Which of the following is assured mainly by the 'fraternity' in the Preamble…

Concept

The Preamble is written as a chain of objectives, and each objective is followed by its own qualifying words. Justice, liberty and equality are declared as ends secured "to all its citizens", each with a defining phrase of its own. Fraternity is different in form: it is followed by the participle "assuring", and whatever is named after that word is what fraternity is declared to guarantee. So an item of this kind is settled by reading the words that immediately follow "FRATERNITY assuring", not by ranking the Preamble values against one another.

Application

The operative clause of the Preamble reads: "FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation." Two objects are joined by "and" after "assuring":

• the dignity of the individual, and

• the unity and integrity of the Nation.

Both are therefore assured by fraternity. Since two of the values listed in the choices — the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation — are covered together, no single-value choice can be complete, and the correct response is "More than one of the above."

Cross-check

• Justice, liberty and equality are secured to citizens by the earlier clauses of the Preamble, each with its own qualifiers — social, economic and political justice; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity. They are the ends the Preamble secures, not the objects placed after "assuring".

• The words "and integrity" were inserted into the Preamble by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976; the 1950 text read only "unity of the Nation". The amendment expanded the wording of this objective but did not move it out of the fraternity clause.

• Reading the clause back confirms the count: strike out either object and the sentence still reads grammatically, which shows the two are separate objects of "assuring" rather than one compound idea.