SUBMITTED TO:

Mr. Kamal Narayan

Assistant Professor, Political Theory

HNLU, Raipur

SUBMITTED BY:

Abhijeet Audichya

ID No.- 20/2020/2211

SECTION-A

SEMESTER I

B.A.L.LB (Hons.)
 SACE-I

Answers
1 a) : This statement mentions the various elements required for transforming an uncivilized
society into a civilized state. These elements are-

 Population - As the main aim of the formation of the state is to safeguard and promote
the interests of individuals and society, population becomes one of the most important
elements in the origin of state.

 Territory - It is a myth to form state without the existence of an independent territory. It

needs to be of certain circumference. It is necessary as it creates a political jurisdiction
for the government.

 Government – It is the working agency of the state. Its role is to protect the will and
interests of the people living withing the jurisdiction of the state.

 Sovereignty – It is the power which is possessed by the government within the

jurisdiction of the state. It refers to the power to take independent decisions regarding the
state i.e., without the external pressure from other states.

Also, this statement mentions other elements like entering into international agreements,
common laws and capable of making war and peace.

Now let us apply these concepts in context of India-

1. Population – For a society to be called a state, it must have a fixed and a certain
population. This includes the usual residents of the society which fall within the ambit of
the political jurisdiction of the central authority.

According to the census of 2011, the population of India is 121.01 crore which accounts
for 17.70 % of the world population.

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 Apart from this, approximately 32 million NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) and PIOs
(Persons of Indian origin) live in various foreign countries like USA, UK, Australia and
Canada.

2. Territory – This is the geographical area over which the political body has authority.
The territorial area which comes under India is 32.86 lakh km 2 which includes 91% land
and 9% water. It consists of 28 states and 8 union territories.

Also, it has an international land border of 15,200 km and a coastline of 7,516.6 km. In
the south, India is bordered by the Indian Ocean—in particular the Arabian Sea to the
west, the Lakshadweep Sea to the southwest, the Bay of Bengal to the east, and the
Indian Ocean to the south.

3. Government- The government created by the constitution of India as the legislative,

executive and judicial authority of is the Government of India.

It consists of the central and state governments which are the politically elected and
authoritative bodies. Indian government is elected through indirect elections which are
held at different time intervals according to the life span of respective bodies.

The Government of India, through the Part III of the constitution, provides fundamental
rights and duties to the citizens of the country to protect their interests and opinions.
These rights cannot be abrogated at any time except emergency times.

The Election Commission of India regulates the functioning of these elections to check
whether the elections are held at regular time intervals and whether they are conducted
fairly.

4. Sovereignty – Though India gained independence on 15th August of 1947 but declared
itself as a sovereign nation only on 26th January of 1950 when the Constitution of India
came into force.

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 There are two kinds of sovereignty as prescribed by the constitution –

a) External : This means that India may acquire any foreign territory to increase
the jurisdiction of Indian government and may also give up any part of the
present Indian territory.

b) Internal : This states that India will take all its domestic decisions
independently and unilaterally without any foreign or external discussion from
any country. These domestic decisions have been classified under 4 heads-
Executive, Legislative, Judiciary and Administrative.

For e.g., Indian government had passed the Citizenship Amendment Act
(originally passed in 1955) in 2019. Despite severe pressure from foreign
countries and groups like Pakistan, European Union (EU), Organization of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) etc. , Indian government did not retract from its
decision.

5. Capable of making War and Peace – Indian government, as mentioned earlier, is

sovereign enough to declare war and peace with any other foreign country. The president
is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. On the advice of the Union
Council of Ministers headed by the prime minister, the president can declare war or
conclude peace.
For example, Indian government (Without any external aid and advice of any country)
declared wars with – a) China in 1962 to safeguard Aksai Chin from Chinese army. This
war was lost by India.

b) Pakistan in 1947 (Partition), 1965 (Jammu and Kashmir) and 1999 (Kargil, J&K).
Also, India declared war with Pakistan in 1971 for the liberation of Bangladesh. India
won all these wars.

