THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA INDIA AGAINST ITS OWN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

संविधान दिवस मनाने वालों! भारतीय संविधान बचाने और लागू करने के लिए आप क्या कर रहे हैं ? पलाश विश्वास CONSTITUTION OF INDIA (Updated upto (Ninety-Eighth Amendment) Act, 2012)

संविधान दिवस मनाने वालों!

भारतीय संविधान बचाने और लागू करने के लिए आप क्या कर रहे हैं ?

पलाश विश्वास


CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

(Updated upto (Ninety-Eighth Amendment) Act, 2012)

THIS SITE CONTAINS THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA UPDATED UPTO (NINETY-EIGHTH AMENDMENT) ACT, 2012.

http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html


Constitution of India

India ie. Bharat is a Union of States.  It is a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government.  The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and came into force on 26th January 1950.

The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features.  The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President.  As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India,  the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses to be known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha).  Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with a Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his functions in accordance to the advice.  The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.

The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha).  Every State has a Legislative Assembly.  Certain States have an upper House called State Legislative Council.  Governor is the Head of a State.  There shall be a Governor for each State and the executive power of the State shall be vested in him.  The council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head advises the Governor in the discharge of the executive functions.  The Council of the Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.

The Constitution distributes legislative powers between Parliament and State legislatures as per the lists of entries in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.  The residual powers vest in the Parliament.  The centrally administered territories are called Union Territories.


बाबासाहेब भीमराव अंबेडकर ने भारतीय संविधान का मसविदा रच दिया और संविधान लागू हो गया।इतना सरल भी नहीं है इतिहास।


बाबासाहेब संविधान रचने की हालत में जो पहुंचे,उसके पीछे हजारों साल से जारी एक अनंत मुक्तिसंग्राम की कथा है और हम भूल रहे हैं कि इस संविदान को रचने के पीछे बाबासाहेब की मुख्य अवधारणा सामाजिक न्याय और समता आधारित जाति मुक्त,वर्गहीन,शोषण विहीन समाज की स्तापना की थी।


बाबासाहेब ने इतिहास की निरंतरता के तहत अपनी भूमिका का निर्वाह किया और वर्ण वर्चस्वी नयी राजनीतिक व्यवस्था में मूक बहुजनों, मूलनिवासियों,अनुसूचितों, पिछड़ों,श्रमिकों और स्त्रियों के अलावा हर भारत वासी के नागरिक मानवाधिकार संरक्षण का इंतजाम कर गये।


प्रकृति और पर्यावरण की रक्षा के लिए इनसे जुड़े समुदायों के लिए पांचवीं और चठी अनुसूचियों का निर्माण किया उन्होंने।


संसद में वे किसी बहुमत जनादेश के महाबली नहीं थे और न उन्हें उन तमाम वर्गों और समुदायों का समर्थन था,जिनकी लड़ाई आजीवन लड़ते रहे हमारे बाबासाहेब।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि बाबा साहेब के बाद उनके जाति उन्मूलन के एजंडा का हमने क्या किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि बाबा साहेब के बाद समता और सामाजिक न्याय के आधार पर समाज के निर्माम के लक्ष्य का क्या हुआ।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि बाबा साहेब के बाद बाबासाहेब जो नस्ली भेदभाव वाले वर्ण वर्चस्वी भारतीय समाज में संसाधनों और अवसरों के न्यायपूर्ण बंटवारे की बात जो लगातार करते रहे,उस लड़ाई में हम कितने शामिल हैं।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि बाबा साहेब के बाद रोज रोज जो भारतीय संविधान की हत्या होती रही,उसके विरुद्ध हमने कब और कैसे प्रतिवाद किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि भारतीय संविधान जो देश के अस्पृश्य भूगोल समूची आदिवासी दुनिया,समूचे हिमालयी क्षेत्र, दंडरकारण्य और गोंडवाना समाहित मध्यभारत, पूरे पूर्वोत्तर में लागू नहीं हुआ,तो उन तमाम इलाकों में भारतीय संविधान लागू काने के लिए हम लोगों ने आजतक क्या किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि भारतीय संविधान के खुले उल्लंघन के तहत अबाध विदेशी पूंजी और कालेधन के राजकाज समूची लोकतांत्रिक व्यवस्था चौपट की जा रही है,भारतीय लोकतंत्र और लोकगणराज्य भारत को बचाने के लिए हम बाबासाहेब के तमाम स्वयंबू अनुयायी अब तक क्या करते रहे हैं।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि देश में जो कानून का राज ही नस्ली भेदभाव और वर्गीय हितों के मुताबिक चल रहा है,उसे संवैधानिक बनाने के लिए हमने कब और कितना संघर्ष किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि प्रकृति और पर्यावरण,भारतीय खेती की हत्या के तहत संविधान को हाशिये पर रखकर जो विदेशी हितों के तहत देश बेचो कार्यक्रम चल रहा है,उस संदर्भ में अंबेडकर अनुयायियों की क्या भूमिका है।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि बाबा साहेब ने जो संविधान में मौलिक अधिकारों के प्रावधान किये उन्हें ताक पर रखकर भारतीय जनता के खिलाफ जो देशभर में एकाधिकारवादी कारपोरेट युद्ध चल रहा है,उस संदर्भ में भारतीय संविधान को बचाने के लिए हमने अब तक क्या किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि वंचित समुदायों को बाबा साहेब के किये संवैधानिक प्रावधानों से फिर वंचित करने के लिए ग्लोबीकरण उदारीकरण और निजीकरण के तहत जो विदेशी प्रत्यक्ष निवेश और विनिवेश की आंधी हैं,शहरीकरण और औद्योगीकरण की धूम है,इंफ्रा के बहाने विकास के नाम पर जो बहुसंख्य कृषि समाज को जल जंगल जमीन आजीविका और नागरिकता से बेदखल करने का जनसंहार अभियान आर्थिक सुधारों के नाम पर चल रहा है,उस सिलसिले में हमने अबतक क्या किया।


अब बुनियादी सवाल यह है कि वैश्विक जायनवादी मुक्त बाजारी व्यवस्था के तहत पूरे भारतीय उपमहाद्वीप को युद्धस्थल बनाकर हर नागरिक की निजता और संप्रभुता का असंवैधानिक गैरकानूनी ढंग से उल्लंघन करके जो डिजिटल बायोमेट्रिक नागरिकता और आधार पहचान के तहत हर नागरिक की जो प्रिज्मिक ड्रोनी निगरानी की जा रही है,उसके खिलाफ भारतीय संविधान बचाने के लिए हम क्या कर रहे हैं।


आजादी का जश्न हम 1947 से लगातार मनाते रहे हैं और आजतक गुलामी में जी मर रहे हैं। हम वह संविधान दिवस मना रहे हैं जो आजतक लागू हुआ ही नहीं है।


बाबासाहेब भी हम लोगों की तरह इतने सोये रहते तो जो आज मिला हुआ है,वह भी नहीं मिलता।


अब कोई इस खंडित देश में खंडित विखंडित वर्णवर्चस्वी समाज में किसी दूसरे बाबासाहेब का अवतार असंभव है, अब जो आत्मघाती वैमनस्य में निर्विरोध हम खो रहे हैं,वह फिर कभी हासिल नहीं होगा।


कटु सत्य,कटुवचन बोलने के लिए माफ करना साथियों, हमें संविधान दिवस मनाने का कोई हक नहीं है।


इस संविधान की रचना में बाबासाहेब की भूमिका होगी,लेकिन समग्र बहुजन समाज की भूमिक नहीं रही है।


इस संविधान को लागू करने की लड़ाई हमने शुरु ही नहीं की है।


तो हम किसलिए मना रहे हैं संविधान दिवस कि इस देश में समता और सामाजिक न्याय के सपने का हमेसा पटाक्षेप हो गया इसलिए या फिर उत्तरआधुनिक कारपोरेट जायनवादी मुक्त बाजारी सत्यानाशी मनुस्मृति राज में हमारा चौतरफा सत्यानाश हो रहा है, खेती तबाह है ,किसान आत्महत्या कर रहे हैं,न चिकित्सा है और न शिक्षा और न रोजगार है।हमारे पास सिर्फ बाजार है


संविधान दिवस मनाने के बजाय बेहतर हो कि हम लोग मुक्त बाजार दिवस मनाये जो सामाजिक यथार्थ और अंबेडकर अनुयायियों की निष्क्रिय भूमिका के मद्देनजर यथायथ होगा।




Jagadish Roy shared Dr. Ambedkar Student Front of India (DASFI)'sphoto.

35 minutes ago

सभी भारतवासियों को "भारतीय संविधान दिवस" की हार्दिक बधाई....

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डॉ अम्बेडकर स्टूडेंट फ्रंट ऑफ़ इंडिया (DASFI) — with Dilip C Mandal and 48 others.

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The most sacrosanct document of Humanity ever created for the benefit of all, which guarantees the 125 Crore people of this  great Nation : JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY  –

THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Has been given to us on this day 26thNovember,  64 years back. A document by which all the, malicious, unscrupulous, discriminatory, inhuman , barbarian practices created by the crafty priesthood where put to end.  But  these crafty creatures are hell bend to destroy this Great Master Piece of Humanity and we are fast asleep (sorry, under coma) to understand their brutal act to throw us and the hundred generations to come, once again in the deep valley of slavery.

Dear Brethren, kindly awake and take an oath on this day to preserve this precious belonging given to us by our great Mahapurush - Mahamanav Dr. Babasaheb. If you will not who will do this  ………..

