 WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?

↓
 Imagine the situation of a football game. According to the
rules of the football, if the ball touches the arm of the
player (except the goalkeepers) it is considered as a foul.

 Similarly, other games such as cricket and hockey have

certain rules. These rules help to distinguish a game from
another. ↓

 Now, imagine the game as the society/country and the

rules of the game as the constitution.

 So we can say that,

↓
Constitution is a set of the written rules and principles of a
country which are accepted by almost all the citizens living in
the country. Different countries have different constitutions.
↓
 Eg: Constitution of Pakistan and India are different.
Compare them
Now,

 In 1934,INC (Indian National Congress) made the demand

for the formation of Constituent Assembly.
↓
  During the 2nd World War, this demand for the Constituent
Assembly formed only by Indians gained a momentum and
this was held on December 1946.
↓

 Finally, after 150 years under the British rule, the members
of the Constituent Assembly appreciated this task with
great idealism that had helped them to produce the
constitution for the country.

Today almost all the countries have constitution.

↓
 But, it is not necessary that all the countries having
constitution are democratic.
↓
 There are different principles which decide whether the
country is democratic or not. We will know about them in
higher classes

 Constitution serves the given purposes:

 ↓
1. First, it lays out certain ideals that form the basis
of the kind of country that we as citizens aspire
to live in.

2. Constitution tells us what the fundamental

nature of our society is. It mainly tells us that
how the political nature of a country is.

3. A country is usually made up of different

communities of people who share certain beliefs
but may not necessarily agree on all issues.
↓
 A Constitution is as a set of rules and principles that all
persons in a country can agree upon as the basis of
the way in which they want the country to be
governed.
↓

 This includes not only the type of government but also

an agreement on certain ideals that the citizens
believe the country should uphold. It mainly covers a
vast range of people upon their ideas and needs.

 Let us try to understand these points with the helpof

the case study of Nepal.
 CASE STUDY OF NEPAL
↓
 Until recently, Nepal was a monarchy. The previous Constitution of
Nepal, which had been adopted in 1990, reflected the fact that the
final authority rested with the King
↓
 . A people’s movement in Nepal fought for several decades to
establish democracy and in 2006 they finally succeeded in putting
an end to the powers of the King
↓
 . The people had to write a new Constitution to establish Nepal as
a democracy. The reason that they did not want to continue with
the previous Constitution is because it did not reflect the ideals of
the country that they want Nepal to be, and that they have fought
for.

Now,
 Try to connect the story with the game of football.
↓
 As in the game of football, in which a change in the
constitutive rules will change the game altogether,
Nepal, by moving from a monarchy to a democratic
government, needs to change all its constitutive rules
in order to usher in a new society. This is why, the
people of Nepal adopted a new Constitution for the
country in 2015.
 USE OF POWER BY
REPRESENTATIVES
 In a democracy, we choose our leaders so that they
can exercise power responsibly on our behalf.
↓
 However, there is always the possibility that these
leaders might misuse their authority and the
Constitution usually provides safeguards against this.
↓
 This misuse of authority can result in gross injustice

 Let’s understand these points with the help of a

situation in a classroom.
 Now,
Imagine the monitor as the representative elected
by the people.
↓
 This may cause the misuse of power.
But,
 The Constitution often lays down rules that guard against
this misuse of authority by our political leaders.
↓
 In the case of the Indian Constitution, about which you will
read more later in this chapter, many of these laws are
contained in the section on Fundamental Rights.
 Another important function that a Constitution plays in a
democracy is to ensure that a dominant group does not
use its power against other, less powerful people or
groups. The storyboard below demonstrates one such
situation in the classroom.
 Such unhealthy situations can occur in democratic
societies too, where a majority can continuously enforce
decisions that exclude minorities and go against their
interests.
  The Constitution usually contains rules that ensure that
minorities are not excluded from anything that is routinely
available to the majority.
↓
 Another reason why we have a Constitution is precisely to
prevent this domination by the majority of a minority.

 The third significant reason why we need a Constitution is to save

us from ourselves. This may sound strange but what is meant by
this is that we might at times feel strongly about an issue that
might go against our larger interests and the Constitution helps us
guard against this.

THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION: KEY

FEATURES

 By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Indian

national movement had been active in the struggle
for independence from British rule for several
decades.
↓
 During the freedom struggle the nationalists had
devoted a great deal of time to imagining and
planning what a free India would be like.
↓
 Under the British, they had been forced to obey rules
that they had very little role in making.
↓
 The long experience of authoritarian rule under the
colonial state convinced Indians that free India should
be a democracy in which everyone should be treated
equally and be allowed to participate in government

 What remained to be done then was to work

out the ways in which a democratic
government would be set up in India and the
rules that would determine its functioning.
↓
 This was done not by one person but by a group of
around 300 people who became members of the
Constituent Assembly in 1946 and who met
periodically(constantly) for the next three years to
write India’s Constitution.
↓
 These members of the Constituent Assembly had a
huge task before them
 . The country was made up of several different
communities who spoke different languages,
belonged to different religions, and had distinct
cultures. Diversity was seen.
↓
 Also, when the Constitution was being written, India
was going through considerable turmoil.
↓
 The partition of the country into India and Pakistan
was imminent and some of the Princely States
remained undecided about their future.
↓
 All of these issues played on the minds of the
members of the Constituent Assembly as they drafted
the Constitution. With the help of these problems.
↓
 They rose to the occasion and gave this country a
visionary document that reflects a respect for
maintaining diversity while preserving national unity.
↓
 The final document also reflects their concern for
getting rid from poverty through socio-economic
reforms as well as emphasizing the crucial role the
people can play in choosing their representatives.

SOME IMPORTANT TERMS

 1. Federalism: This refers to the existence of more
than one level of government in the country. In
India, we have governments at the state level
and at the Centre.
The vast number of communities in India meant
that a system of government needed to be
invent that did not involve only persons sitting in
the capital city of New Delhi and making
decisions for everyone.
↓
 Instead, it was important to have another level of
government in the states so that decisions could be
made for that particular area.
↓
 While each state in India enjoys autonomy in
exercising powers on certain issues, subjects of
national concern require that all of these states
follow the laws of the central government.
↓
 The Constitution contains lists that detail the issues
that each tier of government can make laws on.
↓
 In addition, the Constitution also specifies where
each tier of government can get the money from for
the work that it does.
  Under federalism, the states are not merely agents of
the federal government but draw their authority from
the Constitution as well.

2. PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF
GOVERMNET

 Parliamentary Form of Government: The different tiers of

government that we just read about consist of
representatives who are elected by the people.
↓
 Constitution of India guarantees universal adult suffrage
for all citizens.
 When they were making the Constitution, the members of
the Constituent Assembly felt that the freedom struggle
 had prepared the masses for universal adult suffrage and
that this would help encourage a democratic mindset and
break the clutches of traditional caste, class and gender
hierarchies.
↓
 This means that the people of India have a direct role in
electing their representatives.
↓
 Every citizen of the country, irrespective of his/her social
background, can also contest in elections.
↓
 These representatives are accountable to the people.

3. SEPARATION OF
POWERS

 According to the Constitution, there are three organs of

government. These are the legislature, the executive and
the judiciary.
↓
 The legislature refers to our elected representatives.

 The executive is a smaller group of people who are

responsible for implementing laws and running the
government.
 The judiciary refers to the system of courts in this country
↓
 In order to prevent the misuse of power by any one
branch of government, the Constitution says that each of
these organs should exercise different powers.
↓
 Through this, each organ acts as a check on the other
organs of government and this ensures the balance of
power between all three.

4. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

 Fundamental Rights: The section on Fundamental Rights

has often been referred to as the ‘conscience’ of the
Indian Constitution.
↓
 Colonial rule had created a certain suspicion of the State in
the minds of the nationalists and they wanted to ensure
that a set of written rights would guard against the misuse
of State power in independent India.
 Fundamental Rights, therefore, protect citizens against the
arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the State.

SOME IMPORTANT FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS GIVEN TO

EACH INDIVIDUAL