What to Read in The Hindu Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1 : The 75-Year Milestone

Context: The making of India’s Constitution was an inspiring saga every Indian should be proud of.

 

Introduction: This year marks 75 years of the adoption of India’s Constitution. The government has planned year-long programmes with the slogan ‘Hamara Samvidhan, Hamara Swabhiman’ i.e. our constitution, our pride.

Four aspects of the Constitution should invoke pride — the struggle that preceded its making, the making itself, the content, and the journey in the last 75 years.

 

The Struggle for Constitution

• The struggle for having our own Constitution began at least 25 years before the formation of the Constituent Assembly.
• The first ever Government of India Act of 1858 came after the 1857 War of Independence. No Indian was involved in that process.
• By the time of Government of India Act 1919, the Congress had emerged as a rallying point for all nationalists. It raised a strong voice against the Act.
• Congress demanded that Indian legislature should have the authority to draft its own constitution.

 

Swaraj Party and Nehru Report

• The Swaraj Party, the parliamentary wing of the Congress, raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly in 1924 demanding that a roundtable conference be convened to negotiate constitutional reforms.
• Secretary of State for India, Lord Birkenhead, challenged Indian leaders to “produce a constitution which carries behind it a fair measure of general agreement among the great people of India.”
• The Congress leadership accepted the challenge. Motilal Nehru led an all-party conference to draft a constitution that also had Subhas Chandra Bose, Annie Besant, M R Jayakar, Jawaharlal Nehru and a couple of Muslim League representatives.
• It came out with a draft constitution in 1928, popularly known as the Nehru Report.
  1. It contained 22 chapters and 88 articles and dealt with important subjects like fundamental rights, a bicameral parliament, division of powers, judicial independence and centre-state relations.
  2. It unequivocally declared that universal adult franchise will be the model for India with every citizen 21 years of age and above securing voting rights.
• A call was given at the Lahore Congress session in December 1929 to celebrate the day of independence on January 26, 1930. It was to commemorate that occasion that January 26, 1950 was chosen for the adoption of the Indian Constitution.
• The Swaraj Party passed a resolution in May 1934 demanding that a Constituent Assembly be convened to frame an acceptable constitution.
• In 1940s, Jawaharlal Nehru was categorical that the Constituent Assembly would function as a completely sovereign body.
• The British finally submitted to that through the India Independence Act, 1947.

 

Making of the Constitution

• The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on December 9, 1946.
• The Draft Constitution was placed before it on February 21, 1948.
• A revised version was placed on November 4.
• Its second reading happened clause-by-clause, and the final draft was approved on November 26, 1949.
• The Constitution contained 395 articles and eight schedules.

 

75 Year Journey

• The journey of the last 75 years witnessed many important constitutional reforms like the Hindu Code Bill, the incorporation of Fundamental Duties, the introduction of decentralisation and the Panchayati Raj system, ending centralised planning, and the abrogation of Article 370.
• The Constitution has served our country efficiently and effectively for 75 years, and has been successful in building the spirit of One Nation, One People.

 

Conclusion

The Constitution contains most elements of the Nehru Report of 1928. It is the outcome of our long freedom struggle. Constitution is only a statement of intent. Going ahead the constitutional morality of those who manage it is critical.

Editorial 2 : A Lot Done, More To Do

 

Context: At the 75th anniversary of our republic, there is much to celebrate, much to reflect on.

 

Introduction: Emerging from colonial rule, India that is Bharat saw its people transform into empowered citizens, putting together its Constitution, a full-fledged democracy with universal adult franchise.

 

Indian Constitution

• The Constitution provides:
  1. a finely balanced system of governance
  2. democratic freedoms to its citizens
  3. a guarantee of equality in form and substance
  4. universal adult suffrage
• The Constitution also held out the promise of social justice, of distribution of material resources for the good of the greatest number.

 

Celebrating the achievements of India

• Life Expectancy: From 32 years, the average life expectancy of citizens is now 75 years.
• Food Production: India has become one of the largest producers of foodgrains.
• Literacy Rate: Literacy rate has increased from 12% to 75%.
• Infrastructure: In power generation, road and infrastructure development, India has made major strides.
• Economy: India has the fifth largest economy globally.
• Space Programme: India’s forays into space have shown spectacular success, with the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram.
• Polity: India’s election system and polity have shown a stability that stands in stark contrast with our neighbours, and even puts older democracies to shame.

 

Points to Reflect in Going Forward

• Inequality: India has a starkly unequal distribution of wealth and income among its citizens. A tiny minority of the population earns the major share of its income.
• Dignity: Constitution guarantees dignity, justice (including social and economic) and fraternity, besides liberty.
  1. This places greater responsibility on the state to ensure that each policy and law achieves the objective of meaningful access to education, public health, employment and a basic standard of living assuring self-worth and dignity to each citizen.
  2. True dignity and fraternity mean the practice of an attitude which we have not yet displayed: That every human being is capable of doing everything; that the poorest and the weakest are equal in worth and as secure with full rights as citizens as any other.
• Slow Justice System: There is much to be desired in terms of realising the goal of quick and inexpensive justice.
  1. For an estimated population of 1.4 billion or 140 crore people, the sanctioned strength of judges overall is just 25,081. There are a significant number of vacancies at any given time and for the available judges, there are a little over 20,000 court rooms.
  2. There is an urgent need to develop long term plans to address the systemic challenges of the court system, be it infrastructure, identification of causes for case arrears, optimal caseload of judges.
• Digital Divide: It has rendered millions vulnerable, with regards to their rights, entitlements and access to essential services.
• Climate Change: Efforts towards mitigating the disastrous impact of climate change on India’s geographically diverse and vast territory is the need of the hour.

 

Conclusion

Prosperity and well-being cannot be measured by gross national wealth, but the net feeling of well-being of each individual. Existing barriers have to go. The challenge is how swiftly India as a nation can achieve equality, and justice  social, economic and political, assuring dignity of each individual.