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It will be appropriate
here to describe the major Constitutional Amendment in
chronological order.
In June 1951, the Constitution (First Amendment) Act was
passed, and the following Amendment in the Constitution were
inserted : (i) To Article 15, a new clause (4) was added:
(ii) clauses (2) and (6) of Article 19 were recast; (iii)
After Article 31, Article 31A and 31B were inserted; (iv)
For Original Article 85, a new Article was substituted; (v)
In Article 87, clauses (1) and (2) were recast; (vi) For the
Original Article 174, a new Article was substituted; (vii)
In Article 176, clauses (1) and (2) were recast: (viii)
Clause (1) of Article 341 was recast; and similarly, clause
(1) of Article 342, sub-clause (a) of Article 342, sub
clause (a) of clause (3) of Article 372, and clause (1) of
Article 376 were also recast; (ix) After the Eight Schedule
to the Constitution a Ninth Schedule was added and thirteen
laws passed by State Legislatures were included in it so
that those Acts might not be challenged in courts.
The main purpose of the Amendment was the removal of certain
practical difficulties created by court decisions in several
cases such as Kameshwar Singh vs. State of Bihar,
Romesh Thapar vs. State of Madras, Brij Bhusan vs.
State of Delhi and Motilal vs. Government of Uttar
Pradesh. The issues involved in these cases were numerous,
such as the scope of the fundamental right of freedom of
speech, acquisition of Zamindari (land) of intermediaries,
conflict between a citizen’s fundamental right to practise
any profession, or to carry on any business or trade
(Article 19) and state monopoly of any trade, and so on.
The Second Amendment amended Article 81 in order to remove
the prescribed limit of 7,50,000 of the population for one
member to be elected to the Lok Sabha. According to the
original provision, at least on member was to be elected to
the Lok Sabha for every 7,50,000 of the population. It was
further provided that the maximum number of elected member
to the Lok Sabha should not exceed 500.
The Third Amendment brought about changes in the Seventh
Schedule consisting of the three legislative lists and entry
33 of the Concurrent List was substituted by a new one.
Article 31 and 31A were amended by the Constitution Fourth
Amendment Act. Clause (2) of Article 31 clause (1) of
Article 31A were substituted by new clauses as. As a result
of these, the adequacy of the quantum of compensation paid
for the compulsory acquisition of property for ‘a public
purpose’ could not be questioned in a court of law. It also
amended Article 305 and the Ninth Schedule.
The Constitutional Fifth Amendment Act amended Article 3. in
the Constitution there was no time limit during which a
State Legislature should express its boundaries, which the
Centre may like to make. With the help of this amendment is
was provided that the State will be required to express its
views on such matters within such period as may be specified
in the reference or within such further period, as the
President may allow.
In this
Act, the Seventh
Schedule to the Constitution was amended and in the Union
List, a new entry was added after entry 92 in the State
List, a new entry was substituted for entry 54. it also
amended Articles 269 and 286 dealing with inter-state
Sales-tax.
The
Seventh Amendment brought about the most comprehensive
changes so fair in the Constitution. This amendment was
designed to implement the State Reorganisation Act. The Second and
Seventh schedules were substantially amended for
the purpose of the States Reorganization Act.
The
Act extended the period of reservation seats in Lok Sabha and
State Legislatures for the Anglo-Indians, the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by another 10 years.
It provided for the transfer of certain territories of India
to Pakistan under and agreement between India and Pakistan as a
part of a comprehensive settlement of border disputes
between the two countries.
The
Tenth Amendment integrates the areas of Free Dadra and
Nagar Haveli with the Union of India and provides for their
administration under the regulation making powers of the
President.
It amends Article 71 so as to make it clear that the election
of the President or the Vice-President shall not be
challenges on the ground of any vacancy for whatever reason
in the appropriate electoral college. It also obviates the
necessity of a joint meeting of the two Houses of Parliament
(Article 66) by constituting them into an electoral college
for the election of the Vice-President.
The main object of the Amendment was to add
Union
Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu to the Union of India and
for this First Schedule of the Constitution was amended.
The
Act provides the creation of Nagaland as the Sixteenth
State of the Union. The Amendment provides also for the
vesting of certain special responsibilities in the Governor
of Nagaland.
