document_title: Borg (Star Trek)

question_text: when do the borg first appear in star trek next generation

question_tokens: when do the borg first appear in star trek next generation

text: Borg (Star Trek)

text: Concept[edit]

text: In the text commentary to the collector's edition of Star Trek: First Contact, Michael Okuda revealed that Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) writers began to develop the idea of the Borg as early as the first-season episode, "Conspiracy", which introduced a coercive, symbiotic life form that took over key Federation personnel. It was thwarted by the Enterprise crew and presumably never heard of again (the 'alien conspiracy' plotline itself was scrapped when it became clear that the concept was too grim for Star Trek's target audience).[citation needed] Plans to feature the Borg as an increasingly menacing threat were subsequently scrapped in favor of a more subtle introduction, beginning with the mystery of missing colonies on both sides of the Neutral Zone in "The Neutral Zone" and culminating in the encounter between Borg and the Enterprise crew in "Q Who?".

text: The Borg represented a new antagonist and regular enemy that was lacking during the first season of TNG; the Klingons were allies and the Romulans mostly absent. The Ferengi were originally intended as the new enemy for the United Federation of Planets, but their comical appearance and devotion to capitalist accumulation by free enterprise failed to portray them as a convincing threat. The Borg, however, with their frightening appearance, their immense power, and their sinister motive, became the signature villains for the TNG and Voyager eras of Star Trek. In Voyager episode "Q2", even Q tells his son to "don't provoke the Borg."

text: "Resistance is futile"[edit]

text: Individual Borg rarely speak, though they do send a collective audio message to their targets, stating that "resistance is futile", generally followed by a declaration that the target in question will be assimilated and its "biological and technological distinctiveness" will be added to their own. The exact phrasing varies and evolves over the various series episodes and film. One phrase, from TNG, is:

text: "We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."

text: The complete phrase used in Star Trek: First Contact, as performed by Jeff Coopwood[3] is:

text: "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."[4]

text: The phrase "resistance is futile" became prevalent in popular culture from its use in the television show TNG.[5][6][7][8]

text: The Borg uttered the phrase in several Star Trek episodes and the film Star Trek: First Contact (which used the phrase as the tagline for the 1996 film). Patrick Stewart's delivery of the line, as Locutus, in "The Best of Both Worlds" was ranked no. 93 in TV Land's list of "The 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases".[9] It was used as the title for an episode of the TV series Dexter. The phrase appears in several preceding TV series, including Doctor Who episode "The Deadly Assassin" (1976), where it is used by the Master through the voice of his mouthpiece, Chancellor Goth, and on Space: 1999 (series 2, episode 24, 1976) where it was used by Maya responding to "The Dorcons", during an attack on Moonbase Alpha.[10] As well as the Borg bearing remarkable resemblance to Lord Dread and the bio-dreads of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, the similar phrase "resistance was futile" was used in reference to Lyman Taggert, the human who became Lord Dread.[11] This comic book also antedates the appearance of the Borg in TNG.

text: Origin[edit]

text: The origin of the Borg is never made clear, though they are portrayed as having existed for hundreds of thousands of years (as attested by Guinan and the Borg Queen). In Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen merely states that the Borg were once much like humanity, "flawed and weak", but gradually developed into a partially synthetic species in an ongoing attempt to evolve and perfect themselves.

text: In TNG's "Q Who?", Guinan mentions that the Borg are "made up of organic and artificial life [...] which has been developing for [...] thousands of centuries." In the later episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Dragon's Teeth", Gedrin, of the race the Vaadwaur, says that before his people and he were put into suspended animation 892 years earlier, the Borg had assimilated only a few colonies in the Delta Quadrant and were considered essentially a minor nuisance. Now awake in the 24th century, he is amazed to see that the Borg control a vast area of the Delta Quadrant. Seven of Nine comments that the Borg's collective memories of that time period are fragmentary, though it is never established why that is.

text: The Star Trek Encyclopedia speculates that a connection could exist between the Borg and V'ger, the vessel encountered in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In this movie, Spock states, "Any show of resistance would be futile, Captain," which could be paraphrased as the Borg's "Resistance is futile". This idea of a connection is advanced in William Shatner's novel The Return. The connection was also suggested in a letter included in Starlog no. 160 (November 1990). The letter writer, Christopher Haviland, also speculated that the original Borg drones were members of a race called "the Preservers", which Spock had suggested in the original series episode "The Paradise Syndrome" might be responsible for why so many humanoids populate the galaxy. It was confirmed in the TNG episode "The Chase" that an ancient species seeded hundreds, if not thousands of planets with their DNA, creating the Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and many more. Coincidentally, in the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (written by Gene Roddenberry), the V'ger entity notes that the Ilia probe is resisting the programming given to it because of residual memories and feelings for Captain Decker, from its precise replication of the Deltan lieutenant. When V'ger becomes aware of this, it decides that "the resistance was futile, of course".

text: The extra section of the non-canon game Star Trek: Legacy contains the supposed "Origin of the Borg", which tells the story of V'ger being sucked into a black hole. V'ger was found by a race of living machines which gave it a form suitable to fulfilling its simplistic programming. Unable to determine who its creator could be, the probe declared all carbon-based life an infestation of the creator's universe, leading to assimilation. From this, the Borg were created, as extensions of V'ger's purpose. Drones were made from those assimilated and merged into a collective consciousness. The Borg Queen was created out of the necessity for a single unifying voice. However, with thoughts and desires of her own, she was no longer bound to serve V'ger.

text: In the graphic novel Star Trek: The Manga, the Borg resulted from an experiment in medical nanotechnology gone wrong. An alien species under threat of extinction by an incurable disease created a repository satellite containing test subjects infused with body parts, organs, and DNA of multiple species along with cybernetic enhancements put in place by advanced medical technology. The satellite was maintained by nanomachines, which also maintained the medical equipment on board. The medical facility is parked in orbit by a black hole, and along with the anomalous states of time around the black hole, allows long-term research to continue at an accelerated time scale rather than in real-time speed. As the medical facility deteriorates, so does the programming of the nanomachines. The nanomachines began infusing themselves into the patients, interpreting them as part of the satellite in need of repair. Among the patients is the daughter of the head medical researcher of the satellite. The satellite eventually falls apart in an encounter with an away team from the Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk. In the final moments of the satellite's destruction and the escape of the crew members of the Enterprise with the patients, the subjects display qualities inherently resembling the Borg: injection of nanomachines in a fashion like assimilation, rapid adaptation to weaponry, and a hive mind consciousness, as all the subjects begin following the whim of the daughter. As succumbing to the disease was inevitable, and the corrupt nanomachine programming infused itself into the bodies, the final image of the page of the manga Borg origin is left with the daughter turned Borg Queen, stating, "Resistance is futile."

