Before making the present Constitution, the framers examined Constitutions of various countries of the world and also the working of the Government of India Act, 1935. They liberally borrowed appropriate provisions from Constitutions of many countries of the world. The Constitution so adopted has the following salient features—
1. The Lengthiest Constitution in the World.-
Constitutions are classified into written, like the American Constitution, or unwritten, like the British Constitution. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written Constitutions of the world. It is a very comprehensive, elaborate and detailed document.
The Indian Constitution originally consisted of 395 articles divided into 22 Parts and 9 Schedules. Presently, it consists of a Preamble, about 450 articles divided into 24 Parts and 12 Schedules.
2. Parliamentary Form of Government.-
The Constitution of India has opted for the British Parliamentary system of Government rather than American Presidential System of Government. The Parliamentary system is based on the principle of co-operation and co-ordination between the legislative and executive organs while the Presidential system is based on the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs.
3. Unique Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility.-
The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible but a synthesis of both. A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its amendment while flexible Constitution is one that can be amended in the same manner as ordinary laws are made.
4. Fundamental Rights.-
Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six fundamental rights to all the citizens—
(a) Right to Equality (Articles 14-18);
(b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22);
(c) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23-24);
(d) Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25-28);
(e) Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29-30);
(f) Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32).
The Fundamental Rights are meant for promoting the idea of political democracy. They operate as limitations on the tyranny of the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature.
5. Directive Principles of State policy.-
The Directive Principles of State Policy contained in Part of the Constitution set out the aims and objectives to be taken by the state in the governance of the country. According to B.R. Ambedkar “the Directive Principle of State policy is a novel feature of the Indian Constitution. They can be classified into three broad categories, Socialistic, Gandhian and Liberal-intellectual.
6. Fundamental Duties.-
By Forty-second Amendment Act, Part IVA has been added to the Constitution which enumerates certain fundamental duties of the citizens. Originally, ten duties were enlisted in clause (a) to (j) of article 51A. Clause (k), which imposes duty on parents/wards has been added by the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002.
7. A Federation with Strong Centralizing Tendency.-
The term ‘federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1 describes that India “is a Union of States” which implies two things: Firstly – Indian federation is not the result of an agreement by the States; and Secondly – no State has the right to secede from the federation. The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of Government. It contains all the usual features of a federation viz., two governments, division of powers, written Constitution, Supremacy of the Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism.
8. Adult Suffrage.-
In India every person, male or female, who has obtained the age of 18 years, is entitled to vote in elections to Parliament or State Legislatures. Originally this age limit was 21 years but after the 61st Amendment Act, 1988 it was reduced to 18 years.
9. An Independent Judiciary.-
Independence of Judiciary is essential for impartial adjudication of disputes between individuals, between Union and State, between Union/State and individuals, between Union and States or between States inter se. The Supreme Court stands at the top of the integrated judicial system in the country. Below it, there are High Courts at the State level. This single system of courts enforces both the Central laws as well as the States laws.
The Supreme Court of India is a federal court, the highest court of appeal, the guarantor of the fundamental rights of the citizens and the guardian of the Constitution
10. A Secular State.-
The Constitution of India stands for a secular State. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. The term ‘Secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. Articles 25-28 of the Constitution give concrete shape to this concept of secularism.
11. Single Citizenship.-
In most of the federation, people have double citizenship, citizenship of the Union and citizenship of one of the several States which form the Union. Every citizen is the citizen of India and enjoys the same rights of citizenship no matter in which State he resides.
12. Separation of Powers.-
This doctrine was for the first time properly formulated by the famous Jurist Montesquieu in his Escript Des Lois and exercised great influence on the French legal system. Doctrine of separation of powers implies that powers of the three organs of the government viz., Legislative, Executive and Judiciary should be kept separate from each other.
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