42ND
AMENDMENT ACT AND PREAMBLE - POLITY
News:
Adhir raises storm over
missing words in copies of Preamble given to MPs
What's
in the news?
●
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s
claim that the words “socialist” and “secular” were missing from the Preamble
of the copies of the Constitution handed out to MPs while moving to the new
Parliament building turned out to be much ado about nothing.
Preamble:
●
A preamble is an introductory and declarative section of the constitution that
outlines the basic goals and guiding principles of the constitution or state.
Backdrop:
●
It was introduced in the Constituent Assembly by Jawaharlal Nehru and
seconded by Purushottam Das Tandon.
●
Following the discussion in the
Constituent Assembly, the majority of
the provisions of the Objectives Resolution were adopted as the Preamble.
●
The Objectives Resolution listed
“Fundamentals,” which were to serve as guidelines for the constitutional
framework on which the Constituent Assembly had gathered.
●
The resolution outlined some
“fundamentals” for the future constitution of India, the most significant of
which was that the country would be a “sovereign Indian republic.”
Facts
about Preamble of Indian Constitution:
●
It is the Constitution’s preface or introduction.
●
According to the Supreme Court, the “Preamble is the key to its makers'” mind.
●
The concept of the Preamble is borrowed
from the United States Constitution.
●
The objectives mentioned in the Preamble
contain the basic structure of our Constitution, and cannot be changed.
●
It is an integral part of the constitution and can be amended, except for
the basic structure.
●
However, Its provisions cannot be enforced
in courts of law because it is non-justiciable.
42nd
Amendment - A Mini Constitution:
●
The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of
India is also known as the Mini Constitution.
●
It was enacted in 1976 during the
Emergency.
●
It was one of the most significant
amendments to the Constitution.
●
The preamble has been amended only once by
42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 when three new terms were added - Socialist, secular and integrity.