Indian Constitution Articles at a Glance

The Indian constitution is the lengthiest written constitution in the world. When the constitution was framed it consisted of 395 article, 22 parts and 8 schedules. But at present, Constitution of India has 478 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules and 5 appendices. The Government of India Act 1935 is the fundamental base of Indian Constitution. So far, 104 amendments that have been made in the Indian constitution. Recent amendment was carried out to extend the reservation of seats for SC’s and ST’s in the Lok Sabha and states assemblies and came into effect on 25th January, 2020. Constitution of India is an important topic for any competitive exams conducted in India especially civil services exam. Hence, in this article we will provide you with Indian constitutional articles.

The Constitution of India at a Glance

Firstly let’s take a look at the preamble of Indian Constitution-

“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly

resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN

SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty –

sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT,

ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.”

Parts of Indian Constitution

As we all know that there are 25 parts in Indian Constitution. Given below is the parts of constitution and articles covered under it-

Part of Constitution	Category	Articles Covered
I	The Union and its territory	1 to 4
II	Citizenship	5 to 11
III	Fundamental Rights	12 to 35
IV	Directive Principles of State Policy	36 to 51
IV-A	Fundamental Duties	51-A
V	The Union Government	52 to 151
	Chapter I – The Executive	52 to 78
	Chapter II – Parliament	79 to 122
	Chapter III – Legislative Powers of President	123
	Chapter IV – The Union Judiciary	124 to 147
	Chapter V – Comptroller and Auditor-General of India	148 to 151
VI	The State Governments	152 to 237
	Chapter I – General	152
	Chapter II – The Executive	153 to 167
	Chapter III – The State Legislature	168 to 212
	Chapter IV – Legislative Powers of Governor	213
	Chapter V – The High Courts	214 to 232
	Chapter VI – Subordinate Courts	233 to 237
VIII	The Union Territories	239 to 242
IX	The Panchayats	243 to 243-O
IX-A	The Municipalities	243-P to 243-ZG
IX-B	The Co-operative Societies	243-ZH to 243-ZT
X	The Scheduled and Tribal Areas	244 to 244-A
XI	Relations between the Union and the States	245 to 263
	Chapter I – Legislative Relations	245 to 255
	Chapter II – Administrative Relations	256 to 263
XII	Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits	264 to 300-A
	Chapter I – Finance	264 to 291
	Chapter II – Borrowing	292 to 293
	Chapter III – Property, Contracts, Rights, Liabilities, Obligations and Suits	294 to 300
	Chapter IV – Right to Property	300-A
XIII	Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within the Territory of India	301 to 307
XIV	Services under the Union and the States	308 to 323
	Chapter I – Services	308 to 314
	Chapter II – Public Service Commissions	315 to 323
XIV-A	Tribunals	323-A to 323-B
XV	Elections	324 to 329-A
XVI	Special Provisions relating to Certain Classes	330 to 342
XVII	Official Language	343 to 351
	Chapter I – Language of the Union	343 to 344
	Chapter II – Regional Languages	345 to 347
	Chapter III-Language of the Supreme Court, High Courts, and so on	348 to 349
	Chapter IV-Special Directives	350 to 351
XVIII	Emergency Provisions	352 to 360
XIX	Miscellaneous	361 to 367
XX	Amendment of the Constitution	368
XXI	Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions	369 to 392
XXII	Short title, Commencement, Authoritative Text in Hindi and Repeals	393 to 395

Note:- Part VII was deleted by the 7th Amendment Act (1956). On the other hand, both Part IV – A and Part XIV-A were added by the 42nd Amendment Act (1976), while Part OX-A was added by the 74th Amendment Act (1992), and Part IX-B was added by the 97th Amendment Act (2011).

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The Schedules of the Indian constitution

Schedules are lists in the constitution which categorize and tabulate bureaucratic activity and government policy.

First Schedule (Article 1 and 4)

Lists India’s states and territories, changes in their borders, formation of new states and the laws used to make that change..

Second Schedule (Articles 59(3), 65(3), 75(6), 97, 125, 148(3), 158(3), 164(5), 186 and 221)

Lists the provisions provided such as salaries, emoluments, allowances, privileges emoluments, allowances, privileges to public officials like President of India, Governors, Speaker, Deputy speaker, judges, and the Comptroller and Auditor General etc. of India.

