7 Important Amendments of the Indian Constitution You Should Know About

We all know that the Republic Day holds a very special and honourable place in Indian history. It's the day that India put into effect her permanent Constitution and her governing document. What most of us aren't aware of is, the Amendments of the Constitution that enable India, her Government and her citizens to lead a dutiful and righteous life. This Republic Day, let's take a moment to recognize some of India's most iconic Amendment acts throughout the years of its existence and how it affects us as citizens.

20th Amendment - December 22, 1966 - Indemnify & validate judgments, decrees, orders and sentences passed by judges. Validate the appointment, posting, promotion and transfer of judges except those not eligible for appointment under article 233.

This Amendment was needed to overcome the effect of judgement invalidating appointments of certain judges in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This was also done to validate the judgements passed, in order to ensure that justice is served fairly.

24th Amendment - November 5, 1971 - Enable parliament to dilute fundamental rights through amendments to the constitution

What this means to the citizens of India is that, in event of any situation, the Parliament of India has no right to curtail or take away fundamental rights that are guaranteed in Part III of the Constitution, in any of its amendments. Rather it can include it as part of the amendment act, guaranteeing effective exercise of fundamental rights.

61th Amendment - March 28, 1988 - Reduce age for voting rights from 21 to 18

An iconic move in 1988 led to the voting rights being lowered from age 21 to age 18, allowing the much younger lot to have a say on the affairs of the country. Today, there are about 52 lakh voters 18 year old voters in India; bringing about a change every time they vote.

75th Amendment - May 15, 1994 - Provisions for setting up Rent Control Tribunals

It provides for setting up of State-level Rent Tribunals to exclude the jurisdiction of all courts, except that of the Supreme Court, under Article 136 of the Constitution. This enables effective exercise of the Right Control Act, supervised by a committee - the Rent Control Tribunal; which ensures fairness if ever an issue should crop up between the owner and the tenant of a rented property.

86th Amendment - December 12, 2002 - Provides Right to Education until the age of fourteen and early childhood care until the age of six

The call to provide right to education until the age of fourteen and early childhood care until the age of six, comes as an important move in the Amendment. Earlier, there wasn’t any amendment to help recognize the need for educational rights for children. Recently, a critical development led to extend this right till the age of 16.

88th Amendment - January 15, 2004 - To extend statutory cover for levy and utilization of Service Tax

This Article provides for the insertion of a brand new article 268A, that states that taxes on services shall be levied by the Government of India/India/Republic of Asian country/Bharat/Asian country/Asian nation and such tax shall be collected by the Government of India and therefore the States within the manner provided in clause.

94th Amendment - June 12, 2006 - To provide for a Minister of Tribal Welfare in newly created Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh States

In 2000, India gave birth to two new states namely - Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Given that both Jharkhand and Chattisgarh fall under the category of states with maximum tribal group presence, a need for a Minister of Tribal Welfare was made part of the 94th amendment. Today, both states have their own ministers, governing over the needs of these tribal groups.

While we can expect other important amendments to come up during the coming years, and with the new Government in place; let's remember to remember our amendments and put them to effective use as citizens. Let's ensure better responsibility, respect and abide by the value of the Indian Constitution!

NOT A bad move

Will the None of the Above option recently introduced by SC turn the tide in India's 2014 general elections?

Can the police keep a person in custody for as long as they want?

If you are a victim or witness of a crime give clear descriptions of all that you experienced, saw or remember. If you are filing an FIR for a crime that you have second hand knowledge of, then report exactly what you were told or what you heard. Information should never be exaggerated or false.

Important details to include are the date, time, location and a description of the culprits or people involved. The sequence of events that occurred and details of what each person did or said.

 

Often police arrest a person on Friday and keep them in custody until the following Monday, citing that there is no magistrate available over the weekend. This is illegal, as in reality there is always a magistrate on duty and available 24 x 7.

 If a person’s 24 hour custody hold ends after court working hours, he/she can always be produced before the magistrate at his residence. The magistrate cannot refuse to see the suspect.

 

Process For Registration Of Domestic Help With Police

Currently the police have a voluntary scheme of ‘servant registration’. It is not a mandatory process.

On the police websites of certain states, verification forms are available, which can be downloaded, filled up and then submitted at your local police station along with a photograph and details of the help you have hired.

