Indian Constitution#
Course Code: DI02000061
Gujarat Technological University
Program: Diploma in Engineering
Level: Diploma
Branch: All
| Academic Year | 2024-25 |
|---|---|
| Semester | 2nd |
| Category | MNC-AU |
| Prerequisite | - |
|---|---|
| Rationale | This 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:
- List salient features and characteristics of the constitution of India
- Follow fundamental responsibilities, privileges, rights and duties as responsible citizen and engineer of the country
- Differentiate between state and central administrative setup of the country
- Explain major constitutional amendment procedures and emergency provisions in the country
- Explain judicial setup and electoral process of the country
Teaching and Examination Scheme#
| Teaching Scheme (Hours) | Credits | Assessment Pattern (Marks) | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | T | PR | C | Theory ESE (E) | Theory PA/CA (M) | Tutorial/Practical PA/CA (I) | Tutorial/Practical ESE (V) | Marks |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 50 |
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.
- Work as a leader/a team member
- Follow constitutional duties and responsibilities
- Follow ethical practices
- 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#
| Unit | Unit Outcomes (UOs) | Topics and Sub-topics |
|---|---|---|
| Unit I: Constitution and Preamble | 1a. 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 Principles | 2a. 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 Structure | 3a. 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 Amendments | 4a. 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 Tribunal | 5a. 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 Title | Teaching Hours | Distribution of Theory Marks | Total Marks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Level | U Level | A Level | ||||
| I | Constitution and Preamble | 04 | 04 | 04 | 0 | 08 |
| II | Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles | 08 | 03 | 02 | 10 | 15 |
| III | Federal Structure | 07 | 02 | 03 | 06 | 11 |
| IV | Governance and Amendments | 05 | 02 | 02 | 04 | 08 |
| V | Judicial System and Election Commission | 04 | 02 | 02 | 04 | 08 |
| Total | 28 | 13 | 13 | 24 | 50 |
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:
- Prepare a report on Mock court hearing
- Visit to courts
- Arrange Mock Parliament
- Visit to Local Bodies
- Visit to Courts
- Visit to Legal Service Authority
- Design games and simulation
- Group discussions on current print articles
- Prepare college/posters on current constitutional issues
- Learning through cases
Important Legal Cases for Reference#
- A.K. Gopalan Case (1950): indiankanoon.org/doc/1857950/
- Shankari Prasad Case (1951): indiankanoon.org/doc/1706770/
- Berubari Union case (1960): indiankanoon.org/doc/1120103/
- Golaknath case (1967): indiankanoon.org/doc/120358/
- Kesavananda Bharati case (1973): indiankanoon.org/doc/257876/
- Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain case (1975): indiankanoon.org/doc/936707/
- Maneka Gandhi case (1978): indiankanoon.org/doc/1766147/
- Minerva Mills case (1980): indiankanoon.org/doc/1939993/
- Indra Sawhney and Union of India (1992): indiankanoon.org/doc/1969682/
- Samatha and State of Andhra Pradesh (1997): indiankanoon.org/doc/1969682/
- Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India And Ors.: Right To Privacy (2017): indiankanoon.org/doc/1857950/
- L Chandra Kumar Case (1997): indiankanoon.org/doc/1152518/
- Habeas Corpus Case (1976): indiankanoon.org/doc/1735815/
- Aruna Shanbaug Case (2011): indiankanoon.org/doc/235821/
- Romesh Thapar Case (1950): indiankanoon.org/doc/456839/
- M.C. Mehta And Anr vs Union of India & Ors on 20 December, 1986 Bhopal Gas Tragedy: indiankanoon.org/doc/1486949/
- M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India & Ors on 30 December, 1996 Taj Mahal: indiankanoon.org/doc/1964392/
- M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 15 November, 2019 Delhi Pollution: indiankanoon.org/doc/174204561/
- Samit Mehta v. Union of India & Ors.; National Green: casemine.com/judgement/in/5b17d5604a932678010063da
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:
- Massive open online courses (MOOCs) may be used to teach various topics/sub topics
- Guide student(s) in undertaking micro-projects
- ‘L’ in section No. 4 means different types of teaching methods that are to be employed by teachers to develop the outcomes
- 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
- With respect to section No.10, teachers need to ensure to create opportunities and provisions for co-curricular activities
- Guide students on how to address issues on environment and sustainability
Suggested Micro-Projects#
Not Applicable
Suggested Learning Resources#
Books#
| S. No. | Title of Book | Author | Publication Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Constitution of India | P.M. Bakshi | Universal Law Publishing, New Delhi 15th edition, 2018 ISBN: 9386515105 |
| 2 | Introduction to Indian Constitution | D.D. Basu | Lexis Nexis Publisher, New Delhi, 2015 ISBN: 935143446X |
| 3 | Introduction to Constitution of India | B. K. Sharma | PHI, New Delhi 6th edition, 2011 ISBN: 8120344197 |
| 4 | The Constitution of India | B.L. Fadia | Sahitya Bhawan, Agra, 2017 ISBN: 8193413768 |
| 5 | Ethics and Politics of the Indian Constitution | Rajeev Bhargava | Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008 ISBN: 0198063555 |
| 6 | The Constitutional Law of India | Durga Das Basu | LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa, Nagpur ISBN: 978-81-8038-426-4 |
| 7 | Indian Constitution | Avtar Singh | Central Law Publication, Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh 2019 ISBN: 978-9386456861 |
| 8 | The Constitution of India | Naushirwan Jhabwala | C. Jamnadas & Company, Ahmedabad, 2016 ISBN: 978-9789364572 |
Software/Learning Websites#
- Legislative Government of India - Constitution
- Wikipedia - Constitution of India
- India.gov.in - Constitution of India
- Election Commission of India - About ECI
- Toppr - The Indian Constitution
- Supreme Court of India - Constitution
- NIOS - Constitution of India
- Legal Affairs - Constitution Chapter 3
- Constitutional Court of Armenia - India Constitution
- ConstitutionNet - Basic Structure Indian Constitution