(a) Imprint of the British Constitution on the Indian Constitution (10 marks)

(b) Environmentalism of the poor (10 marks)

(c) Functions of District Planning Committee (10 marks)

(d) Satyagraha and Indian Nationalism (10 marks)

(e) National Commis

Question

Comment on the following in about 150 words each:

(a) Imprint of the British Constitution on the Indian Constitution (10 marks)

(b) Environmentalism of the poor (10 marks)

(c) Functions of District Planning Committee (10 marks)

(d) Satyagraha and Indian Nationalism (10 marks)

(e) National Commission for Minorities (10 marks)

UPSC Answer Check · Accepted Answer

(a) Imprint of the British Constitution on the Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution bears a foundational imprint of the British Westminster model, largely inherited through the Government of India Act 1935. Core British structural borrowings include the parliamentary cabinet system based on collective responsibility, bicameralism, legislative procedures, the nominal role of the executive head, the Diceyan concept of the Rule of Law, single citizenship, the office of the Speaker, prerogative writs, and the continuity of an apolitical, permanent civil service.

However, India consciously diverged from the core British premise of Parliamentary Sovereignty. Instead, the Constituent Assembly established constitutional supremacy mediated through a written constitution, an entrenched bill of Fundamental Rights, and judicial review. Furthermore, Britain's unitary framework was rejected in favor of an asymmetric federal structure to address India’s vast socio-cultural pluralism. Thus, while the British imprint provided the institutional scaffolding and administrative continuity, indigenous adaptations reoriented these instruments from imperial control toward transformative constitutionalism and egalitarian democracy.

(b) Environmentalism of the Poor

The 'environmentalism of the poor', theorized by Ramachandra Guha and Joan Martinez-Alier (Varieties of Environmentalism, 1997), posits that ecological resistance in the Global South is fundamentally an ecological distribution conflict centered on survival, livelihood, and access to natural resources, sharply distinct from the post-materialist, lifestyle-driven preservationism of the Global North.

In India, grassroots mobilizations demonstrate that subsistence needs drive ecological conservation. The Chipko movement resisted commercial logging to protect local agro-ecological livelihoods; the Narmada Bachao Andolan challenged large-scale displacement and ecological destruction caused by mega-dams; and artisanal fisherfolk struggles have resisted mechanized trawling to defend marine ecosystems and traditional occupations. These movements challenge the dominant extractivist developmental paradigm by linking ecological degradation directly to subaltern marginalization. Ultimately, the environmentalism of the poor reclaims adivasis, peasants, and traditional communities not as environmental degraders, but as primary ecological stewards fighting for distributive environmental justice.

(c) Functions of District Planning Committee

Mandated under Article 243ZD of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, the District Planning Committee (DPC) is the constitutional linchpin for decentralized, bottom-up planning. Its foremost function is to consolidate the separate development plans prepared by Panchayats (under Article 243G) and Municipalities (under Article 243W), formulating a composite draft development plan for the entire district.

The DPC is mandated to address matters of common interest between rural and urban areas, including spatial planning, the integrated sharing of water and natural resources, infrastructural development, and environmental conservation, ensuring equitable distribution of resources across sub-regions before integrating these into the state plan. Unlike the older bureaucratic district development boards, at least four-fifths of a DPC's members are elected by and from the elected members of the district panchayat and the municipalities, in proportion to the district's rural and urban populations. Kerala's district planning during the People's Plan Campaign is the best example of the design working. Despite operational bottlenecks and state reluctance, DPCs remain constitutionally vital for bridging the rural-urban developmental divide.

(d) Satyagraha and Indian Nationalism

Satyagraha, conceptualized by Mahatma Gandhi as moral-political resistance grounded in truth (satya) and non-violence (ahimsa), first tried out against the Transvaal's registration law in South Africa in 1906, fundamentally restructured Indian nationalism from an elite petitioning discourse into an expansive, non-violent mass struggle.

By demanding moral courage and self-sacrifice, Satyagraha democratized anti-colonial mobilization across peasant, working-class, and women's spheres, as seen in Champaran, the Non-Cooperation Movement, and the Salt Satyagraha. It was inextricably tied to the Constructive Programme, which emphasized communal harmony experiments, the eradication of untouchability, and village self-reliance (swadeshi). However, Satyagraha possessed strategic limitations: it sat in sharp tension with revolutionary nationalism, as represented by Bhagat Singh and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA, 1928), and struggled to reconcile with radical left mobilizations that saw constitutional and non-violent compromises as inadequate for overthrowing imperial capitalism. Nonetheless, Satyagraha established an ethical vocabulary of peaceful resistance that formed the bedrock of India's democratic political culture.

(e) National Commission for Minorities

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM), established under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, functions as a statutory watchdog to safeguard the rights of the six notified religious minorities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and - since 2014 - Jains); linguistic minorities fall instead to the Special Officer under Article 350B. It draws institutional purpose from constitutional safeguards under Articles 25-28 on religious freedom and Articles 29 and 30, which protect minority culture, language, and educational institutions.

The NCM is tasked with evaluating minority progress under Union and State development initiatives, monitoring constitutional and legal safeguards, investigating specific grievances regarding discrimination, and recommending corrective policies. However, unlike the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A), the NCM lacks constitutional status, making its mandate vulnerable to executive discretion. Furthermore, although it has the powers of a civil court when inquiring into complaints, its recommendations are not binding on governments. Transforming the NCM into a constitutional body with binding adjudicatory powers remains essential for robust minority rights protection in India.

(a) Imprint of the British Constitution on the Indian Constitution (10 marks) (b) Environmentalism of the poor (10 marks) (c)…

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(a) Imprint of the British Constitution on the Indian Constitution

(b) Environmentalism of the Poor

(c) Functions of District Planning Committee

(d) Satyagraha and Indian Nationalism

(e) National Commission for Minorities

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