1. Lengthiest Written Constitution

The Indian Constitution is the lengthiest written Constitution in the world, among all sovereign countries. In its original form, it consisted of 395 Articles and 8 Schedules, to which changes have been made through subsequent amendments. As of January 2020, the Constitution of India consists of 470 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules, and 5 appendices. As of January 2020, there have been 126 Amendment Bills and 104 amendments of the Constitution of India.

Written and Unwritten Constitution

Written constitution is one which is found in legal documents duly enacted in the form of laws. It is precise, definite and systematic. It is the result of conscious and deliberate efforts of people. It is framed by a representative body duly elected by people at a particular period in history. It is always promulgated on a specific date in history. A written constitution is generally rigid and a procedure separate from that of enacting ordinary law is provided for its amendment or revision i.e. a distinction between constitutional law and ordinary law is maintained. The first written constitution framed by a representative constituent assembly was that of the United States of America. This example was followed by France. During 19th century a number of states framed their constitutions, all of which were written, with the exception of England. Indian constitution is an example of written constitution.

Unwritten constitution is the one in which no provisions or laws of the constitution are set in writing but they are documented despite not being codified in a structured manner in a single book. It consists of customs, conventions, traditions, and some written laws bearing different dates. It is unsystematic, indefinite and un-precise. Such a constitution is not the result of conscious and deliberate efforts of the people. It is generally the result of historical development. It is not made by a representative constituent assembly at a definite stage of history, nor is it promulgated on a particular date. It is, therefore, sometimes called an evolved or cumulative constitution. The constitution of England is a classic example of an unwritten constitution which is mainly a result of historical growth.

However, distinction between written and unwritten constitution is not scientific. There is no constitution which is wholly written. Nor is there any which is completely unwritten. Every written constitution has an unwritten element in it and every unwritten constitution has a written element. 

There are various factors responsible for the length of the Constitution:

• One of the major factors was that the framers of the Constitution borrowed provisions from several sources and several other constitutions of the world.
• Secondly, it was necessary to make provisions for issues particular to India, like the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward regions.
• Thirdly, provisions were made for elaborate centre-state relations in all aspects of their administrative and other activities.
• Fourthly, since Indian states do not have a separate Constitution, provisions regarding the state administration were also included in the Constitution of India.
• Further, a detailed list of individual rights, directive principles of state policy and the details  of administration procedure were laid down to make the Constitution clear and unambiguous for the ordinary citizen.

2. Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility

The Constitution of India is neither purely rigid nor purely flexible. There is a harmonious blend of rigidity and flexibility. Some parts of the Constitution can be amended by the ordinary law-making process of Parliament. However, certain provisions can be amended, only when a Bill for that purpose is passed in each House of Parliament by a majority of the total membership of that house and by a majority of not less than two-third of the members of that house present and voting. Then there are certain other provisions, which can be amended by the second method described above and must be further ratified by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the states before being presented to the President for his assent. It must also be noted that the power to initiate bills for amendment lies with the Parliament alone, and not with the state legislatures.

However, SC has identified the limited power of Parliament to amend the Constitution as part of basic structure. In other words, parliament cannot amend each and every part of the constitution.

In Pandit Nehru’s words spoken in the Constituent Assembly: "While we want the Constitution to be as solid and permanent as we can make it, there is no permanence in Constitution. There should be certain flexibility. If you make anything rigid and permanent, you stop the nation’s growth, the growth of a living, vital organic people…. In any event, we could not make this Constitution so rigid that it cannot be adapted to changing conditions. When the world is in turmoil and we are passing through a very swift period of transition, what we may do today may not be wholly applicable tomorrow.