text: In the novel Lost Souls (the third book in the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy), the Borg are revealed to be the survivors of the Caeliar city Mantilis. Thrown across the galaxy in the Delta Quadrant and back in time to about 4500 BC by the destruction of Erigol at the climax of Gods of Night, the first book in the trilogy, a group of human survivors from the starship Columbia NX-02 and Caeliar scientists try to survive in a harsh arctic climate. Most of the human survivors die of exposure, while several Caeliar are absorbed into their race's gestalt to give life to the others in their group mind.

text: The Caeliar offer the remaining humans a merging of human and Caeliar, to allow both groups to survive. The human survivors are resistant and as time goes on, the Caeliar called Sedin becomes the sole survivor of her group, her mental processes and her form both degrading as time goes on. When the humans return to Sedin for help, she forces them to merge with her, unwilling to allow herself to die when a union can save her life. The forced merging of the humans and the mostly decayed Caeliar results in the creation of the first Borg, the name being created due to the fragmented thought of the first drone as he was assimilated (his last thought was that he would not become some cyborg, with his individuality ceasing before he could finish thinking the final word). The gestalt group mind is perverted to become the collective, driven by Sedin's desperate hunger and need to add the strength, technology, and life-force of others to her own. Ironically, while the Caeliar were–albeit accidentally–involved in the creation of the Borg, they also provide the means to end it; in the 24th century, the Caeliar absorb the entire Borg collective back into themselves, ending the cyborgs' centuries-long reign of terror.

text: Characteristics[edit]

text: General design[edit]

text: Though Borg costumes are all unique, they share several common characteristics. Borg commonly have one eye (most often the left eye) replaced with a sophisticated ocular implant which allows them to see beyond the human visual spectrum, though it may not always be added to them. This implant usually projects a red laser beam, particularly in later appearances. They also usually have one arm replaced with a prosthetic one, bearing one of a variety of multipurpose tools in place of a humanoid hand. Since different drones have slightly different roles, the arm may be specialized for medical purposes, or weaponized for tactical usage. Another defining feature is flat white skin, giving them an almost zombie-like appearance. This skin was originally dry and human-looking, but it later had a more "slick" look to it, with veins showing.

text: Due to their cybernetic enhancements, all Borg are far stronger than humans to varying degrees (depending on the species from which the drone came). Some Borg drones are just able to easily overpower most humans and similar species, while others are strong enough to pick up or lift such species off the ground or shove or toss them across a room. However, they never run to their destination, hence most species can outpace them. Borg drones are resistant to phaser fire, being completely immune to the stun setting. In addition, all Borg drones possess personal shielding which collectively adapts to phaser fire. In various episodes, phasers tend to become ineffective after a dozen shots at most, depending on the settings and time between shots. Phaser frequencies can be altered to penetrate the shield, but the Borg adapt more quickly with each change in modulation. Due to this, crews have been known to employ a variety of other countermeasures such as holodeck-generated bullets and melee weapons, as demonstrated in Star Trek: First Contact. The Borg hive mind can lead to certain downsides: Borg drones have a weakness in that they usually ignore anything which does not present itself as a direct threat (unless specifically directed to attack), allowing armed but passive Starfleet crew to walk among them relatively unscathed until threatening behavior was observed.

text: The most important cybernetic component of any Borg is their "cortical node", which controls every other implanted "fixed location" cybernetic device within a Borg's body, and is most often implanted in the forehead above the usually retained organic right eye. If the cortical node fails, the afflicted individual Borg eventually dies, as it cannot be replicated or repaired. However, successful replacement of the node can be carried out on a Borg vessel if the failure is detected promptly before the afflicted Borg's impending death.

text: Assimilation[edit]

text: Assimilation is the process by which the Borg integrate beings, cultures, and technology into their collective. "You will be assimilated" is one of the few on-screen phrases employed by the Borg when communicating with other species. The Borg are portrayed as having found and assimilated thousands of species and billions to trillions of individual life-forms throughout the galaxy. The Borg designate each species with a number assigned to them upon first contact; humanity for example being 'Species 5618'.

text: When first introduced, the Borg are said to be more interested in assimilating technology than people, roaming the universe as single-minded marauders that have assimilated starships, planets, and entire societies to collect new technology. They are discriminating in this area, finding certain races, for example the Kazon, to be technologically inferior and not worthy of assimilation. A Borg infant found aboard the first cube introduced (TNG: "Q Who?") shows that the Borg will even assimilate the children of a conquered race. However, the Borg then place the assimilated children into maturation chambers, to quickly and fully grow them into mature drones that can be of use.

text: In their second appearance, "The Best of Both Worlds", they capture and assimilate Captain Jean-Luc Picard into the collective by surgically altering him, creating Locutus of Borg, meaning "he who has spoken" or "he who speaks", in Latin, fitting as he speaks to Federation humans for them. After this, life-form assimilation becomes much more prominent in their overall behavior, as they learn about the nuances in tactics, as well as what they consider diplomacy with the human race.

text: The method of assimilating individual life-forms into the collective has been represented differently over time. The only constant is that the infant, and fetal humanoids have been grown in an accelerated state and surgically receive implants connected directly into the brain (cannot be removed without death), as well as ocular devices, tool-enhanced limbs, armor, and other prosthetics. In Star Trek: First Contact, the method of adult assimilation is depicted with the more efficient injection of nanoprobes into the individual's bloodstream through a pair of tubules that spring forth from the drone's hand (while in "The Best of Both Worlds" and Star Trek: Borg, at least some Borg were shown with a syringe like prosthetic that also acted as a data port that allowed them to interface directly with technology and share data between each other). Assimilation by tubules is depicted on-screen as being a usually fast-acting process, with the victim's skin pigmentation turning gray and mottled with visible dark tracks forming within moments of contact, though it seems that the longer the victim is being injected, the quicker they can be fully transformed. The individual is then taken away for complete assimilation by drones. The tubules can also allow for direct interfacing with technology, while they are also shown to be able to reconfigure and enhance such technology into Borg technology. Sometimes assimilated Borg have been noted to be neither male nor female.[12] One theory could be that their reproductive systems have been removed upon assimilation, yet drones such as Captain Picard and Seven of Nine are easily identified as male and female. The other reason may be that the species from whence they came was gender-less. Drones who have escaped the collective have also been shown to have a gender. The individual has all traces of individuality removed and implants are attached to the new drone so it can become an integrated part of the collective. This method of assimilation is also shown to be much more surgical in nature.[1] In Star Trek: First Contact a captured crew member is shown to have a forearm and an eye physically removed and replaced with cybernetic implants.

