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1975 - the ‘Kamagata Maru Session’ -a resolution on the
political situation stated:
“If the misery of the poor and vulnerable sections of our
society is to be alleviated, vast and far-reaching changes
have to be effected in our socio-economic structure... The
Congress urges that our Constitution be thoroughly
examined in order to ascertain if the time has not come to
make adequate alterations to it so that it may continue as
a living document.”
9. A document titled ‘A Fresh Look at Our Constitution - Some
Suggestions’ surfaced at this time and was circulated but,
after the recommendations contained in it had drawn
change, particularly after the Kamagata Maru Session of the
Indian National Congress, the then Congress President,
D.K. Borooah appointed, on 26 February 1976, a Committee
“to study the question of amendment of the Constitution.. in
the light of experience.” The twelve-member Committee,
headed by Sardar Swaran Singh, submitted “tentative
proposals” to the Congress President in April 1976 and
these were then circulated among a select few. The then
Chairman of the Law Commission of India, Justice P.B.
Gajendragadkar wrote to the Prime Minister that while
amendment to the Constitution was necessary to expedite
the socio-economic revolution, “ad-hocism is undesirable
and adoption of extremist doctrinaire positions is irrelevant
and inadvisable”. He advised the Prime Minister “to appoint
a high powered committee to research and discuss the
problem in depth for a dedicated and comprehensive effort.”
10. The Swaran Singh Committee Report stated that its
recommendations had been made with the background of
the tentative proposals circulated earlier to Congress Chief
Ministers and Pradesh Congress Committees, the views of
Bar Associations of the Supreme Court and all the High
Courts, comments in the Press and in public and
memoranda and opinions received from individuals,
professional bodies etc. It said:
“.....the Committee has kept before it certain important
objectives. Our Constitution has functioned without any
serious impediment during the past 26 years or so. While
this is so, difficulties have been thrown up from time to
time in the interpretation of some of its provisions, more
particularly when they concern the right of Parliament to
be the most authentic and effective instrument to give
expression and content to the sovereign will of the
people”.
The Committee also declared that:
“The Parliamentary system is best suited to our country,
and it is unnecessary to abandon it in favour of the
Parliamentary system preserves best the unity and
integrity of the country and ensures greater
responsiveness to the voice of the people.”
11. The Committee made a series of recommendations on a
wide range of issues including the Preamble; the Directive
Principles; the constituent power of Parliament to amend the
Constitution; the power of judicial review; article 276; service
matters; industrial and labour disputes; matters relating to
revenue, land reform, procurement and distribution of food
grains and other essential commodities; Election matters;
Article 227; disqualification for membership of a house of
Parliament or either house of the State Legislature; article
352 and Union State Coordination. The Committee also
undertook to make separate proposals for the deletion of
some provisions of the Constitution which, it observed, had
become “obsolete or redundant.”
12. Reacting to the Swaran Singh Committee and its report as
published, Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar, then still the
Chairman of the Law Commission, in a letter to Smt. Indira
Gandhi, reiterated his view that the amendment to the
fundamental law of the land should not have been left to a
party committee and that the modality could, advisedly, have
been a committee of experts to hear all parties and persons.
He said, further, that the Committee appointed by Congress
President Borooah had “worked in a hurry, discussed issues
in a casual manner and based its recommendations mainly
on political considerations.”
13. When the Forty-Second Amendment Bill was prepared, the
Statement of Objects and Reasons echoed some of
Jawaharlal Nehru’s words. “A Constitution to be living must
be growing”, it declared. “If the impediments to the growth of
the Constitution are not removed, the Constitution will suffer
virtual atrophy.” The Prime Minister, in her speech in the Lok
Sabha on 27 October 1976, said that the purpose of the Bill
was “to remedy the anomalies that have long been noticed
and to overcome obstacles put up by economic and political
aspirations of the people, and reflects the realities of the
present time and the future”.
