Constitution

On April 24, 1973, three years prior to the passing of the 42nd Amendment Act of the constitution during the Emergency (January 22, 1976), a 13-judge bench (one of the largest ever assembled) of the Supreme Court of India gave the nation the “basic structure” doctrine.

https://thewire.in/government/the-right-wing-putsch-on-secularism-and-socialism 

The judgement stipulated that parliament had no power to amend certain fundamental features of the Constitution. These features included: democracy, federalism, rule of law and secularism, among others.

Yet, right-wing voices seem to have now suddenly mounted a concerted putsch against these defining terms in the Preamble, contending that their incorporation was a clandestine ploy to evict from popular psyche the genius of our cultural and religious history.

by Badri Raina

17/07/2025

Ambedkar concluding speech on Consitution: ratna patak shah reads extracts on  https://x.com/i/status/1862195701603508395
              Social and economic inequality:     He highlighted the contradiction between political equality guaranteed by the Constitution and the persisting social and economic disparities in Indian society, fearing that the marginalized communities would still face discrimination in daily life.       
      People's responsibility: Ambedkar stressed that the success or failure of the Constitution would depend entirely on the actions of the people and their commitment to upholding democratic values.   
      Danger of complacency: He warned against complacency, urging citizens to actively combat social evils and not blame external forces if issues arose after independence.   
      Need for vigilance: He emphasized the importance of constant vigilance to ensure that the government remained accountable to the people and did not become a government "for the people" instead of "by the people" - https://csja.gov.in/images/p1195/s_1_constitution_vision_of_Justice/Dr_Ambedkars%20speech.pdf

Majoritarian governments do not like fetters on their powers to amend the constitution. There is a reason why India is an example of this. https://thewire.in/government/constitution-amendment-basic-structure 

India is undergoing a “deliberation backsliding”. The data and numbers confirm this. As per analysis undertaken by PRS Legislative Research, a not-for-profit think tank tracking the Indian parliament, since the current government was elected to office in 2019, only 13% of all government bills introduced in parliament were referred to Parliament Committees for detailed study, scrutiny and stakeholder consultations. The track record of the earlier government (under the same Prime Minister) was only slightly better at 28% of all government bills being referred to Parliament Committees. In contrast, the governments before 2014 (under a different Prime Minister) managed to refer 60% of all bills between 2004-09 and 71% of all bills between 2009-14 to Parliament Committees.

Now, the current government seems to have embarked on a project to revert to the “original” constitution, in which the words secular and socialist, and particularly secular, were not included in the Preamble, arguing that these were inserted during the undemocratic emergency. It has also not minced any words in making clear that it wants greater control and a say in the appointment of judges on the ground that the present system of appointments through a collegium is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution and is a judicial invention. The basic structure doctrine stands in the way of the government having its way, but it is not certain for how much longer.

Majoritarian governments do not like fetters on their powers to amend the constitution. In the recent past, the Indian judiciary has also come under much criticism for its “refusal” to live up to the expectation of being a counter-majoritarian institution, particularly on politically sensitive matters. A parliament reeling under near complete executive takeover, a government not keen on deliberations and a political party confident of mustering enough numbers to amend the constitution unilaterally present grave danger of the constitutionalism project failing in India.

by Maansi Verma

11/04/2024

The Indian Constitution: Conversations with Power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di3tSPmmktg Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) Sep 17, 2022
Indian Constitution is a terrain of contestation between different—and often conflicting—visions of power. As a document that creates, shapes, and constrains power, the Constitution is not exhausted by its text; it is in ambiguities and silences, where the work of interpretation takes place, that this contest plays out. The talk will highlight some of these axes of power and then take one specific example—federalism—to argue that over time, the Constitution has been subjected to a "centralizing drift," i.e., interpretation (especially by the Supreme Court) that shifts power to the central executive, at the expense of other power holders. This "centralizing drift" was not inevitable but is the product of active judicial and interpretive choices and, therefore, can be potentially reversed in the future.