22 parts of Constitution of India

The Constitution of India is the lengthiest constitution in the world encompassing 448 articles spread across 22 parts and also containing 12 schedules. Over hundreds of amendments have taken place in our Constitution which indicates that the most important and revered document of the country is neither too rigid nor too flexible. The 448 articles have been spread over 25 parts.

25 Parts of the Constitution of India 

The Important Parts of Constitution of India –

Part 1 – The Union and its Territory –

• Under this part, it is mentioned that Bharat i.e. India is a Union of States.
• The Parliament has the authority to admit or establish new States on terms and conditions as it thinks proper and also increase, diminish, alter the boundary or name of any State.
• Sikkim was made a part of the Union of India under Article 2(a) and Telangana under Article 3.
• The original provision of Article 3 was amended by the Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act, 1955.

Part 2 – Citizenship –

• This part talks about who is a citizen of India and who is not. Article 11 of the Constitution of India gave authority to the Parliament of India to regulate the Right of citizenship by law.  Additionally, the Constitution of India recognizes dual citizenship. Furthermore, the Indian government passed the Citizenship Act in 1955, which provided two means for foreigners to acquire Indian citizenship.

Part 3 – Fundamental Rights –

Perhaps, the most important part of the Constitution of India since it deals with the basic rights known as Fundamental Rights. Additionally, there are six Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution of India.

• Article 14 – 18: Right to Equality.
• Article 19-22: Right to Freedom
• Article 23-24: Right against exploitation.
• Article 25-28: Right to Freedom of Religion
• Article 29-30: Cultural and Educational Rights.
• Article 32: Right against Constitutional Remedies.

If any of these rights are violated then the individual can approach the Supreme Court and issue writs under Article 32 of the Constitution of India and can approach the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and issue writs.

Part 4 – Directive Principles of State Policy –

Part 4 of the Constitution of India contains the Directive Principles of State Policy. It has been borrowed from the Irish Constitution. These Principles cannot be enforced by the Court of Law but the principles laid down under this Part are nevertheless, instrumental towards ensuring effective governance of the country.

Part 4A – Fundamental Duties –

Fundamental Duties are duties which citizen must follow as a citizen of India. It is not mandatory and also not enforceable in the court of law.

Part 17 – Official Languages –

India is a pluralistic country. And, it is a linguistic nation and hence, the framers of the Constitution did not make any language as the National language of India. However, as per the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India [Article 344(1) and 351], there are 22 official languages of the State of India. They are –

1. Assamese
2. Bengali
3. Bodo
4. Dogri
5. Gujarati
6. Hindi
7. Kannada
8. Kashmiri
9. Konkani
10. Maithili
11. Malayalam
12. Meitei
13. Marathi
14. Nepali
15. Odia
16. Punjabi
17. Sanskrit
18. Santali
19. Sindhi
20. Tamil
21. Telugu
22. Urdu

Part 18 – Emergency Provisions –

The Emergency provisions were borrowed from the German Constitution. The Constitution of India recognizes three kinds of emergencies in India. They are:-

1. National Emergency – Article 352. This type of Emergency has taken place thrice in the history of India – First in 1962 (Indo-China War), 1971 (Indo-Pak war), and 1975 (declared by the former Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi).
2. Constitutional failure in the States (State Emergency) – Article 356. In other words, this Emergency is also known as the President’s rule. Chhattisgarh and Telangana are the only states of India, where the President’s rule has not been imposed yet.
3. Financial Emergency -Article 360. This type of emergency has never been declared in the history of India.

Part 20 – Amendment of the Constitution  –

Article 368 of the Constitution of India deals with the Amendment procedure of the Constitution of India. Additionally, an amendment of to the Constitution of India may be initiated only with the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament i.e. either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented before the President of India who shall give his assent to the Bill and thereupon the Constitution of India shall stand amended in accordance with the terms of the Bill.

Aspects of the Indian Constitution:

The Constitution of India in its 25 parts covers every important aspect which a Constitution must cover. Additionally, it lays down the law and the procedure for each thing very clearly.  An interesting thing to note here is that in the due course of time due to various amendments to the Constitution of India, 21 articles and Part 8 of the Constitution have been repealed and 90 new Articles and 4 parts (IVA, IXA, IXB, and IXVA) and 4 schedules (IX, X, XI and XII) have been added to the Constitution of India.