Indian Presidency Constitutiional Law and Practice

............................................................................................................................
Description
President's office in India has not received adequate attention and space in writings on our country's Constitution and Polity. In fact, there has been a sustained and systematic effort in the academia and in politics to underrate, undermine and even denigrate the importance and relevance of the institution of the President of the Republic. The analysis presented here has been worked out after deep study and experience. It seeks to establish a more balanced perspective on the role of our Presidents in discharging their obligation to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law" and to devote themselves "to the service and well-being of the people of India." The immediate provocation to publish this study somewhat in haste, no doubt, happened to be the 2012 Presidential election, but it is believed that it would always be found useful by all concerned citizens and scholars and students of India's Constitution, Constitutional Law and Political System. For, it also presents an agenda and a blueprint for future. Full texts of some documents including the correspondence between Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Attorney-General and Alladi Krishnaswamy Aiyar are being brought in the public domain probably for the first time. It is hoped that this timely publication would be widely welcomed, that it would generate a national debate and that it would be of lasting value.
............................................................................................................................
Contents
1.    62 years of the Presidency The Constitutional Mandate Theory and Practice
2..   President of India
3.    Some Reflections on the Presidential Election, 2012
4.    Next President
5.    Making of the President, 2012
6.    Citizens and the President of India
7.    President of India : A Personal Perspective Nation must made the Right Choice
8.    The Soldier and his Supreme Commander
9.    Locating the President in Representative Democracy of India
10.  Their man in the Reshtrapathi Bhawan
Annexures
............................................................................................................................
Author Details
Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, Advocate Supreme Court and consultant in constitutional law and parliamentary matters, had his higher education and professional training at Allahabad, New Delhi, Washington D.C., Dallas, London and Geneva. He took voluntary retirement from the office of Secretary-General Lok Sabha in the year 1990 and since then has been an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. He is also Honorary Editor of the monthly South Asia Politics. Enrolled as an advocate after retirement, he has been doing some chamber practice and has been giving legal opinion in important matters specially in the constitutional and parliamentary fields. His clients/querists have included several high dignitaries, Governors, Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, advocates, Government Departments, PSUs, institutions and others. He is also on the GOI Panel of Advocates for the Supreme Court. Dr. Kashyap has a few dozen prestigious published volumes and a few hundred papers, articles and monographs to his credit. He has been a Nehru Fellow, US Congressional Fellow of APSA, UN (UNDP) Fellow and Fellow of the Academy of American and International Law. He was awarded the Honorary title of Commander and Honorary order of the Academy of San Francisco for services to constitutional studies. He has been honoured by "Vidur Samman', 'Rajiv Smriti Samman', Vishist Seva Award', Vidhi Seva Samman and Great Son of the Soil Award among others. Earlier, he was Director of the Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies and headed the CIDD of IPU at Geneva. He was a member of the IIC Committee on the Constitution and Honorary Director of their project on Constitutional Reforms. He was Honorary Constitutional Advisor to Government of India on PRI Laws and Institutions and a Member of the Justice Verma Committee on Fundamental Duties. Also, he was a member of National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution and Chairman of its Drafting and Editorial Committee (2000-2002). For some years, he was an Honorary Member of the Law Faculty of the Marathwada University and Member of the Board of Research Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He has been examiner of several universities for LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Law. He is on the Advisory/Governing Boards of a number of national and international organizations, journals, institutes, universities, etc. Also, he is Chairman/Member of several high level Committees and Boards, President Rashtriya Jagriti Sansthan and ORF Institute of Politics and Governance.
Abhaya Kashyap educated in Delhi, Srinagar and Geneva, Prof. Abhaya Kashyap is a senior partner of a reputed law firm and an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He is the Director and Secretary General of Rashtriya Jagriti Sansthan, an NGO that has been working on issues of judicial reforms, electoral reforms, good governance, terrorism etc. He has been publishing South Asia Politics, a reputed magazine on political affairs for over a decade. He has previously worked as an advisor to the Government of Gujarat on legal issues and was previously also a member of the Planning Commission for the Government of Meghalaya. He has also been the director and managing director of various IT Companies. He has designed and developed sophisticated software systems in the field of war games, foreign exchange movement simulation, MIS and healthcare. He ha written extensively on contemporary legal issues, Constitutional Law, Electoral Reforms, Vedic Mathematics, IT, Hinduism and Indian Identity. Email: abhaya@kasl
............................................................................................................................