14. After the change of Government, following general elections
in 1977, the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai appointed a
Committee of Members of Parliament as a forum for
considering substantive changes in the amendments
brought about during the Emergency. Subsequently, the
Prime Minister set up a Sub-Committee of the Cabinet for
the same purpose. Issues germane to the 42nd Amendment
were subject matter of voluminous expression of opinion by
jurists, parliamentarians, editors and professional bodies.
But, essentially, the effort focused on the correction of the
imbalance in the Constitution caused by some provisions of
the Forty Second Amendment.
15. The need was felt for a comprehensive review of Union-
State relations following the experience gained in the period
after the General Elections of 1977 which had resulted in
non Congress governments at the Centre and in several
major States in the north, but governments formed by the
Congress in the southern States. In 1983, a Commission
was constituted under the chairmanship of Justice R.S.
Sarkaria with fairly wide-ranging terms of reference. These
included:
“(i) The Commission will examine and review the working of
the existing arrangements between the Union and the
States in regard to powers, functions and responsibilities
in all spheres and recommend such changes or other
measures as may be appropriate;
(ii) In examining and reviewing the working of existing
arrangements between the Union and States and
making recommendations as to changes and measures
needed, the Commission will keep in view the social and
economic developments that have taken place over the
years and have due regard to the scheme and
framework of the Constitution which the founding fathers
have so sedulously designed to protect the
country which is of paramount importance for promoting
the welfare of the people.”
16. There were also some other especially note-worthy studies
of particular problems in the political system. Deep concern
had been voiced relative to flaws in the electoral process.
This had occasioned a Joint Parliamentary Committee on
Amendments to Election Law, which submitted its report in
1972. The Committee for Democracy set up by Loknayak
Jaya Prakash Narayan had also studied the subject. Various
aspects of electoral reforms were reviewed by a Cabinet
Sub Committee appointed in 1977 and another in 1982. In
1990, the Government of India constituted a Committee
under the Chairmanship of the then Union Law Minister
Dinesh Goswami with Members drawn from different political
parties. The Report of the Committee contained a series of
recommendations, most of which were accepted for
implementation.
17. A Committee to examine issues related to State Funding of
Elections was constituted in May 1998, known as the Indrajit
Gupta Committee after that outstanding Parliamentarian and
leader who was its Chairman. Although the Committee had a
relatively limited compass of study, its observations are
noteworthy and comprise valuable supplementary material
pertaining to the process of elections.
18. Various Reports of the Law Commission of India provide a
wealth of insights into the working of the machinery of the
Constitution. The 170th Report of the Law Commission, on
Reform of Election Laws, presented in May 1999, considers
radical approaches seeking to improve the system of
elections - the very sheet anchor of Parliamentary
Democracy under the Constitution.
19. The most significant of the non-political civil society efforts
was the seminar organised by 15 national institutions in
1992 and the committee appointed by the India International
Centre to review the working of the Constitution. The
committee which had the senior Congress leader and former
Commission, presented its report to the President and
others. Concluding recommendation of the committee was
that of a Review Commission being appointed.
20. The National Agenda for Governance issued by the National
Democratic Alliance as the NDA Election Manifesto before
the last general elections contained a pledge that a
Commission would be appointed to review the Constitution
in the light of its working for fifty years. The Pledge was
affirmed in the President’s address to Parliament and was
followed by the appointment of this Commission in February
2000.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. The Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal
Affairs), vide its Resolution, dated the 22 February,
2000.
2. The other members of the Commission were: B.P.
Jeevan Reddy (Chairman of the Law Commission), R.S.
Sarkaria (former judge of the Supreme Court), K.
Punnayya (former judge of the Andhra Pradesh High
Court), Soli Sorabjee (Attorney-General of India), K.
Parasaran (former Attorney-General of India), Subhash
Kashyap (former Secretary-General of Lok Sabha), C.R.
Irani (Chief Editor and MD of the Statesman), Abid
Hussain (former Ambassador of India to the USA), Smt.
