Preamble of the Constitution of India : An Insight and Comparison with Other Constitutions

Contents: Foreword. Preface. Abbreviations. 1. Introduction : Constituent Assembly Debates. 2. Preamble of the Constitution of India. 3. Preambular relevance to fundamental rights and directive principles. 4. Comparative study of the Preambles of other Constitutions. 5. Judicial interpretations of the Preamble of the Constitution of India. 6. The Preamble of the International Human Rights instruments. 7. Epilogue. Annexures. Table of cases. Bibliography. Index.

"The National Flag is nothing more than a piece of cloth, had this ordinary piece of cloth not remained the embodiment of centuries of struggle of independence, sacrifice, blood and tears. The Preamble of the Constitution in a similar context, can hardly claim to be more than a solemn pledge and vision of a country, unless backed by a national commitment to literally fulfil the promise and dream.

Preamble has been neglected by juridical scholarship, legal researchers, professors and professionals alike. The space has been partially filled in by this modest book of scholarship. The book does not contain each and everything one can expect of, yet it incorporates the bottomline and benchmark of constitutionalism.

The juridical conclusions, the materialization of the Preamble, the legislative responses, the comparative analysis of Constitutional Preambles of selected developed constitutions, and above all, the international human rights implications of the Preamble are brought to the limelight by this treatise. That the Preamble had remained the hidden and unexplored gold-mine of Indian constitutionalism has been lucidly revealed by the chapters in the work.

The book is worthy of serious intellectual attention." (jacket)