22/02/2022 - Polity

• The terms liberty, equality and fraternity along with justice find their place among the basic values enshrined in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution which begins with the words “We, the People of India have solemnly resolved to ‘secure’ to all the citizens of India”.

The principle of Fraternity

• In the Indian context, the idea of fraternity is often said to be misunderstood and forgotten.
• The concept of fraternity is based on the idea that people or citizens have responsibilities to each other.
• The principle of fraternity was defined vaguely during the French Revolution as:
  • Do not do to others what you would not wish them to do to you
  • Do constantly to others the good which you would like to receive from them
• However, in the Indian context, as articulated by Ambedkar, the idea of fraternity has more significance which is seen in the wording of the Preamble where the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation both mandates this emotion. 

The responsibilities of individual citizen

• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had said that “we must begin by acknowledging the fact there is a complete absence of two things in Indian society. One of these is equality and as a result of it we would enter into ‘a life of contradictions’ on January 26, 1950.”
• The 42nd Constitutional Amendment was passed in 1976 to adhere to the above observations made by Ambedkar with the introduction of Fundamental Duties.
• Article 51A (e) under the Fundamental Duties of the constitution mandates that it is the duty of every Indian citizen to “Promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women”.
• The responsibility of performing this duty does not rest with the state and instead seems to be the responsibility of the individual citizen. Fraternity is hence an important aspect of citizenship in India that cannot be neglected.

Conditions for the Success of Democracy

• Ambedkar in his speech in the Constituent Assembly talked about the “Conditions Precedent for the Successful Working of Democracy”. 
• Ambedkar in his speech defined democracy as “a form and method of government whereby revolutionary changes in the economic and social life of the people are brought about without bloodshed”.
• Ambedkar listed seven conditions that are crucial for the successful functioning of democracy, they are:
  • Absence of glaring inequalities
  • Presence of an opposition
  • Equality in law and administration
  • Observance of constitutional morality
  • Absence of tyranny of the majority over minority
  • Functioning of moral order in society 
  • Public conscience.

The shape of inequality in India

• It is said that inequality takes on different shapes in different segments of Indian society i.e. it is economic in some segments and it is regional, caste and religious based in others.
• Sociologists have recognised nine categories of people who are said to be socially/politically/economically excluded which include categories of Dalits, Adivasis, women and religious minorities.
• Studies on religious minorities who account for about 20% of India’s population indicate that the discrimination that they face has its origins in the very thinking that led to the partition of August 1947. 
• This led to the cohesion of the integration of the units of the new Republic formally described as “A Union of States” and it was a key concern of the framers of the Constitution.

Way forward

• According to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the integration of the units, “the inspiration and the stimulus came from above rather than from below and unless the transplanted growth takes a healthy root in the soil, there will be a danger of collapse and chaos”.
• Also, Article 51A(e) of the Constitution does not differentiate between citizens in any of the categories and makes it an all-encompassing duty.