There are certain basic rules that the citizens and the government have to follow. All such rules together are called constitution.
DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
- Nelson Mandela and and seven other leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for daring to oppose the apartheid regime in his country.
- Nelson Mandela spent the next 28 years in South Africa’s most dreaded prison, Robben Island.
- The system of apartheid divided the people and labelled them on the basis of their skin colour.The white Europeans imposed this system on South Africa.
- Besides these two groups, there were people of mixed races who were called ‘coloured’ and people who migrated from India. The white rulers treated all nonwhites as inferiors. The non-whites did not have voting rights.
- The apartheid system was particularly oppressive for the blacks. They were forbidden from living in white areas.
- They could work in white areas only if they had a permit. Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theatres, beaches, swimming pools public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks. This was called segregation.
- Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.
- Since 1950, the blacks, coloured and Indians fought against the apartheid system. They launched protest marches and strikes. The African National Congress (ANC) was the umbrella organization that led the struggle against the policies of segregation.
- Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist. But the white racist government continued to rule by detaining, torturing and killing thousands of black and coloured people.
- The apartheid government came to an end on 26 April 1994.After the emergence of the new democratic South Africa, black leaders appealed to fellow blacks to forgive the whites for the atrocities they had committed while in power
- After two years of discussion and debate they came out with one of the finest constitutions that gave to its citizens the most extensive rights available in any country.
WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?
- First, it generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together;
- Second, it specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have power to take which decisions;
- Third, it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are;
- Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.
MAKING OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
- In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted a constitution for India.
- In 1931, the resolution at the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution should look like. Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality and to protecting the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India.
- The familiarity with political institutions of colonial rule also helped develop an agreement over the institutional design.the experience gained by Indians in the working of the legislative institutions proved to be very useful for the country in setting up its own institutions
- Indian constitution adopted many institutional details and procedures from colonial laws like the Government of India Act 1935
- Many of our leaders were inspired by the ideals of French Revolution, the practice of parliamentary democracy in Britain and the Bill of Rights in the US. The socialist revolution in Russia had inspired many Indians to think of shaping a system based on social and economic equality.
The Constituent Assembly
The drafting of the document called the constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the Constituent Assembly.
- Its first meeting was held in December 1946. Soon after the country was divided into India and Pakistan. The Constituent Assembly was also divided into the Constituent Assembly of India and that of Pakistan.
- The Constituent Assembly that wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members.
- The Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on January 26, 1950. To mark this day we celebrate January 26 as Republic Day every year.
- The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time. No large social group or political party has ever questioned the legitimacy of the Constitution itself. This is an unusual achievement for Indian constitution.
- The second reason for accepting the Constitution is that the Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. Constituent Assembly was elected mainly by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures. This ensured a fair geographical share of members from all the regions of the country.
- The manner in which the Constituent Assembly worked gives sanctity to the Constitution. First some basic principles were decided and agreed upon. Then a Drafting Committee chaired by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar prepared a draft constitution for discussion. Several rounds of thorough discussion took place on the Draft Constitution, clause by clause. More than two thousand amendments were considered.
Philosophy of the Constitution
The Constitution begins with a short statement of its basic values.
This is called the Preamble to the constitution.
- Preamble contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built.
- It provides a standard to examine and evaluate any law and action of government, to find out whether it is good or bad.
- It is the soul of the Indian Constitution.
Institutional design
- Constitution of India is a very long and detailed document.Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felt that it has to be in accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society.So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. These changes are called constitutional amendments.
- Constitution lays down a procedure for choosing persons to govern the country. It defines who will have how much power to take which decisions. And it puts limits to what the government can do by providing some rights to the citizen that cannot be violated.