Introduction:

The Constitution of India is the largest Constitution in the world. India’s Constitution is the
supreme rule of law. The document sets out the framework for the demarcation of fundamental
political code, structure, procedures, powers, and responsibilities of government institutions and
sets out fundamental rights, guidelines, and citizens’ duties. The chairman of the drafting
committee, B.R. Ambedkar, is generally regarded as the chief architect. The Constitution
declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, ensuring justice, equality,
and freedom for its citizens, and endeavoring to promote brotherhood.

The original Constitution of 1950 is stored in the Parliament House in New Delhi in a helium-
filled situation. During the emergency the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ were added to the
preamble in 1976. It was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and
took effect on 26 January 1950. Article 368 of the Indian Constitution lays that the government
can amend the Constitution. There are two types of amendment procedures – (i) Rigid and (ii)
Flexible. Under the rigid system, it is very difficult for the people to amend the Constitution.
This is followed by the Constitution of the U.S, Canada, and Australia. Whereas, the flexible
procedure is where the amendment can be done in the Constitution. 

 Like any other written Constitution in the world, the Constitution of India also provides for
its amendment in order to adjust itself according to the changing conditions and needs.
 Article 368 in Part XX of the Constitution deals with the powers of Parliament to amend
the Constitution and its procedure. It states that the Parliament may amend the Constitution
by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision in accordance with the procedure laid
down for the purpose.
 However, the Parliament cannot amend those provisions which form the ‘basic structure’ of
the Constitution. This was ruled by the Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharati case
(1973).
There have been 105 amendments in the Constitution of India up to October 2021. The first
amendment was done in 1950. After that, the Constitution has been amended 104 times. This is
the beauty of the Indian Constitution.
The Constitution of India (under article 368 of Part XX) has given the powers of making
amendments to itself to the Indian Parliament. The process is, however, not that easy.  It has
mentioned that the Parliament can change its procedures but cannot amend those provisions
which are the basis of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution. The Constitution of India is
neither flexible nor rigid enough but it is a synthesis of both.
How Can Constitution Be Amended?
The Constitution can be amended in three ways:
1. Amendment by a simple majority of the Parliament.
2. Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament.
3. Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament and the ratification of half of the state
legislature.
First Amendment:

The First Amendment was passed in 1951 by the Provisional Parliament, which was elected on a
limited franchise. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 is the official name of the
amendment. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was India’s prime minister at the time, made the motion on
May 10 of that year, and Parliament passed it on June 18 of the same year. This Amendment
established a precedent for rewriting the Constitution to override judicial decisions that
prevented the government from carrying out its alleged obligations to specific policies and
programs. The 1951 Constitution (First Amendment) Act amended the Fundamental
Rights clauses of the Indian Constitution in several ways. It gave ways to limit freedom of
speech and expression, supported measures to abolish zamindari, and made it clear that the right
to equality does not preclude passing laws that give “particular consideration” to society’s most
vulnerable groups.

 The First Amendment Act amended articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174, 176, 341, 342, 372, and
376.
 It also provided for the saving of laws providing for the acquisition of estates.
 Added three more grounds of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression-public
order, friendly relations with foreign states, and incitement to an offense. Also, it made the
restrictions ‘reasonable’ and thus, justiciable.
 Provided that state trading and nationalization of any trade or business by the state is not to
be invalid on the ground of violation of the right to trade or business.
 It added the Ninth Schedule to protect the land reforms and other laws included in it
from judicial review.
 Articles 31A and 31B were inserted after article 31.

44th Amendment:
The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 was made to ensure that people also have the equal rights to
decide the form of government in which they will leave. The 44th Amendment Act 1978 also
safeguards people against the tendency of the majority to make rights in the future.

