CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION

INTRODUCTION
The Constitution is the Gita, Bible and Quran for every Indian or at least it should be
considered as one. But unlike these texts, the Constitution is open to changes and it evolves
with the passage of time. There are two types of Constitution, one is Rigid and other is
Flexible. In a Rigid Constitution, an amendment can be brought by special means whereas in
a Flexible constitution an amendment is brought just like any other ordinary law. United
States of America has a rigid Constitution and the United Kingdom has a Flexible
Constitution. India is a mixture of the two. So, the Indian Constitution has features of both, a
rigid and flexible Constitution.
The Indian Constitution was put into effect in the year 1950. The Constituent Assembly
under the Chairmanship of Babasaheb Ambedkar laid the foundation of the Indian
Constitution. Since then many amendments have been made in it, starting with the first
amendment in the year 1951 to the latest in the year 2020. Now, there are two ways to bring
an amendment to the Constitution.
1. By Legislative Assembly and
2. By Supreme Court Judgement.
So, these are the two prominent ways of bringing an amendment to the Constitution. Here,
the Legislative Assembly comprises of both the houses of the Parliament, Lok sabha and
Rajya sabha. Both the houses have equal rights to propose changes to the proposed
amendment and to accept it or reject it. Only after the acceptance of both the houses, the Bill
will get the Presidents assent. The other way to bring an amendment is through a Supreme
Court judgement. The Apex Court can pass a judgement that brings a modification or change
to the Constitution. So, in these two ways an amendment can be brought to the Constitution.
Here is a look at the recent amendments to the Constitution,

AMENDMENTS
CONSTITUTION 100TH AMENDMENT ACT, 2015.
The 100th amendment was brought in by the Legislative Assembly in the year 2015. It was
supposed to be the 119th Amendment but changing of the amendment numbers is not new to
the Constitution. So, the then External Affairs Minister, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj brought in the
Bill that led to a permanent solution of land holding between India and its neighbouring
country Bangladesh. There had been long standing issues between the two nations regarding
as to the Line of Actual Control. India and Bangladesh share land boundary covering the
states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. There are about 50,000-
1,00,000 residents on the boundary. There are 102 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 71
Bangladeshi enclaves in India, the residents of these enclaves are unable to enjoy the rights of
either of the countries. So, it became necessary for India to take quick action on the long
pending issue. India lost 10,000 acres in the exchange of enclaves between the nations but
eventually it gave more clarity on the Line of Actual Control. There had been strong
opposition by the West Bengal administration and a few North Eastern states as a lot of
Tribal population suffered in the whole process.
But in the end it is a good amendment as there is no vagueness anymore between the two
nations about their own territory. This will help India curb illegal immigration and also
increase connectivity in Asia.

CONSTITUTION 101ST AMENDMENT ACT

There are many articles in the Constitution that state about the financial relations between the
State and the Centre. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced by the then Finance
Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley. It made changes in the seventh schedule and introduced three new
articles.
Article 246A provided that the intra-state activities were concurrent between both, the State
and Centre whereas the inter-state activities were exclusively under the jurisdiction of the
Centre.
Article 269A provided that the collection of the tax levied in inter-state will be done by the
Centre and will be shared on the basis of the recommendation of the GST Council. It also
clarified that the collection will not be credited into the Consolidated Fund of India. There
will be a need to apportionment of the revenue whenever the State transfers to the Centre or
vice versa. So, to avoid that, the share will be directly given to the States and the Centre.
Article 279A provided for the constitution of a GST Council, with the Union Finance
Minister as its Chairman. Many other posts are mentioned therein, as to who holds which
portfolio. It also mentions that the Council will take decisions based on voting and the voting
process has been very well articulated in the amendment.
Changes in the seventh schedule
 Service Tax is removed from the Union List.
 Entry Tax for sale in state has been removed.
Further, the Amendment also provided that the Centre will compensate the States for the loss
of revenue for the next five years.
Hence, the GST brought huge changes in the revenue sharing system between the State and
the Union.

CONSTITUTION 102ND AMENDMENT ACT, 2018.

In the 1950s, Kaka Kalekar and 1970s, B.P. Mandal Commission were formed for Backward
Classes. In 1992, in the Indra Swahney case, the Supreme Court directed the Government to
form a permanent body to examine and entertain the inclusion of various classes as Backward
classes. The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) was constituted in 1993
which was later repealed in 2017 and was given a new status by the Government. Previously,
the NCBC was a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice. With the 103 rd
amendment the NCBC received a Constitutional Authority.
The Commission comprises of five members including one Chairperson, one vice
Chairperson and three other members as nominated by the President. It has all the powers of
a Civil Court in a suit. The main function of the Commission is to investigate and safeguard
all matters relating to the socially and economically backward classes. To prepare reports and
submit them to the President and if the State has any report then to submit it to the Centre and
the President. It inserts two new Articles,
Article 338B provides the Commission to examine and take welfare measures for socially
and educationally backward classes.
Article 342A empowers the President to specify socially and educationally backward classes
in any state. He can also do that in consultation with the Governor of the concerned state.
Therefore, the NCBC gained Constitutional status by the 102nd amendment.

CONSTITUTION 103RD AMENDMENT ACT, 2019

Reservations based on Caste have been prevailing in our country since a very long time but
with the passage of time, the question that arises is whether the nation still needs them? The
Government indeed took a correct step by introducing reservations for Economically
Backward Classes (EBC). The 103rd amendment provided for a ten percent reservation for the
EBC.
The criteria to be included in the EBC is as follows:
 People who have an annual income of less than 8 Lakhs per annum.
 People who own less than 5 acres of farm land
 People who have a house lesser than 1000 square feet in a town,
The constitutional amendment is yet to pass the judicial scrutiny since the Supreme Court had
set the cap of 50% on reservations. The example of Tamil Nadu has been cited to propose
that there are ways and means to protect the amendment from the Supreme Court declaring it
unconstitutional. Gujarat became the first state to implement the 10 percent quota for the
EBC.
Article 15 (6) is added to provide reservations to economically weaker sections for admission
to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided
by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of
Article 30. The amendment aims to provide reservation to those who do not fall in 15 (5) and
15(4) (effectively, SCs, STs and OBCs).
Article 16 (6) is added to provide reservations to people from economically weaker sections
in government posts.
Therefore, Justice will be done to the really backward classes of the nation.

CONSTITUTION 104TH AMENDMENT ACT, 2020

There have been reservations for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes almost in every
field in India. It does not even spare the seats in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative
Assemblies, which is done rightly so. They need a strong representation of their needs in the
Houses of Parliament which can be done by themselves.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in
Lok Sabha by the Minister of Law and Justice, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, on December 9,
2019. The Bill amends provisions related to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs)
and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The Constitution provides for reservation of seats for SCs and STs and representation of the
Anglo-Indian community by nomination, in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of states.
This has been provided for a period of 70 years since the enactment of the Constitution and
will expire on January 25, 2020.  The Bill extends the reservation for SCs and STs by another
10 years till January 25, 2030. Also, it ends reservation for the Anglo Indian Community.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, these amendments were brought in by the Parliament in the past five years. It
would not be wrong to say that all the amendments have been made for the betterment of the
nation though they have received a fair amount of criticism.