Important Amendments of the Indian Constitution

24th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1971: It affirms the power of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution including Fundamental Rights.

31st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1973:  Increases the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545

36th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1975: Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.

37th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1975: Was passed by the parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and 1 Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s north-eastern most nation Territory.

Pr Constitution (38th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Act makes the declaration of emergency non-judiciable.

Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.

40th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1976: This Amendment has three-fold objectives :

·          It places beyond challenge in courts some major Central laws;

·          It gives similar protection to several State enactments;

·          It provides that the limits of the territorial waters and the maritime zones of India .

The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: (also known as mini-constitution)

43rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1978:  This Act repealed some of the provisions of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the Emergency.

45th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1980: seeks to extend reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the representation of the Anglo- Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies for 10 years.

The Constitution (46th Amendment) Act, 1982: plug loopholes and realize sales tax dues

49th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1984: the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution to be made applicable to the tribal areas of the State of Tripura.

The Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985: popularly known as Anti Defection Law.

53rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1986: It confers Statehood on Mizoram and ensures against unnecessary interference by the Central Government by the laws relative to spheres of social relationship and community conduct applicable to Mizoram.

The Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986: It enhances the salaries of Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court of India.

The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1987: It grants Statehood to Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the Indian Union.

56th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1987: It confers Statehood on Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became the 25th State of the Indian Republic.

The Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987: It made a special provision for the setting up of the new State of Goa.

58th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1988: It provides for special arrangements with regard to reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya.

The Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988: It empowered the Central Government to impose Emergency in Punjab when deemed necessary.

The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989: It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

62nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1989: It provided for the extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for Anglo-Indian Community by nomination.

The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989: It repealed Amendment 59 which empowered the government to impose emergency in Punjab.

The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990: It extended the President’s rule in Punjab by six months.

66th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1990: To bring land reforms within the purview of 9th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (68th Amendment) Act, 1991: It extended the President’s rule in Punjab up to a total period of 5 years.

1987-1991 : – Punjab placed under president’s rule

The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991: Delhi made National Capital Region. The Act also made provision for Legislative assembly and a council of ministers for Delhi.

70th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1992: The amendment provides for the inclusion of members of the legislature of Pondicherry and Delhi.

71st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1992: to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali Languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992:  to determine the number of reserved seats for STs in the State Assembly of Tripura.

73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1993: relating to Panchayatsinserted in the constitution to provide Gram Sabha, the constitution of panchayats at the village and other levels, direct elections to all seats, fixing the tenures, reservation for SC, ST and 33% seats for women etc.

74th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1993: relating to Municipalities, i.e., Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Municipal Corporations.

The Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995: (constitutional validity in the debate) Article 16(4A) provides reservation in promotion for the SC and the ST.

The Constitution (One Hundred Seventeenth Amendment): It provides that all the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes notified in the Constitutional shall be deemed to be backward.

The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999: Extended the reservations for SC/ST in services as also nomination of 2 Anglo-Indians to Lok Sabha up to 2010.

80th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to the revenue sharing between the Centre and the States

The Constitution (81st Amendment) Act, 2000: Related to carrying forward backlog vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

82nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to relaxation in qualifying marks and reservation of posts in super specialty courses in Medical and Engineering disciplines, etc. for Scheduled Castes/Tribes etc.

83rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to the reservation of seats under Panchayati Raj in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Constitution (84th Amendment) Act, 2000: (NDA govt. – smaller states) Related to creating of new States of the Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, and Uttaranchal.

85th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2001: Amended Article 16(4A) to provide for consequential seniority in promotion by virtue of the rule of reservation for the Government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002: State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.

87th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2003: shall be substituted.

The Constitution (88th Amendment) Act, 2003: (service tax) This Article provides for the insertion of a new article 268A which states that taxes on services shall be levied by the Government of India and such tax shall be collected and appropriated by the government of India and the States in the manner provided in clause

The Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003:(Bifurcation of Nat. Commission for SC and ST) This Article provides for the amendment of Article 338 and insertion of a new article 338A which provides that there shall be a National Commission for ST.

The Constitution (90 Amendments) Act, 2003: This Amendment provided that for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam, the representation of the Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the constituencies included in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, so notified, and existing prior to the constitution of the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, shall be maintained.

91st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2003: (strengthens anti-defection law) This Article provides that the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total number members of the House of the people.

The Constitution (92nd Amendment) Act, 2003: This Article provides for the inclusion of four new languages, viz. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

93rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2005: In this Amendment, a provision has been inserted that the State can make laws for the advancement of the SC, ST or the OBCs of citizens in matters of admission to educational institutions.

The Constitution (94th Amendment) Act, 2006: This article provides that in the proviso, for the word “Bihar”, the words “Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand” shall be substituted.

The Constitution (95th Amendment) Act, 2009: This article provides that the words “sixty years”, the words “seventy years” shall be substituted.

96th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2011: This article provides that the word, “Oriya”, the word “Odia” shall be substituted.

The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011: This article provides that Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy

The Constitution (98th Amendment) Act, 2012: to empower the Governor of Karnataka to take steps to develop the Hyderabad-Karnataka Region.  As per the Statements of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, this Region includes the districts of Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir, and Bellary.