Why is the constitution of india regarded as an instrument of social change??
Answers
Before going to discuss how the Constitution of India has served as an instrument of social change let’s discuss three important things that are related to this.
First, Constitution of India should be understood as the original Constitution adopted on 26 November 1949 along with successive amendments of the constitutional provisions. Article 368(1) says, “Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may in exercise of its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in this article.” So far the Constitution has been amended one hundred times responding to the demands of circumstances. Many times the constitutional provisions are also being supplemented and complemented by the Acts passed by the Parliament and the State Legislatures and judicial interpretations on them. These can also be included in the term ‘Constitution’ to have a proper grasp of the Constitution of India.
Second, one of the functions or purposes of the Constitution is that, “in addition to laying down a framework for government, constitutions invariably embody a broader set of political values, ideals and goals. This is why constitutions can not be neutral; they are always entangled, more or less explicitly, with ideological priorities. The creators of constitutions therefore seek to invest their regime with a set of unifying values, a sense of ideological purpose, and a vocabulary that can be used in the conduct of politics. In many cases, these aims are accomplished explicitly in preambles to constitutional documents which often function as statements of national ideals.” In that sense the preamble of Indian Constitution represents the nature of the state and the objectives or values before its future governments to be achieved. The words such as ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’ represent the nature of the state where as the words such as “Justice ( social, economic and political); Liberty (of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship); Equality (of status and of opportunity); and Fraternity, the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation” represent the values or objectives to pursue or fulfill.
And, third, the meaning of social change needs to be explained. The following definitions have been quoted from C.N Shankar Rao (1994)’s book “Sociology’. MacIver and Page have said, “Social change refers to a process responsive to many types of changes; to changes in the manmade conditions of life; to changes in the attitudes and beliefs of men, and to the changes that go beyond the human control to the biological and the physical nature of things”. MacIver also in some other context has referred to it as simply a change in the human relationships. M.E. Jones says, “Social change is a term used to describe variations in, or modifications of, any aspect of social processes, social patterns, social interaction or social organisation” All these definitions hint at a marked or observable difference between two different times in the way of life, social processes and interactions of a society or social relationships. In the case of India that conspicuously happened following the Constitution of India coming into effect in 1950.
Answer:
The Constitution consists of a set of fundamental rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution which provides the citizens with certain rights that are essential to be regulated in order to bring in a sociological change in the entire nation.