E e e e E Hello sir for com soon than spee speee for minute for for spee spe spe this for spe spee for for down spe spe for Shall We Begin for so welcome all the students today we are going to begin our polity uh live classes which will cover all the aspects of Indian poity which
Will be necessary for you to understand and go deeper into the concepts of Indian poity for your upsc preparation and we will start with the very basic thing which is nothing more than the Preamble of the Constitution this is the most important element through which we can understand our constitution the nature
Of our constitution the nature of the Indian State the core constitutional values which we have around which all the other laws are based Constitution is basically the organic law of the land try and understand when I say organic law of the land when something is organic it keeps growing with
Time some of the element are replaced by other element with time as the society progresses as Society moves towards more Liberty more freeness it’s all about how open our minds and hearts are becoming that is also reflected in the Constitution through various interpretations of the
Law made by the Supreme Court or also by several legislatures which have been brought by the parliament for example right to privacy which was a recent judgment tells a lot about the organic character of The Constitution right to privacy which is given to the Indian constitution by a
Judgment of the Supreme Court where nine judge bent said that right to privacy is a fundamental right now it is not explicitly written in our fundamental rights but if you see under article 21 life and Liberty this right has also been added what does it tell it tells
That our constitution is not rigid something which was written during the time when it was being framed is not the only thing but with time we we are willing to change ourselves but this change whatever the change which is going to come up must not be such that
It infringes any of the core constitutional values of our Constitution which part of the Constitution M mentions the core constitutional value it is the preamble so Preamble basically is the identity card of the Constitution as said by several constitutional and political philosophers when we say identity card so what does an identity card
Has if let’s say you are walking on the road and you find somebody’s ID card lying over there you will come to know so many things about the person you will come to know the person’s name you will come to know the organization from which that person
Belongs you will also come to know which post does the person HS in that particular organization some of them also contain contains the blood group so it gives the basic information about a person also the address of the organization where is this organization situated so if you are willing to return
That that card to the person sometimes phone number also phone number also so if you are willing to return that card to the person which you have found on the road you have so many means you can either call the person or if phone number is
Not given you can uh send it on the address or personally you can deliver the card on the address so that the person finds it so the idea of telling you what contains in an ID card is that these are the basic information about a person which tells so much for
You to understand what kind of work he’s doing or she is doing what is his name and you know in India we have the concept of name and then surname so if you want to know the cast of the person just by looking at the surname you can
Know the religion of the person just by looking at the name you would know so it gives the basic idea of a person what the person is from where he belongs from which cast or which religion he belongs or which organization the person is working what post he is Hing is he an
Important person just by looking at the post you can tell that can be the card of a clerk or card of the CEO of the company so an ID card identity card tells you so many things about an individual so why not the ID card of the Constitution can be so informative
About the Constitution so what does the Preamble contains Preamble contains several things such as the source of power it tells about the source of power the legal power when I say it is the organic law of the land basically it’s a law and everybody has to work according to the law in the
Country and if you infringe it there are punishments if you infringe it there can be punishment okay so basically it’s a law so from where it is driving the legal Authority so when we say that Preamble is the identity card of the Constitution the first thing which we have to look
Into it is the source of power from where the Preamble is drawing or from where the Constitution is drawing the source of power this is number one which is mentioned in the Preamble second thing which the Preamble mentions is the nature of the state now what is this nature of a
State is it a democratic state or is it a theocracy you know what theocracy means a a state which has some religion as its official religion does India have any official religion no India is secular that means all the religion in India are given same respect and are protected
Equally state does not promote any one single religion so this tells about the nature of the country nature of the Constitution which is very well secular is it socialist is it Republic or it is monarchial like Britain Great Britain is a monarchial democracy where the head of
The state is the hereditary King but in India it’s a republic every 5 year we have elections where we choose our govern government which in turn choose the president of the country so India is a republic so the nature of the state is the another kind of information which is given in the
Preamble of the country third thing you will come to know are the core constitutional values core constitutional values what can be the values for which we have made the Constitution and why are the Constitution made at first place can’t we just have the governance in the country
But to limit the greed of power of human beings we need some sort of law some confinement and some limitation under which those human beings who are on the posts of power has to work so that there shall not be any control or arbitrariness that is why we elect our
Um uh members of parliament or the members of legislative assembly we elect our governments just to ensure that if they do not do what we desire them to do we are going to change them in the next election whatever law they are making has to be limited and confined the whole idea of
Constitutionalism is nothing but limited government and when we call it a limited government it says that absence of any control or arbitrariness on the part of the government it has to have some sort of value some sort of limitation and those values have been defined in Preamble very elaborately Under The Heading core
