Key Facts

Historical and jurisprudence context revisited on 11-12 November 2026:

• The 42nd Amendment (1976): Enacted by Parliament during the Emergency, altering the Preamble, amending multiple articles, and inserting Chapter IV-A (Fundamental Duties).
• Swaran Singh Committee: The amendments were formally drafted following the recommendations of the Sardar Swaran Singh Committee constituted in 1976.
• Three Preamble Additions: The Preamble was amended for the first and only time in Indian history to incorporate 'Socialist', 'Secular', and 'Integrity'.
• Ministerial Defense: Law Minister H.R. Gokhale defended the term 'Secular' against demands for alteration, defining it as positive secularism ('Sarva Dharma Sambhava').
• Basic Structure Seal: The 9-judge Constitution Bench in S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) ruled that Secularism is an unalterable facet of the Basic Structure of the Indian Constitution.

GK Context

• The Preamble to the Constitution of India is based on the 'Objective Resolution' drafted and moved by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946, and adopted unanimously by the Constituent Assembly on 22 January 1947.
• In Kesavananda Bharati v.
• State of Kerala (1973), the Supreme Court overruled its earlier stance in the Berubari Union (1960) case, declaring that the Preamble is an integral part of the Constitution and can be amended under Article 368, provided its basic elements remain inviolate.

Static GK

The 44th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1978, enacted by the Janata Party government under Morarji Desai, nullified several draconian distortions introduced by the 42nd Amendment, but deliberately retained the terms 'Socialist', 'Secular', and 'Integrity' in the Preamble, cementing bipartisan constitutional acceptance.

UPSC Mains Framework

GS Paper II (Constitutional Foundations & Polity): Differentiate the Indian model of 'positive secularism' from Western secularism. Analyze the judicial evolution of secularism as an indelible basic feature of the Indian republic.