Salient Features of The Constitution

Longest Written Constitution

▸ Generally, Constitutions can be classified into two types, written and unwritten Constitution. Most of the constitutions are written. The first modern written Constitution is the American Constitution. On the other hand, the British Constitution is unwritten, It consists of customs and conventions which have grown over the years. In India, we have a written Constitution.
▸ The Constitution of India is the longest one in the world. Originally it had 395 Articles, 22 parts and 8 Schedules. Today the Constitution has 465 Articles, 25 parts and 12 Schedules.
▸ The Constitution became lengthy mainly due to the following factors
— Single Constitution for both the centre and the states except Jammu and Kashmir.
— The Government of India Act, 1935 was in operation when India got independence. Our leaders were familiar with this act. They borrowed heavily from this lengthy Act while framing our Constitution.
— India is a country of great diversity. It is a country of several minorities; it has many languages, castes, races and religions. The problems and interests of these different groups have found place in the Constitution.
— Many members of the Constituent Assembly were lawyer-politicians. They have made the Constitution not only long, but also extremely complicated. Ivor Jennings has described our Constitution as a 'lawyer’s paradise'.

Partly Rigid, Partly Flexible

▸ Whether a Constitution is rigid or flexible depends on the nature of amendment. If the constitutional laws and ordinary laws are amended in rigorous procedures ways, it is a rigid Constitution. On the contrary, in a flexible Constitution, constitutional laws and ordinary laws are amended in simple way.
▸ Some provisions of the Constitution (Article 368) of India can be amended by the Indian Parliament with simple majority. The amendment of most other provisions of the Constitution requires a special majority in both Houses of the Parliament. There are some other provisions of Constitution which cannot be amended by the Parliament alone. In case of such provision the amending bill has first to be approved by both houses of Parliament by a special majority (with the support of two-thirds of the members of each House present and voting). Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the states of India.These different amendment procedures make our Constitution partly flexible and rigid. In fact, there is a balance between rigidity and flexibility in our Constitution.

Parliamentary form of Government

▸ The Constitution of India has opted for parliamentary form of government. In this system the majority party in the Lower House (Lok Sabha) forms government. The Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Cabinet is the real executive head. In Presidential form of government, the President is the executive head. In India, the President is only the nominal constitutional head.
▸ In Britain, the monarchy is hereditary. But in India, the post of President is elective. Our Constitutional founding fathers adopted the parliamentary model for two reasons
— Firstly, they believed that a parliamentary form of government would be more responsible democratic than the presidential form of government.
— Secondly, they were, to some extent, familiar with the parliamentary form of government during the British rule particularly after the implementation of the Government of India Act, 1935.

Federal Government with Unitary Bias

▸ India is a federation, although word 'federation' does not find a place in the whole text of the Indian Constitution. The elements of federation are present in the Indian Constitution. It is a written and rigid Constitution.
▸ There is dual polity and there is constitutional division of powers between the centre and the states. There is also an Independent judiciary. The Supreme Court arbitrates the disputes between the centre and the states.
▸ All these provisions make India a federation. But in Indian Federation, the centre is strong as compared to the states. The centre has more financial powers and the states largely depend upon it for their economic development. Governor acts as the agent of the centre.
▸ The centre can reorganise a state, but a state cannot reorganise the centre. In other words, the centre is indestructible while the states are destructible. During emergencies, the powers of the centre considerably grow and the states become weak. 'India is an indestructible union of destructible states.'

Fundamental Rights

▸ The Fundamental Rights are guaranteed to the citizens by our Constitution. These are enumerated in Part III of the Constitution. These rights are fundamental because they are basic to the moral and spiritual development of the individual and these rights cannot be easily abridged by the Parliament. The idea of Fundamental Rights has been borrowed from the American Constitution.
▸ Any citizen of India can seek the help of High Court or Supreme Court of India if any of his Fundamental Rights is undermined by the government or any institution or any other government. The Fundamental Rights, granted to the citizen, cannot be amended in the normal manner. They can be amended with two-third majority in each House of the Parliament.
▸ Now the citizen enjoys six Fundamental Rights, originally there were seven Fundamental Rights. One of them was taken away from Part III of the Constitution by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978. As a result, the Right to Property is no longer a Fundamental Right. Since 1978, it has become a legal right. Constitution of India guarantees six Fundamental Rights to every citizen.
These are as follows
— Right to Equality (Articles 14-18)
— Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22)
— Right against Exploitation (Articles 23-24)
— Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28)
— Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30)
— Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32)