text: Because assimilation depends on nanoprobes, species with extremely advanced immune systems are able to resist assimilation. Thus far, Species 8472 is the only race shown to be capable of completely rejecting assimilation attempts, but other species, such as the Hirogen, have also proved more than a match, both physically and technologically against the Borg.[13] Phlox was able to partially resist the assimilation process in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration".

text: Nanoprobes are microscopic machines that inhabit a Borg's body, bloodstream, and many cybernetic implants. The probes perform the function of maintaining the Borg cybernetic systems, as well as repairing damage to the organic parts of a Borg. They generate new technology inside a Borg when needed, as well as protecting them from many forms of disease. Borg nanoprobes, each about the size of a human red blood cell, travel through the victim's bloodstream and latch on to individual cells. The nanoprobes rewrite the cellular DNA, altering the victim's biochemistry, and eventually form larger, more complicated structures and networks within the body such as electrical pathways, processing and data-storage nodes, and ultimately prosthetic devices that spring forth from the skin, similar to cancers or tumors, which can lead to severe deformation in the skin. In "Mortal Coil", Seven of Nine states that the Borg assimilated the nanoprobe technology from "Species 149". In addition, the nanoprobes work to maintain and repair their host's mechanical and biological components on a microscopic level, allowing both sets of components regenerative capabilities.

text: Though used by the Borg to exert control over another being, reprogrammed nanoprobes were used by the crew of the starship Voyager in many instances as medical aids. In one instance, the probes were used to revive crewman Neelix 18 hours, 49 minutes, and 13 seconds after death by repairing his body, and are used to treat various visitors' ailments. The ability to perform such a feat was thanks to a species that the Borg had previously assimilated.

text: The capability of nanoprobes to absorb improved technologies they find into the Borg collective is shown in the Voyager episode "Drone", where Seven of Nine's nanoprobes are fused with the Doctor's mobile emitter which uses technology from the 29th century of the history line of the Federation, creating an individual 29th-century drone existing outside the collective, with capabilities far surpassing that of late 24th-century drones. The attempt by the Borg to assimilate this drone is unsuccessful, so its enhanced capabilities are not disseminated throughout the collective.

text: The Borg do not try to immediately assimilate any being with which it comes to contact; in fact, Borg drones tend to completely ignore beings that are identified as too weak to be a threat and too inferior to be worth assimilating. Captain Picard and his team walk safely past a group of Borg drones in a scene from the film Star Trek: First Contact because they are unarmed, while the drones fulfill a programmed mission. In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Mortal Coil", Seven of Nine told Neelix that the Kazon were "unworthy" of assimilation and would only detract from the Borg's quest for perceived perfection.

text: Maturation chamber[edit]

text: The Borg use maturation chambers as the means of assimilating children that have been captured.

text: The child is kept in the maturation chamber for a period of 17 cycles.[14] Information conflicts as to how long 17 cycles is. Based on information from Star Trek: Voyager (Mortal Coil) and Star Trek: Voyager (Drone), the time equates to about six months, but in "Collective", Seven of Nine mentions that she was in her maturation chamber for five years.

text: During this time spent in the maturation chamber, nanoprobes are introduced into the child's body along with cybernetic implants which are either surgically implanted or constructed by the nanoprobes. The child's physical age is also accelerated. When the children emerge from the maturation chambers, they have physically grown into adult drones, being no different from a drone that was already an adult when assimilated.

text: The appearance of maturation chambers has changed over time, originally seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Q Who") and later in Star Trek: Voyager (Drone) and (Collective).

text: Unicomplex[edit]

text: The Unicomplex is a location in the fictional Star Trek universe that is considered the central base for the Borg pseudo-race. It is located in an unknown area of the Delta Quadrant and is the center of all processing activity for the Borg collective, as well as the home of the Borg Queen. The Unicomplex resembles a patchwork-like collection of thousands of cubes, connected by assorted conduits and transportation hubs. Borg cubes frequently cross into and out of the Unicomplex on their way to other parts of the galaxy, using transwarp conduits. The Unicomplex primarily appears in the episodes leading towards the conclusion of Star Trek: Voyager. The Unicomplex was destroyed in 2378 after the Borg Queen assimilated a neurolytic pathogen from the future by Admiral Kathryn Janeway, who had traveled back in time, as seen in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale, "Endgame".

text: Borg Collective[edit]

text: Also referred to as the "hive mind" or "collective consciousness", the Borg Collective is a civilization with a group mind. Each Borg individual, or drone, is linked to the collective by a sophisticated subspace network that ensures each member is given constant supervision and guidance. The collective is broadcast over a subspace domain similar to that used by the transporter. Being part of the collective offers significant biomedical advantages to the individual drones. The mental energy of the group consciousness can help an injured or damaged drone heal or regenerate damaged body parts or technology. The collective consciousness not only gives them the ability to "share the same thoughts", but also to adapt with great speed to defensive tactics used against them.[15]

text: Borg Queen[edit]

text: Before the movie Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg exhibited no hierarchical command structure, instead using a structure with no control center and distributed processing. First Contact introduced the Borg Queen, who is not named as such in the film, but is referred to by that name during the credits. The Queen is played by Alice Krige in this film and in the finale of Star Trek: Voyager, "Endgame". The character also appeared in Voyager's two-part episodes "Dark Frontier" and "Unimatrix Zero", but was portrayed by Susanna Thompson (due to Krige's unavailability during the filming of those episodes). Whether or not all of these appearances represent exactly the same Queen is never confirmed.

text: The Borg Queen is the focal point within the Borg collective consciousness and a unique drone within the collective, who originates from Species 125, who brings "order to chaos", referring to herself as "we" and "I" interchangeably. In First Contact, the Queen's dialogue suggests she is an expression of the Borg Collective's overall intelligence, not a controller but the avatar of the entire Collective as an individual. This sentiment is contradicted by Star Trek: Voyager, where she is seen explicitly directing, commanding, and in one instance even overriding the Collective. She also identified herself as having originally been a member of Species 125. The introduction of the Queen radically changed the canon understanding of the Borg function; some fans consider the Borg Queen "nothing more than an illogical plot device" designed to make for "good theater."[16] First Contact writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore have defended the introduction of the Queen as a dramatic necessity, however, noting on the film's DVD audio commentary that they had initially written the film with drones, but finding that it was essential for the main characters to have someone to interact with, beyond mindless drones.

text: In First Contact, the Borg Queen is seen as apparently present during Picard's former assimilation at the start as flashbacks in Picard's mind, and was believed destroyed along with that Borg cube years earlier. Here, she instead directs her attentions to Data. After he is captured by her drones, she tries to tempt him to join her by playing on his desire to be more human. She claims that she desires a semi-independent non-Borg being as an intellectual companion. This Queen is partially destroyed when her organic components are liquefied as a result of Data rupturing one of the Enterprise's warp core plasma coolant conduits. Picard finishes her off by breaking her spinal column with his own hands. The Queen is also destroyed in the Voyager episode "Endgame".

