Rigidity and flexibility of the Constitution
Topic: Amendment of the Constitution and the Basic Structure · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"
Meaning
This term means that India's Constitution mixes rigid and flexible features. It is hard enough to change that it stays stable, and easy enough to change that it can grow. There are three levels:
- some parts change by an ordinary law passed by simple majority;
- most parts need a special majority under Art. 368;
- federal parts, which affect the states, also need ratification by half the state legislatures.
Example
The framers expected that they had made some errors, and these needed to be easy to fix. Temporary provisions were meant to be changed by the new Parliament. Matters that affect the states and the core features were given stronger protection. In the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949, Ambedkar argued that if critics "cannot obtain even" a two-thirds majority, their dissatisfaction "cannot be deemed to be shared by the general public". Later, the basic structure doctrine (limits on Parliament's power to change the Constitution's essential features) added to this balance.
Don't confuse with
- Flexible constitution: the whole constitution changes by ordinary law, as in Britain. India's does not.