Which one among the following is not a character of a secular State?
- (a)It refuses theocracy.
- (b)It separates religion from the State.
- (c)A State in order to be secular must be democratic.
- (d)It must prevent religious conflict and promote religious harmony.
Correct — C, A State in order to be secular must be democratic. That is the statement which is not a character of a secular state, because secularity and democracy are separate properties and neither entails the other. A one-party state can enforce a rigid separation of religion from government while allowing its people no vote at all, and a functioning democracy can retain an established church, as the United Kingdom does with the Church of England, without ceasing to be liberal. Secularism is a claim about the relationship between the state and religion. Democracy is a claim about who holds power. The other three options each describe that first relationship and so belong to the definition.
- (a)It refuses theocracy. — Part of the definition. A theocratic state derives its authority and its law from religion, which is exactly what a secular state declines to do.
- (b)It separates religion from the State. — The core of the idea in its classical form — no official religion, no religious test for office, no state enforcement of doctrine.
- (d)It must prevent religious conflict and promote religious harmony. — The Indian version of the same principle. Indian secularism is framed less as a wall between religion and state than as equal respect and even-handed regulation, which makes preventing communal conflict part of the state's secular duty.
Secularism has two broad models. In the strict separation model, associated with the United States and with French laicite, the state keeps out of religion and religion out of the state. In the Indian model the state is not indifferent but even-handed: it may regulate religious practice in the interest of public order, health, morality and social reform, and it may aid institutions of all faiths alike. Articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution set out freedom of conscience and of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, freedom from taxation for promoting a religion and freedom from religious instruction in wholly state-funded schools.
The item is a definitional test dressed up as current affairs, and the way through is to ask of each statement whether it is about religion and the state, or about something else. Options (a), (b) and (d) all are. Option (c) smuggles in a different subject entirely. The historical counter-examples make it concrete: the Soviet Union was aggressively secular and not democratic; Turkey wrote secularism into its constitution while under authoritarian rule for long periods. In India the word secular entered the Preamble only with the Forty-second Amendment in 1976, and the Supreme Court has since treated secularism as part of the Constitution's basic structure.
- Secularism concerns the relation between state and religion; democracy concerns how power is held and transferred. Neither requires the other.
- Articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution carry the substance of Indian secularism.
- The word 'secular' was added to the Preamble by the Forty-second Amendment Act of 1976, along with 'socialist' and 'integrity'.
- Indian secularism is one of even-handedness and permitted regulation rather than a strict wall of separation.
- The United Kingdom retains an established church while remaining a democracy — a state can be democratic without being secular.
Because both mixed cases exist, neither property can be part of the other's definition.
- Treating secular and democratic as a package because India happens to be both.
- Assuming Indian secularism means the state must ignore religion; it may regulate and it may aid, so long as it does so even-handedly.
- Believing the word 'secular' was in the Preamble from 1950; it was inserted in 1976.
As a not-a-feature item like this one, as a question on which articles carry religious freedom, or through the amendment that put the word in the Preamble.
Consider the following statements: 1. The Constitution of India defines its 'basic structure' in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy. 2. The Constitution of India provides for 'judicial review' to safeguard the citizens' liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
Set in the same year and turning on the same care with definitions. Secularism is judicially held to be part of the basic structure, but the Constitution never defines that structure — and it never defines a secular state either, which is why questions like this one are argued from principle.
The word 'socialist' was inserted into the Preamble to the Constitution of India through which one of the following Amendment Acts?
- (a) 41st Amendment Act
- (b) 42nd Amendment Act
- (c) 43rd Amendment Act
- (d) 44th Amendment Act
Answer(b) 42nd Amendment Act
The same amendment that put 'secular' into the Preamble in 1976. The word arrived late, which is a useful reminder that the idea in this question was already being read out of Articles 25 to 28 long before it was named.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion is guaranteed by which Article of the Constitution of India?
- (a)Article 19
- (b)Article 21
- (c)Article 25
- (d)Article 29
Answer(c) Article 25 — subject to public order, morality, health and the other provisions of Part III.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The word 'secular' was inserted into the Preamble to the Constitution of India by which Amendment Act?
- (a)24th
- (b)42nd
- (c)44th
- (d)52nd
Answer(b) 42nd — the 1976 amendment that also added 'socialist' and 'integrity'.