Constitution value it doesn’t have any heading to it but this is how we are going to break it down so the core constitutional values can be equality Liberty fraternity Justice tells you about this fourth the date of enactment if you see the Preamble of the Constitution of India you will see one
Date prescribed on the 26th of November 1949 what is that date that date is the date of enactment on the day on which the people of India has adopted enacted and has given to themselves the Constitution it was enforced on 26th of January 1950 the following year but it
Was enacted means what does the word enactment means means something which which is passed as a law so the law was made uh the Constitution was adopted as a law the organic law the biggest law the foundational law of the land on the 26th of November
1949 so it tells about the date fifth thing it tells about the duty duty Indian citizens have to maintain the unity and integrity of the nation to maintain secularism this is how we have to interpret the Constitution you see so that little page one page with only so many words that a
Person can read them in less than 15 seconds seconds contains this much knowledge about the constitution of India and it also has the power it also has the power this Preamble when the organs of the state executive Judiciary Parliament they have been given their own work Parliament makes law
So when Parliament is making law it has to keep in mind the core constitutional value the nature of the state the parliament cannot make any law which is against the nature of the state if it starts to make some law which says that India is not a secular
State then it can be struck down by the uh Supreme Court Supreme Court has also declared Preamble in several uh interpretations as the basic structure of the Constitution so the core constitutional values are very important here and it is important to know that Judiciary when it is interpreting the
Laws have to keep in mind the core constitutional value any kind of uh interpretation must not be done which aages or infringes the core constitutional values mentioned in Preamble Liberty equality fraternity and Justice to uphold the Justice it is very important that Supreme Court Works in confinement of the
Preamble and its core constitutional value same is with the executive when it is working they have to follow the core constitutional values of Justice on their discretion they cannot act in such a way that they forget the the the principle of equality which is so broadly mentioned in our constitution
Reflected everywhere from directive principles to the fundamental rights so in their discretion or whenever they are working according to the law whichever be the case they must not infringe or aage the core constitutional values and it must not be done in such a way that but it
Goes against the nature of the Indian state it is important to understand that all the organs of the government has to work according to law which law Constitution which is the organic law of the land we have already uh studied why is it organic because it can change its
Shape it can some provisions can be added some Provisions can be deleted as the society progresses it is not set principle but but you know it is not fixed but it is organic can change its size way shape sometimes nature also but those core nature the core constitutional values remain same
Because they are as old as Hills Liberty equality fraternity fraternity Brotherhood in which era of History was fraternity a wrong concept it was never a wrong concept when you talk about secularism in which era of History anywhere in the world was secularism a bad concept so several Concepts has been provided in the
Constitution which are very core to the evolution of human beings the evolution of the human consciousness for human beings to reach the maximum level or the optimum potential and those values must not be infringed or Abed by either of these organs the executive the Judiciary and the Parliament so
Preamble is it the part of the Constitution this was a debate which keeps coming since it does not have is it’s not justiciable what what does the word justiciable means here that it cannot the values given in it cannot be enforced by law that somebody cannot approach the court and say since
It is mentioned in the Preamble you enforce it same with the fundamental duties and same with the director principle of State policies fundamental rights are justiciable if any of your fundamental rights are infringed you can go to the court of law and ask the state to ensure the enforcement of those
Rights for the individual but such a thing cannot be done with directive principles or cannot be done with Preamble it is not justiciable but nevertheless it is the basic feature of the Constitution that simply means it cannot be infringed so is it the part of the constitution Supreme Court have said
That it is very well the integral part of the Constitution now why I keep mentioning Supreme Court has said this or Supreme Court has said that once a con Constitution was made was enacted and was enforced who is the person I I should not call it a person
But which is the organization or which is the the organ of the government which keeps the Constitution intact which keeps which protects the fundamental rights of the Constitution it is the Supreme Court it is the court whose foundational value is justice provides justice to all so that’s why I keep mentioning that
In the Supreme Court’s interpretation or Supreme Court’s order or Supreme Court’s judgment such and such thing was said because if right to Liberty to life and Liberty life and Liberty has been written under article 21 of the Constitution initially the confinements or the the boundaries of these this right was very
Confined but with the Supreme Court judgments it has become very broader now everything with infringes with the good living a human being deserves comes under life and Liberty even if several people are playing music loud music in your area after 10:00 clock they are infringing your right to life and
Liberty right to life does not mean just raw living it means Living With Dignity okay so we have to understand that Supreme good plays a very important role in interpreting all these rights also the director principles and these interpretation have made them broader right to privacy also comes
Under under life and Liberty recently the supreme court judgment came on uh these bonds unanimous bonds and they were infringing the right to information now right to information is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution but it is a right under right to Freedom so it is important to understand the
Role of the Supreme Court when it comes to the interpretation of the Constitution so let’s see these things one by one what does the Preamble holds inside it how is it the identity card and what are these sources of power and other things so when we say source of power the
Constitution if you uh the Preamble if you look starts with the wordings We the People start with the word be the people hereby solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist Democratic Republic all those things are the nature of the state but the basic thing is we the
