Important Amendment of the Indian Constitution

With the inception and formulation of the Indian constitution in the year 1946, a new wave of change has emerged within the country and its development. For the overall governance of the country, this book is considered as elite as well as supreme. Considered as the longest written constitution of any part of the world, the Indian constitution has 25 parts with 448 articles in 12 schedules. However, in many circumstances, changes to the articles are needed, that’s when the amendments take place. In this blog, we will be exploring more about the important amendment of the Indian constitution. 

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
– James Madison, The Constitution of the United States of America

What are the Amendments?

Amendments are basically changes in the constitution- the book of the law. It is majorly a formal change in the written constitutional text. In order to fix the loopholes at the time of constitutional enactments, amendments are very important. The procedure of the same is explained in part XX of article 368 of the Indian Constitution, the procedure of amendments is clearly written which are of two types, the first amendment is for the special majority of parliament only along with the ratification of half of the states by a simple majority is its another type. Pertinent to mention that more than 104 amendments until January 2020 have taken place in the Indian constitution. Hitherto they have managed to bring a prominent change in the political landscape of the country. If you are wondering How are Amendments Made? Then, the answer to this is – As per the Indian Constitution, 2/3rds of both the courses need to vote in favour of the amendment in order to become a part of the constitution. 

“Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.”
-B R Ambedkar

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List of Major Amendments of the Indian Constitution for UPSC

Let’s get to know the list of important and major amendment of the Indian constitution that has changed the political spectrum of the country. All such major amendments have taken place time to time with the (2/3rd of members present and voting for the bill. Let’s understand the important amendment of the Indian constitution in the tabulated form below: 

Amendments	A brief explanation
First Amendment Act, 1951	In this amendment, several changes have been made with respect to fundamental rights. It has given special rights to socially and economically backward classes. Moreover, the ninth schedule which is related to the land reforms has also been added.
Seventh Amendment Act, 1956	The implementation of the State Reorganisation Act was the prime focus under this amendment. Also, the Second and Seventh schedules were equally added.
Tenth Amendment Act, 1961	In the year 1961, this amendment took place. It focused on the integration of main areas of Mumbai like Dadra and Nagar Haveli with the Union of India.
13th Amendment Act, 1962	This act has given a special status to Nagaland with special provisions too.
14th Amendment Act, 1962	In this amendment, Pondicherry- now a union territory has been incorporated into the union of India.
21st Amendment Act, 1967	In this amendment, the Sindhi language has been introduced into the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution.
25th Amendment Act, 1971	Some of the major clauses have been introduced, like Article 31C.
26th Amendment Act, 1971	This amendment solely abolished privy purses as well as privileges with respect to the former rulers of princely states.

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.”
-Jawaharlal Nehru

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Other Amendments in the Indian Constitution 

Now that you are familiar with some of the important amendments of the Indian constitution, here is the list of another amendments: 

• 31st Amendment Act, 1972
• 35th Amendment Act, 1974
• 36th Amendment Act, 1975
• 40th Amendment Act, 1976
• 52nd Amendment Act, 1985
• 61st  Amendment Act, 1989
• 65th Amendment Act, 1990
• 69th Amendment Act, 1991
• 71st Amendment Act, 1992
• 73rd Amendment Act, 1992
• 74th Amendment Act, 1992
• 86th Amendment Act, 2002
• 88th Amendment Act, 2003
• 92nd Amendment Act, 2003
• 95th Amendment Act, 2009
• 97th Amendment Act, 2011
• 100th Amendment Act, 2015
• 101st Amendment Act, 2016
• 102nd Amendment Act, 2018
• 103rd Amendment Act, 2019
• 104th Amendment Act, 2020

“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”
-B R Ambedkar

Important Amendments of Indian Constitutions Explained!

42nd Amendment of Indian Constitution

The 42nd Amendment of Indian Constitution brought some new changes to the constitution’s structure and was enacted by the Indian National Congress led by Indira Gandhi. Considered amongst the important amendment of Indian Constitution, it is often referred to as the Mini Constitution and called as The Constitution Act, 1976. Here are the three main changes brought by the 42nd Amendment of Indian Constitution:

• Made the attempt to minimize the power of the High Courts and the Supreme Court
• Added important terms, i.e. Socialist, Secular and Integrity to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution
• Introduced Fundamental Duties for Citizens

1st Amendment of Indian Constitution

The 1st Amendment of Indian Constitution was enacted in the year 1951 and altered the Fundamental Rights provisions in the Indian Constitution. It is also called as the Constitution of India Act, 1951 and in the simplest terms, the 1st amendment provided constitution validity to Zamindari Abortion Laws in General and also brought forward exceptions to Fundamental Rights to weaken enforcement by judiciary.

104th Amendment of Indian Constitution

The 104th Amendment of Indian Constitution extended the deadline of the suspension of the seat reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) members in Lok Sabha as well as the State Legislative Assemblies of India. This deadline was extended for a period of 10 years thus adding a decade to the early expire date of 26 January 2020.

7th Amendment of Indian Constitution

The 7th Amendment of Indian Constitution mainly aimed at State Reorganization and got enacted in 1956. It was brought forward by the State Reorganization Committee to organize states in a linguistic order, i.e. A, B, C and D categories and also led to the introduction of union territories.

Popular Questions on Amendment of Indian Constitution

• What is the article 368 related to?
• A constitutional amendment in Indian can take place in how many ways?
• On what basic the supreme court judge and CAG can be removed?
• For the casting of the vote from 21 to 18, which Indian constitutional amendment has empowered this right?
• The constitution amendments are framed in which Indian constitution?
• Name the amendment term of Lok Sabha which has been increased from 5 to 6 years
• Which constitutional amendment provides a due recognition clause to the existence of political parties?
• In which constitutional article, Dogri language has been included in which the eighth schedule?
• Which is the lengthiest amendment to the Indian Constitution?
• The term “Socialist” has been inserted in which Preamble of Indian constitution?

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