Quick Comparison Of The Indian Constitutional With That Of Other Countries

UPSC Sample Notes [English]

A. Quick Comparison Notes 1

Features	India	USA	UK	France	Russia	Canada	Germany	Japan	Australia
Type of legislature	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral	Bicameral
Written constitution	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Federal structure	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Bill of Rights	Part III of the Constitution	First Ten Amendments	Human Rights Act 1998	Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen	Constitution of Russia, Chapter 2	Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Canada	Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany	Japanese Constitution, Chapter III	Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
Judicial review	Yes	Yes	Yes, but limited	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
head of state	President	President	King	President	President	King	President	King	King
head of government	Prime Minister	President	Prime Minister	Prime Minister	Prime Minister	Prime Minister	Chancellor	Prime Minister	Prime Minister

B. Quick Comparison Notes 2

Features	India	UK	USA	Russia	Japan	France	Germany
Flexible/ Rigid Constitution	Both	Flexible	Rigid	Rigid	Rigid	Rigid	Rigid
Unitary/ Federal	Federal with unitary bias	Union	Federal	Union	Union	Union	Federal
Parliamentary/ Presidential	Parliamentary	Parliamentary	Presidential	Semi-Presidential	Parliamentary	Semi-Presidential	Parliamentary
Sovereignty of Parliament	Supremacy of the Constitution	Supremacy of Parliament	Supremacy of the Constitution		Supremacy of the Constitution	Parliament with limited powers
Republic/ Monarch	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	Republic	Republic
President	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – –	Executive	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – –	Ceremonial
Fundamental Rights	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	– – – – – – – – – –	Yes	– – – – – – – – – –

C. Why is the Constitution of India called a Bag of Borrowings?

Country	Features Borrowed
British	Parliamentary form of Government Constitutional Head of the State Lower House more powerful than the Upper House of Parliament Accountability of the Council of Ministers toward Parliament Prevalence of the rule of law
US	The Preamble Fundamental Rights – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Australia	– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Ireland	– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Weimer Constitution of Germany	– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Canada	– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –	The procedure of implementing amendments – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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