FOUNDATION OF

POLITY LECTURE
CLASS 11TH NCERT INDIAN CONSTITUTION AT WORK
CHAPTER 1-2
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CHAPTER 1 (CLASS 11 )
CONSTITUTION: WHY AND HOW?
WHAT AND WHY DO WE NEED A
CONSTITUTION?
A constitution is a body of
fundamental principles according
to which a state is constituted or
governed. It provides a set of basic
rules that allow for minimal
coordination amongst members of
a society that are legally
enforceable.
WHO CAN DECIDE WHICH RULES
ARE THE BEST TO SUIT A SOCIETY?
• The constitution specifies the basic allocation of power in a society.
• It decides who gets to decide what the laws will be.
• In the Indian Constitution, it is specified that in most instances,
Parliament gets to decide laws and policies and that Parliament itself
be organised in a particular manner.
FUNCTIONS OF CONSTITUTION

Specifies who has the power to make decisions in a society.

To put Limitations on the government.

It decides how the government will be constituted.

It specifies certain fundamental rights that all of us possess as citizens and

which no government can ever be allowed to violate.

To enable the government to fulfil the aspirations of a society and create

conditions for a just society.
FEATURES OF INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
LENGTHIEST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION
BLEND OF RIGIDITY AND FLEXIBILITY
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT
INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY
A FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH UNITARY
FEATURES
SECULAR
STATE
UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE
EMERGENCY PROVISIONS
IN MANY COUNTRIES, CONSTITUTIONS
REMAIN DEFUNCT WHY?
The reason why in many countries the constitution remains defunct is
that either the constitution is drafted by the military leaders or by those
leaders who were not popular among the citizens.
The major reason for the stringent constitutions is that the people or the
makers of the constitution lacked the ability to carry people with them.
Mode of Promulgation: This refers to how a constitution comes into
being. Who crafted the constitution and how much authority did they
have?
WHY DO COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA, SOUTH
AFRICA AND THE USA HAVE THE MOST
SUCCESSFUL CONSTITUTIONS?

These countries had a constitution that was drafted in the aftermath of

the popular national movement. The fact that the nation faced the very
challenges during the movement helped the makers to create a
well-structured document.
OVERVIEW OF THE INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
The constitution was put together by a Constituent Assembly from
December 1946 to November 1949. It was influenced by the
nationalist movement's rich history, which successfully united various
parts of Indian society.
The constitution gained significant credibility as it was crafted by
individuals with immense public trust, adept negotiation skills, and the
ability to garner respect from a diverse range of people. These
individuals were successful in persuading the public that the constitution
was not a tool for personal empowerment.
MAKING OF THE INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
WHAT SHOULD BE THE DESIGN OF THE
CONSTITUTION? – A balanced institutional
design.
• The designing of a constitution to ensure that no single institution acquires a monopoly of
power
• This is done by distributing powers across different institutions. Thus the Indian
constitution assigned different powers to different institutions:
Legislature
Executive
Judiciary
• Also, to statutory bodies like the Election Commission.
• This ensures that even if one institution tries to subvert the Constitution, others will be able
to check it.
• A constitution needs to find a good balance between setting important rules and being able
to adapt to new situations. If a constitution is too strict, it might not be able to handle
changes. But if it's too flexible, it won't give people a sense of security or stability.
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
WHAT IS CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY?
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or
constitutional assembly) is a body assembled to draft or revise a constitution.

MN Roy proposed the idea of a constituent assembly for the first time in 1934. The British accepted
the constituent assembly's demand for the first time in August Offer (1940).
In 1946, the Cabinet Mission Plan established the Constituent Assembly. The assembly met for the
first time on December 9, 1946, and was reconvened on August 14, 1947, as the Constituent
Assembly for Divided India.
Members were chosen through an indirect election process by members of the Provisional
Legislative Assemblies, which were established in 1935. On December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra
Prasad was elected president of the constituent assembly.
Sachidananda Sinha was the interim or Provisional president of the Constituent Assembly
CABINET MISSION PLAN
The British Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, decided to send a mission to India for
the transfer of powers from the British Indian Government to Indian leaders
known as the Cabinet Mission Plan.
ACCORDING TO THE CABINET
MISSION PLAN
Each Province and each Princely State or group of States were allotted seats proportional to their
respective population roughly in the ratio of 1:10,00,000.

