10. CONTENTS — SOCIAL AND POLITICAL IDEALS (Equality, Justice, Liberty) SOVEREIGNTY (Austin, Bodin, Laski, Kautilya) INDIVIDUAL AND STATE (Rights, Duties, Accountability) FORMS OF GOVERNMENT Monarchy, Theocracy & Democracy POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES Anarchism, Marxism and Socialism HUMANISM, SECULARISM, MULTICULTURALISM, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Corruption, Mass Violence, Genocide, Capital Punishment ‘T AND SOCIAL PROGRESS, DEVELOPME! GENDER DISCRIMINATION Female Foeticide, Land and Property Rights, Empowernment CASTE DISCRIMINATION (Gandhi and Ambedkar) 24-31 32-47 48-56 57-68 69-81 82-93 94-102 103-109 110-116THE PREAMB t 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 of 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 twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION. The Preamble contains in a nutshell the ideals and aspirations of the people. It states the objects which the Constitution seeks to establish and promote and also aids the legal interpretation of the Constitution. It serves two main purposes: (a) It indicates the source of authority of the Constitution (b) It defines the objects which the Constitution seeks to establish and promote, Normative and Descriptive Concepts Normative concepts are often described as ‘values’; they refer to moral principles or ideals, that which shonld, ought or must be brought about. A wide range of Social and Political concepts are value~ seule in this sense — ‘liberty’ “rights, ‘justice’, ‘equality’ ‘secularism’, “humanism” and so on. Values sraeemative concepts therefore advance or prescribe certain forms of conduct rather than describe se rcor facts. Consequertly, itis sometimes difficult to disentangle political values from the moral, philosophical and ideological beliefs of those who advance them, By contrast, descriptive or positive Concepts refer to ‘facts’ which supposedly have an objective and demonstrable existence: they refer to cones Concepls such as “powwer’, ‘authority’, ‘order’ and ‘law’ are inthis sense descriptive rather than ormative. [tis possible to ask whether they exist or do not exist. “The distinction between facts and values is often regarded as a necessary precondition for clear may be regarded as a matter of opinion, facts can be proved to be either true jive concepts are thought to be ‘neutral’ or value-free: they stand up to the thinking. Whereas values or false. As a result, de: rigour of scientific examination.PATANJALL .S. CLASSES SOCIAL AND POLITICAL IDEALS _(Equality, Justice, Liberty) Phas i Cot sien Err LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all jegrity of the nation CRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and int Therefore, in every word, deed and thought every citizen must remember and practice i" life these ideals of the Constitution. EQUALITY Equality xy isan important social-political ideal. It is essentially a modern and progressive concept I is one of defining feature of modern political thought. The concept of equality arises out of the imperfections of the social order. Iti essentially a prescriptive term. Society contains inequality; so it must be reformed and made more equal. In ancient Greek city states, the dominant philosophers were against the notion of equality. Plato while formulating his theory of justice divided the society of state into three classes and demanded tinequal rights for the different classes. Aristotle gave argument in favour of slavery which was based ‘on inequality. ‘The idea of equality came into prominence in modern age - . in 1776 and in France in 1789 made right ‘The revolutions in Britain in 1649 and 1688, in U.S to equality by birth as their central plank. In 19th century Marxist and Socialist Philosophers emphasised on economic equality. ‘The demand for equality is to mitigate large number of existing social and economic inequalities to bring about definite social improvement without obliterating natural differences. The phrase ‘all are Created equal” has a prescriptive rather than a descriptive value of how to promote and achieve equalit The concern of most political theories is how to create equality while accepting inequality and to what cextent can the state apparatus promote equality without violating or infringing liberty and individual rio Meaning of Equali Equality doesn’t mean uniformity. Equality in its essence means absence of unfair and unreasonable discrimination between the individuals on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of . Therefore equality means absence of inequality. Inequality is of two eo aariesen a Seventional inequality. Equality aims at abolishing conventional inequalities or discrimination which are irrational and illogical. iscrimination Like liberty, equality can also be understood in its positive and negative aspects. In the positive sense it meant “the availability of opportunity’ so that everybody could have e P equal chance to d i personality. It implies creation of adequate opportunities for the self-development of ate ile 3PATANJALI 1.A.S. CLASSES urceative scuve, it innplies absence of privileges for anyone. Each person must be recognized as equal every walt anal so nobody should be denied adequate opportunities for his sef- development. It wowevet, be clarified that equal treatment does not mean similar treatment. Differences in treatment can (x seamed w thin the voncept of equality but the differences must be based on the differing needs unatividtuals ENplaining the meaning of equality in this context, Laski writes that equality means : ) tavence of special privilege: c wi vecial privileges. It means that the will of one is equal to the will of any other. It implies equality of rights. (4D Secondly, equality: me ns provi sy . ion for adequate opportunities to all. Opportunity should be given ( everyone to realize the implications of his personality. It implies that any distinctions should be secured for common welfare. GAD AME must have ac ess to social benefits and no one should be restricted on any ground. The things without which lite is meaningless must be accessible to all, “The urgent claims of all must be met betire we can meet the particular claims of some.” The inequalities by birth or because of parent and hereditary causes are unreasonable. Equality, thus, implies equal distribution of rights to the individuals by the state, In terms of legal capacity, therefore, each personality is equal to every other. of economic and social exploitation, All these meanings st that equality is a positive thing, it can be understood in relation with ain leveling processes in the society. Equality does not mean perfect or absolute equality, it neither means equality of treatment. But it definitely means equality of rights and aluties, equility before lw and equal protection of law. Absence of exploitation ~ social and economic and absence of economic inequality ~ abolition of private property — are preconditions for any kind of equality ~ in a society the society and it needs cert The Indian constitution is the best example of the modem concept of equality, the characteristics of which are as follows: (a) The state cannot denyto its citi n ‘equality before law’ and “equal protection of law’. (b) State has also been prohibited from discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. in matters of public employment and no discrimination on grounds of cent, place of birth, residence or any of them, s practice in any form. (¢) Equality of opportu religion, race, caste, sex, des (41) Abolition of untouchability and prohibition o (¢) Abolition of titles, except those of military and acaden ns. At the same time reason: ins have been placed, which provide for special provisions for women, children and scheduled caste and tribes, and backward classes. The Constitution also provides directive principles of state policy in which state has been directed to work in such a way so as the citizens of India really become equal and the objective of socio-economic justice is attained. The Constitution of India treats all alike, but it treats some specially. These some are unlike the