Important Amendments of the Indian Constitution_.pdf

1. 1.Important Amendments of the Indian Constitution:
An amendment is a modification to the terms or clauses of existing documents or papers (Kenton, 2021).
In the case of the Indian Constitution, amendments are changes made to particular features or provisions
of the constitution. This is a necessary activity as the constitution has to be actively modified to suit the
current times and depict the actuality of the country we are living in at present.
According to Article 368, there are two types of amendments that are possible in the Indian Constitution -
a Special Majority of Parliament and a Special Majority of parliament along with the ratification of half of
the states by a simple majority(Josh, 2015). As of 2022, there have been 105 amendments made to the
constitution of India(Dalal). The following essay aims to define, explain and analyse seven important
amendments made to the Indian constitution during the past 72 years of its inception.
The First Amendment Actcame into effect in 1951,initiated by the then Prime Minister Jawarhal Nehru
which had 3 main purposes:
●enabling the state to take special measures for the uplift of disadvantaged socio-economic groups
●The Ninth schedule was introduced to shield the Land Reform Act as well as related legislation
contained within it against judiciary examination.
●included three additional justifications for limiting free speech and expression in the judicial
forum so as to be able to penalise criminals who misused the rights to free speech to get away
from violent crimes.
The Second Amendment Act(1952) was another significantamendment as it revised Article 81(1) by
stating that one member of the Lok Sabha can represent more than the previously stated 7.5 lakh people.
This was important as it eliminated the parliamentary electorate's maximum demographic cap.
The Seventh Amendment Act(1956) was included in theconstitution to reform the previous structure and
regulate regional divisions in the country. This enabled:
●the introduction of Union Territories and States as two domains in the country
●appointed a governor for each state
●Introduced high courts in all states to be the highest decision-making authority
This amendment can be related to the future10th,12th and 14th amendmentswhich introduced other
union territories including Pomdicherry, Dadra, Nagar, Haveli, Goa, Daman and Diu.
The 61st Amendmentis an important legislative actfor the youth of the country as the voting age for Lok
Sabha and Legislative Assemblies elections weres reduced from 21 to 18 years (Sharma, 2022). This was
a significant decision as the youth majority of the country, who were politically aware and responsible
were allowed to make their voices heard.
The 86th Amendment Act(2002) made education a fundamentalright for all children. According to the
amendment, every child between the ages of 6 and 14 has a legal right to education. Up until the age of

2. 18, a child with disabilities has the legal right to free and mandatory elementary education (Talawar,
2022).
The 92nd Amendment Act(2003) was an important decisionthat promoted and reflected the diversity of
the Indian state. Through this amendment, the eighth schedule of the constitution was modified to
increase the official number of languages recognised by the Indian government to 22. This is essential as
it gave importance to minority languages and helped in the conservation and survival of these
languages(Marwah, 2022)
The 101st Amendment Act(2016) is an important amendmentas it introduced a provision that had an
impact throughout the country. This amendment introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in all
states and union territories across the country in three divisions - Central Goods and Service Tax, State
Goods and Service Tax and Integrated Goods and Services Tax. This helped create a uniform system of
taxation across the country, making the system more centralised and efficient.
In conclusion, the aforementioned acts are part of some important amendments that have been made to the
Indian Constitution as they made significant impacts on various aspects of the country and its citizens.
These aspects include, not restricted to the diversity of the country in terms of languages, fundamental
human rights such as education, eliminating inequality by supporting disadvantaged socio-economic
groups and bringing uniformity and autonomy to the states of the country.
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Works Cited:
Kenton, W. (2021, September 21). What is an amendment? Investopedia. Retrieved September 13, 2022,
from
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/amendment.asp#:~:text=Will%20Kenton%20is%20an%20
expert,in%20English%20literature%20from%20NYU.
Josh, J. (2015, September 23). Amendment of the Constitution. Jagranjosh.com. Retrieved September 13,
2022, from
https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/amendment-of-the-constitution-1437125960-1
Sharma, P. (2022, July 11). Sixty-First Amendment Act, 1989 in Indian constitution. GeeksforGeeks.
Retrieved September 13, 2022, from
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/sixty-first-amendment-act-1989-in-indian-constitution/#:~:text=6
1st%20Amendment%20Act%2C%201988%3A,the%20Indian%20Constitution%20in%201988.
Talawar, N. (2022, June 9). 86th Constitutional Amendment. iPleaders. Retrieved September 13, 2022,
from
https://blog.ipleaders.in/86th-constitutional-amendment/#:~:text=The%20Act%20provides%20th
at%20every,the%20age%20of%2018%20years.
Marwah, M. (2022, August 5). The 92nd amendment of the Indian constitution. GeeksforGeeks.
Retrieved September 13, 2022, from
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/the-92nd-amendment-of-the-indian-constitution/