Constitutional Amendments

The Constitution of India was adopted on November 26, 1949, and it officially came into force on January 26, 1950.

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 is widely known as the Mini Constitution due to the vast number of changes it brought to the Constitution of India.

The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added Part XIV-A to the Constitution, which includes Article 323-A regarding administrative tribunals.

The 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2005, inserted clause (5) in Article 15, enabling the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes in private unaided educational institutions.

The 107th Constitutional Amendment Bill (as introduced) aimed to amend Articles 244 and 332 to provide for the reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the state of Assam.

The Fundamental Duties were added to the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act in 1976, upon the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.

The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, passed in 2002, inserted Article 21A into the Indian Constitution. This made free and compulsory education a fundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and 14.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of India, enacted in 1951, added the Ninth Schedule to protect land reform laws from judicial review.

Article 368 of the Indian Constitution grants the Parliament the power to amend the Constitution and its procedure.

The 96th Amendment Act, which substituted ‘Odiya’ for ‘Oriya’, came into effect on 23 September 2011 by amending schedule 8 of the constitution of India.

According to Article 312a, Parliament may by law- vary or revoke, whether prospectively or retrospectively, the conditions of services as respects remuneration, leave and pension and the rights as respects disciplinary matters of persons who, having been appointed by the Secretary of State or Secretary of State in Council to a civil service of the Crown in India before the commencement of this Constitution, continue on and after the commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Act, 1972, to serve under the Government of India or of a State in any service or post.

The Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 1966, Parliament may by law (a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State; (b) increase the area of any State; (c) diminish the area of any State; (d) alter the boundaries of any State; (e) alter the name of any State: Hence, this amendment reorganised Punjab into Punjab, Haryana and UT of Chandigarh.

The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1986 and the State of Arunachal Pradesh Bill, 1986—The Bill vests special powers in the Government besides stipulating that the new State Assembly shall consist of not less than 30 members. The second provides for the establishment of the new State of Arunachal Pradesh. The Bill has already become an Act. Thus, Arunachal Pradesh became the 24th state of the Indian Union.