CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 65 of 120

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Statement 1 is a straight reading of the text. The Preamble resolves to secure to all citizens JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. Equality of status and of opportunity is there in as many words. Statement 2 is about the last of those phrases. As adopted on 26 November 1949 the Preamble ended with the unity of the Nation; the word integrity was inserted by section 2 of the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, the same section that replaced SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC with SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. So the expression unity and integrity of the Nation was indeed not there at the beginning, and both statements stand.

• (a)1 only — Accepts the equality clause but denies the amendment. Integrity is not original — it came in with the Forty-second Amendment in 1976, twenty-six years after the Constitution commenced.
• (b)2 only — Accepts the amendment but denies the equality clause, which is printed in the Preamble itself: EQUALITY of status and of opportunity.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects both, and both are demonstrably true from the text of the Preamble and from section 2 of the Forty-second Amendment Act.

The Preamble states the source of the Constitution's authority, the character of the State and the objectives it is meant to secure. It has been amended exactly once, by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, which made three changes in one sentence: it added Socialist and Secular to the description of the Republic, and changed unity of the Nation to unity and integrity of the Nation. In Kesavananda Bharati (1973) the Supreme Court held that the Preamble is part of the Constitution and can be amended under Article 368, though not so as to destroy the basic structure; in Berubari Union (1960) it had earlier held that the Preamble is not a source of substantive power.

The two statements test different things, which is why this item is more than a memory check. The first asks whether you can distinguish the Preamble's own words from the Fundamental Rights that give them effect — equality of status and of opportunity is in the Preamble, and Articles 14 to 18 are what make it enforceable. The second asks whether you know that the Preamble is not frozen text. The reliable anchor is the trio Socialist, Secular and Integrity, all three inserted by the same 1976 amendment on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation, during the Emergency. Anything else you may have read as an addition is not one; the Preamble has had no other amendment before or since.

• The Preamble's objectives are Justice — social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and of opportunity; and Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
• Section 2 of the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 made all three Preamble changes: Socialist, Secular, and unity and integrity of the Nation.
• That is the only amendment the Preamble has ever undergone.
• The Preamble was adopted on 26 November 1949; the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, and the Preamble carries that date.
• Berubari Union (1960) held the Preamble is not a source of power; Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held it is part of the Constitution and amendable within the basic-structure limit.

• Believing the Preamble has never been amended; it has, once, in 1976.
• Assuming the Forty-fourth Amendment touched the Preamble. It reversed much of the Forty-second, but not that sentence.
• Reading fraternity as an enforceable right; the Preamble creates no rights and confers no power on its own.

As a two-statement item on what the Preamble contains and what was added later, or as a single question on which amendment inserted Socialist and Secular.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The words Socialist and Secular were inserted into the Preamble to the Constitution of India by

  • (a)the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976
  • (b)the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978
  • (c)the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951
  • (d)the Constitution (Twenty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1971

  Answer(a) the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 — the same section also changed unity of the Nation to unity and integrity of the Nation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT listed as an objective in the Preamble to the Constitution of India?

  • (a)Justice, social, economic and political
  • (b)Equality of status and of opportunity
  • (c)Economic liberty
  • (d)Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual

  Answer(c) Economic liberty — the Preamble speaks of liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, not of economic liberty.