With Regards

LT  COL  SIDDARTH BARVE

Lalajee Nirmal

दलितों की बदहाली चरम पर है ,अम्बेडकर महासभा में बुन्देल खंड और पूर्वांचल की दलित महिलाओ ने अपने पेट की भूख और सामंतो के आँख की भूख की अति दर्दनाक हालत बयां की |आज भी सामंतो के इलाके से गुजरने पर वे चप्पल हाथ में ले लेती है |महिलाओ ने कहा वे भूमिहीन है और सामंत अपने खेतो में अब काम नहीं देता क्यों की वे संगठित होने लगी है |मैनुअल स्क्वेन्जिंग में लगी महिलाओ का दर्द था कि मानव मल उठाने के एवज में उन्हें २ सूखी रोटिया मिलती है और वाह भी दूर से फेक कर दी जाती है कही वे उनसे छू न जाय |


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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

यहाँ बर्मिंघम में मुझे एक प्रश्न पूछा गया के भारत में संविधान सही प्रकार से लागू क्यों नहीं हो पा रहा तो मैंने केवल यही कहाँ के हमारे संविधानिक मूल्य हमारे दैनिक जीवन के मूल्य नहीं बन पाये हैं. क्योंकि सामाजिक जीवन में हम लोकतान्त्रिक नहीं हो पाये हैं और संविधान को लागु करनेवाले लोग जब तक उस सविधान को दिल से अपने मूल्यों से नहीं जोड़ते तो वह ठीक से कभी लागु नहीं हो पाएगा और हम इन संवैधानिक मूल्यों को खून होते देखेंगे। जब संविधान को लागू करने वाले मनुवाद में विश्वास करने वाले होंगे तो मानवीय मूल्यो को खून तो होगा ही और देश में हमेशा एक क्राइसिस में रहेगा। आज बाबा साहेब आंबेडकर की चेतावनी को सही अर्थो में समझने की जरुरत है के सामजिक लोकतंत्र के अभाव में राजनैतिक लोकतंत्र केवल मुखोटा ही रहेगा और वो हमें दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा लोकतंत्र तो कहलवा सकता है लेकिन सबसे बेहतरीन लोकतंत्र कभी नहीं।

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H L Dusadh Dusadh
संविधान दिवस पर हमारा संकल्प
एच एल दुसाध
मित्रों!आज के दिन ढेरों आंबेडकरवादी संगठन संविधान-दिवस मना रहे होंगे.कारण,आज ही के दिन भारतीय संविधान के शिल्पी बाबा साहेब डॉ.आंबेडकर ने राष्ट्र को संविधान सुपुर्द किया था.इस मौके पर निश्चय लोग संविधान निर्माता के रूप में बाबा साहेब के कृतित्व को सराहने तथा संविधान की विशेषताएं बताने में एक दूसरे से होड़ लगायेंगे.किन्तु मेरे ख्याल से आज सबसे जरुरी है राष्ट्र को बाबा साहेब की उस चेतावनी से नए सिरे से वाकिफ कराना जो उन्होंने 25 नवम्बर,1949 को संसद के केन्द्रीय कक्ष से सुनाया था.यह चेतावनी जोर शोर से सुनाना इसलिए जरुरी है कि आजाद भारत के शासकों ने उसकी अनदेखी कर राष्ट्र को रसातल में पंहुचा दिया है.वह कौन सी चेतावनी थी जिसकी अनदेखी का परिणाम देश के लिए घातक साबित हुआ?.वह चेतावनी थी-'26 जनवरी 1950 को हमलोग एक विपरीत जीवन में प्रवेश करने जा रहे हैं.राजनीति के क्षेत्र में हमलोग समानता का भोग करेंगे किन्तु सामाजिक और आर्थिक क्षेत्र में मिलेगी असमानता .राजनीति के क्षेत्र में हमलोग एक नागरिक को एक वोट एवं प्रत्येक वोट के लिए एक ही मूल्य की नीति को स्वीकृति देने जा रहे हैं.हमलोगों को निकटतम समय के मध्य इस इस विपरीतता को दूर कर लेना होगा,अन्यथा यह असंगति कायम रही तो विषमता से पीड़ित जनता इस राजनीतिक गणतंत्र को विस्फोटित कर सकती हैं.'
चूँकि चिरकाल से ही जिनके हाथों में सत्ता की बागडोर रही वे सारी दुनिया में ही शक्ति के स्रोतों-आर्थिक,राजनीतिक और धार्मिक-में सामाजिक(social) और लैंगिक(gender) विविधता(diversity)का असमान प्रतिबिम्बन कराकर ही मानव जाति की सबसे बड़ी समस्या को जन्म देते रहे हैं इसलिए लोकतान्त्रिक रूप से परिपक्व-अमेरिका,इंग्लैण्ड,फ़्रांस,आस्ट्रेलिया,न्यूज़ीलैंड इत्यादि -तमाम देशों ने ही शक्ति के स्रोतों में विविधता नीति लागु करने पर बल दिया और मानव जाति की सबसे बड़ी समस्या से पार पाया.किन्तु इन देशो से लोकतंत्र का प्राइमरी पाठ पढ़ने तथा वहां की फैशन,टेक्नोलाजी,फिल्म-टीवी,अर्थनीति तमाम बातों की नक़ल करनेवाले हमारे हुक्मरानों ने उनकी विविधता नीति का अनुसरण नहीं किया.विविधता नीति की अनदेखी के फलस्वरूप ही आज परम्परागत रूप से सुविधा व शक्तिसंपन्न 15%तबके का शक्ति के स्रोतों के स्रोतों पर 80-85 %कब्ज़ा है.ऐसी विषमता विश्व में कही और नहीं है.शक्ति के स्रोतों में सोशल और जेंडर डाइवर्सिटी की अनदेखी के करण ही आज हम महिला सशाक्तिकरण के मोर्चे पर बांग्लादेश जैसे पिछड़े राष्ट्र से पीछे तथा सच्चर रिपोर्ट में मुस्लिम समुदाय की बदहाली देखकर सकते में हैं.डाइवर्सिटी नीति से दूरी के कारण ही दलित/आदिवासी/पिछड़े उद्योग-व्यापार,ठेकों,फिल्म-टीवी,पौरोहित्य इत्यादि से दूर हैं.बहरहाल विविधता की बेहिसाब अनदेखी के फलस्वरूप देश में जो सीमाहीन विषमता की व्याप्ति हुई उसके फलस्वरूप शक्तिहीन एक तबके के समर्थन से पुष्ट माओवादियों ने 2009 में, 2050 तक बन्दूक के बल पर लोकतंत्र के मंदिर पर कब्ज़ा ज़माने की धमकी दे दी.अगर शक्ति के स्रोतों का दूसरे वंचित तबको के मध्य न्यायोचित बंटवारा नहीं हुआ तो दलित/पिछड़े/अल्पसंख्यक भी माओवाद की धारा में शामिल हो कर हमारे लोकतंत्र को विस्फोटित करने का उपक्रम चला सकते हैं.दुःख की बात है कि लोकतंत्र पर मंडराते खतरे से आँखे मूंदे देश की राजनीतिक पार्टियाँ अभी भी शक्ति के स्रोतों को लोगों के विभिन्न तबकों के मध्य न्यायोचित बंटवारा करने की की नीति से दुरी बनाये हुईं हैं.यही कारण है वे भागीदारीमूलक की जगह भीख और राहतनुमा घोषणाओं के सहारे चुनाव जीतने का उपक्रम चला रही हैं.अगर ऐसी घोषणाओं के सहारे सत्ता परिवर्तन होता रहा तो लोकतंत्र का जनाजा निकलना तय है.अतः लोकसभा चुनाव-2014 को ध्यान में रखते हुए बाबा साहेब की 25 नवम्बर वाली चेतावनी से राजनीतिक दलों को अवगत कराना हमारा अत्याज्य कर्तव्य हो गया है.हो सकता है प्रभावशाली तरीके से उससे वाकिफ होने के बाद हमारे राजनीतिक दल डाइवर्सिटी पालिसी पर काम करने का मन बनावें.
MAINSTREAM, VOL LI, NO 49, NOVEMBER 23, 2013

