The word “preamble” referred an introductory statement in a document that explains the document’s philosophy and objectives. In a Constitution, it presents the intention of its framers, the history behind its creation, and the core values and principles of the nation.
The ideals behind the Preamble to India’s Constitution were laid down by Jawaharlal Nehru’s Objectives Resolution, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
USA is the first country to have Preamble in Constitution, Fundamental Rights in Constitution etc. When the USA got independence in 1775, The USA becomes the first country to have the written Constitution in the world. When the United Nations was formed in 1945, it took reference to the USA’s Preamble and released an UN Charter with reference to UN’s objectives.
It is indicated by the Preamble that the source of authority of the Constitution lies with the people of India. The preamble basically gives the idea of the following things:
In Berubari Union Case of 1960 Supreme Court held “Though Preamble is the key to open the mind of the makers, Preamble is not a part of Constitution” and stated reasons such as semoving Preamble from Constitution does not affect the Values of Constitution, preamble does not offer any Rights or Obligation on any organs of State and preamble’s nature of non-justiciable (cannot enforceable in court of law) character. Preamble plays an important role in the interpretation of statutes and provisions of the Constitution. In Union of India vs LIC of India case 1995, Supreme court once again held “Preamble is an integral part of Constitution”.
After the judgment of the Kesavanand Bharati case, it was accepted that the preamble is part of the Constitution. Since Preamble became part of Constitution, the Government of the day got the power to amend the Preamble. Preamble is amended only once so far. It was enriched in 1976 by 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act. The amendment added the terms ‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’, and ‘Integrity’ in to the Preamble (though these were implicit in the Constitution the amendment made them explicit).
Ideals enshrined in the preamble of the Indian Constitution:
Justice: To ensure justice to each and every citizen irrespective of his/her caste, creed and gender,
Liberty: Every citizen should have freedom to live a dignified life and should have liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.
Equality: It asserts that all Indian citizens are equal before the law of the land. The government is obliged to ensure equality of opportunity for all citizens
Sovereign: India is an independent nation and does not act under pressure of any internal or external force.
Secular: India has no official religion and every citizen has the right to profess, propagate and practice his/her religion.
The aims and aspirations of the Preamble to the Constitution of India are ensuring socio-political and socio-economic justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity and promoting fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. It proclaims India as a sovereign democratic republic and embodies the philosophies of secularism and democratic socialism. These ideals provide an insight into the minds of the framers of the constitution. Constitution always aim towards minimum interference by State, to ensure and maintain harmony throughout the nation. Preamble contains certain aspiration to achieve the same. They are:
Justice: The word Justice means the term Justice in Preamble is ensured to people through the provisions of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. The ideals of Justice comprise of social, economic, and political justice. The concept has been taken from the Russian Revolution (1917).
Social Justice: It aims to create a society without discrimination on any grounds like caste, colour, race, sex, religion, etc.
Economic Justice: It simply means non-discrimination between people on the basis of economic factors like their income, wealth, economic status etc.
Political Justice : It implies that all the people have an equal political right in various domains such as access to political offices, voice in government, etc.
Equality: It implies absence of any special privileges to any section of society and all the people will have equal opportunities without any discriminations.
Like Justice, Equality also comprises of Civic, Political and Economic equality.
Liberty: ‘Liberty’ in simple term means Freedom for people to choose their way of life, political views, profession, behaviour in society, etc. Liberty does not mean absolute freedom to do anything, there are few checks and balances set by the law, which every citizen has to follow.
Fraternity: The term implies a sense of brotherhood and an emotional attachment with the country and the people.