42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, Provisions, Key Details

Q: What is the 42nd amendment of India?

It is the Constitutional (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, which made extensive changes to the Indian Constitution during the Emergency.

Q: Which words are added in the Preamble by the 42nd amendment?

The words "Socialist", "Secular", and "Integrity" were added to the Preamble.

Q: When was the 42nd amendment Act implemented?

It came into effect on 3 January 1977.

Q: What were the major changes of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment?

It added Fundamental Duties, strengthened Directive Principles, curtailed judicial review, extended legislatures’ terms, and altered the Preamble.

Q: Why is the 42nd amendment act also called a mini constitution?

The 42nd Constitutional amendment brought the most comprehensive and wide-ranging changes to the Constitution since its adoption.

Table of Contents☰

42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 is the most important constitutional amendment and also known as the ‘mini constitution’ of India. Indira Gandhi was heading the Indian Congress when these changes were implemented. In this article, we are going to cover the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 and its importance and major changes that were implemented.

42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 introduced some major changes in the Constitution of India. Also known as the constitution act, 1976, this act made the following changes in the constitution:

Reduce the power of the supreme court and the high court
Laid down fundamental duties for citizens
Terms- socialist, secular and integrity were added to the Preamble

42nd Constitutional Amendment as a ‘Mini Constitution’

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976 altered the basic structure of the Constitution of India. The changes include:

Changes in Provisions by the 42nd Amendment Act	Details of the Amendment
Preamble	For the words “Sovereign Democratic Republic”, the words “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic” was substituted For the words “unity of the Nation”, the words “unity and integrity of the Nation” was substituted.
7th Schedule	Transferred five subjects from the state list to the concurrent list: Education Forests Weights & Measures Protection of Wild Animals and Birds Administration of Justice
Article 51A	10 Fundamental Duties added for the citizens. (The Fundamental Duties of citizens were added upon the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee that was constituted by the government in 1976)
Parliament	Made President bound to the advice of the cabinet Allowed Centre to deploy central forces in State to deal with the conflicting situations of law and order (Article 257A) Gave special discretionary powers to the speaker of the Lok Sabha and Prime Minister (Article 329A) Directive Principles were given precedence over Fundamental Rights and any law made to this effect by the Parliament was kept beyond the scope of judicial review by the Court
Judicial Powers of HC	Curtailed the judicial review power of the High Courts
Articles 323A and 323B, Part XIV-A	Part XIV-A added entitled as ‘Tribunals dealing with Administrative matters’ and ‘Tribunals for other matters’
DPSPs	Three new DPSPs (Directive Principles of State Policy) were added to the existing list of DPSPs and one was amended: To secure opportunities for the healthy development of children (Article 39) To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor (Article 39 A) To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries (Article 43 A) To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife (Article 48 A)