India birthed at midnight in tumultuous times wherein while freedom was being celebrated and rejoiced upon, a bloodbath continued in several of its parts, recently unclenched from the fists of the British. As India continues to pride upon the rich travesty of culture, flora, fauna, people, languages, and other kaleidoscopes celebrating Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Constitution of the largest democracy in the world continues to unite the differences and include the multifarious realities of its people like a strong spine.
The Constitution makers envisioned India to be a modern nation based on the norms of the rule of law, secular character of the society, and democratic nature of the polity. The constituent assembly highlighted three major challenges at the outset. First was a concern with national unity emerging from the bloodbath of Partition; second, a deep and anxious preoccupation with social issues such as poverty, illiteracy, economic development that plagued the nation; and finally, there was an intense concern with India’s standing in the world and with foreign affairs.These three issues were not confined to the drafting of the Constitution; they affected subsequent decades of politics and continue to dominate contemporary debates. As a result, they were able to draw authority from both historical precedents and modern needs.
Death of Distance (2006) is an artwork by Jitish Kallat that captures the nation of India living multiple realities simultaneously through a lenticular print. In the artwork, two overlaid contrasting texts present a harrowing picture of poverty where a tender-aged girl commits suicide, unable to afford one rupee for a school meal against a globally progressing country unveiling a new telecom scheme: a one-rupee-per minute tariff plan.
(Death of Distance (2006) by Jitish Kallat)
The manufacturers of the Constitution have provided an in-depth document covering various aspects of the country's governance. The Constitution of India originally housed 395 articles, 22 parts, and eight schedules; however, its structure continues to expand and contract through various amendments, making the Constitution a living document. The neat details of the Constitution emerged from the pluralist character and multiculturalism of the State of India, housing the people of various languages, castes, religions, ethnicities, and therefore the country's enormity. In the face of socioeconomic differences, the Constitution saw the political realm as a unifying factor for the social fabric's many crevasses. Our political leaders came up with a document that has governed our nation for 75 years with the flexibility that has allowed Bharat to fulfil its potential and walk shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world.
(Source: My Voice: Write for India)
The Preamble is indeed the "identity card" of the Indian Constitution, a vibrant key to its elaborate spirit, becoming a guiding light for constitution markers and the people of India. While some of the keywords in the Preamble were a direct result of the Objective Resolution, others (socialist, secular, and integrity) were added by a 42nd Amendment, 1976 under the leadership of the first woman Prime Minister of India, Ms. Indira Gandhi. It must be noted that Dr. Ambedkar clarified that the term 'democratic' in the Preamble stands in broader sense embracing not only political democracy but also social and economical democracy. Social democracy is a way of life that recognizes liberty, equality, and fraternity. The principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity form a trinity. Thus, to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. The concept of political democracy is promoted through Fundamental Rights. They serve as checks on the Executive's despotism and the Legislature's arbitrary laws. They are justiciable, which means that the courts can enforce them if they are infringed. The person who has been wronged can proceed straight to the Supreme Court, which will issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and quo warranto to reestablish his rights. The Directive Principles intend to promote social and economic democracy as a goal. They intend for India to become a "welfare state".
(Source: The Hindu)
It is important to look at some key criticisms towards the constitution. The Constituent Assembly was not a representative body because its members were not directly chosen by the Indian people using the universal adult franchise. Moreover, lawyers and politicians controlled the Assembly while the minority segments of society were underrepresented, which resulted in the Constitution's bulky and convoluted text and Hindu domination in the assembly. The Indian Constitution, according to opponents, contains no new or unique provisions. They called it a "hotch-potch Constitution", “a bag of borrowings” or a "patchwork" of many world constitution documents. "The Constitution is essentially the Government of India Act of 1935 with only adult franchise added," said P.R. Deshmukh, a Constituent Assembly member. In the Constituent Assembly, however, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar responded, "I make no apologies. There is nothing to be embarrassed about borrowing. It includes no plagiarism. Nobody possesses any patent rights in the essential concepts of a Constitution".
(India, with elements of image provided by NASA. Credit: Rakchai Duangdee/Shutterstock)
While in some regards, there is no doubt that India was an inherited polity due to a peculiar historical legacy connected with the long duration of colonialism and it was difficult to entirely dismantle the institutional foundation of the colonial state in the immediate aftermath of Independence. The Indian Constitution- a capacious and promissory project marked an end to the chains and the era of Imperialism, to realise the ideals of freedom and representative democracy for the people of India. An urge for collective freedom was coming to a realisation provoked by years of imperial tyranny. Its diversity which had once been an excuse for its subdication was now to become a cause for national unity, oneness and integration of all of its people. Drawing a curtain on the past, stepping onto a world stage to put an end to the illiteracy, poverty, lopsided economic development- uplifting its people.
The dynamism and resilience of the Constitution are brought to the fore by the fact that it has been amended more than 104 times in a newly birthed and young country. As we continue to grapple with providing the enabling conditions of social-welfare under an umbrella extended to all its citizens, effective implementation of the legislation, the public will opinion and active public participation remains a key factor in the success of the mosaic that India is.
Written by: Siddhi Joshi
References:
Austin, Granville. 2003. Working a Democratic Constitution:The Indian Experience. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Mehta Uday. 2010. Oxford Companion to Politics in India: Constitutionalism. New Delhi.
S. Palshikar, (2008) ‘The Indian State: Constitution and Beyond’, in R. Bhargava (ed.) Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 143-163.
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