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 6. Common Laws – Indian laws, after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, are
enacted in all the parts of the Indian territory without any prejudice, but with some
exceptions. The common laws include-
a) Voting laws- This comprises of Universal adult suffrage and voting
rights to females.
b) Fundamental rights- This includes Right to life, equality and freedom.
c) Tax laws- They comprise of Income, State, Central, Value added and
Goods and Services Tax (GST) which apply irrespective of the place
and the population.
d) Traffic and Motor Vehicle laws- These are the laws which govern the
traffic and motor vehicles on the Indian roads.
The laws which do not apply to whole of India include the Citizenship
Laws which are not applied directly in north eastern states like
Manipur and Meghalaya. Also, before the bifurcation of J and K and
abrogation of Article 370, the central property and land laws were not
applied to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

7. Entering into International Agreements – This is a very important criterion in judging

a state’s sovereignty. India can enter into or recede from any international agreement
without any external aid and advice of foreign countries. These include-
 Paris Agreement- This agreement was adopted by UN countries in 2015 to
reduce environmental pollution especially air pollution and Greenhouse
gases.
 Anti-Terrorism Agreement of UN- This was signed in 1997 to combat the
terrorism activities. This was also signed by India.
 International Solar Alliance- It was initiated by India only, in collaboration
with France in the year 2015 during the Paris conference of parties (COP).

All of these agreements were signed and adopted by India without any foreign country
interfering in the process. So, after applying all these concepts in the context of India, we can
clearly conclude that India fulfils every criterion required to be known as a state.

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b) Yes, the state is neither the handwork of God, nor the result of the superior force, nor
the creation of resolution or convention nor a mere expansion of a family. It is a fairly
complex development which is a combination of several criteria propounded by several experts.

There have been many theories regarding what is a state and what isn’t. In this assignment, we
will be discussing those theories and, in the end, will try to come up with a satisfying theory of
origin state. We would be discussing 3 major theories of origin of state.

1. Force Theory : This theory perceives physical force as the foundation stone of the state.
It was chiefly propounded by Jenks, Bernhardi, Oppenheim and Trietsche. It ignores the
concepts of rationality, peace, consent and reason. It follows the old saying “Might is
Right”. The subjects have to strictly adhere to the principles and regulations set by the
state. There is no place for democratic concepts like freedom. There is a supposition of
wandering tribes (at the time of origin of states) in the theory. The timeline, as speculated
by this theory, is as follows-
a) These tribes would be constantly in search of food and shelter. Due to the
scarcity of food and urge to possess power over other, there would be fights
between various tribes.
b) The weaker tribes would get defeated and the stronger tribes emerged as states.
Now the stronger tribes would try to conquer as many small tribes possible and
establish their authority. This would end up in forming a state.

This theory glorifies war and aggression. It postulates that the main aim of the states at
that time was to maintain power and brutal force. It also justifies complete suppression of
the opponent tribe or state for the sake of conquering them. The main ingredients
required for the origin of a state, as propounded by this theory, are physical strength and
brutal force.

Criticism : 1. It fails in its primary motive- The chief reason for propounding the theory
was to answer how states were formed. This includes the territory, government and the
sovereignty of the state. But it only explains how some tribes started living together.

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 2. It reflects the bad picture of human nature- According to many psychological studies,
human mind is occupied with feelings like kindness and compassion. But the theory
portrays a violent and ruthless character of the humans.

2. Marxist Theory : This theory was propounded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. This
theory postulates that the basic reason for the formation of a state is class struggle a use
of force.
It is quite similar to the force theory but differs from it as well due to the presence of
class struggles. The Marxists believed that once there was a primitive society where there
was no excess wealth to fight for and hence, no state.

Due to the changing times like increasing wealth and division of labor, the society got
split into antagonizing groups or classes. All the classes had conflicting beliefs and
interests.

The most dominant class which had control over the production activities came forward,
dominating all other weak classes, to form the state. Hence, the state became an
instrument for promoting domination and oppression of the weak classes.
Then, Engels came forward to introduce the economic aspect of the origin of state. He
speculated that state was the medium of economically dominant classes.

Criticism : 1. The classes are said to be having different interests which is true but the
fact that they were at arms with each other is false. It is believed that the different classes
cooperated with each other and contributed fairly to the overall development of the state.

2. The working class has been enough protection in all the states which shows that the
chances of revolt by them are very meagre, if any. This falsifies the claims of Marx and
Engels.

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3. Historical / Evolutionary Theory : According to this theory, the state is a result of
series of events and is part of a historical growth. It is a gradual process of social
development. It is a slow process which has transformed itself from its simple pristine
form into its complex modern form in a very large time span.

