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Basic Principles of the Constitution

By
Syskool
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indian constitution basic principles
indian constitution basic principles
Prof. (Dr.) M. V. Pylee
Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Cochin 

Every constitution reflects the ideas and ideals of the people who framed it. Although it is intended to be a document of permanent value, it is bound to reflect also the conditions and circumstances of the period in which it was framed. The Constitution of India is no exception to this; it embodies certain basic principles. Let us, therefore, begin with a study of these Basic Principles of the Constitution which form the foundations of the democratic government of India.

Basic Principles of the Constitution

A careful study of the Constitution will show that there are at least eight such Basic Principles of the Constitution. These are 

  1. Popular Sovereignty,
  2. Fundamental Rights, 
  3. Directive Principles of State Policy, 
  4. Socialism,
  5. Secularism,
  6. Judicial Independence,
  7. Federalism and
  8. Cabinet Government.

We may examine briefly the scope of each of these Basic Principles of the Constitution popular Sovereignty

India is the  Sovereign Democratic Republic. The opening words of the Preamble to the Constitution emphasise the ultimate authority of the people of India from whose will the Constitution emerged. The Preamble proclaims the solemn resolution of the people to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic.
The Basic Principles of the Constitution of popular sovereignty implies, firstly, that the ultimate authority of all governmental agencies springs from the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution and, secondly, that authority is renewed from time to time through popular elections at regular intervals. Further, under our Constitution, those who wield the executive power of the Government are responsible to the legislatures and through them to the people. Thus, in the affairs of. the State, it is the will of the people that prevails ultimately, and not the will of a few individuals, however, important or powerful.

This Basic Principles of the Constitution is reaffirmed in several places in the Constitution, particularly in Part XV dealing with elections. The elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the Legislative Assembly of every State have to be held on the basis of adult suffrage. Further, such elections must take place at least once every five years. The Constitution also ensures the democratic ideal of “one man, one vote, one value” irrespective of his wealth, education, social status or importance otherwise.

This was perhaps the most fundamental Basic Principles of the Constitution and far-reaching decision of the founding fathers of our Constitution. It was, indeed, an act of faith,  homage to the people of India and implicit in the liberal outlook of India’s freedom struggle. India, thus, became the largest democracy in the world. In 1952, when India went to the polls for the first time under the Constitution, the number of eligible voters was around 173 million. In 1984, for the Eighth General Elections, the number was as large as 389 million. For the Ninth General Elections held in November 1989, the number of eligible voters was about 499 million, which included 35 million in the 18-21 age group who became eligible for the first time following the Sixty-first Constitution Amendment in 1988 amending Article 326. For the 1991 General Elections, the electorate swelled to more than 514 million, in 1999 to 620 million, in 2004 to 650 million and in 2009 it rose to 714 million.

The framers of the Constitution were not satisfied by merely providing for universal adult suffrage. They wanted also to ensure free elections by creating an independent constitutional authority—the Election Commission of India—to be in charge of everything connected with the elections.

Free elections are a reality in India. They secure for the electors both the freedom of choice from among the competing candidates who stand for different programmes and policies, and the secrecy of the ballot. The fifteen General Elections that independent India has so far had, at almost regular intervals since 1952, have demonstrated that in spite of their poverty and widespread illiteracy and difficulties in communication, the people in general, have been able to exercise robust common sense in electing candidates of their choice and, thus, exercise their supreme authority in setting up a democratic, responsible government. India has also been well known for the high percentage of voter participation in all the elections. Numbers and percentages apart, a very significant feature of these elections is* the remarkable involvement of the common citizen with the machinery and functions of democratic self-government, the steady growth of political consciousness and the highly competitive character of Indian politics.

