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

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

This project is an attempt to understand and analyze the preamble contained in the
constitution of India.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

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 its
citizens:
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 HEREBY
ADOPT, 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 the Indian 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 the Kesavananda 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As originally enacted the preamble described the state as a ""sovereign democratic republic". In
1976 the Forty-second Amendment changed this to read "sovereign socialist secular democratic
republic".

The enacting 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

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

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 the Constitution 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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

SOVREIGN
The word sovereign 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 directly elected by 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 other
colonial 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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

SOCIALIST

The word socialist 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
of caste, color, creed, sex, religion, or language. Under social equality, everyone has equal status
and opportunities.
Economic equality in this context means that the government 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 a welfare 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 of
socialism- 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

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

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 stateownership 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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

SECULAR

The word secular was also inserted into the preamble by the Forty-second Amendment.(1976) It
implies equality of all religions 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 in Sociology, 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 in S.R Bommai v. Union of India held 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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

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 is
a democracy. The people of India elect their governments at all levels (Union, State and local) by
a system of universal 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 of caste,
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 And
Give 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. With
this in mind, if technology and industry were to thrive in India as they do in other democratic
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 of poor
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 other democratic
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 widening rich-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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

Nehru"tms strong belief in democracy allowed the people to continue working on their farms and
keeping them satisfied with their current 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. The caste 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.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER

REPUBLIC

As opposed to a monarchy, in which the head of state is appointed on hereditary basis for a
lifetime or until he abdicates from the throne, a democratic republic is an entity in which the
head of state is elected, directly or indirectly, for a fixed tenure. The President 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 of Indian scholars, most notably as K.P. Jayaswal, argued that
a number of states in ancient India had republican forms of government. There are no
surviving constitutions or works of political philosophy from this period in Indian 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 having Gaa sangha, or council-based, as opposed to
monarchical governments.
A second form of evidence comes from Greeks writing about India during the period of contact
following the conquests of Alexander. Greek writers about India such
as Megasthenes and Arrian describe many of the states having republican governments akin to
those of Greece Beginning around 700 BCE, republics developed in a band running along
the Indus Valley in the northwest and along the Ganges Plain in the northeast. They were mainly
small states, though some confederations of republics seem to have formed that covered large
areas, such as Vajjian Confederacy, which had Vaishali 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. The Maurya Empire conquered almost the entire subcontinent, ending the autonomy of
the small republics. Some did remain republics under Mauryan suzerainty, or returned to being
republics after the fall of the empire. Madra, for instance, survived as a republic until the 4th
century CE. The final end of republics in India came with the rise of the Gupta Empire, and an
associated philosophy of the divine nature of monarchy.

AAKASH NARANG | CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | III TRIMESTER