People so who are The Sovereign power here who are the source of power here is the power in the Constitution coming from any king or is it coming from Parliament if it would be coming from Parliament like in Britain the parliament is Sovereign but that is a country which
Does not have the written Constitution when a country doesn’t have any written Constitution somebody has to be Sovereign it was a very long lasting culture in uh in England where they have the Democratic Society and the society was more homogeneous not heterogeneous and it was a society where there were no
Very less distinction uh based on Rel religion or cast uh like we see in our country or were seen in the United States which has also adopted a written Constitution so in such a country a non-written constitution is okay but in a country like ours where we
Have so much of diversity a written Constitution is must so that all the classes and Creeds are included and they are not left behind from the mainstream development so we have a written Constitution and the Preamble says we the people so the people are the source of the
Constitution the source of power of the Constitution we the people have Solon resolve to constitute India into Sovereign socialist secular Democratic Republic and we give to all our citizens what the core constitutional values of Liberty equality fr fraternity Justice and on this 26th day of November what do
We do to adopt inact and give to ourselves now see these we do all these things things are written here and at the last line says on this 26th day of November we adopt enact and give to ourselves so we are when we say when I say we it means the
People we the people have made this constitution we the people are the source of power of the Constitution We the People Are The Sovereign authority of the Constitution and we adopt it we enact it means we pass it as a law and we give it to to ourself although it was
Passed by the constituent assembly but the constitu assembly uh is meant to be the representative of the people so if we see it is always the people who have the Sovereign power it is always the people who are the source of power and it is always the
People who has adopted enacted and given to themselves they have given to themselves the Constitution the source of power of Indian constitution are nothing but the people of India so I hope this point is very much clear now let’s come to the second point which is the nature of the
State nature of the state Sovereign socialist secular Democratic Republic this is the nature of the Indian State the nature of State again when I when I use the word state state doesn’t mean the state of madhya Pradesh utar prades you know number of states we have in India when
It’s a political concept when we say state it means a country or a nation so nature of State means Indian State means the nation Barat India okay so what is the nature of State in India this is sovereign it is socialist secular it’s Democratic and it is
Republic what do we understand by the word sovereign it simply means the ability of a country to conduct its own business without any external pressure there is no external pressure on India by any other country by any other International Forum or any international organization to conduct our business
When we pass any law in the parliament we are passing it without any pressure or without any fear from outside that is called sovereignity that you are free to take your own decisions in whichever way shape or form you want to now it is our goodness that we are keeping it more liberal
Social and political ially Democratic but somebody else must not come from outside and tell us what needs to be done India wasn’t a sovereign country till 1947 when it got it in its independence we were under the Yoke of the foreign Rule and any law which was passed during
That time let it be the 1935 uh law the act of 1935 or the 199 or the 1909 act they were the gift of the British Parliament to the Indian people the council acts the regulating acts the government of India acts each of them have given some or the other
Little bit of you know somewhere they will uh uh increase the members in the council Indian members in the council somewhere they will give a little bit of uh Liberty transferred subjects and reserved subjects the transferred subjects were given to Indians to be uh legislated upon but those were all the
Gift of the British Parliament to India here the concept have changed what was the concept we are making our own Constitution we are not inviting or we are not asking for help from any foreign country including Britain to help us in making the Constitution we have made our own
Constitution all the represent ative in that constituent assembly were Indians why because now we are not under any foreign pressure or any foreign Rule and we are independent people and we have the sovereignity sovereignity means we have the independence of making our own Constitution framing our own
Laws and when a country has such a power it can make any lawy desires now when I say any Loy desire doesn’t mean you pass a law which says that anytime some other country or some other leader says something bad about us we are going
To uh put a nuclear bomb on their head no no no that’s not the thing that’s not the nature of Indian State that’s not what has been mentioned in uh the core constitutional values in India we are a friendly State we always want friendly relation with our neighbors we always want friendly
Relation with our distant neighbors and the friendly relation with the far off countries that’s why we go on uh becoming the member of bigger organizations everywhere to maintain that core constitutional value of Brotherhood was kumam we say the whole country is one family so to maintain those uh core constitutional
Values we have we are not a aggressor state or expanding state State we also respect the sovereignty of our neighbor States if tomorrow our army goes into Bhutan or to Nepal or to Sri Lanka wherever it takes over the territory I think there would be minimum opposition from those countries minimum
Opposition from those countries because they do not have the strength to fight India but has India done any of such infring ment of their sovereignity in so many years in so many decades India has never done that why because we understand what sovereignity is in the same manner we also respect the
Sovereignity of other countries so this sovereignity concept is very important concept if you see the internal sovereignity who are sovereign power in India it is the people of India but when we talk about the sovereignity of the state it means that we are free to take our
Own decisions so for example just after we got independent and uh uh the then prime minister honorable Pandit javahar Lal Neu wanted India to become the member of the British Commonwealth there was a huge human cry in the country that just now we have came
