The 42 nd Amendment was also called as a mini-constitution or The Constitution of Indira.
This amendment was introduced in the Parliament in 1976 by H.R. Gokhale. This act was
enacted between the time of Emergency (25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977). It got
President’s assent on 18 December 1976 and the Committee was led by Swaran Singh. This
amendment was not taken with the consensus of the country and got the assent of the
President as Congress was in power and there was no one to oppose this since in the time of
emergency, most of the other party leaders/activists were in jail.
There were two new words which were added in the Preamble and the whole line then was-
Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic.
SOCIALIST-
Before the term was added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, the Constitution had socialist
content in the form of certain Directive Principles of State Policy. The term socialist used
here refers to democratic socialism, i.e. achievement of socialist goals through democratic,
evolutionary and non-violent means. Essentially, it means that (since wealth is generated
socially) wealth should be shared equally by society through distributive justice, not
concentrated in the hands of few, and that the government should regulate the ownership
of land and industry to reduce socio-economic inequalities.
SECULAR-
Secular means that the relationship between the government and religious groups are
determined according to constitution and law. By the 42nd Amendment in 1976, the term
“Secular” was also incorporated in the Preamble. There is no difference of religion i.e.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam are equally respected and
moreover, there is no state religion. Explaining the meaning of secularism as adopted by
India, Alexander Owics has written, “Secularism is a part of the basic structure of the Indian
Constitution and it means equal freedom and respect for all religions.”
These two words were already there in the constitution but adding them to the Preamble
gave these words more weightage. Secularism demolished the discrimination against the
caste and gave each and every caste a respectable position in the society. Socialism means
that the wealth should be shared equally by society through distributive justice and there
should be a social security to every person.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.
We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge