Justice, liberty and equality

Detail

1. The words in the Preamble

• The Preamble promises to secure to all 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]

• The final Preamble was adopted on 26 November 1949 [2]. It came into force on 26 January 1950.

• These ideals first appeared in the Objectives Resolution. Nehru moved it in December 1946, and the Assembly adopted it in January 1947. The Preamble later grew out of this resolution.
• The 42nd Amendment (1976) did not change these words. It added "socialist", "secular" and "integrity" to the Preamble [2][5].

2. Justice — social, economic and political

• Justice here means a fair society. Every person gets what they are due, and no group is kept down by birth, wealth or power.
• Source: the idea of social, economic and political justice is usually traced to the Russian Revolution (1917). It is listed under the USSR in the table of sources the Constitution borrowed from.
• It appears three times: in the Objectives Resolution (1946), in the Preamble (1950) and in Art. 38.
• Art. 38(1): the State shall try to build "a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life" [3].
• Art. 38(2): the State shall try to reduce inequalities in income and remove inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities. This covers both individuals and groups living in different areas or doing different work [3]. Clause (2) was added by the 44th Amendment (1978) [5].
• Art. 38 is a Directive Principle of State Policy (DPSP). This means it guides the government, but no court can enforce it.
• In the Constituent Assembly (19 November 1948), Ambedkar said the Constitution aims at economic democracy. He added that it does not tie the country to any one route to it, such as socialism or communism [3].

Form of justice	Meaning	Main constitutional anchors
Social justice	No discrimination by caste, religion, gender or race, and fewer social inequalities	Arts. 15, 17, 38
Economic justice	Wealth and resources are shared fairly, and no small group controls them	Art. 39(b), 39(c)
Political justice	Equal political rights and an equal voice for all	Art. 326 (adult vote), Art. 16 (equal access to public office)

• Art. 39(b): ownership and control of the community's material resources should be shared "as best to subserve the common good" [4].
• Art. 39(c): the economic system should not cause concentration of wealth and means of production "to the common detriment" (to the harm of everyone) [4].
• Political justice rests on universal adult franchise (every adult citizen can vote, with no test of property, education or gender) under Art. 326.

Art. 39A — equal justice and free legal aid

• Art. 39A was added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) [5]. It says three things:
• the legal system must promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity;
• the State shall provide free legal aid by law, by schemes or in any other way;

• no citizen should be denied justice because of economic or other disabilities, such as poverty [6].

• Law that carries out Art. 39A:

• Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 → it came into force on 9 November 1995, after an amendment in 1994 [6];

• the Act set up NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) → NALSA gives free legal services to weaker sections and organises Lok Adalats (people's courts that settle disputes by agreement) [6].

• Who gets free legal aid (Section 12 of the Act): SC/ST members, victims of trafficking or begar (forced labour without pay), women, children, persons with disabilities, and people whose income is below a set limit [6].

• How to apply: a person can send an application on plain paper to NALSA, a State or District Legal Services Authority, or a Taluk committee. Legal aid clinics also work in courts and police stations [6].

3. Liberty

• Liberty means there are no unreasonable limits on what people think, say and do. It also means the conditions people need to grow and develop themselves.
• The Preamble names five liberties: thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.

Liberty	Constitutional basis
Thought and expression	Art. 19(1)(a): freedom of speech and expression
Other freedoms (assembly, association, movement, residence, profession)	Art. 19(1)(b)–(g)
Life and personal liberty	Art. 21
Protection in criminal cases and against arbitrary arrest	Arts. 20, 22
Belief, faith and worship	Arts. 25–28 (freedom of religion)

• Liberty is not licence. Licence means freedom to do anything at all, even if it harms others.
• Art. 19(2)–(6) allow reasonable restrictions on these freedoms.
• The grounds include the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation and the interests of the general public.

• The word "reasonable" matters. Courts can strike down a restriction that goes too far, through judicial review (the courts' power to cancel laws or orders that break the Constitution).

• Even freedom of religion under Art. 25 is subject to public order, morality and health.

4. Equality of status and of opportunity

• Equality of status means everyone is equal before the law and no one has special privileges because of birth or rank.
• Equality of opportunity means everyone gets a fair chance at education, jobs and public office.

Type	Meaning	Articles
Civic equality	Same law for all, no discrimination, no untouchability, no titles	Arts. 14–18
Political equality	One common voters' list for each constituency (no separate list by religion, race, caste or sex); every adult can vote	Arts. 325–326
Economic equality	Adequate livelihood for men and women equally; equal pay for equal work	Art. 39(a), 39(d) [4]

• Civic equality, article by article:
• Art. 14: equality before the law and equal protection of the laws.
• Art. 15: no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Art. 16: equal opportunity in public jobs.
• Art. 17: untouchability abolished.

• Art. 18: titles abolished (military and academic distinctions are allowed).

• Art. 39(a): "citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood" [4].

• Art. 39(d): "equal pay for equal work for both men and women" [4].

Formal and substantive equality

• Formal equality means treating everyone exactly the same in law.
• Substantive equality means real equality in people's lives. Groups that were held back for a long time may need extra help to reach the same starting line.
• Art. 15(4) allows special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs. Art. 16(4) allows reservation in public jobs for backward classes that are not adequately represented.
• These are a means to equality, not an exception to it.
• State of Kerala v. N.M. Thomas (1975): Justice K.K. Mathew said that if Art. 16(1) means real, material equality, then Art. 16(4) is "not an exception" to it. It only shows how far equality of opportunity can go, "even up to the point of making reservation" [7].

• Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992): a nine-judge bench upheld 27% reservation for OBCs under Art. 16(4). It also set limits, including no reservation in promotions under Art. 16(4) [7].

• Daily-life examples (Class 7 activity): equal chances in jobs, the same school admission rules for all, and the same queue at a ration shop.

5. The trinity: liberty, equality and fraternity

• Source: these three ideals come from the French Revolution (1789). Class 7 (Fig. 10.5) shows the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789).
• Fraternity means a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood among all citizens. In the Preamble it assures the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation [2].
• Ambedkar's "union of trinity" comes from his last speech in the Constituent Assembly (CAD Vol. XI, 25 November 1949), the day before the Constitution was adopted. In that speech he said India must become a social democracy, not only a political democracy [8].
• Social democracy means a way of life in which liberty, equality and fraternity are accepted as working principles in society, not just in voting.

• He said the three cannot be separated:

  • "Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many."
  • "Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative."
  • "Without fraternity, liberty and equality could not become a natural course of things."

• Why they depend on each other:

• Liberty without equality: the strong use their freedom to dominate the weak.
• Equality without liberty: the State forces sameness, and people lose the drive to try new things.

• Without fraternity: people do not care about each other, so the State would have to force both liberty and equality on them.

• Class 11 asks students whether these principles are followed in their own classroom, and how all three can exist together.

Prelims Hooks

• The Preamble's "Justice — social, economic and political" is borrowed from the Russian Revolution, while "liberty, equality, fraternity" comes from the French Revolution.
• Art. 39A (equal justice and free legal aid) was inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976. It is a DPSP, not a Fundamental Right.
• Art. 38(2) (reducing inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities) was added by the 44th Amendment, 1978, not the 42nd [5].
• Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 set up NALSA and came into force on 9 November 1995 [6].
• Pairs to remember: Art. 39(b) – resources for the common good; Art. 39(c) – no concentration of wealth; Art. 39(a) – adequate livelihood for men and women equally; Art. 39(d) – equal pay for equal work [4].
• The Preamble lists liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It does not list "liberty of property" or "liberty of profession" (profession is in Art. 19(1)(g)).
• The Preamble promises equality of status and of opportunity, not "equality of income".
• Political equality is anchored in Arts. 325–326 (a single voters' list for each constituency and adult suffrage). Civic equality is anchored in Arts. 14–18.
• N.M. Thomas (1975): Art. 16(4) is not an exception to Art. 16(1). Indra Sawhney (1992): 27% OBC quota upheld, with no reservation in promotions under Art. 16(4) [7].
• Ambedkar's "union of trinity" speech was made on 25 November 1949 (CAD Vol. XI), the day before the Constitution was adopted.

Mains Points

• Liberty and its limits: the Constitution balances the two through "reasonable restrictions" (Art. 19(2)–(6)). The test of reasonableness lets courts stop the State from going too far, so liberty is protected without becoming licence.
• Formal vs substantive equality: N.M. Thomas (1975) and Indra Sawhney (1992) show the shift from treating reservation as an exception to treating it as a tool of equality [7]. This answers the charge that Arts. 15(4) and 16(4) break the Preamble's promise of equality. Ongoing debates include the 50% ceiling, the creamy layer and reservation in promotions.
• Political vs social democracy: Ambedkar warned that "one man, one vote" (political equality) would be hollow if social and economic inequality continued [8]. Arts. 38 and 39 therefore turn the Preamble's justice into goals for the State. They are not enforceable in court, so how far they are met depends on government policy.
• Access to justice: Art. 39A and the 1987 Act put equal justice into practice through free legal aid and Lok Adalats [6]. Without them, justice "on a basis of equal opportunity" would remain only a promise for the poor.