Implementation Annex · Annex to Chapter 28
Locking In the Third Freedom
A starting draft for the group of action-minded builders, from mission heads and industry veterans to entrepreneurs and the private sector, to refine. The numbers and steps show one workable way; the details are settled at execution.
The rules of amendment
- Article 368 sets three levels. (a) A simple-majority law, where the Constitution itself lets Parliament act by ordinary law. (b) A special majority: two-thirds of members present and voting and a majority of the total membership, in each House. (c) A special majority plus ratification by at least half the state legislatures, for federal subjects: the Seventh Schedule, Articles 245 to 255, the GST Council (Article 279A), the higher courts, the President's election and representation of states in Parliament.
- The numbers. Lok Sabha 543: two-thirds is 362 if every member votes. Rajya Sabha 245: two-thirds is 164 if every member votes, and a majority of total membership is 123. With 28 states, "not less than one-half" means 14 ratifications; union territories do not count.
- Today's strength. The NDA won 293 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 and had about 152 Rajya Sabha members in June 2026. It governs 21 of the 28 states (May 2026). Ratification is within reach; two-thirds in both Houses needs allies.
- Procedure matters. In 2021 the Supreme Court struck down most of Part IXB (the 97th Amendment on cooperatives) because it changed state subjects without state ratification.
- Speed is possible. The 103rd Amendment (EWS quota) passed both Houses in 2 days, 323 to 3 in the Lok Sabha. The 101st Amendment (GST) cleared Parliament in August 2016, Assam ratified first on 12 August, and the President signed on 8 September 2016.
The plan
- One list of every change, chapter by chapter. Procedure (a), (b) or (c) is as above. "Risk" means the risk of being struck down under the basic structure doctrine.
| Ch | Reform | Article or entry | What changes | Procedure | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | End income and corporation tax | Arts 265, 270; List I 82, 85 | Repeal the Income-tax Act | (a) | Low |
| 1 | Bank transaction tax (BTT) | Art 248, List I 97; Art 270 | New Union tax, shared through the Finance Commission | (a) | Low |
| 1 | Three taxes only, for Centre and states | List I 82, 85 to 90, 92A to 92B; List II 45 to 63 except 49 | Delete other tax entries. Keep customs (List I 83) and the fixed fuel and tobacco levy (List I 84); List II 51 becomes the fixed per-unit alcohol levy. Write state shares into the text: 100% of property tax, 50% of GST, the Finance Commission share of BTT. States keep two-thirds of the GST Council vote | (c) | Medium |
| 1 | Flat 10% GST on alcohol, petroleum and electricity | Arts 246A, 279A, 366(12A); List II 51, 53, 54 | Petroleum needs only a GST Council date (Art 279A(5)); alcohol and electricity need text changes | (c) | Low |
| 1 | End stamp duty and registration fees | List II 63, List III 44, List I 91, Art 268 | Delete the entries | (c) | Low |
| 1 | National 0.4% property tax | List II 49; Arts 285, 289 | Move to List I with 100% assigned to states; one uniform rate set by Parliament, no state or local variation; government property taxed on the same rule | (c) | Low to Medium |
| 2, 4, 13 | Cashless economy, asset forfeiture, public donors, privacy ledger | Arts 300A, 19, 21 | Ordinary laws drafted to pass the privacy test (Puttaswamy, 2017) | (a) | Low |
| 8 | Every civil and tax law looks forward | Art 20 (new clause 4) | No civil, tax or regulatory law imposes a duty for any period before it is made; one narrow anti-abuse exception decided by an independent tribunal, reaching back no further than the announcement date | (b) | Low |
| 3 | Cooperative banks into small banks | List I 45 | RBI powers under the Banking Regulation Act | (a) | Low |
| 5, 11 | Conclusive land titles; free sale and leasing of farmland | List II 14, 18, 45 | Move "transfer and lease of agricultural land" and "land titles" to the Concurrent List | (c) | Low |
| 6, 27 | Whole-life sentences and a narrow pardon | Arts 72, 161 | Mercy petitions decided within 90 days with reasons; for whole-life sentences, pardon only on fresh evidence of innocence | (b) | Medium |
