PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION

PREAMBLE OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

PREAMBLE is like a blueprint which reflects Basic Structure and the Spirit of the Constitution. The idea of Preamble taken from the US Constitution.

On 13^th December, 1946, the 3^rd meeting of Constituent Assembly was held where Objective Resolution (fundamentals and philosophy of Constitutional structure) was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru which was was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on 24^th January,1947. Its modified version forms the Preamble of Present Constitution.

The painting of Preamble is work of an renowned painter name Beohar Rammanohar Sinha of Jabalpur who was at Shantiniketan with Acharya Nandalal Bose at that time.

 The Preamble was amended only by 42^nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976 which added three words: Socialist, Secular and Integrity

The preamble starts with “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA” which indicates source of the Constitution, i.e. Our Constituent Assembly was made by Indian people only and not by any external power. On behalf of people, Constituent Assembly has made Constitution and given back to Indian people.

The words “SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLIC” define nature of the Constituent Assembly.

JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY and FRATERNITY is objectives of the Constituent Assembly.

26^th of November, 1949 is adoption date of Preamble.

So Preamble of Indian Constitution besides being an Introductory Statement and guide also talks about its source, nature and objective.

IMPORTANT WORDS IN THE PREAMBLE ELABORATED:

SOVEREIGN	Means Independent and free
	India is completely independent i.e. free government.
	No external  interference from other country
	Both Internal and external matter can be handled Independently
	Indian Citizens are also free to elect their representative in election
SOCIALIST	Added through 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976
	India is a democratic and not communistic.
	Inspired by philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
	Objective to establish welfare state by ending poverty, ignorance, disease, inequal opportunity from the society.
SECULARISM	Added through 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976
	All religions have equal status and support from state irrespective of their strength and other factors.
	State has no religion but Individual can freely practice, propagate and profess religion and can manage their Religious Institution.
DEMOCRACY	DEMO means People; CRACY means Rule DEMOCRACY means Rule of the  people
	Based on Doctrine of popular Sovereignty
	Possession of Supreme power by the people i.e. government will be formed by the will of the people
	India is having Indirect democracy which is also called Representative form of democracy.
	Every Citizens after the age of 18 years have right to vote
REPUBLIC	People at the top or Head of the State i.e.  President and Prime Minister are elected and not nominated by Hierarchy.
	Opposite of Monarchy: No succession policy or not like country which are  ruled by King / Queen (Monarchy)
JUSTICE	Taken from Russian Revolution
	Via Fundamental Rights and Directive Principle of State policy, People will get justice with respect to following aspects:- Social - Equal treatment of citizens without discrimination based caste, creed, colour, sex, religion, education. Economic - Development reducing inequalities in income, wealth, property Political  - Equal political rights access to all political office (including Prime Minister and President)
LIBERTY	Taken from French Revolution
	Absence of restraints on the individual activities.
	Provide opportunities for the development of individual personalities
EQUALITY	Absence of privileges to any section of the society
	Equal opportunities for all individuals without any discrimination.
	Equal Status and Opportunity to all citizens of India
FRATERNITY	Sense of brotherhood is promoted by the system of single citizenship.
	Part of Fundamental Duties
	Assure dignity of individual and unity and integrity (added through 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976) of nation. Article 1 of the Constitution describes India , that is Bharat , shall be ‘Union of States’ which means States have no right to secede from the Union

 It does not contain laws enforceable in a court  and is also not justifiable but no law can be enacted or amended in a manner that violates the spirit of the Preamble.

Vide case law Re. Berubari Union & Exchange of Enclaves , Supreme Court held that as per Article 368 Parliament can amend any part of the Indian Constitution and Preamble is not a Part of the Indian Constitution. Hence, Preamble cannot be amended/altered through Article 368.

[Article 368 empower Parliament to make amendment to the Indian Constitution.]

This decision was taken ignoring that Preamble like other parts of the Indian Constitution had been adopted and enacted with same procedure.

It was later observed in Kesavananda Bharti Vs. State of Kerala Case where Supreme Court observed that like other parts of the Indian Constitution, Preamble has also been adopted and enacted in same procedure that means Preamble is a part of the Indian Constitution. So Parliament through Article 368 can amend any part of the Indian Constitution including Preamble.

Preamble talks about various features including basic features of Indian Constitution. Hence, Parliament through Article 368 can amend Preamble but cannot alter its basic features. Basic features of Preamble cannot be altered.

It has been observed that three words (Socialist, Secular and Integrity) was added in the Preamble through 42^nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976. The However, these amendments have not altered basic features of the Preamble, rather added strength and power to Preamble.

Hence, it can be concluded that PREAMBLE can be amended but its basic features cannot be altered through Parliament using Article 368.

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