Amendments Of The Constitution

Amending the Constitution of India is the process of making changes to the nation’s fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX (Article 368) of the Constitution of India. This procedure safeguards India’s Constitution and prevents unchecked power of the Indian Parliament.

It was borrowed from the South African constitution
Article 368 in Part XX of the constitution: Powers of Parliament to amend the constitution.
Keshavananda Bharati judgment: Parliament cannot amend those parts which are part of the ‘Basic Structure’ of the constitution.

Types of Amendments:

Simple Majority	This refers to the majority of more than 50% of the members present and voting.
Special Majority	A bill is said to be passed, if it is supported by a majority of 2/3rd members present and voting supported by over 50% of the total strength of the House.
Special Majority of Parliament and Consent of States	This type of majority is required when federal structures need to be amended, Apart from special majority by both the houses of the parliament, it requires consent of half of the state legislature by a simple majority. There is no time limit within which states should give their consent to the bill

Special Majority

Absolute majority

If more than 50% of the total strength of the house pass it, a bill is considered to be passed.

Effective Majority

This refers to a majority of more than 50% of the effective strength of the House.

Procedure for Amending the Constitution of India

The Indian Constitution’s amendment procedure is moderate, not as simple as in Britain or as complex as in the USA. In other words, one can describe the amending process of the Indian Constitution as partly flexible and partly rigid.

Article 368 of the Indian Constitution laid down the procedure for the amendment of the Constitution, which is as follows:

Amendment can be initiated only by the introduction of a bill for the purpose in either house of the Parliament
The bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private member and does not require the permission of the President
The bill needs approval in each house via a special majority: majority of total membership and two-thirds of present members’ votes.
Each house must pass the bill separately. If there is any disagreement, there is no provision for joint sitting of the houses
To amend constitution provisions, the bill requires ratification by half of the states’ legislatures with a simple majority.
After both houses pass the bill, they present it to the President for his assent.
The president must give his assent to the bill. He can neither withhold his assent to the bill nor return the bill for reconsideration of the Parliament
After the President’s assent, the bill becomes an act

Important Amendments of Indian Constitution

Below is the list of important amendments in Indian Constitution with their dates, articles-added and changes (if any) brought:

Important Amendment Acts	Newly added, removed and Amended Articles/Scheduled/Parts	Details of the Amendments
7^th Amendment Act 1956	Article 1 Article 3 Article 49 Article 80 Article 81 Article 82 Article 131 Article 153 Article 158 Article 168 Article 170 Article 171 Article 216 Article 217 Article 220 Article 222 Article 224 Article 230 Article 231 Article 232 Part VIII First, Second, Fourth and Seventh Schedules of Indian Constitution	Reorganization of states on linguistic basis Abolition of Class A, B, C and D states Introduction of Union Territories
9^th Amendment Act, 1960	Schedule 1 of Indian Constitution	Adjustments to Indian Territory as a result of an agreement with Pakistan.
10^th Amendment Act, 1961	Article 240 First Schedule	Dadra, Nagar, and Haveli incorporated in the Union of Indian as a Union Territory
12^th Amendment Act 1961	Article 240 First Schedule	Goa, Daman and Diu incorporated in the Indian Union as a Union Territory
13^th Amendment Act, 1963	Article 170 Added new article 371A	Nagaland was formed with special status under Article 371A
14^th Amendment Act, 1962	Articles 81 and 240 First and fourth Schedules Added Article 239A	Pondicherry incorporated into the Indian Union
21^st Amendment Act, 1967	Eighth Schedule	Sindhi language was language into 8^th Schedule of Indian Constitution
26^th Amendment Act 1971	Article 366 Added Article 363A Removed Articles 291 and 362	Privy Purse was abolished.
36^th Amendment Act 40^th Amendment Act 1975	Articles 80 and 81 First and fourth Schedules Added Article 371F Removed Article 2A	Sikkim incorporated as an Indian state
42^nd Amendment Act 1976	Article 31 Article 31C Article 39 Article 55 Article 74 Article 77 Article 81 Article 82 Article 83 Article 100 Article 102 Article 103 Article 105 Article 118 Article 145 Article 150 Article 166 Article 170 Article 172 Article 189 Article 191 Article 192 Article 194 Article 208 Article 217 Article 225 Article 226 Article 227 Article 228 Article 311 Article 312 Article 330 Article 352 Article 353 Article 356 Article 357 Article 358 Article 359 Article 366 Article 368 Article 371F Seventh Schedule Added Articles 31D, 32A, 39A, 43A, 48A, 131A, 139A, 144A, 226A, 228A and 257A Added Parts IVA and XIVA	Fundamental Duties prescribed, India became Socialist Secular Republic
44^th Amendment Act 1978	Article19 Article 22 Article 30 Article 31A Article 31C Article 38 Article 71 Article 74 Article 77 Article 83 Article 103 Article 105 Article 123 Article 132 Article 133 Article 134 Article 139A Article 150 Article 166 Article 172 Article 192 Article 194 Article 213 Article 217 Article 225 Article 226 Article 227 Article 239B Article 329 Article 352 Article 356 Article 358 Article 359 Article 360 Article 371F Ninth Schedule Added Articles 134A and 361A Deletion of Articles 31, 257A and 329A	Right to Property removed from the list of fundamental rights
61^st Amendment Act 1989	Article 326	Voting age decreased from 21 to 18.
71^st Amendment Act 1992	Article 332	Manipuri, Konkani, and Nepali were added in the 8^th Schedule of Indian Constitution
73^rd Amendment Act 1992	Added Part IX	Introduction of Panchayat Raj Addition of Part IX to the Indian Constitution
74^th Amendment Act 1992	Article 280 Article 280 Added Part IXA	Introduction of Municipalities and Nagarpalikas
86^th Amendment Act 2002	Amended Articles 45 and 51A Added Article 21A	Free and compulsory education to children between 6 and 14 years
87^th Amendment Act 2003	Eighth Schedule	Santhali, Bodo, Dogri, and Maithili in the 8^th Schedule of Indian Constitution Service Tax introduced.
95^th Amendment Act 2010	Article 334	Extension of reservation of seats for SC/ST Nomination of Anglo-Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies
96^th Amendment Act 2011	Eighth Schedule	Replaced Odia for Oriya in the 8^th Schedule to the Indian Constitution
97^th Amendment Act 2012	Articles 19 Added Part IXB	Introduction of Part IXB in the Constitution of India relating to Co-operative Societies
100^th Amendment Act 2015	Amendment of First Schedule	Exchange of some enclave territories with Bangladesh Conferment of citizenship rights to citizens of enclave’s resulting to signing of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) Treaty between India and Bangladesh.
101^st Amendment Act 2016	Article 248 Article 249 Article 250 Article 268 Article 269 Article 270 Article 271 Article 286 Article 366 Article 368 Amended Sixth Schedule and Seventh Schedule Deletion of Article 268A	Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
102^nd Amendment Act 2018	Addition of articles 338B, 342A, and Added Clause 26C Omitted Article 340 Modification of articles 338, 366	Constitutional Status to National Commission for Backward Classes
103^rd Amendment Act 2019	Amendment to Article 15, added Clause 6 Amendment to Article 16, added Clause 6	A maximum of 10% Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections of citizens of classes other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) of Article 15, i.e. Classes other than socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
The Constitution (104th Amendment) Act,2020		It extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and states assemblies.

Criticism of the amending procedure

Only the Parliament can invoke an amendment.
The procedure is very rigid if a private member of the parliament wants to move a constitutional amendment bill
Granting the Parliament constituent power enhances the ruling party’s chances of amending if they hold majority in both houses. This could lead to the passage of bills in a hurried manner.
States’ consent is limited to only a few provisions.
The constitution does not prescribe a time frame for states to ratify or reject the amendment bill.