Chapter – 2: Philosophy of the Indian Constitution

The philosophy and ideals of the Indian Constitution are reflected in the Preamble to the Constitution of
India. Our Constitution may be said to be an expansion and explanation of the Preamble. Supreme Court
Chief Justice, Justice Subba Rao opined, “Preamble contains, in a nutshell, its ideals and its aspirations.”
To understand the philosophy and ideals of the Indian Constitution, we must know the Preamble in the
first place. Let us define and analyze the Preamble to the Indian Constitution

A) THE PREAMBLE

The Constitution of India starts with a Preamble. It is the most precious part of the Constitution. It is the
soul of the Constitution. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution says:
“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 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.”

From the Preamble we can understand the philosophy and ideals of the Indian Constitution. The
philosophy and ideals of the Indian Constitution are discussed as follows:

These Preamble begins with the words “We the people of India………” and ends with the words
“………adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution”. It indicates that ultimate sovereignty lies
with the people of India who collectively constitute the supreme source of authority in the country. The
Constitution is regarded as the supreme law of the state, but the supreme power of the state is vested
upon the people of India.

· India as a Sovereign state: The Preamble declares India as a sovereign state. It is free from any external
control. No foreign power can interfere in the internal affairs of India. India can determine her foreign
affairs according to her free will.

· India as a Socialist state: The word ‘Socialist’ has been added in the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment
in 1976. It means the Constitution of India has a great objective to secure social and economic equality
and fair distribution of wealth among all sections of people in the country. By inserting the term
‘socialist’, it has not only brought a feeling of equal status among the people but also strengthened the
philosophical foundation of the Indian Constitution. Some socialistic principles are also distinctly
reflected in the Articles 39, 41, 42 and 43 which are incorporated in the Directive Principles of State
Policy.

· India as a Secular state: The word ‘Secular’ has been included in the Preamble by the 42nd
Amendment in 1976. The characteristic of Indian secularism is that India does not recognize any religion
as the official or state religion and treats all religions equally. Moreover, different communities in India
have the right to practise their own faiths. Thus, secularism is one of the ideals of the Indian
Constitution.

India as a Democratic state: The Preamble describes India as a democratic state. The prime philosophy
and ideal of the Indian Constitution is to make India a democratic state. India is regarded as the largest
democratic state in the World. According to Abraham Lincoln, “Democracy is by the people, for the
people and of the people.” The Constitution of India has established a parliamentary democracy in India
marked by universal adult franchise, periodic election to choose the government, majority rule, rule of
law, decentralization of power, rule of law, independence of the judiciary, etc.

· India as a Republic: The Preamble declares India to be a republic. What it means is that the Head of the
State in India, that is the President of India, is an elected head. He is not a hereditary ruler. The
President of India who is the Chief Executive and nominal head of our country is indirectly elected by the
people.

· To ensure Justice: Justice implies that the Government will try to promote the welfare of all the
sections of the people. The Preamble embraces three types of Justice- social, economic and political. To
ensure Social Justice the Constitution has made special arrangements for the weaker sections of the
society, abolished untouchability, provided free education up to a certain standard, etc. With a view to
providing political justice, the Constitution has introduced the principle of universal adult franchise and
has given an equal right to all adult citizens to be elected or appointed to public services. Economic
justice implies that the Constitution seeks to ensure economic security for the common people and to
do way with unequal distribution of income and wealth.

· To ensure Liberty: The other important philosophy and ideal of the Indian Constitution is to ensure
liberty to its citizens for the all round development of their personality. Accordingly, the Preamble
provides for liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. The Constitution of India provides a
number of Fundamental Rights to the citizens and also protects theses rights.