The formation of state is not an instant process but a collection of many factors which
include-
1. Kinship : This is blood relations. Family plays a great role in the formation of a state. It
constitutes the first link in this process. It binds the people and it creates the society.

2. Religion : Just like kinship, it creates a class of people with similar interests. It creates
respect for authority. Also, there was a fear of that authority in the people while doing
misconduct.

3. Property : Property and wealth were some of the most important elements in the
formation of state. As the wealth and property of the people increased, they felt the need
to protect it which required the origin of a state.

4. Force and Defense : Physical force was one of the most important but not the only
factor in formation of a state. It helped in forming the initial empires and kingdoms which
later developed into states.

5. Political awareness : This term means ‘need for a common authority to protect each
other’s interests and rights’. The regulation of all the above 4 factors is done through this
common body.

After discussing and critically analyzing the above 3 theories explaining the origin of
state, we can conclude that the theory that most of the people will consider to be the true
theory of origin of state is the Historical or Evolutionary theory which tells us that how
state is not an instant development but a collection of many elements and an outcome of
several developments.

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 References

 Theories on the Origin of State | Essay | Theories | Political Science. Political Science
Notes. Retrieved 28 December 2020, from
https://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/essay/state/theories-on-the-origin-of-state-essay-
theories-political-science/1513.

 Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner,
India. Censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 29 December 2020, from
https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-common/censusdata2011.html.

 Marxist Theory of State: Definition, Origin and 2 Models. Political Science Notes.
Retrieved 28 December 2020, from https://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/theories-of-
state/marxist-theory-of-state-definition-origin-and-2-models/769.

 History and Evolutionary Theory. Retrieved 30 December 2020, from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259741061_History_and_Evolutionary_Theory
.

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 SACE- II

Answers

1.a) Political and Economic Equality and Their Role in Indian Elections:
Let us first discuss the concept of equality. A significant assumption of a self-governing society
is the belief in equality. It does not mean absolute equality but equal resources to all. It derives
from aequalis, aequus and aequalitas.

Many of these are ancient words in French or Latin. These words from French/Latin mean even,
level and fair. In general terms, equality implies absolute equality of care and compensation for
all.

Political Equality: It is characterized as equitable opportunity for all to engage in the political
process. This requires the notion of granting equal democratic representation to all people and
some consistent requirements for all.

Similar voting rights must be exercised by all people and they should have a similar voice in
government work. They should have equal opportunities to engage actively in the country's
political life and affairs.

Political freedom guarantees all people the enjoyment of similar political rights. The compulsory
franchise for adults is a way to this end. In India, universal adult suffrage has been introduced. In
England, the USSR, the U.S.A., France and several other nations, the same provision has been
made.

It also includes legal equality and civil equality which can be defined as the granting of equal
rights and freedoms to all citizens and social classes. All persons must be considered fairly
before the rules. Civil liberty requires the possession by all people of similar civil freedoms and
civil liberties.

The rule of law should be in effect, and regulations must be fairly binding on all. Equality in all
of these ways must be maintained in every society.

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Economic Equality: It does not mean that everyone enjoys fair care or equal pay or equal
wages. This applies to equal and sufficient conditions for all to work and to earn their
livelihoods. That also means that until the special needs of the few are satisfied, the primary
needs of everyone can be met. The difference between the poor and the wealthy should be the
shortest. The allocation of income and capital in society should be equal.

Political freedom is closely correlated with economic equality. The immense importance of
economic equality was stated by two professors and politicians:

Professor Harold Laski said "Political equality is never real unless, it is accompanied with virtual
economic liberty; political power."

According to Professor James Bryce “Economic Equality is the attempt to expunge all
differences in wealth' allotting to every man and woman an equal share in worldly goods."

But in real politics, this idea of perfect economic equity can never materialize. In general,
economic equity means supplying all with equal opportunity so that they can make economic
change. Only under Democracy may this be achieved and not in Capitalism.

But in our society, total economic equality of income has never occurred. But democratic
establishment offers equal opportunity for at least all that are competent and with equal
opportunities possess ability, differences may occur amongst people, but with genuine efforts in
society one's role can be enhanced.

Affirmative Actions: Affirmative intervention is the strategy for erring members of a

marginalized community who are either suffering from injustice within a society or have
previously suffered from it. Sometimes, for historical reasons, including injustice or bondage,
these persons are robbed.

