Important amendments

1. Constitutional setting and examination approach

The Directive Principles of State Policy guide the creation of a welfare-oriented social order. Article 37 states that they are not enforceable by any court, yet are fundamental in governance, and that the State has a duty to apply them in making laws. Amendments therefore matter even when they do not create immediately enforceable individual remedies: they influence legislation, public expenditure and constitutional interpretation.

Distinguish amendments that directly change Part IV from those that alter its relationship with other constitutional provisions. The 42nd, 44th, 86th and 97th Amendments directly modified the DPSPs. The 25th Amendment inserted Article 31C in Part III, but is indispensable to this topic because it gave protection to certain laws implementing Article 39.

A sound revision method uses three questions: which article changed, what obligation was added, and whether the provision survives unchanged after judicial review. Avoid treating all social-sector constitutional amendments as amendments to the DPSPs. For example, creating an enforceable right to education under Article 21A is legally distinct from retaining an educational objective in Part IV.

• Article 368 supplies the constitutional amendment procedure; Parliament’s amending power remains subject to the basic structure doctrine.
• A DPSP may inform interpretation of a Fundamental Right without itself becoming directly enforceable.

2. The 42nd Amendment: expansion of social and environmental obligations

The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, enacted during the Emergency, made the largest cluster of additions to Part IV. It inserted three new articles and substituted clause (f) of Article 39. Standard summaries often describe this as adding four principles, but the precise textual distinction is important for statement-based questions.

Article 39A directs the State to ensure that the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity. It specifically calls for free legal aid through suitable legislation, schemes or other means so that economic or other disabilities do not deny citizens access to justice. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 subsequently provided an institutional framework for legal services authorities and Lok Adalats.

Article 43A requires the State to take steps, through legislation or otherwise, to secure workers’ participation in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organisations engaged in any industry. It concerns participation in management, not merely wages, union membership or profit-sharing. Article 48A directs the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife.

The substituted Article 39(f) emphasises opportunities and facilities for children to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. It also requires protection of childhood and youth against exploitation and moral and material abandonment. Thus, child protection under Article 39(f) must not be confused with early childhood care and education under Article 45.

• Article 48A is a duty of the State; Article 51A(g), also introduced through the 42nd Amendment, is a Fundamental Duty of citizens.
• Article 48, concerning agriculture and animal husbandry, existed before the insertion of Article 48A.

3. The 44th and 86th Amendments: equality and education

The Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 added clause (2) to Article 38. It directs the State to minimise inequalities in income and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities. Its reach extends beyond individuals to groups residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations. This gives constitutional support to both interpersonal equality and the reduction of regional and occupational disparities.

The original Article 45 directed the State to endeavour to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they completed fourteen years of age, within ten years of the Constitution’s commencement. The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 replaced this provision while inserting a separate enforceable educational guarantee in Part III.

Article 21A requires the State to provide free and compulsory education to children aged six to fourteen years in the manner determined by law. The substituted Article 45 requires the State to endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete six years. Article 51A(k) places a duty on parents or guardians to provide educational opportunities to children or wards aged six to fourteen.

The amendment’s three-part architecture is especially important: a Fundamental Right for ages six to fourteen, a Directive Principle covering children below six, and a corresponding parental Fundamental Duty. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 operationalised Article 21A; the relevant constitutional provisions and the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.

• The 86th Amendment did not delete education from Part IV; it changed Article 45’s age coverage and emphasis.
• The year of an Amendment Act and the date its provisions commence need not be identical.

4. The 97th Amendment: cooperative societies and federal limits

The Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Act, 2011 inserted Article 43B, directing the State to endeavour to promote the voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative societies. The amendment also added cooperative societies to Article 19(1)(c) and inserted Part IXB on their governance. It came into force in 2012.

In Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (2021), the Supreme Court invalidated Part IXB insofar as it applied to cooperative societies operating within a State. The amendment altered the constitutional position regarding a field within State legislative competence without the required ratification by at least half of the State legislatures under Article 368.

The Court preserved Part IXB insofar as it concerns multi-State cooperative societies. Crucially for Prelims, Article 43B and the change to Article 19(1)(c) were not struck down. The judgment illustrates how a valid welfare objective must still respect constitutional amendment procedures and federalism.

• Article 43 concerns living wages and related conditions, Article 43A workers’ participation in management, and Article 43B cooperative societies.
• Do not describe the entire 97th Amendment as unconstitutional.

5. Article 31C: amendments, judicial review and the present position

The Constitution (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Act, 1971 inserted Article 31C to protect laws giving effect to Article 39(b) and Article 39(c). These provisions concern distribution of ownership and control of the community’s material resources to subserve the common good, and prevention of concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment.

In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), the Supreme Court upheld the protective core of Article 31C but rejected the attempt to exclude judicial examination merely because a law declared that it implemented those principles. Courts can examine whether a law genuinely has the required connection with Article 39(b) or Article 39(c).

The 42nd Amendment expanded Article 31C protection from those two principles to all DPSPs. In Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980), the Court struck down this expansion. Harmony and balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles form part of the Constitution’s basic structure; unlimited priority for Part IV would destroy that balance.

The surviving protection concerns challenges under Articles 14 and 19 for qualifying laws implementing Article 39(b) or Article 39(c). It is not blanket immunity from constitutional scrutiny. In Property Owners Association v. State of Maharashtra (2024), the Supreme Court confirmed the continued operation of Article 31C as upheld in Kesavananda Bharati. It also rejected the proposition that every privately owned resource necessarily falls within Article 39(b).

• For current-law questions, reject the statement that Article 31C protects laws implementing every DPSP.
• Read the amendment text together with subsequent Supreme Court decisions, rather than assuming every enacted change remains operative.

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