The seats in each Province were distributed among the three main communities; Muslims, Sikhs
and General, in proportion to their respective populations.

Members of each community in the Provisional Legislative Assembly elected their own
representatives by the method of proportional representation with the single transferable vote.

The method of selection in the case of representatives of Princely States was to be determined by
consultation.
WORKING OF CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY
• The Constituent Assembly had eight major Committees chaired by the
popular leader; Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel,
Maulana Azad & Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
• Each Committee usually drafted particular provisions of the
Constitution which were then subjected to debate by the entire
Assembly. Also, some provisions were subject to vote.
• The constituent assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to
frame the constitution.
DRAFTING COMMITTEE
• The Drafting Committee was entrusted with the
responsibility of preparing the draft constitution.
The Drafting Committee was set up on 29
August 1947.
• Chairman: BR Ambedkar
• Members: N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, AK Ayyar,
KM Munshi, Mohammad Sadullah, BL Mittal,
DP Khaitan.
OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION
• Nehru introduced an Objective Resolution (the resolution that
established the Assembly’s goals) in 1946, before the beginning of the
constitution-making process. This resolution expressed the objectives
and principles that drove the creation of the Constitution.
• The Objective resolution was adopted on 22 January 1947. The Indian
Constitution gave the institutional expression to equality, liberty,
sovereignty and a cosmopolitan identity based on objective resolution.
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT
• The Constituent Assembly spent a
lot of time figuring out how to
strike the right balance between the
executive, legislature, and judiciary.
• Adoption of the parliamentary form
and federal arrangement, which
would divide governmental powers
between the legislature and the
executive on the one hand, and the
States and the federal government
on the other.
BORROWED FEATURES OF THE
INDIAN CONSTITUTION
BRITISH CONSTITUTION USA CONSTITUTION
• Nominal Head – President (like Queen) Fundamental Rights
• Cabinet System of Ministers Independence of Judiciary
• Post of PM Judicial Jeview
• Parliamentary Type of Govt. Bicameral Impeachment of the President
Parliament
• Lower House more powerful Removal of Supreme Court and High Court
judges
• Council of Ministers responsible to Lower
House Speaker in Lok Sabha Post of Vice-President
• First past the Post System
• Law Making Procedure
• The Idea of the rule of law
WEIMAR CONSTITUTION FRANCE
OF GERMANY
• Republic
• Suspension of Fundamental
Rights During emergency • Ideals of liberty, equality and
fraternity in the Preamble
SOUTH AFRICA
• Procedure for amendment in the USSR (Now Russia)
Indian Constitution • Fundamental Duties
• Election of members of the • Ideals of justice (social,
Rajya Sabha economic and political) in the
JAPAN Preamble
Procedure Established by law
AUSTRALIA IRELAND
• Concurrent list • Directive Principles of State Policy
• Freedom of trade, commerce and • Nomination of members to Rajya
intercourse Sabha
• Joint-sitting of the two Houses of • Method of election of the president
Parliament
CANADA
Federation with a strong Centre
Vesting of residuary powers in the
Centre
Appointment of state governors by
the Centre
Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court
 TH
CHAPTER 2 (CLASS 11 )
RIGHTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
BILL OF RIGHTS
• A list of rights mentioned and
protected by the Constitution is
called the Bill of Rights.
• Democracy must ensure that
individuals have certain rights
and that the government will
always recognize these rights.
• It Prohibits the government from
thus acting against the rights of
the individuals and ensures a
remedy in case there is a
violation of these rights.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN THE
INDIAN CONSTITUTION
• The Motilal Nehru committee had demanded a bill of rights as far back as
1928. The Constitution listed the rights that would be specially protected
and called them fundamental rights.
• Fundamental Rights are so important that the Constitution has separately
listed them and made special provisions for their protection.
• The Fundamental Rights have been described in ‘Articles 12- 35’ and
also in ‘Part 3 of the constitution.