Affirmative action is required to endorse the resources within a community of identified minority
communities to give them fair access to that of the white population. Reservation in India is a
form of affirmative action in India aimed at enhancing the well-being of backward and under-
represented groups predominantly identified by their caste.

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Relation between Political and Economic Equality- Political liberty cannot be imagined
without economic liberty. This is because-

Political liberty grants a person the right to engage in political operations, for example Right to
vote to create a state, right to occupy elected positions, right to political party forming and Right
to an electoral fight.

On the other hand, Economic equality offers equal opportunity for a person to earn a livelihood,
i.e.-

a) All people must have the resources to fulfill their requirements.

b) There should not be exploitation.

c) For public welfare, means of production and distribution should be established.

Now let us understand this relationship through some examples-

i) Often a poor man is drawn to fake politicians' promises because they lack enough intellect to
understand right or wrong because they do not obtain even decent education, so they do not
exercise their right to vote properly.

ii) To satisfy their requirements, poor voters often sell their votes, by getting either cash or kind,
to rich politicians who trap them by making promises. But these poor voters don’t realize that
they are abusing their right to vote instead of using it for the country's welfare.

iii) Contesting elections is a costly practice and it is not possible to contest elections for the
vulnerable who cannot comfortably afford a day's food. Therefore, because of the lack of
wherewithal, poor citizens are naturally barred from contesting elections. It can be argued that
economic equality is also required for political equality.

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Increasing role of Economic Wealth in Indian Elections in the 21 st century:

The former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopala swamy had said that Election Commission
has been able to contain the role of muscle power in elections but it could do nothing to contain
the role of money power in elections.

Elections are the backbone of every political structure. In the current period, democracies are
overwhelmingly representative in character, but they are implemented in real world through the
process of election.

The month-long general election will see an outlay of something like 100 billion rupees (two
billion dollars), according to a report by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS).Of this amount, the
National Election Commission and the State Government will spend approximately 20 billion
rupees on arranging the actual organization of the election. Polling, which takes place in five
steps, involves a mammoth safety process.

The remainder will be invested by official parties and actual candidates, with the CMS predicting
that up to 20 billion rupees have been earmarked for "unofficial" cash transactions on the ballot
of individual votes.

Though money plays a key role in most elections around the world, a very peculiar phenomenon
is the special dependency of Indian parties on candidates with great personal wealth. India's
parties show very poor "intra-party democracy" since a tiny coterie of party leaders regularly
make the political decisions of the party.

More significantly, in the absence of a working political structure within the party, party tickets
are usually circulated or even sold by certain insiders.

The root cause of the rise of wealthy candidates is India's elected politicians' poor representative
position. The laws regulating the system are such that lawmakers have no policy-making
authority, which is dominated by a limited set of party leaders, even after winning elections.

In short, there is no opportunity for India's leaders to engage in simply being successful leaders,
and they are more likely to see the election as a potential economic gain. It all adds up to a
corrupted political structure in which our needs need not be reflected by the candidates we vote
for.

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1.b) “Justice as Fairness” by John Rawls:

As John Rawls advocated in his book 'A Philosophy of Justice' (1971), the Theory of Justice
introduced a definition of justice that generalized what justice is and related to taking it to a
greater degree of abstraction rather than describing it in concrete form. There are certain
concepts of justice, according to John Rawls, that act as an undercurrent in the construction of a
well-organized society that functions in a specific way.

There are those values that 'free and rational' people will follow in order to further their own
interest in an initial position of equality. There is ‘equality' that is fundamental to their
relationship. And it is this concept which governs their additional agreements. He meant through
agreements here, the legislation that will be enacted at later times will operate under this same
premise. So, this is what he viewed as 'justice as equity.'

He discusses how it is possible to address questions such as how society should be organized,
how fundamental rights and responsibilities should be allocated to persons, and how social and
economic rewards should be distributed to all members of society by the logical ordering of
concepts of justice. He was mostly inclined to describe the ideals of justice that would govern an
ideal society. But he completely overlooked the concept of how justice in an unequal world can
be preserved.

Rawls explains that the initial status of equality refers to a condition of existence of 'justice as
equity'. It is a strictly imaginary case that refers to a certain definition of justice. Four of the main
attributes of an individual interested in discovering the ideals of justice in their original position
are:

 They are not conscious of their place in society, their rank as a class or their social
standing.
 In the allocation of natural properties and skills, they do not realize their fortune.
 They are also ignorant of their natural resources and talents and their understanding,
abilities and preferences.
 They still may not grasp their idea of the items or their particular psychological
propensities.

