CDS Polity · Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments
Parts, Schedules and Citizenship
What each of the twelve Schedules contains, the tribal-area Schedules (Fifth and Sixth) in detail, the languages of the Eighth Schedule, and citizenship under Part II.
Why this matters
Fifteen CDS questions, twelve of them MODERATE. A Schedule question gives a number and asks its content, or the other way round, so the table of twelve is the single most useful thing on this page. The Fifth and Sixth Schedules and the Eighth Schedule languages have each come up more than once.
Concept 1 of 4: The twelve Schedules and the main Parts
The Articles are grouped into Parts, and the long lists that would clutter the Articles are put at the end as Schedules. A Schedule question is a matching question: learn the twelve in order, one line each.
Definition
Parts CDS asks about:
- Part I (Articles 1 to 4): the Union and its territory. Part II (Articles 5 to 11): citizenship.
- Part III (Articles 12 to 35): Fundamental Rights. Part IV (Articles 36 to 51): Directive Principles; Article 50 asks the State to separate the judiciary from the executive.
- Part XVIII (Articles 352 to 360): emergency. Part XX (Article 368): amendment.
The Ninth Schedule was added by the First Amendment, 1951 with Article 31B: a law placed in it is not void just because it takes away a Fundamental Right. The legislature can still amend or repeal such a law, and since the I. R. Coelho case (2007) the courts can test laws added after 24 April 1973 against the basic structure.
| Schedule | Contents |
|---|---|
| First | Names of the States and Union Territories, and their territories |
| Second | Pay and allowances of the President, Governors, judges, the CAG and others |
| Third | Forms of oaths and affirmations |
| Fourth | Allocation of Rajya Sabha seats to the States and Union TerritoriesQ CDS 2022 (II): of four Schedule pairs, only the Fifth was correctly matched. |
| Fifth | Administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes |
| Sixth | Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram |
| Seventh | Union List, State List and Concurrent List |
| Eighth | The 22 official languages |
| Ninth | Laws protected from challenge on Fundamental Rights (First Amendment, 1951)Q |
| Tenth | Anti-defection rules (52nd Amendment, 1985) |
| Eleventh | Powers of Panchayats, 29 subjects (73rd Amendment, 1992) |
| Twelfth | Powers of Municipalities, 18 subjects (74th Amendment, 1992) |
Practice this conceptself-check · 5 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (II) 2017 — General Knowledge · Q26Moderate
Example 1 · Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments · Parts, Schedules and Citizenship
Which one of the following Schedules of the Constitution of India has fixed the number of Members of the Rajya Sabha to be elected from each State?
Third is oaths, Fourth is Rajya Sabha seats
The Third Schedule holds the forms of oaths. The Fourth Schedule allots Rajya Sabha seats to each State. The First Schedule is the list of States and Union Territories.
The Ninth Schedule shields laws, not courts
A law in the Ninth Schedule is not void for breaking a Fundamental Right (Article 31B). It is still open to repeal or amendment by the legislature, and to review on basic-structure grounds.
Concept 2 of 4: The Fifth and Sixth Schedules
Two Schedules protect tribal people, in two different ways. The Sixth Schedule gives four north-eastern States elected councils that make their own rules; the Fifth covers tribal areas everywhere else and leaves the Governor in charge.
Definition
The Sixth Schedule:
- covers the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram only;
- sets up Autonomous District Councils (and regional councils) that can make laws, collect some taxes and run courts on customary law.
The Fifth Schedule:
- covers Scheduled Areas in all other States;
- a Tribes Advisory Council advises on the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes;
- the Governor reports to the President annually or when asked, and the Union can give the State directions on these areas;
- the Governor can make regulations that prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members.
| Point | Fifth Schedule | Sixth Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Scheduled Areas in States other than the four | Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram |
| Body | Tribes Advisory Council (advises) | Autonomous District Councils (make laws) |
| Land | Governor may make regulations restricting land transfer by or among Scheduled Tribes | District Councils make laws on land, forests and customsQ CDS 2019 (II): the false statement denied the Governor's power to restrict land transfer. |
| Oversight | Governor reports to the President; the Union can give the State directions | Governor can create, merge or change autonomous districtsQ |
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2018 · CDS (II) 2018 — General Knowledge · Q85Moderate
Example 2 · Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments · Parts, Schedules and Citizenship
Which one of the following Schedules to the Constitution of India provides for setting up of Autonomous District Councils?
District councils belong to the Sixth, not the Fifth
Autonomous District Councils are a Sixth Schedule body. The Fifth Schedule has only a Tribes Advisory Council, which advises and does not make laws.
Manipur is not a Sixth Schedule State
The four Sixth Schedule States are Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Options often slip in Manipur or Arunachal Pradesh.
Concept 3 of 4: The Eighth Schedule languages
The Eighth Schedule began with 14 languages and has grown to 22 through three amendments. Learn the three groups of additions with their years; any language outside the 22, however widely spoken, is the 'not listed' option.