text: In the Star Trek: The Experience attraction The Borg Invasion 4-D, the Borg Queen reappears after Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant, but as Admiral Janeway attempts to kill her, she activates a transporter, allowing her to survive.

text: In the post-Star Trek Nemesis novels, the Borg Queen is not a single, irreplaceable entity, but the product of a program called "the Royal Protocol" that shares its name with a Starfleet document outlining requirements when dealing with foreign royalty. This program is used to create a Borg Queen from any female Borg (though Borg drones supposedly have no gender), commanding the technology within her to alter and adapt to the protocol's specifications. In the relaunch novels, one of the leaders of Starfleet Intelligence gets her hands on the Royal Protocol, and with the use of an emergency medical hologram, turns herself into a new kind of Borg Queen who cares about and loves her drones.

text: Alternatively, in the game Star Trek: Legacy, bonus content unlockable throughout the course of the game offers further information on the role of the queen. It is suggested that the females of a particular species have a natural ability to filter and control the immense 'traffic' of thought present in the collective consciousness of the Borg. These females, in a sense, serve as regulators or signal boosters even assisting in maintaining the complete consciousness over the thousands of lightyears of Borg space. This also presents the possibility of multiple queens, which would be a suitable explanation for why, on more than one occasion, a Starfleet officer has 'killed the queen'. In the illustration accompanying the explanation, all the females distinctly resemble the queen portrayed on screen, suggesting that this is Species 125, mentioned by the Borg Queen as her original species in "Dark Frontier".

text: In the novel Before Dishonor by Peter David, Admiral Janeway is assimilated while exploring a supposedly "dead" Borg supercube and is later transformed into the Borg Queen. She is later stopped by Seven of Nine, who introduced a virus into the Borg ship. This leads to the events of the Destiny trilogy.

text: In the Mirror Universe novella The Worst of Both Worlds by Greg Cox, the Borg are led by a king.

text: Character history[edit]

text: The Next Generation[edit]

text: The Borg first appear in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second-season episode "Q Who?", when the omnipotent life-form Q hurls the Enterprise-D across the galaxy to challenge Jean-Luc Picard's assertion that his crew is ready to face the unexplored galaxy's unknown dangers and mysteries. The Enterprise crew is quickly overwhelmed by the relentless Borg, and Picard eventually begs for and receives Q's help in returning the ship to its previous coordinates in the Alpha Quadrant. At the episode's conclusion, Picard suggests to Guinan that Q did "the right thing for the wrong reason" by showing the dangers they will eventually face. It is suggested that the Borg may have been responsible for the destruction of Federation and Romulan colonies in the final episode of season one, "The Neutral Zone".[17]

text: The Borg next appear in The Next Generation's third-season finale and fourth-season premiere, "The Best of Both Worlds". In the third-season cliffhanger, Picard is abducted and subsequently assimilated by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, the Latin term for "he who has spoken" or "he who speaks". "Locutus" is the Borg method of describing the former Picard as the representative of the Borg in all future contacts related to humanity. Picard's knowledge of Starfleet is gained by the collective, and the single cube easily wipes out all resistance in its path, notably the entire Starfleet armada at Wolf 359, which consisted of 40 starships, some of which were sent from the Klingon Empire. The Enterprise crew manages to capture Locutus and gain information through him which allows them to destroy the cube. Picard is later "deassimilated", a process quite different from what happened to Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager (Seven of Nine had to be completely "re-schooled" on humanity, while Picard merely needed to be reminded of humanity. This could be because unlike Seven of Nine, Picard was assimilated for only a short while, as Seven of Nine was assimilated as a child).

text: In the fifth-season episode "I, Borg", the Enterprise crew rescues a solitary adolescent Borg who is given the name "Hugh" by Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge. The crew faces the moral decision of whether or not to use Hugh (who begins to develop a sense of independence as a result of a severed link to the collective consciousness of the Borg) as an apocalyptic means of delivering a devastating computer virus, in the form of a topological paradox problem, that would theoretically destroy the Borg, or to humanely allow him to return to the Borg with his individuality intact.[18] They decide to return him without the virus. This is followed up in the sixth-season cliffhanger "Descent", which depicts a group of rogue Borg who had "assimilated" individuality through Hugh. These rogue Borg fell under the control of the psychopathic android Lore, the "older brother" of Data.

text: In cult leader-like fashion, Lore had manipulated them into following him by appealing to their restored emotions and exploiting their new-found senses of individuality and fear, hoping to turn them on the Federation. Lore also corrupts Data through the use of the emotion chip he had stolen from Noonien Soong (Data and Lore's creator). In the end, Data's ethical subroutines are restored (having been suppressed by Lore through use of the emotion chip) and he manages to deactivate Lore after a battle in which a renegade Borg faction led by Hugh attacks the main complex. Data reclaims the emotion chip, Lore is mentioned as needing to be dismantled (for safety) and the surviving Borg fall under the leadership of Hugh. The fate of these deassimilated Borg is not revealed, though non-canon material suggests that they remained on the planet and established a permanent colony.

text: First Contact[edit]

text: The Borg return as the antagonists in one of the Next Generation films, Star Trek: First Contact. After again failing to assimilate Earth by a direct assault in the year 2373, the Borg travel back in time to the year 2063 to try to stop Zefram Cochrane's first contact with the Vulcans, which would have erased the Federation from history. However, the Enterprise-E follows the Borg back in time and the crew restores the original timeline. First Contact introduces the Borg Queen, a recurring character on Star Trek: Voyager.

text: Parts of this destroyed Borg sphere, along with at least two drones, are shown to have crash landed in the Arctic in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration".

text: Deep Space Nine[edit]

text: The only appearance the Borg made on this series was in the premiere episode Emissary. Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) was an officer on the USS Saratoga, one of the ships in the Starfleet armada dispatched to Wolf 359. The Saratoga was hailed by the Borg cube with Locutus speaking as their representative. The Borg opened fire on the Saratoga, leading to the deaths of most of the ship's personnel, including Sisko's wife Jennifer. This created great resentment in Sisko when dealing with Picard; for Sisko, Picard was the living embodiment of the suffering the Borg inflicted at Wolf 359, making their meeting in "Emissary" tense when Picard gave Sisko his orders for taking over the station. Sisko found it hard to separate Jean-Luc Picard from the Borg drone who was responsible for his wife's death.