Out of the uh the British rule came the Yoke of the British rule was thrown away by the the freedom struggle and again you are saying that let us become the part of the British Commonwealth so his logic was that India had a deep relationship with Britain and its people
And severing it or separating India from Britain is not reasonable it’s not logical it does not make sense because with Britain we can do great business in future so many values which we have Tak from Britain is of work to us and when we are becoming the member of
The British Commonwealth we are doing it on our own will and we can terminate our membership on our own will now that is called sovereignity that we are taking our own decision not because some King have told us to become the member or the prime minister of Britain has told us that it
Will be good for you or they are pressurizing us to become the member no India is becoming the member of the Commonwealth and it is the decision of India and this decision has been taken at its own will and we have the ability to terminate the membership also and
From from decades we have seen that India has the is the important member of the Commonwealth if you see population wise India is 60% of the Commonwealth and we have maintained great relationship with Britain and all the other commonwealth countries in so many years so that was that turned out
To be a great decision but do you really think that it it was anywhere a attack on Indian sovereignity no it was not becoming the member of the British Commonwealth was not an attack on Indian sovereignity on the other hand India have turned the British Commonwealth as the Commonwealth of
Nation see this is one of the major contribution of India one of the contribution in which India played a very important role that British Commonwealth is now known as the common Wealth of Nations so this is what India has done over a period of time by taking
Decisions in such a way that our external interest or internal interest or the interest of the country is not hurt and at the same time our sovereignity is also not hurt so I hope you understand the uh the meaning of sovereignity to take another example Indian army was invited in Sri Lanka to
Fight against the Tamil Alum the the Tamil terrorist as they call it call it so was it the infringement of the sovereignity of Sri Lanka no it was not because the government of Sri Lanka is calling us we are not just entering somebody else’s territory without their
Permission few days back Iran has uh attacked some of the the parts of Pakistan the baluch area was it the infringement of the sovereignity of Pakistan yes it was because Pakistan government did not want neither it has invited Iran to do so in retaliation Pakistan also infringed the
Territory and the sovereignity of Iran so these things you have to keep it in your mind very clearly that what is the infringement of sovereignity and what is not in abbotabad the terrorist Usama bin ladin was killed by America when the American planes entered abbotabad or the Pakistani territory
Pakistanis does not were not able to know it in in initial time of 10 to 15 minutes till that time they have already done their work and were their way back to home what is was this the infringement of the uh sovereignity of Pakistan yes it was but some people say that was
Needed what is needed and what is not needed is a debatable topic and that is not the topic of our discussion here but we have to understand what sovereignity means even if it is economic pressure made by some country for example a country GES gets Grant from another big
Rich country and then the bigger rich country says that we will give you particular grant for food or for water or for electricity for whatever only if you make such and such of law is this the infringement of the sovereignty yes it is although not physical physically a bigger country is
Not pressurizing the smaller country but by intangible means by economic means that is also the infringement of sovere of a nation that you are pressurizing some external pressure is there on a country to act in a particular manner so Indian state has mention uh has maintained its sovereignity from a
Long time and is still maintaining it now let us come to the second concept which is socialist it simply means a welfare state this this was this word was added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act to make it implic uh make the concept which was implicit to make it explicit
The same thing was done with the word secular India has been a secular country from a long long time but the word secular was also added in the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act into the Preamble just to make the implicit quality of our country explicit to make everybody understand
That India is a secular State India is a socialist state so how does this thing work what does this uh Socialism or it just means welfare state one of the one of the basic duty of a welfare state is to remove inequality removal of inequality is socialism very simple what kind of
Inequality do we have in our country do we have social inequality do we have economic inequality do we have political inequality let’s start with political equality what is political equality it means that one vote is equal to one man the value of a vote of a rich man is
Not more than the value of the vote of a poor man whether you are poor whether you are of whichever religion or cast or Creed or gender your vote contains the same value this right has been given by by the Constitution to the Indian people when the Constitution was
Adopted so we do have political democracy in our country political equality in our country but when it comes to social equality do you really think we are socially equal in our country the idea of cast divisions in our country division based on religions are very old the practice of untouchability was
An example of it through several fundamental rights which are mentioned under part third of the Constitution the Constitution tries to make India into a more socially Democratic state to remove the inequality in the society if you see article 14 it’s a broad article which says about right to equality given to all the
Citizens Article 15 and article 16 mentions several grounds such as religion race cast sex place of birth descent place of origin all these things nobody must be discriminated by the state on all these things religion race cast sex place of then article 17 removes untouchability and makes it an offense what is happening
Here now you also see article 39 director principle of State policy you just and human Humane behavior for both the Sexes both the genders at the workplace equal pay for equal work what we are going to do we are trying to remove the inequality prevalent in our country let’s say a
Woman is working and a man is working and man is getting higher pay for the same work this is inequality a higher class person is getting more money for the same work which the lower class person is doing it is also inequality also we see because several sections in India were socially and