The 'Uncle Judge Syndrome' shadow over Laxmanpur Bathe

A K Biswas
Part-I

"This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice." 1

—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Articulating the deep sense of shock and anguish over the dalit carnage executed by Ranvir Sena at village Laxamnpur Bathe in Bihar, President Dr K.R. Narayanan condemned it as "the national shame". In the night of December 1, 1997, 58 Dalits—men, women and children—who included a four-month toddler, were murdered by the Ranvir Sena in cold blood without provocation. The Patna High Court Division Bench comprising Justices V.N. Sinha and A.K. Lal acquitted on October 9, 2013 all the 26 convicts, 16 of whom were awarded death and the rest sentenced to life term by the trial court. The acquittal has shaken the faith of confidence of the masses in the judiciary.
Commenting on the verdict, columnist Kuldip Nayar says: "An upper caste judge has released all the accused on the plea that there was no evidence. It is a travesty of justice.......... If the High Court judge did not find any evidence, he could have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to work under its supervision to hold a fresh probe.......... What has happened at Laxmanpur is the fate of Dalits all over the country. The equality before law, enshrined in the Constitution, is a farce."2 The Bench shied away from adopting this course to punish the gulty of massacre.
Laxmanpur Bathe is not a solitary case. In three other cases of Dalit massacres, the Patna High Court in the recent past acquitted the convicts—all Ranvir Sena men—in quick succession, setting a vexing pattern. A tabular presentation (Table-1) of four cases of Dalit massacres at Miyapur, Nagri Bazar and Bathani-tola, besides Laxmanpur Bathe along with the murder of G. Krishnaiah, IAS (see p. 16) may help better appreciation of the pattern.
 Convicts of serial 2, 3 and 4 of the table were acquitted by one and the same Bench of Justice V. N. Sinha and Justice Amresh Kumar Lal. The evidence of Miyapur, Nagribazar and Laxmanpur Bathe massacres were not reliable or could not be believed by the Division Bench.
About 200 Ranvir Sena on April 30, 1999 invaded the twin villages of Khagaribigha and Zahirbigha and gunned down 12 persons inclu-ding women belonging to the OBCs and maha-Dalits apparently to avenge the killing of 35 upper-caste men in Senari village of Jahanabad district. Additional District and Sessions Judge Sudarshan Kumar Rai acquitted nine accused of the massacre for lack of evidence.8
Part-II
Perjury of Corrupt Judge Pandits
India's history of administration of justice is not glorious. Justice and impartiality or fairness is alien to the Indian administrative culture. The ancient codes of sages and seers did not recognise everyone equal in the eye of law. Their codes provided solid foundations for discrimination, plaguing every department of human life. Caste-based discrimination and favouritism were Manu's forte that flung India into thousands of pieces. One of his diabolical codes, for instance, says: "Shaving the head is ordained as the punishment consisting in the loss of life-breath for a priest; but for the other classes, the punishment should be the actual loss of life. The king should never kill a priest, even one who persists in every sort of evil; he should banish such a man from the kingdom, unhurt and with all his wealth. There is no greater act of irreligion on earth than priest-killing; therefore, the king should not even conceive of killing that man." (Chapter 8). This philosophy of discrimination runs through the ages to guide a section of judges.
Table-1
4
Native Law Officers or Judge Pandits:
Epitome of Corruption, Perjury
The East India Company involved Indians in the administration of justice. Regulation XII of 1793 empowered the Company to appoint Native Law Officers, both Hindus and Muslims. The former were called Pandit and latter Kazi. The Pandits in Bengal were fondly called Judge Pandits. The Regulation mandated appointment of men of "integrity and well-versed in the laws.........to discharge their duty with uprightness." They were employed for "the due administration of justice". However their unrestrained depravity, misconduct, cupidity and wholesale corruption brought irredeemable disgrace soon pushing the authorities on back foot. None other than Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, who launched vigorous campaigns for social reforms in nineteenth century Bengal, had roundly condemned the personnel appointed for administration of justice.
In a Bengali tract, Vidyasagar says that "sometime back every district had a pandit well versed in scriptures to advise the courts for due adjudication of cases as per law. They were known as judge pandits of the courts. But these salaried men were extremely corrupt, greedy, perverse and unscrupulous.They advised the presiding judge of the courts in such manners as to serve and enhance their selfish ends only. In other words, the pandits were given to bribe and never followed the letter and spirit of scriptures in discharge of their duties. Though outstanding scholars in scriptures, the pandit advised the presiding judge of the court in favour of either of the parties whoever offered him the higher amount of bribes to win the case. Their unfettered perversity, misconduct and immoral behaviour so deeply embarassed the government that the Regulation itself was repealed, abolishing the office of judge pandit."9 The perception of corruption, perjury, perversity etc. widely afflicting administration of justice seems to owe its origin to these native law officers. The judge pandits were mostly, if not entirely, Brahmans. There was no secular law then to enforce or administer. They interpreted shastras for guiding the courts.
An idea of the objectives and purposes of the Regulation XII of 1793 might be appreciated from the oaths the law officers took while joining the office.
"I will truly and faithfully execute the office of pundit of this court according to the best of my knowledge and ability; that I will answer all questions that may be put to me in writing or orally by the said court; that I will declare or give in writing what is in the Shaster; that I will not declare or give in writing what is not warranted by the Shaster.............."
Regulation XII of 1793 aimed rule by shastras or scriptures. The oath further reads:
"I promise and swear that I will not receive, directly or indirectly, any present, nuzzur, in money or effects of any kind, from any party or persons whosoever, on account of any suit to be instituted, or which may be depending, or have been decided in the court of which I am pundit, and that I will not, directly or indirectly, derive any advantage or emolument from my office, excepting such as the orders of the govern-ment do or may authorise me to receive."10
The Regulation provided for "punishment" of pundit by "Iswur" for misconduct, which shows how overwhelmingly the Company was enamoured! No public authorities ever on earth abdicated their powers favouring the divine authorities to discipline and punish its personnel for misconduct, corruption, perjury, moral terpitude, etc. The Company's whole approach was aimed to appease the priestly class by following blindly the footprints of the obscurantist Manu and others. Clearly the judge pandits went berserk and indulged in extensive prevarication, perjury, falsification etc. They nonchalantly worked against their oaths. A few cases would not have enraged Vidyasagr to demonise the judge pandits en masse. Vidyasagar, most strikingly, did not raise his accusing finger to the Kazis of the courts. In his early youth, we may note in passing, Iswar Chandra was offered a post of Hindu law officer at Comilla in East Bengal, [now Bangladesh], far away from his home. His father strongly objected to his joining the post. Vidyasagar obeyed him.
The trenchant criticism above suggests that justice was never even-handed and fair. Corruption reigned supreme and rigged the proceedings of the courts aided by the pandits. Since the pandits interpreted shastras for the courts, the lower social orders were always at the rick of being victimised out of prejudice the pandit imbued from scriptures. Judicial profligacy is not new nor injustice unknown to India.
Part-III

Court and brothel comparable.11

—Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1892)
In the nineteenth century, the colonial rulers had a system of jury to help and aid the courts in several parts of India including Bengal, Madras and Bombay Presidencies besides the North-Western Province and Oudh. In 1891, they undertook wide ranging consultations to ascertain whether the jury system had succeeded in repression of crimes and served the causes of justice. One of the prominent Indians, Ramesh Chandra Dutt, ICS and District Magistrate of Burdwan, wrote: ".......in Burdwan the jury system has worked in a manner most detrimental to the interest of justice and also to repression of crimes."12 A batchmate of Sir Surendra Nath Banerjea in ICS (1869), a fellow Bengali, Dutt was a historian and novelist of the Victorian era. Note how strongly he disapproved the system of jury, saying it was "most detrimental to the interest of justice".
We may try to find out why and how the jury system degenerated and became detrimental to the interest of justice. We begin with Bihar under jury in the nineteenth century to have an overview. In a word, the jury system was a deplorable failure for reasons detailed officially below. The Commissioner, Patna Division, W. Kemble, reported to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bengal (Letter no. 589-G, dated 24 September 1890), underscoring the reasons why the jury system was a lamentable failure.
"The system markedly fails in cases of great importance, such as those in which a man of high caste commits any crime, in cases of murder where there is possibility of a capital sentence being passed, and in cases of forgery or cognate offences where the accused holds a respectable position in society. The juror who would convict a fellow-countryman in such cases as these would be a bold man." Having laid his finger to the right spot, the Commissioner quoted the District Magistrate, Patna.
"The Patna Magistrate thinks that deliberate atempts are made in all cases to bribe the jury.......
"The principal causes which militate against the efficiency of the system are: Caste and religious prejudices, which lead to actual sympathy with some crimes."13
So the evils that undermined or eroded fair and impartial justice were: (1) high caste; (2) caste prejudice; (3) religious prejudice; (4) respectable position; and (5) bribe. While caste bestowed immunity on some privileged few, others, accursed, in the lower social hierarchy suffered for the same reason. Nobody in the right frame of mind would now claim that these evils have ceased to survive or operate or be relevant in the administration of justice in post-independent India, not to speak of Bihar. Caste carries a premium even now.
H. G. Cooke, District Magistrate, Hooghly, told the Commissioner of the Burdwan Division, (Letter no. 1276 dated August 9-11, 1890) how and who rigged and molested the system to their advantage:
"There is a reluctance on the part of the native juryman to convict where there is any possibility of of a capital sentence; but I believe this reluctance is not extended uniformly in all cases; and it is not connected, save in rare cases, with any descency about taking human life as such. There is not one year, in the period under consideration, in which a Hooghly jury has not convicted under section 302 IPC; but I venture to say that in none of these cases was the accused a Brahman, or even a member of that ill-defined class who are styled as 'bhadro' or respectable. I feel confident that the fate of a Mussulman or low class Hindu exteris paribus would not be the same at the hands of a jury as that of a 'bhadro'; and that notably the Brahman would enjoy a certainty of acquittal ....... I believe the same feeling would influence the jury in a case of rape, perjury, forgery or burglary in which a 'bhadro' was concerned."14 Only three Bengali castes, to recall social history, are 'bhadro'—Brahman, Baidya and Kayasth. Bhadrolok is not synomynous with respectable or gentle man, it denotes merely a certain caste in the upper echelon. Despite such blind favour showered by the jury on the three castes, however, the census report of 1911 makes startling disclosures: "The number of Mussal-man and Hindu convicts in Bengal is almost exactly proportionate to their strength in the population and it cannot be said that either community has a particular propensity to crime. The largest number of Hindu criminals are Kayasthas and Brahmans." The Kayasthas represented seven and Brahmans four criminals per 10,000 population respectively serving jail sentences in 1911.15
The Hooghly District Magistrate marshalled instance of blind prejudice of the jury. "One Khan Chand Boid, who shot a brother constable dead from pique, because his victim, a low-caste man, had thrown him in a wrestle. This man was acquitted by a jury, because he was a Brahmin—that fact having been urged in his defence by his pleader. The High Court transported him for life."16 The pervert mindset of the jury is thus a record of history. A fanatic jury!!
Another authority who had earlier served as the Patna District and Sessions Judge recalled his experience. He urged that "a careful exami-nation would be invaluable and would throw light on many complex questions at present untouched, e. g., the class of jurors whose verdicts are most frequently found open to objection, the prevalence of such cases in greater or lesser degree in any particular district, and the extent to which Brahmin criminals obtained immunity than others of the lower castes." This was T. D. Brighton, District and Sessions Judge, Dacca to report his experience to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bengal.17 Long after a century even now 'many complex' and unexplained questions need to be examined.
"Native jurors are essentially, by habit of mind, ancient custom and race prejudice, unfitted for pronouncing a just and true verdict where a capital sentence may be the penalty........ One illustration of a verdict, which can only be accounted for considerations, may be given here. It occured in the district of Patna during my incumbency. A Brahmin sepoy, in one of the Bengal Native Infantry regiments, ran 'amuck', shot several of his comrades, barricaded himseslf in a hut in the centre of the Native Infantry lines with his rifle and several rounds of ammunition, and threatened death to anyone. He was finally seized by an English officer who crept into the hut from behind. The murders had been committed in the sight of nearly the whole regiment, and a number of eye witnesses were examined. The accused had literally no defence, but on a single plea of not guilty in the Sessions Court the jury acquitted him."18 Caste was a very invincible shield to derive mileage in heinuous crimes. This was the spirit of the creed and codes Manu had enunciated. The British had the unique advantage of speaking out their minds without inhibition, which is anathema in contemporary India.
Religion and Caste Prejudice in Courts
In a Minute, dated January 16, 1891, Justice Ameer Ali of Calcutta High Court said: "In case of homicide, even when the crime is of atrocious character, Indian jurors are notorously averse to bringing in a verdict which would subject the accused to capital punishment. In other cases, e. g., dacoity, rape, etc. race-feelings and popular prejudices, besides other influences, play a great part. In certain districts popular prejudice and race-feelings have, owing to a variety of circumstances, lately become more accentuated with the result that gross miscarriage of justice has often been occasioned by trials of juries."19
If the Calcutta High Court Judge was circumspect, the Sessions Judge of Hyderabad in Sind was totally explicit and frank. In his letter to Judicial Commssioner in Sind: (No. 3, of November 28, 1892), he says: "............there is in Sind a considerable degree of animosity between Hindus and Mahomedans. Hindu would not consent to being tried by a Mahomedan jury; no Mahomedan would expect justice from a Hindu jury."20 Animosity between the two dominant communities has a long history.
From Benares, J. White, District Magistrate, Benares, a letter bearing no. 4/XVII-29 dated July 10, 1890 to the Secretary, Government of North-Western Provinces and Oudh, disclosed:
(1) "Jury system is not admired by and appreciated by the people generally, and service of juries is intensely unpopular;
(2) juries are averse to finding verdicts of guilty against wealthy or influential or high caste criminals; and
(3) juries are very ready to find verdicts of guilty against low caste men............."21
The real implication and ramification of "popular prejudice and race-feelings" were laid bare by the foreign bureaucracy unto its rockbottom leaving nothing to guess. I have in my collection a notification published in The Calcutta Gazette of 1859 of approximately 1500 jurymen of the Supreme Court, who were exclusively upper-caste Hindus and British/European jurymen.22
Part-IV

