In-depth Analysis of Constitutional Evolution

In Depth: Major Constitutional Amendments | 20 November, 2024

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Summary

In this in-depth episode of Sansad TV, host Kti Mishra takes viewers through the significant amendments to the Indian Constitution that have shaped the nation's governance, socio-political dynamics, and legal landscapes. Starting with the foundational aspects of the Constitution, including its framework, key articles, and the roles of executive branches, the episode covers major amendments such as the First, Seventh, and the notable 42nd Amendment, which brought substantial changes. The narrative emphasizes how these amendments, driven by political, social, and economic needs, have kept the Constitution relevant and adaptable. Key amendments like the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and provisions for weaker sections underscore the dynamic nature of legal reforms in India.

Highlights

🎉 The Indian Constitution, with 395 articles initially, is a voluminous legal framework unmatched globally.
👩‍⚖️ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a key architect, emphasized constitutional morality as a foundational element.
🗳️ Amendments often address socio-economic factors, like reducing the voting age via the 61st Amendment.
⚖️ Landmark amendments like the 42nd and 44th showcase the balance between central and state powers.
💼 The introduction of GST through the 101st Amendment marked a significant economic reform.

Key Takeaways

🔍 The Indian Constitution is a living document, frequently amended to meet evolving needs.
📜 The First Amendment in 1951 set a precedent for enhancing societal equity by empowering states to uplift backward classes.
🌐 The GST Amendment simplified taxation, creating a unified economic market in India.
👥 Constitutional amendments like the 73rd and 74th have empowered local governance in rural and urban areas.
🏛️ Significant amendments have ensured the inclusion and welfare of weaker sections through reservations and rights.

Overview

Step into the thoughtful world of India's Constitutional amendments, where law meets the lived realities of its diverse population. This episode of Sansad TV, hosted by Kti Mishra, unwraps how India's founding document has taken shape over the decades, reflecting the country's complex socio-political tapestry. 🏛️

From pivotal amendments that reshaped governance structures to those enhancing civil liberties and regional autonomy, each change tells a story of adaptive strategy and policy innovation. For instance, the Seventh Amendment reorganized states linguistically, a decision reflecting regional identity politics, while the First Amendment tackled socio-economic disparities directly. 📜

Perhaps most notably, amendments like the 42nd and 101st, brought about during times of significant national transition, demonstrate the Constitution's inherent flexibility. The sweep of GST underlines India’s shift toward economic unity, marking a transformative era in its fiscal landscape. This narrative stitches together tales of ambition, equity, and reform. 🌐

