Constitution of India: Origin, Structure and Key Principles

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III (General Studies III), Unit I - Indian Polity, Governance, India and International Affairs and Current Affairs, under the heading “Origin, Structure, and Key Principles of the Constitution of India”:

• Constituent Assembly, influences, Philosophical Bases, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, and Fundamental Duties.
• Basic Structure Doctrine, Amendment Process and major constitutional changes.
• Recent Constitutional Developments and Judicial Pronouncements, Constitutional Morality and Transformative Constitutionalism.

Topics in detail

The Constituent Assembly

• Background: the Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935, and the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946, which set the method of forming the Assembly
• Composition: members indirectly elected by the provincial assemblies, with seats for the princely states (including the states of Rajputana)
• First sitting on 9 December 1946; Dr Rajendra Prasad elected permanent President
• Objectives Resolution moved on 13 December 1946 and adopted on 22 January 1947; its ideas in the Preamble
• Committees: the Drafting Committee chaired by Dr B. R. Ambedkar; the Union Powers, Union Constitution and Provincial Constitution Committees; the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities
• Adoption on 26 November 1949 (Constitution Day) and commencement on 26 January 1950
• Criticisms of the Assembly (not directly elected, dominated by one party, a body of lawyers) and the replies to them

Influences on the Constitution

• Government of India Act, 1935: federal scheme, office of Governor, emergency provisions, Public Service Commissions, judiciary
• Britain: parliamentary government, cabinet system, rule of law, single citizenship, bicameralism
• United States: Fundamental Rights, judicial review, independence of the judiciary, removal of judges, the Vice-President
• Ireland: Directive Principles, nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha, method of electing the President
• Canada (a federation with a strong Centre, residuary powers with the Union), Australia (Concurrent List, joint sitting), Weimar Germany (suspension of Fundamental Rights during an emergency), the former USSR (Fundamental Duties), France (republic; liberty, equality, fraternity), South Africa (amendment procedure), Japan (procedure established by law)

Philosophical bases

• The Preamble: sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic (socialist and secular added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976); justice, liberty, equality, fraternity; the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation
• The Preamble as part of the Constitution (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) and as a key to its interpretation
• Roots in the national movement: the Nehru Report, 1928 and the Karachi Resolution, 1931 on Fundamental Rights
• Liberal democracy, social justice, Gandhian ideals and the Indian idea of secularism (equal respect for all religions)

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12 to 35)

• Definition of the State (Article 12); laws inconsistent with Fundamental Rights void (Article 13)
• Right to equality (Articles 14 to 18), including the enabling clauses for reservation in Articles 15 and 16
• Right to freedom (Articles 19 to 22): the six freedoms of Article 19 and reasonable restrictions; protection in respect of conviction; life and personal liberty
• Expanding meaning of Article 21: Maneka Gandhi (1978), privacy in K. S. Puttaswamy (2017), livelihood, shelter, clean environment; Article 21A (86th Amendment, 2002)
• Right against exploitation (Articles 23, 24); freedom of religion (Articles 25 to 28); cultural and educational rights (Articles 29, 30)
• Right to constitutional remedies (Article 32): habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto
• Right to property removed from Part III by the 44th Amendment, 1978 (now Article 300A)
• Suspension during an emergency (Articles 358, 359); Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended

Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36 to 51)

• Nature: non-justiciable but fundamental in governance (Article 37)
• Groups (a textbook classification, not the Constitution's): socialist (Articles 38, 39, 39A, 41, 42, 43, 43A, 47), Gandhian (Articles 40, 43, 43B, 46, 47, 48) and liberal-intellectual (Articles 44, 45, 48, 48A, 49, 50, 51)
• Relationship with Fundamental Rights: Champakam Dorairajan (1951), the 25th Amendment and Article 31C, Minerva Mills (1980) on balance between Parts III and IV
• Directives implemented through laws (land reforms, panchayats, legal aid, environment protection)

Fundamental Duties (Article 51A)

• Added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976, on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation; the eleventh duty (education of children aged 6 to 14) added by the 86th Amendment, 2002
• Non-justiciable; the Verma Committee (1999) on making them effective through existing laws

Amendment process and the basic structure

• Article 368: amendment by special majority, and by special majority with ratification by half the states; changes made by simple majority outside Article 368
• Shankari Prasad (1951), Sajjan Singh (1965), Golaknath (1967) and the 24th Amendment, 1971
• Kesavananda Bharati (1973): Parliament cannot alter the basic structure
• Later cases: Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975), Minerva Mills (1980), Waman Rao (1981), S. R. Bommai (1994), I. R. Coelho (2007, Ninth Schedule laws), the NJAC case (2015)
• Elements held basic: supremacy of the Constitution, judicial review, federalism, secularism, separation of powers, free and fair elections, rule of law

Major constitutional changes

Recent developments and judicial pronouncements

• Changes to Article 370 (2019) and the Supreme Court's judgment upholding them (December 2023)
• Reservation for economically weaker sections upheld (Janhit Abhiyan, 2022)
• Electoral bonds scheme struck down (Association for Democratic Reforms, 2024)
• Sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes permitted (State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh, 2024)
• Right to privacy (2017); decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations (Navtej Singh Johar, 2018) and of adultery (Joseph Shine, 2018)
• Women's reservation and its link to the next census and delimitation

Constitutional morality and transformative constitutionalism

• Constitutional morality: adherence to the core values of the Constitution over popular or social morality; Dr Ambedkar's use of the term in the Constituent Assembly
• Its use by the Supreme Court: Manoj Narula (2014), Government of NCT of Delhi v. Union of India (2018), Navtej Singh Johar (2018), the Sabarimala case (2018)
• Transformative constitutionalism: the Constitution as an instrument of social change towards dignity, equality and non-discrimination
• Criticism: vagueness of the idea, and the risk of judicial overreach

Overlaps

The Prelims syllabus covers the same ground in short (framing of the Constitution, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties): see RAS Prelims.