NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 10 The Constitution is a living document — LET'S EXPLORE

Book page 223 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Can you find out the amendments made to the Constitution in the past ten years?
Answer

How to find out: amendments are numbered in order and each is called a Constitution (…Amendment) Act with its year. Look for the list in a current civics reference book in your library, or on the Legislative Department and Parliament websites; then note, for each one, its number, its year, and what it changed in one line.

What a good answer must contain: at least three or four amendments from the last ten years, each with number, year, the Part or Article affected, one line on the change, and the source. Do not copy a list you cannot check — an amendment is a matter of record, so every entry should be traceable.

Sample answer (the format to use — fill it in with the entries you verify):

AmendmentYearWhat it changedSource used
…th Amendment ActAdded / altered Article … so that …Legislative Department website
…th Amendment ActExtended the operation of …School library reference book
…th Amendment ActInserted a new clause in Part …Parliament website

The chapter gives you two older examples to keep as the model of what an amendment does. Both are in the same box:

  • The national flag at home. There was a time when people were not allowed to fly the flag at their homes. In 2004 a citizen challenged the rule in court, and the Supreme Court agreed that flying the flag is part of the Fundamental Right to Freedom of Expression. We may now fly the tricolour with pride, keeping in mind that it should never be dishonoured.
  • Panchayati Raj. The system you studied in Grade 6 was not part of the original Constitution; it was integrated into it in 1992 through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.
Why it happens: notice the two different routes in those examples — one change came through Parliament, the other through a citizen's case in court. Both are ways the Constitution keeps up with the country. That is what ‘living document’ means in practice.
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