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AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY

PROJECT ON:

SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

Submitted to:

Prof. V.K. Dixit

Submitted by:

Aakash Narang

2010BALLB-34


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TABLE OF CONTENTS


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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

This project is an attempt to understand and analyze the preamble contained in the

constitution of India.


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THE PREAMBLE

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a

[SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC] and to secure to all itscitizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the [unity and integrity of the Nation];

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBYADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

The preamble to the Constitution of India is a brief introductory statement that sets out the

guiding purpose and principles of the document.

The preamble is not an integral part of theIndian constitution was first decided by the Supreme

Court of India in BeruBari case therefore it is not enforceable in a court of law.

However,Supreme Court of India has, in theKesavananda case, recognised that the preamble

may be used to interpret ambiguous areas of the constitution where differing interpretations

present themselves.

As originally enacted the preamble described the state as a ""sovereigndemocraticrepublic". In

1976 theForty-second Amendment changed this to read "sovereignsocialistsecular democratic

republic".

Theenacting words "We, the people of India ...in our constituent assembly ...do here by adopt,

enact and give to ourselves this constitution", signifies the democratic principle that power is

ultimately vested in the hands of the people. It also emphasises that the constitution is made by
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and for the Indian people and not given to them by any outside power (such as the British

Parliament). The wording is close to the preamble to theConstitution of Ireland,which had been

adopted in 1937; it reads "We, the people of ire [Ireland] ...Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to

ourselves this Constitution".

The Preamble is one of the most significant parts of the Constitution of India. Focusing on the

core objective of the Indian Constitution, the Preamble includes the following:

Equality - which connotes equal opportunity for one and all

Justice - which means fair judgment in the fields of politics, society and economy

Fraternity - which works towards keeping the integrity and strength of the country intact

along with special stress on individual dignity

Liberty - This assures every citizen of India the freedom of speech and expression,

religious independence and choice of going by ones own belief.
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SOVREIGN

The wordsovereign means supreme or independent. India is internally and externally sovereign -

externally free from the control of any foreign power and internally, it has a free government

which is directlyelectedby the people and makes laws that govern the people. She allies

in peace and war. The Popular sovereignty is also one of the basic structure of constitution of

India. Hence, Citizens of India also enjoys sovereign power to elect their representatives in

elections held for parliament, state legislature and local bodies as well.

Sovereignty is classically defined as supreme legal authority. The concept was formulated by

sixteenth century legal philosopher Jean Bodin and elaborated by many theorists since then. One

basic controversy has been whether to trace supreme authority to the people or to a "divine right"of rulers. Another has been about the relation between legal authority and political-economic

power which may influence or dominate law. The definition of sovereignty in federal Indian law

partakes of both ancient controversies. An ambiguous concept from the start, surrounded by

disagreement, sovereignty is perhaps most cryptic in federal Indian law.

The legal history of "tribal sovereignty" starts with colonialism. From their earliest contacts with

the "new world," colonizing powers asserted sovereignty over indigenous peoples, based a

theological-legal theory built on "divine right." Spain, Portugal, France, England, and othercolonial regimes explicitly based their sovereignty claims on religious doctrines decreed by the

Pope, who was regarded as having power to grant titles to portions of the earth for purposes of

Christian civilization.

The result of colonial assertions of sovereignty was that indigenous nations were legally stripped

of their independent status. Their existence was in some instances not recognized at all and their

lands treated as legally "vacant" (terra nullius). In other instances, indigenous peoples were

declared to have a "right of occupancy" but not ownership of their lands. In either instance, the

fundamental principle was that supreme legal authority lay outside the indigenous nations.
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SOCIAL IST

The wordsocialist was added to the Preamble by the Forty-second Amendment. It implies social

and economic equality.

Social equality in this context means the absence of discrimination on the grounds only

ofcaste,color,creed,sex,religion,orlanguage.Under social equality, everyone has equal status

and opportunities.

Economic equality in this context means that thegovernment will endeavor to make the

distribution of wealth more equal and provide a decent standard of living for all. This is in effect

emphasized a commitment towards the formation of awelfare state.India has adopted a

socialistic and mixed economy and the government has framed many laws to achieve the aim.

a theory or policy of social organization which advocates the ownership and control of the means

of production, capital, land, property etc.

