Constituents of Indian Constitution

Statement I is Correct: Any change in the Union List alters the distribution of legislative powers and requires ratification by at least half of the State Legislatures.

Statement II is Correct: Changes affecting the extent of a State's executive power also need ratification by not less than one-half of the States.

Statement III is Incorrect: Conditions of the Governor's office can be amended by Parliament alone and do not require ratification by States.

* The Constitution contains the basic principles and laws of a nation that determine the powers and duties of the government. A constitution serves multiple purposes. It provides a legitimate legal and political basis for the Government to propose and enact laws, organising public service and settling disputes.

* Although the Constitution determines the objectives (DPSP) for the making of necessary laws and aims to promote social, economic and political democracy, its chief purpose is to limit the power of government. In fact the Constitutional government is by definition limited government.

The First Amendment Act (1951) was enacted specifically to address judicial decisions that hindered the government's socio-economic agenda, particularly regarding land reforms and reservations.

1. Right to Equality (Article 15): In the case of *State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951)*, the Supreme Court struck down a government order providing caste-based reservations in medical and engineering colleges. To overcome this, the 1st Amendment added Article 15(4), empowering the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes.

2. Right to Property (Articles 31A and 31B): Judicial challenges to various Zamindari abolition laws (such as *Kameshwar Singh v. State of Bihar*) led the government to introduce Articles 31A and 31B. It also created the Ninth Schedule to protect specific laws from being challenged in courts on the grounds of violating Fundamental Rights.

3. Freedom of Speech (Article 19): Following judgments like *Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras*, which limited the state's power to curb free speech, the amendment added three new grounds of 'reasonable restrictions': public order, friendly relations with foreign states, and incitement to an offence.

Note: While the 1st Amendment is the historically correct context for this question, UPSC dropped/deleted this specific question from the final official answer key for Prelims 2023.

* A comprehensive definition of state should include following elements:

* A community of people permanently occupying a definite territory: This establishes the physical foundation of the state - a population and a defined geographical area.

* Possessing an organized government: This highlights the presence of a central authority that governs the population within the territory.

* Independent of external control (sovereignty): This emphasizes the state's autonomy in exercising its power within its territory.

A constitutional government seeks to limit and regulate the exercise of political power by the government. Constitutional government is by definition limited government. It means government is conducted according to rules and principles, which are binding on all political actors.

Therefore constitutional government helps to constrain the unfettered exercise of power by separating or dividing it. The constitutional government provides a framework in which the government can be both responsible and representative managing conflicts, Protecting the rights, promoting participation, and maintaining the security of the citizens.

The exact constitutional status of India on 26th January 1950 was a Sovereign Democratic Republic.

- The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th November 1949, but it came into effect on 26th January 1950. - The Preamble of the Constitution, adopted in 1949, defined India as a "Sovereign Democratic Republic." - The terms "Socialist" and "Secular" were added to the Preamble much later, through the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976.

Therefore, on 26th January 1950, India wasn't yet classified as "Socialist" or "Secular" in its constitution.


Statement 1 is Incorrect: The 44th Amendment actually aimed to reverse the provision introduced by the 39th Amendment, which had placed the elections of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Speaker of the Lok Sabha beyond judicial review. The 44th Amendment restored the power of judicial review for these elections.

Statement 2 is Correct: The Supreme Court of India struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014, in 2015 in the case of Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India. This amendment sought to replace the Collegium system with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts. The Court held that the NJAC undermined judicial independence, a part of the basic structure doctrine, and was therefore unconstitutional.

The Ninth Schedule was introduced by the First Constitutional Amendment Act, 1951 to protect certain laws, particularly those related to land reforms, from judicial review.


Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the Constitution (First Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha in 1951. This amendment aimed to safeguard progressive socio-economic legislation from being struck down by courts on the grounds of violating fundamental rights, particularly the right to property under Article 31 (which was later repealed by the 44th Amendment in 1978).

Statement 1 is Correct: Article 5 of the Indian Constitution explicitly mentions "domicile" in the territory of India. Furthermore, the Supreme Court in the *Pradeep Jain v. Union of India* case ruled that India has only one domicile—the domicile of India—and does not recognize separate state domiciles.

Statement 2 is Incorrect: Under Article 58 of the Constitution, any person who is a citizen of India is eligible for the office of the President (Head of State). Unlike the United States, where only a natural-born citizen can become President, in India, both a citizen by birth and a naturalized citizen are eligible for the post.

Statement 3 is Incorrect: According to the Citizenship Act, 1955, the Central Government can deprive a person of their citizenship (Deprivation) if it was obtained by fraud, false representation, concealment of material facts, or if the citizen has shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India.