Third Schedule

Third Schedule includes Articles 75(4), 99, 124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219 stating the forms of oaths or affirmations for elected officials and judges that includes-

The Union ministers
The candidates for election to the Parliament
The members of Parliament
The judges of the Supreme Court
The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India
The state ministers
The candidates for election to the state legislature
The members of the state legislature
The judges of the High Courts

Fourth Schedule

Fourth Schedule of constitution includes Articles 4(1) and 80(2) that mentions the details of allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) by state or union territory.

Fifth Schedule

Article 244(1) states the provisions provided for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes(areas and tribes requiring special protection).

Sixth Schedule

Sixth Schedule includes Articles 244(2) and 275(1) that lists the provisions made for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Seventh Schedule

Seventh Schedule of constitution includes Article 246 that states the Central government, state, and concurrent lists of responsibilities.
Division of powers between the Union and the States in terms of List I (Union List), List II (State List) and List III (Concurrent List). Presently, the Union List contains 100 subjects (originally 97), the state list contains 61 subjects (originally 66) and the concurrent list contains 52 subjects (originally 47).

Eighth Schedule – Official languages

Eighth Schedule includes Articles 344(1) and 351 that states about the languages recognized by the Constitution.
Originally, it had 14 languages but presently there are 22 languages. They are: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Mathili (Maithili), Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967; Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the 71 st Amendment Act of 1992; and Bodo, Dongri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.

Ninth Schedule – Validation of certain acts and regulations

Article 31-B comprising Ninth Schedule talks about Validation of certain acts and regulations
Acts and Regulations were originally 13 but presently there are 282. Of which 19 of the state legislatures deals with land reforms and the abolition of the zamindari system and of the Parliament dealing with other matters. This schedule was added by the 1st Amendment (1951) to protect the laws included in it from judicial scrutiny on the ground of violation of fundamental rights. However, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws included in this schedule after April 24, 1973, are now open to judicial review.

Tenth Schedule – Anti-defection provisions for members of Parliament and state legislatures.

Tenth Schedule includes Articles 102(2) and 191(2) states about Provisions relating to the disqualification of the members of Parliament and State Legislatures on the ground of defection. This schedule was added by the 52nd Amendment Act of 1985, also known as Anti-defection Law.

Eleventh Schedule – Panchayat Raj (rural local government)

Eleventh Schedule comprising Article 243-G Specifies the powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats. This schedule was added by the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992.

Twelfth Schedule – Municipalities (urban local government)

Twelfth Schedule includes Article 243 – W, Specifies the powers, authority, and responsibilities of Municipalities. This schedule was added by the 74th Amendment Act of 1992.

NOTE: Part VII was deleted by the 7th Amendment Act (1956). On the other hand, both Part IV – A and Part XIV-A were added by the 42nd Amendment Act (1976), while Part X-A was added by the 74th Amendment Act (1992), and Part IX-B was added by the 97th Amendment Act (2011).

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Appendices of Indian Constitution

Appendices are the supplementary matter presented at the end of the constitution.

Appendix I – The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954
Appendix II – Re-statement, referring to the constitution’s present text, of exceptions and modifications applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir
Appendix III – Extracts from the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978
Appendix IV – The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002
Appendix V – The Constitution (Eighty-eighth Amendment) Act, 2003

Facts about Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution is written constitution. It is the second longest active constitution in the world after the Constitution of Alabama.
The Indian constitution is a combination of rigidity and flexibility. The rigidity and flexibility depends on amendment procedures.
Some features of Indian constitution is adopted from constitutions of other countries. Such as –

Fundamental Rights – American Constitution
Parliamentary form of government – United Kingdom
Directive Principle of State Policy – Ireland

Few Important articles of Indian Constitution

It is actually not possible to study all the articles of Indian Constitution. Hence, we have listed out few important articles that will help the candidates to ace the examination.

Fundamental Rights – Article 12-35
Directive Principles of – Article 36 – 51
Fundamental Duties specified for citizens of India – Article 51 A
Official Language of Union Government of India – Hindi – Article 343
Imposition of President’s Rule – Article 356
Autonomous Status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir – Article 370
Repeals India Independence Act and Government of India Act, 1935

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