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PREAMBLE WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a [ SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ]1 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 ]2 ; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION. |
- Substituted ( subs. ) by the Constitution ( Forty-second Amendment ) Act, 1976, Section – 2, for “SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” ( w.e.f. 3-1-1977 ). [ w.e.f. = with effect from ].1
- Subs. by the Constitution ( Forty-second Amendment ) Act, 1976, for “unity of the Nation” ( w.e.f. 3-1-1977 ).2
The Preamble of the Indian Constitution is based on the ‘Objective Resolution’ , drafted & moved by Pt. J.L. Nehru on December 13, 1946; and adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
N.A. Palkhivala called the Preamble as the ‘identity card of the Constitution.’
The Preamble has been amended by the forty-second Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, which added three new words :
- Socialist,
- Secular and
- Integrity.