PREAMBLE TO THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

This is the content of the Preamble of Indian Constitution.

“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 of 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 26th day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION”

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Firstly, it gives utmost importance to the people of India

• It begins with the words “We the people of India”, instead of members of Constituent Assembly or the Drafting Committee.
• It clearly mentions that “We the people of India have resolved what the nature of the Indian State should be, what its goals are.
• It simply means that the Preamble is giving more importance to the people of India and the popular sovereignty. The constitution is written and adopted by the people for themselves.
• It is the first step towards democracy. A constitution by the people, for the people, of the people.
• All the important rights of the people are drawn from the Preamble itself.

Secondly, it defines the nature of Indian state:

• SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. Please notice that you don’t see a comma between these five important features of Indian state.
• This has its own importance. It implies that India cannot get away with being one or few, neglecting any one or few. India must have all the five ingredients. It also suggests that they are complimentary to each other. That is often not noticed.

Thirdly, it wants to secure to all its citizens certain goals:

• These are Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
• Preamble of Indian constitution gives Justice the highest place, above the other stated goals of liberty, equality and fraternity. And the makers of the Indian constitution make it clear, the kind of justice they were aiming at.
• It has been pointed out that the priority given to the concept of justice as compared to liberty, equality and fraternity and to social and economic as compared to political justice was deliberative.
• The order of the words indicates that the concept of social and economic justice was perhaps considered ‘the most fundamental norm’ of the constitution of India. [1]
• This order is also in confirmation with Aristotelian scheme of development of man from a social animal to political animal.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in his concluding speech in the Assembly stated that “Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life, which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity, which are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity.”[2]
• In totality, Justice is recognized within the substantial context and not the procedural one.
• Equality: It gives importance to equality of status and opportunity. This is an important element that most governments and their policies go on missing. Without providing equal opportunities in the fields of livelihood, education, it is impossible to achieve equality of status.
• The principle of Secularism is embedded in the goal of Liberty itself. It also can be implicitly understood through the goals of Fraternity and Equality. Therefore, Secularism was always an important part of the constitution even without the use of the word.
• Similarly, the principle of Socialism, can also be depicted through the goals of Justice, Equality and Fraternity.
• The other parts of the Preamble are easier to understand. So, I am not explaining further.

Lastly, it gives the date of enactment of the Constitution.

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[1] Basu, D.D. Introduction to the Constitution of India, 18th Edition, p 24.

[2] Kashyap, Subhash C., ‘The Framing of the Constitution and the Process of Institution Building’, in b.N. Pandey, general editor, A Centenary history of the Indian National Congress: Vol. IV 1947-1964, editor, Iqbal Narain, New Delhi, 1990, p. 85.

DEFINITION OF POLITICS

Political Science and Politics are often dealt as same.

Political Science is a subject of study, while Politics is the set of activities that form the subject of Political Science.

Therefore, diverse definitions of Politics lead to the expanse of the scope of Political Science. Thus many scholars use both the definitions together to understand the them together, rather than distinct from each other.

I have separated them to make it convenient for the reader and also to make the post relatively short.

Please go to Topic 11: for definition of Political Science exclusively.

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So, what is Politics?

Politics originated from the Greek word, politika, which means 'affairs of the cities' or the affairs of the state. Polis is the Greek word for the then existing city-states.

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Let us discuss some important definitions:

Aristotle: “Politics is a noble activity in which men decide the rules they will live by and the goals they will collectively pursue.”

If we break-down this definition, we get:

• Politics is a noble activity: It is concerned noble unlike what we think politics is today or what politics has actually become.
• men decide the rules they will live by : Doesn’t it sound like rule by the people?
• the goals they will collectively pursue: There is no individual goal. Goals are collectively pursued. It is not about majority also. Collective sounds so better compared to majority,

An in-depth understanding of this definition gives a very broad and a complete meaning to politics.

This correlates with his definition of the State:

“State comes into existence originating in the bare needs of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.”

According to Aristotle, good life or happiness is the proper end (goal) of the city-state.

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David Easton: “Politics is concerned with the authoritative allocation of values for a society,"

• Authoritative means through a legitimate power. It can be understood as a government elected by the people or has the support of the people in general. It is not a government by force.
• Allocation means given or distributed to the people in terms of policies and programmes.
• Values imply both material and spiritual. Values can be understood as those important ingredients of life that people as a society in general seek. These can be mean democracy, equality, liberty, justice and such other cherished goals of humanity.

So, this definition has the following conditions for ‘politics’:

• A legitimate government
• must strive to give to the people of the society/state
• the values that are cherished by humanity.

Value based Politics: Need of the Hour.

Values can be of two kinds:

• Values at personal level (Base level) - example: honesty, integrity, discipline etc.
• Values at political level (Higher level) - example: liberty, equality, justice, democracy etc.

Mahatma Gandhi is often quoted to have said “Politics without ethics is a sin”

Politicians need to have some basic ethical and moral values like, honesty, service to the public etc. Our present day politicians don’t have these values and thus result in huge corruption and lack of governance.

Therefore, since the politicians themselves have lost values at their personal level, these higher values (democracy, liberty, equality etc.) do not reach the people at all.

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The above two definitions of Aristotle and David Easton are ideal definitions, preaching moralism. Let us now discuss definitions of a different kind.

Harold Dwight Lasswell: “Politics is "who gets what, when, how".

The definition stated above is actually the title of the book written by HD Lasswell. To understand the meaning of this definition, we need to summarise the works of Lasswell in totality and not just that sentence alone.

• Who here include, political elites, people and personalities, groups and even culture.
• What is essentially, ‘power’, and to be more specific, ‘political power’.
• When has two meaning here: during the crises and between the crises. He says that agitators benefit a lot during the crises, while, the organisers get the most in the period between the crises.
• How include various means used for achieving power. Some that are listed by Lasswell are symbols, violence and media.