3. A Democratic Republic

India is a democratic republic. It means that sovereignty rests with the people of India. They govern themselves through their representatives, elected on the basis of universal adult franchise. The President of India, the highest official of the state is elected for a fixed term. Although, India is a sovereign republic, yet it continues to be a member of the Commonwealth of Nations with the British Monarch as its head. Her membership of the Commonwealth does not compromise her position as a sovereign republic. The commonwealth is an association of free and independent nations. The British Monarch is only a symbolic head of that association

Concept of Parliamentary Sovereignty

Parliamentary Sovereignty: It is also known as parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority, which can create or end any law. Also, the judiciary cannot overrule legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future parliaments cannot change.

Parliamentary sovereignty stands at odds with:

• The doctrine of constitutional supremacy,
• The doctrine of separation of powers (limits the legislature's scope, often to general law-making),
• The doctrine of judicial review (laws passed by the legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances). Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK Constitution. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK.

Is the Indian Parliament sovereign?

The sovereign status of Indian Parliament is not absolute as in case of UK, because it is subject to the provisions of the Constitution. That is to say, the Indian Parliament derives its authority and power from the Constitution itself.

It has pre-defined limitations as defined below:

1. The Parliament can enact laws with respect to only those matters, which are enumerated either in the Union list or the Concurrent list.

2. The laws made by Parliament are also subject to the power of judicial review of the Supreme Court. That means that if a law made by Parliament goes against the provisions of the Constitution, it can be declared null and void by the concerned court.

Thus, in India, the principle of supremacy of the Constitution has been adopted as against the principle of supremacy of Parliament in UK.

4. Parliamentary Form of Government

India has adopted the Westminster system, a democratic parliamentary system of government modeled after the system followed in the United Kingdom. In this system, the executive is responsible to the legislature, and remains in power only as long as it enjoys the confidence of the legislature. The President of India, who remains in office for five years, is the nominal, titular or constitutional head. The Union Council of Ministers, with the Prime Minister as its head is drawn from the legislature. It is collectively responsible to the House of People (Lok Sabha), and has to resign when it loses the confidence of that house. The President, the nominal executive shall exercise his powers as per the advice of the Union Council of Ministers, the real executive. In the states also, the government is parliamentary in nature.

5. Mixture of Federal and Unitary Features

Article 1 of the Constitution of India says: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." Though the word 'federation' is not used, India is a federal republic.

A state is federal when:

a) There are two sets of governments and there is distribution of powers between the two;

b) There is a written Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land; and

c) There is an independent judiciary to interpret the Constitution and settle disputes between the centre and the states.

All these features are present in India. There are two sets of government, one at the centre, the other at state level and the distribution of powers between them is quite detailed in our Constitution. The Constitution of India is written and is the supreme law of the land. At  the apex of a single integrated judicial system, stands the Supreme Court, which is independent from the control of the executive and the legislature.

But, in spite of all these essential features of a federation, the Indian Constitution has certain unitary tendencies. While other federations like USA provide for dual citizenship, the India Constitution provides for single citizenship. There is also a single integrated judiciary for the whole country. The provision of All India Services, like the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service, and Indian Forest Service prove to be another unitary feature. Members of these services are recruited by the Union Public Service Commission on an all-India basis. Since these services are controlled by the Union Government, to some extent this constitutes a constraint on the autonomy of States.

A significant unitary feature is the emergency provisions in the Indian Constitution. During  the time of emergency, the Union Government becomes even more powerful and the Union Parliament acquires the power of making laws for the states. The Governor, placed as the Constitutional head of the State, acts as the agent of the Centre and is intended to safeguard the interests of the Centre. These provisions reveal the centralizing tendency of our federation.

Prof K.C. Wheare has remarked that Indian Constitution provides, "a system of government which is quasi-federal, a unitary state with the subsidiary unitary features". The framers of the Constitution expressed clearly that there existed a harmony between federalism and unitarism. Dr. Ambedkar said, "The political system adopted in the Constitution could be both unitary as well as federal according to the requirement of time and circumstances".

The Unites States was the first nation to have a truly federal Constitution and its federal structure is still taken as the reference to judge whether any Constitution is federal or not. However, the conditions under which different constitutions, especially the Indian Constitution, were framed were much different from the conditions in America in 1787. India, at the time of independence had already witnessed a messy partition and fissiparous tendencies existed throughout the breadth of the country. Hence, a strong centre was the
need of the day to keep the state existing as a single unit and ultimately wield its people together into a nation.

