
Kesavananda Bharti case with regard to the basic nature of the Indian constitution forms an important part of the amendments to the constitution. Article 368 of Part XX deals with the powers of the Parliament to amend the constitution.
Article 368 can be classified into two types of amendments:
- Special majority and ratification through half of the states by simple majority.
- Special majority of the Parliament.
The Indian Constitution can be amended in three ways, by:
- Simple majority of the Parliament
- Special majority of the Parliament
- Special majority of the Parliament and ratification of half of the state legislatures
Some of the important amendments are as follows:
Amendment Act | Articles/Scheduled/Parts affected | Amendments |
7th Amendment Act, 1956 | Reorganization of states on linguistic basis Abolition of Class A, B, C and D states Introduction of Union Territories. | |
9th Amendment Act, 1960 | Schedule 1 of Indian Constitution | Adjustments to Indian Territory as a result of an agreement with Pakistan. |
10th Amendment Act, 1961 | Article 240 First Schedule | Dadra and Nagar Haveli incorporated into the Union of India as a Union Territory. |
12th Amendment Act, 1961 | Article 240 First Schedule | Goa, Daman and Diu incorporated into the Indian Union as a Union Territory. |
13th Amendment Act, 1963 | Article 170 Added new article 371A | Nagaland was formed with special status under Article 371A. |
14th Amendment Act, 1962 | Articles 81 and 240 First and fourth Schedules Added Article 239A | Pondicherry incorporated into the Indian Union. |
21st Amendment Act, 1967 | Eighth Schedule | Sindhi was added as a language into 8thSchedule of Indian Constitution. |
26th Amendment Act, 1971 | Article 366 Added Article 363A Removed Articles 291 and 362 | Privy Purse was abolished. |
36th Amendment Act, 1975 40th Amendment Act, 1975 | Articles 80 and 81 First and fourth Schedules Added Article 371F Removed Article 2A | Sikkim incorporated as an Indian state. |
42nd Amendment Act, 1976 | Seventh Schedule Added Articles 31D, 32A, 39A, 43A, 48A, 131A, 139A, 144A, 226A, 228A and 257A Added Parts IVA and XIVA | “Mini constitution”. The Act inter-alia gave preponderance to Directive Principles of State Policy over Fundamental rights, curtailed the power of Judiciary and established the supremacy of Parliament. An overview of the amendments brought about by this Act are as follows: 1. Preamble: “Sovereign Democratic Republic” was changed to “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”. The words “Unity of Nation” was changed to “Unity and Integrity of Nation”. 2. Executive: Art. 74 was amended to state explicitly that the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers in discharge of his functions. 3. Judiciary: Inserted Art.32A in order to deny Supreme Court the power to consider the constitutional validity of a state law. Art. 131A added. Gave SC exclusive jurisdiction to determine question relating to the constitutional validity of a central law. Art. 144A and Art. 128A made further innovation in the area of judicial review of constitutionality of legislation. Under Art.144A, the number of judges of SC to decide on the constitutional validity of a central or state law was fixed as at least 7 and further this required a 2/3rd majority of the judges sitting to declare a law as unconstitutional. 4. Federalism: According to Art. 257A, center could deploy any armed force of the union or any other force under its control for dealing with any grave situation in any state. 5. Fundamental Rights: Primacy to directive principles over Fundamental rights contained in Art.14, 19 or 31. 6. Fundamental Duties: Inserted Art. 51–A to create a new part IV-A in the Constitution as Fundamental Duties. 7. Emergency: Prior to this Act, President could declare emergency under Art. 352 throughout the country. This Act authorized the President to proclaim emergency in any part of the country. The dominant thrust of this Amendment was to reduce the role of courts and strengthen the Parliament. |
44th Amendment Act, 1978 | Ninth Schedule Added Articles 134A and 361A Deletion of Articles 31, 257A and 329A | Right to Property removed from the list of fundamental rights. |
61st Amendment Act, 1989 | Article 326 | Voting age decreased from 21 to 18. |
71st Amendment Act, 1992 | Article 332 | Manipuri, Konkani, and Nepali were added in the 8th Schedule of Indian Constitution. |
73rd Amendment Act, 1992 | Added Part IX | Introduction of Panchayat Raj. Addition of Part IX to the Indian Constitution. |
74th Amendment Act, 1992 | Article 280 Article 280 Added Part IXA | Introduction of Municipalities and Nagarpalikas. |
86th Amendment Act, 2002 | Amended Articles 45 and 51A Added Article 21A | Free and compulsory education of children between 6 and 14 years. |
87th Amendment Act, 2003 | Eighth Schedule | Santhali, Bodo, Dogri, and Maithili in the 8thSchedule of Indian Constitution. Service Tax introduced. |
95th Amendment Act, 2010 | Article 334 | Extension of reservation of seats for SC/ST. Nomination of Anglo-Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies. |
96th Amendment Act, 2011 | Eighth Schedule | Replaced Odia for Oriya in the 8th Schedule to the Indian Constitution. |
97th Amendment Act, 2012 | Articles 19 Added Part IXB | Introduction of Part IXB in the Constitution of India relating to Co-operative Societies. |
100th Amendment Act, 2015 | Amendment of First Schedule | Exchange of some enclave territories with Bangladesh. Conferment of citizenship rights to citizens of enclave’s resulting to signing of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) Treaty between India and Bangladesh. |
101st Amendment Act, 2016 | Amended Sixth Schedule and Seventh Schedule Deletion of Article 268A | Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST). |
102nd Amendment Act, 2018 | Article 338B | Establishment of National Commission for Backward Classes. |
103rd Amendment Act, 2019 | Articles 15 and 16 | Reservation for economically weaker sections of the society. |
Related sources: National Bravery Awards (1947- present), Article 29-30: Foundation of the Most Important Cultural and Educational Rights of Minorities
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