The
amendment provides for the incorporation of the former
French Establishments in India, under the name Pondicherry,
as an integral part of the territory of the Indian Union. it
also amended Article 31 to increase, from a maximum 20 to
25, the number of seats assigned in the Lok Sabha for the
Union Territories.
The
amendment raised the retirement age of High Court. Judge
from 60 to 62 years. It also empowered the various High
Courts to hear cases against to the Union Government.
The
Act seeks to enable Parliament to make laws provident
penalty for any person questioning the sovereignty and
integrity of India. Under the provisions of the this
Amendment, a person shall not be qualified to be chosen to
fill a seat in Parliament or in the Legislature of State
unless, inter-alia, he maker or subscribes before a person
authorised by the Election Commission an oath or affirmation
that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Constitution and will uphold the sovereignty and integrity
of India.
The
Act amend the definition of the term ‘estate’ in Article
31A to include lands held under ryotwari settlement and also
other lands in respect of which provisions are normally made
in land reform enact-ments. It also amends the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to include therein 44
State enactment relation to land reforms in order to remove any
uncertainty or dobut that may arise with regard to their
validity.
The
amendment provides for the creation of new States,
namely, Punjab and Haryana as a result of the reorganisation
of the former State of Punjab and the Union Territory of
Himachal Pradesh.
The
Act modified Article 324 so as to terminate the
jurisdiction of election tribunals to decide election
disputes. The Amendment withdrew from the Election Commission
the power of setting up election tribunals.
The
Act inserts a new Article 233A immediately after Article
233 in order to validate the appointment of District Judges,
which might not have conformed fully to the different
Constitutional requirements, which were in existent prior to
1966.
It amended the
Eight Schedule to the Constitution by
including ‘Sindhi’ therein.
The
amendment conferred legislative power on Parliament for
the purpose of creating and autonomous Hill State within the
State of Assam. Accordingly, Parliament passed the Assam
Reorganization (Meghalaya) Act 1969 to set up the State of
Meghalaya within the State of Assam.
It deals with the questions of reservation of seat in
Parliament and State Assemblies for Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indian and further extend the
period of reservation by another ten years, which means in
effect thirty years from the commencement of the
Constitution.
It amends Article 13 and 368 with a view to removing all
possible doubts regarding the power of Parliament to amend
the Constitution and procedure thereof. It gets over the Golak Nath ruling and asserts the power of
Parliament,
denied to in the Golak Nath, to amend fundamental rights.
The 25th
amendment of the Constitution in 1971 added a new
clause, Article 31C to the Constitution. Upto 1971, the
position was that fundamental rights prevailed over the
directive principles of State Policy and that a law enacted
to implement a directive principle could not be valid if it
conflicted with a fundamental right. Article 31C sought to
change this relationship to some extent by conferring
primacy on Articles 39(b) and 39(c) over Articles 14, 19 and
31.
It abolishes Articles 291 and 362 of the Constitution and
also inserts a new Article 362A after Article 363. the
cumulative effect of these changes is the end of the
recognition granted to the former rulers of Indian States
and the abolition of Privy Purses.
The
Act was enacted to implement the decision to establish
the Union Territory of Mizoram. It empowered Parliament to
create a legislature and Council of Minister for the new
territory.
The
amendment deletes Article 314 of the Constitution, whish
had given protection to the I.C.S. Officers, condition of
service and privileges and inserted a new Article 312A.
By the twenty-ninth Amendment
Act, 1972 two Kerala Acts
dealing with land reforms were included in the 9th Schedule
to the Constitution.
By this
amendment Article 133 was recast so as to redefine
the Civil Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The
result of this Amendment is that while any case involving an
important question of law can reach the Supreme Court by way
of appeal, a case however large the amount involved therein
but involving no substantial point of law, would fail to
reach the Supreme Court.
By this
amendment, the strength of the Lok Sabha was
increased from 525 to 545 members. This was done to
accommodate the increase in population as revealed by the
1971 Census. Accordingly, Article 81(i)(a) was suitably
amended.
The
amendment Act was enacted to make few special provisions
for the State of Andhra Pradash to satisfy the aspirations
of the people of the Telangana region.