There are some centralising tendencies, but the Indian states also enjoy a fair degree of power and autonomy. The Law Commission of India has also observed that there is no dichotomy between a strong Union and strong states. In S R Bommai case (1994), SC laid down that Constitution is federal and characterised federalism as its ‘basic feature’. It observed that conferring greater power upon Centre does not mean that states are mere appendages of Centre. They have an independent constitutional existence. They are not satellites or agents of Centre. Within the sphere allotted to them, the states are supreme. Federalism in the Constitution is not a matter of administrative convenience but a matter of principle.

The above debate is probably best summarized in Prof. Alexanderowicz’s words that “India is a federation but a federation sui generis”, i.e. a federation in a class of its own or a unique federation.

To conclude, India has "Cooperative federalism" with central guidance and state compliance. In recent times, the concept of “Competitive Federalism” has emerged where the centre competes with states and vice-versa, and states compete with each other in their joint efforts to develop India.

6. Fundamental Rights

"A state is known by the rights it maintains", remarked Prof. H.J. Laski. The Constitution of India affirms the basic principle that every individual is entitled to enjoy certain basic rights and Part III of the Constitution deals with those rights, which are known as Fundamental Rights. Originally there were seven categories of rights, but now they are six in number.

They are:

• Right to Equality,
• Right to Freedom,
• Right against Exploitation,
• Right to Freedom of Religion,
• Cultural and Educational rights and
• Right to Constitutional Remedies.
  

Right to property (Article-31), originally a Fundamental Right, has been removed by the 44th Amendment Act. 1978. It is now a legal right, but not a fundamental right.

Fundamental rights are described as negative obligations of the state and act as limitations against the power of the state. Hence, they are negatively worded.

These fundamental rights are justiciable and the individual can move the higher judiciary, which is the Supreme Court or the High Courts, if there is an encroachment on any of these rights. The right to move to the Supreme Court directly for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights has been guaranteed under Article 32 (Right to Constitutional Remedies). However, the Fundamental Rights in India are not absolute. Reasonable restrictions can be imposed keeping in view the security and other requirements of the state and society.

7. Directive Principles of State Policy

A novel feature of the Constitution is that it contains a chapter on the Directive Principles of State Policy. These principles are in the nature of directives to the government of the day to implement them for establishing social and economic democracy in the country.

It embodies important principles, like adequate means to livelihood, equal pay for both men and women, distribution of wealth so as to sub serve the common good, free and compulsory primary education, right to work, public assistance in case of old age, unemployment, sickness and disablement, the organisation of Village Panchayats, special are to the economically backward sections of the people etc. Most of these principles could help in making India a welfare state. Though not justiciable, these principles have
been stated as "fundamental in the governance of the country'.

8. Fundamental Duties

A new Part, IV (A), following the Directive Principles of State Policy, was incorporated in the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 for Fundamental Duties. The purpose of incorporating the Fundamental Duties in the Constitution is to remind the people that while enjoying their right as citizens, they should also perform their duties, since rights and duties are correlated. 

9. Secular State

A secular state is neither religious nor irreligious, or anti-religious. Rather it is neutral in matters of religion. India being a land of many religions, the founding fathers of the Constitution thought it proper to make it a secular state. India is a secular state, because it makes no discrimination between individuals on the basis of religion. It neither encourages nor discourages any religion. On the contrary, the Right to Freedom of Religion is ensured in the Constitution and people belonging to any religious group have the right to profess, practice or propagate any religion they like.

10. Independent, Impartial and Integrated Judiciary

The judiciary occupies an important place in our Constitution and it is also made independent of the legislature and the executive. The Supreme Court of India stands at the apex of a single integrated judicial system. It acts as a protector of fundamental rights of Indian citizens and guardian of the Constitution. If any law passed by the legislature, or action taken by the executive contravenes the provisions of the Constitution, they can be declared as null and void by the Supreme Court. Thus, it has the power of judicial review.