"Please ponder how you can come up to the expectation of the people of the country."23

In his valedictory address to the sesquennial centenary celebrations of the Calcutta High Court, an alarmed President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, called upon the judiciary to fulfil "the expectations of the people". There exists and persists a wide gap between the expectations of the people and the perfornances of the judiciary to which the President of India invited attention of the higher judiciary and countrymen. There is no dispute that caste plays a decisive role even now. It may not be an exaggeration to say that the expectations of Dalits and tribals lay shattered. The victims of massacres carried out by the Ranvir Sena at Laxmanpur Bathe, Bathanitola, Nagri Bazar, and Miyapur cry in wilderness for justice. Their concerns have not been addressed by the judiciary. The insult and humiliation of the victims have been multiplied manifold by the Patna High Court, which acquitted their butchers. The murder of the Gopalganj District Magistrate, G. Krishnaiah, a Dalit, also falls in this category. The nation has to examine whether "the uncle judge syndrome", famously coined by the Supreme Court Division Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha, is confined to the Allahabad High Court or it has plagued the country's other High Courts as well. Immunity to the Ranvir Sena men in one after another case of massacre of Dalits by a particular Bench raises burning questions. The beneficiaries of the acquittals, mostly, if not entirely, are the Bhumihars. This merits deeper examination by higher and competent authorities as justice has been rendered 'a farce'.
Murder of G. Krishnaiah, IAS
G. Krishnaiah, a Dalit IAS officer and the District Magistrate, Gopalganj in Bihar, was murdered on a National Highway in the outskirts of Muzaffarpur in December 5, 1994 while returning to his head-quarters, after attending an official meeting at Hajipur, near Patna. On the previous night a gangster, Chhotan Shukla, was murdered at Muzaffarpur by a rival gang. On October 3, 2007, after long 13 years, a Patna trial court sentenced former MP Anand Mohan and two other politi-cians, former MLA Akhlaq Ahmad and Arun Kumar Singh, to death for the murder of Krishnaiah. Anand Mohan's wife, Lovely, also a former MP, and three leaders of the ruling JD (U)—MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla aka Munna Shukla, Harendra Kumar and Sashi Shekhar Thakur—were awarded life terms.24 Within a year a Division Bench, comprising Justices Shiv Kirti Singh and S M Mafooz Alam, acquitted Lovely Anand, former Minister Akhlaq Ahmed, former MLA Arun Kumar, MLA (JD-U) from Lalganj Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla, Shashi Shekhar and Harendra Kumar. Anand Mohan's death sentence was converted into a life sentence.25
What investigative Tehelka reported was disturbing. According to it, Anand Mohan, once a member of Nitish Kumar's JD(U), "had reportedly played a critical role in the formation of the NDA Government in November 2005, bringing together the Bhumihars and the Rajputs, the State's most influential land-owning castes. He and Nitish have remained friends and were supposed to have been in regular touch. Although Nitish now finds it next to impossible to defend Mohan even indirectly, former JD(U) chief George Fernandes met (Anand) Mohan at the Beur Central Jail on October 8 and openly supported him. The ex-Defence Minister reached Beur Jail in a 40-strong motorcade and later described the charges against Mohan as "baseless".
In case of the murder of Krishnaiah, those convicted along with Mohan and Lovely included JD(U) leaders Harendra Kumar, Shashi Thakur, Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla and Arun Kumar Singh besides the former MLA from Bikramganj, Akhlaq Ahmed. Both Ahmed and RJD leader Arun Kumar were awarded death sentences. Munna Shukla is a sitting JD(U) MLA from Lalganj. Mohan was the leader of the now-defunct Bihar People's Party (BPP) at the time of Krishnaiah's murder. Lovely is a former MP from Vaishali.
The conflict of interest was prominent and known very well perhaps to everyone in Bihar. Pertinently we may refer to the murder of another ill-fated District Collector and Magis-trate of Gopalganj, Maheshwar Prasad Narain Sharma, to highlight the contrast. He was killed on April 11, 1983 in a bomb attack. Sadanand Tripathi alias Sant Gayaneshwar and his disciple Paramhans Yadav were conspirators in the murder. A bomb was thrown at the victim in his own office at Gopalganj Collectorate resulting in his death. A Division Bench of Justices P.S. Sahay, M.P. Varma, Patna High Court, confirmed the death sentence awarded by the trial court.26 Paramhans Yadav was hanged in 1988.
 Frederick Douglass (c.February 1818-February 20, 1895), an outstanding anti-slavery activist and thinker, said: "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." We can ill-afford to disagree that denial of justice is an organised conspiracy in India for perpetua-ting oppression, robbery and degradation of the lower castes, tribals and minorities and backward classes.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar drove the point most tellingly: "From the Capital of India to the village the whole administration is rigged by the Hindus. The Hindus are the life of the omnipotent almighty pervading all over the administartion in all its branches having its authority in all its nooks and corners. There is no loophole for anyone opposed to the old order to escape. If the old order has continued to exist, it is because of the unfailing support it received from the Hindu officials of the state. The Hindu officials are not merely administrators, administering the affairs on the merit, they are administrators with an eye to their parties. Their principle is not equal justice to all. Their motto is justice consistent with established order. This is inevitable. For they carry over into adminis-tration, the attitude towards different classes in the society under the established order.
"This is well illustrated by the attitude of the state officials towards the untouchables in the field of administration. As every untouchable will be able to testify, if an untouchable goes to a police officer with complaint against the caste Hindu, instead of receiving any protection he will receive plenty of abuses. Either he will be driven away without his complaint being recorded, or, if it is recorded it would be recorded quite falsely to provide a way to escape to the touchable aggressors. If he prosecutes the offender before a magistrate, the fate of his proceeding could be foretold. The untouchable will never be able to get Hindus as witness because of the conspiracy of the villagers not to support the case of the untouchables however just it may be. If he brings witness from the untouchables, the magistrate will not accept their testimony because he can easily say that they are interested and not independent witness, or, if they are independent witness, the magistrate has a easy way of acquitting the accused by simply saying that that the untouchable's complaint did not strike as a truthful witness. He can do this fearlessly knowing full well that the higher tribunal will not reverse his finding because of the well-established rule which says that an appellate court should not disturb the findings of the trial magistrate based on the testimony of the witness whose demeanour he has no opportunity to observe."
What Dr Ambedkar said prophetically seven decades ago is relevant in letter and spirit today across India. In the massacre under reference, the higher tribunals have overturned the verdicts of the trial courts one after another. To prevent and eliminate the plague is a national reponsibility as well as national concern. To ensure social peace and economic prosperity, the conspiracy to perpetuate injustice through the judicial process must end. But the nation has been watching judicial perversion and profligacy over tribals and Dalits helplessly and its intellectual class does not venture to expose the nexus. "It is the responsibility of intellectual," says Noam Chomsky, "to speak the truth and to expose the lies."27 Rarely India's intelectual class voice the grievances of the tribals and Dalits to expose lies and nexus at the risk of undermining the interest of their respective castes. For a Hindu, his caste is the greatest power for bonding than religion.
In an editorial, the DNA, a Mumbai daily, the commented on the Patna High Court's acquittals of the Ranvir Sena butchers: "Nemo judex in causa sua. Let no man be a judge in his own case; in essence, no legal decision should be influenced by any interest or bias. When seen from a broader perspective, those biases become regrettably clear."28 If the butchers had earned their acqutittals what the DNA says by clear biases, it is a serious issue. The conflict of interest in providing justice to Dalits is a major hurdle.
Commentators of a local Hindi daily after a local visit wrote their story under the caption, Hindi29 ("Bhumihar" Nitish Kumar ki kripa se bedag ho gaye Laxmanpur Bathe ke hatyare). Translated it says roughly, Bhumihar Nitish Kumar has blessed the murderers of Laxmanpur Bathe to escape spotlessly. This perhaps sums up the perception of the common man while underlining the conflict of interest in administration of justice without bias. Leaders and workers of various political parties had the involvement in the miscarriage of justice for the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate in broad daylight. Social and political interests have, without doubt, largely impeded delivery of justice in every case under consideration.
We find that caste, uncle judges and their fondness and affection for nephews and nieces, bribes or corruption and governance by coalition in the political system too are antagonistic to the delivery of even handed justice to the Dalits. Dominant castes exert undue influences over judicial proceedings to their advantage. If deplo-rable condititions afflicting the administration of justice for Dalits and tribals are not corrected and the rot not arrested with promptitude; and if justice continues to elude the victims of massacres, as in the given cases, they might be pushed to voice demands for trials on line with the trial of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, by judges belonging to the community of the victims themselves or judges of their confidence. Chief Justice Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman presided over the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial of Saddam Hussein. His "trial and conviction was mostly welcomed by the Iraqi Shiites and Kurds who suffered under his rule, but it has angered Sunni Muslims........".30 In one of the dictator's "most brutal acts, he rained poison gas on the northern Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988, killing an estimated 5000 of his own citizens suspected of being disloyal and wounding 10,000 more".31 Who else than a judge from the community of victims could have handed down a capital sentence for Saddam Hussein?
Footnotes
1. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes,  Jr. (1841-1935), Supreme Court, USA
2. Kuldip Nayar, "Signs of Fundamentalism", The Statesman, Calcutta, October 24, 2013.
3. The Times of India, April 17, 2012.
4. The Telegraph, Calcutta, July 4, 2013.
5. The Telegraph, Calcutta, March 2, 2013.
6. The Hindu, October 9, 2013.
7. The Economic Times, December 10, 2008.
8. Input from Abdul Qadir, The Times of India reporter, Gaya.
9. Vidyasagar's above observation in Bengali is a free translation by the author.
10. Provision of the Regulation has been quoted without altering the spellings as Shaster for shastra and Ishwur for Ishwar.
11. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, "adalat ebom barangarar mandir tulya",Miscellaneous Essays, 1892. One of the three Bacheors of Arts of the first batch of BA Examinations of Calcutta University held in 1859, he was appointed the Deputy Magistrate by the Bengal Government. But his laurels rest on his composition of 'Bande mataram' and the commendable mass of the literary works. He was Vidyasagar's contemporary.
12. Report on the System of Trial by Jury in Courts of Sessions in Mofassal during the year 1890-1897, Calcutta, Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing Press, 1899, p. 77.
13. Ibid., pp. 72-73.
14. Ibid., pp. 79-82.
15. Census of India 1911, Vol. V, Report Part-I, p. 555.
16. Report on The System of Trial by Jury in Courts of Sessions in Mofassal during the year 1890-1897.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid., p. 80.
19. Ibid., p. 104.
20. Ibid., p. 202.
21. Ibid., p. 107.
22. Juries of the Supreme Court, The Calcutta Gazette, Wednesday, June 8, 1859.
23. The Statesman, Calcutta, May 5, 2013
24. Indian Express, October 9, 2007
25. PTI December 10, 2008.
26. 1987 (35) BLJR 127.
27. The New York Review of Books, A Special Supplement: "The Responsibility of Intellectuals", Noam Chomsky, February 23, 1967.
28. DNA editorial, 'Justice delayed and denied', Tuesday, October 15, 2013.
29. Nawal and Udayan in Apna Bihar. This is a web magazine.
30. Marc Santora, James Glenz and Sabrina Tevernise, The New York Times,December 30, 2006.
31. Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, December 30, 2006.
The author is a former Vice-Chancellor, B.R. Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. He can be contacted at biswasatulk@gmail.com

