Meaning of Sovereign | Socialist | Secular | Democratic | Republic


The nine keywords in Preamble are Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic, Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. These are the fundamental principles and values for which our makers of Constitution stood for. These keywords written in Preamble are like the pillars of Indian Constitution and they form the foundation on which Constitution of India stands tall.


Keywords in the Preamble and their Meaning

1) SOVEREIGN

What is the meaning of Sovereign?

Sovereign means that a country is free to conduct its internal and external affairs and no other country is entitled to interfere in these matters.

i) India is free to conduct its own affairs, both internal and external. 

ii) India is an independent state and neither dependent on any other state nor a dominion of it.

iii) Being a sovereign state, India can either acquire a foreign territory or cede(transfer) a part of its territory in favor of a foreign state.


2) SOCIALIST

What is the meaning of Socialist state?

A state is Socialist if it follows the principle of Socialism. So what is socialism?

Socialism is an economic system where four factors of production - natural resources, labour, capital goods and entrepreneurship, are owned by the community as a whole and not by any private organization.


i) Was keyword Socialist originally present in the Constitution ?
  • The keyword Socialist was originally NOT present in the constitution 
  • It was added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976

ii) The socialism is reflected in the Indian Constitution in the form of Directive Principles of State Policy. Indian socialism is a blend of Marxism and Gandhian socialism, which is directed more towards Gandhian socialism


Example of Gandhian socialism in Directive Principles of State Policy are:

a) Organization of village panchayats (Article-40)

b) Promotion of cottage industries (Article-43)

c) Promotion of cooperative societies (Article-43B)

d) Prohibition of slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and drought cattle and to improve their breeds


iii) What kind of socialism does India supports? Does India supports Communist socialism or Democratic socialism? 

India supports "democratic socialism" and not "communist socialism or state socialism".

a) What is Communist socialism?

Communist socialism emphasizes on the nationalization of all means of production and distribution, and abolition of private property.

b) What is Democratic socialism? 

Democratic socialism promotes mixed economy i.e both private and public sectors co-existed. It aims to end poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of opportunity.


3) SECULAR

What is a Secular state?

A state is said to be secular if it neither promotes or supports any particular religion nor does it opposes any religion. A state is generally neutral in the matters of religion.


i) Was term Secular originally present in the Constitution?
  • The term was originally NOT present in the constitution
  • The term Secular was added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act,1976.

ii) Which part of Constitution shows the secular nature of Indian state?
  • Secular nature of Indian state can be seen in Article 25 to 28 (Freedom of Religion).
  • All religions in India have equal status and receive equal support from the state


4) DEMOCRATIC

Democratic means that the state derives its power from the People either directly or indirectly.


There are two kinds of democracy - Direct democracy and Indirect Democracy

a) What is Direct Democracy? 

In Direct democracy, the people of the country directly participate the in the making of policies and laws by casting their vote on the matters i.e., the power is exercised by the People directly.


I. What is an example of direct democracy?

Switzerland is an example of direct democracy.



II. What are the devices of direct democracy?


The three devices of direct democracy are: Referendum, Initiative and Recall.


i) Referendum or Plebiscite:

In referendum, citizens are asked their opinion on a particular issue and citizens have to cast their vote by usually choosing between two choices - YES or NO, whether they support the issue or are against the issue.

eg: Brexit was a referendum where people of UK choose to leave European Union


ii) Initiative: 

If citizens want to introduce an amendment to the constitution or a new law, they can launch an initiative where signatures of citizens are collected showing that they support the popular initiative and submitted to legislature.


iii) Recall: 

Recall is an instrument of direct democracy by which citizens can end an elected official's term before the expiry by casting a direct vote.  



b) What is Indirect Democracy or Representative Democracy?

The representatives elected by the people exercise power, make laws and carry on government. 

It is of two types: 
i) Presidential (USA)
ii) Parliamentary (India)

The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions. 

Democratic character of the Indian polity is reflected by:

i) Universal adult franchise
ii) Periodic elections
iii) Independence of judiciary
iv) Rule of law
v) Absence of discrimination on certain grounds



5) REPUBLIC:

The Head of state is elected directly or indirectly for a fixed period of time, instead of head of state being a hereditary position (as in Monarchy)

In India, head of state is President, elected indirectly by an electoral college for a fixed term of 5 years.

Republic also means:

a) power to be vested in the people of the state, instead of in one person like King.

b) Absence of any privileged class i.e all public offices are opened to every citizen without any discrimination.


Read next article in the Preamble series to know more about :


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