Educationally deprived they were backward so there are also Provisions in our country to make them more equal to the rest of the people the affirmative actions as we call them so in jobs in appointments in educational institutions so many rights have been given to the downtrodden to the tribal people to the
Socially backward people and why are we trying to do it we are trying to to do it just because we are a welfare state we are a socialist State and it is the core constitutional value and we have to remove inequality in our society it needs to be removed or there is no
Meaning of political equality think of a situation where a person is so much deprived socially that it does not have any dignity cannot go to Bath uh on on GS or does not holds the same respect which the other person holds or women in our country are suffering just because
The man does not want them to be equal or does not respect them what is the meaning of going and voting for whom or for what we are voting to make a government who starts doing the same thing all over again not bringing any change so the political equality or the
Political democracy one vote for one man and all this thing it only makes sense sense when you have social equality when you have the social democracy in your country it’s a very important concept social democracy and the Constitution tries to bring it by mentioning it in the fundamental rights and the directive
Principles of the state policy directive principles are those values or those directives which the state which the parliament should keep in mind while making any law so equal pay for equal work is one of the concept of the fun of the directive principle it should be in
The mind when making law that there shall not be any distinction the Third Kind of inequality is the economic inequality so what is economic equality when there is no distinction of income so on the basis of income standard of living opportunity status these are the concepts covered in economic
Inequality where you have huge differences in income one person for if the work work for 1 hour they make millions there are other people who work for 10 12 hours in a day and just get peanut what is the meaning of such a such a state when half of the people are
Suffering for bread and because of inflation and other things they cannot pay the bill of their children’s in the educational institution they cannot pay the bill of the health problems what is the meaning of a state what is the meaning of removal of social inequality and what is the meaning of
Having political equality when you are so much suffering because you cannot earn properly because the distribution of the resources and the distributions of the earnings have not been done properly now that concept doesn’t mean that you start snatching from the wealthy and start to give it to the
People we are a socialist state but we are not a Robin Hood State we have to understand India is a socialist State this is the nature of the Indian constitution but it is not a Robin Hood State not a Robin Hood so we do want our businesses to
Grow but whatever we are getting out of those businesses the profits must be distributed equally that means whoever is sharing in those profits if you have a factory see the contribution in a factory if workers are working they contribute the maximum these are the workers we are talking about the work workers
Then there is this middle management and there is this top management but the maximum work has been done by the workers in the middle management top management now let us consider the salaries look at the salaries what’s happening top management middle management and only some little leftover are given to
Workers do you really think this model is good and do you really think political and social equality matters to people when they have been paid this much and the top management few people get this big package so your ability to make decision and your ability to do complex work work
Which the top management does must be rewarded because you become and you come into the top management only after so much of hard work so much of mental pressure so much of Education which you have done and you have gone through and the experience you have to
Take but that does not mean you have been paid off all the money in the world and and those workers who have been working are paid in your comparison not even 1% that’s not the society that’s inequal society that that is what we say that the poor are getting poorer and the
Richer are getting richer that’s that’s where we say that the Divide between the poor and the rich is increasing so the Socialist State tries to eliminate that kind of inequality of also and that will be eliminated when we have economic equality and that economic equality will come when there will be
Less inequality in income less and less inequality in the standard of living in opportunity and in status see this standard of living Rajiv aasa Indra aasa larly lakmi yoga we have gas Cinders being supplied to women so that their eyes and breath are uh you know they were suffering because of uh
The fog and other things so smoke sorry so these are the examples those government schemes are the examples of welfare state where we are trying to pull up the lower sections by different social and economic uh tools which we have just to maintain the economic equal so that the social and political
Equality makes some sense it is very important to understand for us even in the core constitutional value this is the nature of State even in the core constitutional value here we will study justice social economic and politic it is the same thing so that’s why India is called as
The social State because it’s a welfare state and it tries to eliminate inequality in all the Spheres political social and economic I hope you understood this concept now let us come to another concept secularism India is a secular State and this has also been added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment M
Act secular what does this word means added by 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 inserted so again implicit concept was made explicit we were already secular but just to show to the word to show to our own people to show to the parliamentarians to show to the to the
Executives to show to the judges in the Supreme Court and the the Law Officers in the Supreme Court the lawyers in the Supreme Court and everywhere to show them also to the people so that they understand their duty to be more more secular this word was made explicit by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment act what does this word means that India does not have any official religion that means India is secular not a theocracy does not have any official religion no official religion another thing the protection is provided by the state to all the religion protects protects all religion the state of India protects all
Religion there is where the distinction comes between the Western secularism and Indian secularism in West when say secularism it simply means they have nothing to do with religion the state has nothing to do with religion although see when the president of the United States take their oath they keep their hand
