Tomorrow, a billion within our borders and more beyond will celebrate India's Republic Day, once again. Sunday MiD DAY looks at the fundamental rights 'guaranteed' by the Indian Constitution to examine how many people are being denied these rights
Tomorrow, a billion within our borders and more beyond will celebrate India's Republic Day, once again. Sunday MiD DAY looks at the fundamental rights 'guaranteed' by the Indian Constitution to examine how many people are being denied these rights
THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY: No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.
THE WRONG: According to UNICEF, a whopping 35 per cent of the population lived below one dollar per day from the period 1994-2004. In 2005, only 29 per cent of the population was urbanised, leaving behind a whopping 71 per cent of the population comprising rural and tribal India an India where neither opportunities, not growth potential, are as equal as in the other 'Shining' India.
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THE RIGHT TO PARTICULAR FREEDOM: All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations or unions; to move freely throughout the territory of India; to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
THE WRONG: In a flagrant violation, a political group insisted on the inclusion of their community members into railway jobs and others, at the cost of others, in a Mumbai that they perceive as their own. This sparked off students' protests in Bihar in October last where the Indian Railways lost over Rs 5 crore.
CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS: Every citizen of India will have a cultural and education upto where that person wants. Any section of the citizen residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
THE WRONG: It took more than six decades after Independence for the Indian government to clear the Right to Education Bill that makes free and compulsory education a fundamental right for all children between the ages of 6 and 14. But the need to better total adult literacy rate of 61 per cent is felt stronger than before. UNICEF figures of 2004 state that only 48 per cent of adult Indian females are literate in comparison to 73 per cent of adult Indian males.
THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION: Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.
THE WRONG: The Dangs episode at the turn of the millennium wherein Hindus clashed with Christians in Gujarat's second poorest district over missionary activities protesting active conversions that snowballed into a national issue. On September 23, 1998, four nuns were allegedly gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh and in January 1999, Australian missionary doctor Graham Staines and two of his children were burnt alive. The Babri Masjid episode of 1992 followed by the Hindu-Muslim riots had more than 2,000 killed all over the country followed by the Gujarat riots in 2002 which had "254 Hindus and 790 Muslims killed," as the-then Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal offered. Freedom of Religion continues to remain an elusive right.
RIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION: Trafficking of human beings and forced labour are prohibited.
THE WRONG: The commercial sex trade in India is undoubtedly profitable. In recent times, incidents of kidnapping of women and children in India have steadily increased. The victims land up becoming sex-workers in India or in Arab countries. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) about 1.5 lakh people are trafficked within South Asia. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates between 6-8 lakh humans are trafficked across borders.
THE RIGHT TO CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDIES: This allows citizens to stand up for their rights against anybody, even the government of India.
THE WRONG: Over three million cases are pending in India's 21 high courts, and about 26.3 million cases pending in subordinate courts across the country, had said the Home Ministry's department of justice in May 2007. Justice delayed, justice denied?
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