The amendment of Indian Constitution has the following features.

1. Art 368 deals with the procedure of amendment of the provisions of the constitution.

2. The power to amend the constitution is vested mainly in the parliament. Most of the provisions of the constitution can be amended by it. Further, the parliament has the sole power to initiate bills for constitutional amendment.

3. The legislatures of states have no power to introduce bill for constitutional amendment.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

4. There are three methods or procedures of amendment. Some provisions of the constitution can be amended by the parliament with simple majority support; some other provisions of the constitution can be amended by it by special majority and some provisions of the constitution can be amended by the parliament with the consent of state legislatures.

5. The parliament has no power to amend the ‘basic structures of the constitution.’

Criticisms of Amending Procedure:

The amending procedure has been subjected to the following criticisms.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

1. The constitution is silent about disagreements between the two Houses of Parliament regarding any amendment bill.

The Eighty-sixth Amendment Act, 2002 –

This amendment inserted a new 21A to provide for fundamental right to education to all children of 6 to 14 years.

The Ninety First Amendment Act, 2003 –

ADVERTISEMENTS:

This amendment limits the size Council of Ministers. It prescribes that the strength of the Council of Ministry should be more than 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha at the Union level and Sabha at the state level.

The Ninety Second Amendment Acts, 2003 –

This amendment, by amending the Schedule, recognised four new languages, namely Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali. As a result, the number of languages, recognised by the constitution, increased to 22 (twenty two).

Conclusion

ADVERTISEMENTS:

India’s constitution is the longest constitution in the world. It is well-balanced; been attuned to the multitude of diversity of the country. It is partly rigid and partly fl It significantly reflects the democratic and secular temperament of the people of Though it has borrowed many things from the constitutions of other countries, it hi incorporated many innovative and indigenous ideas.