Salient Features of the Constitution of India

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Lengthiest Written Constitution

• Constitutions are classified into written, like the American Constitution, or unwritten, like the British Constitution.
• The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written constitutions of the world.
• Originally (1949), the Constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles divided into 22 Parts and 8 Schedules.
• Various amendments carried out since 1951 have
  • Deleted 1 Part (VII)
  • Added 4 Parts (IVA, IXA, IXB and XIVA)
  • Added 4 Schedules (9, 10, 11 and 12)

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Four factors for Lengthiest Constitution

• Geographical factors, that is, the vastness of the country and its diversity.
• Historical influence of the Government of India Act of 1935, which was bulky.
• Single Constitution for both the Centre and the states.
• Dominance of legal luminaries in the Constituent Assembly.

Drawn From Various Sources

• Dr B R Ambedkar proudly acclaimed that the Constitution of India has been  framed after ‘ransacking all the known Constitutions of the World

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Blend of Rigidity & Flexibility

• Constitutions are also classified into rigid and flexible.
• A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its amendment, as for example, the American Constitution.
• A flexible constitution, on the other hand, is one that can be amended in the same manner as the ordinary laws are made, as for example, the British Constitution.
• The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible but a synthesis of both.

Federal System with Unitary Bias

• The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government.
• Indian Constitution also contains many unitary or non-federal features.
• The term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution.
• Indian Constitution has been variously described as ‘federal in form but unitary in spirit’
  • “Quasi-federal” – K C Wheare,
  • “Bargaining federalism” – Morris Jones
  • “Co-operative federalism” – Granville Austin
  • “Constitution of India is neither purely federal nor purely unitary but is a combination of both” – D. D. Basu

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Parliamentary Form of Government

• The Constitution of India has opted for the British parliamentary System of Government rather than American Presidential System of Government.
• The Indian Parliament is not a sovereign body like the British Parliament.
• Further, the Indian State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has hereditary head (monarchy).
• In a parliamentary system the role of the Prime Minister has become so significant and crucial that the political scientists like to call it a ‘Prime Ministerial Government’.

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Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Parliamentary Sovereignty & Judicial Supremacy

• The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the British Parliament
• Principle of judicial supremacy with that of the American Supreme Court.
• The scope of judicial review power of the Supreme Court in India is narrower than that of what exists in US.
• American Constitution provides for ‘due process of law’ against that of ‘procedure established by law’ contained in the Indian Constitution (Article 21).
• The Supreme Court, on the one hand, can declare the parliamentary laws as unconstitutional through its power of judicial review. 

Integrated & Independent Judiciary

• The Indian Constitution establishes a judicial system that is integrated as well as independent.

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Fundamental Rights

• They operate as limitations on the tyranny of the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature.
• They are justiciable in nature, that is, they are enforceable by the courts for their violation.
• Fundamental Rights are not absolute and subject to reasonable restrictions.
• Further, they are not sacrosanct and can be curtailed or repealed by the Parliament through a constitutional amendment act.
• They can also be suspended during the operation of a National Emergency except the rights guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21.

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Directive Principles of State Policy

• According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State Policy is a ‘novel feature’ of the Indian Constitution
• They can be classified into three broad categories- socialistic, Gandhian and liberal–intellectual.
• The directive principles are meant for promoting the ideal of social and economic democracy.
• They seek to establish a ‘welfare state’ in India.
• However, unlike the Fundamental Rights, the directives are non-justiciable in nature

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Fundamental Duties

• The original constitution did not provide for the fundamental duties of the citizens.
• These were added during the operation of internal emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.
• The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002 added one more fundamental duty.

A Secular State

• The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976.
• The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief, faith and worship.
• State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).
• State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground of religion (Article 15).
• Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment (Article 16).
• All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion (Article 25).
• Every religious denomination or any of its section shall have the right to manage its religious affairs (Article 26).
• No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion of a particular religion (Article 27).
• No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution maintained by the State (Article 28).
• Any section of the citizens shall have the right to conserve its distinct language, script or culture (Article 29).
• All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice (Article 30).
• The State shall endeavor to secure for all the citizens a Uniform Civil Code (Article 44).
• Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism, i.e., giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions equally.

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Universal Adult Franchise

• The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
• Every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age has a right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy, wealth, and so on.
• The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act of 1988.

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Single Citizenship

• Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity it provides for only a single citizenship, that is, the Indian citizenship.

Independent Bodies

• Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections.
• Comptroller and Auditor-General of India to audit the accounts of the Central and state governments.
• Union Public Service Commission
• State Public Service Commission

Emergency Provisions

• National emergency on the ground of war or external aggression or armed rebellion16 (Article 352);
• State emergency (President’s Rule) on the ground of failure of Constitutional machinery in the states (Article 356) or failure to comply with the directions of the Centre (Article 365)
• Financial emergency on the ground of threat to the financial stability or credit of India (Article 360).
• During an emergency, the Central Government becomes all-powerful and the states go into the total control of the centre

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Three-tier Government

• 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts (1992) have added a third-tier of government which is not found in any other Constitution of the world.

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Co-operative Societies

• 97th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2011 gave a constitutional status and protection to co-operative societies.
• It made the right to form co-operative societies a fundamental right (Article 19).
• It included a new Directive Principle of State Policy on promotion of cooperative societies (Article 43-B).
• It added a new Part IX-B in the Constitution which is entitled as “The Cooperative Societies” (Articles 243-ZH to 243-ZT).

Salient Features of the Indian Constitution

Criticism of the Constitution

• A Borrowed Constitution
• A Carbon Copy of the 1935 Act
• Un-Indian or Anti-Indian
• An Un-Gandhian Constitution
• Elephantine Size
• Paradise of the Lawyers

Notes

• About 250 provisions of the 1935 Act have been included in the Constitution.
• 1909, 1919, and 1935 Acts provided for communal representation
• USA gave franchise to women in 1920, Britain in 1928, USSR (now Russia) in 1936, France in 1945, Italy in 1948 and Switzerland in 1971.
• In 1963, IFS was created and it came into existence in 1966.

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