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Uday Prakash

''हालांकि तरुण और मैं अलग अलग दुनियाओं में रहते हैं और हमारे नजरिए (राजनीति भी और साहित्यिक भी) भी हमें एक साथ नहीं लाते और जिससे हम और दूर चले गए. अब जो हुआ है, उसने मुझे कोई झटका नहीं दिया, लेकिन इसने मेरा दिल तोड़ दिया है. तरुण के खिलाफ सबूत यह साफ करते हैं कि उन्होंने 'थिंकफेस्ट' के दौरान अपनी एक युवा सहकर्मी पर गंभीर यौन हमला किया. 'थिंकफेस्ट' उनके द्वारा गोवा में कराया जाने वाला 'साहित्यिक' उत्सव है. थिंकफेस्ट को खनन कॉरपोरेशनों की स्पॉन्सरशिप हासिल है, जिनमें से कइयों के खिलाफ भारी पैमाने पर बुरी कारगुजारियों के आरोप हैं. विडंबना यह है कि देश के दूसरे हिस्सों में 'थिंकफेस्ट' के प्रायोजक एक ऐसा माहौल बना रहे हैं जिसमें अनगिनत आदिवासी औरतों का बलात्कार हो रहा है, उनकी हत्याएं हो रही हैं और हजारों लोग जेलों में डाले जा रहे हैं या मार दिए जा रहे हैं. अनेक वकीलों का कहना है कि नए कानून के मुताबिक तरुण का यौन हमला बलात्कार के बराबर है.'' ((अरुंधति राय)


मेरी विडंबना यह है कि मैंने 'चंकी पांडे मुकर गया है' जब कविता लिखी, तब तरुन तेजपाल यातनाओं के दौर से गुज़र रहे थे । तिलकनगर में सिक्खों के जेनोसाइड और अहमदाबाद के गुलबर्ग सोसाइटी में हुए भयावह एकतरफ़ा सांप्रदायिक हत्याकांड, जिससे अचानक लगा कि 'आश्वित्ज़' पोलैंड में नहीं, हमने अपने देश में भी जगह-जगह आश्वित्ज़ और नाज़ियों के गैसचेंबर्स बना रखे हैं । फिर इसके बाद, बाबा रामदेव के सहयोगी बालकृष्ण के आपराधिक खुलासे, एक के बाद एक स्टिंग आपरेशन के ज़रिये सताधारियों के भ्रष्टाचारों के ऐसे खुलासे, जिसने हमारे नज़रिये को बुनियादी तौर पर बदल डाला ....! वह सब याद है। 'अरुंधति' शीर्षक से भी मैंने कविताओं की शृंखला लिखी । 'हिंदी' में तो नहीं, (उसकी तमाम वज़ूहात हैं) लेकिन अन्य भारतीय भाषाओं में उसे अपूर्व स्वीकृति मिली। अब मैं, दोस्तो जिस असमंजस में घिरा हूं, उसमें मैं ही नहीं असंख्य मेरे जैसे लोग हैं.

क्या जिन मूल्यों, विचारधाराओं, आदर्शों के लिए कई तरह की कुर्बानियां देने वाले व्यक्तित्व, जिन्हें हम अपने आदर्श मान बैठते हैं, वे इतने कमज़ोर और अपनी सहजात (इंटिंक्चुअल) आदिम वृत्तियों के तूफ़ानों में पत्ते की तरह उड़ जाने वाले लोग होते हैं ? क्या गारंटी है कि जो आज 'नैतिकता' के पक्ष में इतनी कड़ी दलीलें दे रहे हैं, वे खुद किसी ऐसे ही कमज़ोर लमहों में खुद गिर न जायें..!

मैं बहुत पीड़ा के साथ अरुंधति राय की यह पोस्ट लगा रहा हूं। (अनुवाद रेयाज़ुल हक़ का है)