It amended Articles 101 and 190. Before this Amendment, the
resignation of a member of legislature became effective the
moment it was tendered. This position is now changed. A
resignation becomes effective only after it has been
accepted by the Presiding Officer of the House concerned who
may refuse to accept the same if he is satisfied that the
resignation is not voluntary or genuine. This precautionary
provision appeared to be necessary to avoid the members of
Parliament or state legislatures being forced to resign.
By this
amendment twenty State Acts concerning land ceiling
and land tenure reforms were added to the Ninth Schedule to
the Constitution.
The 35th
Amendment Act introduced and innovation in the
Indian Constitution by conferring on Sikkim the status of an
associate in the Indian Union. This was however, a
short-lined experiment. The people of Sikkim desired to be
and integral part of India. Accordingly, the Constitution
Thirty-sixth Amendment Act was enacted in 1975 to confer
full-fledged statehood on Sikkim.
The Amendment upgraded the status of
Arunachal Pradesh as a
Union Territory. Articles 239A and 240 were amended so as
to authorize Parliament to create for Arunachal Pradesh a
Legislature and Council of Ministers.
This Amendment
Act was enacted during the emergency to make
certain modification in the emergency provisions. The
Presidential ‘satisfaction’ to issue a proclamation was
declared to be final and conclusive. A classificatory clause
was added to Article 356(1) so as to make Presidential
‘satisfaction’ to issue a proclamation there under as ‘final
and conclusive’ which shall not be questioned in any court
on any ground.
This Amendment also declared that the ‘satisfaction’ of the
president and a State Governor to issue ordinances would be
‘final and conclusive’ and shall not be questioned in any
court on any ground’.
The
voiding of the election the Lok Sabha of PM Indira Gandhi by
the Allahabad High Court in 1975 on the pertion of Raj
Narain led to the enactment of the 39th Amendment Act, 1975.
it introduced changes in the method deciding election
disputes relating to the four high official of the state,
viz. President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and the
Speaker. Under the new Article 71(2), Parliament by the law
was to establish some ‘authority’ or ‘body’ for deciding
such disputes, and its decisions have not be challengeable
in any court.
The Amendment
Act extended immunity to 64 Central and State
statues by including them in the IX Schedule. These statues
pertained to lad reform, Urban Ceiling and prevention of
publication of objectionable matter.
The Constitution
Forty-first Amendment Act, 1976 raised the
age of retirement of the chairman and members of state
public service Commissions from 60 to 62.
The 42nd Constitutional Amendment
Act brought a number of
changes in the Constitution. The Act inter-alia gave
preponderance to the Directive Principles of State Policy
over the Fundamental Rights. Established the supremacy of
Parliament and curtailed the powers of Judiciary. The Act
was first of its kind. Is was the most comprehensive Act and
touched almost all the sensitive areas of the Constitution.
The Amendment was meant to enhance enormously the strength
of the Government.
The major Amendments made in the Constitution by the 42nd
Amendment Act are:
Preamble
The characterization of India as ‘Sovereign Democratic
Republic’ has been changed to ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular
Democratic Republic’. The words ‘Unity of the nation’ have
been changed to ‘Unity and integrity of the nation’.
Parliament and state legislatures : The life of the
Lok Sabha
and State Legislative Assemblies was extended from 5 to 6
years.
Executive : It amended Article 74 to state explicitly that
the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the
Council of Ministers in discharge of his functions.
Judiciary : The 42nd Amendment Act inserted Article 32A in
order to deny the Supreme Court the power to consider the
Constitutional validity of a State law. Another new
provision. Article 131A, gave the Supreme Court and
exclusive jurisdiction to determine question relating to the
Constitutional validity of a central law.
Article 144A and Article 128A, the creatures of
Constitutional Amendment Act made further innovation the
area of judicial review of the Constitutionality of
legislation. Under Article 144A the minimum number of judges
of the Supreme Court to decide a question of a
Constitutional validity of a central or State law was fixed
as at least seven and further, this required two-two-thirds
majority of the judges sitting declare law as unconstitutional. While the power of the
High Court enforce
fundamental rights remained untouched, several restrictions
were imposed on its power to issue writs ‘for any other
purpose’.
