India Briefing, 1987 by Marshall M. Bouton

Author:Marshall M. Bouton [Bouton, Marshall M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429718373
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Constitutionally Prescribed Goals of Indian Society

In 1947, when India became independent, some of the most prominent architects of India's freedom movement held markedly different views of what India's future society should look like. Mahatma Gandhi endorsed a land of self-sufficient villages in which the prosperous would share their wealth with their poorer neighbors, and grassroots village councils would promote the welfare of all through example and moral suasion. Gandhi was suspicious of centrally designed plans and doubted if reform could be genuinely effected by government legislation. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a highly educated leader of India's "untouchables," was also skeptical of legislation but mistrusted moral suasion even more. As chairman of the constitutional drafting committee, he insisted that India's constitution should unequivocally abolish "untouchability" and forbid its practice in any form. Furthermore, India's laws and courts should also undermine (and eventually destroy) the whole of India's system of hereditary castes and their undergirding religious ideologies. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, felt India should move self-consciously toward a socialist, urban, industrialized society united in its commitment to "humanism and the scientific spirit."

Over the next two years the framers of India's constitution faced the problem of trying to weave together these (and other) visions of India's future society into a single document. In the end, they adopted a series of provisions under which citizens could try to shape their own—and India's—future. These provisions included: (1) voting rights for all men and women over the age of twenty-one; (2) specified property rights for women (as well as for men); (3) freedom of religion within a secular state; (4) the identification of fourteen languages of India and the recognition of the right of any language group to develop and conserve its own language.

In addition to defining the political, economic, religious and language rights of India's citizens, the constitution contained provisions mandating certain future changes in India. These provisions included: (5) the designation of Hindi as the official language of India (to start fifteen years after the enactment of the constitution) and the retention of English as an official language until then; (6) the reservation (initially for ten years) of proportional ratios of seats in the national parliament and the state assemblies for elected members of the scheduled castes and tribes (variously referred to also as "untouchables," "exuntouchables" and "harijans"); (7) the reservation of proportional ratios of state and central government jobs (as well as admissions to medical, engineering and other schools) for members of the scheduled castes and tribes and (8) the possible reservation of proportional ratios of state and central government jobs for members of any "backward classes" underrepresented in such government jobs, thereby providing a potential mechanism for improving the lot of any disadvantaged categories of citizens, regardless of their caste or tribe.

Many of the events that occurred in Indian society during 1986 are more understandable when seen within the context of India's constitution. On one hand, the constitution outlines the rules whereby individuals and groups in India may attempt to

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