Hello friends ,
Our fundamental duties ( Article 51-A) includes 10+1 set of duties. Yes, these clauses a to k have much wider interpretation. Let's see each clause one by one in a series of articles.
So as our constitution reads it:
It shall be the duty of every citizen of India
a) to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National flag and the National Anthem.
Now the Constitution i.e. Rajyaghatana ( राज्यघटना अर्थात संविधान) is the fundamental law of the land and provides legal framework for activities done within the territory of India.
So what it means that we have duty to abide by the constitution. We have very detailed constitution and it is very lengthy. Lawyers spend their entire lives on understanding and it can be topic of their interest, subject of discourse among them. But what about us , we the common people of India.Here comes the role of the preamble ( सरनामा) to the constitution . The preamble introduces the principles which we need to adhere to. Fundamenatal rights and Directive principles of state policy along with Preamble is complete package of philosophy of Indian Constitution. Rest of the constitution also reflect principles enahrined which are fit to nurture a parliamentary democracy. But majority of this constitution defines role and responsibility of whole government machinery. Due to diversity and since we built on our prior constitutional development ( esp. Government of India Act 1935 which was also a lengthy document), we need to address our diversity and special cases and exceptions arising out of it; our constitution is voluminous one.Also at the time literacy was low that may have necessitated for leaving no ambiguity but this may be least plausible reason since Indian masses though most of them were illiterate illustrated exemplary character during our freedom struggle.
And there were more jurists in the constituent assembly so language used was difficult to comprehend. Same is the case even now.Then how to understand it and be abide by it. We can observe during crisis we had given our best ( freedom struggle) . Our newspapers were doing their best to awake masses politically despite repressive laws . Now are happy days, we have freedom, press have freedom still why local newspapers are not contributing in making people aware of nitty-gritties of the constitution. Local newspapers show spark once in a while but we expect it should be their regular feature . I have seen that instead of objective analysis, at times they show tendency to sway by popular mood and further raising egos of masses ( there is good Marathi word that they reflect अभिनिवेश). And are content in praising all politicians and seldom be critical , and this may be due to fear as we have yet politicians with feudalistic mentality and people are not that fearless. Fearlessness comes with knowledge but we are not pursuing it enough , we are not even pursuing happiness. There is goal displacement we are pursuing money and yet we are short of it , why? If we earn money at the cost of others , other fellow is taxed and in 'percent earnings' we have less share in that chain where top ones in the hierarchy earns more , so actually persons at the top using you as a cog in the wheel and you are happy for petty share. And since it is ' easy money' it is seldom used as productive investment. Hard earned money of same amount has more value as we think of each penny while spending. And as mentioned above there are lot of ' other fellows' who are being taxed and since we have made this system we are not always an agent that earns ' percent' but we are also more often one who is taxed ( role reversals happen so often that we may have ignored it) . So it is in our best interest to be honest, to establish transparency wherever possible. So it all began with that newspapers should play more assertive role to discuss constitutional issues since they have more reacj compared to any NGO that is involved in such awareness programs ( can anybody explain when we write ' programs' , and when ' programmes ' , is there any difference between these two or they can be used interchangeably? just curious!).
So preamble helps us to understand that broad framework to establish ' rule of law'. We will devote another article to explore anout it. Here, just crux of it. The members of constituent assembly as our representatives( representatives of the people of India) rightly expressed that we the people adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution. This means here in India ' people are sovereign'. This single fact people need to understand. We often feel powerless, but at least theoretically constitution has given us power. That we need to understand. We here sentences like ' Parliament is supreme or judiciary is supreme'. These statements are also true but it must be read that within their jurisdiction. They are constructs of this constitution which we have given to ourselves. What that means? We have right to ask questions our MPs, MLAs, Corporators, Grampanchayat members. We are now independent. No more 'मायबाप सरकार', It must be ' मायबाप जनता' ( presently only elections act as reminders to this fact, but it should be imbibed in our value system : जनता सार्वभौम आहे). And power comes with responsibility , mobocracy is not democracy as when we break law we do not earn anything. As we can look into recent history of last 70 odd years demands are not accepted in number of cases despite violence. It is wrong impression that if once we become violent all will happen according to our wishes .We have to pursue our case , back our arguments with clear logic. And still if our demands stand no chance then we need to find ways of negotiations to get optimum possible. I wonder as a mob we all show how ' revolutionary ' we are; but where is this courage goes when we observe rampant corruption happening? There was never a ' Morcha' on RTO office :). There was never a ' Morcha' at Setu Suvidha Kendra' . Why we allow charge more fee than is actually printed on paper? Even no party is interested in such Morchas even when in opposition.Not that Morchas change everything, but they certainly make a statement. So point is more than people, leaders need to understand that ' people are sovereign' and they are no longer Kings, privy purses have been cancelled way back. They are just our representatives.And Administrators don't shout at us , if you can't handle pressure, resign . People can shout back, please don't make them reach that stage, people are very considerate and tolerant in India , administrators should not misread this .