The forms can also be got at your concerned police station.

JaagoRe Insight:The ‘registration of servants’ is discriminatory to an entire class of people and while we may feel the need to safeguard our families and ourselves against untoward incident, we should do so without hurting the sensitivities of others. One way to do this is to instead of formally registering your domestic help do so with your locality or building association, or keep the detail for your personal record.

What You Should Do If You Witness A Crime

If you are witnessing a crime, the first thing to do is to get out of harm's way and hide yourself. You must then:

• Immediately call 100. If you know the phone numbers of your local police station call them as well and ask them to come immediately.
• Make a mental note of what the criminal or criminals look like and details of what they are wearing.
• Pay close attention to all the events that take place. What the criminals did, what they said and so on
• If the police do not come in time and the criminals have left, make sure not to touch anything. Important evidence may have been left behind which you may destroy by touching it
• If there is a victim who is hurt or in distress, call an ambulance and help as much as you can
• Once the police arrive, tell them in detail all that you witnessed and file your First Information Report (FIR)
• Make sure the police officer signs and stamps your FIR and gives you a copy free of cost

How Does One Join The Police?

Any Indian citizen canjoin the police force. However, you have to fulfil the conditions and standards laid down for the particular rank that you wish to join at.To join as a constable you need to have at least passed high school. To join as a Sub Inspector you need to be a graduate.

There are three levels at which you can join the force. At the state level you can join either as a constable and go up to Deputy Superintendent of Police or you can join at Sub-Inspector level and get promoted all the way up to Superintendent of Police, in charge of a district.

Constables and sub-inspectors have to take a written entrance test. If you pass you have to go for a physical test and then an interview. On clearing the interview, you are expected to undergo a medical check in order to determine whether you are physically fitto join the police. After these processes are complete, final selections are made.

IPS officers are recruited at the central level and ranks begin as either an Additional/Assistant Superintendent orSuperintendent of Police.To join as an IPS officer one has to sit for the preliminary examination conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC). Dates and venue are published from time to time in local and national newspapers. After passing that you must then sit for the main written examination and interview.

Helping road accident victims without any consequences

A total of 4,69,882 people have been injured in road accidents in 2013 and 1,37,423 people have died in motor vehicle collisions. Many of these lives could have been saved, if they had received timely help. But due to the apathy of society many people just passed by people as they lay in critical conditions.

This apathy is mostly due to people being scared of police and legal proceedings hence hesitating to get victims the help they require.

Save LIFE Foundation to help good samaritans and bystanders in such situations filed a petition in 2012 and during the hearing of this petition the Supreme Court instructed the Government of India to pass guidelines that would encourage bystanders to help victims of accidents.

The guidelines which were finally notified on 13th May 2015 by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways are as follows-

1. A Good Samaritan who takes an accident victim to a hospital will not be asked any questions and can leave immediately. He/she cannot be forced to stay unless they are an eyewitness in which case only their address can be noted.

2. A bystander for helping the accident victim could be rewarded by the State government so as to encourage others to come to the rescue of accident victims.

3. The Good Samaritan will NOT be held for any criminal or civil liability.

4. A bystander who calls the police or emergency service to the site of a road accident does not have to reveal his name or any other personal details on the phone or in person.

5. In the Medico Legal Forms which are provided by hospitals, it is optional for good Samaritans to submit their personal information.

6. Disciplinary or departmental action shall be taken against those officials who coerce a bystander for revealing his/her personal details.

7. If a bystander voluntarily states that he/she has been an eyewitness to the accident he/she can be examined as part of the investigation by police or during trial but this can be done only once, for which the State Government shall develop Standard Operating Procedures to ensure that the Good Samaritan is not harassed.

8. The examination can be done only under Section 284, of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 or formally on affidavit as per section 296 of the same Code. Standard Operating procedures developed specifically for this will have to be followed.

9. A Good Samaritan or the people referred to in the above point can be examined through video conferencing in order to protect him/her from harassment or any inconvenience.

10. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will issue guidelines which will prevent public and private hospitals to not detain bystanders or good Samaritans or ask them to pay for registration and admission costs unless he/she is a family member of the injured who has to be treated immediately.

11. If a doctor fails to act to help an accident victim when he is expected to provide care, his actions will be seen as “Professional Misconduct” as prescribed by the Indian Medical Council Regulation 2002 and disciplinary action will be taken against them.