• Part 3 of the constitution is rightly described as the Magna Carta of India
• The Constitution ensures that fundamental rights are not violated by the
government.
ORDINARY V/S FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHTS
ORDINARY RIGHTS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
• Ordinary legal rights are • Fundamental rights are protected and
protected and enforced by guaranteed by the constitution of the
ordinary law. country.
• Ordinary rights may be • A fundamental right may only be
changed by the legislature by changed by amending the Constitution
the ordinary process of itself. The judiciary has the powers and
law-making. responsibility to protect fundamental
rights from violations by actions of the
government, Executive, as well as
legislative actions, can be declared
illegal by the judiciary if these violate
the fundamental rights or unreasonably
restrict them.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
RIGHT TO EQUALITY (ARTICLE 14 TO 18)
• Article 14: Equality before law Equal protection of laws
• Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth
• Article 16: Equal access to shops, hotels, wells, tanks, bathing Ghats,
roads etc. & Equality of opportunity in public employment
• Article 17: Abolition of Untouchability
• Article 18: Abolition of titles
RIGHT TO FREEDOM (ARTICLE 19 TO 22)
• Article 19: This article guarantees freedom to the citizens of India.
✔ Freedom of speech and expression
✔ Assemble peacefully
✔ Form associations/unions
✔ Move freely throughout the territory of India
✔ Reside and settle in any part of India
✔ Practice any profession, or carry on any occupation, trade or business.
• Article 20: Protection in respect of conviction
• Article 21: It gives protection of life and personal liberty to both citizens and
non-citizens.
✔ Articles 20 & 21 remain in force even during an emergency
• Article 21 (A): The right to Education from 6 to 14 years, is made a fundamental
right by the 86th Amendment. 2002.
• Article 22: It protects against arrest and detention in certain cases.
RIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION
(ARTICLE 23 & 24)
• Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
• Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in hazardous jobs
RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION
(ARTICLE 25 TO 28)
• Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and
propagation of religion
• Article 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs
• Article 27: Freedom to pay taxes for the promotion of any particular
religion
• Article 28: Freedom to attend religious instruction or worship in
certain educational institutions.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS ON
THE ‘FREEDOM OF RELIGION’?
• Freedom of religion also includes the freedom of conscience. It means that a
person may choose any religion or may choose not to follow any religion.
• Freedom of religion includes the freedom to profess, follow and propagate
any religion.
Limitations:
✔ The government can impose restrictions on the practice of freedom of
religion to protect public order, morality and health.
✔ It is not an unlimited right.
The government can interfere in religious matters for rooting out certain
social evils:
✔ The Constitution does not allow forcible conversions.
✔ The Constitution gives us the right to spread information about our
religion and thus attract others to it.
 RIGHT TO
CULTURAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL
EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS
REMEDIES (ARTICLE 32)
(ARTICLE 29 & 30)
• Article 29: Protection of language, • Article 32: Right to move to the
culture or script to every culture court to issue direction/orders/writs
• Article 30: Right of minorities to for enforcement of the right.
establish educational institutions • Heart and soul of the Indian
• It allows every community to constitution ~ BR Ambedkar
conserve its distinct language,
script or culture. It also bars
disallowing a citizen admission to
any educational institution
maintained or aided by the state
only on grounds of religion, race,
caste, or gender.
 WRITS
HABEAS CORPUS: This means
that the court orders that the
MANDAMUS: Issued when the PROHIBITION: Issued by a
arrested person should be
court finds that a particular higher court (High Court or
presented before it. It can also
officeholder is not doing legal Supreme Court) when a lower
order to set free an arrested
duty and thereby is infringing on court has considered a case going
person if the manner or grounds
the right of an individual. beyond its jurisdiction.
of arrest are not lawful or
satisfactory.