On Bible but it’s okay it’s a it’s a secular State something you need some some good thing Bible is a very good uh you know Source on which you know you can just take your own both by keeping it in mind that I will abide by law if not by God
At least I will abide by law so in India and Indian secularism says that state is very well involved in religion although it protects all the religion all the religion not one single religion it promotes all the religion not one single religion so it promotes and protects all the religion whether it
Be Hinduism whether it be Sikhism whether it be Islam whether it be jism whether it be Buddhism Provisions have been there for the minority religions have been made they they they also are promoted by the state one more thing that religion should not be the ground for discrimination religion is not a ground
For discrimination if you see article 14 15 and 16 14 is a broader concept of uh right to equality and Article 15 and article 16 specifically mentions religion as one of the ground on which state must not discriminate the citizen of the country so Article 15 and 16
Particularizes article 14 by giving the grounds that religion is not the basis for any kind of discrimination by the state that state is trying to promote or rather state is trying to give jobs or admissions in the educational institutes to only one religion or two religion and discriminating against the other
Religion that will be hurting the secular character of the country and the government has to pay attention to it so the concept of constitutionalism again comes up so this is what secularism means in India that we are not a theocracy we are a secular State because we do not have any official
Religion it is not the Islamic State of India or the Hindu state of India or the siik state of India and this is one of the great achievements India have because if you see all our neighbors all our neighbors Sri Lanka Pakistan Bhutan Nepal some of them are Buddhist States
Some of them are Islamic States some of them are uh Hindu States but India is a secular State this is one one of the greatest achievement in India so hope you understand the word secular and why it has been added and what all it holds it holds these concept
The religion is protected all religions are protected equally religion is not the ground on which states should discriminate also the right to worship and the right to profess propagate and practice any religion is given under Article 25- 28 in the Indian constitution you can profess propagate and practice any religion of your choice
In India so this is what secularism means in India now let’s go to another concept which is democratic what does democratic means India has parliamentary democracy there can be other kind of democracies as well but India has parliamentary democracy other is presidential form of government parliamentary democracy so how does this this thing
Work this works on the principle of separation of power this works on the principle of cooperation and coordination and there’s a simple difference in both these forms of democracy it is the people who elect their leaders it is always the people who are electing their leaders let’s see
The presidential election in the United States who vote it is the people the parliamentary democracy in India ultimately who are the voters we have already learned the concept of political democracy we have already learned the concept of political equality where one vote equals one man if Mr Ambani is
Coming and voting and I am going and voting the value of that vote is same if a lower cast person is voting tribal person is voting and a higher cast Brahman is voting in the value of that vote is same similarly the the the king of jaur is
Voting or the king of udur is voting or somewhere of traven cor or of madur is voting and a common person from the same state is voting the value of that vote is same so when we have that kind of facility available all the people in the country
Vote to make their government which becomes the Member of Parliament the biggest party in the in the parliament forms the government they come up as the Council of ministers and those and the person who heads this Council of Minister becomes the prime minister of the country this Parliament along with the
Legislature of the state elects the president elects the president so in a way it is the people who are electing the president of the country the head of the state is the president and who are electing it is the people of the country who are electing
It so this is called the Democratic uh process there’s where the the head of the state is not this also the concept of Republic will come here the head of the state is not a hereditary person is not a person from any religion but is the
Head of the state which is very much secular and Sovereign and it is done by the will of people that democracy is also of several kind the basic of them are the social democracy economic democracy and political democracy so we’ve already talked about political democracy one
Vote equal to one man we have a adult suffrage the Electoral roles which contains the name of all the eligible people who can vote in the elections two important conditions are that they must be the citizen of India this is the basic condition everywhere if the person
From UK or us coming and voting in Indian election or we are going and voting in their election doesn’t make sense so in that adult suffrage whoever is 18y old this this age has been reduced to 18 earlier it was 21 by the 69th Constitution Amendment act 1989 this was
Reduced to 18 years so whoever person whoever is 18e old and is the citizen of India can go and vote this tells about the political democracy we have again the economic democracy will only come when we have the equality of income opportunity standards of living and the social democracy as we
Have discussed several fundamental rights several uh directive principal have already provided it but it has still to come to our minds come from our hearts that we need to be a socially Democratic country Republic very simple The Head of the State even in in the Indian States uh such as MP up Rajasthan
Telangana Tamil Nadu we have Governors they play Duell role they are they are the representative of the central governments in the States but at the same time these Governors are also the head of the States constitutional heads it’s a constitutional post similarly president’s post is also a constitutional post so India is very
Much a republic so this is what we mean by the nature of the state that it is Sovereign it is socialist it is secular it is democratic and it is Republic we can make our own laws without being pressurized by any external Force we are a welfare state we
Do not have any official religion of the state in our country it is the people who choose their elected representative and the head of the state in India is a president who is a elected head the simply means India’s Republic I hope you understand the nature of the state in
