Ideals Of Our Constitution: 8th SST

Question: Describe the main features of the Indian Constitution.

Answer: Features Of Indian Constitution: The Constitution of India is a unique constitution. It is the largest written liberal democratic constitution of the world. It provides for a mixture of federalism and Unitarianism, and flexibility and with rigidity. Since its inauguration on 26th January 1950, the Constitution India has been successfully guiding the path and progress of India.

Salient Features of the Indian constitution:

1. The Indian Constitution – Unitary of Federal: Indian Constitution declares that India, i.e., Bharat shall be a Union of States, however, our form of Government also exhibits many federal characteristics namely, Supremacy of Constitution, division of power between Union States and existence of an independent judiciary.
2. Written and Detailed Constitution: The Constitution is a wholly written document which incorporates the constitutional law of India. It was fully debated and duly enacted by the Constitution Assembly of India. It took the Assembly 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to write and enact the Constitution.
3. Self-made and Enacted Constitution: Indian Constitution is a constitution made by the people of India acting through their duly elected and representative body—the Constituent Assembly that was organized in December 1946. Its first session was held on 9th December, 1946. It passed the Objectives Resolution on 22 January, 1947.
4. Fundamental Rights (FRs): Provisions of FRs are incorporated in Part III of the Constitution. They protect the basic rights of freedom, equality, life and religion. They are considered sacrosanct and inviolable by the State. Our fundamental rights are not absolute.
5. India is a Republic: The Preamble declares India to be a Republic. India is not ruled by a monarch or a nominated head of state. India has an elected head of state (President of India) who wields power for a fixed term of 5 years. After every 5 years, the people of India indirectly elect their President.
6. Fundamental Duties: There can be no rights without duties. Original Constitution had no provision for Fundamental Duties and, therefore, Part IV-A of the Constitution was inserted by the 4th Amendment to the Constitution to lay down a code of duties for the citizens of the country.

Question: What is amendment? Why are amendments made in the Constitution?

Answer: Our Constitution was drafted in 1949 and since then several changes have taken place in our country. Thus, it is essential to make modifications in the Constitution according to the Changing conditions. These modifications are made through a procedure called amendment. An amendment can be defined as a change in the provisions of the Constitution through an act. Amendments have to be passed by both the Houses of Parliament and must be approved by the President. When our Constitution was adopted, it had 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. Now it has 448 Articles, 12 Schedules and 98 Amendments.