Indian Constitution: Preamble, Salient Features, and Key Articles

Indian Constitution: The Constitution of India serves as the foundational legal framework governing the nation. It establishes the essential structure of the state, defines the roles of the legislature, executive, and judiciary, delineates their powers, and regulates their interactions with both the government and the citizenry.

Indian Constitution

Adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, the Constitution of India came into full effect on January 26, 1950. Originally comprising 22 parts, 395 articles, and 8 schedules, it has evolved significantly over the last seven decades through 105 amendments, adding four new schedules and expanding its articles. Renowned for its unique content and spirit, the Constitution provides a vital set of rules that ensure social coordination and democratic governance.

Making of the Indian Constitution

The concept of a Constituent Assembly for India was first proposed in 1934 by M.N. Roy, a prominent figure in the Indian communist movement. By 1935, the Indian National Congress made the official demand for a body to frame the nation's constitution. In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru declared that the Constitution of free India must be drafted solely by a Constituent Assembly elected through adult franchise, without any external interference.

Working of the Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly held its inaugural meeting on December 9, 1946. Due to the Muslim League’s demand for a separate state of Pakistan, they boycotted the proceedings, leaving 211 members in attendance. Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha served as the temporary President, followed by the election of Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the permanent President, with H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari serving as Vice-Presidents.

Indian Constitution Preamble

The ‘Preamble’ serves as the introduction to the Indian Constitution, embodying its core philosophy. Often referred to as the “identity card of the Constitution,” it is based on the ‘Objectives Resolution’ drafted by Pandit Nehru. The Preamble was amended by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976, which introduced the terms ‘Socialist,’ ‘Secular,’ and ‘Integrity.’ 

Key Ingredients of the Preamble

The Preamble delineates four primary ingredients:

1. Source of Authority: It affirms that the Constitution derives its power and authority directly from the people of India.

2. Nature of the Indian State: The Preamble declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, and republican polity. 

3. Objectives of the Constitution: It explicitly specifies justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity as the primary objectives for the nation.

Indian Constitution- Committee

To streamline the drafting process, the Constituent Assembly formed various committees, including eight major committees and several minor ones, to handle specific legislative tasks. 

Major Committees 

Sno	Committee	Chairman
1	Union Powers Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru
2	Union Constitution Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru
3	Provincial Constitution Committee	Sardar Patel
4	Drafting Committee	Dr B.R. Ambedkar
5	Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas	Sardar Patel.
6	Rules of Procedure Committee	Dr Rajendra Prasad
7	States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States)	Jawaharlal Nehru
8	Steering Committee	Dr Rajendra Prasad

Drafting Committee

Established on August 29, 1947, the Drafting Committee was the most pivotal of these groups. Comprising seven members, it was responsible for preparing the final draft of the Indian Constitution.

Sno	Members
1	Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman)
2	N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
3	Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4	Dr. K.M. Munshi
5	Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6	N. Madhava Rau (He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health)
7	T.T. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948)

Indian Constitution Salient Features

The Indian Constitution is celebrated for its unique spirit and comprehensive content. While it draws inspiration from various global constitutions, it remains distinctively Indian. Major updates have occurred through the 7th, 42nd, 44th, 73rd, 74th, 97th, and 101st Amendments. Notably, the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 is often called the “Mini-Constitution” due to the extensive changes it implemented across the document. 

The salient features of the Indian Constitution include:

1. Lengthiest Written Constitution 

2. Drawn From Various Global Sources 

3. Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility

4. Federal System with a Unitary Bias

5. Parliamentary Form of Government

6. Synthesis of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy

7. Integrated and Independent Judiciary

8. Fundamental Rights

9. Directive Principles of State Policy

10. Fundamental Duties

11. A Secular State

12. Universal Adult Franchise

13. Single Citizenship 

14. Independent Constitutional Bodies

15. Emergency Provisions

16. Three-tier Government

17. Co-operative Societies 

Indian Constitution- Sources

The architects of the Indian Constitution studied various global models, integrating the best practices while tailoring them to India's unique socio-political conditions. Significant provisions were also derived from the Government of India Act of 1935. Key sources include:

Sources	Features Borrowed
Government of India Act of 1935	- Federal Scheme,  - Office of the Governor,  - Judiciary structure,  - Public Service Commissions,  - Emergency provisions, and  - Administrative details
British Constitution	- Parliamentary government,  - Rule of Law,  - Legislative procedure,  - Single citizenship,  - Cabinet system,  - Prerogative writs,  - Parliamentary privileges, and  - Bicameralism.
US Constitution	- Fundamental rights,  - Independence of the judiciary,  - Judicial review,  - Impeachment of the President,  - Removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges  - Post of Vice-President.
Irish Constitution	- Directive Principles of State Policy,  - Nomination of members to Rajya Sabha, and the method of election for the President.
Canadian Constitution	- Federation with a strong Centre,  - Vesting of residuary powers in the Centre, appointment of state governors by the Centre, and advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Australian Constitution	- Concurrent List,  - Freedom of trade,  - Commerce and intercourse, and  - Joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
Weimar Constitution of Germany	-Suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency.
Soviet Constitution (USSR, now Russia)	- Fundamental duties, and  - The ideal of justice (social, economic, and political) in the Preamble.
French Constitution	- Republic and the ideals of liberty,  - Equality, and  - Fraternity in the Preamble.
South African Constitution	- Procedure for constitutional amendment   - Election of Rajya Sabha members.
Japanese Constitution	The procedure was established by Law

