NOVEMBER 26 - CONSTITUTION DAY

               OF THE PEOPLE ,BY THE PEOPLE , FOR THE PEOPLE 

            

  " CONSTITUTION is not a mere lawyers document , it is a vehicle of life and its spirit is always the spirit of age "

                                                                                B R AMBEDKAR 

                '' We the people of India do hereby adopt ,enact and give to ourselves this constitution "  The underlying spirit in these words affirm that it it is not  the 2 years , 11 months and 18 days that framed our longest written constitution but the concerted and constant efforts of people of India ,the real victims of years long foreign rule .The long history of Indian constitution stretches back to Indian council act of 1909 ,in which Indians got a limited ,highly restricted and unrepresentative governance participation for the first time .   The series of milestones in the Indian freedom struggle like The Government of India act of 1919 & 1935,1930 Simon commission , round table conferences contributed to the origin and evolution of Indian constitution .Thus the Indian constitution born in public participation  and  mass movements of  the freedom struggle . 

             But how can the voice of a constituent assembly with a major proportion of lawyers be regarded as the voice of common mass . In early 1948 the draft of the constitution was made publicly available and the drafting committee under the father of Indian constitution revised each of the feedbacks ,suggestions and proposals for the amendments from the people giving birth to a charter of values and principles rather than a legal document .In India  the constitutional dialogue was never meant to be confined within the courtroom and be limited with the arguments framed in the formal language of law . Finally  THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION with 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came in to effect in 26 January 1950 . 

          The revolutionary changes that India witnessed in its journey from 1949 to 2020  is vivid in all aspects ,be it political ,scientific ,social and economic spheres but we were not forced to follow an outdated document  . The neither flexible nor rigid structure of our constitution  let our constitution also develop with the development of the country to  448 articles in 25 parts and 12 schedules through the various amendments and constant renewals . Even the  Indian constitution have adopted several  features from other countries ,it always protects its own identity with distinguishing features .  

SALIENT FEATURES OF INDIAN  CONSTITUTION 

* Longest written constitution of any sovereign country 

*  Sovereign , Socialist , Secular , Democratic ,Republic with parliamentary in nature 

* Values of Justice , Liberty , Equality , Fraternity 

* Federal in nature but unitary in spirit 

* Single citizenship 

* Provides both  parliamentary sovereignty and Judicial supremacy 

* Independent Judiciary 

* Safeguards  the rights of the people ,Fundamental rights along with DPSP 

* Includes fundamental duties (" later added through 42 nd amendment )

* Universal adult franchise 

* Strong Legislature ,Judiciary and Executive 

*Independent bodies also like CAG ,UPSC 

* Provisions for amending 

             But along with the my argument that  '' The Indian constitution is a living ,breathing entity '' ,I would also like to add the a quote from ' Keshavananda Bharati Vs State of Kerala '  case that " The parliamentary power to amend the constitution did not extend to altering its basic structure " . Thus  The triumphs of Indian Constitution is countless but we are in a current era where constitution and its basic values are challenged in our daily lives . 

         The perfect example will be the very recent ordinance for adding section 118 A to the Kerala Police act  ." It says that any expression, publication or dissemination of threatening, abusive, defamatory or humiliating content made through any mode of communication punishable if the person does it knowing it to be false and damaging to reputation or mind of another person " . 

     But the gap between this statement and the Article 19 - Right to freedom of speech and expression is really narrow . The claim of A K Gopalan that "the preventive detention legislation under which he has detained is inconsistent with the Article 19 , Article 21(Right to life ),Article 22 ( protection against arbitrary arrest and detention ) is also an another interpretation of the same thing . Right to freedom of speech and expression is threatened in all the spheres and sometimes misused too . It is in such case the fundamental duties are important . But it is only after the guarantee of the promises by the constitution that the  citizens can be asked to do their duty . The repeated attacks on Dalits , Women , Minorities triggers our minds to think about the right to equality . The recent developments regarding the contempt of court  ,CAA  etc  comes under the same umbrella . Political uncertainties , Defections , Corruption , marginalisation and discrimination challenges the fundamental  ideas of the constitution .

        "However good a constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good" .

       It is the duty of the citizens to protect the sanctity of our CONSTITUTION  . "We are Indians, firstly and lastly" . Let the young minds unite for a progressed nation . 

                                                      SANDRA SARA BINOY 


      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WREAKING COVID 19 PANDEMIC-SECTORAL AND SPATIAL DIMENSIONS IN INDIA

Image
                             UNDERSTANDING THE HIDDEN COSTS OF                                   AN UNPRECEDENTED PANDEMIC ''The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of oppurtunity to reflect , reimagine and reset our world '' - Klaus Schwab ( Founder and executive chairman of World economic forum ) The 'wreaking Covid -19 pandemic 'from the very first confirmed case' to a 'bunch of variants' is staggering the global socio-economic-political scenario . India with a population near to 1.4 Billion, deficient on public health expenditure and ill-prepared to ...
Read more

ARE THE ENRAGED FARMERS A SIGN FOR A BETTER FUTURE ?

Image
                   Farmers quitting their fields,  raising their voice , protesting for fundamental privileges braving tear gas and water cannons were the sketches of present India that awaited for me ,who completed writing a constitution day article with a great sense of pride  . Thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab etc aligned for the DELHI CHALO march against the " so called farmer friendly policies ".But why the farmers are resisting such progressive bills, Is there any disconnection with the intended welfare and formulated bill,  why the ones arguing  to and fro the bill is confined within the political matters and why their voice are not being addressed. These may be the questions arising in every minds but suppressed with the fear of  sedition .  *  FARMERS PRODUCE TRADE AND COMMERCE (PROMOTION AND FACILITATION BILL) 2020, * FARMERS (EMPOWERMENT AND PROTECTION) AGREEMENT OF PRICE ASSURANCE A...
Read more

SWINGING IN THE MEMORIES

Image
                       The wistful memories of Dilip Chitre portrayed in  his poem "The house of my childhood "  brings the readers to a nostalgic aura.  "Nostalgia "is a  greek word expressing the sentimentality towards the past, a period or a place and severe longing to the good old days.                          Even a single photo which copies the warm childhood is powerful to escort a smile with dewy eyes.  We 4, in the lapse of nature swinging through the branches enjoyed those moments to the fullest. We called it 'Erappu' . The  hours of  fun in the fields making branches to seesaw , swinging in the roots, sliding through the terraced grounds, playing with our kids (goat) and finally sweating in the interdistrict game of batminton is a time where all the worries fade and recollect our innocence.  I called it interdist...
Read more