So now we read it, one cannot imbibe it in a day or two( but one can also, we are talking generally as a whole , so bound to require some time). We have given this constitution to ourselves and how we have done it? We have solemnly( with utmost sincerity in a dignified manner) resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure all its citizens: JUSTICE, LIBERTY,EQUALITY and FRATERNITY.
Each term printed in Capital letters in previous sentence is important , but ' socialist ' and ' secular' is much debated terms. We are following ' democratic socialism'. Since economy is capitalistic now and state intervention is in the nature of enaler or facilitator relevance of the term socialist expresses Republics' duty to lead society in following Directive Principles of State Policy. Since they are not enforceable , people's participation is very necessary in such efforts. Socialism today can be seen as ' socio-economic development'. Marx and Engels theorized in violent times. And Russia have Czar, India never have any tyrant and democracy as it is in India can't produce one ( comparisons of Modi to Hitler are just laughable :)). Another term ' Secularism' in Indian context means ' respect for all religions' which includes ' all' religions ( hope you understand why I mentioned ' all', don't exclude any religion). And both these terms were implicit in number of articles so they were not explicitly mentioned initially. Subsequently they are inserted by 42nd constitutional amendment.
Justice is mentioned in its three forms- social,economic and political. As Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar mentioned that with 'one person ,one vote ,one value' we have political democracy and we need to work for having social democracy. That means we need to solve problems of ' casteism', 'communalism','regionalism' etc. And these can be solved, this is pretty naive statement but it is necessary to be that naive at least to have belief that we can solve it. If in the beginning we don't have belief ( as ' practical'person) then who the hell will take efforts, it will be ' Business as Usual'. With demographic dividend this problem can be solved in these 3 to 5 decades and then we don't know when again we have considerable youthful exuberance again. This is not just optimism, there are solutions and in my induvidual capacity we will give it a try. I know dear fellow , nobody is following or paying attention to me then how can this be done. I don't know how but I am sure it can be.I know that I am not in a position to influence the situation but Do you know future?
थोडक्यात जी ' जात नाही ती जात' हे पराभूत मानसिकतेचं लक्षण आहे आणि हे गृहितक अनेकांनी स्वीकारलय सुद्धा.
' अरे अशी कशी जात नाय?' असं म्हणा तर खरं , आयला...
Our fundamental duties ( Article 51-A) includes 10+1 set of duties. Yes, these clauses a to k have much wider interpretation. Let's see each clause one by one in a series of articles.
So as our constitution reads it:
It shall be the duty of every citizen of India
a) to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National flag and the National Anthem.
Now the Constitution i.e. Rajyaghatana ( राज्यघटना अर्थात संविधान) is the fundamental law of the land and provides legal framework for activities done within the territory of India.
So what it means that we have duty to abide by the constitution. We have very detailed constitution and it is very lengthy. Lawyers spend their entire lives on understanding and it can be topic of their interest, subject of discourse among them. But what about us , we the common people of India.Here comes the role of the preamble ( सरनामा) to the constitution . The preamble introduces the principles which we need to adhere to. Fundamenatal rights and Directive principles of state policy along with Preamble is complete package of philosophy of Indian Constitution. Rest of the constitution also reflect principles enahrined which are fit to nurture a parliamentary democracy. But majority of this constitution defines role and responsibility of whole government machinery. Due to diversity and since we built on our prior constitutional development ( esp. Government of India Act 1935 which was also a lengthy document), we need to address our diversity and special cases and exceptions arising out of it; our constitution is voluminous one.Also at the time literacy was low that may have necessitated for leaving no ambiguity but this may be least plausible reason since Indian masses though most of them were illiterate illustrated exemplary character during our freedom struggle.
And there were more jurists in the constituent assembly so language used was difficult to comprehend. Same is the case even now.Then how to understand it and be abide by it. We can observe during crisis we had given our best ( freedom struggle) . Our newspapers were doing their best to awake masses politically despite repressive laws . Now are happy days, we have freedom, press have freedom still why local newspapers are not contributing in making people aware of nitty-gritties of the constitution. Local newspapers show spark once in a while but we expect it should be their regular feature . I have seen that instead of objective analysis, at times they show tendency to sway by popular mood and further raising egos of masses ( there is good Marathi word that they reflect अभिनिवेश). And are content in praising all politicians and seldom be critical , and this may be due to fear as we have yet politicians with feudalistic mentality and people are not that fearless. Fearlessness comes with knowledge but we are not pursuing it enough , we are not even pursuing happiness. There is goal displacement we are pursuing money and yet we are short of it , why? If we earn money at the cost of others , other fellow is taxed and in 'percent earnings' we have less share in that chain where top ones in the hierarchy earns more , so actually persons at the top using you as a cog in the wheel and you are happy for petty share. And since it is ' easy money' it is seldom used as productive investment. Hard earned money of same amount has more value as we think of each penny while spending. And as mentioned above there are lot of ' other fellows' who are being taxed and since we have made this system we are not always an agent that earns ' percent' but we are also more often one who is taxed ( role reversals happen so often that we may have ignored it) . So it is in our best interest to be honest, to establish transparency wherever possible. So it all began with that newspapers should play more assertive role to discuss constitutional issues since they have more reacj compared to any NGO that is involved in such awareness programs ( can anybody explain when we write ' programs' , and when ' programmes ' , is there any difference between these two or they can be used interchangeably? just curious!).
