Indian Constitution and Constitutional Design - Study Guide
What the exam tests
Indian Constitution and Constitutional Design tests the Constituent Assembly, the Preamble, borrowed features, fundamental rights and duties, directive principles, amendment and basic structure. Questions often ask you to distinguish a constitutional rule from a political convention.
Core rules
- The Constituent Assembly, elected in 1946, adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949; it commenced on 26 January 1950.
- The Preamble declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and lists justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. It is interpretative, not a source of enforceable rights.
- Borrowings were adapted: parliamentary government from the UK, fundamental rights and judicial review from the US, directive principles from Ireland, emergency provisions from the Weimar Constitution, and federalism with a strong centre from Canada.
- Article 368 provides amendment procedures; some provisions need special majority and state ratification.
- Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held that Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its basic structure.
Worked example
Question: Can Parliament amend fundamental rights? Reason: Article 368 permits amendment, and the 24th Amendment reversed earlier limits. But Kesavananda Bharati introduced the basic-structure doctrine; later cases applied it to judicial review and federalism. So the answer is yes, subject to the basic structure, and the amendment must follow Article 368 procedure.
Traps
The Preamble is not a substitute for a statutory provision; directive principles are non-justiciable; socialist and secular were added in 1976; the basic structure is not a closed list; a constitutional amendment is not ordinary legislation.