CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN CLASS 9 (NCERT) NOTES

 CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN CLASS 9 (NCERT) NOTES

Nelson Mandela

Tried for treason by the white South African government. 

He and seven other leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 

• For opposed the apartheid regime in his country. 

He spent the next 28 years in South Africa’s most dreaded prison, Robben Island.

Struggle against apartheid

Apartheid 

A system of racial discrimination unique to South Africa. 

Origin of Apartheid:

The white Europeans imposed this system on South Africa. 

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 

• The trading companies from Europe occupied it with arms and force, 
• In the way they occupied India. 

But unlike India, 

• A large number of ‘whites’ had settled in South Africa and became the local rulers. 

Functioning of Apartheid:

It divided the people and labelled them on the basis of their skin colour. 

Native Peoples of SA:

Are black in colour. 

They Constituted three-fourth of the population and were called ‘blacks’. 

Two Other Groups:

• People of mixed races who were called ‘coloured’ and 
• people who migrated from India. 

Under Apartheid:

• The white rulers treated all non- whites as inferiors. 
• The non-whites did not have voting rights.

Oppressive for the blacks. 

1. Forbidden from living: They were forbidden from living in white areas. 

2. Required Permit: They could work in white areas only if they had a permit. 

3. Policy of segregation:  Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theaters, beaches, swimming pools, public toilets, were all separate for the whites and blacks. 

4. Denied worshipped: They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped. 

5. Denied to form associations: Blacks could not form associations or protest against the terrible treatment.

Struggle Against Apartheid:

Whitin South Africa:

1. Origin: Since 1950, the blacks, coloured and Indians fought against the apartheid system. 

2. Methods of Struggle: They launched protest marches and strikes. 

3. The African National Congress (ANC): 

• The umbrella organisation that led the struggle against the policies of segregation. 
• This included many workers’ unions and the Communist Party. 
• Many sensitive whites also joined the ANC

4. Outside South Africa:

Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist. 

White Government Response:

Continued to rule by 

• Detaining, 
• Torturing and 
• Killing thousands of black and coloured people.

Towards a new constitution

As protests and struggles increased, 

• The government realised that they could no longer keep the blacks under their rule through repression. 

The white regime changed its policies. 

1. Discriminatory laws were repealed. 
2. Ban on political parties and restrictions on the media were lifted. 
3. After 28 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela walked out of the jail as a free man. 

Newly born democracy

Finally, at the midnight of 26 April 1994, 

• The new national flag of the Republic of South Africa was unfurled 
• Marking the newly born democracy in the world. 

End of apartheid government 

Paving way for the formation of a multi-racial government.

How did this come about? 

Let us hear Mandela, 

The first president of this new South Africa, on this extra- ordinary transition:

“Historical enemies succeeded in negotiating a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy exactly because we were prepared to accept the inherent capacity for goodness in the other. 

My wish is that South Africans never give up on the belief in goodness, that they cherish that faith in human beings is the cornerstone of our democracy.”

In New South Africa:

Forget White atrocities

Black leaders appealed to fellow blacks 

• To forgive the whites for the atrocities they had committed while in power. 

Ideals of new South Africa

Tried to build a new South Africa based on: 

• equality of all races and men and women, 
• on democratic values, 
• social justice and human rights. 

To form common constitution

• The party that ruled through oppression and brutal killings and 
• The party that led the freedom struggle 
• Sat together to draw up a common constitution.

Finest Constitutions of the world

After two years of discussion and debate. 

Provided Most Extensive rights: This constitution gave to its citizens the most extensive rights available in any country. 

Search for Problem Solutions: 

Nobody should be excluded, 

• No one should be treated as a demon. 

Everybody should become part of the solution, 

• Whatever they might have done or represented in the past. 

The preamble to the South African Constitution (see page 28) sums up this spirit.

Significance:

1. Inspire Democrats: Inspires democrats all over the world. 

2. Model of Democracy: A state denounced by the entire world till 1994 as the most undemocratic one is now seen as a model of democracy. 

3. Working together: Shows determination of the people of South Africa to work together, 

• To transform bitter experiences into the binding glue of a rainbow nation. 

2.2 WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?

The Constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. 

The Constitution is the supreme law that determines: 

• The relationship among people living in a territory (called citizens) and 
• The relationship between the people and government. 

Importance:

Trust and co-ordination: It generates a degree of trust and co-ordination that is necessary for different kinds of people to live together.

Specifications: It specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have the power to take which decisions.

Rights and duties: It lays down the limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.

Good society: It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

Relationship between Constitutions and Democracy:

All countries that have constitutions are not necessarily democratic. 

• But all countries that are democratic will have constitutions. 

Example:

After the War of Independence against Great Britain, 

• The Americans gave themselves a constitution. 

After the French Revolution, 

• The French people approved a democratic constitution. 

Since then it has become a practice in all democracies to have a written constitution.

A constitution does many things:

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; and

Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

2.3 MAKING OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Like South Africa, India’s Constitution was also drawn up under very difficult circumstances. 

Difficult circumstances:

Huge and diverse country: The making of the constitution for a huge and diverse country like India was not an easy affair. 

From Subjects to Citizens: At that time the people of India were emerging from the status of subjects to that of citizens. 

Partition (traumatic experience): The country was born through a partition on the basis of religious differences. 

• Atleast ten lakh people were killed on both sides of the border in partition related violence. 

