UPSC Prelims 2023 Question:

Which one of the following statements best reflects the Chief purpose of the `Constitution' of a country?

Explanation:

WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION? 

• The first function of a constitution is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal coordination amongst members of a society.
  
  
• The second function of a constitution is to specify who has the power to make decisions in a society. It decides how the government will be constituted.
  
  
• But this is clearly not enough. Suppose you decided who had the authority to make decisions. But then this authority passed laws that you thought were patently unfair. So the third function, which is also the chief function of a constitution, is to set some limits on what a government can impose on its citizens. These limits are fundamental in the sense that the government may never trespass them.  The most common way of limiting the power of government is to specify certain fundamental rights that all of us possess as citizens and which no government can ever be allowed to violate.
  
  
• The fourth function of a constitution is to enable the government to fulfill the aspirations of a society and create conditions for a just society.
  
  
• Finally, a constitution expresses the fundamental identity of a people. This means the people as a collective entity are agreeing to a basic set of norms about how one should be governed, and who should be governed etc.
  
  

Therefore, option (3) is the correct answer. 

Subject: Polity | Features of the Constitution