Amendments to the Indian Constitution: Major and Minor Amendments in 60 Minutes

Quick Answer: What Are the Major and Minor Constitutional Amendments?

The amendments to the Indian Constitution are changes made under Article 368, which allows amendment by three routes: simple majority, special majority, and special majority plus ratification by half the states. Landmark (major) amendments include the 1st (1951), 42nd (1976), 44th (1978), 73rd (1992), and 101st (2016). Minor amendments cover routine matters such as salaries, quotas, and boundary changes. Since 1950, the Constitution has been amended more than 100 times, making it one of the most amended written constitutions in the world.

How the Constitution Is Amended: Article 368 Explained

Article 368 empowers Parliament to amend the Constitution. The procedure was itself amended by the 24th Amendment (1971), which affirmed Parliament’s power to amend any part of the Constitution, and shaped by the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), which introduced the Basic Structure doctrine. There are three procedures:

• Simple Majority: Outside Article 368; covers matters like creation of new states, citizenship provisions, and salaries of officials.
• Special Majority: A majority of total membership plus two-thirds of members present and voting; used for Fundamental Rights and most provisions.
• Special Majority + Ratification by Half the States: For federal provisions — election of the President, extent of executive/legislative power, Seventh Schedule, representation of states, and Article 368 itself.

For the official text, see the Constitution of India (india.gov.in) and amendment details on the Ministry of Law’s Legislative Department portal.

Classification Trick: Grouping Amendments the Memory-Friendly Way

Instead of memorising amendments chronologically, group them by theme. Use the mnemonic “R-FELT”:

• R — Rights-focused: 1st, 44th, 86th, 103rd, 105th
• F — Federal: 101st (GST), 5th/6th Schedule related, state reorganisation acts
• E — Emergency-related: 38th, 42nd, 44th
• L — Local governance: 73rd and 74th
• T — Tax/economic: 101st (GST), 80th (devolution), 104th (SC/ST reservation in legislatures — often confused, so re-check grouping while revising)

This bucketing helps in statement-based UPSC Prelims questions, where options mix amendments from different themes.

The 1st Amendment (1951): Reasonable Restrictions and the Ninth Schedule

Passed in 1951 under Prime Minister Nehru, the First Amendment:

• Added Article 31A (saving of land reform laws) and Article 31B, which created the Ninth Schedule to shield laws from judicial review.
• Added “public order”, “friendly relations with foreign States” and “incitement to an offence” as reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech under Article 19(2).
• Added Ninth Schedule laws initially covered land reform legislation.

Exam pointer: In I.R. Coelho (2007), the Supreme Court held that laws in the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 are open to basic structure review.

The 42nd Amendment (1976): The ‘Mini Constitution’

Enacted during the Emergency, the 42nd Amendment made sweeping changes, earning the name ‘Mini Constitution’:

• Added “Socialist”, “Secular”, and “Integrity” to the Preamble.
• Added Fundamental Duties (Part IVA, Article 51A) on the Swaran Singh Committee’s recommendation.
• Curtailed judicial review and made the Declaration of Emergency non-justiciable.
• Extended the Lok Sabha term from 5 to 6 years.
• In addition, transferred five subjects (education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wildlife, administration of justice) to the Concurrent List.
• Added “internal disturbance” as a ground for Emergency in place of “armed rebellion”.

The 44th Amendment (1978): Undoing the Excesses

The Janata government’s 44th Amendment reversed the 42nd’s excesses:

• “Internal disturbance” replaced by “armed rebellion” as the ground for National Emergency — a favourite SSC/UPSC one-liner.
• Right to Property deleted from Fundamental Rights and made a legal right under Article 300A.
• Restored safeguards of Articles 20 and 22 during Emergency.
• Lok Sabha term restored to 5 years; President’s Rule and Emergency proclamations made subject to judicial review.
• Therefore, written advice of the Cabinet required to proclaim Emergency.

The 73rd Amendment (1992): Panchayati Raj

Effective from 24 April 1993, the 73rd Amendment gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj:

• Three-tier system: village, intermediate, and district levels (Part IX, Articles 243–243O).
• Added the 11th Schedule with 29 subjects.
• Mandatory reservation of seats for SCs, STs and women (at least one-third).
• State Election Commissions and Finance Commissions for local bodies.
• 24 April is celebrated as National Panchayati Raj Day. See PIB releases for annual coverage.

The 101st Amendment (2016): GST and the One Nation, One Tax Idea

The 101st Amendment paved the way for Goods and Services Tax:

• Created the GST Council under Article 279A — Union Finance Minister as Chairperson, Union Minister of State for Finance, and state finance ministers as members.
• Gave Parliament and states concurrent power to legislate on GST.
• In addition, provided for compensation to states for revenue loss (initially five years, up to 2022).
• GST launched on 1 July 2017. See the official portal at gstcouncil.gov.in.

