Test: Constitutional Design- 1 - UPSC

Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 until the early 1990s.

Mahatma Gandhi was not a member of the Constituent Assembly of India. Members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Mission.
The arrangement was:
(i) 292 members were elected through the Provincial Legislative Assemblies
(ii) 93 members represented the Indian Princely States
(iii) 4 members represented the Chief Commissioners' Provinces.

As per the dictionary meaning the word sovereign means “one possesses supreme political power”; and another meaning of the word is “having independent authority and the right to govern itself”.

The Preamble of India proclaims India as a state to be sovereign, it testifies to the fact that India is no longer a dependency or colony or possession of the British Crown. As a sovereign independent state, India is free both internally and externally to take her own decisions and implement these for her people and territories.

The apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks in the following ways:
(i) The blacks were forbidden from living in white areas. They could work in white areas only if they had a permit.
(ii) Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theatres, beaches, swimming pools, public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks.
(iii) The blacks could not visit churches where the whites worshipped.
(iv) They could not form associations or protest against the terrible system of apartheid.

• The Constitution of India does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time.
• Many countries of the world have had to rewrite their constitution afresh because the basic values were not accepted by all major social groups or political parties. In some other countries, the constitution exists as a mere piece of paper. No one actually follows it. The experience of our constitution is different.
• 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.

Mandela was arrested in 1962 for his involvement in the resistance against the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa. Nelson Mandela remained in jail for a total of 28 years. He was imprisoned from 1962 to 1990.

Nelson Mandela, the leader in the African National Congress, an organization dedicated to protesting against the South African government’s policy of apartheid, had been arrested in 1956 on treason charges but was acquitted.
On June 12, 1964, Nelson Mandela received a life sentence for committing sabotage against South Africa’s apartheid government, avoiding a possible death sentence.

The Preamble proclaims that India is a Sovereign State. 'Sovereign' means that India has its own independent authority and it is not a dominion or dependent state of any other external power.

• ANC was founded on 08 January 1912 and got in Feb. 1990. This party is based on the Ideology of African Nationalism, Social Democracy, Anti-Imperialism.
• The national party stood against the segregation law in 1948, institutionalizing the previous segregation laws. After the long struggle, sometimes that struggles were also violent which happens both inside and outside, the country helps the activities to repeal the discriminatory laws which began in mid- 1980s.

The people of South Africa were divided by their race and the different races were forced to live separately from each other. There were laws in place to ensure that segregation was abided by.