What are Union Territories? Union territories are areas under the direct control and administration of the Central government of India. Evolution of Union Territories The concept of union territories came about in 1956 with the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act and the States Reorganisation Act. Interestingly, some former union territories have achieved statehood. Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and [...]
Introduction of the Scheme of Electoral Bond Introduced in 2018, the Electoral bonds are financial instruments launched by the Government of India for individuals and organizations to donate money to political parties. Electoral bonds are issued by authorized banks and can be purchased by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India. The primary objective behind the introduction of electoral [...]
“Humanity depends on the boundless energy, ideas and contributions of youth everywhere. Today and every day, let’s support and stand with young people in shaping a just and sustainable world, for people and the planet." UN Secretary-General António Guterres The theme for this year's International Youth Day is "Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World." This day serves [...]
The Constitution of India has made detailed provisions for ensuring protection of democracy in Parliament and in State Legislatures. Through the 74th amendment, the urban local bodies have a framework to operate under. This article explores the previous KMC act of 1974 under which BBMP was functioning and the current BBMP Act 2020. But first, let us understand the [...]
B.PAC’s Endeavours To Enable Active Participation Among Students India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. In 2020, the average age of an Indian was 29 years, a lot of the students were under various technical and non-technical courses, but one aspect of their student [...]
Ward Committees are an effective concept for citizen engagement at the ward level and critical to our local self-governance in the municipalities. They help in the decentralization of functions and provide better supervision for Ward governance. Composition and functions of a Ward Committee are outlined in the 74th Constitutional amendment to ensure that there is equal representation for all sections [...]
May 2018 elections to the Karnataka State Assembly threw up a hung house with no single political party able to garner majority mark. The situation lead to the formation of a government by two political parties, Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (S), without any pre-poll alliance, and who had fought the electoral battle bitterly. During the election campaigning, each [...]
Background The Constitution of India has made detailed provisions for ensuring the protection of democracy in Parliament and in State Legislatures. But it did not provide adequate powers for the local self-government/ governance leading to democracy not being stable in municipal governance. 74th Amendment of the Constitution The Bill as reported by the Joint Parliamentary Committee was taken up for [...]
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional authority responsible for the conduction of free and fair elections in our country. Article 324 of the Constitution vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State [...]
Twenty Nine States and Seven Union territories of India have an elected government, going to polls approximately once in five years. About five to seven State Assemblies/UTs on an average, come up for elections, every year, often spread through the months. Given the resources needed to conduct such frequent elections and the load on the governance thereof, many stakeholders have [...]
