SALIENT FEATURES OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA (POLITY)

The outline of the Constitution of India was prepared by a Constituent Assembly. This assembly was an indirectly elected body. It laid down certain ideals for inclusion in the Constitution. These ideals included a commitment to democracy, guarantees to all the people of India, justice, equality, and liberty. It also declared that India would be a democratic republic.

• The Constitution of India begins with a Preamble.
• The Constitution is the foundational law for a country that defines the fundamental rights and directive principles on which the governance of the country is based.
• The Constitution lays down the framework for the functioning of various systems in the government and the interaction between the Government and the citizens.
• It required 2 years 11 months, and 18 days to complete the Indian Constitution.
• The Constitution of India is an amalgamation of different constitutions and sources. It has taken its many features from different constitutions such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France, etc.

Read the whole article to know in detail about the Salient Features of the Indian Constitution, an important topic in the UPSC Civil Services Exam.

Important Features of the Constitution of India

The important features of the Constitution of India are listed below.

1. Lengthiest Written Constitution

One of the main Features of the Indian Constitution is that at present, after several major amendments, we have 395 articles divided into 25 parts along with 12 schedules.

Factors responsible – 

• Geographical vastness and diversity of India.
• Historical acts during British rule.
• Single constitution for state and centre.
• The dominance of legal luminaries.

2. Drawn From Various Sources

S.No	Source	Features included
1.	Government of India Act 1935 (Major source)	Office of Governor Emergency Provision Public Service Commission
2.	British constitution	Parliamentary Form of Government Rule of Law Single Citizenship Bicameralism
3.	US Constitution	Fundamental Rights Judicial review Impeachment of the President Post of the Vice President The provision for removing the judges of the Supreme Court or High Court
4.	Irish constitution	Directive principles of State policy Method of election of the President Nomination of 12 members of Rajya Sabha.
5.	Canadian constitution	A quasi-federal form of government (Federation with a strong centre). Appointment of Governor in the State by the Central government. Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
6.	Germany’s constitution	Supervision of fundamental rights during emergency
7.	Australian constitution	Concurrent list Joint sitting of parliament by two houses Freedom of trade and commerce.
8.	Russian constitution	Fundamental Duties Justice, social, economic, and political terms in the preamble.
9.	France constitution	Republic, liberty, equality, and fraternity in the preamble
10.	South Africa’s constitution	The procedure of constitutional amendment Election of members of Rajya Sabha.
11.	Japan’s constitution	The procedure of establishment of law.

Also, read Procedure Established by Law and Due Process of Law for UPSC here.

Criticism of Borrowed Constitution

Unwieldy

It was assumed that the entire constitution of a country must be found in one compact document; many such details, practices, and statements are included in one single document in India and this has made the constitution large.

Unrepresentative

The adult franchise was not granted when the constituent assembly was formed. Thus, the constitution formed was not a representation of all sections of society.

Alien to our Conditions

The Indian Constitution is an amalgamation of borrowed articles from Western constitutions. Hence, it received criticism.

3. Rigidity and Flexibility

• One of the key features of the Indian Constitution is that it is neither completely rigid nor completely flexible but a mix of both.
• This is depicted through article 368 where different types of majority are required for amendment in the constitution.

Types of Majority

There are several types of majority in the Indian Parliament, they are mentioned below.

• Simple- More than 50% of the present in voting.
• Absolute- More than 50% of the total members of the house.
• Effective- More than 50% of the effective strength (excluding the vacant).
• The special majority- More than 2/3rd members present and vote along with 50% of the total strength of the House.

4. Federal System with Unitary Bias

The federal features of the Indian constitution as compared to the unitary features of the Indian constitution are given below.

Federal features of Indian constitution	Unitary features of Indian constitution
Division of powers	Strong centre
Presence of two governments	Presence of All India services
Provision of a written constitution	Presence of a single constitution
Supremacy of constitution	Provision of a single citizenship
The rigidity of the constitution	The flexibility of the constitution
Independent Judiciary	Integrated judiciary
Presence of bicameralism.	Emergency provisions

5. Parliamentary Form of Government

• The Indian Parliament is a republic, and there exists cooperation between the executive and legislature.
• Presence of a nominal head as a President and a real head as a Prime Minister.
• Rule of the Majority party.
• Collective responsibility of the Executive to the Legislature.
• There is the amalgamation of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial supremacy under Article 368.

6. Integrated and Independent Judiciary

• The Judiciary is not dependent on the executive.
• There exists a division of courts in the form of a supreme court at the centre, high courts at the state level, and district courts at the district level.

7. Fundamental Rights

• Enforced by the court (Justiciable).
• Mentioned in the constitution from articles 12-35 in part III.
• These are not absolute.
• There are 6 fundamental rights as of today.
• Provision of writs in case of violation of fundamental rights.

8. Directive Principles of State Policy

• Listed in part IV of the constitution from articles 36-51.
• These are non-justiciable but fundamental for the governance in the country.
• They aim to establish a welfare state.

9. Fundamental Duties

• Non-justiciable.
• Added by the 42nd Amendment Act,1976 in Article 51 A of the constitution.
• There are 10 duties included in the constitution on the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. The 11th Fundamental duty was added later after the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act.

10. Secular State

• The term secular has been added through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976.
• No state religion.
• This provision of granting equal status to all religions is guarded by Articles 25-28.

11. Universal Adult Franchise

• Article 326 provides universal adult suffrage.
• The 61st constitutional amendment act 1988 reduced the age limit from 21 to 18 for voting.

12. Single Citizenship

• This promotes a sense of brotherhood.

13. Independent Bodies

• The constitution has provisions for the appointment of other independent bodies apart from the Legislature, and executive.
• ECI (Election Commission of India) conducts elections for the Parliament and for the Legislative assembly and Legislative Councils of other states.
• CAG (Comptroller Auditor General) audits the accounts of Central and state governments.
• UPSC conducts exams for recruitment to all Indian services.

14. Emergency Provision

• These provisions are included in part VIII of the constitution.
• National emergency- under article 352.
• State emergency- under Article 356.
• Financial emergency- under article 360.

15. 3-tier Government

• Apart from governments at the center and state level, the constitutional amendment acts in 1992 included provisions for government at a local level.
• The 73rd amendment act introduced panchayats in rural areas.
• The 74th Amendment Act introduced municipalities in urban areas.