Federalism : The Act added Article 257A in the Constitution
to enable the Centre to deploy any armed force of the union,
or any other force under its control. For dealing with any
grave situation of law and order in any State.
Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles: A major change
that was made by 42nd Constitutional Amendment was to give
primacy to all directive principles over the fundamental
right contained in Articles 14, 19 or 31. the 42nd
Constitutional Amendment added a few more directive
principles free legal aid, participation of workers in
management of industries, protection for environment and
protection of forests and wildlife of the country.
Fundamental Duties : The 42nd Amendment Act inserted Article
51-A to create a new part called IV-A in the Constitution,
which prescribed the fundamental duties to the citizens.
Emergency : Prior to 42nd Amendment Act, the
President could declare emergency under Article 352
throughout the country and not in a part of the country
alone. The Act authorised
the President to proclaim emergency in any part of the
country.
The dominant thrust of the Amendment was to reduce the role
of courts, particularly, that of the High Courts. It also
sought to strengthen Parliament in various ways which in
effect, added to the power of the Central Government it drew
enormous criticism particularly for it was pushed through
during Emergency.
In 1977, the
Emergency came to an end the Janata Party came
into power. It made an election pledge that it would repeal
the 42nd Amendment and restore the status quo ante. The 43rd
Amendment repealed some of the provisions of the 42nd
Amendment. Article 31D has also been omitted.
The 44th Amendment passed in 1978 undid most of the
distortions introduced into the Constitution by the 42nd
Amendment of the Constitution. The salient features of the
Amendment Act are as follows :
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It reduced the life of
Lok Sabha and State Legislative
Assemblies again to five years and thus restored the status
quo ante.
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It cancelled 39th Amendment which had deprived the
Supreme Court of its jurisdiction to decide disputes
concerning election of the President and the Vice-President.
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A new provision was added to Article 74(1) saying that
the President cold require the council of ministers to
reconsider its advice to him, either generally or otherwise
and the President should Act in accordance with the advice
tendered after such re-consideration.
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Article 257A was omitted.
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It has been provided that an
Emergency can be proclaimed
only on the basic of written advice tendered to the
President by the cabinet.
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Right the property has been taken out from the list of
Fundamental Rights and has been declared a legal right.
The purpose of the Amendment was to continue reservation of
seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok
Sabha and the State Assemblies for another 10 years, i.e., upto 1990. the same concession is extended to the
Anglo-Indians who may have representation by nomination in
these chambers.
The
Forty-sixth Amendment enables the State Governments to
plug loopholes and realise sales-tax dues on the one hand
and on the other aims at bringing about some uniformity in
tax rates in case of certain items.
This Amendment adds 14 State Acts dealing with land to the
IX Schedule.
The purpose of the Amendment was to extend
President’s rule
in Punjab for two years. Under Article 356(5) President’s
rule can last in a State for a maximum period of one year.
But the conditions in Punjab did not permit holding of fresh
elections and accordingly, extension of President’s rule
became imperative.
the purpose of this
Amendment is to take out the Tribal areas of Tripura from
Schedule V and put them in Schedule VI.
This Amendment substitutes an expounded Article 33 for the
old Article by the new Article 33, Parliament is authorised
to curtail the fundamental rights of the members of the
armed forces, forces charged with the maintenance of public
order, intelligence organisations or telecommunication
systems set up for any force or intelligence bureau, with a
view to ensure the proper discharge of duties by and
maintenance of discipline among those persons in the
interest of country’s security.
the Amendment
effectuates some changes in Articles 330 and 332 with a view
to provide for reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha for
Scheduled tribes in Meghalaya, Aruncahal Pradesh and Mizoram,
as well as in the Legislative Assemblies of Nagaland and
Meghalaya.
The
amendment is designed to prevent the scourge of
defection of members of Parliament and State legislatures
from one political party to another.
The
amendment Act elevated the Union Territory of Mizoram to
the status of a State.
The
Salaries of the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High
Courts have been enhanced by the 54th Amendment Act, 1986.
accordingly, a Judge of the Supreme Court gets a salary of Rs. 9,000 per mensem and the salary of the
Chief Justice is Rs. 10,000 per mensem. A Judge of the High
Court gets a
salary of Rs. 8,000 per mensem and the salary of the Chief
Justice of the High Courts is Rs. 9,000 per mensem.
