Salient features I: form, structure and institutional design

Detail

1. The longest written constitution in the world

• Written constitution means all the basic rules of the State are set down in one formal document. The UK has no such single document.
• India's Constitution is the longest written constitution of any country.
• Size in 1950: a Preamble, 395 articles, 22 parts and 8 schedules.
• Size today: 25 parts and 12 schedules (NCERT). There are about 470 articles once lettered articles are counted (verify current).
• The numbering still ends at Article 395. One reference edition describes it as "395 Articles, organised into 25 Parts and 12 Schedules" [3].
• New articles are slotted in with letters, so the numbers stay the same. Examples are 21A, 243A–243ZT and 323A.

• A reference count for 2025 gives "more than 400 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules, and five appendices" [4].

• The official text is published by the Legislative Department (Ministry of Law). Its current edition lists all 12 schedules [2].

2. Why the numbers grew: amendments

• Parts added:
• Part IVA: Fundamental Duties (42nd Amendment, 1976).
• Part IXA: Municipalities (74th Amendment, 1992).
• Part IXB: Co-operative Societies (97th Amendment, 2011).

• Part XIVA: Tribunals (42nd Amendment, 1976).

• Part removed:

• Part VII dealt with the old "Part B States". It was omitted by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, with effect from 1 November 1956 [5][6].

• That Act came with the reorganisation of states. States and their territories were then listed again in the First Schedule [5].

• The sum: 22 original parts + 4 new parts − 1 omitted part = 25 parts.

• Schedules added:
• Ninth: 1st Amendment, 1951.
• Tenth: 52nd Amendment, 1985.
• Eleventh: 73rd Amendment, 1992.
• Twelfth: 74th Amendment, 1992.
• This took the count from 8 schedules to 12.

3. Why the Constitution is so long

• Size and diversity of India. Many regions, languages and tribes needed special provisions. Examples are the Fifth and Sixth Schedules and the Eighth Schedule.
• The Government of India Act, 1935 as a model. Large parts of its detailed administrative text were carried over.
• One constitution for both the Union and the states. The USA has a separate constitution for each state. India does not.

• The one exception was Jammu and Kashmir, which had its own constitution under Article 370. That lasted until 2019.

• Many lawyers among the framers. This gave the text precise, detailed drafting.

• Two kinds of rights.
• Justiciable rights are rights a court will enforce. These are the Fundamental Rights in Part III.
• Non-justiciable principles are goals a court will not enforce. These are the Directive Principles in Part IV.

• The Constitution lists both in detail.

• Detail on bodies. Bodies such as the Election Commission (Art. 324) and the Public Service Commissions (Arts. 315–323) are set out in the Constitution itself. Many countries leave such bodies to ordinary law.

• The critique that the Constitution is "too long and unwieldy" is taken up in preamble-philosophy.

4. The twelve schedules

A schedule is a list or table attached to the Constitution. It holds details that would make the articles too long.

Schedule	Content	Added by
First	Names of states and Union territories, and their territories	Original
Second	Pay, allowances and privileges of the President, Governors, presiding officers (Speaker and Deputy Speaker; Chairman and Deputy Chairman), Supreme Court and High Court judges, and the CAG [2]	Original
Third	Forms of oaths and affirmations [2]	Original
Fourth	Seats of each state and UT in the Rajya Sabha [2]	Original
Fifth	How Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes are run and controlled [2]	Original
Sixth	Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram [2]	Original
Seventh	Union List, State List, Concurrent List [2]	Original
Eighth	22 languages	Original (14 languages at first)
Ninth	Laws protected from challenge ("Validation of certain Acts and Regulations") [2]	1st Amendment, 1951
Tenth	Anti-defection: disqualification on the ground of defection [2]	52nd Amendment, 1985
Eleventh	Powers and functions of Panchayats [2]	73rd Amendment, 1992
Twelfth	Powers and functions of Municipalities [2]	74th Amendment, 1992

• Second Schedule: sets the pay, allowances and privileges of the top constitutional office-holders, so these are not left to the government of the day.
• Third Schedule: sets the exact words of the oath or affirmation (a promise made without religious words) for:
• Union and state ministers;
• candidates for Parliament and state legislatures, and members of both;
• Supreme Court and High Court judges;

• the CAG.

