TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………...2
2. Making of the Constitution……………………………………………………………….….4
3. Preamble of the constitution…………………………………………………………….….8
4. Part I- Union and its Territory……………………………………………………………….9
5. Part II –Citizenship………………………………………………………………………………12
6. Part III- Fundamental Rights………………………………………………………..……..14
7. Directive principles of state policy……………………………………………..……….28
8. Fundamental Duties…….…………………………………………………………..………..32
9. Basic Structure of the Constitution……………………………………………..………33
10. The Union Government……………………………………………...........................34
11. The State Government………………………………………………………………….….…70
12. Union Territories…………………………………………………................................73
13. Panchayat………………………………………………………………………………….….……73
14. Municipalities…………………………………………………………………………….….…..76
15. Scheduled and Tribal Areas………………………………………………………..….……77
16. Relations between the Union and the States………………………………...……78
17. Inter State Relations……………………………………………………………………...…..82
18. Services under the Union and State…………………………………………………….83
19. Tribunals…………………………………………………………………………………………….83
20. Elections…………………………………………………………………………………….……...85
21. Part XVII- Official Language…………………………………………………………………87
22. Part XVIII- Emergency Provisions………………………………………………….…....88
23. Financial Emergency…………………………………………………………………….……..91
24. Amendment of the Constitution………………………………………………….………91
25. Constitutional Bodies………………………………………………………………….………92
26. Non- constitutional bodies……………………………………………………………..…..96
27. Inter State Councils……………………………………………………………………..…….100
28. High Courts…………………………………………………………………………………….….102
29. Subordinate Court……………………………………………………………………….…….102
30. Lok Adalats……………………………………………………………………………………..…103
31. Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………105
32. Previous Year Test Paper…………………………………………………………………..109-158
Introduction
What is a constitution?
It’s a law that governs a state. It is different from the law that a
state makes for governance. So laws of the constitution are also
called constitutional laws. While the laws that a state makes are
known as general laws.

Functions of the Constitution

The function of a constitution
1. Is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal
coordination amongst members of a society. In absence of basic
rules through the Constitution every individual would be insecure
simply because they would not know what members of this group
could do to each other, who could claim rights over what.

2. Other function of the constitution is to decide who has the

power to make decisions in a society. It decides how the
government will be constituted.

3. So, the third function of a constitution is to set some limits

on what a government can impose on its citizens. These limits are
fundamental in the sense that the government may never
trespass them.

4. The fourth function of a constitution is to enable the government to fulfil the aspirations of a society
and create conditions for a just society.

On the basis of power to make decisions there can be following types of constitutions:
1. Monarchical constitution: In this system a Monarch, who is head of the state, makes decisions in
the society. Here the head of state is a hereditary position. Monarchy is of two types-
a. Constitutional Monarchy- Here the power of the Monarch is limited by the constitution. For
example-British Monarchy.
b. Absolute Monarchy- Here the power of the Monarch is unlimited. For example-Saudi Arabia.

2. Republican: Here the head of the government is directly or indirectly elected by the people of the
state.For example India.

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 3. Democracy: It means “people are the rulers”. In modern times mainly” indirect democracy” is
practiced. Here people govern through their representatives. Thus, it is also known as “Representative
democracy”.

Other types of governments that are not decided by any constitution are:
1. Aristocracy: Ruled by few business class.
2. Dictatorship: Despotic rule by a single ruler. It is a type of Absolute Monarchy.
3. Anarchy: It is a type of system that has no rules, no governance.

The Constitution of India has determined Indian polity as democratic and republic. Since the constitution has
determined democratic polity hence the constitution in India is sovereign. It limits the power of the
government. It is known as “Constitutionalism”.

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Making of the Constitution (Refer Samvidhan Condensed
version on Youtube)
A constituent assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet
Mission Plan to draft the constitution for India.

Features of the constituent assembly:

1. The Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected and partly nominated body.
2. The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of these,296 seats were to be allotted
to
British India and 93 seats to the Princely States.
3. Each province and princely state were to be allotted seats in proportion to their respective population.
4. Seats allocated to each British province were to be divided among the three principal communities —
Muslims, Sikhs and general in proportion to their population.
5. The representatives of each community were to be elected by the members of that community in the
provincial legislative assembly and voting was to be by the method of proportional representation.

6. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states.
7. The members were to be indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies.

The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946. Dr Sachchidanand Sinha, the oldest
member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly, following the French practice. Later, Dr.
Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly.

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Objective Resolution
It was put forward by Jawahar Lal Nehru on On December 13, 1946. It expressed what should be the
philosophy of the constitution. It mainly emphasized that from now on India is an Independent Sovereign
Republic.

Some important committees of constituent assembly.

Committee Chairman

Union Powers Committee + States Committee Jawaharlal Nehru

Union Constitution Committee Jawaharlal Nehru

Provincial Constitution Committee Sardar Patel

Drafting Committee Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Sardar Patel
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights,
Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas

Steering + Rules of Procedure Committee Rajendra Prasad

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Some portions of the Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949. The remaining provisions (the major
part) of the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950. This day is referred to in the Constitution as
the ‘date of its commencement’, and celebrated as the Republic Day.

Criticism of constituent assembly

Not a Representative Body, Not a Sovereign Body, Time Consuming, Dominated by Congress,
Lawyer–Politician Domination, Dominated by Hindus.

Important Facts
1. Elephant was adopted as the symbol (seal) of the Constituent Assembly.
2. Sir B.N. Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor (Legal advisor) to the
Constituent Assembly.

Salient Features of the constitution

Lengthiest Written Constitution - Originally (1949), the Constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles
(divided into 22 Parts) and 8 Schedules. Presently it consists of a Preamble, about 465 Articles (divided into
25 Parts) and 12 Schedules.

Drawn From Various Sources - So sometimes it is criticized as a mere copy pasted work. But Dr. BR
Ambedkar proudly says that “Constitution of India has been framed after ransacking all the known
Constitutions of the World” (Refer Table Below)

Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility - A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its
amendment, as for example, the American Constitution. A flexible constitution is one that can be amended in
the same manner as the ordinary laws are made, as for example, the British Constitution. The Constitution
of India is neither rigid nor flexible but a synthesis of both.

Federal System with Unitary Bias - The Constitution of

India establishes a federal system of government. It
contains all the usual features of a federation, like two
government, division of powers, written Constitution,
supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution,
independent judiciary and bicameralism.
However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large
number of unitary or non-federal features, like a strong
Centre, single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of
Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointment of state
governor by the Centre, all-India services, emergency
provisions. Moreover, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere
been used in the Constitution.

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Parliamentary form of government - The
Constitution of India has opted for the British
parliamentary System of Government rather
than the American Presidential System of
Government. The parliamentary system is
based on the principle of cooperation and
coordination between the legislative and
executive organs. It also involves dual
membership. While the presidential system is
based on the doctrine of separation of powers
between the two organs. (Refer Table below)

Synthesis of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy - The doctrine of

sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the British Parliament while the principle of judicial supremacy
with that of the American Supreme Court. The Indian constitution is a blend of principles of “checks
and balances” and “separation of power”.

Integrated and Independent Judiciary - This single system of courts enforces both the central laws as well
as the state laws, unlike in the USA, where the federal laws are enforced by the federal judiciary and the state
laws are enforced by the state judiciary.

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Secular State - It does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. Indian
concept of secularism is equal respect to all religions or “Sarvdharm Sambhav”. It is different from western
concept which believes in complete insulation between state and religion.

Universal Adult Franchise - The Indian Constitution adopted universal adult franchise as a basis of elections
to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years
in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act of 1988.

Single Citizenship - In countries like USA each person is not only a citizen of the USA but also a citizen of
the particular state to which he belongs. In India, all citizens irrespective of the state in which they are born
or reside enjoy the same political and civil rights of citizenship all over the country and no discrimination is
made between them except in few cases like tribal areas, Jammu and Kashmir.

Preamble of the constitution

The term ‘preamble’ refers to the introduction or preface to the Constitution. It reads

“We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST
SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, Social, Economic and Political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all;

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT
AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION”

Note- 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1976), added three new words —socialist, secular and integrity.