44th Amendment is an act that was introduced into the constitution by 45th Amendment Bill in
the year 1978. In 1976, with the introduction of the 42nd Amendment Act, there were various
provisions that were amended against the will of the citizens hence, to reverse those changes and
safeguard the interests of the nation, 44th Amendment Act was called into action.
44th Amendment made a few changes in the provisions of the constitution. They are given in
points below:

 Any changes in the basic structure of the constitution can be made only if they are
approved by the people of India by a majority of votes at a referendum in which at least
fifty-one per cent of the electorate participated. Article 368 is being amended to ensure
this.
  The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 reversed the provision made by the 42nd amendment
act that allowed the government to amend the constitution on its wish by Article 368.
44th Amendment Act nullified this unjustified power to the government.
 Right to Property was removed from the list of fundamental rights (Article 31) and was
made a legal right under Article 300A.
 Proclamation of Emergency can be issued only when the security of India or any part of
its territory is threatened by war or external aggression or by armed rebellion. Internal
disturbance not amounting to armed rebellion would not be a ground for the issue of a
Proclamation.
 An emergency can be proclaimed only on the basis of written advice tendered to
the President by the Cabinet.
 The right to liberty is further strengthened by the provision that law for preventive
detention cannot authorise, in any case, detention for a longer period than three months,
unless an Advisory Board has reported that there is sufficient cause for such detention.
 Right of the media to report freely and without censorship the proceedings in Parliament
and the State Legislatures.

52nd Amendment:

The 52nd constitution amendment act on anti-defection was passed in 1985 and the 10th
Schedule was added in the Indian Constitution. It provided for the disqualification of the
members of Parliament and the state legislatures on the grounds of defection
The 52nd amendment deals with the anti-defection laws. Defection, as per the constitution means
to abandon a position or association, often to join an opposing group[1]. This anti-defection law
is also the subject matter of the 10th schedule. It was enacted by the Parliament in 1985. It
basically brought changes in 4 articles. Some changes were also made to this anti-defection law
with the introduction of 91st amendment, 2003.

A slogan "Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram" was raised as a large number of legislators continued
defections. This brought attention to this problem and after some time this law was brought to
offset the repercussions caused by such defections. If a person voluntarily gives up the
membership of a political party, he/she shall be subjected to disqualification. Under this law, the
Supreme Court also set a rule that the disqualified members cannot be barred in future for
contesting elections.

Who can be disqualified?

 Members Of Political Parties:
A member of some political party can be disqualified if he resigns voluntarily from the party or
votes against their said dictate until and unless the member has a prior permission for the same or
if he/she gets condoned by the party within the 15 days of voting.
For instance, there is a bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and a particular party has ordered to cast
their vote in the favour of the bill, then the members of that party cannot go against the orders,
otherwise they will face disqualification.
  Independent Members:
Once an independent person gets elected, he/she cannot join a political party after becoming the
member of the house.

 Nominated Members:
The members who are nominated to the house by the President, they can only join a political
party within the six months from their nomination. If they join any political party after six
months, then that person can be disqualified.

Exceptions to the disqualification:

If 2/3rd of the members of a political party leave the party and merge with some other party of
form their own separate party, then it will not amount to disqualification of the members. It will
be regarded as a merger which is the foundation of the 91st amendment. The members who are
then left with the original party will also not face any disqualification.

81st Amendment:
The Constitution (Eighty-First Amendment) Act, 2000 is the formal name of the 81st
Amendment of the Indian Constitution. Protecting the reservation for SCs and STs in the backlog
of vacancies was the amendment’s primary goal. On 9 June 2000, the 81st amendment of the
Indian constitution came into effect. When this amendment was passed, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
was the prime minister. This modification was passed in the Fiftieth Year of the Republic of
India.
This constitutional amendment modifies article 16 of the Indian Constitution. A new clause (4B)
was added to Article 16 of the Constitution of India by the 81st Amendment Act of 2000, after
clause (4A). The new provision stated that the unfilled SC/ST positions from a year that were
held over to be filled in the following year in accordance with Article 16 would be taken into
consideration separately for openings in the following year. Additionally, the previously
mentioned list won’t be used to meet the 50% criteria for that year. Before August 29, 1997, the
positions set aside for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that could not be
filled through direct recruitment due to a lack of candidates from those groups were referred to as
“Backlog Vacancies.” These vacancies were handled as a separate group. Moreover, they were
not included in the 50% reservation cap.