India the ne next thing let’s start with the core constitutional values core constitutional values in India justice social economic and political Justice what is this social economic and political again if there is any kind of inequality prevalent in India see Justice Bas the basic concept is if there is there is no
Inequality everything is just the concept of Justice only comes where there is in equality if if you have not been given your birthful right or human right or you have been snagged from your property your property has been snatched from you or anything must which whichever thing which has
Been done to you if it is not according to law if it is not according to the core human values and if it is not according to the core constitutional values then it is what Injustice to ensure Justice in our country the courts are being established they are the Consin keepers
Of the Constitution they are the upholders of the fundamental rights in the country they are the institution which provide Justice to people if something wrong has been done to you you can reach the Supreme Court if your fundamental right is Abridged under article 32 you can reach the Supreme
Court and under article 226 you can reach the high courts and what will they do they will ensure that Justice is behold it what kind of justice social justice economic Justice and political Justice if your name has not been added in the Electoral role based on religion based on cast
Based on sex based on whatever that simply means your political right to vote has been taken away you can very well approach court and file a suit against the state for addition of your name in the Electoral role that will ensure the political Justice in the country if the government is not paying
You if you are a beneficiary of a scheme and you are not getting the benefit of out of this scheme because the government has came up with some funny idea I will tell you one uh the gas Cinders the gas lenders and uh people used to get these gas Cinders on
Subsidized rate in India still the subsidy Works Government came up with an idea that the first cender one cylender in a month will be subsidized not the second one and if you are living in the same on the in the same residence that means your address is
Same let’s say it is somewhere let’s say javahar Road House number one if you’re living here one cylinder will be given to you in a month which is will be subsidized but let’s say if you are living in a joint family and you require two cylinders and to get the second
Cylinder you have to pay the full price not the subsidized price this was the case which went to Supreme Court and Supreme Court says says that uh if some family is a joint family they are showing the values of Brotherhood and love the state must not make laws in
Such a way that the subsidy or the the the rights of these people are infringed or the subsid is being taken away from them so why I giving you this example just to show that how courts upheld the uphold the Justice all kind of justices social justice economic Justice political Justice in the
Country so the core constitutional value in India is one of them the first one of them which is mentioned in the Preamble is justice social economic and political second is Liberty what kind of Liberty has been given to the people to the citizens Liberty of thought Liberty of expression Li Liberty of belief
Liberty of faith and Liberty of worship now again the concept of secularism comes here belief faith and worship you have the Liberty to profess propagate and practice any religion you want you can have faith on nature or you can have faith on Stone or you can have
Faith on a wall or you cannot have you don’t want to have faith on anything you can be atheist go on and live your life life in whichever way you want you have the right to believe faith and worship also the fundamental right covered under article 25 to 28 gives you the freedom
Of religion you can profess propagate and practice any religion of your choice has to be done in limitation it doesn’t mean that in order to propagate or profess your religion you start hurting another religion all the concept of G wapsi and everything which you were watching on the news is the example of
This the forceful conversion from one religion to another religion is prohibited in India so when it comes to Liberty we have the liberty of believe faith and worship also we have the liberty of thought and expression this is the basic fundamental Fe nature which allows the human being to reach to its Optimum
Potential under Article 19 several freedoms have been mentioned these Freedom help the individuals freedom of speech freedom of expression they help the Indian people to reach to their Optimum potential also you have the freedom of Association forming Association or forming assemblies that is very important right
Which has been given to you the fulfill the Democratic character of the country if you cannot form associations how will you form political parties or social groups or pressure groups if you cannot assemble peacefully in some ground in Delhi how how can India against corruption movement have have happen so
These rights are very important given to the Indian citizen how will you express Express doesn’t only mean by speaking also by writing an article in the newspaper there was a very great example that the Army in the Northeast was you know what they were doing is the the the newspaper they had the
Regulation on what was printed in the newspaper and the newspaper have came up with an idea that for few days it left the editorial section blank they have left the editorial section blank just to tell to the people and to to all the peoples in the country
Also to the government also to the army that we are expressing our anger with you you are not allowing us to print and write what we want that is our right as newspaper as as a as a person of the media to express so this is also a medium of
Expression see how creative medium of expression where they came up with the idea that we are going to leave this section blank and it has sent very very powerful message so expression can be of many type by speaking by writing by drawing these cartoons which come up in uh the newspapers the
Comedy satirical comedy sacal cartoons these are also the way you express I cannot express until you have the freedom of thought somebody cannot put a bar on your thinking so all these these basic very basic human values for the human being to grow have been mentioned in the constitution of
India under Liberty you have the liberty of thought of expression of belief faith and worship if you compare the Preamble of India Indian constitution with the Preamble of the constitution of Australia or Canada or the United States they do not have such elaborate terminologies of words or values