Definition
How the list grew:
- Original 14 (1950), including Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Sanskrit, Bengali and Tamil.
- Sindhi: 21st Amendment, 1967.
- Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali: 71st Amendment, 1992.
- Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santhali: 92nd Amendment, 2003, the latest additions.
- Widely spoken languages such as Gondi, Bhili and English are not in the Schedule.
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2025 · CDS (I) 2025 — General Knowledge · Q87Moderate
Example 3 · Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments · Parts, Schedules and Citizenship
Which, amongst the following, is the latest language to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India ?
Nepali and Manipuri are older than Maithili and Dogri
Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali came in 1992. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali came in 2003, so any of those four is the most recent addition.
Concept 4 of 4: Citizenship
The Constitution itself only says who was a citizen on the day it began. Everything after that, how a person becomes or stops being a citizen, is left to an ordinary law of Parliament, the Citizenship Act of 1955.
Definition
The rules:
- Citizenship is Part II, Articles 5 to 11. Articles 5 to 8 say who was a citizen at the start; Article 11 lets Parliament make laws on citizenship.
- The Citizenship Act, 1955 governs citizenship on or after 26 January 1950. It can be gained by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation or incorporation of territory.
- It is lost by renunciation (giving it up), termination (voluntarily taking another country's citizenship) or deprivation (taken away by the government, for example for fraud).
- India has single citizenship. Marrying a foreigner or criticising the government does not end it.
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 eased citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but it does not apply to the Sixth Schedule tribal areas or to areas under the Inner Line Permit.
| Way citizenship ends | What happens |
|---|---|
| Renunciation | The citizen gives up Indian citizenship by declaration |
| Termination | The citizen voluntarily acquires another country's citizenship |
| Deprivation | The government takes it away, for example for fraud or disloyalty |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2016 · CDS (II) 2016 — General Knowledge · Q69Easy
Example 4 · Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments · Parts, Schedules and Citizenship
A citizen of India will lose his or her citizenship if he or she
1. renounces Indian citizenship
2. voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country
3. marries a citizen of another country
4. criticizes the Government
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Citizenship is Part II, not Part I
Part I (Articles 1 to 4) is the Union and its territory. Citizenship is Part II, Articles 5 to 11, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is made under that Part.
Marriage does not end citizenship
Marrying a foreign citizen does not take away Indian citizenship. Only renunciation, termination and deprivation do.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Reference tables (4)
The twelve Schedules and the main Parts12 rows
| Schedule | Contents |
|---|---|
| First | Names of the States and Union Territories, and their territories |
| Second | Pay and allowances of the President, Governors, judges, the CAG and others |
| Third | Forms of oaths and affirmations |
| Fourth | Allocation of Rajya Sabha seats to the States and Union TerritoriesQ CDS 2022 (II): of four Schedule pairs, only the Fifth was correctly matched. |
| Fifth | Administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes |
| Sixth | Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram |
| Seventh | Union List, State List and Concurrent List |
| Eighth | The 22 official languages |
| Ninth | Laws protected from challenge on Fundamental Rights (First Amendment, 1951)Q |
| Tenth | Anti-defection rules (52nd Amendment, 1985) |
| Eleventh | Powers of Panchayats, 29 subjects (73rd Amendment, 1992) |
| Twelfth | Powers of Municipalities, 18 subjects (74th Amendment, 1992) |
The Fifth and Sixth Schedules4 rows
| Point | Fifth Schedule | Sixth Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Scheduled Areas in States other than the four | Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram |
| Body | Tribes Advisory Council (advises) | Autonomous District Councils (make laws) |
| Land | Governor may make regulations restricting land transfer by or among Scheduled Tribes | District Councils make laws on land, forests and customsQ CDS 2019 (II): the false statement denied the Governor's power to restrict land transfer. |
| Oversight | Governor reports to the President; the Union can give the State directions | Governor can create, merge or change autonomous districtsQ |
Citizenship3 rows
| Way citizenship ends | What happens |
|---|---|
| Renunciation | The citizen gives up Indian citizenship by declaration |
| Termination | The citizen voluntarily acquires another country's citizenship |
| Deprivation | The government takes it away, for example for fraud or disloyalty |
Watch out for (7)
- Third is oaths, Fourth is Rajya Sabha seats→ The twelve Schedules and the main Parts
- The Ninth Schedule shields laws, not courts→ The twelve Schedules and the main Parts
- District councils belong to the Sixth, not the Fifth→ The Fifth and Sixth Schedules
- Manipur is not a Sixth Schedule State→ The Fifth and Sixth Schedules
- Nepali and Manipuri are older than Maithili and Dogri→ The Eighth Schedule languages
- Citizenship is Part II, not Part I→ Citizenship
- Marriage does not end citizenship→ Citizenship
Test yourself on Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments
20 past CDS questions from this chapter, timed at 20 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.