text: Despite their absence for the vast majority of the series beyond the pilot, references to the Borg, as well as the Wolf 359 massacre, are made occasionally throughout the series. In fact, the USS Defiant, a primary starship setting from the third season onwards, is explicitly stated to have been designed as a countermeasure against the Borg though it is later used against the Dominion.[19] In addition, the battle from Star Trek: First Contact is used as a plot point in Season 5 as Starfleet is spread thin to deal with a Dominion incursion.

text: In First Contact, the Defiant is heavily damaged during a battle with the Borg; the ship is later declared 'adrift, but salvageable', which allowed Deep Space Nine's producers to retain their signature starship.

text: Voyager[edit]

text: The Borg make frequent appearances in Star Trek: Voyager, which takes place in the Delta Quadrant, the region of the galaxy from which the Borg are believed to have originated. The Borg are first discovered by Voyager in the third-season episode "Blood Fever". Chakotay discovers the body of what the local humanoids refer to as "the Invaders"; which turns out to be the Borg. In "Scorpion", the Borg are engaged in a war of attrition against Species 8472, whose biological defences are a match for the Borg's nanoprobes. In one of the few instances of the Borg negotiating, in exchange for safe passage through Borg space, the Voyager crew devises a way to destroy the otherwise invulnerable Species 8472. A Borg drone, Seven of Nine, is dispatched to Voyager to facilitate this arrangement as Captain Janeway refuses to allow the Borg to use neural implants for communication with the Voyager crew.

text: After successfully driving Species 8472 back into their fluidic space, Seven of Nine attempts to assimilate Voyager but is severed from the hive mind and stripped of most of her Borg implants, becoming a member of Voyager's crew. Seven of Nine's rediscovery of her individuality becomes a recurring theme throughout the series. Flashbacks and allusions in several episodes, such as "The Raven", establish that before her assimilation, Seven of Nine was Annika Hansen, the child of scientists who studied the Borg in the Delta Quadrant independent of the Federation. Unfortunately her parents were assimilated into the collective with her, but her father makes a temporary appearance in the final episode of Voyager.

text: In "Drone", an advanced Borg drone is created when Seven of Nine's nanoprobes are fused with the Doctor's mobile emitter in a transporter accident. The drone, who adopts the moniker "One", involuntarily sends a signal to the collective, bringing a sphere to Voyager. One destroys the Borg ship and lets himself die to protect Voyager from further Borg pursuits.

text: In "Infinite Regress" it was revealed that all Borg starships have a device called a vinculum which connects all the minds of the drones, eliminates individual thoughts, and disseminates information to the Borg Collective.

text: In "Dark Frontier", Captain Kathryn Janeway decides to attack the Borg in the hopes of stealing a transwarp coil to aid Voyager's journey home. The Borg Queen learns of the plot and offers Seven of Nine a deal to spare Voyager in exchange for her rejoining the collective. Voyager recovers the transwarp coil and uses it, with the Delta Flyer, to save Seven from the Queen. Voyager uses the transwarp coil to travel 20,000 light-years before it burns out.

text: In "Collective", the crew of Voyager stumble upon a severely damaged cube that is holding Tom Paris, Neelix, Harry and Chakotay hostage. The crew later finds out that the ship is run by five Borg children who left their maturation chambers early. There are no living adult drones on board the ship due to a pathogen that somehow infected the entire vessel. The children sent a message to the collective that they were attacked. The collective replied and told them they were irrelevant. Seven of Nine is sent to assist in repairs and negotiate a trade for the prisoners. However, Voyager is soon attacked by the cube when the Borg children attempt to rip the main deflector off of the hull so they can rejoin the collective. When the cube's leader dies, Seven takes the children onto Voyager, has their non-essential Borg components removed. Most of the deassimilated children were returned to their home planets; one chose to remain with Voyager, and was eventually given the provisional rank of Cadet.

text: In "Q2", Q's son places Voyager in danger and brings Borg onto the ship. Q intercedes, saves Voyager and angrily warns his son about provoking the Borg.

text: In the Voyager finale, "Endgame", an elderly Admiral Janeway from the future travels back in time, to aid in Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant through the use of a Borg transwarp hub. This hub is one of six such structures scattered across the galaxy, which allow Borg ships to traverse galactic distances in mere minutes. The future Janeway uses the hub and travels to Unicomplex 1, the primary control center of the Borg and the residence of the Queen. She deliberately infects herself with a neurolytic pathogen, and when she was assimilated, the pathogen rapidly spreads and infects a majority of the collective and kills the Queen. With the Queen dead, the hive mind is fractured and Borg technology ceases to adapt to weapons fire. Without the adaptations against transphasic torpedoes, Voyager fires the torpedoes at the transwarp conduits holding the transwarp network together and they are easily destroyed. On the way, a Borg sphere pursues and captures Voyager, but upon arrival at Earth, it is destroyed from the inside by Voyager's transphasic torpedo.

text: Enterprise[edit]

text: The Borg make their last canon appearance in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration", the remnants of the destroyed sphere from Star Trek: First Contact are discovered in the Arctic along with two frozen drones. Once unearthed, the Borg quickly revive and assimilate the human scientists who found them before stealing an unarmed research ship, modifying it to match Starfleet technology in a matter of hours. The drones manage to send a transmission toward the Delta Quadrant before they are destroyed. According to dialogue, their transmission would reach its destination in 200 years, essentially establishing a closed time loop with the events of "Q Who", explaining why the cube in the latter episode was already en route to Earth. Although the Borg never identify themselves as such in dialogue, the episode's events prompt characters to allude to Zefram Cochrane's claims that "strange cybernetic creatures from the future" tried to interfere with First Contact.

text: Writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens developed an unproduced idea for an episode which would have featured Alice Krige as a Starfleet medical technician who encounters the Borg and is assimilated – thereby becoming the Borg Queen.[20]

text: Other media[edit]

text: In the non-canonical Star Trek: The Manga story 'Side Effects' written by Chris Dows, the crew of the Enterprise under James T. Kirk discovers an alien station operating near a black hole. The commander of the station appears to be abducting races in a desperate attempt to cure a strange plague among his people. Using his own daughter as a guinea pig, he is able to create a cure for the plague, though the end result is always assimilation into the consciousness of his daughter, the future Borg Queen, for those cured.

text: In the Star Trek novel Probe, which takes place following the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the Borg are mentioned obliquely in communication with the whale-probe as spacefaring "mites" (the whale-probe's term for humanoid races) who traveled in cubical and spherical spacefaring vessels; the Borg apparently attacked the whale-probe and damaged its memory in some fashion before the events of the film.

text: In the Star Trek Game Star Trek: Legacy, the Borg are featured midway through the TOS era as "Assimilated Klingon ships". In the final mission, once the player has completed the primary objective, a confrontation with T'urell ensues; she departs, and the player must destroy a Borg Sphere.