In Depth: Major Constitutional Amendments | 20 November, 2024 Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 [Music] of the people for the people and by the people the Indian constitution the longest of any Sovereign Nation in the world provides a comprehensive framework to guide and govern the country keeping in view her social cultural and religious diversity hello and welcome viewers you're watching in-depth with your host kti Mishra on major Constitutional Amendments that changed India
00:30 - 01:00 [Music] a distinctive document with many extraordinary features the constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any Sovereign Nation in
01:00 - 01:30 the world the original text of the Constitution contained 395 articles in 22 parts and eight shutes it came into effect on January 26th 1950 the day India celebrates each year as the Republic Day it established the main organs executive legislature and Judiciary defining their powers demarcating their responsibilities and regulating the inter relationship
01:30 - 02:00 it lays down the basic structure of governance and the relationship between the government and the people the rights and duties of citizens are also spelled out the preamble to the Constitution declares India to be a sovereign socialist secular Democratic Republic and a welfare state committed to Justice Liberty and equality for the people and for promoting fraternity Dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation
02:00 - 02:30 the objectives specified in the Preamble constitute the basic structure of the Indian constitution which cannot be amended the opening and last sentences of the Preamble we the people adopt enact and give to ourselves this constitution signifies the power is ultimately wested in the hands of the people [Music]
02:30 - 03:00 your [Applause]
03:00 - 03:30 the people we the people
03:30 - 04:00 mother of democracy the Constitution was framed by the constituent assembly of India
04:00 - 04:30 established by the members of the provincial assemblies elected by the people of India Dr sadanand Sinha was the first president of the constituent assembly later Dr rajendra Prasad was elected its president Dr BR ambedkar the chairman of its drafting committee is considered the Chief Architect of the Indian constitution which provides a comprehensive and dynamic framework to guide and govern the country
04:30 - 05:00 at Independence India was not merely large and diverse but also deeply divided a constitution designed to keep the country together and to take it Forward had necessarily to be an elaborate carefully worked out and painstakingly draft a document for one thing it sought to heal wounds of the past and the present to make Indians of different classes Cs and communities come together in a shed political
05:00 - 05:30 experiment for another it sought to nurture Democratic institutions in what had long been a culture of hierarchy and difference the constitution of India was framed between December 1946 and November 1949 during this time its drafts were discussed Clause by clause in the constituent assembly of India in all the assembly held 11 sessions with sittings spread over 165 days in between the
05:30 - 06:00 sessions the work of revising and refining the drafts was carried out by various committees and subcommittees PR bihari Naran Ray Zada was a calligrapher of the Indian constitution the original Constitution was written by him in a flowing italic style the calligraphy of Hindi version of the original Constitution was done by basant Krishna vya an impartial Judiciary independent of the legislature and executive is one
06:00 - 06:30 of the main features of the Constitution the Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the country and acts as a garden of the Constitution and serves as the final court of appeal there are many autonomous institutions set up under the Constitution which perform key role such as Election Commission of India responsible for holding free and fair elections Public Service Commission responsible for selection to maintain government service
06:30 - 07:00 and auditor general for independent audit of accounts of the government and its agencies another novel feature of the Constitution is that it contains a chapter on the directive principles of State policy that are in the nature of directives to the government to implement them for establishing social and economic democracy in our country these principles are considered fundamental in the governance of our country [Music]
07:00 - 07:30 one of the strengths of the Constitution is that it is a dynamic instrument that can evolve with time either by its interpretation or Amendment the constitution of India is one of the most frequently amended constitutions in the world so as not to stand in the way of the growth and development of the nation and her people article 368 of the Constitution deals deals with the power of parliament
07:30 - 08:00 to amend the Constitution and its procedures it states that the parliament May amend the Constitution by way of addition variation or repeal of any provision in accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose however the parliament cannot amend those Provisions which form the basic structure of the Constitution this was ruled by the Supreme Court in the keshwanand bharti case it provides for two types of amendments that is by special majority
08:00 - 08:30 of Parliament and the special majority of parliament along with the ratification of half of the state's legislatures by a simple majority under article 3682 Parliament can amend the Constitution by passing a bill with a special majority an Amendment of the Constitution can be initiated only by the introduction of a bill for the purpose in either house of parliament loksabha or the rajas saaba and not in the state legislatures the bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private
08:30 - 09:00 member and does not require prior permission of the president each house must pass the Bill separately the president must give his Ascent to the bill he or she can neither withhold his or her Ascent to the bill nor return the bill for reconsideration of parliament after the president's Ascent the bill becomes an act that is the Constitutional Amendment Act and the Constitution stands amended in accordance with the terms of the ACT [Music]
09:00 - 09:30 passed in 1951 the First Amendment to the Constitution altered articles 15 153 46 341 342 372 and 376 empowering states to make any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the scheduled cost and scheduled tribes for the amendment the state is prevented from enacting laws curbing citizens rights to
09:30 - 10:00 freedom of expression and to practice any trade occupation or business but the amendment also introduced three new exceptions to the right to free speech now citizens did not have the right to speak freely if their words imperiled public order incited the commission of an offense or affected friendly relations with the foreign States in 1956 the Neu government passed the Seventh Amendment which abolished the distribution of States into classes a b c and d and introduce the unit