12. All hospitals will put up a notice at their entrances in English, Hindi and the vernacular language of the State or Union Territory stating that no good Samaritan will be asked to provide his/her personal details or pay money for the admission of the victim.

13. If the Good Samaritan requires an acknowledgement to confirm that he/she has brought the injured person to the hospital with the details of time and place, the hospital shall oblige and the acknowledgement can be prepared in accordance to the format prescribed by the State government.

14. All public and private hospitals will immediately enforce the above guidelines, failure of which will lead to action being taken against them.

15. A letter with these guidelines shall be issued by the Central and State Government and will be circulated to all hospitals and institutions in their area. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways shall also publish advertisements in all national and regional newspapers including electronic media.

Recent surveys conducted and case studies have shown how hesitant people are to help victims but with the above guidelines we can hope that the number of deaths due to road accidents will be considerably reduced.

Sources:

Logical Indian

Egazette

3 Outrageous Reasons Why Some People Vote

Why do people vote? Many vote to take active part in democracy, believing that their vote will actually benefit the country.

However, some people are easily led astray and fooled into voting - for all the wrong reasons.

1. Free Alcohol and other Freebies

For many politicians, the easiest way to lure voters is by offering laptops, bicycles or even alcohol! A classic case of reverse corruption; which gives way to even more corruption in the Government. Such voters are simply content with freebies followed by five years of blissful ignorance.

2. Caste or religion-incited votes

Many parties have succeeded to politicise religion and caste, to the extent that voters prefer to vote for parties on religious or caste affinities alone.

Ofcourse, implications are that these politicians will pick religion and caste over the welfare of the nation. So much for a fair democracy.

3. Voting just because you have to!

There are some interesting people that get carried away with all the hullabaloo. They just want to be a part of the drama that happens once every five years. Without even researching the parties, or the candidates they excitedly display their inked fingers.

Post-elections, they go back to hibernation.

Find the Right Reasons

On one hand, we yearn to be part of a true democracy, on the other hand we find selfish motives to take part in the largest democratic exercise. Elections are a phenomena that bring together the voice and choice of people. Unless we take it seriously, our nation will cease to be 'By the People and For the People'. The ball is in our court.

The Power of 49 - Behind The Right Candidate

In the last General Elections that took place in 2009, an estimated 150 MP’s that stood for election had criminal charges against them. That was a 17.2% rise in MP’s with criminal records from the 14th Lok Sabha elections (in 2004) which had 128 candidates with criminal records. There was also a 30.9% increase in the number of MPs charged with serious crimes in 2009 from the 2004 elections.

If you do the math, it means that one in every four lawmaker that was elected in the 15th Lok Sabha election has broken the law him/herself.

Uttar Pradesh set the record of sending the maximum number of tainted MPs to the Lok Sabha. 31 of their 80 MPs had criminal cases pending against them. Out of those 31, 22 were charged with serious crimes, ten with heinous ones.  Maharashtra came in second with 23 of its MPs having criminal cases against them, nine of those grave offences.

A lot of these charges are ones of rape and crimes against women. Kidnapping, assault and in the most heinous of cases, murder is also on the charge sheets of some on the MP’s that are currently in power. These are some of the individuals who are making laws and the policies that we, the people, must live and abide by. Ironic right?

Yet there is no passing the buck on this one, we are the ones who brought them to power by our vote. Not having voted is worse because it means that you mutedly sat by and let these politicians take a seat in the house of the people. 

2014 will see the 16th General Election of the largest democracy in the world and the power of who will steer it lies in our hands. Every vote for the right candidate counts and it is time to mobilize the largest voting block that has been ignored. One that constitutes 49% of all registered voters in India… women. Starting now, it is each of our individual responsibility to educate and enable our mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, aunts, female friends, colleagues and every other woman within our families and social circle to choose the right candidate and to go out and cast her vote.

The impacts of Budget 2016-17

The Budget plan for the financial year 2016-17 came into effect from the 1st of April. To understand how this new budget will affect the lives of common people, we spoke to financial expert CA Rishabh Parakh, and created this video based on his inputs.

Watch this video to know how Budget 2016-17 will have an impact on your life:

To know more about the Budget 2016-17, click here.

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