text: The Peter David novel Vendetta reveals that the planet killer weapon from the Original Series episode "The Doomsday Machine" is a prototype for a weapon against the Borg, with a woman whose race were destroyed by the Borg trying to use the weapon against them despite the damage she will cause on her journey due to its need to consume planets. David revisited this concept in a 2007 sequel novel, Before Dishonor, which features the Enterprise-E working with Spock and Seven of Nine to reactivate the original planet killer to stop the Borg.

text: In William Shatner's novel The Return, Spock is nearly assimilated by the Borg, but is saved because he mind-melded with V'ger, an earlier form of the Borg, causing the Borg to register an "imprint" of the Collective already in Spock's mind and spare him as they assume that he is already a Borg. Using the information he subconsciously acquired in the meld, Spock is able to lead a crew of Enterprise officers- consisting of the Enterprise-D senior staff, himself, Admiral McCoy, and the resurrected Kirk- in a Defiant-class ship to destroy the Borg central node, severing all branches of the Collective from each other and limiting their future threat.

text: In David Mack's novel trilogy Star Trek: Destiny, set over a year after Star Trek: Nemesis, the Borg stage a massive invasion of local space using the totality of their forces. Due to Kathryn Janeway crippling their infrastructure in "Endgame", the Borg fear for their survival and thus attempt to exterminate the Federation and its neighbors. They wipe out the populations of numerous Federation worlds before being dismantled by the Caeliar, the advanced species that spawned them. The crews of the Enterprise-E, the Titan, and the Aventine had made contact with the Caeliar, learned of their role in the creation of the Borg from Erika Hernandez, and convinced them to end the threat of the Borg once and for all.

text: In the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover comic, Assimilation2, the Borg join forces with the Cybermen, but the Enterprise-D crew are later forced to work with the Eleventh Doctor and the Borg when the Cybermen subvert the Collective, resulting in them restoring the Borg to full strength and erasing the Borg/Cyberman alliance from existence.[21]

text: In the video game Star Trek: Armada, the Borg invades a Dominion cloning facility to create a clone of Jean-Luc Picard to assimilate him into Locutus.

text: In video games[edit]

text: The Borg appear as antagonists to the player in the following Star Trek videogame titles:

text:
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation
Star Trek: A Final Unity
Star Trek: Armada
Star Trek: Armada II
Star Trek: Away Team
Star Trek: Borg
Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
Star Trek: Elite Force II
Star Trek: Starfleet Command III
Star Trek: Encounters
Star Trek: Invasion
Star Trek: Legacy
Star Trek: Conquest
Star Trek Online
Star Trek: Borg Contact

tag: ul

text: They also appear as the main characters in one of the Star Trek arcade games, Star Trek: Borg Contact, where players must squeeze two handles without letting go.

text: Activision at one point planned to release Star Trek: Borg Assimilator, in which the player would play a Borg, but later canceled the game.

text: In Mass Effect 2, Legion's loyalty mission – deciding whether or not to infect its fellow Geth with a virus that would re-write their collective consciousness – was inspired by the fifth-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "I, Borg".[citation needed]

text: In Star Fox Assault, a race known as the "Aparoids" invades the Lylat system. Their goal is to assimilate all living organisms and mechanical devices, much like the Borg. However, instead of cyborg humanoids, Aparoids are insect-like creatures (coincidentally, the Borg were originally conceived as an insectoid race).[citation needed]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The depiction of the Borg cube in "Q Who" garnered the episode an Emmy Award nomination.[22]


document_title: Constitution of India

question_text: who had illuminated the original document of constitution of india

root

text: Constitution of India

text: Background

text: The major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1857 to 1947. When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, it repealed the Indian Independence Act. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign democratic republic. The date of 26 January was chosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence of 1930.

tag: p

text: Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392, 393 and 394 of the Constitution came into force on 26 November 1949 and the remaining articles on 26 January 1950.[9]

text: Previous legislation used as sources

text: It is drawn from many sources. Keeping in mind the needs and conditions of India its framers borrowed different features freely from previous legislation viz. Government of India Act 1858, Indian Councils Act 1861, Indian Councils Act 1892, Indian Councils Act 1909, Government of India Act 1919, Government of India Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947. The last legislation which led to the creation of the two independent nations of India and Pakistan provided for the division of the erstwhile Constituent Assembly into two, with each new assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it, to enable each to draft and enact a new constitution, for the separate states.[citation needed]

text: Constituent assembly

text: It was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by elected members of the provincial assemblies.[10] The 389 member Constituent Assembly took almost three years (two years, eleven months and eighteen days to be precise) to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for independent India, during which, it held eleven sessions over 165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the draft Constitution. On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to prepare a draft Constitution for India. While deliberating upon the draft Constitution, the assembly moved, discussed and disposed of as many as 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635 tabled.[11] Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Kanaiyalal Munshi, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were some important figures in the assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gurung represented the Gorkha Community.[citation needed] Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Vijayalakshmi Pandit were important women members.[citation needed]

text: The first temporary 2-day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachchidananda Sinha. Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.[10] The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946.[10]

text: Drafting

text: B. N. Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly in formulating the Indian Constitution in 1946. He was responsible for the general structure of its democratic framework of the Constitution and prepared its initial draft in February 1948.[12] This draft was debated, revised and finally adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949.[13]

text: On 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented.[10] Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee. On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor. These members were Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (K M Munshi, Ex- Home Minister, Bombay), Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex- Advocate General, Madras State), N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet), B L Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India), Md. Saadullah (Ex- Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member) and D P Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer). The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (who became First Indian Judge in International Court of Justice, 1950–54). Later B L Mitter resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal Advisor of Maharaja of Vadodara). On D P Khaitan's death, T T Krishnamachari was included in the drafting committee. A draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947, which was debated and over 2000 amendments were moved over a period of two years. Finally on 26 November 1949, the process was completed and the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution. 284 members signed the document and the process of constitution making was complete.[14] This day is celebrated as National Law Day[15] or Constitution Day.[16]

text: The assembly met in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution, the 308 members of the assembly signed two copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. The original Constitution of India is hand-written with beautiful calligraphy, each page beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose. The illustrations on the cover and pages represent styles from the different civilisations of the subcontinent, ranging from the prehistoric Mohenjodaro civilisation, in the Indus Valley, to the present. The calligraphy in the book was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizda. It was published in Dehra Dun, and photolithographed at the offices of Survey of India. The entire exercise to produce the original took nearly five years. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India became the law of all the States and territories of India.[17] Rs.1,00,00,000 was official estimate of expenditure on constituent assembly. It has undergone many amendments since its enactment.[18]

text: The original 1950 Constitution of India is preserved in helium cases in the Parliament house, New Delhi. There are two original versions of this – one in Hindi and the other in English. The original constitution can be viewed here.[19]

text: Influence of other constitutions

text:
British Constitution

Parliamentary form of government
The idea of single citizenship
The idea of the Rule of law
Institution of Speaker and his role
Lawmaking procedure
Procedure established by Law