Fundamental Rights

The success or failure of a democracy depends largely on the extent to which civil liberties are enjoyed by the citizens in general. Liberty, however, is not an easy term to define. “The world has never had a good definition of the word ‘liberty’,” said the US President Abraham Lincoln on April 18,1854, soon after the American Civil War on the question of slavery, “and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some, the word ‘liberty’ may mean »for each man to do as he pleases with himself arid the product of his labour, while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men and the produce of other men’s labour. Here are two, not only different but incompatible, things called by the same name ‘liberty’. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by die different and incompatible names—liberty and tyranny.”
Genuine democracy must forever guard against the temptation to transform itself into a system under which the ruling majority claims, infallibility for itself. While democracy requires that the will of the people limits the freedom of the government, it also requires that the freedom of the popular will be limited. A popular will not so limited becomes the tyranny of the majority which destroys the freedom of political competition and, thus, uses the powers of the government to entrench itself permanently in the seat of power and to prevent a new majority from forming. Further, it will tend to think and act as if it will provide the ultimate standard of thought and action and there is no higher law to limit its freedom. As Professor Harold Laski has beautifully put it, “If in any State there is a body of men who possess unlimited political power, those over whom they rule can never be free.” The emergence of such a state of affairs will result in the disappearance of certain vital characteristics of democracy, the spirit of questioning and individual initiative. Their place will be taken up by unquestioned submissiveness and conformity, the most distinguishing characteristics of a totalitarian system. This is perhaps the most serious danger inherent in the dynamics of modern democracy which is to be strongly guarded against.
There are two possible alternative safeguards which a constitution can provide to remedy the situation. First, it can guarantee certain basic rights to the individual citizen against all encroachments by the State. Secondly, it may so divide the powers of the State and entrust them to separate agencies that nobody possesses unlimited power. The Constitution of India has chosen the first alternative and tries to achieve the objective by embodying in it a set of fundamental rights and guaranteeing them through an independent judiciary. These rights impose limitations both on legislative and executive powers of the State. On the one hand, the legislature is prohibited from passing certain laws which would curtail the individual’s freedom, and on the other, the executive is compelled to adhere to certain formalities and procedures when it deals with the citizens. Thus, in an attempt to secure fundamental freedoms, the Constitution delimits the respective spheres of activity of the State and the individual and erects a wall, as it were, between the Government and the people.
The Basic Principles of the Constitution that every individual is entitled to enjoy certain rights as a human being and the enjoyment of such rights does not depend on the will of any majority or minority. No majority has the right to abrogate* such rights. In fact, the legitimacy of the majority to rule is derived from the existence of these rights. These rights include all the basic liberties such as the freedom of speech, movement and association, equality before the law and equal protection of laws, freedom of religious belief, and cultural and educational freedoms. The Constitution has classified these rights into seven categories and one of them is the right to constitutional remedies which entitles every aggrieved person to approach even the Supreme Court of India to restore to him/her any fundamental right that may have been violated.
The prime importance of these rights is that while the will of the majority decides how these freedoms are to be implemented, the existence of the freedoms themselves is not subject to that will. On the contrary, these freedoms ^et the conditions under which the will of the majority is to be formed and exercised. They establish the framework of “democratic legitimacy” for the rule of the majority.
It must be stressed, however, that the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not absolute. Individual rights, however, basic they are, cannot override national security and general welfare. For, in the absence of national security and general welfare, individual rights themselves are not secure. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to abuse another person; freedom of movement does not mean freedom of settlement/movement to “sensitive areas”. The Constitution has made express provisions dealing with such limitations of fundamental rights so that those who seek to enjoy the rights may also realise the obligations attending them
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Indian Citizenship

By
Syskool
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Indian Citizenship

A citizen is a person who enjoys full membership of the community or State in which he lives or ordinarily lives. Citizens are different from aliens, who do not enjoy all the rights which are essential for full membership of a state.

Indian Citizenship

Part II of the Constitution simply describes classes of persons living in India at the commencement of the Constitution, i.e. 26th January 1950, and leaves the entire law of the citizenship to be regulated by legislations made by the Parliament. In exercise of its power, the Parliament has enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, which was subsequently amended in 1986.

