Part 1 of the Constitution of India

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Table of Content

  1. Summary of Part 1 of the Constitution
  2. Articles under Part-1 of the Constitution
  3. Article 1
  4. Article 2
  5. Article 3
  6. Article 4
  7. Extra content for Prelims and Mains

Summary of Part 1 of the constitution

  • Part I constitutes the Constitutional Law governing India as a union of States. It is a compilation of laws pertaining to the constitution of India as a country and the union of states that it is made of. Nowhere under Part I, it is mentioned that India is a federal state. It rather uses the phrase “Union of States”.
  • This part of the constitution contains the law in the following categories: establishment, renaming, merging or altering the borders of the states or union territories. It also physically defines the words union / central government / government of India, states, territory of India, territory of a state, union territories and acquired territories which are used frequently in the constitution.
  • This part contains four articles. These articles were invoked when West Bengal was renamed, and for formation of relatively new states such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim and recently Telangana.

Articles under Part 1 of the Constitution

  • Articles 1 to 4

Summary of Articles under Part 1

Article 1

According to Article 1 of the constitution :

  1. India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states.
  2. The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.
  3. The territory of India shall comprise
    • the territories of the States;
    • the Union territories specified in the First Schedule
    • such other territories as may be acquired

Article 2

  • Article 2 states that Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

Article 3

Article 3 talks about Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States.

According to Article 3 Parliament may by law:

  • (a) Formation of New State :  Form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State
  • (b) Increase the area of any State
  • (c) Diminish the area of any State
  • (d) Alter the boundaries of any State;
  • (e) Alter the name of any State;

Procedure

  • No Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired
  • Explanation I: In this article, in clauses (a) to (e), State includes a Union territory, but in the proviso, State does not include a Union territory
  • Explanation II: The power conferred on Parliament by clause (a) includes the power to form a new State or Union territory by uniting a part of any State or Union territory to any other State or Union territory

Article 4

  • It is invoked when a law is enacted under Article 2 or 3 for the marginal, incidental and the consequential provisions needed for changing boundary of a state or union territory.
  • As per Article 4 (1),
    • Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.
  • Article 4(2) states that
    • no such law framed under Article 4 (1), shall be deemed to be an amendment of the constitution for the purposes of article 368.

Explanation

  • Whenever a law is enacted under Article 2 or 3 (addition of a new state or UT or altering the boundary of a state or UT), there is a need for amending the First schedule (names of the states and union territories and their territorial extent) and the Fourth schedule (allocation of seats in Rajya Sabha to the states and Union Territories).
  • Article 4 enables these amendments and specifies that any such amendment is not considered as constitutional amendment as mentioned in article 368.

Article 4 vs Article 368

  • Before 1971, there were few articles [Articles 4 (2), 169 (3)-1962, 239A (2)-1962, 244A (4)-1969, para 7(2) of Schedule V and para 21(2) of Schedule VI] other than Article 368 which permitted marginal amendments to the constitution.
  • However Article 4 (2) got superseded by the 24th amendment in the year 1971 to Article 368.
  • Article 368 (1) was added by 24th amendment which says that not withstanding anything in the constitution, parliament may in exercise of its constituent power amend any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in this article.
  • Constituent power conferred on the parliament must be exercised by it in accordance with the procedure given in article 368 (2) and cannot be subjected to an inferior legislative procedure under article 4 or delegated to an outside agency.
  • Thus there is only one procedure for bringing an amendment (including of marginal nature) to the constitution which is the procedure given in Article 368.

Union Territories

  • With the seventh amendment to the constitution in 1956, the concept of Union territory is brought in to administer areas which are very small in area or governed by international agreements or politically not evolved for locally elected governance.
  • The representation of seats in the council of states (Rajya Sabha) shall be as given in Schedule 4 of the constitution.
  • The territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones shall also become part of the territories of states or union territories in the absence of any listing of them separately in Schedule 1 and 4 of the constitution.
  • The constitution (40th amendment) act, 1976, was passed during the emergency period and received Presidential assent on 27 May 1976. It amended the Article 297 (earlier also amended by the constitution [15th amendment] act, 1963) so as to vest in Union of India all lands, minerals, and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or continental shelf or exclusive economic zone of India.
  • The territorial waters, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other maritime zones act, 1976 was enacted by the Indian government to notify the sovereign rights on these areas for dealings with other countries.
  • However, these maritime zones are also parts of the states as they are not separately listed in schedule 1 of the constitution and the role of union government is limited to mainly defending the offshore territory from external threats.
  • States are not debarred from imposing taxes or royalty on the minerals extracted from the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone (which are under states jurisdiction) as per serial no. 50 of state list in seventh schedule (Taxes on mineral rights subject to any limitations imposed by Parliament by law relating to mineral development) of the constitution.

Extra content for Prelims

FORMATION OF STATES IN INDIA – BIFURCATIONS:

Chronology of states’ bifurcation in India till date :

  • 1947 – Provinces and around 550 princely states were merged with existing provinces.
    1953 – Andhra Pradesh was carved out of Madras. States’ reorganisation commission was formed.
  • 1953 – Northeast Frontier Agency was formed.
  • 1956 – 14 states and 6 UTs were created.
  • 1960 – Bombay state split into Maharashtra and Gujarat.
  • 1963 – Nagaland carved out of Assam.
  • 1966 – Haryana and Himachal Pradesh carved out of Punjab state.
  • 1972 – Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura were formed.
  • 1975 – Sikkim became part of Indian Union.
  • 1987 – Goa and Arunachal Pradesh became states (earlier these were UTs).
  • 2000 – Uttaranchal (out of Uttar Pradesh), Jharkhand (out of Bihar) and Chhattisgarh (out of Madhya Pradesh) were formed.
  • 2013 – Andhra Pradesh – Telangana

Reasons for Creation of States

  • DIFFERENT REASONS : Jhankhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh were created in 2000 on socio-political basis.
  • LINGUISTIC REASONS : States have also been created on linguistic lines, such as Andhra Pradesh in 1953.
  • AUTONOMOUS REGION : An autonomous region, like the Gorkhaland semi-autonomous administrative area, enjoys a degree of administrative and financial autonomy.

Mind map

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