Indian Constitution

Course Information

Institution: Gujarat Technological University

FieldDetails
Course CodeDI02000061
ProgramDiploma in Engineering
LevelDiploma
BranchAll
Academic Year2024-25
Semester2nd
CategoryMNC-AU
Prerequisite-
RationaleThis course will survey the basic structure and operative dimensions of Indian Constitution. It will explore various aspects of the Indian political and legal system from a historical perspective highlighting the various events that led to the making of the Indian Constitution. It will also socio-political equations. The various challenges faced by the constitution and the corresponding coping mechanisms would also be discussed. Broadly, the students would be exposed to the working of various institutions, offices and political debates ensuing from the operation of the Indian constitution in the last five decades.

Competency

The purpose of this course is to help the student to attain the following industry identified competency through various teaching learning experiences:

  • Follow policies, processes, duties, rights and federal structure of Indian constitution as responsible citizens and engineer of the country.

Course Outcomes

The practical exercises, the underpinning knowledge and the relevant soft skills associated with the identified competency are to be developed in the student for the achievement of the following COs:

  1. List salient features and characteristics of the constitution of India
  2. Follow fundamental responsibilities, privileges, rights and duties as responsible citizen and engineer of the country
  3. Differentiate between state and central administrative setup of the country
  4. Explain major constitutional amendment procedures and emergency provisions in the country
  5. Explain judicial setup and electoral process of the country

Teaching and Examination Scheme

Teaching Scheme (Hours)CreditsAssessment Pattern (Marks)Total
LTPRCTheory ESE (E)Theory PA/CA (M)Tutorial/Practical PA/CA (I)Tutorial/Practical ESE (V)Marks
20000050050

Suggested Practical Exercises

Not applicable

Major Equipment/Instruments Required

Not Applicable

Affective Domain Outcomes

The following sample Affective Domain Outcomes (ADOs) are embedded in many of the above mentioned COs and PrOs. More could be added to fulfil the development of this course competency.

  1. Work as a leader/a team member
  2. Follow constitutional duties and responsibilities
  3. Follow ethical practices
  4. Practice environmental friendly methods and processes

The ADOs are best developed through the laboratory/field based exercises. Moreover, the level of achievement of the ADOs according to Krathwohl's 'Affective Domain Taxonomy' should gradually increase as planned below:

  • Valuing Level in 1st year
  • Organization Level in 2nd year
  • Characterization Level in 3rd year

Underpinning Theory

The major underpinning theory is given below based on the higher level UOs of Revised Bloom's taxonomy that are formulated for development of the COs and competency. If required, more such higher level UOs could be included by the course teacher to focus on attainment of COs and competency.

Course Content

UnitUnit Outcomes (UOs)Topics and Sub-topics
Unit I: Constitution and Preamble1a. Explain the meaning of preamble of the constitution
1b. List the salient features of constitution
1c. List the characteristics of constitution
1.1 Meaning of the constitution of India
1.2 Historical perspective of the Constitution of India
1.3 Salient features and characteristics of the Constitution of India
1.4 Preamble to the Constitution of India
Unit II: Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles2a. Enlist the fundamental rights
2b. Identify fundamental duties
2c. Follow fundamental responsibilities as an engineer
2d. Differentiate between fundamental rights and directive principles
2e. Identify fundamental duties and responsibilities applicable to a practicing engineer
2.1 Fundamental Rights under Part-III (Details of exercise of rights and Limitations)
2.2 Fundamental duties and their significance
2.3 Relevance of Directive Principles of State Policy under part-IV
Unit III: Federal Structure3a. Draw the structure of governance in India
3b. Differentiate between state and central administrative setup of the country
3.1 Federal structure and distribution of legislative and financial powers between the Union and the States
3.2 Union Executive-President, Prime minister, Parliament and the Supreme Court of India
3.3 State Executive - Governor, Chief Minister, State Legislator, and high Court
3.4 Local Administration - District Administration, Municipal Corporation, Zila Panchayat
Unit IV: Governance and Amendments4a. Enlist the constitutional amendments
4b. Infer the purposes of various amendments
4.1 Amendment of the Constitutional Powers and Procedure
4.2 Major Constitutional Amendment procedure - 42nd, 44th, 74th, 76th, 86th and 91st
4.3 Emergency provisions
Unit V: Judicial System and Election Commission & National Green Tribunal5a. Perform judicial review for societal welfare
5b. Abide by the judicial provisions
5c. Adopt the electoral procedures with respect to citizenship
5d. Abide by greening laws
5e. Identify the topics/subtopics in a given engineering course where greening laws are affecting significantly
5.1 The Indian Judicial System
5.2 Judicial Review
5.3 Election Commission
5.4 National Green Tribunal

Suggested Specification Table for Question Paper Design

Unit No.Unit TitleTeaching HoursDistribution of Theory MarksTotal Marks
R LevelU LevelA Level
IConstitution and Preamble040404008
IIFundamental Rights and Directive Principles0803021015
IIIFederal Structure0702030611
IVGovernance and Amendments0502020408
VJudicial System and Election Commission0402020408
Total2813132450

Legends: R=Remember, U=Understand, A=Apply and above (Revised Bloom's taxonomy)

Note: This specification table provides general guidelines to assist student for their learning and to teachers to teach and question paper designers/setters to formulate test items/questions to assess the attainment of the UOs. The actual distribution of marks at different taxonomy levels (of R, U and A) in the question paper may vary slightly from above table.

