3 Salient Features of the Constitution‌‌

The Indian Constitution is unique in its contents and spirit. Though borrowed from almost every Constitution of the world, the Constitution of India has several salient features

that distinguish it from the Constitutions of the other countries.

It should be noted at the outset that a number of original features of the Constitution (as adopted in 1949) have undergone a substantial change, on account of several amendments, particularly 7th, 42nd, 44th, 73rd, 74th, 97th and 101st Amendments. In fact, the 42nd Amendment Act (1976) is known as 'Mini-Constitution’ due to the important and large number of changes made by it in various parts of the Constitution. However, in the Kesavananda Bharati case1 (1973), the Supreme Court ruled that the constituent power of Parliament under Article 368 does not enable it to alter the 'basic structure’ of the Constitution.