11. Single Citizenship

The Constitution of India recognizes only single citizenship. In the United States, there is provision of dual citizenship. In India, we are citizens of India only, not of the respective  states to which we belong. This provision helps in promoting unity and integrity of the nation and promotes fraternity among people of different regions.

12. Universal Adult Franchise

The Article 326 of the Indian Constitution grants Universal Adult Suffrage/ Franchise, according to which, all adult citizens above the age of 18 years, irrespective of their religion, caste, race, colour and sex are entitled to cast vote and participate in the election process.

13. Emergency Powers

The emergency powers are introduced in the Indian Constitution so that the entire nation can tackle any emergency situation, the country may be faced with. The emergency powers are vested in the hands of the President of India.

There are three kinds of Emergency powers:

• National Emergency (Article352);
• Emergency in a State (Article 356) and
• Financial Emergency (Article 360).

14. Separation of Powers

The basic assumption behind the concept of separation of powers is that when power is concentrated in the hands of one/few, it/they can subvert the state machinery to favour individual or group interests over the common interest. The separation of powers is a way of reducing the amount of power in any group’s hands, making it more difficult to abuse.

This doctrine claims that state power is not a single entity but rather a composite of different governmental functions (i.e. legislative, executive, and judicial) carried out by state bodies independently of each other. The legislature enacts laws; the executive enforces those laws; and the judiciary interprets those laws.

The traditional views on separation of powers are presented by Montesquieu who vigorously advocated for a “strict or pure or total or complete or absolute” separation of powers and personnel between three organs of the state i.e. the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary; power being diffused between three separate bodies exercising separate functions with no overlaps in function or personnel.

However, the Indian state represents a contemporary approach to the doctrine of separation of powers. There is no strict separation of powers under our Constitution, both in principle and practice. Since the executive or the council of ministers in parliamentary democracies such as India or UK is also a part of the legislature, a rigid separation of powers cannot exist.

India, in fact, has also adopted the doctrine of checks and balances along with the doctrine of separation of powers. Under this doctrine, separate branches of the government viz. legislature, executive, judiciary are empowered to keep each other in check. Hence in India, each branch of the government, while performing its activities, does not seek to interfere in the sphere of another branch, but at the same time seeks to ensure that the other branch is not misusing its powers or exceeding its mandate. Thus, even when acting in ambit of their own power, overlapping functions tend to appear amongst these organs.

An important question here is the relation among these three organs of the state, i.e. whether there should be a complete separation of powers or should there be co-ordination among them.
In the words of Dr. Durga Das Basu,

“So far as the courts are concerned, the application of the doctrine (the theory of separation of powers) may involve two propositions: namely,

a) That none of the three organs of Government, Legislative Executive and Judicial, can exercise any power which properly belongs to either of the other two;

b) That the legislature cannot delegate its powers.”

What is significant is the word “properly” and therefore conceives of a broad division of powers where the core function is one, which is exclusively conferred on that particular organ of State, though there may be some overlap in regard to the fringe areas of the topics so entrusted. The pronouncement on this aspect of law by the courts is that under the Indian Constitution there is abroad separation of powers.

15. Independent Bodies

Indian Constitution not only provides for legislative, executive and judicial organs of government (Central and state) but also establishes certain independent bodies like the Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and Union Public Service Commission. They are envisaged by the Constitution as the bulwarks of the democratic  system of Government in India.

16. Three Tiers of Government

Originally, the Indian Constitution, like any other federal constitution, provided for a dual polity and contained provisions with regard to organisation and powers of the Centre and the states. Later, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts (1992) have added a third-tier of government in form of Panchayats and Municipalities which is not found in any other constitution of the world.
The above are some the important salient features of the Indian Constitution, which makes it one of the most unique and distinct constitutions in the world.