NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 141 of 146

Correct — B, the Forty-second Amendment Act. Passed in 1976 during the Emergency, it made three changes to the Preamble at once — it added the words Socialist and Secular to the description of India, so that a Sovereign Democratic Republic became a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic, and it changed unity of the Nation to unity and integrity of the Nation. These are the only alterations the Preamble has ever undergone. The Forty-second is nicknamed the Mini-Constitution because it touched almost every part of the document, and it remains the most far-reaching single amendment India has passed.

• (a)41st Amendment Act — The Forty-first Amendment, also of 1976, is a narrow administrative measure. It amended Article 316(2) to raise the retirement age of the Chairman and members of State Public Service Commissions from sixty to sixty-two years. It does not touch the Preamble.
• (c)43rd Amendment Act — The Forty-third Amendment, passed by the Janata government in December 1977 and assented to in April 1978, worked in the opposite direction — it repealed six Articles the Forty-second had inserted, including Articles 31D, 32A, 131A, 144A, 226A and 228A, restoring the judicial review powers those provisions had cut back.
• (d)44th Amendment Act — The Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978 is the main undoing of the Forty-second. It restored the five-year term of the legislatures that had been stretched to six, removed the primacy the Forty-second had given the Directive Principles over Fundamental Rights, and tightened the emergency provisions. It did not add anything to the Preamble.

The Preamble is a statement of the Constitution's source, objectives and date of adoption. The Supreme Court held in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973 that the Preamble is part of the Constitution and can be amended under Article 368, subject to the basic structure doctrine — and the Forty-second Amendment three years later is the only occasion on which that power has been used on it. The Preamble is not enforceable in a court, but it is used as an aid to interpretation when a provision is ambiguous.

Four consecutive amendment numbers make this a question about a period rather than a single fact, and the period tells the story. The Forty-second belongs to the Emergency and expands executive power; the Forty-third and Forty-fourth belong to the Janata government that followed and roll much of it back. Anything that added to the Constitution's declaratory language in the mid-1970s is therefore the Forty-second, and anything that took something away in 1977 or 1978 is one of the two that followed. Note that the words added in 1976 have remained in place; the Preamble reads today exactly as the Forty-second left it.

• The Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976, added Socialist and Secular to the Preamble and changed unity of the Nation to unity and integrity of the Nation.
• It was enacted during the Emergency of June 1975 to March 1977 and is nicknamed the Mini-Constitution.
• The Preamble has been amended only once, by this amendment.
• The Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978, reversed much of the Forty-second, including the six-year legislative term and the primacy given to Directive Principles.
• In Kesavananda Bharati, 1973, the Supreme Court held that the Preamble is a part of the Constitution and is amendable.

• Assuming India was described as Socialist and Secular from 1950; both words date only from 1976.
• Attributing Preamble changes to the Forty-fourth Amendment because it is the better-remembered corrective measure.
• Treating the Preamble as unamendable; the Supreme Court has held that it can be amended, subject to the basic structure.

Asked as an amendment-number recall item with the three neighbouring amendments of the same period offered as distractors.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Apart from Socialist and Secular, which other word was added to the Preamble by the Forty-second Amendment?

  • (a)Sovereign
  • (b)Integrity
  • (c)Fraternity
  • (d)Republic

  Answer(b) Integrity — the phrase unity of the Nation became unity and integrity of the Nation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Forty-fourth Amendment Act, 1978, is best known for

  • (a)adding the Fundamental Duties
  • (b)reversing several changes made by the Forty-second Amendment
  • (c)creating the Goods and Services Tax Council
  • (d)extending reservation in Parliament

  Answer(b) reversing several changes made by the Forty-second Amendment — including the six-year legislative term and the emergency provisions.