General Awareness Schedules and Amendment to the Constitution

Constitutional Amendments

- Under Article 368 of the Constitution, Parliament has the power of amending the Constitution.
- There are three methods
1. Amendment by 2/3rd Majority of Parliament - Most parts of the Constitution (with exception of some specific provisions) can be amended by this method. Under this method, the Constitution can be amended by the Union Parliament alone. For this purpose an amendment bill can be passed by each of the two Houses of Union Parliament by a majority of its total membership (i.e. absolute majority) and by a two-third majority of members present and voting in each House. It is a rigid method in so far as it prescribes a special majority for amending the constitution but it is considered to be a flexible method because under it the Union Parliament alone can pass any amendment.
2. Amendment by 2/3rd Majority of the Parliament plus Ratification by at least half of the several State Legislatures - First, the amendment bill is to be passed by both the Houses of the Union Parliament by a majority of total membership and a 2/3rd majority of members present and voting in each House.
Secondly, after this the amendment bill has to secure ratification from at least half of the several State Legislatures (now at least 14 state legislatures). Only then it gets finally passed and incorporated as a part of the Constitution when the President puts his signatures on the bill.
3. Additional Amendment by a Simple Majority in the Two Houses of Parliament - In respect of some provisions of the Constitution the Parliament has been given the power to make necessary changes by passing as a law in the normal way i.e. by simple majority of members of both of its Houses. It is, indeed, an easy method of amendment.

Important Amendments

• 1st Amendment (1951) - According to it, Articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174, 176, 341, 342, and 376 were amended and Articles 31A and 3IB inserted and Ninth Schedule was added.
• 7th Amendment (1956) - Necessitated on account of reorganization of states on a linguistic basis.
• 8th Amendment (1960) - The reservation of seats in legislature in favour of SC/ST and Anglo Indian extended upto 1970.
• 13th Amendment (1962) - Nagaland was given the status of a state and special provision made for the state of Nagaland.
• 24th Amendment (1971) - It affirmed the power of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. After this amendment, the President is bound to assent to Constitution Amendment Bill. Education was transferred to the Concurrent List by this amendment.
• 31st Amendment (1973) - Increased the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545. Under the Act, the upper limit of representatives of the States goes up from 500 to 525 and that of the Union Territories decreases from 25 to 20.
• 36th Amendment (1975) - By this Act, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.
• 37th Amendment (1975) - It was passed by Parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s north-easternmost Union Territory.
• 39th Amendment (1975) - The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 7 and received Presidential assent on August 9,1975. The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.
• 42nd Amendment (1976) - It was enacted during the period of internal emergency. The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over the other wings of Government; gave the Directive Principles precedence over the Fundamental Rights; enumerated for the first time a set of ten Fundamental Duties. It further imposed limits on the power and jurisdiction of the judiciary; raised the term of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from five to six years; authorized the use of Central armed forces in any State to deal with law and order problems, made the President bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers and envisaged the establishment of administrative tribunals for service matters of Government employees and also other tribunals for economic offences. The Act also clearly laid down that no Constitutional Amendment could be questioned in any court of law.
• 45th Amendment (1980) - The Act extends reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and the State Assemblies and the representation of Anglo-Indians by nomination for a further period of 10 years.
• 46th Amendment (1982) - It seeks to authorize the government to prepare an authoritative text of the Constitution, in Hindi.
• 52nd Amendment (1985) - The Act has made defection to another party, after elections illegal. Any member defecting to another party after elections will be disqualified from being Member of Parliament or State Legislature.
• 53rd Amendment (1986) - It confers Statehood on Mizoram and ensures against unnecessary interference by the Central Government with the laws relating to spheres of social relationship and community conduct applicable to Mizoram.
• 54th Amendment (1986) - It enhances the salaries of Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court of India. The salary of Chief Justice of India will be Rs 10,000; Chief Justice of High Courts Rs 9000; Judges of Supreme Court Rs 9000; and Judges of High Courts Rs 8000.
• 55th Amendment (1987) - It grants Statehood to Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the Indian Union.
• 56th Amendment (1987) - It confers Statehood on Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became the 25th State of the Indian Republic.
• 58th Amendment (1988) - It provides for special arrangements with regard to reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. By amending Article 322 the adjustment of seats has been frozen until 2000 A.D.
• 59th Amendment (1988) - It empowered the Central Government to impose Emergency in Punjab when deemed necessary. Under the amendment, President’s rule can be extended up to three years. Earlier maximum period was two years.
• 61st Amendment (1989) - It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
• 62nd Amendment (1989) - It provided for the extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for Anglo Indian community by nomination.
• 63rd Amendment (1989) - It repealed Amendment 59 which empowered the government to impose emergency in Punjab.
• 64th Amendment (1990) - It extended the President’s rule in Punjab by six months.
• 66th Amendment (1990) - To bring land reforms within the purview of 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
• 69th Amendment (1991) - Delhi made National Capital Region.
• 70th Amendment (1992) - Before this act was made Article 54 relating to the election of the President provided for an electoral college consisting only of the elected members of Parliament as well as the legislative assemblies of the States (not of Union Territories). The amendment provide for inclusion of members of legislature of Pondicherry and Delhi.
• 71st Amendment (1992) - The act amends the 8th Schedule to the Constitution to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali Languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
• 72nd Amendment (1992) - To make temporary provision for the determination of the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the State assembly of Tripura, until the readjustment of seats is made on the basis of the first census after the year 2000 under the article 170 of the constitution.
• 73rd Amendment (1992) - To ensure direct election to all seats in Panchayats; to reserve seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their population; and for reservation of not less than one third of the seats in Panchayats for women.
• 74th Amendment (1992) - was made to ensure direct election to all seats in Nagarpalikas and Municipalities.
• 75th Amendment (1994) - It provides for setting up of State-level Rent Tribunals to exclude the jurisdiction of all courts, except that of the Supreme Court, under Article 136 of the constitution.
• 76th Amendment (1994) - It relates to the Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes and of appointments or posts in the Services under a State, for Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Supreme Court had ruled on November 16, 1992, that the total reservations under Article 16(40) of the Constitution should not exceed 50 per cent.
• 79th Amendment (1999) - It extends the reservation of seats for SC, ST and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies for next 10 years.
• 81st Amendment (2000) - It provides that the unfilled vacancies of a year reserved for SC/ST kept for being filled up in a year as per Article 16, shall be considered separately for filling vacancies in the succeeding year and the previous list will not be considered for filling the 50% quota of the respective year.
• 82nd Amendment (2000) - It provides that nothing in the Article 355 shall prevent the State from making any provisions in favor of the members of SC/ST for relaxation in qualifying marks with respect to examination/job/promotion.
• 83rd Amendment (2000) - The Act amended Article 243 M to provide that no reservation in Panchayats be made in favor of SC/ST in Arunachal Pradesh where the whole population is tribal.
• 89th Amendment (2003) - Provision for constitution of separate National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• 90th Amendment (2003) - Relating to representation of constituencies included in Bodoland Territorial Areas District in the Legislative assembly of Assam.
• 92th Amendment (2003) - Inclusion of Maithili, Bodo, Dogri and Santhali.

 
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