United States Constitution

Charter of Fundamental Rights
Federal structure of government
Electoral College
Independence of the judiciary and separation of powers among the three branches of the government
Judicial review
President as supreme commander of
armed forces
Equal Protection under law

Irish Constitution

Directive principles of state policy

Australian Constitution

Freedom of trade and commerce within
the country and between the states
Power of the national legislature to make
laws for implementing treaties, even on
matters outside normal Federal jurisdiction
Concurrent List[20]
Terminology for the Preamble

French Constitution

Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity

Canadian Constitution

A quasi-federal form of government —
a federal system with a strong central government
Distribution of powers between the central government and state governments
Residual powers retained by the central government[21][22]

Constitution of the Soviet Union

Fundamental Duties u/a 51-A
A Constitutionally mandated Planning Commission
to oversee the development of the economy

Other Constitutions

Emergency Provision u/a 356, Weimar Constitution (Germany)
Amendment of Constitution, South Africa
Due Procedure of Law, Japan

tag: table

text: Structure

text: The Indian constitution is the world's longest.[Note 1] At its commencement, it had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It is made up of approximately 145,000 words, making it the second largest active constitution in the world. [23] In its current form (September 2012), it has a preamble, 25[Note 2] parts with 448 [Note 3] articles, 12[Note 4] schedules, 5 appendices[24] and 101 amendments, the latest of which came into force on 8 September 2016.[25]

text: Parts

text: The individual articles of the constitution are grouped together into the following parts:

text:
Preamble[26]

with the words "socialist" and "secular" added to it in 1976 by the 42nd constitutional amendment .[27][28]

Part I[29] – Union and its Territory
Part II[30] – Citizenship.
Part III – Fundamental Rights
Part IV[31] – Directive Principles of State Policy
Part IVA – Fundamental Duties
Part V[32] – The Union
Part VI[33] – The States
Part VII[34] – States in the B part of the First schedule (repealed)
Part VIII[35] – The Union Territories
Part IX[36] – The Panchayats
Part IXA[37] – The Municipalities
Part IXB – The Co-operative Societies.[38]
Part X – The scheduled and Tribal Areas
Part XI – Relations between the Union and the States

Part XII – Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits
Part XIII – Trade and Commerce within the territory of India
Part XIV – Services Under the Union, the States
Part XIVA – Tribunals
Part XV – Elections
Part XVI – Special Provisions Relating to certain Classes
Part XVII – Languages
Part XVIII – Emergency Provisions
Part XIX – Miscellaneous
Part XX – Amendment of the Constitution
Part XXI – Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
Part XXII – Short title, date of commencement, Authoritative text in Hindi and Repeals.

text: Schedules

text: Schedules are lists in the Constitution that categorise and tabulate bureaucratic activity and policy of the Government.

text:
First Schedule (Articles 1 and 4) – This lists the states and territories of India, lists any changes to their borders and the laws used to make that change.
Second Schedule (Articles 59(3), 65(3), 75(6), 97, 125, 148(3), 158(3), 164(5), 186 and 221) –  This lists the salaries of officials holding public office, judges, and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Third Schedule (Articles 75(4), 99, 124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219) – Forms of Oaths – This lists the oaths of offices for elected officials and judges.
Fourth Schedule (Articles 4(1) and 80(2)) – This details the allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Parliament) per State or Union Territory.
Fifth Schedule (Article 244(1)) – This provides for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas[Note 5] and Scheduled Tribes[Note 6] (areas and tribes needing special protection due to disadvantageous conditions).
Sixth Schedule (Articles 244(2) and 275(1)) – Provisions made for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
Seventh Schedule (Article 246) — The union (central government), state, and concurrent lists of responsibilities.
Eighth Schedule (Articles 344(1) and 351)—The official languages.
Ninth Schedule (Article 31-B) – Validation of certain Acts and Regulations.[39]
Tenth Schedule (Articles 102(2) and 191(2)) –  "Anti-defection" provisions for Members of Parliament and Members of the State Legislatures.
Eleventh Schedule (Article 243-G) —Panchayat Raj (rural local government),
Twelfth Schedule (Article 243-W) — Municipalities (urban local government).

text: Appendices

text:
Appendix I – The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954.
Appendix II – Re-statement, with reference to the present text of the Constitution, of the exceptions and modifications subject to which the Constitution applies to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Appendix III – Extracts from the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.
Appendix IV – The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002.
Appendix V – The Constitution (Eighty-eighth Amendment) Act, 2003.

text: The constitution and the government

text: Institutions of governance – the Parliament, the President, the Judiciary, the Executive, etc. get their power from the Constitution and are bound by it.[40] With the aid of the Constitution, India is governed by a parliamentary system of government with the executive directly accountable to the legislature. It states that there shall be a President of India who shall be the head of the executive, under Articles 52 and 53. The President's duty is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law under Article 60 of the Indian constitution. Article 74 provides that there shall be a Prime Minister as the head of union cabinet which would aid and advise the President in performing his constitutional duty. Union cabinet is collectively responsible to the House of the People per Article 75(3).

text: The Constitution of India is federal in nature but unitary in spirit. The common features of a federation such as written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, two government, division of powers, bicameralism and independent judiciary as well as unitary features like single Constitution, single citizenship, integrated judiciary, flexible Constitution, a strong Centre, appointment of state governor by the Centre, All-India Services, Emergency Provisions etc. can be seen in Indian Constitution. This unique combination makes it quasi-federal in form.[41]

text: Each state and each Union territory of India has its own government. Analogous to President and Prime Minister, each has a Governor (in case of states) or Lieutenant Governor (in the case of Union territories) and a Chief Minister. Article 356 permits the President to dismiss a state government and assume direct authority when a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. This power, known as President's rule, was abused earlier as state governments came to be dismissed on the flimsiest of grounds, and more due to the political discomfiture of the party in power at the centre. Post – Bommai judgment,[42][43] such a course of action has been rendered rather difficult, as the courts have asserted their right to review it.[44] Consequently, very few state governments have been disbanded since.