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There is, thus, a 'veil of ignorance' under which all like, hate, gain, desire, power, weakness,
skill, social standing is concealed. Behind this veil of ignorance, the ideals of justice are chosen.
It means that the result of the inevitable opportunity or the contingency of social conditions
should not advantage or hinder anyone in the choice of values.

Let us understand this through an example- Suppose there is a community in which persons
belong either to an advantaged group or to a deprived group. These individuals are now totally
ignorant of which party they belong to or what their preferences are, i.e., they are in their so-
called original position, of figuring out the values of justice. Then, whatever values they choose
will be called 'justice as fairness' by John Rawls in these status quo situations.

Now let us understand this concept in the Indian context. Years before the book 'The Philosophy
of Justice' appeared, the Indian Constitution was framed, but it seems as though there is a co-
relationship between the two. In fact, the very two concepts of justice that Rawls preferred seem
to fit fully into the Indian Constitution. Now, let us interpret some articles of Indian Constitution
in the light of Rawls theory.

1) Article 14: Article 14 does not mean that all laws must be of a general nature, or that the same
law must be applied to all persons, or that all laws must be equally applicable, because all
persons are not in the same place by nature, accomplishment and circumstances. The State can
treat different people differently if such treatment is warranted by the circumstances.

Actually, under unequal situations, similar care will amount to discrimination. In order to
accomplish particular goals, the government must have the authority to group entities, objects
and transactions. So, if civilization is to advance, a fair classification is not allowed, but required.

2) Article 21: If generally understood, the term 'personal freedom' under Article 21 is capable of
adding the rights alluded to in Article 19. But in the case of Gopalan, the Supreme Court took a
very literal view and very loosely understood these terms.

The Court held that because the word 'liberty' is defined by the word 'family,' which is a broader
definition, it does not contain everything that is meant in the word 'liberty.' It represents nothing

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more than the human body's liberation from imprisonment and imprisonment from false arrest or
unlawful detention.

According to Rawls theory as well, providing personal liberty (including right to life, safe
environment etc.) is a mandate upon the state.

Rawls Theory and Reservation in India:

In the landmark case of Indira Sawhney v. Union of India, popularly known as the Mandal Case,
the scope and extent of Article 16(4) was extensively investigated by the Supreme Court.

In the Mandal case, the second theory of justice, as recommended by John Rawls, is specifically
expressed in the structure of social and economic inequality in such a way as to:

(a) to be of the highest value to the least-favored members of society; (the difference principle).

(b) offices and occupations shall, under terms of equitable equal opportunity, be available to
everyone.

Work reservations and educational establishments specifically reflect the Rawlsian approach. It
is a real reality that not all people have the same social and economic history. Some may have
been less fortunate members of the group. The reservations appear to favor the least advantaged
members of the population in the Mandal situation.

Another significant point to be remembered is that under "fair equal opportunity" conditions,
offices and positions should be open to all. Thus, offices and positions would only be open to
everyone when there is equitable representation between all who participate. By nature, not all
participants are put equally. Any are lucky enough to have been born in a highly educated
environment.

Finally, it should be inferred that, as suggested by John Rawls, the Philosophy of Justice has
revealed the mirror of the definition of justice as precisely what it is. While describing justice in
plain terms is challenging, Rawls has been more or less effective in defining justice.

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 References
 Theory of Justice by John Rawls: its criticism by Martha C. Nussbaum and Amartya Sen.
Legalservicesindia.com. Retrieved 27 January 2021, from
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1897/Theory-of-Justice-by-John-Rawls:-its-
criticism-by-Martha-C.-Nussbaum-and-Amartya-Sen.html.

 Does economic inequality undermine political equality? Testing two common

assumptions. sciencedirect. Retrieved 29 January 2021, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379420300858.

 Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom;
Affirmative action. Civilserviceindia.com. Retrieved 30 January 2021, from
https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Political-Science/notes/equality-social-
political-and-economic.html.

 Presscouncil.nic.in. n.d. [online] Available at:

<https://presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/speechpdf/Role%20of%20Money%20Power%20
in%20Elections,Coimbatore.pdf> [Accessed 31 January 2021].

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