Preamble
Preamble
Preamble
PREAMBLE
The preamble to the Constitution of India is a brief introductory statement that sets out the
guiding purpose, principles and philosophy of the constitution. Preamble gives idea about the
following:
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:
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the
Nation;
The phrase “We the people of India” emphasises that the constitution is made by and for the
Indian people and not given to them by any outside power. It also emphasizes the concept of popular
sovereignty as laid down by Rousseau: All the power emanates from the people and the political
1. Sovereign: 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. No external power can dictate the government of India.
distribution are owned by the State. India adopted Mixed Economy, where apart from state, there
will be private production too. Socialism as a social philosophy stresses more on the societal
equality.
3. Secular: Features of secularism as envisaged in the Preamble is to mean that the state
will have no religion of its own and all persons will be equally entitled to the freedom of conscience
and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate the religion of their choice. (S R Bommai and
4. Democratic: Indicates that the Constitution has established a form of Government which
gets its authority from the will of the people. The rulers are elected by the people and are responsible
to them.
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.
Fraternity: assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.
The ideal of justice implies a system where individuals can realize their full potentialities. In
the view of our founding fathers it is not enough that there is political or legal justice. Political and
legal justice is a myth unless accompanied by social and economic justice. Social justice implies that
all social discriminations like caste or untouchability must be ended. Economic justice implies that
economic exploitations should be ended. However, social and economic justice still remains
unrealized dreams.
The ideal of liberty aims at ensuring these freedoms which make men really free. Liberty to
be meaningful must mean liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. This concept of
liberty is essentially political in nature. Non-mention of the economic liberty is certainly a drawback
of the preamble.
particularly important in the Indian society, vitiated by caste system and untouchability. But here
again one should remember that equality in the social arena is bound to be empty unless
individual and unity of the nation. One should however note that a fraternal feeling among Indians
would grow only in proportion to the realization of the ideals of justice, liberty and equality. Thus
fraternity is not an independent ideal but a resultant of the successful realization of important ideals
listed earlier.
Date of adoption of the Constitution is 26th November, 1949. But most of the articles in
Constitution came into force on January 26th, 1950. Those articles which came into existence on
Article 394 states that this article (394) and articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380,
388, 391, 392 and 393 shall come into force at once, and the remaining provisions of this
Constitution shall come into force on the twenty-sixth day of January, 1950, which day is referred to
26 January was selected for this purpose because it was this day in 1930 when the
Declaration of Indian Independence (Purna Swaraj) was proclaimed by the Indian National
Congress.
Case laws:
Berubari case was the Presidential Reference Under Art. 143(1) of the Constitution of India
on the implementation of the Indo-Pak agreement relating to Berubari union and exchange of
enclaves which come up for consideration by a bench consisting of eight judges headed by
B.P.Sinha, C.J. Justice Gajendragadkar delivered the unanimous opinion of the court. Quoting story,
the eminent Constitutional jurist, the court held that the Preamble to the Constitution containing the
declaration made by the people of India in exercise of their sovereign will, no doubt is “a key to
open the minds of framers of the Constitution” which may show the general purposes for which they
made the several provisions in the Constitution but nevertheless the Preamble is not a part of the
Constitution.
Kesavanada Bharati Case has created a history. For the first time, a bench of 13 Judges
assembled and sat in its original jurisdiction hearing the writ petition. 13 Judges placed on record 11
separate opinions. The majority of the judges have held in this case:
c. the Preamble has a significant role to play in the interpretation of statues, also in the
In this case it was ruled by the Apex Court that the word, ‘secular’ which was inserted in the
preamble in the 42nd Amendment, 1976 forms the basic structure of the Constitution.
Thus, the Preamble to a Constitution embodies the fundamental values and the philosophy,
on which the Constitution is based, and the aims and objectives, which the founding fathers of the