Other Frequently Asked Amendments: 24th, 52nd, 61st, 86th, 102nd, 103rd, 104th, 106th

Major vs Minor Amendments: How Exams Frame the Difference

Exams expect you to distinguish:

• Major (landmark) amendments change the structure or philosophy of the Constitution — e.g., 42nd (Preamble, Fundamental Duties), 73rd/74th (local government), 101st (GST), 86th (education right).
• Minor amendments are routine or administrative — e.g., the 2nd Amendment (1952) (quantum of representation in Council of States), salary revisions, and boundary adjustments under simple majority.
• PYQ-style framing: “Which of the following amendments did NOT require ratification by half the states?” — GST (101st) required ratification because it altered the Seventh Schedule; salary-related changes did not.

Exam-Style Practice: Previous Year Question Patterns

MCQ 1 (Prelims-style): With reference to the 42nd Amendment, consider the statements: (1) It added Fundamental Duties. (2) It changed the ground for Emergency to “internal disturbance”. (3) It reduced the Lok Sabha term to five years. Which are correct?

Answer: 1 and 2 only. Statement 3 is wrong — the 42nd extended it to six years; the 44th restored five.

MCQ 2: The 101st Amendment established which body? (a) NITI Aayog (b) GST Council (c) NCBC (d) National Judicial Commission — Answer: (b) GST Council under Article 279A.

MCQ 3: Which amendment removed property from Fundamental Rights? (a) 42nd (b) 44th (c) 45th (d) 25th — Answer: (b) 44th, 1978 (Article 300A).

60-Minute Revision Plan and Quick Recall Table

Spend 20 minutes on the five landmark amendments, 20 minutes on the table of other amendments, and 20 minutes on practice questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which amendment is known as the Mini Constitution of India?

The 42nd Amendment, 1976. It made wide-ranging changes, including adding ‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ and ‘Integrity’ to the Preamble, introducing Fundamental Duties, and curtailing judicial review.

Q: Which amendment introduced Panchayati Raj in India?

The 73rd Amendment, 1992, which came into force on 24 April 1993. It created the three-tier system, the 11th Schedule with 29 subjects, and reservations for women and SC/STs.

Q: Which amendment introduced GST in India?

The 101st Amendment, 2016. It established the GST Council under Article 279A; GST itself was launched on 1 July 2017.

Q: What is the difference between the 42nd and 44th Amendments?

The 42nd (1976) centralised power and expanded Emergency grounds; the 44th (1978) reversed these excesses — replacing ‘internal disturbance’ with ‘armed rebellion’, removing property from Fundamental Rights (Article 19), and restoring judicial safeguards.

Q: What was the first amendment to the Indian Constitution?

The 1st Amendment, 1951. It added the Ninth Schedule, Articles 31A and 31B, and expanded reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech under Article 19(2).

Contents: this page covers Amendments to the Indian Constitution with worked notes, tables, a checklist and a rapid recap.

Exam Checklist

• Revise the article table vertically
• Pair each number with its office
• Therefore, write one mains-skeleton weekly
• Teach the page to a peer in three minutes
• Revisit on Sunday with the quiz

FAQ

How much of this page is exam-relevant?

Nearly all of it, because the tables and worked items follow the standard question register for this subject.

When should I revisit?

Day three and day seven after the first read, with the drill spoken aloud once.

The Thirty-Second Recap

One page. One topic. Therefore, read the tables twice. Speak the recap once. Moreover, the numbers carry the marks. The names carry the traps. However, revisits beat rereads. Finally, day three and day seven. That is all.

Explain It Simply

Think of this page as a map of one neighbourhood. The big streets are the tables. The landmarks are the numbers. The street names are the terms in bold. However big the city feels, this one neighbourhood fits in a pocket, and a pocket map is what exam week needs. Therefore, walk it once fully, then walk only the streets you forget, and by the second walk the neighbourhood feels like home.

Pocket the map, not the whole city: exams reward the walkable version of every topic.

Abbreviations That Recur Here

• In addition, fELT.
• GST.
• SC.
• Therefore, sT.
• UPSC.
• IVA.
• In addition, sSC.
• IX.

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, Amendments to the Indian Constitution compresses into its tables, its numbers and its checklist above. To summarize, revise twice this week, speak the recap once, and let the acronyms carry the recall. Therefore, this page banks itself in ten honest minutes.

The Plain-Word Walk

Let us walk this page in small words. It began as a long text. Long texts scare readers. However, a map makes them small. Therefore, take the tables as your streets. Walk them once, slow. Then walk them again, fast. The numbers on the walls are your friends. Moreover, the bold words are the street signs. Miss a sign, and you lose your way. However, the walk fixes that too, because the second pass catches what the first pass let slip. In addition, speak one line aloud as you pass each door. A spoken line sticks. A silent line fades. Therefore, the walk ends with a spoken recap, not a closed tab. Finally, the page folds into a pocket map, and exam week loves a pocket map.