• Exam trap: three oaths are not in the Third Schedule. They are written into the articles themselves:

• President – Art. 60
• Vice-President – Art. 69

• Governor – Art. 159

• Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law): it was inserted in 1985. It lets the presiding officer of the House (Speaker or Chairman) disqualify a legislator who defects (leaves or votes against their party) [7].

5. Rigid and flexible together

• A rigid constitution needs a special procedure to amend it, as in the USA. A flexible constitution can be changed like an ordinary law, as in the UK.
• India mixes the two. Different parts need different majorities.

Method	Majority needed	Examples
Simple majority (outside Art. 368)	Majority of members present and voting in each House	Forming new states and changing state boundaries (Arts. 2, 3, 4); creating or abolishing a Legislative Council (Art. 169)
Special majority (Art. 368)	A majority of the total membership of each House and two-thirds of members present and voting	Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles
Special majority + states' ratification (Art. 368(2) proviso)	Special majority plus approval by the legislatures of at least half the states	Federal provisions: election of the President, the Seventh Schedule, representation of states in Parliament, Art. 368 itself

• Full detail is in amendment-basic-structure.

6. Federal system with a unitary bias

• Federation means power is divided by the Constitution between a central government and state governments. Each is supreme in its own area.
• Unitary bias means the balance leans towards the Centre.
• Federal features:
• two levels of government;
• a division of powers through the Seventh Schedule (Arts. 245–254);
• a written constitution that is partly rigid;

• an independent judiciary that settles disputes between the Centre and states.

• Unitary features:

• "Union of States" (Art. 1). The states did not come together by agreement, as in the USA, so they have no right to leave.
• Parliament can change state boundaries by simple majority (Art. 3).
• A strong Centre. The Union List is the longest list. Residuary powers (subjects not on any list) belong to the Union (Art. 248).
• One constitution and single citizenship. There is only Indian citizenship (Arts. 5–11), with no separate state citizenship.
• An integrated judiciary. One chain of courts handles both Union and state laws.
• All-India services (Art. 312). The IAS, IPS and IFoS serve both levels but are controlled by the Centre. A new all-India service can be created if the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution with a two-thirds majority [8].
• Emergency powers. These are the national emergency (Art. 352), President's rule (Art. 356) and the financial emergency (Art. 360).

• Governors are appointed by the President (Art. 155), that is, in practice, by the Union government.

• How a federation becomes unitary in an emergency:

• A national emergency is proclaimed (Art. 352).
• Parliament can then make laws on State List subjects, and the Centre can give orders to states.

• The federal system works like a unitary one until the emergency ends.

• What scholars and the courts have said:

• K.C. Wheare called the Constitution "quasi-federal" (only partly federal).
• Dr Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly the Constitution is "both unitary as well as federal according to the requirement of time and circumstances" [8].
• S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) was decided by a nine-judge bench. It called the Constitution "quasi-federal" because it is "a mixture of the federal and unitary elements, leaning more towards the latter" [8].
• The same judgment held that the federal structure is a basic feature, along with democracy, secularism and judicial review [8].

• Government of NCT of Delhi v. Union of India (2018) said federalism is part of the basic structure "whether absolutely federal or quasi-federal". It also called for cooperative federalism between the Union and the states [8].

• Full detail is in federalism-centre-state.

7. Parliamentary government, with Indian changes

• Parliamentary government means the executive comes from the legislature and stays in office only while it keeps the legislature's support. It follows the British Westminster model.
• Key features:
• The President is the nominal head of the executive. The real executive is the Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister (Arts. 74–75).
• Collective responsibility (Art. 75(3)): the whole Council of Ministers stands or falls together in the Lok Sabha. If it loses a no-confidence vote, all ministers must resign.

• Ministers must be members of Parliament.

• In Shamsher Singh (1974) the Supreme Court said the founders accepted "the parliamentary system of quasi federalism while rejecting the substance of Presidential style of Executive" [8].

• How India differs from Britain:

Feature	Britain	India
Head of State	Hereditary monarch	Elected President (indirectly elected by an electoral college, Art. 54)
Parliament	Sovereign: no court can strike down its laws	Not sovereign: it is limited by Fundamental Rights, the federal division of powers and judicial review
Constitution	Unwritten	Written

8. Parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy combined

• Parliamentary sovereignty means Parliament's law is final and no court can strike it down. This is the British model.
• Judicial supremacy means the courts are the final judges of whether a law is valid. This is the US model.
• India takes a middle path between the two.
• Parliament's side:

• Art. 368 lets Parliament amend most of the Constitution, including Fundamental Rights.