The
Union Territory of Arunchal Pradesh was elevated to the
status of a State by the 55th Amendment Act.
Constitution (56the Amendment)
Act, 1987 inserting Article
394A, to make the Hindi text of the Constitution
authoritative.
The Constitution (57th Amendment)
Act, 1987 with the Goa,
Daman and Diu Reorganisation Act, 1987 lifts Goa from the
status of Union Territory to that of the 25th State of the
Union of India.
The Amendment
Act provides the reservation of seats for tribals in the Legislative
Assemblies of Arunchal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
The
Act empowered the Government to impose emergency in
Punjab on the grounds that india’s integrity was threatened
by internal disturbances.
The Amendment Act authoriese State Governments to increase
the ceiling on professional tax from Rs. 250 to Rs. 2,500
per person per annum.
The 61st Amendment reduces the voting age from 21 years to
18 years for the Lok Sabha and Assembly election.
The 62nd Amendment
Act extends by 10 years the reservation
of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in
the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies as well as nomination
representatives of the Anglo-Indian community.
The Amendment
Act repealed the 59th Constitution amendment
which empowered the Government to impose emergency in
Punjab.
The Amendments
Act seeks to extend President’s rule in
Punjab for further six months.
Article 338 of the Constitution has been amended for the
Constitution of a National Commission for Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes consisting of a chairperson,
vice-chairperson and five other members who shall be
appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and
seal.
The
Act protects fifty-five State Acts relating to land
reforms and ceiling on agricultural land holdings, enacted
by States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, West Bengal and Union Territory of Pondicherry,
from challenge in courts, by including them in the Ninth
Schedule to the Constitution.
The Amendment
Act seeks to extend President’s rule in Punjab
for further six months i.e., upto may 10,1991.
The Amendment
Act seeks to extend President’s Rule in Punjab
for further six months after May 1991.
The Amendment
Act seeks grant of Statehood to Delhi as
‘National Capital Territory of Delhi’. It also provides a 70
member assembly and a 7 member Council Ministers for Delhi.
It facilitates for members of
Delhi and Pondicherry
assemblies to participate in the election of the President.
The
amendment facilitates for the inclusion of Napali,
Manipuri and Konkani in the eight schedule of the
Constitution. With the inclusion of these three languages,
the number of languages in the Eight Schedules goes up to
18.
For restoring peace and harmony in the areas of the
State of Tripura where disturbed conditions prevailed, Memorandum of
Settlement was signed by the Government of India with
Tripura National Volunteers on August 12,1988.
In order to implement the said Memorandum, Article 332 of
the Constitution (Seventy-second Amendment) Act, 1992 for
making a temporary provision for the determination of the
number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the
State Assemble of Tripura, until the re adjustment of seats
is made on the basis of the first census after the year 2000
under Article 170 of the Constitution
The
Seventy-third Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 was
passed by the Parliament on December 22nd, 1992 which was
notified by the Central Government through Official Gazette
on April 20,1993 as it gote rectification by the State
legislatures and was assented to by the President of India.
After notification the Panchayati Raj institutions have now
got Constitutional legitimacy.
After part VIII of the Constitution a separate part IX has
been added to the Constitution with the addition in Article
243A and fresh schedule called Eleventh schedule enumerating
the powers and functions of Panchayti Raj Institutions has
been incorporated. The Act provides for Gram Sabha, a three-tiermodel
of Panchayati Raj, reservation of seats for SCs and STs in
proportion to their population and one-third reservation of
seats for women.
The
Act provides constitutional status to urban local
bodies. After part VIII of the Constitution a separate part IXA has been added to the Constitution with the addition in
Article 243A and fresh schedule called Twelfth schedule
enumerating the powers and functions of urban local bodies
has been incorporated. The Act provides Municipal Panchayat,
Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation, reservation of
seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their population and
one-third reservation of seats for women.
It has amended Article 323-B and added a new clause (h)
providing for establishment of tribunals for rent control
cases.
