Page 110 - Constitution

70 Years of Indian
Constitution
ndia has a written Constitution, which will complete 70
years since its adoption on 26th November 2020. Our
I Constitution has a Preamble, 395 Articles, 22 Parts
and 8 Schedules. There have been 104 amendments
to the Constitution so far. The United States of America
(USA) has the oldest codified and written constitution in
the world which has only a preamble, 7 Articles and 27
amendments in a span of 231 years as their constitution
came into operation on 4th March 1789. United Kingdom
has no written constitution but has a democratic
parliamentary system which is described as the mother of
the parliamentary democracy.
It is creditable to India that our Constitution has served
the purpose of development and progress in the last 70
years. India has now become an important country in
world affairs. The three arms created by the Constitution
namely the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary
have been interdependent and working in co-operative
way. The elections of the Parliament, State Legislatures
and local bodies have been conducted smoothly by
the different Election Authorities. It is therefore most
opportune for us to celebrate the 70th year of existence of
the Constitution of India.
In 104 amendments carried in the Constitution, we must
appreciate that every amendment has been expression of
the people’s will as they have been passed by both the
Houses of the Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
and also by Legislature of both the Houses of different
states wherever necessary. However, some have
been struck down on the basis of abrogating the basic
110 70 Years of Indian Constitution
Years of Indian
Constitution
In 104 amendments carried in the Constitution,
we must appreciate that every amendment
has been expression of the people’s will as
they have been passed by both the Houses of
the Parliament & state legislature
structure of the Constitution.
When every amendment to the Constitution is done
to achieve good governance in the country, we can say
that it was due to the necessity to change according to
the requirement of time. However there has been one
amendment, the 42nd Amendment made in 1976 and
another resolution to repeal Articles 370 submitted to Lok
Sabha on 6th August 2019 to integrate Jammu & Kashmir
with India raised considerable turmoil in the country.
The 42nd Amendment was to change the Preamble
of Constitution by adding three more words ‘Socialist,
Secular’ and Unity ‘and Integrity’ of the nation. This was
the first change in Preamble made on 18th December
1976 by the "Captive" Parliament during the Emergency.
Along with the Preamble, 56 Articles were also amended.
This was violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The voters subsequently reacted in the Parliamentary
elections when Smt. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister and
Congress Party were defeated.
The other important resolution was to repeal Article
370 and 35 (A) submitted to Lok Sabha on 6th August
2019 to integrate Jammu & Kashmir with India raised
considerable turmoil in the country. In final analysis, the