• The courts' side:

• Art. 13: any law that takes away or reduces a Fundamental Right is void.
• Art. 32: a citizen can go straight to the Supreme Court to enforce Fundamental Rights through writs (court orders such as habeas corpus or mandamus).
• Art. 226: High Courts can issue writs for Fundamental Rights and for other legal rights.

• Judicial review means a court can check whether a law or an executive action follows the Constitution, and cancel it if it does not.

• How the line was drawn:

• Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (24 April 1973). A 13-judge bench ruled by 7:6.
  • It overruled Golak Nath (1967).
  • It held that Parliament can amend any provision, but Art. 368 does not let it change the "basic structure" of the Constitution [9].
• Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980) struck down clauses (4) and (5) of Art. 368, which the 42nd Amendment (1976) had added. These clauses had tried to make amendments immune from review by the courts.
  • The Court held that judicial review and a limited amending power are themselves basic features [9].

• Result: Parliament can amend the Constitution, but courts can still strike down an amendment that destroys its core. Neither side is fully supreme.

• An integrated and independent judiciary:

• Integrated: there is one chain of courts. The Supreme Court is at the top, then the High Courts, then the subordinate courts. These courts enforce both Union and state laws. The USA, by contrast, has separate federal and state court systems.
• Independent:
  • Judges have security of tenure. A Supreme Court judge can be removed only by a special majority in each House followed by the President's order (Art. 124(4)).
  • Their salaries are a charge on the Consolidated Fund. This means Parliament does not vote on them (Art. 112(3)(d)).
  • Their pay is fixed in the Second Schedule.

• Full detail is in the judiciary note.

• NCERT (Class 11) describes the Constitution as a balance between core values that should not change easily and enough flexibility to adapt to new situations.

Prelims Hooks

• Original Constitution: a Preamble, 395 articles, 22 parts, 8 schedules. Now: 25 parts and 12 schedules, and the article numbering still ends at 395 [3].
• Part VII (Part B States) was omitted by the 7th Amendment, 1956, with effect from 1 November 1956 [5].
• Added parts: IVA (42nd Amendment, 1976), IXA (74th, 1992), IXB (97th, 2011), XIVA (42nd, 1976).
• Schedules and amendments: Ninth – 1st Amendment (1951). Tenth – 52nd Amendment (1985). Eleventh and Twelfth – 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992).
• Oath trap: the oaths of the President (Art. 60), Vice-President (Art. 69) and Governor (Art. 159) are not in the Third Schedule. The CAG's oath is in the Third Schedule.
• The Second Schedule covers the pay and allowances of the President, Governors, presiding officers, judges and the CAG. It does not cover the Prime Minister or the Chief Election Commissioner.
• The Sixth Schedule covers only Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• Art. 1 says "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States", not a "federation".
• S.R. Bommai (1994): quasi-federal and "leaning more towards" unitary, but the federal structure is a basic feature [8].
• Kesavananda Bharati (1973): 13 judges, 7:6, basic structure. Minerva Mills (1980): struck down Art. 368(4) and (5) [9].

Mains Points

• Length, a strength or a burden?
• The detail gave a new, diverse country clarity. It covers Election Commission and PSC provisions, tribal schedules and Centre–state lists.
• But the detail also needs frequent amendment.

• Rebuttal: the growth through the 1st, 42nd, 73rd/74th and 97th Amendments shows that the Constitution can adapt.

• Quasi-federalism under strain:

• Several features let the Centre dominate. These are Governors appointed by the Centre, Art. 356, all-India services and Art. 3.

• Bommai (1994) and NCT of Delhi (2018) answer this. They hold federalism to be part of the basic structure and call for cooperative federalism and "federal balance" [8]. This is useful for GS-II answers on Centre–state relations.

• Middle path between Britain and the USA:

• Under Art. 368, Parliament can amend the Constitution.
• The courts can strike down even an amendment that breaks the basic structure (Kesavananda, Minerva Mills) [9].

• Critics say this is "judicial overreach". Supporters say it guards against "brute majoritarianism" [8].

• Parliamentary rather than presidential:

• The framers chose daily accountability through collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha over the stability of a fixed-term executive.
• India's elected President and non-sovereign Parliament adapt the Westminster model to a written, rights-based constitution.