The Philosophy of Constitution Chapter Notes | Political Science Class 11 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Introduction

The Philosophy of the Constitution goes beyond laws to embody the values and ideals shaping a nation. It involves understanding key concepts, envisioning society through those concepts, and connecting them with historical debates. The Indian Constitution merges legal principles with moral values, reflecting the nation's aspirations and guiding its democratic journey.

• The constitution restricts the exercise of power in modern states, which have a monopoly over force and coercion.
• Without restrictions, state institutions can fall into the wrong hands and abuse their power, turning against the people.
• Constitutions ensure state power is continuously checked and prevent the state from becoming tyrannical.
• Constitutions provide peaceful and democratic means to bring about social transformation.
• For previously colonized people, constitutions represent the first real exercise of political self-determination.
• Nehru emphasized that the Constituent Assembly represented a collective demand for full self-determination.
• Only a Constituent Assembly of elected representatives had the right to frame India’s constitution without external interference.
• Nehru saw the Constituent Assembly as more than just a body of able lawyers; it was a nation moving away from its past political and social structures.
• The Indian Constitution aimed to break traditional social hierarchies and usher in freedom, equality, and justice.
• Constitutions not only limit those in power but also empower those traditionally deprived of power.
• Constitutions enable vulnerable people to achieve collective good.

Why do we need to go back to the Constituent Assembly?

• Revisiting the Constituent Assembly helps understand the intentions and concerns of the framers.
• It provides insight into the normative function of the constitution in current times.
• In India, the world of the original framers and the present-day world have not changed drastically in terms of values and ideals.
• Understanding the political philosophy underlying the constitution helps grasp current constitutional practices and their value.
• Revisiting the Constituent Assembly debates and even the colonial era is necessary to understand and uphold the principles of the constitution.

What is the Political Philosophy of our Constitution?

• The political philosophy of the Indian Constitution is multifaceted and cannot be described with a single label.
• It is liberal, democratic, egalitarian, secular, and federal.
• The Constitution is open to community values, sensitive to the needs of religious and linguistic minorities and historically disadvantaged groups, and committed to building a common national identity.
• The Constitution is committed to freedom, equality, social justice, and some form of national unity.
• There is a clear emphasis on peaceful and democratic measures for putting this philosophy into practice.

Individual Freedom

• The Constitution is committed to individual freedom, a commitment resulting from over a century of intellectual and political activity.
• Rammohan Roy protested against the curtailment of the freedom of the press by the British colonial state, advocating for unlimited liberty of publication.
• Freedom of expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest are integral parts of the Constitution.
• These freedoms are part of the liberal ideology and demonstrate the strong liberal character of the Indian Constitution.
• For over forty years before the adoption of the Constitution, the Indian National Congress consistently emphasized individual rights as a non-negotiable value.

Social Justice

• The Indian Constitution is liberal but not only in the classical Western sense.
• Classical liberalism prioritizes individual rights over social justice and community values.
• The liberalism of the Indian Constitution is linked to social justice.
• Reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution illustrate this commitment.
• The makers of the Constitution believed that granting the right to equality was insufficient to overcome historical injustices.
• Special constitutional measures, such as the reservation of seats in legislatures and public sector jobs, were provided to protect and advance the interests of these groups.

• Respect for diversity and minority rights
  

• The Indian Constitution encourages equal respect between communities, despite hierarchical relationships (as in caste) and rivalry (as in religious communities).
• It was challenging to make communities liberal and foster a sense of equal respect under existing conditions of hierarchy or rivalry.
• Unlike western liberal constitutions, the Indian Constitution recognizes community-based rights due to India's multiple cultural communities.
• For example, religious communities have the right to establish and run their own educational institutions, which may receive government funding.
• This shows the Constitution does not see religion merely as a private matter.
• Secular states are typically seen as treating religion as a private matter, refusing to give it public or official recognition.
• However, the Indian Constitution, despite not initially mentioning the term 'secular', has always been secular.
• Western secularism involves mutual exclusion of state and religion to protect individual freedom and citizenship rights.
• Mutual exclusion means the state must not interfere in religion, and religion must not dictate state policy.
• The purpose is to safeguard individual freedom from powerful religious organizations and to ensure the state remains neutral.

In India, conditions required an alternative conception of secularism:

• Rights of Religious Groups: Recognized that inter-community equality is as necessary as equality between individuals. The Constitution grants rights to all religious communities, such as establishing and maintaining educational institutions. Freedom of religion means freedom for both individuals and communities.
• State’s Power of Intervention: Separation could not mean mutual exclusion because certain religious customs, like untouchability, deprived individuals of basic dignity and self-respect. The state needed to intervene in religion to promote freedom and equality. Thus, the state may help or hinder religious communities based on which action promotes these values. The Indian model involves principled distance, allowing the state to intervene or abstain based on what promotes liberty, equality, and social justice.

Three core features (achievements) of the Indian Constitution:

• Reinforces and reinvents forms of liberal individualism, promoting individual autonomy despite community values.
• Upholds social justice without compromising individual liberties, shown by the commitment to caste-based affirmative action.
• Upholds group rights against inter-communal strife, showing a willingness to face challenges of multiculturalism.