· To ensure Equality: Equality is the basis of a democratic state. Equality is necessary for the
development of a society. Hence, the term ‘equality’ has been inserted in the Preamble to our
Constitution. Equality has been guaranteed by the ‘Rule of Law’. To establish equality, our Constitution
has provided for the Right to Equality as a Fundamental Right. The Indian Constitution ensures equality
before the eyes of law to all persons, citizens and non- citizens. The Constitution also prohibits
discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

· To promote Fraternity among the people: The term fraternity has been incorporated in the Preamble
as a means of assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. The term
‘dignity of the individual’ means that the personality of the individual should be recognized, because,
the recognition of the personality and the dignity of the individual is an essential condition to promote
fraternity among the people. To promote fraternity and a feeling of brotherhood among the people,
certain attempts have been made for the removal of social distinctions and inequalities based on caste,
class, creed, language, religion, region, etc. Without unity among its citizens, a state could not be
successful. The framers of the Indian Constitution were fully aware of the diversities prevailing in the
country. Accordingly, the word integrity was added in the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment to
emphasize the fundamental unity of the country against the divisive forces of regionalism,
communalism and the like.
· India as a Welfare state: India is committed to the ideal of a welfare state and must establish socio-
economic justice. The Preamble lays the foundation of a welfare state in India. Acharya Kripalini says,
“The Preamble contains the mystic principle of a welfare state.” India is committed to democracy and
respects individual liberty, providing to all her citizens, the equality of status and opportunity. The
Directive Principles of State Policy involving social, economic, political and cultural goals are like
instructions to the state. They, aim at establishing a welfare state in India.

B) SALIENT FEATURES OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of a state is not only the fundamental law of the state, but it is also like a mirror of its
social, political and economic systems. The Constitution of a State is different from the Constitution of
another State. Each Constitution grows and develops within a particular environment. The Constitution
of India is unique in many ways. Several special features of the Indian Constitution distinguish it from
many other constitutions of the world. The salient features of the Indian Constitution of India described
as follows:

· Written Constitution: The Constitution of India is a written document. To draft the Indian Constitution,
a Drafting Committee was constituted by the Constituent Assembly under the Chairmanship of Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar. The Constituent Assembly was a representative body which is indirectly elected by the
people. It consisted of 389 members out of whom 296 members were elected from British India and 93
members were the ‘representatives of Native States’. The elections to the Constituent Assembly were
held in 1946 and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the President of the Constituent Assembly. The
Drafting Committee prepared the draft of the Constitution. After long efforts, the new Constitution was
finally adopted on November 26, 1949. Thus, the Indian Constitution came into force on January 26,
1950.

· The Lengthiest Constitution: The Indian Constitution is the lengthiest, bulkiest and most detailed
Constitution in the World. It contains 395 Articles (divided into 22 parts) and 8 Schedules at the time of
its enforcement. At present, it has 444 Articles, divided into 24 parts and 12 Schedules. The Constitution
of India contains a detailed list of Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy, distribution of
Powers between Centre and the States, Official Languages, Election and many other provisions over and
above laying out the provisions regarding the executive, legislature and judiciary.

· Partly rigid and partly flexible: The Constitution of India is neither too rigid nor too flexible. A flexible
constitution is that in which its provisions may be amended or modified by ordinary legislative process,
whereas, in the case of a rigid constitution, a special procedure is required to be followed for the
amendment or revision of its provisions. The Indian Constitution follows three methods for amendment.
Firstly, some of the provisions can be amended by a simple majority of the Parliament. Secondly, some
provisions may be amended by a special majority of the Parliament and thirdly, some other provisions
which are federal in character may be amended only with a joint initiative of both the Parliament and
the State legislature. The framers of the Indian Constitution adopted this system so that the Indian
Constitution can adopt itself to the changing circumstances while still retaining its basic characteristics.
Because of all these provisions, the Indian Constitution is characterized by the mixture of flexibility and
rigidity.
Supremacy of the Constitution: The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the country. All the
three organs of the Government i.e.: the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary function under the
Constitution of India and are controlled by it. They cannot violate the Constitution.

