The spectrum of law-making in independent India

Syllabus: Parliament-structure, functioning and conduct of business and law-making power of parliament and state legislature etc

Direction: Not so important. But do go through it once to understand the contours of various laws in India.

Context:

In India, Parliament is the supreme law-making body. With the exceptions of items reserved unto the people — by the virtue of Fundamental Rights — and items reserved unto the States by the virtue of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution
Parliament can make laws on virtually any subject within India’s territory, and, in exceptional cases, extraterritorially.
The Preamble lists the objectives of the Constitution to secure for all citizens justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity.
Undeterred by India’s deep-seated inequalities and factionalism before and at the time of Independence, the framers of the Constitution undertook a leap of faith and envisioned a liberal, more egalitarian nation-state in the post-colonial world.

Building blocks of the Nehruvian years:

Challenges: In his first term (1947-1952), Nehru met once-in-a-lifetime challenges of a newly-born country:
- The rehabilitation of Partition survivors and the administration of evacuee properties
- Assimilating princely states and the grant of privy purses
- Creating the statutory framework for the defence forces
- The Reserve Bank of India as well as the Election Commission of India
- The initiation of land reforms.

Legislations by the Nehru government:

Amendments:

The Constitution was amended within his lifetime (16)

Lal Bahadur Shastri’s brief tenure:

It was 18 months, confronted with acute national food insecurity.

He set in motion the institutional blocks of the Green and White Revolutions
Enacted the Food Corporations Act
Set up the National Dairy Development Board

Indira Gandhi’s long shadow:

Morarji Desai government:

Enactment of the 44th Constitutional Amendment and restore civil liberties and judicial independence
Nationalizing more industries
The first exercise of demonetisation of currency notes in 1978.

Return of Indra Gandhi:

Indo-Mauritius Tax Treaty: which became the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) to India for decades to come (about $140 billion between 2000-2020 alone).
Extension of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) to quell the rising insurgency in Punjab

Rajiv Gandhi’s term:

The legislative apathy toward the 1984 Sikh pogrom
the hastily drafted Bhopal Gas Tragedy (Processing of Claims) Act 1985
The undoing of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Shah Bano giving maintenance rights to divorced Muslim women
Insertion of anti-defection laws as the 10th Schedule to the Constitution (making elected representatives essentially subservient to party bosses)
Sending the Indian Army to Sri Lanka.
Comprehensive codification of environment protection, juvenile justice, mental health, and consumer protection laws (1986-1987)
The creation of a legal services authority to deliver the constitutional promise of free legal aid (1987)
Easing of onerous labour laws (1988).
Comprehensive anti-corruption and Benami prohibition law.

Implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations, and reserving additional seats in public employment for Other Backward Classes.

P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government:

Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 for maintenance of the religious character of places of worship
creation of the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (1992)
Introduction of a service tax regime (1994)
Consolidating public sector enterprises.
The creation of a National Human Rights Commission (1993)
Prohibition of manual scavenging (1993)
Prohibition of prenatal gender selection (1994)
Protecting the rights of disabled persons (1995)
Fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of local self-government, Narasimha Rao amended the Constitution to give a legislative basis to Panchayati Raj and Urban Local Bodies.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government:

Continuing with his predecessor’s economic policies, he liberalized foreign exchange laws and created a new insurance regulator (both in 1999)
Revamped the intellectual property regime (1999, 2000)
Enacted a substantive information technology regime (1999)
Enabled a substantive anti-money law (2002)
Created a fiscal responsibility and budget management protocol (2003).
Insertion of Article 21A, guaranteeing free and compulsory education to children between the ages of six to 14
Implementing the recommendations of the Tenth Finance Commission (of pooling and sharing all taxes between the Union and States).

Manmohan Singh’s legislations:

Right to information(RTI)
The right to employment (the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)
Granting married Hindu women equal rights in the intestate succession of her parents
Protection of women from domestic violence and senior citizen’s welfare (2005, 2007)
Operationalising free and compulsory education to children (2009)
The setting up of the Unique Identification Authority of India (Aadhar) in 2009
National Green Tribunal (2010)
Comprehensive law protecting children from sexual offences (2012).
The National Investigation Agency effectively cut into the powers of States to manage law and order.
Reformed corporation laws
Enacted a rights-based approach to food security and land acquisition
Strengthened criminal laws to protect women from sexual crimes
Enacted the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act.

Present Government:

Black Money Act and the Commercial Courts Act (both in 2015)
Enacting a monetary policy committee to manage consumer inflation
Demonetisation of currency notes and a new bankruptcy regime (all in 2016)
Electoral bonds scheme
Delivery of welfare schemes through Aadhar
Adding teeth to Benami prohibition law
Enactment of a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax regime (all in 2017)
Fugitive economic offences act (2018).
103rd Constitutional Amendment — reservation of 10% seats for Economically Weaker Sections in direct Union employment and education.
Dilution of Article 370 withdrawing the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir
Citizenship (Amendment) Act with the aim of excluding Muslim refugees from rights to fast-track citizenship.
Agricultural reforms law, which was repealed after much protest and loss of life.

Conclusion:

Contrary to the rhetoric that a majority government is more beneficial to secure our constitutional guarantees, India’s legislative history (except for the Nehruvian era) indicates that coalition governments — on either side of the aisle — show greater allegiance to that cause.
- Of course, this is because coalitions make consultation mandatory.

Practice Questions:

Q. What are the two major legal initiatives by the state since Independence, addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (ST)(UPSC 2017)