Preamble to Constitution.

[Brahmanyan]

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Now a debate is going on about the exclusion of the words "Secular and Socialist" in a Government Advertisement carried in Print Media on Republic day. Interestingly these words were debated and rejected by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar and the members of Constituent Assembly, (on 15 November 1948) when these were presented by Prof.K T Shah.
It will be of interest to read the debate in the Constituent Assembly while deciding the Preamble to Constitution.
Please go through the same in the following Weblink:
http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol7p6.htm,
Brahmanyan
Bangalore.

 

[sarang]

The constitution was assembled and approved after extensive debate. It is worthwhile to re evaluate all the amendments, about 100, made I nthe last 65 years.

 

[prasad1]

Observing that secularism was in the blood of Indian people, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said the government was "committed to secularism and it didn't think of removing it" from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.


"We are committed to secularism. There is no problem about it. And there is no thinking to remove it also," the Union Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister said, when sought his view on the matter. Talking to reporters here, he said, "secularism is there in the blood of Indian people that's part of our culture. It was not there in original preamble and it was inserted during emergency but government advertisement was about the original preamble and we are committed to secularism and we don't have any idea to drop it."

 

[sarang]

Ravishankar prasad welcomes discussion and debate of this issue. There is a view that it can be removed legally because it was inserted by indira gandhi during emergency, when the parliament was suspended and had no powers. I would vote for restoring the the first draft of the constitution, suspend all amendments and initiate public discussion. Socialism meaning state ownership of industry is also not practiced.

Our hindu concept of you follow yours, we follow ours is in our blood. The religions which treat others as kafirs or sinners ought to put on watch and contained.

 

[Brahmanyan]

Preamble to Constitution

42nd Amendment to the Constitution.

It was during the ill-famous Emergency period 42nd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1976.Almost all parts of the Constitution, including the Preamble and amending clause, were changed. 42nd Amendment changed the description of India in the original preamble from a "sovereign democratic republic" to a "sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic", and also changed the words "unity of the nation" to "unity and integrity of the nation". The jursit and constitutional expert Hormasji Maneckji Seervai severely criticized this amendment stating that the newly inserted words are "ambiguous" and "should not have been inserted in the Preamble without a reason".

The amendment's fifty-nine clauses stripped the Supreme Court of many of its powers and moved the political system toward parliamentary sovereignty. It curtailed democratic rights in the country, and gave sweeping powers to the Prime Minister's Office. Validity of these changes was questioned in the famous case "Minerva Mills Ltd. & Ors vs Union Of India & Ors on 31 July, 1980".In the land mark judgement full Bench of Supreme Court struck down section 4 and 55 of the Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act.

The details of 42nd Amendment to the Constitution are available in the following URL:

http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.