Indian Polity Quiz: The Preamble, Union and its Territory, Citizenship | 2 June, 2021

Democracy is of two types: direct and indirect. In direct democracy, the people exercise their supreme power directly as is the case in Switzerland.

• There are four devices of direct democracy, namely, Referendum, Initiative, Recall and Plebiscite.
• In indirect democracy, on the other hand, the representatives elected by the people exercise the supreme power and thus carry on the government and make the laws.
• This type of democracy, also known as representative democracy, is of two kinds: parliamentary and presidential.

• The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions.
• Universal adult franchise, periodic elections, rule of law, independence of judiciary, and absence of discrimination on certain grounds are the manifestations of the democratic character of the Indian polity.

Source: Laxmikanth

American Constitution was the first to begin with a Preamble. Many countries, including India, followed this practice.

• The term preamble refers to the introduction or preface to the Constitution. It contains the summary or essence of the Constitution.
• N A Palkhivala, an eminent jurist and constitutional expert, called the Preamble as the identity card of the Constitution.

Source: Laxmikanth.

The Constitution of India stands for a secular state. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. The following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State:

• The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976.
• The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief, faith and worship.
• The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).
• The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground of religion (Article 15).

• Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment (Article 16).
• All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion (Article 25).
• Every religious denomination or any of its section shall have the right to manage its religious affairs (Article 26).
• No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion of a particular religion (Article 27).

Source: Laxmikanth

The term ‘justice’ in the Preamble embraces three distinct forms-social, economic and political, secured through various provisions of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles.

• Social justice denotes the equal treatment of all citizens without any social distinction based on caste, color, race, religion, sex and so on.
• It means absence of privileges being extended to any particular section of the society, and improvement in the conditions of backward classes (SCs, STs and OBCs) and women.
• Economic justice denotes the non-discrimination between people on the basis of economic factors. It involves the elimination of glaring inequalities in wealth, income and property.
• A combination of social justice and economic justice denotes what is known as ‘distributive justice’.

• Political justice implies that all citizens should have equal political rights, equal access to all political offices and equal voice in the government.
• Fundamental Duties & Idea of Social, Economic, and Political Justice in Preamble was taken from Russian Constitution.

Source: Laxmikanth

The Constitution deals with the citizenship from Articles 5 to 11 under Part II. However, it contains neither any permanent nor any elaborate provisions in this regard.

• It only identifies the persons who became citizens of India at its commencement (i.e., on January 26, 1950).
• It does not deal with the problem of acquisition or loss of citizenship subsequent to its commencement.

• It empowers the Parliament to enact a law to provide for such matters and any other matter relating to citizenship.
• Accordingly, the Parliament has enacted the Citizenship Act, 1955, which has been amended in 1957, 1960, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2015 and 2019.

Source: Laxmikanth

Till 1947, Sikkim was an Indian princely state ruled by Chogyal. In 1947, after the lapse of British paramount, Sikkim became a ‘protectorate’ of India, whereby the Indian Government assumed responsibility for the defense, external affairs and communications of Sikkim.

• In 1974, Sikkim expressed its desire for greater association with India. Accordingly, the 35th Constitutional Amendment Act (1974) was enacted by the parliament.

• This amendment introduced a new class of statehood under the constitution by conferring on Sikkim the status of an ‘associate state’ of the Indian Union.
• For this purpose, a new Article 2A and a new schedule (Tenth Schedule containing the terms and conditions of association) were inserted in the Constitution.
• This experiment, however, did not last long as it could not fully satisfy the aspirations of the people of Sikkim.
• In a referendum held in 1975, they voted for the abolition of the institution of Chogyal and Sikkim becoming an integral part of India.
• Consequently, the 36th Constitutional Amendment Act (1975) was enacted to make Sikkim a full-fledged state of the Indian Union (the 22nd state).

• This amendment amended the First and the Fourth Schedules to the Constitution and added a new Article 371-F to provide for certain special provisions with respect to the administration of Sikkim.
• It also repealed Article 2A and the Tenth Schedule that were added by the 35th Amendment Act of 1974.

Source: Laxmikanth

Like any other modern state, India has two kinds of people—citizens and aliens. Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it. They enjoy all civil and political rights.

• Aliens, on the other hand, are the citizens of some other state and hence, do not enjoy all the civil and political rights. They are of two categories—friendly aliens or enemy aliens.
• Friendly aliens are the subjects of those countries that have cordial relations with India. Enemy aliens, on the other hand, are the subjects of that country that is at war with India.

• They enjoy lesser rights than the friendly aliens, e.g., they do not enjoy protection against arrest and detention (Article 22).
• Along with the above rights, the citizens also owe certain duties towards the Indian State, as for example, paying taxes, respecting the national flag and national anthem, defending the country and so on.
• In India both a citizen by birth as well as a naturalized citizen is eligible for the office of President while in USA, only a citizen by birth and not a naturalized citizen is eligible for the office of President.

Source: Laxmikanth

Article 1 describes India, that is, Bharat as a ‘Union of States’ rather than a ‘Federation of States’.

• This provision deals with two things: one, name of the country, and two, type of polity.

• There was no unanimity in the Constituent Assembly with regard to the name of the country. Some members suggested the traditional name (Bharat) while other advocated the modern name (India).
• Hence, the Constituent Assembly had to adopt a mix of both (‘India, that is, Bharat’)
• Secondly, the country is described as ‘Union’ although its Constitution is federal in structure.
• According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the phrase ‘Union of States’ has been preferred to ‘Federation of States’ for two reasons: one, the Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement among the states like the American Federation; and two, the states have no right to secede from the federation.
• The federation is a Union because it is indestructible. The country is an integral whole and divided into different states only for the convenience of administration.

Source: Laxmikanth.

The integration of princely states with the rest of India has purely an ad hoc arrangement. There has been a demand from different regions, particularly South India, for reorganization of states on linguistic basis.

• Accordingly, in June 1948, the Government of India appointed the Linguistic Provinces Commission under the chairmanship of S K Dhar to examine the feasibility of this.
• The commission submitted its report in December 1948 and recommended the reorganization of states on the basis of administrative convenience rather than linguistic factor.
• This created much resentment and led to the appointment of another Linguistic Provinces Committee by the Congress in December 1948 itself to examine the whole question afresh.

• It consisted of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallahbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya and hence, was popularly known as JVP Committee.
• It submitted its report in April 1949 and formally rejected language as the basis for reorganization of states.
• The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis.
• This forced the Government of India to appoint (in December 1953) a three-member States Reorganisation Commission under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali to re-examine the whole question. Its other two members were K M Panikkar and H N Kunzru.
• It submitted its report in September 1955 and broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation of states. But it rejected the theory of one language– one state.

Source: Laxmikanth

The Preamble in its present form reads:

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 Indian Constitution is based on the ‘Objectives Resolution’, drafted and moved by Pandit Nehru, and adopted by the Constituent Assembly. It has been amended by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1976), which added three new words: socialist, secular and integrity.

Source: Laxmikanth.