UPSC Indian Polity and Civics The Indian Constitution Short Notes - Amendments of Constitution

Short Notes - Amendments of Constitution

Category : UPSC

Amendments of Constitution

There are three types of bills that seek to amend the Constitution (Art. 368):

Bills that are passed by Parliament by Simple Majority.
Bills that have to be passed by Parliament by Special Majority.
Bills that have to be passed by Special Majority and also to be ratified by not less than one-half of the State Legislatures.

Important Amendments

The first Amendment Act to the Indian Constitution was made in the year 1951. ccording to it, Articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174,176,341, 342, 376 were amended and Articles 31A and 3IB inserted and Ninth Schedule was added.
The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971: It affirmed the power of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. After this amendment, the President is bound to assent to Constitution Amendment Bill. Education was transferred to the Concurrent List by this amendment.
The Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973: increased the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545. Under the Act, the upper
limit of representatives of the States goes up from 500 to 525 and that of the Union Territories decreases from 25 to 20.
The Constitution (36th Amend- ment) Act, 1975: By this Act, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.
The Constitution (37th Amendment) Act, 1975: was passed by Parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country's north-easternmost Union Territory.
The Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and got Presidential assent on August 9, 1975. The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.
The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: It was enacted during the period of National Emergency. It was passed by Parliament on November 11,1976 and received Presidential assent on December 18,1976.
The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over the other wings of Government: gave the Directive Principles precedence over the Fundamental Rights; enumerated for the first time a set of ten Fundamental Duties.
The Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1978: It restores civil liberties by deleting Article 3ID which gave powers to Parliament to curtail
even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of legislation for the prevention of anti-national activities. The Supreme Court will now
have power to invalidate State laws, a power taken away by the 42^nd Amendment Act.
The Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978: Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended during a national emergency.
The Right to Property was deleted from the list of Fundamental Right. It is now only a legal right under the Constitution.
The Constitution (45th Amendment) Act, 1980: The Act extends reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and the State Assemblies and the representation of Anglo-Indians by nomination for a further period of 10 years.
The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1987: It grants Statehood to Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the Indian Union.
The Constitution (56th Amendment) Act, 1987: It confers Statehood on Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became the 25th State of the Indian Republic.
The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989: It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
The Constitution (62nd Amendment) Act, 1989: It provided for the extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for Anglo Indian community by nomination.
The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989: It repealed Amendment 59 which empowered the Government to impose emergency in Punjab.
The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990: It extended the President's rule in Punjab by six months.
The Constitution (66th Amendment) Act, 1990: To bring land reforms within the purview of 9^th Schedule of the Constitution.
The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991: Delhi made National Capital Region. The Act also made provision for Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers for Delhi.
The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992: To make temporary provision for the determination of the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the State Assembly of Tripura, until the re-adjustment of seats is made on the basis of the first census after the year 2000 under article 170 of the Constitution.
The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992: To ensure directelection to all seats in Panchayats: to reserve seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their population; and for reservation of not less than one third of the seats in Panchayats for women.
The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992: was made to ensure direct election to all seats in Nagar palikas and Municipalities.
The Constitution (78th Amendment) Act, 1995: It includes land reform laws in the Ninth Schedule so that they cannot be challenged before the courts.
The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999: It extends the reservation of seats for SC, ST and Anglo-lndians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies for next 10 years.
The Constitution (82nd Amendment) Act, 2000: It provides that nothing in the Article 355 shall prevent the State from making any provisions in favour of the members of SC/ST for relaxation in qualifying marks with respect to examination/job/promotion.
The Constitution (83rd Amendment) Act, 2000: The Act Amended Article 243 M to provide that no reservation in Panchayats be made in favour of SC/ST in Arunachal Pradesh where the whole population is tribal.