So preamble helps us to understand that broad framework to establish ' rule of law'. We will devote another article to explore anout it. Here, just crux of it. The members of constituent assembly as our representatives( representatives of the people of India) rightly expressed that we the people adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution. This means here in India ' people are sovereign'. This single fact people need to understand. We often feel powerless, but at least theoretically constitution has given us power. That we need to understand. We here sentences like ' Parliament is supreme or judiciary is supreme'. These statements are also true but it must be read that within their jurisdiction. They are constructs of this constitution which we have given to ourselves. What that means? We have right to ask questions our MPs, MLAs, Corporators, Grampanchayat members. We are now independent. No more 'मायबाप सरकार', It must be ' मायबाप जनता' ( presently only elections act as reminders to this fact, but it should be imbibed in our value system : जनता सार्वभौम आहे). And power comes with responsibility , mobocracy is not democracy as when we break law we do not earn anything. As we can look into recent history of last 70 odd years demands are not accepted in number of cases despite violence. It is wrong impression that if once we become violent all will happen according to our wishes .We have to pursue our case , back our arguments with clear logic. And still if our demands stand no chance then we need to find ways of negotiations to get optimum possible. I wonder as a mob we all show how ' revolutionary ' we are; but where is this courage goes when we observe rampant corruption happening? There was never a ' Morcha' on RTO office :). There was never a ' Morcha' at Setu Suvidha Kendra' . Why we allow charge more fee than is actually printed on paper? Even no party is interested in such Morchas even when in opposition.Not that Morchas change everything, but they certainly make a statement. So point is more than people, leaders need to understand that ' people are sovereign' and they are no longer Kings, privy purses have been cancelled way back. They are just our representatives.And Administrators don't shout at us , if you can't handle pressure, resign . People can shout back, please don't make them reach that stage, people are very considerate and tolerant in India , administrators should not misread this .
So now we read it, one cannot imbibe it in a day or two( but one can also, we are talking generally as a whole , so bound to require some time). We have given this constitution to ourselves and how we have done it? We have solemnly( with utmost sincerity in a dignified manner) resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure all its citizens: JUSTICE, LIBERTY,EQUALITY and FRATERNITY.
Each term printed in Capital letters in previous sentence is important , but ' socialist ' and ' secular' is much debated terms. We are following ' democratic socialism'. Since economy is capitalistic now and state intervention is in the nature of enaler or facilitator relevance of the term socialist expresses Republics' duty to lead society in following Directive Principles of State Policy. Since they are not enforceable , people's participation is very necessary in such efforts. Socialism today can be seen as ' socio-economic development'. Marx and Engels theorized in violent times. And Russia have Czar, India never have any tyrant and democracy as it is in India can't produce one ( comparisons of Modi to Hitler are just laughable :)). Another term ' Secularism' in Indian context means ' respect for all religions' which includes ' all' religions ( hope you understand why I mentioned ' all', don't exclude any religion). And both these terms were implicit in number of articles so they were not explicitly mentioned initially. Subsequently they are inserted by 42nd constitutional amendment.
Justice is mentioned in its three forms- social,economic and political. As Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar mentioned that with 'one person ,one vote ,one value' we have political democracy and we need to work for having social democracy. That means we need to solve problems of ' casteism', 'communalism','regionalism' etc. And these can be solved, this is pretty naive statement but it is necessary to be that naive at least to have belief that we can solve it. If in the beginning we don't have belief ( as ' practical'person) then who the hell will take efforts, it will be ' Business as Usual'. With demographic dividend this problem can be solved in these 3 to 5 decades and then we don't know when again we have considerable youthful exuberance again. This is not just optimism, there are solutions and in my induvidual capacity we will give it a try. I know dear fellow , nobody is following or paying attention to me then how can this be done. I don't know how but I am sure it can be.I know that I am not in a position to influence the situation but Do you know future?
थोडक्यात जी ' जात नाही ती जात' हे पराभूत मानसिकतेचं लक्षण आहे आणि हे गृहितक अनेकांनी स्वीकारलय सुद्धा.
' अरे अशी कशी जात नाय?' असं म्हणा तर खरं , आयला...
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