BY Pallavi Puri.
On 15th August 1947, India acquired independence from Britain. The newly appointed Constituent Assembly was given the task of drafting a Constitution for India and the greater part of this onerous responsibility fell upon the shoulders of B. R. Ambedkar, who was elected the Chairman of the drafting committee. He and his colleagues made a careful study of the constitutions of various countries, besides considering the common law traditions of Britain and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Constitution was finally passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and became fully applicable since 26th January 1950.
The Constitution of India is one of the largest in the world, comprehensive and sweeping in its scope. It guarantees equal rights to all citizens and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, caste and religion. It also allows universal franchise, thereby making the Indian electorate the largest in the world. The preamble to the Constitution reads as follows:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT,ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
One of the outstanding hallmarks of the Constitution of India is to confer upon a federal form of government the strength of a unitary system. India is seen as a federal democratic republic providing for a dual polity i.e Union Government for the whole country and State Governments for each state,along with distribution of powers between the two. But it must be noted that the supremacy of the written and more or less rigid Constitution prevails. An independent Supreme Court acts as the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution.
According to Granville Austin, the Indian Constitution is “first and foremost a social document.” The core of its commitment to fundamental change in the social order lies in the sections of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State policy, “the conscience of the Constitution. “The enunciation of Fundamental Rights is not a distinctive feature of the Indian Constitution and reflects India’s assimilation of western liberal tradition and it’s desire for the political freedoms it was denied under colonial rule. The Fundamental Rights, embodied in Part III of the Constitution, guarantee to each citizen basic substantive and procedural protections against the State. These rights are fundamental in the sense that they have been incorporated in the fundamental law of the land. They are justiciable rights, enforceable by the courts, and are available to all citizens. Further, they are binding on all public authorities in India, the Central Government as well as the State Government, and on all local bodies.Some of them are enforceable against private individuals as well.
These rights are an integral part of the Constitution, hence cannot be altered or taken away by ordinary legislation. At the same time they are restrictive in nature and not absolute. These rights, under certain limitations and restrictions, can be imposed at any time in the larger interests of the nation. During times of emergency the rights may also be suspended. Also they cannot be abrogated, as that will violate the basic structure of the Constitution, but they can be amended. Speaking on the importance of Fundamental Rights, D. D. Basu once commented, “They expressly seek to strike a balance between a written guarantee of individual rights and the collective interests of the community”
Articles 14 -18 deal with Right to Equality. Equality is one of the basic postulates of democracy and thus made the bedrock of the Indian polity by the Constitution. Article 14 guarantees equality of all persons before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Equality before law is a kind of negative concept, implying the absence of any special privilege in favour of any individual, and equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land. Equal protection of the law is a more positive concept, implying equality of treatment in equal circumstances, i.e the law will be equal and equally administered. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, creed, sex, place of birth etc., as well as denying access to shops,wells,places of public entertainment on these grounds. Article 16 deals with equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, and no discrimination on any grounds mentioned in Article 15. Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is made an offence punishable under the law un der Article 17. Further, Article 18 abolishes all titles and the state is prohibited from conferring titles on any per
Articles 19 -22 guarantee the right to Freedom. These four Articles form the charter of personal liberties. Article 19 provides for six freedoms -freedom of speech and expression, of assembly, association, movement, residence and settlement, of profession, occupation, trade and business. Article 20 affords protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to any person who commits an offence. Further, Article 21 ensures that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedures established by law. The Supreme Court, on July 30, 1992 declared that Indians have a fundamental right to education ‘at all levels.’ This new right has been held to be a part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Article 22 guarantees three rights -right of every person who is arrested to be informed the cause of his arrest, his right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice and every person arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest Magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours and shall be kept in continued custody only with his authority.
Articles 23 and 24 deal with rights against exploitation. This right bans the traffic of human beings, begging, or any other form of forced labour. The Law also prohibits the employment of children below 14 years of age in any factory or mine or other risky occupation.
Articles 25-28 guarantee the Right to Freedom of Religion. India, being a secular state, observes an attitude of neutrality and impartiality towards all religion. Article 25 enacts that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the to freely profess, practice, and propagate any religion, subject to public order, morality and health.Article 26 is a corollary to Article 25 and guarantees the freedom to manage religious affairs.Article 27 provides an additional protection to religious activity by exempting funds appropriated towards the promotion or maintenance of any religion from the payment of taxes. Lastly, Article 28 prohibits religious instructions in any educational institutions wholly maintained out of state funds.
Articles 29-30 provide for cultural and educational rights. It specifies that minorities shall have the right to conserve their language, script, literature and culture, and admission can’t be refused on these grounds. Also that they shall have right to establish and administer educational institutions of their own choice.
Article 32 guarantees the Right to Constitutional Remedies, i.e. the right of the individual to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of his fundamental rights and the court may issue orders, directions, writs, etc. as it considers appropriate.
The Constitution remains a vital document, and political awareness of the recent years suggests that it will continue to be a source of inspiration for those who strive valiantly to make Indian society more egalitarian and just.