The Act provides for the acquisition of Indian citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution in five ways, i.e. birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory.

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1. By birth- Every person born in India on or after Jan 26, 1950, shall be a citizen of India by the law of soil (Jus Soli), provided either or both of his/her parents are citizens of India at the time of his/her birth. But this law does not apply where his/her father is a diplomat of any other country or is an enemy alien at the time of his/her birth.
2. By descent- Broadly, a person bomb outside India on or after January 26, 1950, is a citizen of India by descent if his/her father is a citizen of India at the time of that person’s birth i.e. the law of blood (Jus Sanguine).
3. By registration- Any person who is not a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution or any of the provisions of the Citizenship Act may acquire citizenship by applying for registration for such a purpose. However, he/she should have lived in India for at least 5 years, for not less than 90 days a year, immediately before making such an application.
4. By naturalisation- A foreigner can acquire citizenship of India by applying for such before a competent authority provided, he/ she had lived in India for at least 10 years.
5. By incorporation of territories- If any new territory becomes a part of India, after a popular verdict, the Government of India may notify the person of that territory to be citizens of India.

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Termination of citizenship

The Citizenship Act, 1955 also lays down three modes by which an Indian citizen may lose his/her citizenship. These are renunciation, termination and deprivation.

A renunciation is a voluntary act by which a person, after acquiring the citizenship of another country, gives up his Indian citizenship. This provision is subject to certain conditions.

Termination takes place by operation of law when an Indian citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country. He automatically ceases to be an Indian citizen.

Deprivation is a compulsory termination of the citizenship of India obtained by Registration or Naturalisation, by the Government of India, on charges of using fraudulent means to acquire citizenship.

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Dual Citizenship

The Indian Constitution, under Art. 11, gives power to the Indian Parliament to legislate on citizenship matters. Accordingly, Parliament enacted the Citizenship Act in 1955. Art. 9 says that citizenship means full citizenship. The
Constitution does not recognise divided allegiance. Section 10 of the Citizenship Act says that a person cannot have allegiance to the Indian Constitution as well as to the Constitution of another country. The Indian courts have consistently ruled against dual citizenship.

If an Indian citizen acquires citizenship of another country, he loses the Indian citizenship. For example, if a child of parents who are citizens of India, is born in another country and does not renounce the citizenship of that country on
attainment of adulthood, he/she loses the Indian citizenship.

The reason for the denial of dual citizenship is that citizenship entails certain duties like serving in the army if the need be.

Rights not available to Aliens

1. right not to be discriminated against on grounds of race, caste, religion, sex or place of birth (Art. 15)
2. right to equality of opportunity in public employment (Art. 16)
3. right to six fundamental freedoms under Art. 1 9.
4. right of suffrage
5. cultural and educational rights conferred by Arts. 29 &30.
6. rights to hold certain offices-President, Vice-President, Governor of States, Judges of Supreme Court or High Courts, Attorney General of India, Comptroller and Auditor General, etc.
7. right to contest the election and get elected to either House at the Centre or State level.

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Can a person not born in India, but having acquired citizenship by registration or otherwise, become the Prime Minister of India?

The likelihood of the President of Indian National Congress (Indira), Mrs Sonia Gandhi, becoming the Prime Minister of India after being elected to the 13th Lok Sabha generated a controversy whether a person who becomes a citizen of
India either by registration or naturalisation should occupy, what effectively is, the highest position in the country. The Constitutional position is as follows:
Art. 14 guarantees equality before law Arts. 15 and 16 prohibit discrimination and commit the government to equality of opportunity.
Art. 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of Government employment and appointment.

The Constitution does not differentiate between an ordinary and a naturalised citizen as far as eligibility to contest for the Lok Sabha seat is concerned and thereafter, any member is constitutionally entitled to become the Prime Minister provided the requisite support in Lok Sabha is available.

