Famous Viceroys of India

Lord Canning (1858–1862)—After the transfer of Government of India to the British Crown. Lord Canning was appointed the first Viceroy of India. He reorganized the whole administration and made it efficient and responsible. Indian Councils Act 1861 was passed during his time.

Lord Ripon (1880–1884)—He had to soft corner for the Indian people. He was responsible for the repeal of Vernacular Press Act. He got enacted the Factory Act to protect the town labourers. He organised the local government on more democratic lines.

Lord Curzon (1899–1905)—The first partition of Bengal in 1905 was the chief event of his time. During his time Punjab Land Alienation Act was passed. By the Indian Universities Act (1904), he officialised the universities. He was the architect of the new North-West Frontier Policy whereby the relations with the N.W. Frontier Tribes and Afghanistan were sought to be improved. The British Government came to have a say in the Tibetan foreign policy.

Lord Minto (1905–1910)—During his time Minto-Morley Act of 1909 was passed, which conceded separate electorates to the Muslims in the Legislatures.

Lord Hardinge (1910–1916)—The partition of Bengal was revoked; the capital was transferred from Calcutta to Delhi.

Lord Chelmsford (1916–1920)—The chief events of his time were, Government of India Act 1919 (which introduced dyarchy in the provinces), Rowlatt Act, Martial Law; Non-cooperation movement launched under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi; and the tragedy of Jalianwala Bagh.

Lord Irwin (1926–1931)—The chief events of his time were : Simon Commission's visit to India which was boycotted by the Indians, Indian National Congress passed resolution for complete independence–1929; Civil Disobedience Movement started; Gandhi's historic Dandi March; Round Table Conference in London in 1930; Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931.

Lord Willingdon (1931–1936)—The main events of his time were : Second Round Table Conference in 1931; Communal Award 1932; Signing of Poona Pact; Third Round Table Conference in 1932; Government of India Act 1935 passed.

Lord Linlithgow (1936–1942)—In the period of Linlithgow Government of India Act 1935 was enforced in provinces in 1937; Cripps Mission of India. (1942) and Quit India Movement.

Lord Wavell (1942–1947)—The chief events of his time were : Cabinet Mission Plan; Wavell Plan; end of World War II.

Lord Mountbatten—Partition of India recommended; Indian Independence Act, 1947 and India was divided into two Dominions of India and Pakistan.

Important Amendments to the Indian Constitution

The Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973—It increases the upper limit of representation of the States to the Lok Sabha from 500 to 525 and decreases the existing limit for Union Territories from 25 to 20.

The Constitution (34th Amendment) Act, 1974—It seeks to extend protection to the 'States' land ceiling laws and land tenure reforms from litigation.

The Constitution (36th Amendment) Act, 1975—By this Act Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.

The Constitution (37th Amendment) Bill, 1975—Was passed by the Parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers for Arunachal Pradesh.

The Constitution (38th Amendment) Act, 1975—By this Act, President's 'satisfaction' in declaring emergency has been made nonjusticeable.

The Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975—The Act provides that disputes relating to the election of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Speaker shall be determined by a forum to be determined by Parliamentary law which shall not be called in question in any court.

The Constitution (40th Amendment) Act, 1976—This amendment extends the scope of Article 277 relating to the territorial waters to include sovereignty over the Exclusive Economic Zone and to enlarge the list of entries in the Ninth Schedule to give protection to 64 State and Central laws, mostly pertaining to land reforms.

The Constitution (41st Amendment) Act, 1976—It raises the age of retirement of the chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission from 60 to 62.

The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976—The Act introduced comprehensive changes in the Constitution, some of which are as follows—

(i) Provision of Fundamental Duties,

(ii) Directive Principles made justiceable and given precedence over Fundamental Rights,

(iii) Division of jurisdiction between the Supreme Court and the High Courts in the matter of determination of the constitutional validity of Central and State laws,

(iv) Limitation of the jurisdiction of High Courts in certain respects,

(v) Provision for creation of Administrative Tribunals for adjudication for service matters,

(vi) Inclusion of Education and certain other subjects in the Concurrent List,

(vii) Provision for dealing with antinational and communal activities,

(viii) Provision for amending Article 368 of the Constitution to give emphasis on the mutability of the Constitution and every part thereof.

The Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1978—The President gave assent to the Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, on April 13, 1978 which repeals the obnoxious provisions of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the emergency.

The Act seeks to restore civil liberties by deleting Article 31D which gave powers to Parliament to curtail even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of legislation for the prevention of anti-national activities.

The new law also restores legislative powers to the States to make appropriate provision for anti-national activities consistent with Fundamental Rights.

The Judiciary has also been restored to its rightful place. The Supreme Court will now have power to invalidate State laws, a power taken away by the 42nd Amendment Act. The High Courts will also be able to go into the question of Constitutional validity of Central Laws, a power taken away be the 42nd Amendment Act.

The Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1979—This Amendment, reverses many of the provisions of the 42nd Amendment and also makes far reaching changes in many of the provisions of the Constitution, the chief of which are as follows :

The Right to Property has been deleted from the list of Fundamental Rights. It has now become as ordinary legal right.

The Amendment provides for safeguards against misuse of executive powers and indiscriminate imposition of Emergency. To ensure that Emergency powers are properly exercised the Amendment provides a number of safeguards.

The Act provides that the fundamental right to life and liberty cannot be demolished even during the operation of Emergency.

Another important provision of the amendment is Article 361-A. The right of information media, especially the press has been guaranteed to report freely and without censorship the proceedings in Parliament and State Legislatures.

The term of Parliament and State Legislatures has been reduced from six to five years. It may be remembered that term of Parliament and the State Legislatures was raised from 5 to 6 years by the 42 Amendment Act. In this way the pre 42nd Amendment position has been restored.