According to the ruling of the Supreme Court of India in the case of Indra Sawhney v. Union of
India, the percentage of positions to be filled on the basis of reservations in a year, including
carried-over reservations, should never go above 50%. The entire number of yearly reservations
for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the other Backward Classes combined
reached forty-nine and a half percent, and the total number of vacancies to be filled up in a year
could not exceed fifty percent, making it difficult to fill the “Backlog Vacancies” and conduct
Special Recruitment Drives.
93rd Amendment 2005
The 93rd Amendment of Indian constitution adjoined a clause to Article 15 stating that the state
has the authority to establish certain specific Provisions concerning accommodations for the
progress of any sociologically and academically disadvantaged sectors of the society, as well as
to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, with respect to their enrollment to academic
institutions, including private academic institutions, whether assisted or unassisted by the state,
except minority institutions.

Greater access to higher education including professional education to a larger number of

students belonging to the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been a matter of major concern.
At present, the number of seats available in aided or State maintained institutions, particularly in
respect of professional education, is limited in comparison to those in private unaided
institutions.
It is laid down in article 46, as a directive principle of State policy, that the State shall promote
with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and
protect them from social injustice.
To promote the educational advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes of
citizens or of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in matters of admission of students
belonging to these categories in unaided educational institutions, other than the minority
educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30 of the Constitution, it is proposed to
amplify article 15.

98th amendment
The 98th Amendment of Indian Constitution is officially known as the Constitution (98th
Amendment) Act, 2012. This amendment saw the introduction of Article 371-J into the Indian
Constitution. This amendment act is concerned with providing special provisions to empower the
Governor of Karnataka. This in turn would help in taking the required measures for the
development of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the State of Karnataka. Read on to learn
more about the 98th Amendment Act of the Constitution of India such as its background, salient
features, facts, date enacted, the Statement of Objects and Reasons, prominent people involved,
and the important provisions of this amendment.
The 98th Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution was enacted by the Parliament. It was done
in the 63rd year of the Republic of India. It received approval from then President, Pranab
Mukherjee. It was published in the Gazette of India. The Central Government has the authority
to appoint the date on which the amendment act shall come into effect. It may be done through a
notification in the Official Gazette. The 98th Amendment Act came into force after Article 371-J
was introduced in the Indian Constitution.
On March 17, 2010, a resolution was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. A
similar resolution was also passed on March 18, 2010, by the Legislative Council of the State.
These resolutions were for providing special provisions to the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of
the State of Karnataka. The necessity for such special provisions had been favored by the
Government of Karnataka. The fast-paced development of the most backward region of the State
was the aim of these resolutions. In addition to that, the inter-regional and inter-district
discrepancies in the State had to be brought down as much as possible. Keeping in view the
purpose of inclusive growth, these had to be done.

Article 371-J was proposed to be inserted into the Constitution of India. According to this article,
special provisions can be made possible for the erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the
State of Karnataka. This area would comprise districts of Bidar, Gulbarga, Koppal, Raichur, and
Yadgir. It may also include the Bellary District. The article presented as a special provision aims
to achieve the following-

(a) for the region mentioned above, a separate Development Board is to be established;

(b) for the development of the said region, equitable allocation of funds is to be provided.
However, this is subject to the needs of the whole State;

(c) for public employment, reservations must be provided. 

(d) for the domiciles of the region, educational as well as vocational training institutions must
provide reservations. For domiciles of that region, it can be done through the constitution of local
cadres.
 REFERENCES

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/amendments-in-indian-constitution-for-upsc/

Anonymous, 28 Dec 2022,Amendments of the Indian Constitution,

https://www.clearias.com/amendments-of-indian-constitution/

Anonymous, 15 May 2022, What are the Important Amendments of the Indian constitution?,
https://unacademy.com/content/railway-exam/study-material/polity/what-are-the-important-
amendments-of-the-indian-constitution/