Features of Indian Constitution

One of the key features of Indian Constitution is that it is the longest written Constitution in the world. The reason for bulkiness of Indian Constitution is due to inclusion of Articles on the basis of religion, region, caste, sex, etc., inclusion of administrative aspects like Election Commission, Public Service Commission, etc., exhaustive enumeration of rights and non-rights (Directive Principles of State Policy), inclusion of temporary and transitional provisions like Articles 371A to 371I, etc.

Salient Features of Indian Constitution

The salient features of Indian Constitution include Largest written Constitution, Combination of rigidity and flexibility, Federal system, Single citizenship, Fundamental rights, Directive principles of state policy, Independent and integrated judiciary, Parliamentary form of Government, etc.

Longest written Constitution in the World

Bulkiness of Indian Constitution is explained in terms of Articles, PARTs and Schedules. On 26th January, 1950, the Constitution contained 395 Articles, 22 PARTs and 8 Schedules. Now, it contains 448 Articles, 25 PARTS and 12 Schedules.

New Articles that are being added, will not be given the number as 396 but should be added like 1A, 1B, 24A, etc. When an Article gets deleted, it should be kept vacant.

For example, Article 31 was deleted in 1978 in the 44th Amendment ofthe Constitution. The Article was kept vacant and new Articles to the same number were added as 31A, 31B, etc.

PART is the partition of Articles into different sections. This is made for easy access. Schedule is an explanatory part of an Article. It is an annexure to the Constitution.

Rigidity and Flexibility of Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution is partially flexible and partially rigid. It is flexible because some of the Articles in the Constitution can be amended with simple majority in the Parliament, while some other Articles can be amended with a special majority of the Parliament. The flexibility is one of the unitary features of Indian Constitution because Parliament alone can amend certain Articles.

The Constitution is said to be rigid because some of the crucial Articles need to be amended by special majority of the Parliament and consent of the states. So, rigidity is one of the federal features of Indian Constitution.

Federal System with Unitary Bias

Though the word Federation is not incorporated into the Indian Constitution, India is a federation of states with maximum power given to the Central government.

The Constitution of India says it as "Union of States". That means Indian federation has an undestroyable Union of destroyable states which implies that the states can be merged or divided, but they cannot go away from the Union.









Single Citizenship

According to the Constitution of India, all the citizens residing in the 28 States and 8 Union Territories will have a single citizenship in the country.

Fundamental Rights and Duties

Fundamental Rights are included in our Constitution so that the State cannot exercise arbitrary and absolute power against its citizens. They protect the rights of individuals against the other individuals and against the Government itself.

The fundamental duties reminds the citizens about their responsibility towards the State and the fellow citizens.

Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive Principles of State Policy that are included into the Constitution, are a kind of guidelines to the State so that it will strive to push for the wellbeing of its people.

Independent and Integrated Judiciary

The Judiciary is the final resort for the citizens of the country to protect their rights. So, its independence is utmost important. The makers of the Constitution envisaged this and kept the Judiciary completely independent of both Executive and the Legislature. Independence of Judiciary is one of the main features of Indian Constitution.

Ours is a an Integrated Judiciary as we have single hierarchy of Courts and no separate courts for Central as well as State laws.






Universal Adult Franchise

Indian Constitution guarantees that without any discrimination, every adult above the age of 18 years has the right to exercise his vote to elect the people's representatives.

Parliamentary Form of Government

Parliamentary form of government is nothing but responsibility of the Executive towards the Legislature, which has the people's representatives.

Unlike the Presidential form of government, in parliamentary form of government the Executive and Legislature are clubbed together, making the Executive more accountable towards the Legislature.

Emergency Provisions

Though the Indian Government operates in a federal structure, during the proclamation of emergency, all the powers will be vested with the Union government and the Constitution acquires a kind of unitary character.

Local Self Governments

In order to enhance the democratic decentralization, Indian Constitution renders power to the rural and urban populace to manage their developmental activities on their own with the assistance of local self governments.

Affirmative Provisions

Indian Constitution incorporated some affirmative provisions for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in government jobs and made provisions for their upliftment by reserving some seats in Legislatures as well as educational institutions.