Indian Constitution is the rulebook for the Indian administration which is taken care by the apex court of India, Supreme Court. There are 448 articles in the Indian Constitution till date. Aspirants preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) do not have to go through all 448 articles but should the important ones by-heart. This article will discuss a few important Indian Constitution articles and a strategy to remember these.
In civil services examination, Indian Polity is one of the subjects mentioned in the syllabus. Along with other significant topics, ‘Important Articles of Indian Constitution’ make an important part of the Indian Polity syllabus. Such are those articles which are either in the news in the past one year because of their provisions, or are those which are important by the virtue of the constitutional office, rights or any other provisions these entails.
Which are the important articles in Indian Constitution?
While all the 448 articles are important, only a few of them are essential to be read from the examination point of few. A set of such articles are given below:
- Articles associated with the Parts of the Indian Constitution
There are 22 parts that are mentioned in the Indian Constitution and each part is associated with an article in the Indian Constitution. A candidate should know the 22 parts and the articles accompanying these. A few important parts are:
- Part 3 stating the fundamental rights
- Part 4 stating the Directive Principles of State Policy
- Part 9 stating the Panchayats
- Part 10 stating the scheduled and tribal areas
- Part 15 stating the elections
- Part 18 stating the emergency provisions
- Part 20 stating the Constitutional amendments
- Articles associated with the important governmental positions
The following posts are important from the examination point of view and aspirants should know the articles associated with such posts:
- Prime Minister – Article 78
- President – Articles 52, 54, 61, 72, 74, 123, 352, 356, 360 etc.
- Attorney General of India – Article 76
- Chief Minister – Article 167
- Governor – Articles 153, 154, 213, 361
- Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) – Article 149
- Election Commissioner – Article 324
- Articles associated with fundamental rights, directive principles of state policies are important too:
- Fundamental Rights – Article 12-35
- Directive Principles of State Policies – Article 36-50
- Articles related to the amendment of the Constitution
Article 386 mentions the amendment of the constitution. While the candidate should know about the amendment process, he/she must also know about several important amendments of the Indian Constitution including 42nd Amendment, 44th amendment, 69th Amendment etc. These amendments are very important from the examination point of view.
Preparation Tips for Important Constitutional Articles
The aspirant should follow the following procedure to learn the important articles:
- Follow the current affairs – It is very important to know the issues related to Indian Polity. From such issues, one can associate important topics in the syllabus and also learn the associated articles.
- Past year question papers – While analysing the previous year question papers, one would find the trending topics that are asked in the examinations and can prepare accordingly.
- Not to miss important constitutional, statutory and quasi judicial bodies – All such bodies are important for the examination as powers, functions are more or less asked in UPSC Prelims.
- Follow PIB and PRS for current updates in Indian Polity
When a candidate prepares for the examination, his/her key should be to know all the important topics of a subject. In polity, Important Articles of Indian Constitution is a very important subject as it is vast and overlaps with the current affairs too. Hence, an aspirant should be well-versed in the Indian Constitutional articles.
There were 16 questions dedicated to the Political Science and International Relations in the UPSC Prelims 2019. In UPSC 2020 prelims which is scheduled on 4th October, around 15-20 questions are again expected from the Indian Polity subject hence a candidate should be consistent with the revision.
