Constitution as a Living Document Test - 1

They placed the Constitution above ordinary law and expected that future generations will respect this document. 

But more importantly, this process underlines an important principle: only elected representatives of the people are empowered to consider and take final decisions on the question of amendments. Thus, the sovereignty of elected representatives (parliamentary sovereignty) is the basis of the amendment procedure.

Federalism means that the powers of the States must not be at the mercy of the central government. 

Political equality means every citizen should be given the Right to vote and contest elections.

The makers of the Constitution were aware of the fact that there may be some faults or mistakes in the Constitution; they knew that the Constitution could not be totally free of errors. 

On 26 January 2006, the Constitution of India completed 56 years of its existence. In these fifty-six years, it was amended 93 times.

In particular, the 38th, 39th, and 42nd Amendments have been the most controversial amendments so far. These three amendments were made in the background of an internal emergency declared in the country from June 1975. 

The Constitution must be amended if so required. But it must be protected from unnecessary and frequent changes. In other words, they wanted the Constitution to be ‘flexible’ and at the same time ‘rigid’. Flexible means open to changes and rigid means resistant to changes.

In the law-making process in India, the bill is put to vote in both Houses of the Parliament after the Third reading.

The Indian Constitution was adopted and enacted on 26 November 1949.