TYPES

Our constitution consists of approx. 117,000 words with over 450 plus articles and 105 amendments which makes it the longest constitution of any sovereign country in the world and it is the most amended constitution of a nation in the world , nearly it gets amended once in every 2 years. An amendment of the constitution can begin only by the introduction of a bill in either house of the parliament. The bill then should be passed in each house by a majority of the total members present in that house and by a majority of not less than 2/3rd of the members of the house that are present and they are voting. The most recent article that was passed by the constitution is the 105th Amended Article 338B,342A, and 366 which came into enforcement on 10th august,2021 and it started to regain state powers to make their OBC lists invalidating the judgement of the supreme court of 11th May 2021.

There is a limitation too on amending power of the constitution of India which creates a rift between the Parliament and Supreme Court, where Parliament wants to apply its discretionary power and in turn, the Supreme Court restricts Parliament to use that power. This has led to the falling down of many doctrines or rules in view to check the validity of an amendment. For ex-The case of Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala(Article 300A- PROPERTY RIGHT).

FORMAT  FOR THE  AMENDMENT OF  INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

The procedure of amending the constitution of India has been taken from the constitution of South Africa. From the introduction of Article 368 of the Indian Constitution, Amendment has been neither too tough nor too easy as it has changed the procedure of amending the constitution. The procedure is given below:

• A bill can be introduced in any house of the parliament for amendment.
• That can be stated as a government bill or a private member bill.
• Prior recommendation of the President is not needed.
• Bill should be passed entirely by both the houses+More than 50% or 2/3rd special majority. 
• Then some time required the majority from the state legislature.

VARIETIES OF AMENDMENTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

There are three types of amendments in the Indian constitution:

1. Amendment by a simple majority 
2. Amendment by a special majority 
3. Amendment by a special majority and ratification by half of the states.

AMENDMENT BY A SIMPLE MAJORITY:

It means several provisions that can be easily amended by a simple majority which is more than 50% present and voting. Examples of such articles are:

• Article 5 – Citizenship
• Article 169 – Creation of legislative council 

AMENDMENT BY SPECIAL MAJORITY :

It means that more than 50% of the total members and 2/3rd of the members present and voting. The number of members present in Rajya Sabha is 245 and in Lok Sabha is 545. Examples of such articles are:

• Fundamental rights
• Directive principles of state policy

BY SPECIAL MAJORITY OF PARLIAMENT AND RATIFICATION OF STATES:

All the provisions that are interconnected to the federal structure are amended by a special 

Majority of the Indian parliament and the ratification of half of the total states.Example of such                   

     Articles are:

• Article 368
• Election of the president.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT:

 A constitutional amendment is a process of bringing change in the constitution of a policy, organisation, and another type of entity. It is the process of bringing change in the frame of government without changing the present text of the document. A constitutional amendment needs the support of a 2/3rd majority in both the houses along with some of the amendments of ratification by a majority or state legislature. Our constitution is amended twice a year.

CONCLUSION:

Under article 368 our Indian constitution is neither tough nor too flexible but in reality, it is both tough and flexible i.e. it is tough to amend but it is flexible. Under this article, the bill can be passed through any of the houses by the same simple or special majority method, and then the bill will pass on to the president for his signature so that the bill can be passed. In 70 years of the constitution, 105 amendments have been passed. The first happened in 1951 and the most recent happened in 2021. Our Indian constitution is the most amended in the world. The procedure in turn guarantees the sanctity of the constitution of India and keeps a check on the arbitrary power of the parliament.