A Constitution may be written or unwritten.

A written Constitution is one, which is

written down in the form of a Constitutional document whereas the British
Constitution is characterized as an unwritten Constitution because it is not
embodied in one comprehensive constitutional document. The constitution may
also be classified into Unitary and Federal. With regard to India, the Constitution is
a Quasi Federal Constitution.
SOURCES OF THE CONSTITUTION
The Constitution of India incorporates the best features of each of the Constitutions
of different jurisdictions across the world, by suitably modifying them in such a
way so as to avoid any uncertainty or shortcomings that existed in the said
Constitutions. It can also be labeled as “borrowed” Constitution. In the Constituent
Assembly, Dr B. R. Ambedkar stated that ‘there is nothing to be ashamed of in
borrowing what suits us best’.
Our Constitution embodies the Independence of Judiciary, Fundamental
Rights and Judicial Review, based upon the American Constitution.
The Parliamentary form of Government, Cabinet system and the Rule of
law are adopted from the United Kingdom.
The Provisions relating to the emergency from the German Reich and
the Government of India Act, 1935 along with the federal scheme.
The Federal system with a strong Centre was acquired from Canada.
The Directive Principles of State Policy were other remarkable features
imbibed from the Constitution of Eire.
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
1. Written Constitution
Indian Constitution is a written Constitution. It took 2 years, 11 months and 18
days for drafting it. t is an elaborate document and contains 395 articles (divided
into 22 parts) and 12 Schedules.
A Constitution may be written or unwritten.
A written Constitution is one, which is written down in the form of a Constitutional
document
whereas the British Constitution is characterized as an unwritten Constitution
because it is not embodied in one comprehensive constitutional document.
2. Longest Constitution
The Constitution is the longest Constitution of the world. This is due to the
inclusion of elaborate provisions regarding center and state relations, the inclusion
of various concepts like fundamental Rights, Directive principles of state policy,
parliamentary system, emergency provisions and provisions related to the
safeguarding of interests of various communities, castes and groups like Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes etc.

