The Indian Constitution
Games, such as football, hockey or cricket, have rules
according to which they are played.
Each of these rules helps define the game, and helps us
distinguish one game from another.
As these are
fundamental to the game, we can also call them the constitutive rules of the
game.
Like these games, a society also has constitutive rules that
make it what it is and differentiate it from other kinds of societies
Have you ever wondered why we need a Constitution or been
curious about how the Constitution got written, or who wrote it?
In 1934, the Indian National Congress made the demand for a
Constituent Assembly.
During the Second World War, this assertion for an
independent Constituent Assembly formed only of Indians gained momentum and
this was convened in December 1946.
The photo on page shows some members of the Constituent
Assembly.
Between December 1946
and November 1949, the Constituent Assembly drafted a constitution for independent
India.
Free to shape their destiny at last, after 150 years of
British rule, the members of the Constituent Assembly approached this task with
the great idealism that the freedom struggle had helped produce.
The photo alongside shows Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
addressing the Constituent Assembly.
Today most countries in the world have a Constitution.
While all democratic countries are likely to have a
Constitution, it is not necessary that all countries
that have a Constitution are democratic.
The Constitution serves several purposes.
First, it lays out certain ideals that form the basis of the
kind of country that we as citizens aspire to live in.
Or, put another way, a Constitution tells us what the fundamental nature of
our society is.
A country is usually made up of different communities of
people who share certain beliefs but may not necessarily agree on all issues.
A Constitution helps serve as
a set of rules and principles that
all persons in a country can agree upon as the basis of the way in which they
want the country to be governed.
This includes not only the type of government but also an
agreement on certain ideals that they all
believe the country should uphold.
Until recently, Nepal was a monarchy.
The previous Constitution of Nepal, which had been adopted
in 1990, reflected the fact that the final authority rested with the King.
A people’s movement
in Nepal fought for several decades to establish democracy and in 2006 they
finally succeeded in putting an end to the powers of the King.
The people had to write a new Constitution to establish
Nepal as a democracy.
The reason that they did not want to continue with the
previous Constitution is because it did not reflect the ideals of the country
that they want Nepal to be, and that they have fought for.
The country of Nepal has witnessed several people’s
struggles for democracy.
There was a people’s struggle in 1990 that established
democracy that lasted for 12 years until 2002.
In October 2002, King Gyanendra, citing the Maoist uprising
in the countryside as his reason, began taking over different aspects of the
government with the army’s assistance.
The King then finally took over as the head of government in
February 2005.
In November 2005, the Maoists joined other political parties
to sign a 12-point agreement.
This agreement signalled to the larger public an imminent
return to democracy and peace.
In 2006, this people’s movement for democracy began gaining
immense force.
It repeatedly refused
the small concessions that the King made and finally in April 2006 the King
restored the Third Parliament and asked the political parties to form a
government.
In 2008, Nepal became
a democracy after abolishing the monarchy.
The above photos show scenes from the people’s movement for
democracy in 2006.
The people of Nepal adopted a new
Constitution for the country in 2015.
The second important purpose of a Constitution is to define
the nature of a country’s political system.
Nepal’s earlier
Constitution stated that the country was to be ruled by the King and his
council of ministers.
In countries that
have adopted a democratic form of government or polity, the Constitution plays
a crucial role in laying out certain important guidelines that govern
decision-making within these societies.
In a democracy, we choose our leaders so that they can
exercise power responsibly on our behalf.
However, there is always the possibility that these leaders
might misuse their authority and the Constitution usually provides safeguards
against this.
This misuse of
authority can result in gross injustice as demonstrated in the classroom
situation below:
In democratic societies, the Constitution often lays down
rules that guard against this misuse of authority by our political leaders.
we talked about the discrimination Omprakash faced because
he was a Dalit.
You read about how the Indian Constitution guarantees the
right to equality to all persons and says that no citizen can be discriminated
against on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender, and place of birth.
The Right to Equality
is one of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
Another important function that a Constitution plays in a
democracy is to ensure that a dominant group does not use its power against
other, less powerful people or groups.
