Important Amendments to the Constitution of India

• Inserted Article 15(4), enabling special provisions for advancement of socially and educationally backward classes and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Inserted Articles 31A and 31B and created the Ninth Schedule, historically associated with protection of specified land-reform and other laws, subject to later basic-structure judicial review doctrine.
• Amended Article 19(2), including grounds such as public order, friendly relations with foreign States, and incitement to an offence.

10th Amendment, 1961: incorporated Dadra and Nagar Haveli into the Union of India as a Union Territory.

12th Amendment, 1962: incorporated Goa, Daman and Diu as a Union Territory.

13th Amendment, 1962: made special constitutional provision for Nagaland, including Article 371A.

14th Amendment, 1962: incorporated Pondicherry (now Puducherry) into the First Schedule and made related constitutional changes.

22nd Amendment, 1969: enabled creation of an autonomous State of Meghalaya within Assam and inserted Articles 244A and 371B.

36th Amendment, 1975: admitted Sikkim as a State of India and inserted Article 371F.

• Added the words "Socialist", "Secular" and "integrity" to the Preamble.
• Inserted Part IVA - Fundamental Duties, including Article 51A.
• Added or strengthened Directive Principles including Articles 39A, 43A and 48A.
• Shifted subjects including education, forests, protection of wild animals and birds, and weights and measures to the Concurrent List through changes to the Seventh Schedule.
• Made extensive changes affecting Parliament, the judiciary, Emergency provisions and Centre-State relations, several of which were later modified or reversed.

Exam correction: Article 51A contains Fundamental Duties, not Fundamental Rights.

• Removed the Fundamental Right to property by deleting Article 19(1)(f) and Article 31; inserted Article 300A, under which no person shall be deprived of property save by authority of law.
• Replaced "internal disturbance" in Article 352 with "armed rebellion" as a ground for National Emergency.
• Required written advice of the Union Cabinet for proclamation of Emergency.
• Reduced the parliamentary approval period for a proclamation under Article 352 from two months to one month.
• Strengthened parliamentary control over continuation of Emergency and introduced the special-majority requirement specified in Article 352.
• Protected Articles 20 and 21 from suspension through an Article 359 order.

Introduced the anti-defection law by inserting the Tenth Schedule, governing disqualification of Members of Parliament and State Legislatures on grounds of defection.

Amended Article 326 to lower the voting age for elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies from 21 years to 18 years. The Amendment Act is dated 1988 and came into force in 1989.

73rd Amendment: constitutionalised Panchayats by inserting Part IX (Articles 243 to 243O) and the Eleventh Schedule.

74th Amendment: constitutionalised Municipalities by inserting Part IXA (Articles 243P to 243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule.

Inserted Article 16(4A), enabling reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the constitutionally specified circumstances.

• Inserted Article 21A: free and compulsory education for children aged 6-14 years in the manner determined by law.
• Substituted Article 45 to focus on early childhood care and education for children below six years.
• Inserted Article 51A(k), making it a Fundamental Duty of a parent or guardian to provide educational opportunities to a child or ward aged 6-14 years.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 was enacted to give statutory effect to Article 21A.

Inserted Article 15(5), enabling special provisions, including reservation, for socially and educationally backward classes and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in admissions to educational institutions, including private institutions, whether aided or unaided, except minority educational institutions under Article 30(1).

Inserted Articles 124A, 124B and 124C to establish the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). In 2015, the Supreme Court in Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India struck down the 99th Amendment and the NJAC Act as unconstitutional.

101st Amendment, 2016 - GST: introduced the constitutional framework for Goods and Services Tax, including Articles 246A, 269A and 279A and the GST Council.

102nd Amendment, 2018 - NCBC: gave constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes through Article 338B and inserted Article 342A and Article 366(26C).

103rd Amendment, 2019 - EWS reservation: inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6), enabling up to 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections in the specified circumstances.

104th Amendment Act, 2019: extended reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for a further ten years, while ending the constitutional provision for nomination of Anglo-Indians to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. It came into force on 25 January 2020.

105th Amendment, 2021: restored and clarified the power of States and Union Territories to prepare and maintain their own lists of socially and educationally backward classes for their own purposes, following the interpretation of the 102nd Amendment.

106th Amendment, 2023 - Women's reservation: inserted Articles 330A, 332A and 334A and amended Article 239AA to provide for reservation of one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, with implementation linked to delimitation after the relevant census as provided by Article 334A.

• 21st Amendment, 1967: added Sindhi.
• 71st Amendment, 1992: added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali.
• 92nd Amendment, 2003: added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali.
• 96th Amendment, 2011: changed "Oriya" to "Odia".

• 1st: Article 15(4), Ninth Schedule, Article 19(2).
• 42nd: Preamble additions, Fundamental Duties, major structural changes.
• 44th: property right moved to Article 300A; Emergency safeguards.
• 52nd: anti-defection, Tenth Schedule.
• 61st: voting age 18.
• 73rd / 74th: Panchayats / Municipalities.
• 86th: Article 21A, Article 45, Article 51A(k).
• 93rd: Article 15(5).
• 101st: GST.
• 102nd: constitutional status to NCBC.
• 103rd: EWS reservation.
• 104th: SC/ST legislative reservation extended; Anglo-Indian nomination ended.
• 105th: State/UT SEBC-list power.
• 106th: reservation of one-third legislative seats for women, subject to constitutional commencement mechanism.