The Preamble of the Constitution of India

                                  

Hello Everyone!

In this blog I will share the conceptual points regarding preamble of the constitution of India:

1. Introduction
2. What is the preamble of the constitution of India?
3. Importance of the preamble of the constitution and its purposes
4. What are the main objectives enshrined in the preamble?
5. Is the preamble part of the constitution?
6. Can preamble be amended by parliament of India under art 368?
7. Keywords of the preamble
8. Conclusion!

1. Introduction

The preamble is a key to open the mind of the makers and shows the general purpose for which they made the several provisions in the constitution. The Ideas behind the PREAMBLE to India's Constitution were laid down by Jawahar Lal Nehru's "Objective Resolution" adopted by the constituent assembly on January 22, 1947.

2. What is the preamble of the constitution of India?

The preamble to an act or document sets out the main objectives which the legislation is intended to achieve. It is an introductory statement in an Act or document that explains its philosophy and objectives.

3. What is the importance of the preamble of the constitution and its purposes?

The preamble of India has the following 2 points of great importance:
It defines the main objectives of the framers of the constitution and the nature of the constitution.
It may be involved to determine the ambit of:

• Fundamental rights 
• Directive principles of state policy
• Fundamental duties  

The preamble serves the following purposes:

• Indicates the source from which the constitution comes
• The enacting clause which brings into force the constitution
• Indicates the rights and freedoms which the people of India intended to secure and form of government e.g. parliamentary form of government.

4. What is the main objectives enshrined in the preamble?

The following are the main objectives which the preamble secures to every citizen:

• Justice ... social, economic and political;
• Liberty ... of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
• Equality ... of status and opportunity;
• Fraternity ... assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.

5. Is the the preamble part of the constitution?

There are 2 important cases that help in understanding the answer to this question:

1. Position before KESAVANANDA BHARTI'S JUDGEMENT:
   In re Berubari's case, AIR 1960 SC, The hon'ble SC of India held that the PREAMBLE was not a part of the Constitution and therefore it could never be regarded as a source of any substantive powers . Such powers are expressly granted in the body of constitution . It has limited application and can be resorted to where there is any ambiguity in the statute or any provisions of it.
2. Position after KESAVANANDA BHARTI'S JUDGEMENT:
   In KESAVANANDA Bharati v. State of Kerala AIR 1973, The hon'ble SC held that the PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION is the part of the constitution and rejected the above view taken by the SC in Berubari's case. SC observed that the preamble of the Constitution is of extreme importance and the constitution should be read and interpreted in the light of the grand and noble vision expressed in the Preamble . Though this proposition is not the same for other statues.

6. Can the preamble be amended by parliament of India under Art 368?

In the landmark judgement KESAVANANDA BHARATI VS STATE OF KERALA AIR 1973 the Hon'ble SC of India held that the PREAMBLE is the part of the constitution so it can be amended by parliament under Art 368 but subject to this condition that the "Basic features" in the preamble cannot be amended. The court held that "the edifice of our constitution is based upon the basic elements mentioned in the preamble. If any of these elements are removed the structure will not survive and it will not be the same constitution".

After that the parliament of India Amended the Preamble by 42nd amendment and inserted three new words in the preamble e.g Secular, Socialist, Integrity in 1976. Even though these concepts were already implicit in the constitution, the amendment merely spells out clearly these concepts in the preamble.

7. Keywords of the preamble 

Each word and phrase in the preamble has been written after careful deliberation. In order to understand the preamble, it is important to understand the key words and phrases in it.

“We, the people of India…”

This expression indicates that the ultimate sovereignty lies in the people of India.

"Sovereign"
The term ‘Sovereignty’ means that India has its own independent authority and is no more dependent upon any outside authority. Being a sovereign state, India is free from any type of external control. In the country, the legislature/ state has the power to make laws on any subject in conformity with Constitutional Limitations.

"Socialist"
The term ‘Socialist’ was added in the Preamble by 42nd Amendment, 1976 which means the achievement of socialist ends through democratic means. It is basically a ‘Democratic Socialism’ that holds faith in a mixed economy where both private and public sectors co-exist side by side.

So it is clear that under the constitution of India the concept of 'Democratic Socialism' follow whose aims to:

• End poverty and ignorance;
• Disease and inequality of opportunity;
• To remove economic inequality;
• To provide decent standard of living to the working people especially for labour class;
• To protect the interest of the weaker section of the society;

The concept of socialism is implicit in the preamble and DPSP. The word Socialism can be used in both types of CONSTITUTIONS e.g Democratic Constitution and Communistic constitution. But Indian socialism is a democratic Socialism.

In D.S NAKARA V UNION OF INDIA,  AIR 1983, the hon'ble SC held that the basic framework of socialism under the CONSTITUTION provides a decent standard of life to working people and especially provides security from cradle to grave . The concept of Socialism embodied in the preamble is based on Gandhian Socialism.

"Secular"
The term ‘Secular’ was incorporated/ inserted  in the Preamble by 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976 which means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the state.

Secular state means that the state has no official religion. Secularism pervades its provisions which give full opportunity to all persons to process, practice and propagate religion of their choice .

Under the shed of secularism, the CONSTITUTION not only guarantees a person's freedom of religion and conscience but also ensures freedom for those who have no religion . It scrupulously restrains the state from making any discrimination on the grounds of religion.

In S.R BOMMAI V. UNION OF INDIA AIR 1994, The hon'ble SC held that secularism is the basic feature of the CONSTITUTION .

"Democratic"
The term ‘Democratic’ implies that the Constitution of India has an established form of Constitution which gets its authority from the will of the people expressed in an election.The rules are elected by people and are responsible for them e.g parliamentary form of government. The source of authority under the CONSTITUTION is the people of India and there is no subordination to any external authority.

The democratic set up can be of two types:

• Direct: In Direct democracy the legal and political sovereignty vests in the people.
• Indirect: In Indirect democracy the legal and political power exercises by the representative of the people.

The Indian Constitution adopted the indirect democracy e.g parliamentary form of government .

"Republic"
The term ‘Republic’ indicates that the head of the state is not a hereditary monarch. In India the political sovereignty vests in the peoples And head of state is only  elected by the people directly or indirectly for a fixed period . In India, the President is the head of the state and he is elected indirectly by the people.

7. Conclusion

Now it is clear that the preamble of the constitution is an inseparable part of the constitution. It may be used in the interpretation of constitutional provisions and the parliament has no power to destroy its "basic features".

Hence, I conclude with the observation that the preamble of the constitution is framed with the great care and deliberation so it reflects the high purpose and noble objectives of the constitution.

At last, without any hesitation, we can say that it gives the light and water to the constitution by which the constitution can grow and Supreme Court (SC) can expend the ambit of rights and freedoms to the people of this country.


Best regards
Law Student!
Faculty Of Law, University of Delhi 

THANKS 😊