Constitutional Design | Class 9 Civics Chapter 2 - notes

The Vision of Nelson Mandela

1. Nelson Mandela expressed his lifelong commitment to fighting both white and black domination in South Africa.
2. He dreamt of a democratic and free society where all people live together peacefully and equally.
3. Mandela declared that this vision was worth living for, achieving, and even dying for.
4. This quote was delivered during his trial for treason, where he and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.
5. Their only 'crime' was opposing the apartheid regime, a system of racial oppression.
6. Mandela spent 27 years in Robben Island, one of South Africa’s most feared prisons.

Struggle Against Apartheid

1. Apartheid was a policy of racial discrimination unique to South Africa, imposed by white Europeans.
2. European traders occupied South Africa using force, much like in India, starting in the 17th and 18th centuries.
3. However, unlike India, many white settlers remained permanently and became the local rulers.
4. The apartheid system classified people by skin colour:
   • Blacks: Native black Africans (about 75% of the population)
   • Coloured: People of mixed race
   • Indians: Migrants from India
5. White rulers treated all non-whites as inferior and denied them voting rights.

Oppression of Blacks under Apartheid

1. The apartheid system was especially cruel to black people.
2. They were banned from living in white areas and needed special permits to work there.
3. There was complete segregation in public services:
   • Transport: Trains, buses, taxis
   • Facilities: Hotels, hospitals, schools, colleges
   • Spaces: Libraries, cinemas, theatres, beaches, pools, toilets
   • Even churches attended by whites were off-limits to blacks
4. Blacks were not allowed to form associations or protest against the system.

The Resistance Movement

1. From the 1950s, blacks, coloureds, and Indians began resisting apartheid via marches and strikes.
2. The African National Congress (ANC) led the resistance.
3. The ANC united:
   • Workers' unions
   • The Communist Party
   • Sensitive white South Africans who supported justice
4. The apartheid system was globally condemned as unjust and racist.
5. However, the white minority government continued its rule with detentions, torture, and killings.

The South African Example: Understanding the Need for a Constitution

1. The South African example helps us understand why a constitution is needed and what constitutions do.
2. In the newly formed democracy, the oppressors and the oppressed had to live together as equals.
3. Building trust between these groups was not easy, as both sides had fears and wanted to protect their interests.
4. The black majority wanted:
   • To ensure that the democratic principle of majority rule was upheld.
   • To secure substantial social and economic rights.
5. The white minority was concerned about:
   • Protecting its privileges.
   • Retaining its property.

The Historic Compromise and the Need for Rules

1. After long negotiations, both parties reached a compromise:
2. The whites agreed to:
   • The principle of majority rule.
   • The idea of one person one vote.
   • Accepting some basic rights for the poor and workers.
3. The blacks agreed that:
   • Majority rule would not be absolute.
   • The property of the white minority would be protected.
4. This compromise was not easy.
5. A major question remained: How could this agreement be implemented?
6. Even if trust was built, what could guarantee it would not break in future?

Constitution as the Foundation of Trust

1. The only way to build and maintain trust was to write down a set of rules that everyone would follow.
2. These rules:
   • Lay down how rulers are to be chosen in the future.
   • Define what the elected government can and cannot do.
   • Decide the rights of the citizens.
3. These rules would be effective only if the winners could not change them easily.
4. This is what the South Africans did:
   • They agreed on some basic rules.
   • They also agreed that these rules would be supreme and binding.
5. This set of basic rules is called a constitution.

Constitution Making is a Global Necessity

1. Constitution making is not unique to South Africa.
2. Every country has diverse communities, even if the divisions are not as severe as in South Africa.
3. People around the world have differences of opinion and interests.
4. Whether democratic or not, most countries need basic rules to manage these differences.
5. This applies to more than just governments:
6. Any association—a club, a cooperative society, or a political party—needs a constitution.

What Is a Constitution?

1. The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all the people living together in that country.
2. It is the supreme law that determines:
   • The relationship among citizens.
   • The relationship between the people and the government.

What Does a Constitution Do?

1. First, it generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together;
2. Second, it specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have power to take which decisions;
3. Third, it lays down limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are; and
4. Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

Constitutions and Democracies

1. All countries that have constitutions are not necessarily democratic.
2. But every democratic country will have a constitution.
3. Historical examples:
   • After the War of Independence against Great Britain, the Americans gave themselves a constitution.
   • After the French Revolution, the people of France approved a democratic constitution.
   • Since then, it has become a universal practice in democracies to have a written constitution.

The Difficult Conditions of Constitution-Making

1. Like South Africa, the Constitution of India was also drafted under difficult circumstances.
2. It was a challenge to write a constitution for a country as huge and diverse as India.
3. At that time, the people of India were transitioning from being subjects under British rule to becoming citizens of a sovereign nation.
4. The country had just gained independence through a partition based on religious differences, which caused:
   • A traumatic experience for the people of both India and Pakistan.
   • At least ten lakh people were killed on both sides of the border in partition-related violence.
5. Another major issue was the integration of princely states:
   • The British had left it to the rulers of these states to choose whether to join India, Pakistan, or remain independent.
   • The merger process was difficult and uncertain.
6. When the Constitution was being written, India’s future looked uncertain, and the makers had anxieties about both the present and the future of the country.

The Path to the Constitution

1. Despite all difficulties, the makers of the Indian Constitution had one important advantage:
2. Unlike in South Africa, India already had a consensus about what democratic India should look like.
3. This consensus had developed during the freedom struggle:
4. The national movement was not just a struggle for freedom from foreign rule but also an effort to transform society and politics.
5. There were sharp differences of opinion about India’s future path, which still exist today.
6. However, some core ideas were broadly accepted by all even before the Constitution was drafted.

Early Efforts and Common Values

1. In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders had already drafted a constitution for India.
2. In 1931, during the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress, a resolution was passed that described:
   • How the Constitution of Independent India should look.
3. Both documents supported:
   • Universal adult franchise
   • Right to freedom and equality
   • Protection of minority rights
4. These basic values were accepted by all major leaders before the Constituent Assembly began its work.

Influence of Colonial Political Institutions

1. Experience with colonial institutions helped build an agreement on institutional design.
2. Under British rule:
   • Voting rights were limited to a small section.
   • Legislatures were weak, but they gave Indians some experience in governance.
   • In 1937, elections were held for Provincial Legislatures and Ministries across British India.
3. Though not fully democratic, these governments provided valuable experience.
4. This experience helped in setting up Indian institutions after independence.
5. As a result, the Indian Constitution adopted many institutional features from colonial laws, especially the Government of India Act, 1935.

Learning from the World, on India’s Own Terms

1. Years of deliberation and thought gave Indian leaders confidence to learn from other countries.
2. They studied:
   • The French Revolution for its ideals.
   • Parliamentary democracy in Britain.
   • The Bill of Rights in the United States.
   • The socialist revolution in Russia for ideas of economic and social equality.
3. However, they were not blindly copying any country.
4. They carefully questioned whether each idea would suit Indian conditions.
5. All these efforts together contributed to the framing of the Indian Constitution.

The Constituent Assembly

Key Terms in the Indian Preamble

Important Dates and Events