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POLITY


National Anthem
The song Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version as the National Anthem of India on January 24, 1950. 
It was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Kolkata Session of the Indian National Congress. 
It has five stanzas with first stanza containing the full version of the National Anthem The duration of the National Anthem is approximately 52 seconds. A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the stanza (playing time approximately 20 seconds) is also played on certain occasions. 
The National Anthem of India is played or sung on various occasions. Instructions have been issued from time to time about the correct versions of the Anthem, the occasions on which these are to be played or sung, and about the need for paying respect to the anthem by observance of proper decorum on such occasions. 
The full version of the Anthem shall be played on the following occasions: 
• Civil and Military investitures; 
• When National Salute (which means the Command “Rashtriya Salute – Salami Shastr” to the accompaniment of the National Anthem is given on ceremonial occasions to the President or to the Governor/Lieutenant Governor within their respective States/ Union Territories; 
• During parades – irrespective of whether any of the dignitaries referred to above is present or not; 
• On arrival of the President at formal State functions and other functions organized by the Government and mass functions and on his departure from such functions; 
• Immediately before and after the President addresses the Nation over All India Radio; 
• On arrival of the Governor/Lieutenant Governor at formal State functions within his State/Union Territory and on his departure from such functions; 
• When the National Flag is brought on parade; 
• When the Regimental Colours are presented; 
• For hoisting of colours in the Navy. Recently, the Supreme Court ordered that all Indians will now compulsorily have to stand up and listen to the National Anthem before they can watch a movie in a theatre. 
The decision is in tune to the Article 51(A) of the Constitution which makes respecting the National Anthem a fundamental duty of every citizen -

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) is a plan scheme conceived in the light of experience of a non-plan scheme namely – Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA).
CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India. CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around ‘Investigation of crime and detection of criminals.
An allocation of Rs. 2000 crores has been made for CCTNS Project. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the project on 19.06.2009.
Objectives of ‘CCTNS’:
The objectives of the Scheme can broadly be listed as follows:
• Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.
• Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.
• Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and detection of criminals.
• Improve Police functioning in various other areas such as Law and Order, Traffic Management etc.
• Facilitate Interaction and sharing of Information among Police Stations, Districts, State/UT headquarters and other Police Agencies.
• Assist senior Police Officers in better management of Police Force.
• Keep track of the progress of Cases, including in Courts.
• Reduce manual and redundant Records keeping.

GEOGRAPHY

Interior of the Earth
Geomorphology is a systematic and organized description and analysis of the surface landforms, processes and landscape evolution of the Earth. 
The basic concepts related to geomorphology are:
A. Continental Drift 
• The theory of Continental Drift is an attempt to explain the present arrangement of  continents and ocean basins.
 • Alfred Wegner,is regarded as the father of the concept of Continental Drift. • Wegner hypothesized that the super continent (Pangaea) broke up to form: (i) Laurasia (N. America,  reenland and all Eurasia north of the Indian Subcontinent) and (ii) the Gondwanaland (South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, South West Asia, Australia and Antarctica). 
• The Pangaea was surrounded by a huge sea Panthalassa (Pan = all, thalassa = oceans)  or the Pacific Ocean. 
• He opined that continents are made of SiAl and Ocean basins of  SiMa. 
• According to Wegener continents drifted in two directions: 
a) Towards the Equator (due to : gravitational attraction exerted by the earth’s equatorial bulge). As a result of this drift, the Himalayas and Alps etc, came into existence. The Peninsular Indian and Africa were separated from the Antarctica and Australia  
b) The Second drift was towards the west (due to tidal force of the Moon and the Sun).  North and South America got separated from Europe and Africa and the Andes and  rockies Mountains came into existence. 
Evidence in support of Continental Drift 
a) Similarities are found in the opposing coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Jig saw of the opposing coasts of Atlantic Ocean. 
b) Fossils of glossopteris (a fern – like plant) have been found in rocks of the same age from S. America, S. Africa, India and Australia. 
c) Folded mountain ranges at Cape of Good Hope and rocks of Buenos Aires (Argentina) resemble. 
d) Major lava plateaus of South America, W. Africa, Madagascar, India and Antarctica have the same geological structures.
 e) Evidence from Glaciations as about 300 million years back (Paleozoic Era) glaciers covered the Southern Hemisphere including South America, Africa, India, Australia. 
f) Great coal deposits in the tundra and cold climatic regions of Antarctica, Siberia, North Europe. 
g) According to Wegener, Poles have changed their position, e.g. during the Carboniferous Period, the South Pole was near Natal and the North Pole was in the Pacific Ocean. Criticism 
• Wegener was criticized for failing to explain the forces that would permit continents to plough through the ocean of rocks. 
• He was declared as a crank who carefully selected only those data which supported his hypothesis, ignoring contrary evidences. 
• Wegener died on an expedition in Greenland in 1930. His theory was already eclipsed. 

B. Sea-floor Spreading 
• The hypothesis of ‘Sea-Floor Spreading’ which proves the theory of Continental drift was put forward jointly by Harry H. Hess and Robert Deitz in 1960. 
• According to Hess, the submarine mountain ranges (Mid-Ocean Ridges) were direct results of upwelling flows of magma from the Asthenosphere. 
• When magma rises from below, the earth’s crust is fractured. The magma spills out and  cools to form new sea floor, building the ridges and spreading laterally. 
• The following three important facts were established by Hess: 
(i) The crust below the ocean floor was found to be only 6 to 7 km thick, whereas below the continental surface it was 30 to 40 km. 
(ii) Mid-Oceanic Ridges were present in all the oceans. 
(iii) The ocean floors, nowhere, were found to be older than 135 million years, though the oceans are 3.9 billion (3900 million) years old. 
• Ocean floor is constantly regenerated at the mid-ocean ridges and subjected to continents lateral spreading until it is destroyed in the trenches. Following are the Evidence for Sea- flooring Spreading: 
• Occurrence of earthquakes along the crust of Mid-Ocean Ridges. 
• The dearth of sediments at the crest of Mid-Ocean Ridges and active volcanic islands like Iceland and Canary Islands.
 • Thickness of the sedimentary deposits increases away from the Mid-Oceanic Ridges. 
• There is reversal, in the main magnetic field of the earth known as ‘magnetic di-pole’ (magnetic field). 
• The normal and reverse magnetic anomalies are found in alternate manner on either side of the Mid-Ocean Ridges.
 Following Inferences can be down from the evidence:
(a) There is continuous spreading of sea floor. 
(b) The basaltic crust (igneous) is continuously formed along the Mid-Oceanic Ridges. 
(c) The newly formed basaltic layer is divided into two equal halves and thus displaced away from the Mid-Oceanic Ridge. 
(d) Alternate stripes of positive and negative magnetic anomalies are found on either side of the Mid-Oceanic ridges. 

C. Plate Tectonics
 • It assumes that the lithosphere is broken into a series of separate plates which move in response to convection in the upper mantle (Asthenosphere). 
Major Plates 1. African Plate, 2. American Plate, 3.Antarctica Plate, 4.Australian Plate, 5.Eurasian Plate, 6.Pacific Plate. 
Minor Plates 1. Arabian Plate, 2. Bismark Plate, 3. Caribbean Plate, 4. Carolina Plate, 5. Coos Plate, 6. Nazca or East Pacific Plate, 7. Juan De Fuca Plate, 8. Philippines Plate, 9. Scotia Plate.
 Different types of plate movements:
 • Constructive Plate Margins or Divergent Plate Boundaries (Ocean Ridges) 
The Plates diverge and move along mid-oceanic ridges and thus, new lithosphere is formed. The oceanic ridges stand high because their material is low in density. The mid- ceanic ridges and rift valleys of East Africa are the constructive plates.
 • Destructive Plate Margins or Convergent Plate Boundaries (Ocean Trenches)
 At Ocean trenches, one plate slips under the margins of other at an angle of 45° (the Pacific and Nazca Plates). The volcanoes of the Andes and Pacific, and the earthquake of these regions are the results of destructive Plates (Mt. St. Helens).

