1st Schedule of Indian Constitution: Check its Provisions, Articles & Amendments

Initially, the Constitution of India included only 8 schedules, but currently there are 12 schedules in the Indian Constitution after the various amendments.

The main objective of these schedules is to sort out any uncertainty in any articles of the Indian Constitution.

The 1st Schedule of the Indian Constitution includes the lists of all the Indian States and Union Territories and their corresponding territories.

Schedule of Indian Constitution

According to the National Portal of India, the Constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November, 1949, and came into force on 26th January, 1950. Originally, there were 8 Schedules in the Indian Constitution, but later on, with various amendments, currently, there are 12 Schedules in the Indian Constitution.

1st Schedule of Indian Constitution Provision

1st Schedule of the Indian Constitution contains the names and territorial boundaries of all 28 States and 8 Union Territories. 

The first schedule of the Indian Constitution serves as the legal foundation of the political map of the nation.

Articles in the 1st Schedule of Indian Constitution

1st Schedule of Indian Constitution is linked with two articles of the Indian Constitution, which are

1. Article 1: Article 1 of the Indian Constitution specifies, “India, that is Bharat, shall be the Union of States," and all the Indian states and UTs thereof shall be the States and their Union Territories specified in Parts A, B, and C of the First Schedule of the Indian Constitution. 

2. Article 4: Article 4 of the Indian Constitution provides the power to Parliament to make laws for the reorganisation of Indian States, including the alteration in names of states, boundaries or the formation of new states in India or Union Territories.

Example: 

1. Telangana was officially separated from Andhra Pradesh and became the Indian state on June 02, 2014.

2. The Union Territory “Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu” was established as a  new UT in India on 26th January 2020 by merging two separate UTs, which are Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs

Major Amendment in 1st Schedule of Indian Constitution

For the formation of any Indian State or Union Territories or even for the merger of States or Union Territories, the 1st schedule of the Indian Constitution will be amended.

The first schedule was amended by the Drafting Committee, which was adopted as a part of the Constitution on 15 October 1949.

In 1956, the 1st Schedule of the Indian Constitution was amended by the 7th Constitutional Amendment during the formation of Andhra Pradesh as an Indian State.

A historic day!

The Official Gazette of India Order signed by President Shri Ram Nath Kovind declares Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as separate Union Territories, post abrogation of Article 370.

Sh. RK Mathur took oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh. pic.twitter.com/yAvZ3AWZGM

— BJP Jammu & Kashmir (@BJP4JnK) October 31, 2019

However, the latest amendment in the 1st Schedule of the Indian Constitution was under the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation State in 2019, in which Jammu & Kashmir was removed from the Indian State list, and it was added along with Ladakh to the Union Territory list.