Indian Constitution Articles

The Indian Constitution is organized into 22 parts, each addressing specific subjects. Notably, Part VII was repealed by the 7th Amendment in 1956. Over time, parts have been added, such as Part IV-A and XIV-A (42nd Amendment), Part IX-A (74th Amendment), and Part IX-B (97th Amendment), reflecting the Constitution's dynamic nature.

Parts	Subject	Articles
I	The Union and its territory	1 to 4
II	Citizenship	5 to 11
III	Fundamental Rights	12 to 35
IV	Directive Principles of State Policy	36 to 51
IV A	Fundamental Duties	51-A
V	The Union Government	52 to 151
VI	The State Governments	152 to 237
VII	The States in Part B of the First Schedule (deleted)	238 (deleted)
VIII	The Union Territories	239 to 242
IX	The Panchayats	243 to 243– 0
IX A	The Municipalities	243-P to 243-ZG
IX B	The Co-operative Societies	243-ZH to 243-ZT
X	The Scheduled and Tribal Areas	244 to 244- A
XI	Relations between the Union and the States	245 to 263
XII	Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits	264 to 300- A
XIII	Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within the Territory of India	301 to 307
XIV	Services under the Union and the States	308 to 323
XIV A	Tribunals	323-A to 323-B
XV	Elections	324 to 329- A
XVI	Special Provisions relating to Certain Classes	330 to 342- A
XVII	Official Language	343 to 351- A
XVIII	Emergency Provisions	352 to 360
XIX	Miscellaneous	361 to 367
XX	Amendment of the Constitution	368
XXI	Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions	369 to 392
XXII	Short title, Commencement, Authoritative Text in Hindi and Repeals	393 to 395

Indian Constitution Schedule

Currently, the Indian Constitution contains 12 schedules that cover a wide range of administrative and legislative details, including the jurisdiction of States and Union Territories, provisions for constitutional posts, oaths, the distribution of powers, official languages, and regulations for land reforms, local governance, and disqualification.

Numbers	Subject Matter
First Schedule	1. Names of the States and their territorial jurisdiction. 2. Names of the Union Territories and their extent.
Second Schedule	Provisions relating to the emoluments, allowances, and privileges of: 1. The President of India  2. The Governors of States  3. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha  4. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha  5. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the states  6. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council in the states  7. The Judges of the Supreme Court  8. The Judges of the High Courts, and 9. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Third Schedule	Forms of Oaths or Affirmations for: 1. The Union Ministers  2. Candidates for election to the Parliament  3. The Members of Parliament  4. The Judges of the Supreme Court  5. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India  6. The State Ministers  7. Candidates for election to the state legislature  8. The members of the state legislature  9. The Judges of the High Courts.
Fourth Schedule	Allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha to the states and the union territories.
Fifth Schedule	Provisions relating to the administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes.
Sixth Schedule	Provisions relating to the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Seventh Schedule	Division of powers between the Union and the States in terms of List I (Union List), List II (State List) and List III (Concurrent List). Presently, the Union List contains 98 subjects (originally 97), the State List contains 59 subjects (originally 66) and the Concurrent List contains 52 subjects (originally 47).
Eighth Schedule	Languages recognized by the Constitution. Originally, it had 14 languages but presently there are 22 languages. They are:Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Mathili (Maithili), Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967; Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992; and Bodo, Dongri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003. Oriya was renamed as ‘Odia’ by the 96th Amendment Act of 2011.
Ninth Schedule	Acts and Regulations (originally 13 but presently 282)32 of the state legislatures dealing with land reforms and abolition of the zamindari system and of the Parliament dealing with other matters. This schedule was added by the 1st Amendment (1951) to protect the laws included in it from judicial scrutiny on the ground of violation of fundamental rights. However, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws included in this schedule after April 24, 1973, are now open to judicial review
Tenth Schedule	Provisions relating to disqualification of the members of Parliament and State Legislatures on the ground of defection. This schedule was added by the 52nd Amendment Act of 1985, also known as Anti-defection Law
Eleventh Schedule	Specifies the powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats. It has 29 matters. This schedule was added by the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992.
Twelfth Schedule	Specifies the powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities. It has 18 matters. This schedule was added by the 74th Amendment Act of 1992.

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