Suggested Student Activities

Other than the classroom and laboratory learning, following are the suggested student-related cocurricular activities which can be undertaken to accelerate the attainment of the various outcomes in this course. Students should conduct following activities in group and prepare reports of about 5 pages for each activity. They also collect/record physical evidences for their (student's) portfolio which will be useful for their placement interviews:

  1. Prepare a report on Mock court hearing
  2. Visit to courts
  3. Arrange Mock Parliament
  4. Visit to Local Bodies
  5. Visit to Courts
  6. Visit to Legal Service Authority
  7. Design games and simulation
  8. Group discussions on current print articles
  9. Prepare college/posters on current constitutional issues
  10. Learning through cases

Important Legal Cases for Reference

  1. A.K. Gopalan Case (1950): Indian Kanoon
  2. Shankari Prasad Case (1951): Indian Kanoon
  3. Berubari Union case (1960): Indian Kanoon
  4. Golaknath case (1967): Indian Kanoon
  5. Kesavananda Bharati case (1973): Indian Kanoon
  6. Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain case (1975): Indian Kanoon
  7. Maneka Gandhi case (1978): Indian Kanoon
  8. Minerva Mills case (1980): Indian Kanoon
  9. Indra Sawhney and Union of India (1992): Indian Kanoon
  10. Samatha and State of Andhra Pradesh (1997): Indian Kanoon
  11. Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India And Ors.: Right To Privacy (2017): Indian Kanoon
  12. L Chandra Kumar Case (1997): Indian Kanoon
  13. Habeas Corpus Case (1976): Indian Kanoon
  14. Aruna Shanbaug Case (2011): Indian Kanoon
  15. Romesh Thapar Case (1950): Indian Kanoon
  16. M.C. Mehta And Anr vs Union of India & Ors on 20 December, 1986 Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Indian Kanoon
  17. M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India & Ors on 30 December, 1996 Taj Mahal: Indian Kanoon
  18. M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 15 November, 2019 Delhi Pollution: Indian Kanoon
  19. Samit Mehta v. Union of India & Ors.; National Green: Case Mine

Suggested Special Instructional Strategies (If Any)

These are sample strategies, which the teacher can use to accelerate the attainment of the various outcomes in this course:

  1. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) may be used to teach various topics/sub topics
  2. Guide student(s) in undertaking micro-projects
  3. 'L' in section No. 4 means different types of teaching methods that are to be employed by teachers to develop the outcomes
  4. About 20% of the topics/sub-topics which are relatively simpler or descriptive in nature is to be given to the students for self-learning, but to be assessed using different assessment methods
  5. With respect to section No.10, teachers need to ensure to create opportunities and provisions for co-curricular activities
  6. Guide students on how to address issues on environment and sustainability

Suggested Micro-Projects

Not Applicable

Suggested Learning Resources

Books

S. No.Title of BookAuthorPublication Details
1The Constitution of IndiaP.M. BakshiUniversal Law Publishing, New Delhi
15th edition, 2018
ISBN: 9386515105
2Introduction to Indian ConstitutionD.D. BasuLexis Nexis Publisher, New Delhi, 2015
ISBN: 935143446X
3Introduction to Constitution of IndiaB. K. SharmaPHI, New Delhi
6th edition, 2011
ISBN: 8120344197
4The Constitution of IndiaB.L. FadiaSahitya Bhawan, Agra, 2017
ISBN: 8193413768
5Ethics and Politics of the Indian ConstitutionRajeev BhargavaOxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008
ISBN: 0198063555
6The Constitutional Law of IndiaDurga Das BasuLexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa, Nagpur
ISBN: 978-81-8038-426-4
7Indian ConstitutionAvtar SinghCentral Law Publication, Prayagraj
Uttar Pradesh 2019
ISBN: 978-9386456861
8The Constitution of IndiaNaushirwan JhabwalaC. Jamnadas & Company, Ahmedabad, 2016
ISBN: 978-9789364572

Software/Learning Websites

  1. Legislative Government of India - Constitution
  2. Wikipedia - Constitution of India
  3. India.gov.in - Constitution of India
  4. Election Commission of India - About ECI
  5. Toppr - The Indian Constitution
  6. Supreme Court of India - Constitution
  7. NIOS - Constitution of India
  8. Legal Affairs - Constitution Chapter 3
  9. Constitutional Court of Armenia - India Constitution
  10. ConstitutionNet - Basic Structure Indian Constitution