SALIENT FEATURES OF THE

INDIAN CONSTITUTION
-Diksha Sharma
Lengthiest written Constitution in the World
• The Constitution of India is the lengthiest and the most detailed of all the
written Constitution of the world.
• Since, 1951 several Articles have been added to and several Articles have
been omitted from the Constitution. The Constitution of India originally
consisted of 395 Articles divided into 22 parts and 8 Schedules. At present
there are, 448 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules.
• This extraordinary bulk of the Constitution is due to several reasons one of
which is that the framers of the Indian Constitution have gained experience
from the working of all the known Constitution of the world. They were
aware of the difficulties faced in working of these Constitutions. This was
the reason that they sought to incorporate good provisions of those
Constitutions in order to avoid defects and loopholes that might come in
future in the working of the Indian Constitution.
• Accordingly, they framed the chapter of the Fundamental rights on the
model of American Constitution, and adopted Parliamentary system of
Government from the United Kingdom, they took the idea of Directive
Principles of State Policy from Ireland, and added elaborate provisions
relating to Emergency in the light of Constitution of the German Reich and
Government of India Act, 1935.
Establishment of a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic
• The Preamble of the Constitution declares India to be a Sovereign,
Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic.
• “Sovereign” means that India is a free country having complete right to
govern over itself without any interference from any external source.
• “Socialist” implies that state will ensure an equitable distribution of
wealth among its people. Proper measures would be taken to safeguard
and protect the interests of the poorer and weaker section of the society.
Also it aims to provide equal opportunities to bridge the gap between
rich and poor.
• “Secularism” means a State has no religion of its own as recognised
religion of State. It treats all religions equally.
• The term “Democratic” conveys that the government is of the people, by
the people and for the people. A democratic form of government will be
responsible and representative under which those who would
administer the affairs of the state would be chosen by the electorate and
be accountable to them.
• The term “Republic” signifies that the State shall be headed by an
elected official and not a hereditary ruler. All the powers that the head
of the executive enjoys are derived from the constitution and there are
no ‘inherent powers’ or ‘prerogatives’.
2. Parliamentary form of Government- This form of
governance is adopted from the British Constitution. India
adopted as we were accustomed to this type of Government.
In this type of government, the executive is responsible and
answerable to the legislature.

3. Unique blend of rigidity and flexibility- A rigid

Constitution is one which requires a special method of
amendment of any of its provisions while in flexible
Constitution any of its provisions can be amended by ordinary
legislative process. A written Constitution is generally said to
be rigid. The Indian Constitution though written is sufficiently
flexible. Under the constitution, it is seen that there are many
provisions which can be amended by a simple majority in the
Parliament. On the same time, there are various provisions
under which it needs a special majority, especially the matters
which are affecting the policies of the State government.
4. Fundamental rights – The incorporation of a formal
declaration of Fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution
is deemed to be a distinguishing feature of democratic state.
These rights are prohibitions against the state. The state cannot
make a law which takes away or abridges any of the rights of the
citizens guaranteed in the Part III of the Constitution. If it
passes such a law it may be declared unconstitutional by the
courts. But mere declaration of Fundamental Rights will be of
no use if there is no machinery for their enforcement. Our
Constitution has therefore, conferred on the Supreme Court the
power to grant most effective remedy in the nature of various
writs, whenever fundamental rights are violated.
It must however be clearly understood that Fundamental
Rights are not absolute Rights. They are subject to certain
restrictions. Hence, the Constitution tries to strike a balance
between the individual liberty and the social interest. The idea of
incorporating a Bill of Rights has been taken from the
Constitution of the United States.
5. Directive Principle of State Policy- These principles are providing a guideline to the
State to create policies which are essential for the Welfare of the People. Although these
principles are not enforceable in the Court then also the State has created various laws
due to which some of these principles are Constitutional rights now. The biggest example
of this is Right to Education under the Article 21A. Before this amendment, it was a part
of Directive principle but now there is a law made and added in Fundamental Rights to
make it justiciable right.

6. A Federation with strong centralizing tendency –

In Federalism there are two or more level of tier of government. Federalism in India means
then relation between Central government and State government. One of the remarkable
feature of the Indian Constitution is that being a federal Constitution it acquires a
unitary character during the time of emergency. Hence, India has Quasi federal structure.
Quasi federal means it seems to be federal but it is not completely federal as it is having
some serious tilt towards the central government. In the times of emergency, the Central
government is having much more powers than the State Governments.

7. Adult Suffrage- Under the Indian Constitution every man and woman above 18 years
has been given the right to vote.

8. An Independent Judiciary _ The Judiciary is free to give decisions and is not

dependent on the government in India. An independent Judiciary is very much needed in
a democracy. It protects its citizens from the arbitrary acts of the governments. There are
various Fundamental rights which are given under the Constitution. The Judiciary has
the power to enforce these fundamental rights and to interpret the laws.
9. A Secular State – A secular state has no religion of its own
as recognized religion of state. It treats all religions equally. In
a secular state the state only regulates the relationship
between man and man. It is not concerned with the
relationship of
man with God. One may worship God according to the
dictates of his own conscience. However it is to be noted that
freedom of religion is not an absolute freedom, but subject to
regulatory power of the state.

10. Single Citizenship- Indian Constitution is having the

provision of Single Citizenship. This means that anyone who
takes the citizenship of some other country will automatically
lose the citizenship of India. This concept of Citizenship is
taken from the British Constitution. There are various
benefits which citizens can enjoy by simply being a citizen.
Right to vote, get elected to posts like President, Member of
Parliament are all only available for the citizens of India.
11. Fundamental Duties - These duties were not part of the original
Constitution but later there was a need felt for these duties. Taking
inspiration from USSR the government of India added 11 Fundamental
Duties under Article 51 A in the Constitution. They were added as part of
the 42nd Constitutional amendment in the year 1976. There was a need
felt by the State that the citizens of India must follow these principles to
show respect to our Nation.

12. Judicial Review- Judicial Review is the power of courts to pronounce

upon the constitutionality of legislative acts which fall within their
normal jurisdiction to enforce and the power to refuse to enforce such as
they find to be unconstitutional and hence void.
Judicial Review said J.Khanna, in the landmark “Keshavananda Bharti”
case, “has become an integral part of our Constitutional System and a
power has been vested in the High Courts and the Supreme Court to
decide about the constitutional validity of the provision of statutes, if the
provisions of the statutes are found to be violative of any of the articles
of the Constitution which is the touchstone for the validity of all laws
the Supreme Court and High Court are empowered to strike down the
said provisions.”
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