Preamble of the Constitution of India

Supreme Court in re Berubari case said that “The preamble to the Constitution is a key to open the mind of the makers and shows the general purpose for which they made the several provision in the Constitution“

The judgement depicts the importance and objective of preamble. 

There are certain objectives of the preamble which are available to every citizen such as – justice ( social, economic, political), liberty ( thought, expression, belief, faith and worship), equality ( status, opportunity) and fraternity. 

Further we will discuss about the meaning of words mentioned in Preamble – 

Sovereign – It means the state is not dependent upon any outside authority or they aren’t required to ask outsiders for any decisions. 

According to Cooley, “A state is sovereign where there’s resides within itself a supreme and absolute power acknowledging no superior”. 

Republic – It means the head of state is elected by the will of the people not any hereditary monarch. 

Democratic – Abraham Lincon said that democracy is government of the people, for the people and by the people. It means people have the power to elect it’s representative and the government gets authority from the people and works for them. 

The Preamble is part of the Constitution of India ? 

In year1960, the Supreme Court in the Re Berubari case

But in Kesavanada Bharti v. State of Kerala (1973), the Supreme Court with majority held that Preamble is the part of the Constitution apart from this, the court added that Preamble can be amended but basic structure or basic feature of Preamble can’t be amended. 

42nd Amendment Act, 1976 

The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 added three words in the Constitution i.e Integrity, Socialist and Secular. 

Socialism means that the production of the state is controlled wholly or partially by the state itself. It is based on the principle – “equal pay for equal work” (Randhir Singh v. Union of India(1982))

In D.S Nakara v. Union of India (1983), the court held that the basic structure of socialism is to provide a decent life to working people from cradle to grave. 

Secularism means the state doesn’t recognize any religion as state religion and respects each religion equally. 

St. Xavier College v. State of Gujarat ( 1974), the court held that Secular word isn’t expressed in Constitution but the objective of Constitution makers are traceable under Article 25 to 28 which states that every person has freedom to choose their religion and right to profess, practise and propagate religion.