Such unhealthy situations can occur in democratic societies
too, where a majority can continuously enforce decisions that exclude
minorities and go against their interests.
As the above storyboard illustrates, every society is prone
to this tyranny of the majority.
The Constitution usually contains rules that ensure that
minorities are not excluded from anything that is routinely available to the
majority.
Another reason why we have a Constitution is precisely to
prevent this tyranny or domination by the majority of a minority.
This can refer to one community dominating another, i.e.
inter-community domination,
or members of one community dominating others within the
same community, i.e. intra-community domination.
The third significant reason why
we need a Constitution is to save us from ourselves.
This may sound strange but what is meant by this is that we
might at times feel strongly about an issue that might go against our larger
interests and the Constitution helps us guard against this.
Look at the storyboard below to understand this better:
Similarly, the Constitution helps to protect us against
certain decisions that we might take that could have an adverse effect on the
larger principles that the country believes in.
For example, it is possible that many people who live in a
democracy might come to strongly feel that party politics has become so
acrimonious that we need a strong dictator to set this right.
Swept by this emotion, they may not realise that in the long
run, dictatorial rule goes against all their interests.
A good Constitution does not allow these whims to change its
basic structure.
It does not allow for
the easy overthrow of provisions that guarantee rights of citizens and protect
their freedom.
The Indian Constitution: Key Features
By the beginning of
the twentieth century, the Indian national movement had been active in the
struggle for independence from British rule for several decades.
During the freedom struggle the nationalists had devoted a
great deal of time to imagining and planning what a free India would be like.
Under the British, they had been forced to obey rules that
they had had very little role in making.
The long experience of authoritarian rule under the colonial
state convinced Indians that free India should be a democracy in which everyone
should be treated equally and be allowed to participate in government.
What remained to be done then was to work out the ways in
which a democratic government would be set up in India and the rules that would
determine its functioning.
This was done not by one person but by a group of around 300
people who became members of the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and who met
periodically for the next three years to write India’s Constitution.
These members of the Constituent Assembly had a huge task
before them.
The country was made
up of several different communities who spoke different languages, belonged to
different religions, and had distinct cultures.
Also, when the
Constitution was being written, India was going through considerable turmoil.
The partition of the
country into India and Pakistan was imminent, some of the Princely States
remained undecided about their future, and the socio-economic condition of the
vast mass of people appeared dismal.
All of these issues played on the minds of the members of
the Constituent Assembly as they drafted the Constitution.
They rose to the
occasion and gave this country a visionary document that reflects a respect for
maintaining diversity while preserving national unity.
The final document also reflects their concern for
eradicating poverty through socio-economic reforms as well as emphasising the
crucial role the people can play in choosing their representatives.
Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar is known as the Father of the Indian
Constitution.
Dr Ambedkar believed that his participation in the
Constituent Assembly helped the Scheduled Castes get some safeguards in the
draft constitution.
But he also stated that although the laws might exist,
Scheduled Castes still had reason to fear because the administration of these
laws were in the hands of ‘caste Hindu officers’.
He, therefore, urged Scheduled Castes to join the government
as well as the civil services.
1. Federalism:
This refers to the existence of more than one level of
government in the country.
In India, we have
governments at the state level and at the centre.
Panchayati Raj is the
third tier of government
The vast number of communities in India meant that a system
of government needed to be devised that did not involve only persons sitting in
the capital city of New Delhi and making decisions for everyone.
Instead, it was
important to have another level of government in the states so that decisions
could be made for that particular area.
While each state in India enjoys autonomy in exercising
powers on certain issues, subjects of national concern require that all of
these states follow the laws of the central government.
The Constitution contains lists that detail the issues that
each tier of government can make laws on.
In addition, the Constitution also specifies where each tier
of government can get the money from for the work that it does.
Under federalism, the
states are not merely agents of the federal government but draw their authority
from the Constitution as well.
All persons in India are governed by laws and policies made
by each of these levels of government.
2. Parliamentary Form of Government:
The different tiers of government that you just read about
consist of representatives who are elected by the people.
The Constitution of India guarantees universal adult
suffrage for all citizens.
When they were making the Constitution, the members of the
Constituent Assembly felt that the freedom struggle had prepared the masses for
universal adult suffrage and that this would help encourage a democratic
mindset and break the clutches of traditional caste, class and gender
hierarchies.
This means that the
people of India have a direct role in electing their representatives.
Also, every citizen of
the country, irrespective of his/her social background, can also contest in
elections.
These representatives are accountable to the people.
“When the Constituent Assembly adopted the principle of
universal adult franchise, Shri A.K. Ayyar, a member, remarked that this was done,
“with an abundant faith in the common man and the ultimate
success of democratic rule, and in the full belief that the introduction of
democratic government on the basis of adult suffrage will bring enlightenment
and promote the well-being, the standard of life, the comfort, and the decent
living of the common man”
3. Separation of Powers:
According to the Constitution, there are three organs of
government.
These are the legislature, the executive and
the judiciary.
The legislature refers to our elected representatives.
The executive is a smaller group of people who are
responsible for implementing laws and running the government.
The judiciary, refers to the system of courts in this
country.
In order to prevent the misuse of power by any one branch of
government, the Constitution says that each of these organs should exercise
different powers.
Through this, each organ acts as a check on the other organs
of government and this ensures the balance of power between all three.
4. Fundamental Rights:
The section on
Fundamental Rights has often been referred to as the ‘conscience’ of the Indian
Constitution.
Colonial rule had created a certain suspicion of the State
in the minds of the nationalists and they wanted to ensure that a set of
written rights would guard against the misuse of State power in independent
India.
Fundamental Rights, therefore, protect citizens against the
arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the State.
The Constitution, thus, guarantees the rights of individuals
against the State as well as against other individuals.
Moreover, the various
minority communities also expressed the need for the Constitution to include
rights that would protect their groups.
The Constitution, therefore, also guarantees the rights of
minorities against the majority.
As Dr Ambedkar has
said about these Fundamental Rights, their object is two-fold.
The first objective
is that every citizen must be in a position to claim those rights.
And secondly, these rights must be binding upon every
authority that has got the power to make laws.
In addition to
Fundamental Rights, the Constitution also has a section called Directive Principles of State Policy.
This section was
designed by the members of the Constituent Assembly to ensure greater social
and economic reforms, and to serve as a guide to the independent Indian
State to institute laws and policies that help reduce the poverty of the masses.
The Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution include:
1.
Right to Equality:
All persons are equal before the law. This means that all persons shall
be equally protected by the laws of the country. It also states that no citizen
can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, caste or sex.
Every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels,
shops etc. The State cannot discriminate against anyone in matters of
employment. But there are exceptions to this that you will read about later in
this book. The practice of untouchability has also been abolished.
2.
Right to Freedom
: This includes the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right
to form associations, the right to move freely and reside in any part of the
country, and the right to practise any profession, occupation or business.
3.
Right against Exploitation:
Constitution prohibits human
trafficking, forced labour, and employment of children under 14 years of age.
4.
Right to Freedom of Religion:
Religious freedom is provided to all citizens. Every person has the right
to practise, profess and propagate the religion of their choice.
5.
Cultural and Educational Rights:
The Constitution states that all
minorities, religious or linguistic, can set up their own educational
institutions in order to preserve and develop their own culture.
6.
Right to Constitutional Remedies:
This allows citizens to move the court if they believe that any of their
Fundamental Rights have been violated by the State.
5. Secularism:
A secular state is one in which the state does not
officially promote any one religion as the state religion.
You now understand the ways in which a country’s history
often determines the kind of Constitution that a country adopts for itself.
The Constitution
plays a crucial role in laying out the ideals that we would like all citizens
of the country to adhere to, including the representatives that we elect to
rule us.
The above photos show various members of the Constituent
Assembly signing a copy of the Constitution at its final session on 24 January
1950.
Shri Jairamdas Daulatram,
Minister for Food and Agriculture;
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Health
Minister;
Dr John Mathai, Finance
Minister;
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Deputy
Prime Minister
and behind him Shri Jagjivan
Ram, Labour Minister.
The Constitution also mentions Fundamental Duties. 11 Fundamental Duties
