. There is an urgent need to implement a package of distribution reforms combined with tariff increases, which will make the distribution companies viable for all additional sales. The Twelfth Plan version of the Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme should be tailored to provide resources to States taking credible steps along these lines. New energy efficient building standards should be made mandatory.
5. Management of water resources - demand for water in the country is outstripping supply, leading to serious water shortages and unsustainable drawal of ground water in many parts of the country. Whereas we increase the amount of water that is effectively available, the real solution lies in increasing the efficiency of water use. At present, almost 80% of our water is used in agriculture, and it is used very inefficiently. Water use in agriculture can be cut to half with known technology, e.g., by switching from flood irrigation of paddy to SRI. Water availability can be improved by treating sewage water before it enters our fresh water system. At present, only about 30% of sewage water is treated. There are similar problems with industrial effluents. With urbanisation and industrialisation set to accelerate, these pressures on our fresh water systems will increase. Corrective action in all these areas lies largely in the domain of state governments. The Approach paper called for a comprehensive re-examination of water policy including changes in the laws. It also calls for empowered water regulatory authorities which can ensure effective allocation of water to different uses and also different areas. Some States have introduced innovative schemes for rational use of water by involving farmers actively. Future assistance under AIBP should be linked to moves which ensure more rational use of water.
6. Improve implementation of Plan schemes on the ground. Over the past several years, we have greatly expanded the volume of resources devoted to various flagship programmes in health, education, clean drinking water, sanitation, area development programme, etc. The while these schemes focus on the right areas, their implementation leaves a great deal to be desired. Report of the Chaturvedi Committee made a number of recommendations on the need for streamlining the centrally sponsored schemes. Ways of improving governance, promoting innovation, extending e-governance to the panchayat level, introducing transparency in government programmes and use of the UID number combined with the benefits of IT become areas of priority. The Aadhar platform can be used to improve efficiency in many of these programmes. The Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System will be used to serve as a management information and decision support system which will enable tracking of the Central government disbursements under a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. There is a need to track funds from the State Governments down through different levels in the state Government to the final expenditure incurred at the implementing level.

It is an extra constitutional and extra legal body.

National Integration Council

The National Integration Council (NIC) is a group of senior politicians and public figures in India that looks for ways to address the problems of communalism, casteism and regionalism

Origin

The National Integration Council originated in a conference convened by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in September–October 1961. The purpose was to find ways to counter problems that were dividing the country including attachment to specific communities, castes, religions and languages.

The conference set up the NIC to review national integration issues and make recommendations. The NIC met for the first time in June 1962. The fourteenth meeting was held in New Delhi on 13 October 2008. The fifteenth meeting was held on 10 September 2011 in New Delhi. The latest meeting (sixteenth meeting) was held on 23 September 2013.

Reconstitution in 2005

The NIC was reconstituted and met again in August 2005. The new council had 103 members.The inaugural meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi. Twelve Chief Ministers and twelve Union Ministers attended, as did leaders of all the main political parties. The NIC met in October 2008 soon after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had taken office. In this special meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, the NIC raised its voice against spreading anti-Christian violence in India. 

In April 2010 the council was reconstituted with 147 members, again chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The fifteenth meeting was scheduled in Delhi for 10 September 2011. The agenda included discussion of measures to eliminate discrimination, promote communal harmony and curb communalism and communal violence. The attendees were also to discuss ways in which the state and police should handle civil disturbances and ways to curb radicalization of youth in the name of religion and caste.The Communal Violence Bill came under attack at the meeting, with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders saying the bill would encourage rather than curb communalism and that the bill unjustly assumed that in a riot the majority was always at fault.

On 19 October 2010 the government established a standing committee of the National Integration Council. Home Minister P. Chidambaram was appointed chairman and four Union Ministers and nine Chief Ministers were appointed members. The committee would decide on agenda items for future council meetings.

 Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos has been nominated as a Member of the National Integration Council under category IX (Eminent Public Figures). The National Integration Council under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister was reconstituted on October 28, 2013.