text: The 73rd and 74th Amendment Act also introduced the system of Panchayati Raj in rural areas and Municipality in urban areas. Also, Article 370 of the Constitution gives special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

text: The constitution and the legislature

text: Amendment

text: The process of addition, variation or repeal of any part of the constitution by the parliament under its constituent powers, is called amendment of the constitution.[45] The procedure is laid out in Article 368. An amendment bill must be passed by each House of the Parliament by a majority of the total membership of that House when at least two-thirds members are present and voted. In addition to this, certain amendments which pertain to the federal nature of the Constitution must be ratified by a majority of state legislatures. Unlike the ordinary bills under legislative powers of Parliament as per Article 245 (with exception to money bills), there is no provision for joint sitting of the two houses (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) of the parliament to pass a constitutional amendment bill. During recess of Parliament, President can not promulgate ordinances under his legislative powers per Article 123, Chapter III which needs constitutional amendment. Deemed amendments to the constitution which can be passed under legislative powers of Parliament, are no more valid after the addition of Article 368 (1) by Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India.[45]

text: As of September 2015[update], there have been 120 amendment bills presented in the parliament, out of which 100 have been passed to become Amendment Acts.[46] Despite the supermajority requirement for amendments to pass, the Constitution of India is the most frequently amended national governing document in the world.[47] The Constitution is so specific in spelling out government powers that many of these amendments address issues dealt with by ordinary statute in other democracies. As a result, the document is amended roughly twice a year, and three times every two years.

text: In 2000, the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) was set up to look into updating the constitution.[48] Government of India, establishes term based law commissions to recommend law reforms for maximising justice in society and for promoting good governance under the rule of law.

text: Limitations

text: The Supreme Court has ruled in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala case that an amendment cannot destroy what it seeks to modify, which means, while amending anything in the Constitution, it cannot tinker with the "basic structure" or its framework, which is immutable. Such an amendment will be declared invalid even though no part of the constitution is explicitly prevented from being amended, nor does the basic structure doctrine protect any single provision of the Constitution. Yet, this "doctrine of basic features" lays down that, the Constitution when "read as a whole", that what comes to be understood as its basic features cannot be abridged, deleted or abrogated. What these "basic features" are, have not been defined exhaustively anywhere,[40] and whether a particular provision of the Constitution of India is a "basic feature" is decided as and when an issue is raised before a court in an instant case.[49]

text: The judgment in the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala case laid down the following as the basic structure of the constitution of India:[50]

text:
The Supremacy of the Constitution
Republican and Democratic form of the Government
Secular Character of the Constitution
Maintenance of Separation of powers
The Federal Character of the Constitution[50]

tag: ol

text: This implies that the Parliament, while amending the Constitution, can only amend it to the extent so as to not destroy any of the aforesaid characters. The Supreme Court/High Court(s) may declare the amendment null and void if this is violated, by performing Judicial review. This is typical of Parliamentary governments, where the Judiciary has to exercise an effective check on the exercise of the powers of the Parliament, which in many respects is supreme.

text: In the Golak Nath v. State of Punjab case of 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that the State of Punjab could not restrict any of the Fundamental rights protected by the basic structure doctrine.[51] Extent of land ownership and practice of profession, in this case, were held to be a fundamental right.[52] The ruling of the Golak Nath v. State of Punjab case was eventually overturned with the ratification of the 24th Amendment in 1971.[52]

text: The constitution and the judiciary

text: The Judiciary interprets the Constitution as its final arbiter.[53] It is its duty as mandated by the Constitution, to be its watchdog, by calling for scrutiny any act of the legislature or the executive, who otherwise, are free to enact or implement these, from overstepping bounds set for them by the Constitution.[54] It acts like a guardian in protecting the fundamental rights of the people, as enshrined in the Constitution, from infringement by any organ of the state. It also balances the conflicting exercise of power between the centre and a state or among states, as assigned to them by the Constitution.

text: While pronouncing decisions under its constitutional mandate, it is expected to remain unaffected by pulls and pressures exerted by other branches of the state, citizens or interest groups. And crucially, independence of the judiciary has been held to be a basic feature of the Constitution,[55][56] and which being inalienable, has come to mean – that which cannot be taken away from it by any act or amendment by the legislature or the executive.[57]

text: Judicial review

text: Judicial review is adopted in the Constitution of India from judicial review in the United States.[58] In the Indian constitution, Judicial review is dealt with under Article 13. Judicial Review refers that the Constitution is the supreme power of the nation and all laws are under its supremacy. Article 13 states that:

text:
All pre-constitutional laws, if in part or completely in conflict with the Constitution, shall have all conflicting provisions deemed ineffective until an amendment to the Constitution ends the conflict. In such situation the provision of that law will again come into force, if it is compatible with the constitution as amended. This is called the Doctrine of Eclipse.[59]
In a similar manner, laws made after adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly must be compatible with the constitution, otherwise the laws and amendments will be deemed to be void ab initio.
In such situations, the Supreme Court or High Court interprets the laws to decide if they are in conformity with the Constitution. If such an interpretation is not possible because of inconsistency, and where a separation is possible, the provision that is inconsistent with constitution is considered to be void. In addition to article 13, articles 32, 226 and 227 provide a constitutional basis to judicial review in India.[60]

text: Due to the adoption of the thirty-eighth amendment, the Indian Supreme Court was not allowed to preside over any laws adopted during a state of emergency that infringes upon fundamental rights under article 32 i.e. Right to Constitutional Remedies.[61] Later with the Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India, article 31 C was widened and article 368(4) and 368(5) were added, which stated that any law passed by the parliament can't be challenged in the court on any ground. The Supreme court in the Minerva Mills v. Union of India case said that Judicial Review is one of the basic character of the constitution and therefore can't be taken away quashing Article 368(4)&(5) as well as 31 C.

text: The constitution – a living document

text: "The Indian Constitution is first and foremost a social document, and is aided by its Parts III & IV (Fundamental Rights & Directive Principles of State Policy, respectively) acting together, as its chief instruments and its conscience, in realising the goals set by it for all the people."[Note 7][62]

text: The Constitution's provisions have consciously been worded in generalities, though not in vague terms, instead of making them rigid and static with a fixed meaning or content as in an ordinary statute, so that they may be interpreted by coming generations of citizens with the onward march of time, to apply to new and ever-changing and demanding situations, making the Constitution a living and an organic document.[63] Justice Marshall asserts: “It is the nature of (a) Constitution that only its great outlines be marked”. It is a document intended “to endure for ages” and therefore, it has to be interpreted not merely on the basis of the intention and understanding of the its framers but on the experience of its working effectively, in the existing social and political context.

text: For instance, "right to life" as guaranteed under Article 21,[nb 1] has by interpretation been expanded to progressively mean a whole lot of human rights[nb 2]

text: In the conclusion of his Making of India's Constitution, Justice Khanna writes:

text: "If the Indian constitution is our heritage bequeathed to us by our founding fathers, no less are we, the people of India, the trustees and custodians of the values which pulsate within its provisions! A constitution is not a parchment of paper, it is a way of life and has to be lived up to. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and in the final analysis, its only keepers are the people."[67]