By Satya Prakash Dash
We, the people of India, have adopted, enacted and given to ourselves this Constitution of India on the day of 26 November 1949, which came into effect on 26 January 1950. Seventy-five years of existence, and still continuing strong is not a mean achievement for India, considering its vastness and multitude, representing ‘unity in diversity’. India today shines at the global level because it has upheld the Constitutional principles in letter and spirit, except the minor aberrations of national emergency.
The Constitution was drafted in a democratic manner by the Constituent Assembly formed on 9 December 1946. The Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar was set-up on 29 August 1947 by the Constituent Assembly. The Draft Constitution was presented to the Assembly on 4 November 1948, which after thorough deliberations and discussion was finally adopted by the Assembly on 26 November 1949. This process of making the Constitution of India brought in great minds from all over India and this wholesome contribution from every part of India has strengthened the continuation of the spirit of ‘Bharatiyata’ for all times to come. India, i.e Bharat, is a culmination of varied cultures, traditions and customs that has seen its evolution and existence from times immemorial. It cannot be narrowed down to specificity as is the case with many other nations, but represents a shared and contributory role from each and every segment of the plural society that has been unified under the spirit of the Constitution of India.
The greatness of this nation would have been difficult to maintain without the binding force of the Constitution that has stood the test of time, and will stand forever. It is the Constitution that has made the people of India ‘sovereign’ and ultimate authority through the means of adult franchise in the democratic process. The nation has seen the trauma of partition, assassination of the Mahatma to the sustenance of democracy and its ascendance in the global power competition. The foreign policy of the nation based on non-alignment to the global south solidarity and the G20 movement is a reflection of the resurgence of India founded on the basic Constitutional principles of liberty, equality, justice, and fraternity. The Constitution is the basic mechanism on which the driving force of the nation is based upon.
The nation has seen aberrations of the Constitution during the imposition of Emergency in 1975-77. However, it returned to the democratic process due to the popular leadership under Jayaprakash Narayan and his call of ‘Sampoorna Kranti’. The experiment of a united opposition to counter the dictatorial mindset of the Emergency was successful at the initial stage, but it could not sustain the mandate of the people and failed. The ‘single-party dominant system’ of the Congress party, as remarked by the noted political scientist Rajni Kothari, again sprang back to popularity. Even the alliance of the Right-Centre-Left under the leadership of VP Singh could not hold together due to inherent contradictions within themselves. It so happened that in 1991, a minority Congress government under PV Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister managed to complete the full term of five years of governance. Not only did it manage, but it brought in major economic reforms in the form of LPG (liberalization, privatization, & globalization) under pressure from the IMF and World Bank, and ended the ‘license-permit-quota’ raj. Critics have argued against the economic reforms, but the brilliance of the then Finance Minister Late Dr Manmohan Singh helped keep afloat the Indian economy at a critical juncture and for which today we are dreaming to be the third largest economy in the near future. It was also the same minority government that brought in the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, whereby the rural and urban local bodies were given a compulsory status that brought in power to the people directly through the Panchayati Raj institutions and the Municipalities. This is the dynamism of the Constitution under which we are living and we are proud of it.
The present NDA government has given the call for Vikshit Bharat by 2047. The idea is definitely good, but the people should be prepared for it. We were under the strains of colonial rule and colonialism has drained all our resources. This poses a challenge towards the goal of Vikshit Bharat. Still today Bharat lies in its rural areas with an agricultural economy. The society needs to be re-oriented towards the goal of Vikshit Bharat. Our primary education has to be strengthened on a priority basis, as education is the foundation of any developed nation. If we observe the developed countries of today, like China, SouthEast Asia, Europe, we can easily comprehend the type and quality of basic education these countries have. Skill-based education is another area that needs to be emphasized upon. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 speaks of strengthening the education system, but infrastructure and man-power have to be provided before we venture into the dynamics of the NEP.
Federalism is another significant area of concern under the Constitution. Previous regimes had indiscriminately imposed Art. 356 and dismissed democratically elected state governments. This was against the principles of federalism and the Constitution. However, the political maturity has now dawned and we do not observe the imposition of Art. 356 upon the elected state governments. Distribution of federal financial resources have been streamlined with the goods and services tax and the formation of the GST Council. Now even the opposition ruled states (non-NDA) are getting good financial grants under different programmes. As PM Modi said in Parliament during the observance of 75 years of Indian Constitution, “Development of the country through development of the states should be our development mantra”.
The Election Commission of India has a herculean task of completion of the periodic adult franchise under challenging situations. The EVMs aligned with VV-PAT have streamlined and facilitated the election process to a great extent, even though it is not free from criticism from the non-NDA political parties. It is note-worthy that even the Hon’ble Supreme Court has expressed confidence in the EVMs and vouch for its efficiency and neutrality. Recently, the Bhutan government electoral officers in a seminar in Delhi also praised the EVMs supplied by India that are being used in their elections. India also supplied EVMs to Nepal and some African countries. The recent debate of ‘one-nation one-election’ is another area of concern that is still under the scrutiny of the JPC )Joint Parliamentary Committee) after the Committee headed by former President Kovind gave its report. Hopefully the country will hold fast to its constitutional values.
(The writer is Professor, Political Science Department, NEHU, Shillong)