60 years of the Constitution of India
By 26th November 2009, the Constitution of India has completed 60 years of its functioning. The Constitution of India as drafted and presented by the Chief Architect of the Constitution Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and certain articles came into force on the day and whole of the Constitution came into force with effect from 26th January 1950, on which date, India became a republic.
On the eve of completion of sixty years of its functioning, it is imperative to have an appraisal of the Constitution, since it is not only an administrative index or compilation of instructions relating to the governance of the country, but, primarily, it holds out certain promises to the citizens, assured certain guarantees, conferred certain fundamental rights to them, with a protection of the various High Courts and the Supreme Court. it is now, the time to assess how far the Constitution fulfilled its promises and protected the rights guaranteed.
The important feature of the Constitution is its promise of Justice- Social, Economic and Political; Equality of Status and of Opportunity; Liberty and Fraternity. The Constitution is more essential for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other poorer sections of the society, because, it promised equality and equal opportunity, to which these communities were denied for centuries. In addition to this the constitution through Directive Principles issued instructions to the government to establish a Welfare State, where there is no social, economic exploitation and oppression.
It has directed the government to take care of health and education of the children and particularly of women and aged. It has also cautioned that the natural recourses and wealth of the nation is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but should be made available to all, to better their conditions of life. Therefore, it is necessary to assess, what happened to its promises and its guarantees.
In this context, it is trite to remind ourselves, the question posed by the then president of India Sri K R Narayanan, on the eve of the Golden Jubilee of the Constitution of India, "whether the Constitution failed? Or We failed the Constitution?"
On this occasion let us also remind ourselves the caution held out by Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, on the day of adoption of the Constitution that: "On the 26 th January 1950 we are going to enter into a life of contradictions … we must remove this contradictions at the earliest possible moment or else, those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of the political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built-up".
Facts after sixty years reveal that the contradictions are widening. Then, why, those who suffer from inequality do not blow up the structures of the political democracy? This question is also to be addressed.
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Drafted by- Bojja Tharakam, Senior Advocate, High court AP, state president Republican Party of India, and Chairmen of Celebrations committee on 60 Years of Indian constitution
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The Celebrations committee on 60 Years of Indian constitution was formed with the collaboration of 20 Dalit organizations in the state of Andhra Pradesh to launch a state wide campaign on 60 years of constitution of constitution of India to analyse its functioning, to have an appraisal of the Constitution
The committee held its first meeting on 26/11/2009 in Hyderabad Press Club, Chief Guest, Justice K.Ramaswamy (former judge supreme court of India), Honorable Guests V.S Ramadevi (former Governor Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh states) and S.R Shankaran (former secretary of Tripura state) and the meeting presided over by Bojja Tharakam, Senior Advocate, High court AP, state president Republican Party of India, and Chairmen of Celebrations committee on 60 Years of Indian constitution
The member organizations are 1) National Dalit Forum 2)AP SC welfare society 3) Confederation of Sc ST Organizations 4)Dalitha Sthree Shakthi 5) AP ST Employees union, 6) APSEB SS ST Employees union 7) AP SC rights protection society 8) Dalitha Bahujana Front 9) Sakshi Human Rights Watch 10) Peoples Monitoring Committee 11) WAASSAN (Bhoomi Kendram) 12) APVVU 13) HRLN 14) All India Samatha sainik dal 15)AP Dalitha Bahujana workers union 16) All Indian SC ST Bank Employees Union 17) All India Defense SC ST Employees union 18) AP Grameena Bank SC ST Employees union 19) AP Buddhist Trust 20) Republican Party of India
The Member organizations are organizing meetings all over the state starting from 26/11/2009, and the state level final meeting will be held on constitution day on 26/01/2010 in Hyderabad
With Jaibheem
- Karthik Navayan
Programme Officer
National Dalit Forum
www.nationaldalitforum.org
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B.Karthik Navayan,
Advocate,
H.No. 21-7-761,
Opp.High Court Post Office,
Gansi Bazar, Hyderabad,
PIN-500002, AP.
Cell:09346677007,Email:navayan@gmail.com
http://sites.google.com/site/karthiknavayan/home
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=10379805095932756525
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