Changing the Constitution: key amendments and judgments

The Constituent Assembly adopts the Constitution. The date is now Constitution Day.

The Constitution comes into force and India becomes a republic.

Allows “reasonable restrictions” on free speech on new grounds and creates the Ninth Schedule to shield land-reform laws from court challenges.

The Seventh Amendment redraws the states, largely along linguistic lines.

The Supreme Court rules that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights.

A 13-judge bench holds that Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution, but not its basic structure.

Passed during the Emergency, it adds “socialist” and “secular” to the Preamble and a list of fundamental duties, and curbs the powers of the courts.

Reverses much of the 42nd, makes an Emergency harder to declare and removes the right to property from the fundamental rights.

The 52nd Amendment adds the Tenth Schedule, under which legislators who defect can be disqualified.

The 61st Amendment, passed in 1988, lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments give panchayats and municipalities constitutional status; 24 April is now National Panchayati Raj Day.

The 86th Amendment makes free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 a fundamental right (Article 21A).

The 101st Amendment creates the Goods and Services Tax and the GST Council.

The 103rd Amendment allows up to 10% reservation in jobs and education for economically weaker sections; the Supreme Court upholds it in 2022.

The 106th Amendment reserves a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women, to take effect after the next census and delimitation.