FAQs On Constitutional Design Class-9 Civics Chapter-2

What do you mean by “Constitution”?

There are certain basic rules that the citizens and the government have to follow. All such rules together are called the Constitution. As the country’s supreme law, the constitution determines the rights of citizens, the powers of the government, and how the government should function.

What was “Apartheid”?

Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa. The white Europeans imposed this system on South Africa The system of apartheid divided the people and labelled them based on their skin colour.

Why do we need a Constitution?

We need a Constitution because: First, it generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kinds of people to live together;

Second, it specifies how the government will be constituted, who will then have power to make which decisions;

Third, it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are; and

Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

What is a Preamble?

The Constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values. This is called the Preamble of the Constitution.

The Preamble of the Constitution reads like a poem on democracy. It contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built.

What are the various reasons to accept our Constitution?

The various reasons to accept our Constitution are : The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time. Over the last half a century, several groups have questioned some provisions of the Constitution. The second reason for accepting the Constitution is that the Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. There was no universal adult franchise at that time. So the Constituent Assembly could not have been chosen directly by all the people of India. Finally, the Constituent Assembly worked to give sanctity to the Constitution. The Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open, and consensual manner.

NCERT Revision Notes Class-9 Civics Chapter-2 Constitutional Design: There are certain basic rules that the citizens and the government have to follow. All such rules together are called the Constitution. As the country’s supreme law, the constitution determines citizens’ rights, the government’s powers, and how the government should function.

In this article, we will ask some basic questions about the constitutional design of a democracy. Why do we need a constitution? How are the constitutions drawn up? Who designs them and in what way? What are the values that shape the constitutions in democratic states? Once a constitution is accepted, can we make changes later as the changing conditions require?

Let’s Explore!

Apartheid: Definition

• Apartheid was the name of a system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa. The white Europeans imposed this system on South Africa The system of apartheid divided the people and labelled them based on their skin colour.
• The native people of South Africa are black. They made up about three-fourths of the population and were called ‘blacks’. Besides these two groups, there were people of mixed races who were called ‘colored’ and people who migrated from India.
• The white rulers treated all non-whites as inferiors. The non-whites did not have voting rights. The apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks.
• They were forbidden from living in white areas. They could work in white areas only if they had a permit. Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theatres, beaches, swimming pools, and public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks. This was called segregation.
• They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped. Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.

Struggle Against Apartheid

• Since 1950, the blacks, colored, and Indians fought against the apartheid system. They launched protest marches and strikes.
• The African National Congress (ANC) was the umbrella organization that led the struggle against the policies of segregation. This included many workers’ unions and the Communist Party.
• Many sensitive whites also joined the ANC to oppose apartheid and played a leading role in this struggle. Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist.

Towards a new Constitution

• The white regime changed its policies. Discriminatory laws were repealed. Ban on political parties and restrictions on the media were lifted. After 28 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela walked out of jail as a free man.
• Finally, at midnight of 26 April 1994, the new national flag of the Republic of South Africa was unfurled marking the newly born democracy in the world. The apartheid government came to an end, paving the way for the formation of a multi-racial government.
• The party that ruled through oppression and brutal killings and the party that led the freedom struggle sat together to draw up a common constitution.
• After two years of discussion and debate, they came out with one of the finest constitutions the world has ever had. This constitution gave its citizens the most extensive rights available in any country.
• Together, they decided that in the search for a solution to the problems, nobody should be excluded, and no one should be treated as a demon.
• They agreed that everybody should become part of the solution, whatever they might have done or represented in the past. The preamble to the South African Constitution sums up this spirit.

Why do we need a Constitution?

The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. Constitution is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in a territory (called citizens) and also the relationship between the people and government.

The Americans gave themselves a constitution after the War of Independence against Great Britain. After the Revolution, the French people approved a democratic constitution. Since then it has become a practice in all democracies to have a written constitution. A constitution does many things:

• First, it generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kinds of people to live together;
• Second, it specifies how the government will be constituted, who will then have the power to make which decisions;
• Third, it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are; and
• Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

Making of the Indian Constitution

• The making of the constitution for a huge and diverse country like India was not an easy affair. The country was born through a partition based on religious differences. This was a traumatic experience for the people of India and Pakistan.
• At least ten lakh people were killed on both sides of the border by partition-related violence. There was another problem.
• The British had left it to the rulers of the princely states to decide whether they wanted to merge with India or with Pakistan or remain independent.
• The merger of these princely states was a difficult and uncertain task. When the Constitution was written, the country’s future did not look as secure as it does today.
• The makers of the constitution had anxieties about the present and the future of the country.