| 12 | Fixed-term contracts and removal for under-performance | Arts 310, 311 | Add removal for documented under-performance after a 90-day improvement window and a tribunal appeal. Every civil post may be a fixed-term contract, except the armed forces and intelligence. Judges, CAG, Election Commissioners and UPSC members keep their fixed terms. Serving staff keep Article 311 protection unless they accept conversion with 6 months' pay | (b) | Low |
| 12 | End the All-India Services | Art 312, including 312(2) | Repeal the All India Services Act and amend Art 312(2), which deems the IAS and IPS to exist; Public Service Commissions keep merit tests | (b) | Low |
| 12, 14 | Mayors as CEOs; private delivery of local services | Parts IX and IXA; 11th and 12th Schedules | Directly elected mayors with 5-year terms; all 18 Twelfth-Schedule functions devolved ("shall"); contracting allowed | (c) | Low |
| 26 | National police standards | List II 1 to 2 | Move "police" to the Concurrent List; states keep command until a central law covers the field | (c) | Medium |
| 7, 15, 19, 24 | Power market, food law, labour, universities | List III 38, 18, 22 to 24; List I 66 | Already central or Concurrent | (a) | Low |
| 10, 25 | Indian control of new firms, NGO rules, internet rules | Arts 19(1)(a), (c), (g) | Ordinary laws within the reasonable-restriction clauses | (a) | Low to Medium |
| 23 | End caste quotas in jobs and education | Arts 15(4), 15(5), 16(4), 16(4A), 16(4B), 335, 338 to 338B | One need-based clause: disadvantage measured by income and assets, the same test for all | (b) | Medium |
| 23 | End reserved seats in legislatures | Arts 330, 332, 334, 330A, 332A, 334A, 243D, 243T | Repeal in year 1. The 2023 women's seats have not started, so no sitting member loses a seat. If the votes or ratifications fall short, SC/ST seats lapse on 25 January 2030 under Article 334 | (c) | Low to Medium |
| All | One civil code | Art 44; List III 5 | Ordinary law; Arts 371A and 371G amended so it reaches Nagaland and Mizoram | (a) + (b) | Low |
| All | Sixth Schedule phase-out | Sixth Schedule, para 21 | Parliament amends it by ordinary law; the 10 autonomous councils become standard Part IX/IXA bodies at the end of their terms | (a) | Low |
| All | Fifth Schedule | Fifth Schedule, para 7 | Ordinary law | (a) | Low |
| All | Special provisions for 12 states | Arts 371 to 371J | Repeal; development boards replaced by one national formula | (b), ratified for safety | Low to Medium |
| 9 | Rent control fallback: urban landlord and tenant law | List II 18, List III 6 to 7 | Move "landlord and tenant in urban property" to the Concurrent List so a national tenancy law applies where a state does not repeal rent control | (c) | Low |
- Three bills on day 1 of a special session called under Article 85:
| Bill | Procedure | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Bill A | special majority only | Article 20(4), Articles 72/161, 310/311, 312, 15/16, the 371 series |
| Bill B | special majority plus ratification | all Seventh Schedule moves, Articles 246A/279A, Parts IX/IXA, Articles 330/332/334 |
| Act C | ordinary law | income-tax repeal, the BTT, the civil code, the Fifth and Sixth Schedule changes, the political-funding law (Chapter 13) |
- Every bill has a severability clause and is voted schedule by schedule, so one failed item does not sink the rest, and a slow state never holds up Bill A.
- Bridges while ratification runs. Article 249 lets Parliament legislate on any State List subject for 1 year at a time if the Rajya Sabha resolves so by two-thirds of members present and voting. Article 252 lets two or more willing states ask Parliament to legislate for them. These carry land, police standards and stamp-duty reform in willing states from month 1.
- Ratification in 60 days. Bill B goes to all 28 legislatures the day Parliament passes it. Each state cabinet is asked to advise its Governor to summon a 1-day sitting (Article 174) within 30 days. The target is 15 ratifications by day 60, one more than needed, with NDA states first, as Assam did for GST. Every legislature votes within 1 year.