3. Partly rigid Partly Flexible

The Constitution of India is partly rigid and partly flexible. The procedure laid
down in the Indian Constitution strikes a golden mean by avoiding extreme rigidity
and extreme flexibility.
A constitution may be called rigid or flexible on the basis of its amending
procedure. In a rigid constitution, amendment of the constitution is not easy. The
Constitutions of the USA, Switzerland and Australia are considered rigid
constitutions. While the British Constitution is considered flexible because the
amendment procedure is easy and simple.
There are three approaches via which the amendment in the
Constitution is made:
i. Through simple majority: amendment can be done by the two houses
of Parliament simple majority of the members present and voting of
before sending it for the President’s assent.
ii. Through special majority: an amendment can be passed by each
House of Parliament by a majority of the total members of that House as
well as by the 2/3rd majority of the members present and voting in each
house of Parliament and send to the President for his assent which
cannot be denied.
iii. Through ratification: besides the special majority mentioned in the
second category, the same has to be approved also by at least 50% of the
State legislatures, this process is called amendment through rati􀆗cation.
4. Socialist State
Prior to the 42 Amendment of Constitution, the word ‘Socialist’ was not mentioned
in the Preamble. It was only after the 42 amendment in 1976, the expression
‘socialist’ was added to the Preamble. The word Socialism is used in democratic as
well as socialistic Constitutions. It has no definite meaning. In general, however, it
means some form of ownership of the means of production and distribution by the
State. The degree of State control will determine whether it is a democratic State or
socialistic State. India has however chosen its own brand of socialism i.e., mixed
economy. The Supreme Court has in a number of its decision referred to the
concept of Socialism and has used this concept along with the Directive Principles
of State Policy to assess and evaluate economic legislation.
According to the Supreme Court, the principal aim of socialism is to eliminate
inequality of income and standards of life and to provide a decent standard of life
to the working people the Court has laid emphasis on social justice so as to attain a
substantial degree of social economic and political equality. Social justice and
equality are complementary to each other. By reading the word ‘socialist’
in the Preamble with the Fundamental Rights contained in Arts. 14 and 16, the
Supreme Court has deduced the Fundamental Right to equal pay for equal work
and compassionate appointment.
5. Secular State
India is a country with many religions but the Constitution stands for a secular
state of India. The word ‘secular’ was not originally present in the Preamble. It was
added thereto by the 42 Constitutional Amendment in 1976. The term ‘Secularism’
means a State which has no religion of its own as recognized religion of the State.
Secularism in India does not mean an irreligious or an anti-religious state. It only
means:
i. There is no official religion for India and the Parliament has no right
of imposing a particular religion as an official religion,
ii. It also means that all citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs,
are to be considered and treated as equal and
iii. no discrimination is to be shown by the State against any person on
account of his/her religion either for participation in political afairs or
entry into government service or admission into educational institutions.
The Constitution ensures equal freedom for all the religions and provides that the
religion of the citizen has nothing to do in socio-economic matters. “Though the
Indian Constitution is secular and does not interfere with religious freedom, it does
not allow religion to impinge adversely on the secular rights of the citizens or the
power of the State to regulate socioeconomic relations.
6. Welfare State
India is a welfare state. The Indian Constitution incorporates the principles of
social welfare and social justice so as to achieve the ultimate object of the state i.e.,
to render social services to the people and promote their general welfare. The
Preamble also clearly depicts the existence of such a welfare state, which is for the
common good of the people.
7. Sovereign, Democratic, Republic
Sovereign, mean supreme and independent. India is internally and externally a
Sovereign State. Thus, the citizens enjoy the sovereign power to elect the
representatives and the State is also free from any external control or foreign
power. Democracy is generally known as the government of the people, by the
people and for the people. It signifies that the real power emanates from the people.
In India, the election is carried out by the process of the universal adult franchise
so as to elect their representatives for the Parliament and State Legislature.
The Preamble declares India as a Republic. It means that the head of the State is
not a hereditary ruler rather is indirectly elected for a fixed tenure. The President of
India is elected by an electoral college for a term of five years.
8. Federal State with Unitary Bias
India’s Constitution is a quasi-federal in nature. India has assumed a Federal
structure. It establishes a dual polity, a two-tier governmental system i.e., one
Central Government and the State Government for each State. Further, like all the
federations, India also has a written Constitution. Also, the Supreme Court acts like
a guardian of the Constitution, which is independent of the other organs of the
Country. The Indian federal Scheme while incorporating the advantages of a
federal structure, yet seeks to mitigate some of its usual weaknesses of rigidity and
legalism. There are certain characteristics, which exhibit a unitary bias in the
Indian Constitution. Within the Constitutional framework, the Central Government
has a more dominant role to play than the State. The Concurrent list which contains
the subject of the common interest of both the Centre and State, the word of the
Central Government is final. Further, the residuary subjects have also been given to
the Centre. Even during the emergency, the Union becomes more powerful. Thus,
this is the most remarkable and unique feature of the Constitution of India as it has
conferred a federal system with the strength of Unitary Government.
Instead of the word “federation” the word “Union” was deliberately selected by the
Drafting Committees of the Constituent Assembly to indicate two things viz.
i. that the Indian Union is not the result of an agreement by the States
and
ii. the component states; have no freedom to secede from it. Though the
country and the people may be divided into different States for
convenience of administration, the country is one integral whole, its
people a single people living under a single emperium derived from a
single source.
9. Independence of Judiciary
A notable feature of the Constitution is that it accords a dignified and crucial
position to the judiciary. A well-ordered and well- regulated judicial machinery has
been introduced in the country with the Supreme Court at the apex. The
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is very broad. It is the general court of appeal
from the High Courts, the ultimate arbiter in all the Constitutional matters and
enjoys an advisory jurisdiction.
It can hear appeals from any court or tribunal in the country and can issue writs for
enforcing the Fundamental Rights. There is thus a good deal of truth in the
assertion that the Supreme Court of India has wider powers than the highest court
in any other federation. Judiciary is an independent organ from the legislature and
the executive as it has been assigned with a crucial role. It acts as an adjudicator
between disputes of not only two persons but also between a person and a state.
Further, it is entitled to scrutinize the governmental orders and interpret the
Constitution. There are various provisions included in the Constitution to ensure
the impartiality and independence of the judiciary. Judges once appointed cannot
be removed at the will of the executive, they hold their office till the
superannuation age. Also, for the removal of the judges, a special procedure is laid
down in the Constitution.
10. Single Citizenship
Another important feature of our Constitution is single citizenship. All the Indians
irrespective of their domicile enjoys single citizenship of India so as to foster
strong bonds of social and political unity among the people of India who are
divided on various grounds.
11. Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive
Principles of State Policy
Fundamental Rights are the basic rights, which is entitled to every citizen of India.
They have been the most justifiable and inviolable rights is included as the part of
basic structure doctrine by the Supreme Court. But it is not absolute, there are
certain reasonable restrictions imposed on the fundamental rights to curtail the
unlimited powers to the citizens. The fundamental duties were added to the
Constitution after the 42 Amendment in 1976. Article 51 A was inserted as Part
IVA of the Constitution. The citizens along with enjoying the Fundamental Rights
have to perform certain obligations i.e., duties. However, they are not judicially
enforceable. Along with fundamental rights and duties, there are certain principles
which are contained in Part IV of the Constitution and are in nature of directives to
Government to provide social and economic justice to the citizens.[11]
12. Emergency Provisions
Centre has the power to take complete control of the State in the following 3
situations: i) An act of foreign aggression or internal armed rebellion (Art 352) ii)
Failure of constitutional machinery in a state (art 356) iii) Financial Emergency
(art 360) In all the above cases, an elected state government can lose control of the
state and a central rule can be established. In the first case, it is very clear that such
a provision is not only justified but necessary to protect the existence of a state. A
state cannot be left alone to defend itself from outside aggression.
In the third case also, it is justified because a financial emergency could cause
severe stress among the population, plunge the country into chaos and jeopardize
the existence of the whole country. Such provisions exist even in the USA. The
second provision is the most controversial. It gives the center the power to take
over the control of a state. However, such an action can be taken only upon the
advice of the governor and such an advice is not beyond the purview of the
Supreme Court. In a recent case, the Supreme Court ruled that the imposition of
Presidential rule in the state of Bihar was unconstitutional.
13. Universal Adult Franchise
Indian democracy functions on the basis of ‘one person one vote’. Every citizen of
India who is 18 years of age or above is entitled to vote in the elections irrespective
of caste, sex, race, religion or status. The Indian Constitution establishes political
equality in India through the method of universal adult franchise.
14. Parliamentary Democracy
India has a parliamentary form of democracy. This has been adopted from the
British system. In a parliamentary democracy, there is a close relationship between
the legislature and the executive. The Cabinet is selected from among the members
of the legislature. The cabinet is responsible for the latter. In fact, the Cabinet holds
office so long as it enjoys the confidence of the legislature. In this form of
democracy, the Head of the State is nominal. In India, the President is the Head of
the State. Constitutionally the President enjoys numerous powers but in practice,
the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, which really exercises
these powers. The President acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the
Council of Ministers.