http://hashiya.blogspot.in/2013/11/blog-post_25.html

हाशिया: तहलका का साहस अब कहां है? - अरुंधति रॉय

hashiya.blogspot.com

''हालांकि तरुण और मैं अलग अलग दुनियाओं में रहते हैं और हमारे नजरिए (राजनीति भी और साहित्यिक भी) भी हमें एक साथ नहीं लाते और जिससे हम और दूर चले गए. अब जो हुआ है, उसने मुझे कोई झटका नहीं दिया, लेकिन इसने मेरा दिल तोड़ दिया है. तरुण के खिलाफ सबूत यह साफ करते हैं कि उन्होंने 'थिंकफेस्ट' के दौरान अपनी एक युवा सहकर्मी पर गंभीर यौन हमला किया. 'थिंकफेस्ट' उनके द्वारा गोवा में कराया जाने वाला 'साहित्यिक' उत्सव है. थिंकफेस्ट को खनन कॉरपोरेशनों की स्पॉन्सरशिप हासिल है, जिनमें से कइयों के खिलाफ भारी पैमाने पर बुरी कारगुजारियों के आरोप हैं. विडंबना यह है कि देश के दूसरे हिस्सों में 'थिंकफेस्ट' के प्रायोजक एक ऐसा माहौल बना रहे हैं जिसमें अनगिनत आदिवासी औरतों का बलात्कार हो रहा है, उनकी हत्याएं हो रही हैं और हजारों लोग जेलों में डाले जा रहे हैं या मार दिए जा रहे हैं. अनेक वकीलों का कहना है कि नए कानून के मुताबिक तरुण का यौन हमला बलात्कार के बराबर है.'' ((अरुंधति राय) मेरी विडंबना यह है कि मैंने 'चंकी पांडे मुकर गया है' जब कविता लिखी, तब तरुन तेजपाल यातनाओं के दौर से गुज़र रहे थे । तिलकनगर में सिक्खों के जेनोसाइड और अहमदाबाद के गुलबर्ग सोसाइटी में हुए भयावह एकतरफ़ा सांप्रदायिक हत्याकांड, जिससे अचानक लगा कि 'आश्वित्ज़' पोलैंड में नहीं, हमने अपने देश में भी जगह-जगह आश्वित्ज़ और नाज़ियों के गैसचेंबर्स बना रखे हैं । फिर इसके बाद, बाबा रामदेव के सहयोगी बालकृष्ण के आपराधिक खुलासे, एक के बाद एक स्टिंग आपरेशन के ज़रिये सताधारियों के भ्रष्टाचारों के ऐसे खुलासे, जिसने हमारे नज़रिये को बुनियादी तौर पर बदल डाला ....! वह सब याद है। 'अरुंधति' शीर्षक से भी मैंने कविताओं की शृंखला लिखी । 'हिंदी' में तो नहीं, (उसकी तमाम वज़ूहात हैं) लेकिन अन्य भारतीय भाषाओं में उसे अपूर्व स्वीकृति मिली। अब मैं, दोस्तो जिस असमंजस में घिरा हूं, उसमें मैं ही नहीं असंख्य मेरे जैसे लोग हैं. क्या जिन मूल्यों, विचारधाराओं, आदर्शों के लिए कई तरह की कुर्बानियां देने वाले व्यक्तित्व, जिन्हें हम अपने आदर्श मान बैठते हैं, वे इतने कमज़ोर और अपनी सहजात (इंटिंक्चुअल) आदिम वृत्तियों के तूफ़ानों में पत्ते की तरह उड़ जाने वाले लोग होते हैं ? क्या गारंटी है कि जो आज 'नैतिकता' के पक्ष में इतनी कड़ी दलीलें दे रहे हैं, वे खुद किसी ऐसे ही कमज़ोर लमहों में खुद गिर न जायें..! मैं बहुत पीड़ा के साथ अरुंधति राय की यह पोस्ट लगा रहा हूं। (अनुवाद रेयाज़ुल हक़ का है) http://hashiya.blogspot.in/2013/11/blog-post_25.html

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BBC World News

"We are machines, we are robots, we plug our scanner in, we're holding it, but we might as well be plugging it into ourselves."http://bbc.in/1aO7aNU


A BBC investigation into a UK-based Amazon warehouse has found conditions that a stress expert said could cause "mental and physical illness".


Prof Michael Marmot was shown secret filming of night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking - where an undercover worker was expected to collect orders every 33 seconds. It comes as the company employs 15,000 extra staff to cater for Christmas.


Amazon said the safety of its workers was its "number one priority."


Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

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आजाद भारत के शासकों को भी वैसा करना चाहिएथा..

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http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/awareness-drive-on-sc-st-subplan/article5392569.ece

'Complete works of toilet complex'- The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/complete-works-of-toilet-complex/article5392983.ece

NOTE: Please find attachment for HINDI DMW (PDF)

The Hindu

College student held for rape

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/college-student-held-for-rape/article5392057.ece

Police have arrested a college student on charges of raping a 14-year-old Dalit girl, who is five months pregnant, at Kolandi village near Kalayarkoil in the district.

All Women Police, Sivaganga, arrested M. Govindaraj (21) on Monday under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA), 2012, for sexually abusing the girl, studying class X in a local government school, for nearly a year.

He was produced before District Sessions Judge S. Thangakani who directed the police to detain him at the Borstal school in Thanjavur as he was below 21 years, police said.

U. Vimala, Sub-Inspector of Police, who enquired into the matter, said Govindaraj, studying third-year B.Sc., was in love with the girl and had been sexually abusing her for nearly a year. The girl became pregnant and it came to light early this month when her school teacher noticed and informed her parents.

Without informing the police, the two families tried to sort out the issue by asking the boy to marry her. As he refused to marry her and bought her tablets to abort the pregnancy, Ayyavu, the girl's father, a goat herd, lodged a complaint with the All Women police on November 11.

The boy, who was evading police enquiry for the past 10 days, appeared before the police on Monday and offered to marry the girl, police said. However, when the police brought the issue to his notice, N. Sivakumar, District Probation Officer, Department of Social Defence, advised the police to register a case against the boy and arrest him.

The marriage could not be solemnised any way as the victim was a minor, he said.

Even if it was consensual sex, the boy was liable to be arrested as the girl was a minor, he told The Hindu .

If the case was compromised, the police could be proceeded against for failure to record the case, and the parents of the victim for failure to report the case under POCSOA, he warned.

The Hindu

Murder of two Dalit youths alleged

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/murder-of-two-dalit-youths-alleged/article5392431.ece

Dalit organisations alleged murder of two Dalit youths out of vengeance recently at Bilakala Gudur in Gadivemula mandal. Dalit leaders Anand Babu, K. Srinivasulu, T. Seshaphani, M. Giri, K. Ramanjaneyulu and others stated at a meeting here on Monday that Raju and Ravi Kumar were murdered in a gruesome manner by slitting open of their throats. Their bodies were dumped in the pond. The leaders alleged that the police did not render justice to the victim's families, but implicated the innocent Dalit youths in the case by misrepresenting facts.

The local leaders and perpetrators, who had political connections, hushed up the case and to escape the charges under the provisions of SC/ ST Atrocities Prevention Act, they arrested Dalit youths.

The Dalit organisations formed a committee to carry forward the struggle and see that the culprits were booked.

They alleged that the employer of one of the youths was responsible for the murder as the deceased developed intimacy with a woman in their family.

The Hindu

Entry of outsiders barred in two villages

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/entry-of-outsiders-barred-in-two-villages/article5392077.ece

Outsiders, political parties and Dalit organisations have been barred from entering Nadupatti and Kariyampatti in Nilakottai block following a clash between two groups of villagers.

Theni Superintendent of Police Mahesh, who camped there, prevented representatives of political parties and Dalit organisations from entering the village.

The representatives of political parties and Dalit organisations argued with the police demanding permission to meet the affected people.

But the Superintendent of Police refused to allow them. Later, they left the place.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi functionaries described the ban as an 'anti-democratic act.' The police had set up check-posts at the entry point of the two villages and checked all vehicles and individuals entering the hamlets.

DIG (Dindigul Range) N. Arivu Selvan conducted a flag march in these villages. More than 200 police personnel have been deployed in the two places.

Six houses were set on fire and 20 houses damaged at Nadupatti in a clash between residents of the two villages over alleged misbehaviour of a youth on Sunday evening.

Ummid .Com

Maharashtra cabinet clears land transfer for Ambedkar memorial

http://www.ummid.com/news/2013/November/25.11.2013/maha-cab-clears-land-transfer-for-ambedkar-memorial.html

New Delhi: The cabinet Monday approved the transfer of Indu Mill land in Mumbai towards construction of a memorial for Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar, sources said.

According to the sources, the central government will transfer the prime piece of land to the Maharashtra government, a long-pending demand of political parties of the western state.

The ashes of Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution, are buried at Chaitya Bhoomi, which lies near the plot of land of India United Mill, popularly known as the Indu Mill, which comes under the control of the National Textiles Corporation.

Various political parties, especially Dalit organisations, wanted the issue to be settled by Dec 6, which happens to be Ambedkar's death anniversary.

Business Standard

Maha parties welcomed Centres decision on Indu Mills land

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/maha-parties-welcomed-centres-decision-on-indu-mills-land-113112501107_1.html

Parties in Maharashtra welcomed the Union Cabinet's decision today to transfer land originally owned by Indu Mills to the Maharashtra government to construct a memorial to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution and noted Dalit leader.


"Our party welcomes the decision. We have decided to call off the proposed rail and road blockade stir tomorrow as our demand has been met. However, if the state government does not perform bhoomi pujan at the spot by December 6, we will go ahead with our agitation," Republican Party of India (Athawale) leader Ramdas Athawale told PTI here today.


Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre also welcomed the cabinet decision and thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the move.


The Union Cabinet took the decision at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and approved the proposal empowering the Centre to acquire a certain part of the Indu Mills land, which originally belongs to the National Textile Corporation Ltd in Mumbai, to construct the memorial.


Sources said that the union government would introduce a bill in Parliament to facilitate the transfer of land to the Maharashtra government.


Dr Ambedkar's ashes are currently interred at Chaitya Bhoomi, which is near Indu Mills.

The Hindu

UoH scholar's suicide case referred to Krishna panel

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/uoh-scholars-suicide-case-referred-to-krishna-panel/article5392191.ece

University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Monday referred Ph.D student M. Venkatesh's suicide case to the existing V. Krishna Committee to ascertain facts. The committee would submit its findings by November 27and recommend action against all those found responsible for the student taking the extreme step, UoH Vice-Chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy said.

The Krishna committee was constituted to find the reasons behind the death of Pulyala Raju, a Dalit student from Integrated M.A. course earlier this year.

The committee submitted a report on the measures that should be taken by the university to mitigate the problems being faced by the socially marginalised communities.

The Krishna Committee report, along with the earlier report submitted by Vinod Pavarala Committee on the same topic, would be discussed during the Executive Committee (EC) meeting to be held on November 27 so as to initiate concrete measures, Prof. Ramaswamy said. The report was already approved by the Academic Council last month and the committee recommendations would be implemented after EC meeting, he said.

Meanwhile, the police would send Venkatesh's viscera samples to the AP Forensic Labs for further examination, Chandanagar Inspector N. Vasu said.

The Hindu

Poor grounding of SC-ST Sub-Plan resented

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/poor-grounding-of-scst-subplan-resented/article5392423.ece

Activists owing allegiance to the Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi (KVPS) staged a demonstration here on Monday in protest against the alleged ineffective implementation of the AP SC Sub-Plan and ST Sub-Plan Act.