- The coalition, item by item. In the Lok Sabha, 362 needs about 70 votes beyond the NDA's 293. In the Rajya Sabha, 164 needs about 12 beyond about 152. The legal floor is lower when members abstain (two-thirds of those voting, and at least 272 and 123), but the plan aims for full Houses. GST and the EWS amendment passed with cross-party votes because states and voters gained; each schedule here is built the same way.
Cost and return
- Special session (estimate): Parliament costs about ₹2.5 lakh a minute to run (2012 figure). 15 sitting days × 6 hours × 60 minutes × ₹2.5 lakh ≈ ₹135 crore, negligible next to the reforms it enables.
- States are held whole. States lose about ₹1.7 lakh crore of stamp duty and about ₹1.5 lakh crore of vehicle tax and electricity duty (Chapter 1 estimates). They gain 100% of the 0.4% property tax (about ₹3.8 lakh crore, Chapter 1), the state per-unit fuel, alcohol and tobacco levies and 50% of GST. Any remaining gap is paid by the Centre state by state, as in Chapter 1.
- Compensation backstop, modelled on Section 18 of the 101st Amendment: any state whose year-1 revenue falls below its FY26 base is paid the gap monthly, counted after property tax and its GST share. The backstop runs for the first 12 months after switch day (Chapter 1), the year in which stamp duty and the other state taxes end, and has no extension clause. Any residual comes from the BTT pool and is published monthly.
- Tracker: a public site, built by NIC in 30 days, shows every clause, every named vote and every state's ratification status.
Timeline
First 30 days:
- Days 1 to 5: publish all three bills with a one-page plain-English note per clause; convene the special session.
- Day 1: a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court under Article 143 on the four Medium-risk items (three taxes only, pardon, quotas, police). Parliament does not wait for the opinion.
- Days 6 to 15: a Joint Parliamentary Committee reports clause by clause.
- Days 16 to 25: votes on Bills A and B and Act C; the Article 249 resolution.
- Days 26 to 30: Bill B sent to the states; Act C notified.
Within 1 year:
- 15 or more ratifications by day 60; assent and notification after the 14th.
- Every remaining legislature votes by month 12.
- Article 249 laws replaced by Concurrent-List laws once Bill B is in force.
- The Union asks for any challenge to be heard by a Constitution Bench within 90 days.
Guardrails
- Bright line: no clause may touch judicial review (Articles 32, 136, 226), the core of Articles 14, 19 and 21, or free and fair elections. The Law Ministry certifies this in writing for every clause before tabling.
- Every clause is published 14 days before its vote, with a named minister as owner.
- Recorded named votes on every schedule, published within 24 hours.
- Nothing is placed in the Ninth Schedule as a shield; after I.R. Coelho (2007) it gives no protection.
- State revenue guarantee paid by the 10th of each month; a late payment adds 1% a month interest owed to the state.
- Any state that has not voted by month 6 is named on the tracker with its scheduled date.
- An independent review by 3 retired Supreme Court judges, published within 30 days of the first anniversary.
Limits to know
The basic structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973; Minerva Mills, 1980) limits even a unanimous Parliament. Removing judicial review, removing fundamental rights wholesale and executive control over judges cannot be done by amendment; the plan uses the strongest versions that survive (Chapters 6, 26 and 27). Two-thirds of both Houses is political arithmetic, not law: about 70 more Lok Sabha votes and 12 more Rajya Sabha votes are needed today.
Sources: Article 368, constitutionofindia.net · Constitutional amendments in India, Drishti IAS · Amendments needing state ratification, Shankar IAS · NDA 293 in Lok Sabha and 149 in Rajya Sabha, Business Standard, June 2026 · NDA at 152 in Rajya Sabha, India TV, 18 June 2026 · NDA governs 21 states, The Statesman, May 2026 · 97th Amendment partly struck down, iPleaders · Amendments struck down, LiveLaw · Assam first to ratify GST, Business Standard · 101st Amendment, GKToday · ₹2.5 lakh a minute to run Parliament, OneIndia