According to another provision, a law for preventive detention cannot authorize, in any case, detention for a longer period than two months, unless an advisory board has reported that there is sufficient cause for such detention.

The Presidential proclamation regarding the break down of constitutional machinery in a state issued under Article 356 would be in force only for a period of six months in the first instance. It cannot, however, exceed one year ordinarily.

The Constitution 45th Amendment, 1980—The President on April 14, 1980 gave assent to the 45th Constitution (Amendment) Bill which extends reservation for scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, representation of Anglo-Indian by nomination for a further period of 10 years.

The Constitution (49th Amendment) Act, 1985—The aim of the amendment (of Article 356) was to enable the central Government to extend President's rule in Punjab, if necessary, for a period of one year beyond Oct. 5, 1985. Under the Constitutional provisions, President's rule cannot be continued for more than one year at a time.

The Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985—The Act has made defection to another party, after elections, illegal. Any member defecting to another party after elections will be disqualified from being member of Parliament or State legislature.

The Constitution (53rd Amendment) Act, 1986—The Act grants Statehood to the Union Territory of Mizoram, thus making it the 23rd State of the Indian Unions.

The Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986—The Act revised the salary scales of Supreme Court and High Court Judges. According to the provisions of the Act the salary of the Chief Justice of India was raised to Rs. 10‚000 per month, that of other Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of High Courts to Rs. 9‚000 and that of other Judges of High Courts to Rs. 8‚000 per month.

The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1986 and the State of Arunachal Pradesh Bill, 1986—The Bill vests special powers in the Government besides stipulating that the new State Assembly shall consist of not less than 30 members. The second provides for the establishment of the new State of Arunachal Pradesh. The Bill has already become an Act.

The Constitution (56th Amendment) Act, 1987—This amendment gave statehood to Goa, Goa now becomes the 25th State of India. Daman and Diu remain a separate Union Territory.

The Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987—This Bill provides for reservation in the legislative assemblies of 4 North-Eastern States.

The Constitution (58th Amendment) Act, 1987—Hindi Version of the Constitution accepted officially.

The Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988—This Bill provides for the imposition of Emergency in Punjab due to internal disturbances and extension of President's Rule upto a maximum of three years.

The Constitution (60th Amendment) Act, 1988—The state governments have been empowered under this Act to increase the professional tax from Rs. 250 to Rs. 2500 per annum.

The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989—Voting age is reduced from 21 years to 18 years.

The Constitution (62nd Amendment) Act, 1989—The 9th Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed this Bill in Dec. 1989. It proposes to secure reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for another period of 10 years. After this Bill became an Act.

The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989—Repealed Amendment 59 empowering government to impose emergency in Punjab.

The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990—The Act extends President's rule in Punjab for six months from May 11, 1990. This Act was introduced as 65th Amendment Bill.

The Constitution (65th Amendment) Act, 1990—The Act provided statutory status to the commission for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

The Constitution (66th Amendment) Act, 1990—This Act added more Land Reforms Acts in the Ninth Schedule to the constitution after entry 202.

The Constitution (67th Amendment) Act, 1991—Was introduced and passed by the Parliament on Oct. 4, 1990. It extends President's rule in Punjab for 6 months from Nov. 11, 1990.

The Constitution (68th Amendment) Act, 1991—Was introduced as 75th Amendment Bill. It extended President's rule in Punjab for one year, i.e. upto a total period of five years (from May 11, 1987 to May 1, 1992).

The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991—The name of Union Territory changed to National Capital Area. It will have 70 member Assembly.

The Constitution (70th Amendment) Act, 1992—Members of Pondicherry Assembly and members of the proposed Assembly of Delhi given right to elect the President.

The Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992—Nepalese, Konkani and Manipuri added to the Eight scheduled (Languages) as recognised languages in the constitution.

The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992—For restoring peace and harmony in the areas of the State of Tripura where disturbed conditions prevailed, a Memorandum of settlement was signed by the Government of India with Tripura National Volunteers on August 12, 1988.

The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992—It is concerning Panchayati Raj.

The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992—It is regarding Municipal Boards and Corporations.

The Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1993—Regarding establishment of Tribunals to decide tenancy disputes between tenants and house owners.

The Constitution (78th Amendment) Act, 1995—Land Reforms of Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and W. Bengal included in 9th schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999—It extends reservation of seats in Parliament and State Assemblies for SCs and STs for another 10 years beyond 2000. The President gave his assent on Jan. 24, 2000.

The Constitution (80th Amendment) Act, 2000—Relates to the revenue sharing between the Centre and the States whereby States' over-all share was increased to 29% as per the Tenth Finance Commission's recommendation.

The Constitution (81st Amendment) Act, 2000—Relates to carrying forward backlog vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The Constitution (82nd Amendment) Act, 2000—Relates to relaxation in qualifying marks and reservation of posts in super speciality courses in Medical and Engineering disciplines, etc. for Scheduled Castes / Tribes etc. (Both 81st and 82nd amendments were made in supersession of Supreme Court's judgements).

The Constitution (83rd Amendment) Act, 2000—Relates to the reservation of seats under Panchayati Raj in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Constitution (84th Amendment) Act, 2001—The Act amended provisos to Articles 82 and 170 (3) of the constitution to readjust and rationalise the territorial constituencies in the States, without altering the number of seats allotted to each State in the House of People and Legislative Assemblies of the States, including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constituencies, on the basis of the population ascertained at the census for the year 1991 so as to remove the imbalance caused due to uneven growth of population/electorate in different constituencies.

Note—By a later amendment the year 1991 has been substituted by the year 2001.

The Constitution (85th Amendment) Act, 2001-02—It provides for the benefit of reservation in promotions in government jobs to the members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.