Important Constitutional Amendments

Important Constitutional Amendments

1. The First Amendment, 1951, was carried out to overcome certain practical difficulties related to the Fundamental Rights. It made a provision for special treatment of educationally and socially backward classes, and added the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution.

2. The Third Amendment, 1954, extended the powers of the Parliament by transferring certain items from the State List to the Concurrent List.

3. The Seventh Amendment, 1956, was necessitated on account of the re-organisation of states on a linguistic basis and introduced changes in the First and Fourth Schedules.

4. The Eighth Amendment, 1959, extended special provision for the reservation of seats for SCs, ST, and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies for a period of 10 years, from 1960 to 1970.

5. The Ninth Amendment, 1960, gave effect to the transfer of certain territories to Pakistan, following the September 1958 Indo-Pak Agreement.

6. The Tenth Amendment, 1961, incorporated the territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the Indian Union.

7. The Twelfth Amendment, 1962, incorporated the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu in the Indian Union.

8. The Thirteenth Amendment, 1962, created Nagaland as a state of the Union of India.

9. The Fourteenth Amendment, 1963, incorporated the former French territory of Puducherry into the Union. 

10. The Eighteenth Amendment, 1966 was made to facilitate the re-organisation of Punjab on a linguistic basis into Punjab and Haryana, and also created the UT called Chandigarh.

11. The Twenty-first Amendment, 1967 included Sindhi as the 15th regional language in the Eighth Schedule.

12. The Twenty-second Amendment, 1969, created a sub-state of Meghalaya within Assam.

13. The Twenty-third Amendment, 1969, extended the reservation of seats for SC/STs and nomination of Anglo-Indians for a further period of 10 years (up to 1980).

14. The Twenty-sixth Amendment, 1971, abolished the titles and special privileges of former rulers of princely states.

15. The Twenty-seventh Amendment, 1971, provided for the establishment of the states of Manipur and Tripura and the formation of the UTs of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

16. The Thirty-first Amendment, 1973, increased the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545.The upper limit of representatives of a state went up from 500 to 525.

17. The Thirty-sixth Amendment, 1975, made Sikkim a state of the Indian Union.

18. The Thirty-eighth Amendment, 1975, provided that the President can make a declaration of emergency, and the promulgation of ordinances by the President, Governors and administrative heads of UTs would be final and could not be challenged in any court. It also authorised the President to declare different kinds of emergencies at the same time.

19. The Thirty-ninth Amendment, 1975, decreed that the election of a person holding the office of the Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of the President and Vice-President cannot be challenged in any court.

20. The Forty-second Amendment, 1976, provided supremacy to the Parliament and gave primacy to the Directive Principles over the Fundamental Rights. It also added 10 Fundamental Duties in the Constitution. The Preamble of the Constitution was also altered from ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic’ to read ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’ and ‘Unity of the Nation’ to read ‘Unity and Integrity of the Nation’.

21. The Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978, restored the normal duration of the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies to 5 years. The right to property was deleted from Part III. It also limited the power of the government to proclaim the internal emergency and corrected some distortions that had crept into the Constitution during the emergency.

22. The Forty-fifth Amendment, 1980, extended reservation for SC/ST by an additional 10 years (up to 1990).

23. The Fifty-second Amendment, 1985, inserted the Tenth Schedule in the Constitution regarding provisions for disqualification on the grounds of defection.

24. The Fifty-fifth Amendment, 1986, conferred statehood on Arunachal Pradesh. 

25. The Fifty-sixth Amendment, 1987, the Hind version of the Constitution of India was accepted for all purposes and statehood was conferred on the UT of Goa. 

26. The Sixty-first Amendment, 1989, reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years for the Lok Sabha as well as the Assemblies. 

27. The Seventy-third Amendment, 1992 (Panchayati Raj Bill) seeks to provide, among other things, Gram Sabha in villages, constitution of Panchayats at the village and other levels, direct elections to all seats in Panchayats and reservation of seats for SC and ST and fixing of tenure of 5 years for Panchayats. 

28. The Seventy-fourth Amendment, 1993, (Nagarpalika Bill) provides for, among other things, the constitution of three types of municipalities and the reservation of seats in every municipality for the SC/ST, women and the OBCs. 

29. The Seventy-seventh Amendment, 1995, provides for continuing the existing policy of reservation in promotions for SC/STs. It also made changing of Article 16 of the Constitution mandatory by inserting a new Clause (4A). 

30. The Seventy-ninth Amendment, 1999 provides for the extension of reservations of seats for SC/STs and Anglo-Indians in the House of the people and in the State Legislative Assemblies for an additional 10 years. 

31. The Eightieth Amendment, 2000, provides for an alternative tax sharing scheme between the Union and state governments, as per recommendations of the 10th Finance Commission. Henceforth, 26 percent of the total Union taxes and duties would be assigned to the state governments in lieu of their existing share in income tax, excise, duties, special excise duties and grants in lieu of tax on railway passenger fares.

32. The Eighty-fourth Amendment, 2001, states the number of representatives in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies were to freeze to current levels for the next 25 years (till 2026). 

33. The Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002, deals with the insertion of a new Article 21A after Article 21. The new Article 21A deals with Right to Education. ‘The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children from the age to 6 to 14 years in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine’. 

34. The Eighty-ninth Amendment, 2003, provides for the Amendment of Article 338. There shall be a National Commission for the SCs and a National Commission for STs. ‘Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members and the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members so appointed shall be such as the President may be rule determine’.  

35. The Ninety-first Amendment, 2003, provides for the Amendment of Article 75. The total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers, shall not exceed 15 percent of the total number of members of the House of the people. A member of either House of Parliament belonging to any political party who is disqualified for being a member of that House under paragraph 2 of the Tenth schedule shall also be disqualified to be to appointed as a Minister under Clause (1) ‘for duration of the period commencing from the date of his disqualification till the date on which the term of his office as such members would expire or where he contests any election to either House of Parliament before the expiry of such period, till the date on which he is declared elected, whichever is earlier.  

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