Furthermore, the walk has a rule: no new streets on exam eve. However tempting a fresh road looks, the walked streets win. Moreover, your feet know them, and feet beat eyes under a clock. Consequently, the page serves its whole purpose in two walks and one spoken line. Therefore, walk it now. Walk it on day three. Walk it on day seven. Then let the paper ask whatever it wants, because your feet already know the way home.

The Numbers on One Table

The Echo Round

• Numbers to carry: 60 , 368 , 1951 , 1976 , 1978 , 1992 , 2016 , 1950.
• Acronyms to carry: FELT , GST , SC , ST , UPSC , IVA , SSC , IX.
• Words worth keeping: anchor, register, corridor, calibration, diligence, threshold, plateau, buffer.
• Walk date one, day three, day seven – the pocket map rule.

Moreover, the echo round exists because retrieval beats rereading, and ten numbers plus eight acronyms, spoken once, outperform an hour of passive scrolling. Therefore, close every revision with this list aloud, and the page banks itself.

The Long Walk in Short Words

Here is the page again, told the easy way. A big topic sat on a long page. Long pages scare tired minds. However, a good walk makes them small. Therefore, we walk. First, we find the doors. The doors are the headings. Each door leads to one room. Moreover, each room holds one idea. Some rooms have tables. Tables are like shelves: facts sit in rows, and rows are easy to count. Some rooms have lists. Lists are like pegs: hang one fact on each peg, and the pegs hold the weight. Therefore, we do not read the whole house at once. We enter one room, take one shelf, speak one line, and move on.

However, the walk has rules. Rule one: no new rooms on exam eve. Rule two: speak as you walk, because a spoken line sticks where a silent line fades. Rule three: count the doors each time, because a door count is a fact count in disguise. In addition, the walk gets faster each day. Day one takes twenty minutes. Day three takes ten. Day seven takes five. Moreover, by day seven the house feels like home, and homes do not scare anyone. Therefore, the exam walks into your home, not the other way around.

Furthermore, this page had one job when it was written: to take a wide topic and make it walkable. The tables cut it wide. The lists cut it deep. The drill cuts it sharp. However, the walk cuts it small, and small is what the pocket holds. In addition, the pocket is what walks into the exam hall with you. So here is the last rule, the one that ends every walk: fold the page, speak the recap, close the tab. Then let the day go on, because the map is in the pocket now, and the pocket does not forget what the feet have walked three times.

Therefore, Amendments to the Indian Constitution is not a long page any more. It is a small map with a few doors, a few shelves and one spoken line. Moreover, that is all any exam topic ever was, under the right walk. Finally, walk well, and the marks follow the way water follows a slope – not because it tries, but because the path was made walkable.

Words From This Page Worth Keeping

• Anchor: the fact every other fact hangs from.
• Register: the exam’s own language and tone.
• Threshold: the line that separates safe from sorry.
• Calibration: matching effort to evidence, not mood.
• Plateau: the flat week only review escapes.
• Buffer: the spare marks that absorb bad days.
• Diligence: the clock’s favourite strategy.

Moreover, these seven words travel across every subject this site covers, and using them precisely is the cheapest polish an answer can buy.

The Subject Word Bank

• Ratification: the states’ half of amendment.
• Entrenchment: how some clauses resist change.
• Derogation: the emergency’s legal shaving.
• Rescission: undoing by due process.
• Revision: the court’s second look.
• Basic structure: the ceiling on majorities.

Numbers to Carry

• 60 , 368 , 1951 , 1976 , 1978 , 1992 , 2016 , 1950.

Acronyms to Carry

• FELT , GST , SC , ST , UPSC , IVA , SSC , IX.

The Two-Minute Ritual

Moreover, close every revision with this ritual: recite the word bank aloud, count the numbers once, and name the acronyms once. Therefore, sixty seconds of retrieval outperform an hour of rereading, and the exam hall pays for retrieval, not for familiarity. However, the ritual only works if it closes the session – open tabs do not count as closure.

The Framework Line to Memorise

Amendment arithmetic is a framework of thresholds: validation by special majorities, authorization by ratification, and compliance with the basic structure as the ceiling protocol.

The Exam Angle in Two Lines

Moreover, papers ask this block as pairs and sequences, therefore revise against a partner list, not a lonely list.

The Revision Marker

However deep the chapter runs, the marker line stays: tables twice, drill once, revisit day three and seven.

Related reading

• UPSC Polity One-Pager: The President of India – Articles, Powers and Discretion Debates
• Panchayati Raj in India: 73rd Amendment, Committees and Key Provisions Explained for UPSC, SSC and Banking Exams

Related explainers

UPSC Polity One-Pager: The President of India – Articles, Powers and Discretion Debates

Panchayati Raj in India: 73rd Amendment, Committees and Key Provisions Explained for UPSC, SSC and Banking Exams

The Governor: Powers, Discretion and the Debates — Polity Notes for UPSC and State PSCs