Lasswell gives definition of Political Science and Politics.

(I have dealt with Political Science definition in a separate post.)

Harold D Lasswell: “Politics is the study of influence and the influential.” (here Politics is used as a subject)

This definition narrows down to the political elites who exert great influence over the masses. It also includes the factors contributing to the influence.

Here lies a psychological aspect of a person, or a group to dominate the affairs of a state. This is an important understanding under Behariouralism.

However, we should not infer that politics is only about acquiring and using power through various means.

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Hans J Morgenthau: “Domestic and Imnternational politics are but two different manifestations of same phenomenon: the struggle for power”

This definition includes two dimensions of politics. While individual actors actors struggle for power in the domestic politics, nations or states struggle for power in the international politics.

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A few more definitions:

Otto von Bismarck: “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best”

Harry Truman: “Politics is the art of getting things done”

Vladimir Lenin: "Politics is the most concentrated expression of economics".

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Politics today includes the following:

• The actions of the government as law making and law executing body.
• Policy formulation and policy implementation.
• The actions of the political parties and leaders aimed at achieving or retaining power.

Both ethical and unethical means are in use in today’s politics to achieve political goals.

DEFINITION OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Aristotle: “Political Science is the Science of Polis.”

‘Polis’ here mean ‘city-states’ the very small states that existed during the ancient Greek period. In the modern terminology, this definition can be read as

“Science of State.”

JW Garner: “Political Science begins and ends withe the state.”

This definition implies that the state is the main and the central theme of study of the subject called Political Science.

RG Gettle: “Polititical science is:

• a historical investigation of what the state has been
• an analytical study of what the state is and
• a politico-ethical discussion of what the state should be.”

This definition says that the discipline of Political Science studies the past, present and the future of the state.

Further, it elaborates on various methods used in the study of Political Science: historical, analytical and a futuristic ethical discussion.

We can also infer that the subject deals with not only ‘what is’ but also, ‘what ought to be’. That is both real and the ideal framework of the state.

Appadorai: “Political Science is concerned with the conditions essential for the existence and development of the state.”

Here we move towards the goal of the state which is development.

John Richard Seeley: “Political Science investigates the phenomenon of the government.”

Stephen Leacock: “Political Science deals with the government.”

Paul Janet: “Political Science is that part of the social Science which treats the foundations of the state and the principles of the government.”

RN Gilchrist: “Political Science is a study of the foundations of the state and government.”

George Catlin: “Political Science is a study of the political activities of the individuals and various organs of the government.”

Since George Catlin is a behaviouralist thinker, he includes the political activities of the individuals, along with the various organs of the state.

Earlier definitions do not take into consideration of the individual, without whom, the state cannot exist.

Harlold D Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan: “Political Science, as an empirical discipline, is the study of the shaping and sharing of power.”

This definition makes power, the centre of the study of Political Science.

So, each definition here brings out different dimensions of the subject Political Science.

Finally, let me add my own comprehensive definition of Political Science.

Annapurna Krishjeev: “Political Science is a systematic study that deals with all the matters -theoretical and practical, what is and what ought to be (real and ideal), actual and hypothetical, past, present and future, – related to State, relationship between human and the state, state and the state as well.”

Please make note, I am not including the definitions of Politics here. I will do that in a separate post.

WHAT IS POLITICAL SCIENCE?

Political Science is one of the Social Sciences. It is the subject that deals with study of politics.

It can simply be put as the Science of Politics.

This brings us to two important words: Science and Politics.

What is Science?

Science is defined as “a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject”.

What is Politics?

• Activity of state or any of its organs

Examples: Making laws, executing these laws, protection of individuals, etc.

• Activity of man towards the state

Examples: Filing grievances, giving feedback on policy matters, voting, etc.

• Activity of a state towards other states

Examples: Signing treaties with other states, engaging in war and peaceful activities etc.

These activities can be physical as well as mental. For example: the theories and philosophy revolving around the state and its activities.

Therefore, politics is an activity with state as the central actor.

However, politics originated even before the formation of the state and will continue even if the state discontinues or disappears.

• Firstly, before the formation of a state, certain political activities were essential, which have contributed for the formation of the state.
• Secondly,They may continue even after the fall of the state, because, these activities will aim at a replacement of state with a better organisation or will still have to do the functions of the state, even during its absence.

Therefore politics as a physical and mental activity existed and will remain to exist with or without the state, but still will remain, related to the state.

So we arrive arrive at this comprehensive definition of Political Science:

“Political Science is a systematic study that deals with all the matters -theoretical and practical, what is and what ought to be (real and ideal), actual and hypothetical, past, present and future, – related to State, relationship between human and the state, state and the state as well” Annapurna Krishjeev.

PARTS OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Important Note:

Original Constitution:

Part VI VII VIII and IX earlier dealt with A B C D of first schedule

· Part VI A former states in British India

· Part VII B former princely states which later became states under part A

· Part VIII C Smaller states and princely states

· Part IX D Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Later VII and IX were repealed means removed by 7th Amendment Act in 1956 for implementing the States Re-organisation Act on 1st November, 1956.

· From 01–11–1955 to present, Part VII is blank.

Part VII is empty. Nothing.

· From 01–11–1955 to 24–04–1993, Part IX was blank.

A new Part IX was added in 1992, 73rd Amendment Act.

Present Constitution:

Now we have only two groups

States in Part VI

Union Territories in Part VIII

Original Constitution had 22 parts

Present also 22 parts,

But some say there are 25 parts, to include IV A, IX A, IX B, XIV A

22 + 4 = 26

minus part VII

= 25

NOTE:

Collated from various sources.

Suggestions and corrections are WELCOME