The socialist agenda was one of the primary considerations in the minds of the Constitution

makers at the time of its drafting as can be seen from the chapter on Directive Principle of State

Policy in Part IV of the Constitution which talk about the socio-economic rights. The principle ofsocialism- that the State should strike to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number is a

sacrosanct principle which is essential for the purpose of establishing an egalitarian society. This

understanding assumes a lot of importance especially in the Indian socio-economic scenario

which is ridden with gross inequalities.

Although the word socialist did not find mention in the original Preamble as was drafted, the

socialist agenda was looming large and the same was affirmed by the Constitution (Forty-Second

Amendment) Act, 1976, by which the word Socialist was added to the Preamble thereby

formally recognizing the constitutional goal. The Indian Constitution makers opted for a path

involving slow, regulated and planned growth as opposed to laissez faire economy.

This is evident from thoughts echoed by the Indian National Congress at its Avadi session

before the Constitution was brought into force, where it had recognized and committed itself to
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the adoption of Socialism as its goal. Such an approach inevitably meant considerable state

intervention in the functioning of the economy as a whole. The state had been asserting its

socialist stand through various efforts at nationalization as is evidenced by a plethora of events

occurring in the 1970s and 80s. However, with the advent of globalization, the State has sought

to pursue a goal of a new liberal economy by adopting a hands off policy. In other words, the

New Liberal Economy being pursued now aims at increased privatisation, more private sector

industries, denationalization, decontrol, and so on, and is patently not in favour of state-

ownership or state-control of trade, business or industry. So the question that arises is whether

the economic policy of liberalization is violative of socialism, which is a basic feature of the

Constitution? If it is so, even a Constitutional Amendment would not be adequate to sustain this

economic policy because, as ruled in a number of cases, the basic features of the Constitution

cannot be altered, damaged, destroyed or, in any way, affected by any Amendment.


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SECULAR

The wordsecular was also inserted into the preamble by the Forty-second Amendment.(1976) Itimplies equality of allreligions and religious tolerance. India, therefore does not have an official

state religion. Every person has the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion they

choose. The government must not favour or discriminate against any religion. It must treat all

religions with equal respect. All citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs are equal in the

eyes of law. No religious instruction is imparted in government or government-aided schools.

Nevertheless, general information about all established world religions is imparted as part of the

course inSociology,without giving any importance to any one religion or the others. The

content presents the basic/fundamental information with regards to the fundamental beliefs,

social values and main practices and festivals of each established world religions. The Supreme

Court inS.R Bommai v. Union of Indiaheld that secularism was an integral part of the basic

structure of the constitution.

Secularism in India has very different meaning and implications. The word secularism has never

been used in Indian context in the sense in which it has been used in Western countries i.e. in the

sense of atheism or purely this worldly approach, rejecting the other-worldly beliefs.

India is a country where religion is very central to the life of people. Indias age-old philosophy

as expounded in Hindu scriptures called Upanishad is sarva dharma samabhava, which means

equal respect for all religions. The reason behind this approach is the fact that India has never

been a mono-religious country.

India is one country where caste rigidity and concept of untouchability evolved and still plays a

major role in religious, social and cultural matters. Caste dynamics in Indian life, even in

Christian and Islamic societies, plays larger than life role. Since most of the conversions to

Christianity and Islam took place from lower caste Hindus, these two world religions also

developed caste structure. There are lower caste churches and mosques in several places.

Under feudal system there was no competition between different religious traditions as authority

resided in sword and generally there were no inter-religious tensions among the people of

different religions. They co-existed in peace and harmony though at times inter-religious

controversies did arise. However, there never took place bloodshed in the name of religion.
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There was also tradition of tolerance between religions due to state policies of various kings

since time immemorial from Gupta Kings to Ashoka and Akbar. Many religious sects and

practices kept away from rigid intolerant forms.

The Indian National Congress at the time of independence from British Raj adopted secularism,

not as this worldly philosophy but more as a political arrangement. As power-sharing

arrangement could not be satisfactorily worked out between the Hindu and Muslim elite the

country was divided into two independent states of India and Pakistan, Muslim majority areas of

North-West going to Pakistan.

After independence and partition a large body of Muslims were left in India and hence the

leaders like Gandhi and Nehru preferred to keep India secular in the sense that Indian state will

have no religion though people of India will be free both in individual and corporate sense to

follow any religion of their birth or adoption. Thus India remained politically secular but

otherwise its people continued to be deeply religious.