This Amendment
Act raises the reservation quota of
government jobs and seats for admission in the educational
institutions in favour of socially and educationally
backward classes to 69 per cent in Tamil Nadu. Further, the
Amendment Act has been included in the Ninth Schedule of the
Constitution to exempt it from the purview of judicial
scrutiny.
This Amendment has added a new clause (4-a) to Article 16 of
the Constitution which empowers the State to make any
provisions for reservation in promotions in Government jobs
in favour of SCs and STs, if it is of opinion that they are
inadequately represented in the services under the State.
This has been done to nullify the effect of the Supreme
Court Judgment in the Mandal Commission Case (Indra
Sawhney
vs. Union of India) in which the Court has held that
reservation in promotions cannot be made.
This
amendment has amended the Ninth schedule of the
Constitution and inserted 27 Land Reform Act of Various
States in the Ninth Schedule. After this the total number of
Act included in the Ninth Schedule has gone upto 284. now
these Acts cannot be challenged in the courts on the plea
for the violation of Fundamental Rights.
By this
Act the Government has extended the reservation of
seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes as
well as fro the Anglo-Indians in the House of the People
and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States for another
ten years.
Based on the recommendations of the
Tenth Finance
Commissions, an alternative scheme for sharing taxes between
the Union and the State has been enacted by the Constitution
(Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000. Under the new scheme of
devolution of revenue between Union and the States, 26 per
cent out of gross proceeds of union taxes and duties is to
be assigned to the States in lieu of their existing share in
the income-tax, excise duties special excise duties and
grants in lieu of tax on railway passenger fares.
By this
amendment the unfilled vacancies of a year which
reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
for being filled up in that year in accordance with any
provision of reservations made under Article 16 of the
Constitution shall be considered as a separate class of
vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years,
and such class of vacancies shall not be considered together
with the vacancies of the year in which they were filled up
for determining the ceiling of fifty per cent reservation
against total number of vacancies of that year.
The
amendment provides that nothing in Article 335 shall
prevent the State from making any provisions in favour of
the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination or
lowering the standards of evaluation for reservation in
matters of promotion to any class or classes of services or
posts in connection with affairs of the Union or of a State.
The
Act amended0 Article 243M of the Constitution to
provide that no reservation in Panchayats need be made in
favour of the Scheduled Castes in Arunachal Pradesh wholly
inhabited by tribal population.
The
Act amended provisions to Article 82 and 170(3) of the
Constitution to readjust and rationalise the territorial
constituencies in the States, without altering the number of
seats allotted to each State in the House of People and
Legislative Assemblies of the States, including the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Constituencies, on the
basis of the population ascertained at the census for the
year 1991 so as to remove the imbalance caused due to uneven
growth of population/electorate in different constituencies.
This
Act amended Article 16 (4A) of the Constitution to
provide for consequential seniority in the case of promotion
by virtue of rule of reservation for Government servants
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
With a view to making right to free and compulsory education
a fundamental right, the Act inserts a new Article, namely,
Article 21A conferring on all children in the age group of 6
to 14 years the right to free and compulsory education. The
Act amends in Part-III, Part –IV and Part-IV(A) of the
Constitution.
The Amendment provides for readjustment of electoral
constituencies, including those reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes, based on the population
census for the year 2001, without affecting the number of
seats allocated to States in the legislative bodies.
The
Act amends Article 268, 270 and VIIth Schedule of the
Constitution. It adds 92C just after 92B and makes
provisions for Tax on Services.
The
Act adds Article 338A and provides for the creation of
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
The
Act amends Article 332 and adds section (6) regarding
representation in the Bodo Territorial Areas District in the
State of Assam.
The
Act makes provisions for limiting the size of the
Council of Ministers at the center and in the States and
gives teeth to debar a defector from holding any
remunerative political post for the remaining tenure of the
legislature unless re-elected.
The Amendment facilitates for the inclusion of
Bodo, Dogari,
Maithili and Sanhali in the VIII Schedule of the
Constitution. With the inclusion of these four languages,
the number of languages in the VIII Schedule goes upto 22.
Providing reservation for the socially and educationally
backward classes, besides the Schedules Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes, in private unaided educational
institutions.
The Constitution provides that there shall be Minister in
charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of
the welfare of the Scheduled Casts and backward classes or
any other work in the State of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. |
