 Dear learners, welcome to this video lecture session. I am Dr. Jahnavi Devi, assistant professor, discipline of political science, Krishna Kanta Handik, State of an University, Assam. Today, in this video, I shall discuss one of the very important topics of Indian politics or Indian political system, that is, philosophy of the Indian constitution. Every constitution has a philosophy of its own. Likewise, the constitution of India has a philosophical basis upon which the provisions of the constitution are further developed. The constitution of India begins with the preamble, which reflects the philosophy and ideals of the constitution itself. It further reflects the nature of the Indian state. The preamble of the Indian constitution reads, We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens, justice, social, economic and political, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity, and to promote among them all fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. In our constituent assembly, this 26th day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give ourselves this constitution. If we analyze the preamble, then the ideals and philosophy of the Indian constitution become very clear. Now, we shall discuss the philosophy and ideals of the Indian constitution. The very first philosophy inserted in the preamble is popular sovereignty. The preamble of the Indian constitution reflects the principle of popular sovereignty. The preamble of the Indian constitution starts, We, the people of India, adopt, enact and give ourselves this constitution. This indicates that people are the ultimate source of power and authority in India. Government derives all power from the people. In India, the constitution is regarded as the supreme law of the land, but the supreme power of the state is vested upon the people of India. The second important principle of the Indian constitution is sovereignty of India. The preamble of the Indian constitution declares India as a sovereign state. This declaration strongly establishes the fact that India is independent in its internal as well as external matter. It is not under the control of any other foreign country. Another important principle of Indian constitution is socialism. Socialism is one of the core ideals of the Indian polity. The term socialist was not originally there in the constitution of India. It was added to the preamble by the 42nd amendment act in the year 1976. The inclusion of the term socialist reflected one of the prime objects of the Indian society or India is to secure social, economic, political justice among all its people by eradicating exploitation of all forms and ensuring equitable distribution of resources and wealth. It favours national, planned economic development, nationalisation of resources and limited freedom to private business and industries. In other words, socialism basically favours development of the society as a whole. For the realization of the ideal of socialism, in the Indian constitution, there are some directives to the Indian state in the part four of the constitution itself and these are known as the directive principles of state policy. Through these directives, the constitution emphasises for the establishment of a socialistic pattern of the society in India. So by inserting the term socialist, the constitution has not only brought a feeling of equal status among the people but also strengthened the philosophical foundation of the Indian constitution. Secularism is another important ideal of the Indian constitution. The term secularism was incorporated in the Indian constitution by the 42nd amendment act in the year 1976. Though this term was not originally included in the constitution, but right from the time of adoption of the constitution itself, the people of India were given religious freedom. The preamble by declaring India as a secular state clearly reflects that India does not have any state religion or it does not recognise any religion as the official or state religion and treats all religions equally. Moreover, different communities in India have the right to practice their own faith. Secularism is one of the important ideals of the Indian constitution. Then democracy constitutes another important philosophical foundation of Indian state. The preamble of the Indian constitution declares India as a democratic state. In fact, the prime philosophy and ideal of the Indian constitution is to make India a democratic state in the true sense. It advises not only a democratic form of government, but also a democratic society infused with the spirit of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Accordingly, in India, the government is formed by the elected representatives of people and these representatives remain accountable to the people. In other words, it can be said that the constitution of India has established a parliamentary democracy in India marked by universal adult franchise, periodic election to choose the government, majority rule, rule of law, decentralisation of power, independence of judiciary, etc. The constitution of India also declares India as a republic. The preamble to the Indian constitution also establishes India as a republic. This indicates that the head of the state in India is an elected head who holds power for a definite period of time. In India, the president is indirectly elected by the people for a period of five years. The principle of justice is another important ideal of Indian constitution. The constitution of India seeks to ensure justice in social, economic and political aspects to all its citizens. For ensuring social justice, the constitution of India has made certain special arrangements for the weaker section of the society. It abolished untouchability and provided free education up to a certain standard. Economic justice is ensured through equal wages for equal work, then abolition of all forms of forced labour, abolition of discrimination on the basis of sex, then or any other factor, equitable distribution of resources among all its citizens, etc. In a view to ensure political justice, all citizens of India have an equal sense to participate in the affairs of the state through the system of universal adult franchise. Another important principle of the Indian constitution is liberty. The preamble to the Indian constitution declares liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship as one of the main objectives of the Indian constitution. Accordingly, the constitution of India has provided a number of fundamental rights in part three of the constitution to guarantee these liberties. People of India enjoy freedom of speech, thought and religion without any kind of discrimination. Equality is another principle on which the constitution of India has given emphasis. The preamble to the Indian constitution ensures equality of status and opportunity to the entire people of India. Equality has been guaranteed by the rule of law and all citizens are equal in the eyes of law and all enjoy equal opportunity in the matter of employment in public offices. To make this ideal more real, the constitution of India assures equality to all its citizens under article 14 to 18 of the constitution itself. The constitution of India tries to secure this objective by making illegal all discrimination by the state on the basis of religion, sex, race, caste, class or place of birth and by guaranteeing equality before the law and equal protection of law. Assuming unity and integrity of the nation by assuring fraternity and dignity of the individual is another important object of the Indian constitution. Unity among the citizens of this first country was the first requisite condition for maintaining the independence of the state. For the fulfillment of this ideal of unity and to ensure the integration of the people, the spirit of fraternity or brotherhood must be infused among all the heterogeneous population of India belonging to different race, religion and ethnicity. And this can be achieved only by abolishing all communal, sectional, local, provincial and antisocial feelings. Fraternity can be ensured by generating the feeling of oneness among all the sections of the society composed of so many races, religion, language and cultures. Further, fraternity cannot be assured unless the dignity of each and every citizen is maintained. Therefore, to secure the dignity of each citizen of India, the constitution of India guaranteed equal fundamental rights to every section of the society, which can be enforced in a court of law. The word integrity was added in the preamble by the 42nd Amendment Act to emphasize the fundamental unity of the country against all the forces of communalism, casteism and the like. Another important philosophy of the Indian constitution is to establish India as a welfare state. The preamble to the Indian constitution establishes India as a welfare state. Welfare state basically refers to the state which provides certain free services to the people for bringing common well-being. Accordingly, the constitution of India has included a number of provisions in the form of direct principles of state policy to fulfill its commitment towards the establishment of a welfare state in India. From the above, one can easily comprehend that the constitution seeks to constitute India as a sovereign democratic republic. The constitution of India upholds the democratic principles of freedom, social economic equality and justice and peace and brotherhood among all the people of India with the people as the real sovereign. So it basically emphasizes the concept of popular sovereignty. For the establishment of a just and democratic society, the constitution upholds the ideal of secularism and socialism. The preamble to the Indian constitution thus outlines the ideals, goals and the philosophical basis of the constitution. So from the above discussion, we can say that the constitution of India has emphasized on a number of principles and ideals like sovereignty of the state, popular sovereignty, democracy, republicanism, socialism, secularism, justice, liberty, equality, welfareism, and unity and integrity of the state. All these principles and ideals all together constitute the philosophical foundation of Indian state. And with this concluding remark, I would like to end today's lecture here. Thank you.