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UPPCS Polity Gap Sheet: Preamble and Citizenship.
UPPCS has asked 14 of these. 2 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
The Preamble says three things: where power comes from ('We, the people of India'), what India is (sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic), and what it aims at (justice, liberty, equality, fraternity). It grew out of Nehru's Objectives Resolution.
India has single citizenship (from Britain). Articles 5–11 settled who was a citizen in 1950; everything after that comes from the Citizenship Act 1955.
✅ Already asked (14)
Preamble
- 'We, the people of India' · Source of authority is the people
- Socialist, Secular, Integrity added (42nd, 1976) · The only amendment of the Preamble so far
- Date in the Preamble: 26 November 1949 · Day of adoption; Constitution Day since 2015
- Justice: social, economic, political · Idea from the Russian Revolution
- Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship · Liberty, equality, fraternity from France
- Is the Preamble part of the Constitution? · No, said Berubari (1960); yes, said Kesavananda (1973) and LIC (1995)
- Preamble is not enforceable in court · Neither a source of power nor a limit
- What leaders called it · K. M. Munshi: 'political horoscope'; Thakurdas Bhargava: 'soul'; N. A. Palkhivala: 'identity card'
Citizenship
- Articles 5–11 · Citizenship at the start; Article 11 lets Parliament regulate it
- Five ways to become a citizen · Birth, descent, registration, naturalisation, incorporation of territory
- Single citizenship · From Britain; the USA has dual (federal and state)
- Overseas Citizen of India (2005) · Lifelong visa; no vote; PIO card merged into OCI in 2015
- Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 · Six communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan who came before 31 December 2014; rules notified March 2024
- Assam Accord (1985), Section 6A · Cut-off 24 March 1971; upheld by the Supreme Court in 2024
❌ Not asked yet (2)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
🔒 2 items not asked yet
Citizenship: 2
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⚠️ The Preamble has been amended only once (42nd). Berubari said it is not part of the Constitution; Kesavananda reversed that. OCI holders cannot vote and are not citizens.
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