What are the Salient Features of the Indian Constitution?
Before making the present Constitution, the framers examined the Constitutions of various countries and the workings of the Government of India Act of 1935. They liberally borrowed appropriate provisions from the Constitutions of many countries of the world. The following are the Salient Features of the Indian Constitution.
1. The Lengthiest Constitution in the World
Constitutions are classified into written, like the American Constitution, or unwritten, like the British Constitution. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written Constitutions of the world. It is a very comprehensive, elaborate, and detailed document.
The Indian Constitution originally consisted of 395 articles divided into 22 Parts and 9 Schedules. Presently, it consists of a Preamble, about 450 articles divided into 24 Parts and 12 Schedules.
2. Parliamentary Form of Government
The Constitution of India has opted for the British Parliamentary system of Government rather than American Presidential System of Government. The Parliamentary system is based on the principle of co-operation and co-ordination between the legislative and executive organs while the Presidential system is based on the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs.
3. Unique Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility
The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible but a synthesis of both. A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its amendment, while a flexible Constitution is one that can be amended in the same manner as ordinary laws are made.
4. Fundamental Rights
Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six fundamental rights to all the citizens—
(a) Right to Equality (Articles 14-18);
(b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22);
(c) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23-24);
(d) Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28);
(e) Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30);
(f) Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32).
The Fundamental Rights promote the idea of political democracy. They operate as limitations on the tyranny of the executive and the arbitrary laws of the legislature.
5. Directive Principles of State Policy
The Directive Principles of State Policy contained in Part of the Constitution set out the aims and objectives to be taken by the state in the governance of the country. According to B.R. Ambedkar “the Directive Principle of State policy is a novel feature of the Indian Constitution. They can be classified into three broad categories, Socialistic, Gandhian and Liberal-intellectual.
6. Fundamental Duties
By the Forty-second Amendment Act, Part IVA has been added to the Constitution, which enumerates certain fundamental duties of the citizens. Originally, ten duties were enlisted in clause (a) to (j) of article 51A. Clause (k), which imposes a duty on parents/wards, has been added by the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002.
7. A Federation with a Strong Centralizing Tendency
The term ‘federation’ has not been used in the Constitution. Article 1 describes that India “is a Union of States,” which implies two things: Firstly – the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement by the States, and Secondly – no State has the right to secede from the federation. The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of Government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two governments, division of powers, written Constitution, Supremacy of the Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary, and bicameralism.
8. Adult Suffrage
In India, every person, male or female, who has reached the age of 18 years is entitled to vote in elections in Parliament or State Legislatures. Originally this age limit was 21 years, but after the 61st Amendment Act, 1988, it was reduced to 18 years.
9. An Independent Judiciary
Independence of the Judiciary is essential for impartial adjudication of disputes between individuals, between Union and State, between Union/State and individuals, between Union and States, or between States inter se. The Supreme Court stands at the top of the country’s integrated judicial system. Below it, there are High Courts at the State level. This single system of courts enforces both the Central laws as well as the state laws.
The Supreme Court of India is a federal court, the highest court of appeal, the guarantor of the fundamental rights of the citizens, and the guardian of the Constitution
10. A Secular State
The Constitution of India stands for a secular State. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. The term ‘Secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. Articles 25-28 of the Constitution give concrete shape to this concept of secularism.
11. Single Citizenship
In most of the federations, people have double citizenship, citizenship of the Union, and citizenship of one of the several states that form the Union. Every citizen is a citizen of India and enjoys the same rights of citizenship no matter in which State he resides.
12. Separation of Powers
This doctrine was, for the first time, properly formulated by the famous Jurist Montesquieu in his Escript Des Lois and exercised great influence on the French legal system. The doctrine of separation of powers implies that the powers of the three organs of the government, viz., Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, should be kept separate from each other.