Sumitra Kulkarni (former MP) and P.A. Sangma (former
Speaker of the Lok Sabha). P.A. Sangma resigned three
months before the submission of the report by the
Commission.
3. The Commission was asked to complete its work and
make recommendations within one year. After three
extensions, the Commission submitted its report on
March 31, 2002. This report is a bulky one, containing
1,979 pages in two-volumes. Volume I contains its
background papers, details of deliberations and the
report of its drafting and editorial committee.
4. Report of the Commission, Volume I, Chapter 1.
5. Report of the Commission, Volume I, Chapter 2.
6. Ibid.
7. Chapters 3 to 10 in Volume I of the Report of the
Commission contains the detailed area-wise
recommendations. The summary of recommendations
is given in Chapter 11 of the Report.
8. At present, it is a Directive Principle under Article 39-A.
9. The Government of India appointed the committee “to
operationalise the suggestions to teach Fundamental
Duties to the citizens of India” in the year 1998 under
the chairmanship of Justice J.S. Verma. The Committee
submitted its report in October 1999.
10. The Commission was deeply divided on this issue and
because of this, P.A. Sangma left the Commission.
11. Report of the Commission, Volume I, Chapter 1.
APPENDICES
I: Articles of the Constitution (1–395)
II: Subjects of Union, State and Concurrent Lists
III: Table of Precedence
IV: Constitutional Amendments at a Glance
V: Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Prime Ministers, etc.
VI: Chairpersons of the National Commissions
VII: UPSC Questions on Indian Polity (General Studies—
Prelims 2010–2019)
VIII: Practice Questions on Indian Polity (General Studies—
Prelims)
IX: UPSC Questions on Indian Polity (General Studies—Mains
2010–2019)
X: Practice Questions on Indian Polity (General Studies—
Mains)
UNION AND ITS TERRITORY
1. Name and territory of the union
2. Admission or establishment of new states
2A. Sikkim to be associated with the Union (Repealed)
3. Formation of new states and alteration of areas,
boundaries or names of existing states
4. Laws made under Articles 2 and 3 to provide for the
amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and
supplemental, incidental and consequential matters
CITIZENSHIP
5. Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution
6. Rights of citizenship of certain persons who have
migrated to India from Pakistan
7. Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan
8. Rights of citizenship of certain persons of Indian origin
residing outside India
9. Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign
state not to be citizens
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
12. Definition of state
13. Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the
fundamental rights
14. Equality before law
15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion,
race, caste, sex or place of birth
16. Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment
17. Abolition of untouchability
18. Abolition of titles
19. Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of
speech, etc.
20. Protection in respect of conviction for offences
21. Protection of life and personal liberty 21A. Right to
elementary education
22. Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases
23. Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
24. Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice
and propagation of religion
26. Freedom to manage religious affairs
27. Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any
particular religion
28. Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or
religious worship in certain educational institutions
29. Protection of interests of minorities
30. Right of minorities to establish and administer
educational institutions
31. Compulsory acquisition of property (Repealed)
31A. Saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates, etc.
31B. Validation of certain acts and regulations
31C. Saving of laws giving effect to certain directive
principles
33. Power of Parliament to modify the fundamental rights in
their application to forces, etc.
34. Restriction on fundamental rights while martial law is in
force in any area
35. Legislation to give effect to some of the provisions of
fundamental rights
DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY
36. Definition of State
37. Application of the directive principles
38. State to secure a social order for the promotion of
welfare of the people
39. Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State
39A. Equal justice and free legal aid
40. Organisation of village panchayats
41. Right to work, to education, and to public assistance in
certain cases
42. Provision for just and humane conditions of work and
maternity relief
43. Living wage, etc. for workers
43A. Participation of workers in management of industries
43B. Promotion of co-operative societies
44. Uniform civil code for the citizens
45. Provision for early childhood care and education to
children below the age of six years
46. Promotion of educational and economic interests of
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker
sections