Therefore, the India Constitution does not bar a naturalised citizen from becoming a Prime Minister. However, in the US, the Constitution permits naturalised citizens to become members of the Senate only (Federal House) but not the President.

Moreover, naturalised citizens can hold any high post other than that of President in the US. This defies logic. For example, the former Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, is a naturalised US citizen. She had been invited to head the government of her native country. Some experts cite internal security as a reason for such a law in the USA. If this is the reason, the Secretary of State can also pose a threat to the internal security. This shows that there is no sound reason behind the exclusion of a naturalised citizen from becoming the President of the USA. So, we should not try to cite the faulty law in the US Constitution for opposing Sonia Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister of India. But whether she has the necessary competence to hold the top job of our country is another question altogether.

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The Fundamental Rights

By
Syskool
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1
fundamental rights

The Fundamental Right is a charter of rights contained in the Constitution of India. It guarantees civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India. These include individual rights common to most liberal democracies, such as equality before the law, freedom of speech and expression, and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion, and the right to constitutional remedies for the protection of civil rights.

The Fundamental Rights are defined as basic human freedoms which every Indian citizen has the right to enjoy for a proper and harmonious development of personality. These rights universally apply to all citizens, irrespective of race, place of birth, religion, caste or gender.

Changes to the fundamental rights require a constitutional amendment which has to be passed by a special majority of both houses of Parliament. This means that an amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of the members present and voting. The number of members voting should not be less than the simple majority of the house – whether the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

Six Fundamental Rights

  • The Right to EQUALITY
  • The Right to FREEDOM
  • The Right to Freedom from EXPLOITATION
  • The Right to FREEDOM OF RELIGION
  • CULTURAL and EDUCATIONAL Rights
  • The Right to CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDIES

Members of Congress composed of a large majority, Congress leaders appointed persons from diverse political backgrounds to the responsibilities of developing the constitution and national laws. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar became the chairperson of the drafting committee, while Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel became chairpersons of committees and sub-committees responsible for different subjects. A notable development during that period having a significant effect on the Indian constitution took place on 10 December 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and called upon all member states to adopt these rights in their respective constitutions.

Right to equality, including equality before the law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, the abolition of untouchability and abolition of titles.

Right to freedom which includes speech and expression, assembly, association or union or cooperatives, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality), right to life and liberty, right to education, protection in respect to conviction in offences and protection against arrest and detention in certain cases.

Right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic in human beings.

Right to freedom of religion, including freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, freedom from certain taxes and freedom from religious instructions in certain educational institutes.

Cultural and Educational rights preserving Right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

Right to constitutional remedies for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

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Role of Media

By
Syskool
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role of media

To understand the role of media, broadly mass media can be divided into two parts – electronic media and print media. TV, Radio, the  Internet,etc. are included in the electronic media. And Newspapers, Magazines and Journals, etc.are included in the print media.

The mass media is a unique feature of modern society. In the last five to six decades the influence and role of media have grown exponentially with the advance of technology. There is a direct relation between the development of mass media and social change. However, the degree of this influence depends on the issues taken up by the media. We live in a society that depends on information and communication, to keep moving in the right direction. Our day to day activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationship, travelling almost everything is influenced by media directly or indirectly.

Most of the consequences either detrimental or beneficial, which have been attributed to mass media, can be due to some other tendencies in the society. Therefore, some sociologists even say that the mass media is used as ‘an instrument’ and it is both more powerful and more flexible than everything in previous existence.

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Role of Media

Electronic media, particularly the visual one, influences the viewers in a great way. In order to increase their TRP, the various TV channels are showing such scenes and images, which are of no importance and have an adverse effect on the mind of viewers. Many channels cross the limits of ethics and morality by showing sexual and rape cases, with minute details by the anchor. They little understand the trauma of the victim. Their only purpose seems to be to present such news in a spicy manner. The TV coverage of massacres by communal fanatics creates feeling of hatred among the communities and motivates others to wreak vengeance. And the same thing can be said about the print media also though the printed matter doesn’t have that subtle effect as the visual one has. It is also seen that the media (both electronic and print) is biassed. It is the owner who decides the policy of a particular TV channel, newspaper or some journal. They favour some particular ideology or political viewpoint and people are generally carried away by their views. They lose their own sense of discretion because they consider their views as the gospel truth.