The protesters led by the KVPS district secretary Nandipati Manohar staged a dharna near the Collectorate here.

Addressing the protesters, Mr. Manohar alleged that the State government has failed to release adequate funds for the welfare of SCs and STs as envisaged by the Act so far in the current financial year. "The government had imposed cuts to the tune of Rs. 890 crore on the stipulated budget by taking refuge under the fluid political situation in the State," he charged alleging that a portion of the funds earmarked for the SCs and STs under the Act were allocated to the regular schemes like Pension and Arogya Sri.

The Hindu

Dalits demand sanction of welfare schemes

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/dalits-demand-sanction-of-welfare-schemes/article5392547.ece

Demanding an immediate sanction of welfare schemes, members of the Dalit community organised a rally from Nalugukalla mandapam to MCT office here on Monday.

Andhra Pradesh Dalita Maha Sabha secretary P. Prabhakar demanded the government to sanction ration cards, house sites, gas connections and Bangaru Thalli certificates to poor Dalit families. He further alleged that petitions submitted by weaker sections were not being addressed properly at Rachabanda programmes. Later, they held a demonstration at MCT office and vowed to fight for their rights.

The Hindu

Awareness drive on SC & ST Sub-Plan

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/awareness-drive-on-sc-st-subplan/article5392569.ece

Leaders call for framing of rules to add teeth to the act

The State-wide campaign by Dalit Sthree Sakthi to create awareness on implementation of SC & ST Sub-Plan rolled into the town on Monday.

State convener Jhansi Geddam said that the campaign by DSS volunteers in two vehicles began in Visakhapatnam on November 18 covering various districts on the way .

It would move on into Telangana districts before concluding at Hyderabad. The DSS has been in the thick of Dalit emancipation movement raising its voice and helping the victims to stand on their feet during atrocities against Dalit women.

A district conference on "Empowerment of Dalit Women, girls and children,'' held here on Monday became a rallying point for the members to voice their concern over lack of effective law mechanisms to prevent atrocities against SC & ST people, more so the women folk living in distant hamlets.

National campaign leader B. Anand Kumar bemoaned the absence of rules meant for effective implementation of SC & ST Sub-plan and urged the State Government to immediately frame rules.

He urged the respective district administration set up to identify issues in the region and sent recommendations to the Government.

Stating that Andhra Pradesh was the first State to enact a SC & ST Sub-plan in the country, Mr. Anand Kumar warned that time might be running out since other states were keen on replicating the model and implement them. Karnataka was one of the states keen on bringing the Act into effect as soon as possible, he said.

Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, D. Satyanarayana called upon the women to raise their awareness on various acts protecting the SC & ST communities from exploitation. Education has been the biggest agent of change in the community and without education, the acts and provisions relating to SC/ST communities would have no relevance.

Even before the SC & ST Act has come into force, the State Government has been allocating 15 per cent of funds to the benefit of SC, 6 per cent to ST and 15 per cent to women, he said.

He called upon the members to bring instances of misappropriation of funds to his notice.

The Hindu

'Complete works of toilet complex'

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/complete-works-of-toilet-complex/article5392983.ece

A group of agricultural workers, belonging to Dalit community, from Palliyapalayam in Bhoomalur village panchayat, on Monday, sought the intervention of the district administration to resume the construction of the public toilet complex in the area.

They said that the work on the complex had been left halfway about four months ago just because one family in the vicinity opposed the construction even though the toilet complex was coming up on poramboke land. "The family members are against the project as they wanted the government to give patta for the land to them," the petitioners alleged.

S. Loganathan, district president of the All India Agricultural Workers Union, who came along with the petitioners, said that the speedy completion of the toilet complex was essential to end open defecation in the area as majority of the agricultural labourers did not either have space to construct individual toilets or have financial resources.

The petitioners returned after the District Collector promised to look into their grievances immediately.

News Monitor by Girish Pant

.Arun Khote

On behalf of

Dalits Media Watch Team

(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")


Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/DalitsMediaWatch

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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and  intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.


Constitution of India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is part of the series:
Constitution of India

Preamble


Other countries ·  Law Portal

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens. It is the longest[1] written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 448[Note 1] articles in 22 parts, 12 schedules and 118 amendments. Besides the English version, there is an official Hindi translation. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is widely regarded as the father of the Indian Constitution.

The Constitution follows parliamentary system of government and the executive is directly accountable to legislature. Article 74 provides that there shall be a Prime Minister of India as the head of government. It also states that there shall be a President of India and a Vice-President of India under Articles 52 and 63. Unlike the Prime Minister, the President largely performs ceremonial roles.

The Constitution is federal in nature. Each State and each Union territory of India have their own government. Analogues to President and Prime Minister, is the Governor in case of States,Lieutenant Governor for Union territories and the Chief Minister. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Act also introduced the system of Panchayati raj in villages and municipalities. Also, Article 370of the Constitution gives special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950.[2] The date 26 January was chosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence of 1930. With its adoption, the Union of India officially became the modern and contemporary Republic of India and it replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's fundamental governing document. To ensure constitutional autochthony, the framers of constitution inserted Article 395 in the constitution and by this Article the Indian Independence Act, 1947 was repealed.[3] The Constitution declares India to be a sovereignsocialistsecular,democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justiceequality, and liberty, and endeavors to promote fraternity among them.[4] The words "socialist" and "secular" were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment (mini constitution).[5] India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day.[6]

Background[edit]

The major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British colonial rule from 1857 to 1947. The impact of economic, political and social exploitation during this period helped the gradual rise of the Indian independence movement to gain independence from foreign rule. The movement culminated in the formation of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947, along with the Dominion of Pakistan. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. It contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India after its independence from British rule. On the day the constitution came into effect, India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown. The Indian constitution is the world's longest constitution. At the time of commencement, the constitution had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It consists of almost 80,000 words and took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to build.

In the United Kingdom the office of the Secretary of State for India was the authority through whom Parliament exercised its rule (along with the Council of India), and established the office of Viceroy of India (along with an Executive Council in India, consisting of high officials of the British Government). The Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established provincial legislatures and increased the powers of the Legislative Council. Although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded participation of Indians in the government.

Government of India Act 1935[edit]

The provisions of the Government of India Act 1935, though never implemented fully, had a great impact on the Constitution of India. Many key features of the constitution are directly taken from this Act. The federal structure of government, provincial autonomy, a bicameral central legislature consisting of a federal assembly and a Council of States and the separation of legislative powers between the centre and states are some of the provisions of the Act which are present in the Constitution of India.

The Cabinet Mission Plan[edit]

In 1946, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee formulated a cabinet mission to India to discuss and finalize plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership as well as provide India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations.[7][8] The Mission discussed the framework of the constitution and laid down in some detail the procedure to be followed by the constitution drafting body. Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed by August 1946. TheConstituent Assembly of India first met and began work on 26 November 1946.

The mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. However, Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, did not participate.

Indian Independence Act 1947[edit]

The Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament on 18 July 1947, divided British India into two new independent states, India and Pakistan, which were to be dominions under the Commonwealth of Nations until they had each finished drafting and enacted a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate states, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion. The Act also terminated British suzerainty over the princely states, each of which was left to decide whether to accede to one or other of the new dominions or to continue as independent states in their own right. However, in most cases the states were so dependent on central institutions that they were widely expected to accede to a dominion.

When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, it repealed the Indian Independence Act. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign democratic republic. 26 November 1949 is also known as National Law Day.

Constituent Assembly[edit]

The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies.[9]Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal NehruC. RajagopalachariRajendra PrasadSardar Vallabhbhai PatelKanaiyalal MunshiPurushottam Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam AzadShyama Prasad MukherjeeNalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes.Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy IyerBenegal Narsing Rau and K. M. MunshiGanesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh,Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Vijayalakshmi Pandit were important women members.

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is hailed as the prime architect of the Indian Constitution

The first temporary 2-day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachidanand Sinha. Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.[9] The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946.[9]

Drafting[edit]

On the 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, proposal for forming various committees was presented.[9] Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee. On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor. These members were Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (K M Munshi, Ex- Home Minister, Bombay), Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex- Advocate General, Madras State), N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet), B L Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India), Md. Saadullah (Ex- Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member) and D P Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer). The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (who became First Indian Judge in International Court of Justice, 1950–54). Later B L Mitter resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal Advisor of Maharaja of Vadodara). Owing to death of D P Khaitan, T T Krishnamachari was chosen to be included in the drafting committee. A Draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947. Draft constitution was debated and over 2000 amendments were moved over a period of two years. Finally on 26 Nov. 1949, the process was completed and Constituent assembly adopted the constitution. 284 members signed the document and the process of constitution making was complete.[10]

The Assembly met in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. The original Constitution of India is hand-written with beautiful calligraphy, each page beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India became the law of all the States and territories of India. Rs. 1,00,00,000 was official estimate of expenditure on constituent assembly. The Constitution has undergone many amendments since its enactment.[11]

Structure[edit]

The The original text of the Preamble, before the 42nd Amendment) of the Constitution

The Constitution, in its current form (September 2012), consists of a preamble, 22 parts containing 444 [Note 1] articles, 12 schedules, 2 appendices[12] and 98 amendments to date.[11]

Parts[edit]

The individual Articles of the Constitution are grouped together into the following Parts:

  • Part XII – Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits
  • Part XIII – Trade and Commerce within the territory of India
  • Part XIV – Services Under the Union, the States.
  • Part XIVA – Tribunals.
  • Part XV – Elections
  • Part XVI – Special Provisions Relating to certain Classes.
  • Part XVII – Languages
  • Part XVIII – Emergency Provisions
  • Part XIX – Miscellaneous
  • Part XX – Amendment of the Constitution
  • Part XXI – Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
  • Part XXII – Short title, date of commencement, Authoritative text in Hindi and Repeals

Schedules[edit]

Schedules are lists in the Constitution that categorize and tabulate bureaucratic activity and policy of the Government.