Mentioned uh the Preamble of the United State talks about Tranquility it talks about Justice it talks about Liberty it talks about the common defense of the country uh us being a welfare state and making the union more stronger it does not mention about equality why because when the Constitution was
Framed it was not an equal Society the rights were between the blacks and the there was a huge bridge between the blacks and the the whites slavery was prevalent the local native people were not given rights although today and with several amendments and with several supreme court judgment equality is the very core
Constitutional value of the United State Constitution but it was not when in 1776 when the Constitution was framed but the idea is that in few lines in one paragraph their Preamble ends but the Indian Preamble is quite elaborate talks about Justice Liberty and it mentions on what ground you’re going to get what
Kind of Liberty you are going to get equality what is equality and what kind of equality is mentioned the equality of status and opportunity think of a situation where you pass the civil services examination and you are just not given respect because you are a woman or you belong to a a delit
Cast or you are down trudden or you are a tribal person or anything like this even when you have become the collector of a district or the Secretary of one Department such thing comes up so think about people who are simple people who does not know how to read and write who
Does the labor work are they not human beings there are as much human being as we are and those are the people who have been socially and historically being subjugated to discrimination in such a scenario equality needs to be ensured so the equality of status is also ensured in the
Constitution through several articles if we see article 14 15 and 16 they gets repeated again and again because it ensures equality article 17 removal of untouchability and making it as a offense a criminal offense tells about this opportunity Article 15 and 16 admission in um educational institutions government which is the model uh
Employer it cannot discriminate on the basis of religion race C sex and other things when they are giving jobs article 16 also gives an exception that some affirmative action can also be made in favor of socially and educationally backward people scheduled casts and scheduled tribes there is from the res
There is the this that is the basic uh article from where the concept of reservation comes even the economically weaker sections are given reservations so that we give opportunity to all the people the people because of any anything whether it be sex whether it be cast whether it be
Religion or whether it be economic factors must also be brought into the mainstream and for that it is very important to provide them reservation that will ensure equality that will be equal to the Socialist State a welfare state which reflects the nature of the Indian state so equality of status and opportunity
And fraternity what is this fraternity is the basic Brotherhood the sense of Brotherhood which we have the idea of unity and Oneness among the people we all are nothing but the son of the same soil until you have that kind of feeling within you do you really think there can be
Equality Liberty or Justice in this country people will be fighting with one another based on religion race and cast and so many factions and sections which we have so the value of fraternity the value of Tranquility becomes very important in the Constitution value of Brotherhood so by fraternity we means
The Dignity of the individual why fraternity to maintain the Dignity of the individual and how can this be maintained by having justice social economic and political by having democracy social democracy political democracy economic democracy by being secular by being socialist then we are going to have Dignity of the
Individual and also the unity and integrity of the nation this word has also this phrase has also been added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act 1976 because it was very important to tell to the Indian people that it is your fundamental duty to maintain the Dignity of the
Individual and also the unity and integrity of the nation how the unity and integrity of the nation is hurt when two sections starts to fight when two religions starts to fight when there is a huge divide between male and female when one region starts to go against another region how will you
Ensure you of the country there are fights between two states on water uh division or the diversion of water the river water or the canal water from one place to the other place so a unanimous decision needs to be taken in these uh situations and for that the basic idea of Brotherhood has
To be there then only you can respect the Dignity of an individual that whatever may be his or her religion whatever maybe his or her cast does not matter from which place they belong does not matter we respect them because we are the people of the same country we
Are brothers that’s what Brotherhood means and that’s what fraternity means here that will ensure the unity and integrity of the country so these are the core constitutional values which have been mentioned in the Preamble also I I’ve mentioned the fifth one the duty the to maintain the unity
And integrity of the nation is the fundamental duty of the Indian citizen to maintain the secular character of the Indian constitution it is the fundamental duty of the citizen so I hope we have covered this in length and you will be able to answer any
Question now uh on uh on Preamble if any question on Preamble is asked it was also important to understand the terminology such as fraternity equality Liberty and the inner concept which has been provided here in order to understand the fundamental rights in order to understand the directive principles and other important values
Which is which are there in the Constitution and in order to clear this examination Indian poity it has a great you know area from where the questions are coming if you see the prelims examination 10 to 15 questions are coming from prelims uh in prelims from
Polity in Mains examination also it is a very important topic also if you’re giving interview you are supposed to know the core constittution values and how they apply to the Indian constitution everything in Indian constitution whichever section or whichever article you see has some or the other link whether it be uh whether
It be uh the special status given to some State or the uh the rules and regulations made for the provisions made for the administration of scheduled areas tribal areas whether it be the section on Election Commission constitutional body non-constitutional bodies fundamental right duties everything is linked to Preamble so to
Understand Indian polity you need to understand the Preamble in depth I think uh this is it from my side today and thank you very much for being part of this live class we’ll have a live class we’ll tell you this is a series of live class we are going to
Have and uh the next one the the date and the timing of next one you will
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