▸ The Directive Principles of State Policy are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution. They are instructions or directives from the Constitution to the state and central government. That are to be kept in mind, while framing laws and policies.
▸ The Directive Principles of State Policy which have been adopted from the Irish Constitution. The Directive Principles were included in our Constitution in order to provide social and economic justice to our people. Directive Principles aim at establishing a welfare state in India where there will be no concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.
▸ They can be classified into three broad categories Socialistic, Gandhian and Liberal. The Directive Principles are not enforceable in a Court of Law, but they are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country. These Principles provide the criteria with which we can judge the performance of the Government.

Independent and Integrated Judiciary

▸ The Indian Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. The judiciary has been made independent of the executive as well as the legislature.It is an integrated judiciary with the Supreme Court at the apex of the hierarchy. The High Courts stand in its middle and the lower courts are located at its bottom.
▸ The judges are appointed on the basis of their qualifications and cannot be removed easily.The Supreme Court and the High Court have the power of Judicial Review. They have the power to declare acts of legislatures and actions of the executive ultravires if such acts or actions are found to be in conflict with the provisions of the Constitution.
▸ The Supreme Court of India is a federal court, highest court of appeal, guarantor of the Fundamental Rights of the citizens and the guardian of the Constitution. There are various provisions to ensure its independence like security of tenure, all the expenses of the Supreme Court charged upon the consolidated fund of India and so on.

Universal Adult Franchise

▸ Article 326 of the Constitution of India provides universal adult suffrage. Anybody who has completed 18 years of age is eligible to vote in general elections. This is one of the most revolutionary aspects of Indian democracy. The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act,1989.

Secular Character of State

▸ There is no official religion of the Indian State. Any person in India has the right to preach and practice religion of his/her choice. Thus, Indian Constitution stands for a secular state. The term secular was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976.
▸ The Western concept of secularism is separation between state and religion. This negative concept of secularism is inapplicable in the Indian situation where society is multireligious. Hence, the Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism i.e. giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions equally.

Single Citizenship

▸ In India, there is only single citizenship. An Indian is a citizen of India only. He is not a citizen of any Indian state. Single citizenship is meant to strengthen national unity and national integration. Whereas in the United States of America, there is double citizenship. An American is a citizen of America and at the same time he is also a citizen of the 50 States of America.

▸ Originally Fundamental Duties did not form part of the Constitution. Ten Fundamental Duties were inserted in Part IV A of the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 upon the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.
▸ A new Article – Article 51-A enumerates originally ten in number, the fundamental duties were increased to eleven by 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002. These duties are assigned only to citizens and not to aliens. These duties are not justifiable, but, in case of conflict, they will prevail over Fundamental Rights.

Emergency Provisions

▸ The Constitution makers also foresaw that there could be situations when the government could not be run as in ordinary times. To cope with such situations, the Constitution elaborates on emergency provisions. There are three types of emergency
— Emergency caused by war, external aggression or armed rebellion (Article 352).
— Emergency arising out of the failure of constitutional machinery in states (Article 356).
— Financial Emergency (Article 360).

Basic Structure Doctrine

The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the Parliament. The basic structure doctrine applies only to constitutional amendments not to ordinary Acts of Parliament , which must itself be in conformity with the Constitution.The basic features of the Constitution have not been explicitly defined by the Judiciary. At least, 20 features have been described as 'basic' or 'essential' by the Courts in numerous cases. Some of the features of the Constitution termed as 'basic' are as follows
▸ Supremacy of the Constitution
▸ Rule of law
▸ The principle of Separation of Powers
▸ The objectives specified in the Preamble to the Constitution
▸ Judicial Review
▸ Articles 32 and 226
▸ Federalism
▸ Secularism
▸ The Sovereign, Democratic, Republican structure
▸ Freedom and dignity of the Individual
▸ Unity and integrity of the Nation
▸ The principle of equality, not every feature of equality, but the quintessence of equal justice
▸ The 'essence' of other Fundamental Rights in Part III
▸ The concept of social and economic justice – to build a Welfare State
▸ The balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of state policy
▸ The Parliamentary system of Government
▸ The principle of free and fair elections
▸ Limitations upon the amending power conferred by Article 368
▸ Independence of the Judiciary
▸ Effective access to Justice
▸ Powers of the Supreme Court under Articles 32, 136, 141, 142