Problem of Princely States: The British left it to the rulers of the princely states to decide whether they wanted to:

• Merge with India or 
• With Pakistan or 
• Remain independent. 
• The merger of these princely states was a difficult and uncertain task. 

The path to Constitution

Despite difficulties, one big advantage for the makers of the Indian Constitution. 

• We have consensus, what a democratic India should look like unlike South Africa:

How this consensus formed:

National movement : 

• Our national movement was not merely a struggle against a foreign rule. 
• It was also a struggle to rejuvenate our country, and to transform our society and politics.

Role of leaders : 

• Leaders like Moti Lal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru and others had played a very important role in making of Indian Constitution. 
• In 1928 Moti Lal Nehru Drafted a Constitution for India. 

Karachi session or Resolution 1931:

In this Indian National Congress explore 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 protect the rights of minorities in the constitution of independent India. 

Role of British rule: 

The familiarity with political institutions of colonial rule also helped develop an agreement over the institutional design.

British rule and the legislative institutions: 

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.

• Ex: Government of India Act, 1935.

World event or revolutions : 

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 USA. 
• The Socialist revolution in Russia - inspired to adopt a system based on social and economic equality. 

Borrowed Good Practices:

So they incorporated some good points of the Constitutions of these countries in the Indian Constitution.

By simply copying what others had done but at each step they were questioning whether these things suited our country. 

\The Constituent Assembly:

Assembly of elected representatives: 

The drafting of the document called the constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the Constituent Assembly. 

Elections to the Constituent Assembly 

Held in July 1946. 

First meeting: 

Held in December 1946. 

Partition: 

• 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. 

Indian Constituent Assembly:

That wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members. 

Constitution Day:

The Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949 but it came into effect on 26 January 1950 to commemorate Purna Swaraj and we celebrate January 26 as Republic Day every year.

Why should we accept the Constitution made by this Assembly more than six decades ago? 

Unusual achievement

1. Broad consensus: 

The Indian Constitution expresses a broad consensus of its time. 

2. Countries Experience:

• Rewrite their Constitution because the basic rules were not acceptable to all major social groups or political parties. 
• In some other countries, the Constitution exists as a mere piece of paper. No one actually follows it. 

3. Indian experience 

Over the last half a century except for a few examples, no large social group or political party ever questioned the Constitution's legitimacy.

Constituent Assembly, a galaxy of Indians:

1. Peoples Representation:  

• The Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. 

2. No universal adult franchise: 

• So it was elected mainly by the members of the existing Provincial Legislatures. 

3. Fair geographical Representation:

• Members from all the regions of the country. 

4. CA Dominated of congress:

• But including leaders having different opinions ans social background

• language groups, 
• castes, 
• classes, 
• religions and 
• occupations.

Working pattern of the Assembly:

• Worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner. 
• 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 discussions took place on the Draft Constitution, clause by clause.
• More than two thousand amendments were considered. 

Large drawn process

The members deliberated for 114 days spread over three years. 

Constituent Assembly Debates

Every document presented and every word spoken in the Constituent Assembly has been recorded and preserved. These are called ‘Constituent Assembly Debates’. 

• To interpret the meaning of the Constitution.

2.4 GUIDING VALUES OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Major leaders' views on our Constitution. 

Constitution Philosophy: Found in preamble 

The Dream and the Promise

Mahatma Gandhi:

• He was not a member of the Constituent Assembly. 
• There were many members who followed his vision. 

In his magazine Young India in 1931 

• Mention what he wanted the Constitution to do:

Dr. Ambedkar

Dream - eliminated inequality (Different Notion)

He bitterly criticised Mahatma Gandhi and his vision. 

Jawaharlal Nehru 

In his famous speech to the Constituent Assembly at the stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947:

Philosophy of the Constitution

Freedom Struggle Values: 

That inspired and guided the freedom struggle formed the foundation for India’s democracy. 

Preamble: These values are embedded in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. 

• They guide all the articles of the Indian Constitution.

Taking inspiration from American model, 

• Most countries in the contemporary world have chosen to begin their constitutions with a preamble.

The Preamble of the Constitution 

• Reads like a poem on democracy. 
• It 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

A constitution is not merely a statement of values and philosophy.

As we noted above, a constitution is mainly about embodying these values into institutional arrangements.

Much of the document called the Constitution of India is about these arrangements. 

It is a very long and detailed document. 

Therefore it needs to be amended quite regularly to keep it updated. 

Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felt that it has to

be in accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society.

They did not see it as a sacred, static and unalterable law. 

So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. 

These changes are called constitutional amendments.

The Constitution describes the institutional arrangements in a very legal language. 

If you read the Constitution for the first time, it can be quite difficult to understand. 

Yet the basic institutional design is not very difficult to understand. 

Like any Constitution, the Indian 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.

Constitutional Amendment:

A change in the Constitution made by the supreme legislative body in the country is known as Constitutional amendment. In India, it is called the Parliament or "Sansad"

Constitution can be changed according to needs and aspirations of the people.

Major shortcomings of the constitution can be removed.

Significance :

(i) India is a major democratic country and has a long and detailed Constitution.

(ii) Therefore, it needs to be amended quite regularly to keep it updated.

(i) The makers of the Indian Constitution did not see it as sacred, static and unalterable law.

(iv) As a 'Living Document', it has to be in accordance with people's aspirations and changes in society.