  • First Schedule (Articles 1 and 4)- This lists the states and territories of India, lists any changes to their borders and the laws used to make that change.
  • Second Schedule (Articles 59(3), 65(3), 75(6), 97, 125, 148(3), 158(3), 164(5), 186 and 221)- – This lists the salaries of officials holding public office, judges, and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
  • Third Schedule (Articles 75(4), 99, 124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219)—Forms of Oaths – This lists the oaths of offices for elected officials and judges.
  • Fourth Schedule (Articles 4(1) and 80(2)) – This details the allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Parliament) per State or Union Territory.
  • Fifth Schedule (Article 244(1)) – This provides for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas[Note 2] and Scheduled Tribes[Note 3] (areas and tribes needing special protection due to disadvantageous conditions).
  • Sixth Schedule (Articles 244(2) and 275(1))— Provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
  • Seventh Schedule (Article 246)—The union (central government), state, and concurrent lists of responsibilities.
  • Eighth Schedule (Articles 344(1) and 351)—The official languages.
  • Ninth Schedule (Article 31-B) – Originally Articles mentioned here were immune from judicial review on the ground that they violated fundamental rights. but in a landmark judgement in 2007, the Supreme Court of India held in I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu and others that laws included in the 9th schedule can be subject to judicial review if they violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14, 15, 19, 21 or the basic structure of the Constitution {(ambiguous)}[22]
  • Tenth Schedule (Articles 102(2) and 191(2))—"Anti-defection" provisions for Members of Parliament and Members of the State Legislatures.
  • Eleventh Schedule (Article 243-D)—Panchayat Raj (rural local government).
  • Twelfth Schedule (Article 243-W)—Municipalities (urban local government).

Amendment[edit]

The process of re writing any part of the constitution is called amendment.Amendments to the Constitution are made by the Parliament, the procedure for which is laid out in Article 368. An amendment bill must be passed by both the Houses of the Parliament by a two-thirds majority and voting. In addition to this, certain amendments which pertain to the federal nature of the Constitution must be ratified by a majority of state legislatures.

As of July 2013 there have been 118 amendment bills presented in the Parliament, out of which 98 have been passed to become Amendment Acts.[23] Most of these amendments address issues dealt with by statute in other democracies. However, the Constitution is so specific in spelling out government powers that many of these issues must be addressed by constitutional amendment. As a result, the document is amended roughly twice a year.

In 2000 the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) was set up to look into updating the constitution.[24]

Limitations[edit]

The Supreme Court has ruled in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala case that not every constitutional amendment is permissible, the amendment must respect the "basic structure" of the constitution, which is immutable.

Adoptions from other constitutions[edit]

The architects of Indian constitution were most heavily influenced by the British model of parliamentary democracy. In addition, a number of principles were adopted from the Constitution of the United States of America, including the separation of powers among the major branches of government and the establishment of a supreme court. The principles adopted from Canada were Unitary government with strong centre and also distribution of powers between central government and state governments along with placing residuary powers with central government. From Irelanddirective principle of state policy was adopted. From Germany, the principle of suspension of fundamental rights during emergency was adopted. From Australia, the idea of having a Concurrent list of shared powers was used as well and some of the terminology was utilized for the preamble.[25]

Judicial review[edit]

See also: Judicial review

Judicial review is adopted in the Constitution of India from the Constitution of the United States of America (see[26]). In the Indian constitution, Judicial review is dealt with under Article 13. Judicial Review refers that the Constitution is the supreme power of the nation and all laws are under its supremacy. Article 13 states that:

  1. All pre-constitutional laws, if in part or completely in conflict with the Constitution, shall have all conflicting provisions deemed ineffective until an amendment to the Constitution ends the conflict. In such situation the provision of that law will again come into force, if it is compatible with the constitution as amended. This is called the Doctrine of Eclipse.[27]
  2. In a similar manner, laws made after adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly must be compatible with the constitution, otherwise the laws and amendments will be deemed to be void ab initio.
  3. In such situations, the Supreme Court or High Court interprets the laws to decide if they are in conformity with the Constitution. If such an interpretation is not possible because of inconsistency, and where a separation is possible, the provision that is inconsistent with constitution is considered to be void. In addition to article 13, articles 32, 226 and 227 provide a constitutional basis to judicial review in India.[28]

See also[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Notes[edit]

  1. Jump up to:a b Although the last article of the Constitution is Article 395, the total number, as of March 2013 is 448. New articles added through amendments have been inserted in the relevant location in the original constitution. In order not to disturb the original numbering, the new articles are inserted with alpha numeric enumerations. For example, Article 21A pertaining to Right to Education was inserted by the 86th Amendment Act.
  2. Jump up^ Scheduled Areas are autonomous areas within a state, administered federally, usually populated by a predominant Scheduled Tribe.
  3. Jump up^ Scheduled Tribes are groups of indigenous people, identified in the Constitution, struggling socioeconomically

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Pylee, M.V. (1997). India's Constitution. S. Chand & Co. p. 3.ISBN 81-219-0403-X.
  2. Jump up^ "Introduction to Constitution of India". Ministry of Law and Justice of India. 29 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  3. Jump up^ Swaminathan, Shivprasad (26). "India's benign constitutional revolution"The Hindu: opinion. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  4. Jump up^ "Preamble of the Constitution of India". Ministry of Law & Justice. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  5. Jump up^ "Forty-Second Amendment to the Constitution". Ministry of Law and Justice of India. 28 August 1976. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  6. Jump up^ Das, Hari (2002). Political System of India. Anmol Publications. p. 120. ISBN 81-7488-690-7.
  7. Jump up^ Mansergh, Nicholas; Moon, Penderel (1977). The Transfer of Power 1942-7 . Vol VII. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.ISBN 978-0-11-580082-5.
  8. Jump up^ "Parliamentary Archives: HL/PO/1/595/11"Parliament and India, 1858–1947. British Parliamentary Archives. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  9. Jump up to:a b c d "The Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings):(9th December,1946 to 24 January 1950)". The Parliament of India Archive. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  10. Jump up^ "Some Facts of Constituent Assembly"Parliament of India. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 2011-04-14. "On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of B. R. Ambedkar to prepare a Draft Constitution for India"
  11. Jump up to:a b "THE CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT) ACTS"India Code Information System. Ministry of Law, Government of India. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  12. Jump up^ "Constitution of india"Ministry of Law and Justice, Govt. of India.
  13. Jump up^ Part I
  14. Jump up^ Part II
  15. Jump up^ Part IV
  16. Jump up^ Part V
  17. Jump up^ Part VI
  18. Jump up^ Part VII
  19. Jump up^ Part VIII
  20. Jump up^ Part IX
  21. Jump up^ http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend97.pdf
  22. Jump up^ I.R. Coelho (dead) by L.Rs. v. State of Tamil Nadu and others(2007) 2 S.C.C. 1
  23. Jump up^ name="amendments"
  24. Jump up^ Kuri's blog: National Commission to review the working of the Constitution(NCRWC). Kurishravan.blogspot.in (2011-02-23). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  25. Jump up^ [1][dead link]
  26. Jump up^ V. Venkatesan - A fresh look at the relevance of three early doctrines that have defined the Indian Constitution over the years. Front-line (Vol. 29 - Issue 05 :: 10-23 Mar. 2012)
  27. Jump up^ Jain, M.P. (2010). Indian Constitutional Law. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. p. 921. ISBN 978-81-8038-621-3.
  28. Jump up^ Lectures By Professor Parmanad Singh, Jindal Global Law School.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Baruah, Aparajita (2007). Preamble of the Constitution of India : An Insight & Comparison. Eastern Book Co. ISBN 978-81-7629-996-1.
  • Basu, Durga Das (1965). Commentary on the constitution of India : (being a comparative treatise on the universal principles of justice and constitutional government with special reference to the organic instrument of India) 1–2. S. C. Sarkar & Sons (Private) Ltd.
  • Basu, Durga Das (1984). Introduction to the Constitution of India (10th ed.). South Asia Books. ISBN 0-8364-1097-1.
  • Basu, Durga Das (1981). Shorter Constitution of India. Prentice-Hall of India. ISBN 978-0-87692-200-2.
  • Das, Hari Hara (2002). Political System of India. Anmol Publications. ISBN 81-7488-690-7.
  • Dash, Shreeram Chandra (1968). The Constitution of India; a Comparative Study. Chaitanya Pub. House.
  • Ghosh, Pratap Kumar (1966). The Constitution of India: How it Has Been Framed. World Press.
  • Jayapalan, N. (1998). Constitutional History of India. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-7156-761-4.
  • Khanna, Hans Raj (1981). Making of India's Constitution. Eastern Book Co. ISBN 978-81-7012-108-4.
  • RAHULRAI, Durga Das (1984). Introduction to the Constitution of India (10th ed.). South Asia Books. ISBN 0-8364-1097-1.
  • Pylee, M.V. (1997). India's Constitution. S. Chand & Co. ISBN 81-219-0403-X.
  • Pylee, M.V. (2004). Constitutional Government in India. S. Chand & Co. ISBN 81-219-2203-8.
  • Sen, Sarbani (2007). The Constitution of India: Popular Sovereignty and Democratic Transformations. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-568649-4.
  • Sharma, Dinesh; Singh, Jaya; Maganathan, R.; et al. (2002). Indian Constitution at Work. Political Science, Class XI. NCERT.
  • "The Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings):(9th December,1946 to 24 January 1950)". The Parliament of India Archive. Retrieved 2008-02-22.

External links[edit]

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