· Mixture of Federal and Unitary features: The Constitution of India establishes India as a partly Federal
and partly unitary government. The word ‘Federalism’ is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. It
describes India as a ‘Union of States’. Because of the peculiar features of the Indian Constitution, some
experts describe it as a ‘quasi-federal state’. Indian federalism is also known as ‘co-operative
federalism’. Some of the federal features included in the Indian Constitution are written constitution,
supremacy of the constitution, division of powers and distribution of powers between the centre and
the states, a strong judiciary, bicameral legislature etc. But, India cannot be called a true federation
because some non-federal features or unitary features like- a strong centre, some rigid methods of
amendment of the constitution, single citizenship, common All- India services, uniformity of judiciary,
emergency provisions enjoyed by the President, appointment of Governors in the States, are distinctly
noticed in the Constitution. Therefore, the Constitution of India is a mixture of federal and unitary
features.

· Parliamentary Government: The Constitution of India provides for a Parliamentary form of

Government on the British model. In the Parliamentary form of Government, the Head of the State is
nominal, whereas the Prime Minster who is the leader of the majority in the Parliament is the real
executive. In India, the President only the nominal head of our country and the real and actual powers
of the government are exercised by the Prime Minister.

· Secularism: Secularism is another important feature of the Indian Constitution. The word has been
included in the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. India does not recognize any religion as the
state or official religion and treats all religions equally. All the people of India are given the liberty of
thought, expression, belief and worship and there is no discrimination on the grounds of religion, caste
or community.

· Provision of Fundamental Rights: The Fundamental Rights are contained in Part-III of the Constitution
from Articles 12 to 35.The framers of the Constitution derived inspiration from the ‘Bill of Rights’ from
the Constitution of the U.S.A. Fundamental Rights are justiciable in the sense that a person can
approach the court in case of violation of his or her Fundamental Rights. The Supreme Court of India is
the Guardian of the rights and liberties of the people. They are not absolute. The Government can
impose reasonable restrictions on them. The significance of the Fundamental Rights is that they protect
the liberty and the freedom of the citizens against encroachment by the state. Originally, the
Constitution provided for seven Fundamental Rights. But the Right to Property was abolished by the
44th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1978. At present, there are six Fundamental Rights.

· Fundamental Duties: Fundamental Duties are incorporated in Article 51A of Part IVA of the
Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976. The original Constitution did not
contain the fundamental duties. The Fundamental Duties are very important. For the overall
development of the country, these Duties must be performed by the citizens of India. These duties are
not legally binding upon the citizens. Some of the duties include abiding by the Constitution, to defend
the country and render national service, to develop the scientific temper, the safeguard public property,
etc.
· Directive Principles of State Policy: Another distinctive feature of the Indian Constitution is the
Directive Principles of State Policy described in Part IV of our Constitution from Articles 36-51. These
Directive Principles are fundamental in the governance of our Country and it is the duty of the state to
apply these principles in making laws. These principles aim at securing social and economic freedoms by
appropriate state action.

· Independent and impartial Judiciary: A basic feature of the Indian Constitution is independence of the
judiciary. The judiciary is separated from the other two organs i.e. executive and legislature. The tenure
of the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Court is fixed and the judges cannot be removed by simple
procedure. Independence of judiciary is very is very essential for the success of democracy.

· Division of Powers between the Centre and the States: Another important feature of the Indian
Constitution of India is the division of powers between the Central and State Government in terms of
the Union List, the State List, and the Concurrent List. This important provision is incorporated in the
Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

· Universal Adult Franchise: The Universal Adult Franchise is introduced by the Constitution and thus, all
adult citizens above the age of 18 years, irrespective of their religion, caste, race, color and sex are
entitled to participate in the election process.

· Single Citizenship: To promote the feeling of unity and oneness among the people of India, the framers
of the Indian Constitution provided for a single citizenship for its citizens. In the Federation like the
United States of America single citizenship is a very important federal feature, unlike India.

· Emergency Powers: The emergency powers are introduced in the Indian Constitution so that the whole
nation can meet with any emergency situation the country may be faced with. The emergency powers
are vested in the hands of the President of India. There are three kinds of Emergency powers. These are-
National Emergency (Article-352), Emergency in a State (Article 356) and Financial Emergency (Article
360).
The above are some the important salient features of the Indian Constitution which makes it one of the
most unique and distinct constitutions in the world.