The Path to Constitution

• There were sharp differences of opinion within the freedom struggle about the path India should take after Independence. Such differences exist even today. Yet some basic ideas had come to be accepted by almost everyone.
• As far back in 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted a constitution for India. In 1931, the resolution at the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution should look like.
• Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of a universal adult franchise, the right to freedom and equality, quality, and to protection of the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India. Thus some basic values were accepted by all leaders much before the Constituent Assembly met to deliberate on the Constitution.
• Elections were held in 1937 to Provincial Legislatures and Ministries all over British India. These were not fully democratic governments, the experience gained by Indians in the working of the legislative institutions proved to be very useful for the country in setting up its institutions and working in them.
• That is why the Indian constitution adopted many institutional details and procedures from colonial laws like the Government of India Act, of 1935. Our leaders gained the confidence to learn from other countries but on their own.
• Many of our leaders were inspired by the ideals the of French Revolution, the practice of parliamentary democracy in Britain, and the Bill of Rights in the US. The socialist revolution in Russia inspired many Indians to think of shaping a system based on social and economic equality.
• Yet they were not simply imitating what others had done. At each step, they were questioning whether these things suited our country. All these factors contributed to the making of our Constitution.

The Constituent Assembly

• The drafting of the document called the Constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the Constituent Assembly. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946.
• Its first meeting was held in December 1946 The Constituent Assembly that wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members.
• The Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on 26 January 1950. To mark this day we celebrate January 26 as Republic Day every year.
• Some basic principles were decided and agreed upon. Then a Drafting Committee chaired by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar prepared a draft constitution for discussion. Several rounds of thorough discussion took place on the Draft Constitution, clause by clause.
• More than two thousand amendments were considered. The members deliberated for 114 days spread over three years. Every document presented and every word spoken in the Constituent Assembly has been recorded and preserved. These are called ‘Constituent Assembly Debates’.
• When printed, these debates are 12 bulky volumes. These debates provide the rationale behind every provision of the Constitution. These are used to interpret the meaning of the Constitution.

Reasons to Accept Our Constitution

• The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time. Over the last half a century, several groups have questioned some provisions of the Constitution.
• But no large social group or political party has ever questioned the legitimacy of the Constitution itself. This is an unusual achievement for any constitution.
• It was elected mainly by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures This ensured a fair geographical share of members from all the regions of the county. The Assembly was dominated by the Indian National Congress, the party that led India’s freedom struggle.
• The Congress itself included a variety of political groups and opinions. The Assembly had many members who did not agree with the Congress. In social terms too, the Assembly represented members from different language groups, castes, classes, religions, and occupations.
• Even if the Constituent Assembly was elected by universal adult franchise, its composition would not have been very different.
• Finally, the Constituent Assembly worked to give sanctity to the Constitution. The Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open, and consensual manner.

Guiding Values of the Indian Constitution

The Dreams and the Promise

Philosophy of the Constitution

• The Constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values. This is called the Preamble of the Constitution.
• The Preamble of the Constitution reads like a poem on democracy. It contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built.
• It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of government, to find out whether it is good or bad. It is the soul of the Indian Constitution.
• The terms ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ were added to the Preamble through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976.

Institutional Design

• Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felt that it had to be in accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society. They did not see it as sacred or as an unalterable law. So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. These changes are called constitutional amendments.
• The Constitution describes the institutional arrangements in a very legal language. Like any Constitution, the Indian Constitution lays down a procedure for choosing persons to govern the country.
• It defines who will have how much power to make which decisions. And it puts limits to what the government can do by providing some rights to the citizen that cannot be violated.

Conclusion

All countries with a constitution need not be necessarily democratic countries. But all countries that have a democratic government will have constitutions.

People Also View

• Constitution: Meaning, Definition, and Sources
• Constitution of India
• Salient Features of the Indian Constitution