The media makes billions of rupees with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. People generally make up their buying decisions on the basis of what they see on TV, newspapers or magazines. And many a time they are carried away by the tall claims made by these advertisements and buy substandard or unnecessary things. But this is only one face of the coin. The role of media is to help in increasing our knowledge about the different brands available in the market and thus gives us the wider choice.

It is believed that the most prominent sign of the role of media (mass) influence is the link to violent programmes. Some people believe that the TV has altered the world, and it is rotting the minds of the youth. Most of the reality programmes are just a dump of rubbish ideas. Who can deny the fact of the usage of obscene and double meaning language used in such programmes?

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No one can ever forget the 26/11 Mumbai bomb blasts. And the role of different TV channels did an irreparable harm to the nation. Just to increase their viewer ship all the channels were showing minute details of these attacks, the position of the security forces, etc. And the terrorists across the border used this information to cause more and more destruction. It is the social responsibility of media to be sensible in covering such incidents.

Both the print and the electronic media can play very important role in the awakening the common man against social evils. The most recent example, in this case, is that of Anna Hazare. His drive against corruption and the demand of Janlokpal Bill (Public ombudsman bill) received wide media coverage. Anna Hazare mobilised the masses with his fast against corruption. The media – and in particular TV news channels – virtually turned coverage into a campaign. Corruption is a big problem which is eating into the entrails of the nation. And the media made a very positive impact on society by arousing it from its deep slumber against this evil.

It can be safely concluded that role of media is like a double edged sword. And it is the responsibility of the media people to use it to eradicate the evils from the society.

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The Constitution of India – Drafting and Composition

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Syskool
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Constitution India Drafting

The present Constitution was framed by the Constituent Assembly of India setup under Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by the elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the for Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.

Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total number of seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of one to a million.

B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Adviser of the Assembly.

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place on December 9, 1946, with Dr. Sachidanand Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as its President on December 11, 1946.

The Assembly has 13 committees for framing the Constitution.

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The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the Constituent Assembly, from July 1947 to September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947. Its members were:

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar – Chairman
  2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
  3. Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar (a distinguished jurist)
  4. K. M. Munshi (a distinguished jurist)
  5. Syyed Mohd. Saadulla
  6. N. Madhav Rao (in place of B L Mitra)
  7. D. P. Khaitan (T Krishnamachari , after Khaitan’s death in 1948)

It was finally passed and accepted on November 26, 1949. The last session of the Assembly was held on January 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all, 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.

Although Constitution was ready on November 26, 1949, but was delayed until Jan 26, 1950, because in 1929 on this day Indian National Congress demanded ‘Poorna Swaraj‘ in Lahore session under J L Nehru. Some of the provisions as those related to citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament etc, were given immediate effect.

Constituent Assembly took 2 years – 11 months – 18 days to complete the Constitution.

Originally it had 395 articles, and 8 schedules (12 at present).

Constituent Assembly adopted our National Flag on July 22, 1947. It was designed by Pingali Venkaiah of Andhra Pradesh.

The idea to have Constitution was given by M N Roy. He was a Political Philosopher.

The Preamble of the Constitution is a preface or the introduction to the constitution. It is not an integral part of Constitution. The interpretation of the Constitution is based on the spirit of Preamble.

The ‘Objective Resolution‘, proposed by Pandit Nehru and passed by the Constituent Assembly, ultimately became the Preamble of the constitution.

The Idea of Preamble borrowed from the Constitution of United States.

The words ‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ and ‘Unity & Integrity’ were added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976.

The Preamble of the Constitution is not Justiciable.

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