In India right from the British period main contradiction was not between religious and secular

but it was between secular and communal. In the western world main struggle was between

church and state and church and civil society but in India neither Hinduism nor Islam had any

church-like structure and hence there never was any such struggle between secular and religious

power structure.

The main struggle was between secularism and communalism. The communal forces from

among Hindus and Muslims mainly fought for share in power though they used their respective

religions for their struggle for power.


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DEMOCRATIC

The first part of the preamble We, the people of India and, its last part give to ourselves this

Constitution clearly indicate the democratic spirit involved even in the Constitution.India isademocracy.The people of India elect their governments at all levels (Union, State and local) by

a system ofuniversal adult suffrage;popularly known as "one man one vote". Every citizen of

India, who is 18 years of age and above and not otherwise debarred by law, is entitled to vote.

Every citizen enjoys this right without any discrimination on the basis ofcaste,

creed,colour,sex,religion or education.

As you have noticed while reading the Preamble to the Constitution, that the Constitution

belongs to the people of India. The last line of the Preamble says . Hereby Adopt, Enact AndGive To Ourselves This Constitution. In fact the Democratic principles of the country flow from

this memorable last line of the Preamble. Democracy is generally known as government of the

people, by the people and for the people. Effectively this means that the Government is elected

by the people, it is responsible and accountable to the people. The democratic principles are

highlighted with the provisions of universal adult franchise, elections, fundamental rights, and

responsible government.

This will be essential to making India a true nation state with harmony among its people. Withthis in mind, if technology and industry were to thrive in India as they do in otherdemocratic

nations,there would surely be disruption to the Indian political process. Despite this security, the

Indian government still has a challenge ahead of itself. Nehru was a very positive impact on the

Indian people, by not becoming authoritarian when he so easily could have. The Indians are a

very agricultural people and not very industrialized. As it is now, the vast numbers ofpoor

people remaining uneducated and deprived are unable to advance in their socioeconomic status.

The Indian people live in a very different type of society when compared to the otherdemocratic

nations of the world. It has only been recently that the Indians have become a part of the

computer software industry. This means that democracy will still have a good chance for

survival even with the wideningrich-poor gap. Consequently, this allows therich-poor

gap continue to grow. The government has security in the knowledge that they will not be

overthrown because the people lack the understanding and unity necessary to overtake a nation.
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Nehru"tms strong belief in democracy allowed the people to continue working on their farms and

keeping them satisfied with theircurrent conditions.This is surprisingly an asset for the Indian

government. If these conditions were not present, it would be quite impossible for India to have

achieved what success it has attained thus far. Thecaste system of India holds the Indian people

back from making a revolt against the government, because there are over 4,000 castes in India,

and none of the people talk to others outside of their castes.
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REPUBLIC

As opposed to amonarchy,in which the head of state is appointed on hereditary basis for alifetime or until he abdicates from the throne, a democraticrepublic is an entity in which the

head of state is elected, directly or indirectly, for a fixed tenure. ThePresident of India is elected

by an electoral college for a term of five years. The post of the President Of India is not

hereditary. Every citizen of India is eligible to become the President of the country.

In the early 20th century a number ofIndian scholars, most notably asK.P. Jayaswal,argued that

a number of states inancient India had republican forms of government. There are no

survivingconstitutions or works ofpolitical philosophy from this period inIndian history.The

forms of government thus need to be deduced, mostly from the surviving religious texts.These

texts do refer to a number of states havingGaa sangha,or council-based, as opposed to

monarchical governments.

A second form of evidence comes fromGreeks writing about India during the period of contact

following the conquests ofAlexander.Greek writers about India such

asMegasthenes andArrian describe many of the states having republican governments akin to

those of Greece Beginning around 700 BCE, republics developed in a band running alongtheIndus Valley in the northwest and along theGanges Plain in the northeast. They were mainly

small states, though some confederations of republics seem to have formed that covered large

areas, such asVajjian Confederacy,which hadVaishali as its capital around 600 BCE.

As in Greece, the republican era came to an end in the 4th century with the rise of a monarchical

empire. TheMaurya Empire conquered almost the entire subcontinent, ending the autonomy of

the small republics. Some did remain republics under Mauryansuzerainty,or returned to being

republics after the fall of the empire.Madra,for instance, survived as a republic until the 4thcentury CE. The final end of republics in India came with the rise of theGupta Empire,and an

associated philosophy of the divine nature of monarchy.
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