84th C.A. Act 2001	Amend articles 55, 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332.	21 February 2002	Extend the usage of 1971 national census population figures for statewise distribution of Parliamentary seats.
85th C.A. Act 2002	Amend article 16.	4 January 2002	A technical amendment to protect Consequential seniority in case of promotions of SC/ST Employees
86th C.A. Act 2002	Amend articles 45 and 51A. Insert article 21A.	12 December 2002	Provides Right to Education until the age of fourteen and Early childhood care until the age of six.
87th C..A. Act 2003	Amend articles 81, 82,170 and 330.	22 June 2003	Extend the usage of 2001 National Census population figures for statewise distribution of parliamentary seats.
88th C.A. Act 2003	Amend article 270. Insert article 268A. Amend 7th Schedule.	15 January 2004	To extend statutory cover for levy and utilization of Service Tax.
89th C.A. Act 2003	Amend article 338. Insert article 338A.	28 September 2003	The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was bifurcated into the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
90th C.A. Act 2003	Amend article 332.	28 September 2003	Reservation in Assam Assembly relating to Bodoland Territory Area.
91st C.A. Act 2003	Amend articles 75 and 164. Insert article 361B. Amend 10th Schedule.	1 January 2004	Restrict the size of Council of Ministers to 15% of legislative members and to strengthen Anti Defection Laws.
92nd C.A. Act 2003	Amend 8th Schedule.	7 January 2004	Include Bodo, Dogri, Santhali, Maithali as official languages.
93rd C.A. Act 2005	Amend Article 15.	20 January 2006	To enable provision of reservation (27%) for other Backward Classes (O.B.C.) in government as well as private educational institutions.
94th C.A. Act 2006	Amend Article 164.	12 June 2006	To provide for a Minister of Tribal Welfare in newly created Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh States including Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,
95th C.A. Act 2009	Amend Article 334.	25 January 2010.	To extend the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and States Assemblies from Sixty years to Seventy years.
96th C.A. Act 2011	Amend Schedule 8.	23 zeptember 2011	Substituted "Odia" for "Oriya"
97th C.A. Act 2011	Amend Art 19 and added Part IXB.	12 January 2012	Added the words "or Co-operative Societies" after the word "or Unions" in Article 19(I) (c) and insertion of article 43B, i.e. Promotion of Co-operative Societies and added Part-IXB, i.e. the Co-operative Societies. The Amendment objective is to encourage economic activities of cooperatives which in turn help progress of rural India. It is expected to not only ensure autonomous and democratic functioning of cooperatives, but also the accountability of the management to the members and other stakeholders.
98th C.A. Act 2012	To insert Article 371J in the Constitution	2 January 2013	To empower the Governor of Karnataka to take steps to develop the Hyderabad- Karnataka Region.
99th C.A. Act 2014	Amend Article 127,128 Insert new articles 124 a, 124 B & 124 C.	13 April 2015	Amendment provides for the formation of a National Judicial Appointments Commission.
100th C.A. act 2015	Amendment of First Schedule to Constitution.	1 august 2015	To operationalise the land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh.
101th C.A. Act 2016	Amendment of Sixth & Seventh Schedules	8th Sept. 2016	Provisions to implement Goods & Service Taxes Region

Schedules in Constitution

First Schedule	? List of States & Union Territories
Second Schedule	? Salary of President, Governors, Chief Judges, Judges of High Court and Supreme Court, Comptroller and Auditor General
Third Schedule	? Forms of Oaths and Affirmations
Fourth Schedule	? Allocate seats for each State of India in Rajya Sabha
Fifth Schedule	? Administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Tribes
Sixth Schedule	? Provisions for administration of Tribal Area in Asom, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh
Seventh Schedule	? Gives allocation of powers and functions between Union & States. It contains 3 lists 1. Union List (For central Govt.) 100 Subjects. 2. States List (Powers of State Govt.) 66 subjects 3 Concurrent List (Both Union & States) 52 subjects.
Eighth Schedule	· List of 22 languages of India recognized by Constitution l. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Gujarati 4. Hindi 5. Kannada 6. Kashmir; 7. Manipuri 8. Malayalam 9. Konkani 10. Marathi 11. Nepal; 12. Oriya 13. Punjabi 14. Sanskrit 15. Sindhi 16. Tamil 17. Telugu 18. Urdu 19.Santhali 20. Bodo 21.Maithili 22. Dogri · Sindhi was added in 1967 by 21 Amendment · Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added in 1992 by 71st Amendment Santhali, Maithili, Bodo and Dogri were added in 2003 by 92nd Amendment.
Ninth Schedule	· Added by 1st Amendment in 1951. Contains acts & orders related to land tenure, land tax, railways, industries.{Right of property not a fundamental right now}
Tenth Schedule	· Added by 52nd Amendment in 1985. Contains provisions of disqualification of grounds of defection
Eleventh Schedule	· By 73rd Amendment in 1992. Contains provisions of Panchayati Raj.
Twelfth Schedule	· By 74th Amendment in 1992. Contains provisions of Municipal Corporation.

E-Governance

E-governance means technology drive operation. The 11 h report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, entitled to promoting e-Governance.

Five models of e-Governance

G2C (Government to citizen)
G2B (Government to business)
G2E (Government to Employees]
G2G (Government to Governments)
C2G (Citizens to Government)

National e-Governance Plan

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is a plan of the Government of India to make all government services available to the citizens of India via electronic media.

UPSC Indian Polity and Civics The Indian Constitution Short Notes - Amendments of Constitution

Other Topics