Preamble & Sources — PPSC previous year questions

The ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in the Preamble were taken from the French Revolution of 1789, whose slogan they were. From the American Constitution came the Fundamental Rights and judicial review, and from the Russian Revolution the ideals of justice (social, economic and political).

The Preamble secures to all citizens liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Economic liberty is not mentioned; the economic dimension appears in the Preamble only as 'justice, social, economic and political'.

The Preamble describes India as a 'Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic'; the words 'Socialist' and 'Secular' were inserted by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. Articles 25–28 among the Fundamental Rights guarantee freedom of religion, but it is the Preamble that expressly calls the state secular.

The Preamble promises to secure to all citizens 'JUSTICE, social, economic and political'. Article 38 directs the State to promote a social order of social, economic and political justice. That justice must inform all institutions of national life. Article 39 spells out the economic content. The Fundamental Rights secure civil and political liberties. They do not mention economic justice. The Fundamental Duties (Article 51A) impose duties on citizens, not objectives on the State.

In Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle divides particular justice into two kinds. Distributive justice allots honours, wealth and offices among citizens in proportion to merit. It is the business of the legislator, who frames the laws of the polis (the Greek city-state). Corrective (rectificatory) justice restores the balance in private transactions, and that is the judge's concern. 'Commutative' justice is the later Scholastic name for the corrective kind. Retributive justice concerns punishment.

The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, Articles 36–51) were borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland (1937), which in turn had taken the idea from the Spanish Constitution of 1931. From Ireland India also took the method of electing the President and the nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha. Britain gave the parliamentary system, the USA the Fundamental Rights and judicial review.

The 42nd Amendment (1976) added the words 'Socialist', 'Secular' and 'Integrity' to the Preamble; it is the only time the Preamble has been amended. Because of its many sweeping changes, the 42nd Amendment is often called the 'Mini-Constitution'.

Nehru's Objectives Resolution did all four things: it laid down the ideals for framing the Constitution, declared India an Independent Sovereign Republic, promised justice, equality and freedom to all citizens, and promised safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas and depressed classes. Its ideas later became the Preamble.

Formal equality, or legal and political equality, means treating every person the same under the law. The principle of 'one man, one vote' is its classic example. Three measures belong to substantive equality instead, that is social and economic equality. They are removing birth-based discrimination in social status, cutting inequality of income and wealth, and progressive taxation. They correct real differences in condition, not merely apply uniform rules.

The Preamble promises Justice — social, economic and political. It promises Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It promises Equality of status and of opportunity. It promises Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. 'Equality of outcomes and tribes' is not a Preamble phrase. The Preamble speaks of equality of status and opportunity only.