Static Quiz 04 October 2022 (Polity)

Democracy is of two types: direct and indirect. In direct democracy, the people exercise their supreme power directly as is the case in Switzerland.
• There are four devices of direct democracy, namely, Referendum, Initiative, Recall and Plebiscite.
• In indirect democracy, on the other hand, the representatives elected by the people exercise the supreme power and thus carry on the government and make the laws.
• This type of democracy, also known as representative democracy, is of two kinds: parliamentary and presidential.
• The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions.
• Universal adult franchise, periodic elections, rule of law, independence of judiciary, and absence of discrimination on certain grounds are the manifestations of the democratic character of the Indian polity.

Article 19(1)(d) – Right to move freely throughout the territory of India
• Subject to reasonable restrictions on two grounds namely – interests of general public and the protection of interests of any scheduled tribe. Example: Areas with inner line permit.
• Right to travel within India – through Article 19; Right to travel abroad – though Article 21.
• All citizens have right to form associations or unions or co-operative societies (Included through 97th constitutional amendment, 2011).
• Subject to reasonable restrictions on grounds of sovereignty and integrity of India, public order and morality.
• However, right to obtain recognition of the association is not a fundamental right.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY
 National emergency can be declared on the basis of war, external aggression or armed rebellion. The Constitution employs the expression ‘proclamation of emergency’ to denote an emergency of this type.
 Grounds of declaration:
o Under Article 352, the president can declare a national emergency when the security of India or a part of it is threatened by war or external aggression or armed rebellion.
o The President can declare a national emergency even before the actual occurrence of war or armed rebellion or external aggression
o When a national emergency is declared on the grounds of ‘war’ or ‘external aggression’, it is known as ‘External Emergency’. On the other hand, when it is declared on the grounds of ‘armed rebellion’, it is known as ‘Internal Emergency’.

 Parliamentary approval and duration
o The proclamation of emergency must be approved by both the houses of parliament within one month from the date of its issue.
o However, if the proclamation of emergency is issued at a time when the Lok Sabha has been dissolved or the dissolution takes place during the period of one month without approving the proclamation, then the proclamation survives until 30 days from the first sitting of Lok Sabha after its reconstitution, provided the Rajya Sabha has in the meantime approved it.
o If approved by both the houses, the Emergency continues for 6 months and can be extended to an indefinite period with an approval of the Parliament for every six months.
o Every resolution approving the proclamation of emergency or its continuance must be passed by either House of Parliament by a special majority.
 Revocation of proclamation
o A proclamation of Emergency may be revoked by the President at any time by a subsequent proclamation. Such proclamation does not require parliamentary approval.
o The emergency must be revoked if the Lok Sabha passes a resolution by a simple majority disapproving its continuation.

Article 20: Protection in Respect of Conviction for Offences

Article 20 grants protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to an accused person, whether citizen or foreigner or legal person like a company or a corporation.
It contains three provisions in that direction:
• No ex-post-facto law: No person shall be (i) convicted of any offense except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act, nor (ii) subjected to a penalty greater than that prescribed by the law in force at the time of the commission of the act.
• No double jeopardy: No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offense more than once.
• No self-incrimination: No person accused of any offense shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

An ex-post-facto law is one that imposes penalties retrospectively (retroactively), that is, upon acts already done or which increases the penalties for such acts. The protection against double jeopardy is available only in proceedings before a court of law or a judicial tribunal. In other words, it is not available in proceedings before departmental or administrative authorities as they are not of judicial nature. The protection against self-incrimination extends to both oral evidence and documentary evidence.

Doctrine of Severability
• It is also known as the doctrine of separability and protects the Fundamental Rights of the citizens.
• As per clause (1) of the Article 13 of the Constitution, if any of the laws enforced in India are inconsistent with the provisions of fundamental rights, they shall, to the extent of that inconsistency, be void.
• Doctrine of Severability or Separability states that when a part of the statute is declared unconstitutional, then the unconstitutional part is to be removed and the remaining valid portion will continue to valid.