 • Conservative or Passive Plate margins 
In this case the plates simply slip past each other. The crust is neither created nor destroyed. Example California’s San Andreas Fault. 
Criticism 
1. Plate tectonics theory is unable to explain why subduction is limited to the Pacific coast while spreading is found in all the ocean. The length of spreading (ocean ridges) is far greatest than the subduction zone. The rate of construction is more than the rate of  destruction. 
2. The Benioff Zone (Ring of Fire) is not present equally in all probable places. For example, the intermediate and deep focus earthquakes are absent in North America.
 3. There are certain mountain ranges, such as the Eastern highlands of Australia, Drekenburg mountain of South Africa and Sierra-Dalmar of Brazil which can not be related to plate tectonics. Despite all these omissions and commissions plate tectonic is a revolutionary and comprehensive theory which scientifically explains the present distribution and arrangement of the continents and ocean basin. It also provides as satisfactory explanation of the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes. It has also confirmed the theory of Continental Drift. 
D. Isostasy
 • Isostasy is the state of balance.The gravitational adjustment of the earth’s crust is known as isostasy.
 • It is based on the principle of buoyancy (Archimedes). 
For example: A Ship sinks until it displaces a volume of water equal in weight of the ship and its cargo.Thus an empty ship displaces a smaller volume of water than the same ship when fully laoded. Mt. Everest (8.84 km above sea level) and its adjacent peaks are not supported by the mechanical strength of materials within the earth because nothing on (or in) our world is that strong. The mountains upper surface of the continents floats high above  sea level because the lithosphere of which it is part sinks into the asthenosphere until it has its own mass. 
• The state of equilibrium, resembling floatation, in which segments of the earth crust stand at levels determined by their thickness and density.
 • Isostatic equilibrium is attained by flow of material in the mantle.
 • Isostasy takes place on the Earth wherever a large amount of weight is present. This weight might be due to a large mountain, ice from an ice age, or even from manmade structures, such as the weight from large manmade lakes.
 • Isostasy also takes place when a large amount of weight is removed from an area, causing that portion of the Earth’s crust to rise, such as when ice caps melt. 

POLITY


CONSTITUTION AND TYPES
What is a Constitution?
• A constitution is a basic law of the land which establishes the relations between various organs of the government and also defines the nature and polity of that country. The polity defines the basic structure of law and the rights and obligations of both the state and the citizens.
• On the other hand, the document containing laws and rules which determine and describe the form of the government, the relationship between the citizens and the government, is called a Constitution.
Importance of Constitution:
• To maintain the smooth functioning of modern welfare state, there is a need of a set of codified rules which determines or will determine the form of government, the relationship between the citizens and government in order to sustain and flourish.
• It is the constitution which establishes these relationships and lays down the objectives of the state which it has to achieve. It also describes the rights and duties of the citizens and also limit the powers of the government(s).
• It facilitates the minimal coordination among the members of a society by specifying who has the power to make decisions in a society and also decides how the government will be constituted.
• Thus, a constitution is considered to be the basis for the governance of the country both in terms of goals and objectives as well as their structures and functions.
Functions of a constitution: The constitution whether written or unwritten, is a political structure having several functions:
• Expression of Ideology: It reflects the ideology and philosophy of a nation state. For example: the ideology of Indian Constitution is based on a socialist and secular social system. On the other hand, the U.S.A. follows the ideal of a capitalist -social order.
• Expression of Basic Law: Constitution present basic laws which could be modified or replaced through a process called extra-ordinary procedure of amendment. There is a special law also which usually focuses upon the rights of the citizens, for instance, rights concerning language, speech, religion, assembly, the press, property and so on.
• Organizational framework: It provides organizational framework for the governments. It defines the functions of the legislature, executive and judiciary, their inter-relationship, restrictions on their authority etc.
• Levels of Government: Constitution generally explains the levels of different organs of the government. Whether it is federal, quasi-federal or unitary, will be described by the constitution. They delineate the power levels of national and provincial governments.
• Amendment provision: As it would not be possible to foretell all possibilities in future with great degree of accuracy, there must be sufficient provisions for amendment of the constitution. It should contain a set of directions for its own modifications. The system might collapse if it lacks in scope for modification. An inherent capacity to change according to changing times and needs, help any system to survive and improve.
Types of Constitution:
Broadly speaking, constitution can be of:
Two types based on the nature of document:
• Written: Written in the form of a book or a series of documents combined in the form of a book which is consciously framed and enacted. It is formulated and enacted by a constituent assembly or a council or a legislature whose members are elected by the people for whom the constitution is being written.
• For Example: Indian Constitution (the longest written constitution), Constitution of America etc.
• Unwritten: It is not committed of systematic writing by a particular constituent assembly, rather, evolved or developed due to a number of customs, usages, parliamentary acts and traditions.
• For example, the British constitution has evolved on the basis of all these over a period of many centuries.
Two types based on the nature of polity:
• Unitary: Establishes single authority without dividing powers among separate entities. However, there may be other legislative and executive authorities under a unitary constitution but they enjoy only delegated powers and not constitutionally granted powers.
• For Example: British Constitution which only recognizes the British Parliament and the central government without having any state type legislatures or government.
• Federal: It shares powers between two distinct entities namely, federal or the union government and the state governments without having inferior to each other as both derive its powers directly from the constitution.
• Countries with large population, geographical size, social, cultural and linguistic diversities generally adopt federal form of constitution to allow autonomy of governance to the constituent states. For example, the US, Canadian, Australian Constitutions are federal constitutions.

Praveen

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