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UPPCS (Uttar Pradesh)Stage 2: Main Examination

Indian Constitution: History, Features, Amendments and Basic Structure

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Studies II:

  • Indian Constitution: historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure, Role of Supreme Court in evolution of basic provisions of Constitution.

Topics in detail

Historical underpinnings: constitutional development under British rule

  • Company rule: Regulating Act, 1773 (Governor-General of Bengal, Supreme Court at Calcutta); Pitt's India Act, 1784 (Board of Control, double government)
  • Charter Acts of 1793, 1813 (end of the Company's trade monopoly except tea and trade with China), 1833 (Governor-General of India, centralisation of law-making) and 1853 (separate legislative wing, open competition for the civil services)
  • Government of India Act, 1858: rule of the Crown, Secretary of State for India and the Council of India
  • Indian Councils Acts of 1861, 1892 and 1909 (Morley-Minto reforms: enlarged councils, separate electorates for Muslims)
  • Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford reforms): dyarchy in the provinces, a bicameral central legislature, separation of central and provincial subjects
  • Simon Commission (1927) and the Nehru Report (1928); the Round Table Conferences and the Communal Award (1932)
  • Government of India Act, 1935: provincial autonomy, a proposed All-India Federation, dyarchy at the Centre, three lists of subjects, the Federal Court; its large imprint on the present Constitution
  • August Offer (1940), Cripps Mission (1942), Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) and the Indian Independence Act, 1947

Making of the Constitution

  • Constituent Assembly set up under the Cabinet Mission Plan: indirect election by the provincial assemblies, representatives of the princely states
  • First meeting on 9 December 1946; Dr Rajendra Prasad elected its President; the Objectives Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946 and adopted on 22 January 1947
  • Committees of the Assembly; the Drafting Committee (29 August 1947) chaired by Dr B. R. Ambedkar; B. N. Rau as constitutional adviser
  • Adoption on 26 November 1949 (Constitution Day); commencement on 26 January 1950; provisions that came into force on adoption (citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament)
  • The Assembly's dual role as the first legislature of independent India; criticisms of the Assembly and the replies to them

Evolution and salient features

  • Sources: the Government of India Act, 1935 (federal scheme, office of Governor, public service commissions, emergency provisions); Britain (parliamentary government, rule of law, single citizenship, cabinet system, writs); the USA (Fundamental Rights, judicial review, independence of the judiciary, impeachment of the President); Ireland (Directive Principles, nomination to the Rajya Sabha); Canada (federation with a strong Centre, residuary powers with the Centre); Australia (Concurrent List, joint sitting, freedom of trade and commerce); Weimar Germany (suspension of rights in an emergency); the former USSR (Fundamental Duties); France (republic; liberty, equality, fraternity); South Africa (amendment procedure); Japan (procedure established by law)
  • A lengthy written Constitution; a blend of rigidity and flexibility
  • Federal system with a unitary bias; parliamentary form of government at the Centre and in the states
  • Synthesis of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy; an integrated and independent judiciary
  • Universal adult franchise, single citizenship, secular State, independent constitutional bodies, emergency provisions
  • Three-tier government after the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992)

The Preamble

  • Source of authority (We, the people of India), nature of the State (sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic) and objectives (justice, liberty, equality, fraternity)
  • Words socialist, secular and integrity added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976
  • Is the Preamble part of the Constitution? Berubari Union (1960) said no; Kesavananda Bharati (1973) said yes; can be amended without touching the basic structure

Significant provisions

  • The Union and its territory (Articles 1 to 4): "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States"; formation of new states and change of boundaries by Parliament
  • Citizenship (Articles 5 to 11) and the Citizenship Act, 1955; Overseas Citizenship of India
  • Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12 to 35): six groups of rights, reasonable restrictions, writs under Articles 32 and 226 (habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto)
  • Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, Articles 36 to 51): socialist, Gandhian and liberal-intellectual principles; their non-justiciability and their relationship with Fundamental Rights
  • Fundamental Duties (Article 51A): ten added by the 42nd Amendment, the eleventh (education of children aged 6 to 14) by the 86th Amendment, 2002
  • Emergency provisions: national emergency (Article 352), failure of constitutional machinery in a state (Article 356), financial emergency (Article 360); the safeguards added by the 44th Amendment, 1978
  • Special provisions for some states (Articles 371 to 371J); Fifth and Sixth Schedules for Scheduled and Tribal Areas; official language (Part XVII) and the Eighth Schedule
  • Article 370, made inoperative in 2019, and the Supreme Court's 2023 judgment upholding that step
  • An overview of the Parts and the twelve Schedules

Amendments

  • Article 368: amendment by simple majority (outside Article 368), by special majority, and by special majority with ratification by half of the state legislatures
  • First Amendment, 1951 (Ninth Schedule, new grounds of restriction on free speech); Seventh Amendment, 1956 (reorganisation of states)
  • 24th and 25th Amendments, 1971; 42nd Amendment, 1976 (the "mini-Constitution") and the 44th Amendment, 1978 that reversed much of it; right to property moved to Article 300A
  • 52nd Amendment, 1985 (Tenth Schedule, anti-defection) and the 91st Amendment, 2003 (size of ministries, split no longer a defence)
  • 61st (voting age 18), 73rd and 74th (Panchayats and Municipalities), 86th (Article 21A, right to education) and 97th (co-operative societies) Amendments
  • 101st (GST, 2016), 102nd (constitutional status for the National Commission for Backward Classes), 103rd (10% reservation for economically weaker sections, 2019), 104th (extension of SC/ST seat reservation; end of nominated Anglo-Indian seats) and 106th (one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, 2023) Amendments

Basic structure and the role of the Supreme Court

  • The road to the doctrine: Shankari Prasad (1951), Sajjan Singh (1965), Golak Nath (1967) and Kesavananda Bharati (1973)
  • Later cases: Indira Nehru Gandhi v Raj Narain (1975), Minerva Mills (1980), Waman Rao (1981), S. R. Bommai (1994), I. R. Coelho (2007), the NJAC case (2015)
  • Elements recognised by the courts: supremacy of the Constitution, judicial review, rule of law, federalism, secularism, separation of powers, free and fair elections, limited amending power
  • Widening of Fundamental Rights by interpretation: A. K. Gopalan (1950) to Maneka Gandhi (1978) on Article 21; right to livelihood (Olga Tellis, 1985); right to privacy (K. S. Puttaswamy, 2017); Navtej Singh Johar (2018)
  • Reservation and equality: Champakam Dorairajan (1951), Indra Sawhney (1992, creamy layer and the 50% ceiling), Janhit Abhiyan (2022, EWS quota upheld)
  • Judiciary and its own independence: the Judges cases (1981, 1993, 1998) and the collegium system
  • Tools the Court uses: Articles 32, 136, 142 (complete justice) and 141 (law declared binding); debate on judicial activism and judicial restraint

Overlaps

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