10:00 - 10:30 territories of India this act listed out all the states Andra Pradesh Assam Bihar Bombay Kerala madha Pradesh Madras myo orisa Punjab Rajasthan and utar Pradesh West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir and divided them on a linguistic basis as for the state's reorganization Act of 1956 it also specified the boundaries of each of the states and what territories they
10:30 - 11:00 Incorporated in the Preamble three additional terms that is socialist secular and integrity were included the 42nd amendment is the most comprehensive amendment in the history of Indian Constitutional Amendments it consisted of 59 Clauses and carried out so many changes that it has been termed as a mini Constitution the amendment stated that the president shall act in accordance to the Council of ministers it enabled the to deploy Armed Forces for dealing with
11:00 - 11:30 situations of Law and Order in any state it authorized the president to declare emergency in a part of the country the 46th Amendment changed the whole complexion of the Constitution making Parliament the Supreme Sovereign body excluding courts entirely from the election disputes strengthening cedal government to rule as a unit not as a federal system cutting down the judicial PA to challenge leg
11:30 - 12:00 ation the 44th Amendment Act was introduced in the year 1978 by the government 44th Amendment act modified the Constitutional emergency provisions and prevented them from being misused in the future it deleted the right to property from the list of fundamental rights and made it only a legal right provided that the fundamental rights guaranteed by articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended during a national emergency
12:00 - 12:30 cracking down on political defections the Rajiv Gandhi government passed the 52nd amendment in 1985 which disqualified a member of either house of parliament legislative assembly or Council of the State under provisions of the 10 schedule this act was further strengthened by the atel bihari vajpai government in 2003 with the 91st Amendment which stated that any disqualified member cannot hold any remunerative political post from his disqualification date to the expiry of
12:30 - 13:00 his office term or the date on which he is reelected to a house whichever is earlier The 91st Amendment also fix the total number of ministers including the prime minister in the Council of ministers to 15% of loksabha strength a similar limit was applied to State cabinets as well paed by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1988 the 61st Amendment reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years making the right to vote a
13:00 - 13:30 constitutional right 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were passed by parliament in December 1992 through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India the acts came into Force as the Constitution 73rd Amendment act 1992 on April 24th 1993 and the Constitution 74th Amendment act 1992 on June 1st 1993
13:30 - 14:00 the Constitution 86 Amendment act 2002 enshrined right to education as a fundamental right in part three of the Constitution a new article 21A was inserted below article 21 which made right to education of fundamental right for children in the age 6 to 14 years considered to be the biggest constitutional change in Indian pity in modern times the Narendra Modi government in 2016 passed the 10 First Amendment altering article 246 to
14:00 - 14:30 empower the parliament to make laws with respect to goods and services tax 17 different taxes levied by the Central and state and UT governments with cascading effect of tax on tax were Consolidated into one GST India became a common market GST resulted in increased tax space higher Collections and ease of doing business this reduced the interface between the taxpayers and the
14:30 - 15:00 government for day-to-day operations and assessment Interstate movements became faster more efficient and hassle-free with no entry tax check posts and truck cues among others in a landmark ruling the Supreme Court upheld by a 3-2 majority the Constitution 103rd Amendment act 2019 introducing 10% reservation for the economically weaker section among the
15:00 - 15:30 unreserved categories in Admissions and government [Music] jobs Article 15 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the ground of race religion cost sex or place of birth however the government may make special Provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes off for scheduled cost and scheduled tribes Constitution 103rd Amendment Act is for economic reservation in jobs and
15:30 - 16:00 admissions in educational institutes for economically weaker sections it was enacted to promote the welfare of the poor not covered by 50% reservation policy for scheduled costs scheduled tribes and socially an educationally backward classes it enables both the center and the states to provide reservations to the ews of the society 104th Amendment of the Indian constitution extended the deadline for this session of seats for sc's and SDS
16:00 - 16:30 in the loksabha and state assemblies from 70 years to 80 it removed the reserve seats for the Anglo Indian Community in the Lok saaba and state assemblies struggles and the sacrifices of our founding fathers the founding fathers placed immense responsibility on the coming generations of countrymen to take the country forward in the path of progress it would be apt to recall the words of of Babas sahb Dr BR edar when
16:30 - 17:00 he cautioned Us by saying let us not forget that this Independence has thrown on us great responsibilities by Independence we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong if Hereafter things go wrong we will have nobody to blame except ourselves 70% reduction in Terrorist incidents in just four years of
17:00 - 17:30 abrogation of article 370 50% reduction in deaths of security [Music] Personnel Kashmir witnessed zero Stone pelting incidents in [Music] 2023 only six ceasefire violations in 2023 [Music]
17:30 - 18:00 [Music] OCC for
18:00 - 18:30 [Music] come
18:30 - 19:00 [Music] [Applause]
19:00 - 19:30 [Music] in one of his speeches to the constituent assembly Dr ambedkar while underlining the importance of constitutional morality emphasized that the essense of constitutional morality was to regard the Constitution as Supreme and to follow the constitutionally mandated procedures regarding less of any ideological
19:30 - 20:00 differences all the three organs of the state persons gracing the Constitutional post members of the Civil Society and common citizens of India are expected to abide by constitutional morality well viewers that's all we have for you in this Edition thanks for watching and stay tuned to Sunset [Music] TV Sunset TV programs
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