Some important terminologies used in the constitution

1. Sovereign- If there is no authority above it, and it is free to conduct its own affairs.

2. Socialist- It is a political philosophy that aims at cooperation among human beings. It is best explained
with the quote “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs”. ‘communistic socialism’
which involves the nationalization of all means of production and distribution and the abolition of private
property. It was adopted by China in the 1950's.

The Indian brand of socialism is a democratic socialism. It holds faith in a ‘mixed economy’ where both public
and private sectors co-exist side by side.

3. Secular - The Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism i,e, all religions in our
country (irrespective of their strength) have the same status and support from the state (Sarvdharm Sambhav)

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4. Democracy- It stands for rule by people. Democracy is of two types—direct and indirect. In direct
democracy, the people exercise their supreme power directly as is the case in Switzerland. There are four
devices of direct democracy, namely, Referendum, Initiative, Recall and Plebiscite. In an indirect democracy
the representatives elected by the people exercise the supreme power and thus carry on the government and
make the laws. This type of democracy, also known as representative democracy, is of two kinds—
parliamentary and Presidential.

Referendum – It is a procedure whereby a proposed legislation is referred to the electorate for settlement by
their direct votes. Example -Brexit
Initiative- It is a method by means of which the people can propose a bill to the legislature for enactment. Ex
Jan Lokpal Bill

Recall- It is a method by which the voters can remove a representative or an officer before the expiry of his
term, when he fails to discharge his duties properly.

Plebiscite- It is generally used to solve territorial disputes. Example Ireland exit from the United Kingdom.

Is the preamble part of the constitution?

In the Berubari Union case (1960), the Supreme Court said that Preamble is not a part of the Constitution.

In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court rejected the earlier opinion and held that
Preamble is a part of the Constitution. It was observed that the Preamble is of extreme importance and the
Constitution should be read and interpreted in the light of the grand and noble vision expressed in the
Preamble. In the LIC of India case (1995) also, the Supreme Court again held that the Preamble is an integral
part of the Constitution.

Note-It is non-justiciable, that is, its provisions are not enforceable in courts of law.

Part I- Union and its Territory

Article1 to 4 comes under part I.

Article 1-India, that is, Bharat is a ‘Union of States’ rather than a ‘Federation of States’.

According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the phrase ‘Union of States’ has been preferred to ‘Federation of States’ for
two reasons: one, the Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement among the states like the American
Federation; and two, the states have no right to secede from the federation. The federation is a Union because
it is indestructible.

Note-‘Union of India’- Area under the states. ‘Territory of India’- It includes states and territories.

Article2- It relates to the admission or establishment of new states that are not part of the Union of India. It
can be done by acquisition of some foreign territory.

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Article3 - It deals with the internal re-adjustment of the territories of the states of the Union of India. It may
lead to formation of new states, an increase or decrease area of states.
It is done after fulfilling 2 conditions-

a) A bill proposing the above changes can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior
recommendation of the President.
b) Before recommending the bill, the President has to refer the same to the state legislature concerned
for expressing its views within a specified period.
The President (or Parliament) is not bound by the views of the state legislature and may either accept or
reject them.

Article 4 - Laws made for admission or establishment of new states (under Article 2) and formation of new
states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states (under Articles 3) are not to be
considered as amendments of the Constitution under Article 368.

Settlement of a boundary dispute between India and another country does not require a constitutional
amendment. It can be done by executive action if it does not involve cession of Indian territory to a foreign
country.

The 100th Constitutional Amendment Act (2015) was enacted to give effect to the Land Boundary Agreement
between India and Bangladesh because it involved transfer of some land from India to Bangladesh.

Reorganization of states on linguistic basis

After independence there was demand for reorganization of states on the basis of linguistic grounds. This
demand was more-strong in South India. Accordingly, the government constituted different commissions for
finding solutions on the issue. They are-

1. SK Dhar commission,1948- It recommended the reorganization of states on the basis of

administrative convenience rather than linguistic factor.

But demand for states on linguistic basis continued. It led to set up of another commission-

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