QUO WARRANTO: If the court

finds that a person is holding CERTIORARI: Under this writ,
office but is not entitled to hold the court orders a lower court or
that office, it issues the writ of quo another authority to transfer a
warranto and restricts that matter pending before it to the
person from acting as an higher authority or court
officeholder.
OVERVIEW OF RIGHTS
The Constitution clarifies that the
government can implement special schemes Article 16(4) of the constitution explicitly
and measures for improving the conditions clarifies that a policy like reservation will
of certain sections of society: children, not be seen as a violation of the right to
women, and the socially and educationally equality.
backward classes.

If you see the spirit of the Constitution, this

Freedom to assemble too is to be exercised
is required for the fulfilment of the right to
peacefully and without arms. The
equality of opportunity. The right to
government may impose restrictions in
freedom of speech and expression is subject
certain areas declaring the assembly of five
to restrictions such as public order, peace
or more persons as unlawful.
and morality etc.
WHAT IS PREVENTIVE DETENTION?
• A person would be arrested on the apprehension that he or she is likely to
engage in unlawful activity
• Sometimes a person can be arrested simply out of an apprehension that he or
she is likely to engage in an unlawful activity and imprisoned for some time.
• This is known as preventive detention:
✔ A person can be arrested without a formal charge.
• Detention can be up to ‘Three Months’. It means that if the government feels
that a person can be a threat to law and order or the peace and security of the
nation, it can detain or arrest that person.
• The Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, of 1978 is a preventive detention
law. A person is taken into custody to prevent him/her from acting in a
manner that is a threat to the security of J&K.
RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED

To ensure a fair trial in courts, the

Constitution has provided three rights:
• No person would be punished for the same
offence more than once.
• No law shall declare any action as illegal
from a backdate, and
• No person shall be asked to give evidence
against him or herself Freedom of faith
and worship.
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHT
COMMISSION (NHRC)
• The Commission's functions include inquiry at its own initiative or
on a petition presented to it by a victim into a complaint of a
violation of human rights;
• Visit to jails to study the condition of the inmates;
• Undertaking and promoting research in the field of human rights.
• The Commission does not have the power of prosecution.
• It can merely make recommendations to the government or
recommend to the courts to initiate proceedings based on the
inquiry that it conducts.
WHAT ARE DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES
OF STATE POLICY (DPSP)?
DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICIES ARE:
• The goals and objectives that we as a society should adopt;
• Certain rights that individuals should enjoy apart from the
Fundamental Rights.
• Certain policies that the government should adopt.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DPSP
Fundamental Rights restrain the government from doing certain things
while Directive Principles exhort the government to do certain things.
Fundamental Rights mainly protect the rights of individuals while
Directive Principles ensure the well-being of the entire society.
RIGHT TO PROPERTY
In the Constitution, originally, there was a
fundamental right to acquire, possess and
maintain the property. The Constitution made it
clear that property could be taken away by the
government for public welfare.
In 1973, the Supreme Court gave a decision that
the right to property was not part of the basic
structure of the Constitution and therefore,
parliament had the power to abridge this right by
an amendment.
In 1978, the 44th Amendment to the
Constitution removed the right to property from
the list of Fundamental Rights and converted it
into a simple legal right under Article 300A.
WHAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES?
• The fundamental duties in the constitution serve as a reminder to the citizens
that while enjoying their rights, they should be conscious of the duties of their
duties towards their country. They were formed on the recommendations of the
Swaran Singh Committee.
• They were added by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 under ‘Article 51 A’.
• Provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the ages of six
and fourteen years. (This duty was added by the 86th Constitutional
Amendment Act, 2002)