If you conduct a survey in your neighborhood or even your own home, you will discover that everyone understands fundamental rights but only a small percentage understands fundamental duties. Let’s find out why this difference is happening.
Indian Constitutional Assembly did not give fundamental duties in its initial phase, but they were introduced in the year of 1972 by PM Indra Gandhi during the period of national emergency. They were introduced by the influence of the Soviet Union and the idea of socialism. The Constitutional Assembly had a debate in which Dr. B.R. Ambedkar put forward the idea of restricting the fundamental duties from the constitution, as the condition of the people of India at the time of 1946 was not very good and mature to understand the
What fundamental rights do we have as Indian citizens?
Our Constitution makers in India were already aware of the importance of fundamental rights, so they included them in the India Constitution without debate in the very early Part 3 of the Constitution.
Fundamental rights are fundamental because they are essential for the all-round development of individuals ( material, intellectual, moral, and spiritual).
Inspired by the Constitution of the USA ( Bill of Rights) which was introduced on 4 July 1776, we have adopted fundamental rights in our Constitution in part 3. Part 3 of our Constitution is also known as the “Magna Carta of India”.
Fundamental rights are “justiciable” in nature. They uphold the equality of individuals, the dignity of individuals, the larger public interest, and the unity of the nation. Fundamental rights are meant to promote the ideal of political democracy. They prevent the establishment of authoritarian and despotic rule in the country. Also to protect the liberties and freedoms of the people against the invasion of the state. In short, they are aiming at the establishment of “a government of law and not of men”.
When will India become a permanent member of the UNSC?
Let us find out why India should be a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
The United Nations Security Council is an organ of the UN that works to maintain international peace and security. It was established by the UN Charter in the year of 1945, after World War II. India was one of the 51 founding members of the UN Security Council. The UNSC has five permanent members: America, France, Russia, China, and the U.K. These permanent members have veto power by which they can remove any bill from the council. Along with these permanent members, it also has ten elected members, who are elected for a period of two years as temporary members. India has had a seat in these temporary member’s clubs for the past eight times and will continue to do so in the future. The main aim of the UNSC is to neutralize terrorism and violence in the world, to maintain a peaceful environment, to perform actions for public health, and raise concern for climate conditions.
We all know that our Constituent Assembly was framed in November 1946 by the Cabinet Mission Plan. Under this Assembly, many committees were present that performed different tasks assigned to them for the preparation of the Constitution of India. The Assembly had 11 sessions over 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days and outraged the Constitution that we have with us till the present time and will use it for the future also, of course with some amendments according to the needs of that time.
It was the tight writing and clear explanation by our Constituent Assembly that made our Constitution one of the best Constitutions in its very early phase of formation. Our Constitution has given the universal adult franchise from the very first beginning of it. Even The U.S.A. Constitution in its early stage did not provide voting rights to women, our Indian Constitution has had this right for women from its birth. The reason for this is the members of our Constituent Assembly, who have discussed every aspect of the 60 constitutions of different countries and tried to get essential facts and the missing information in them, which can be very useful for the people of India. In the great Constitution that we have, everyone has the right to equality of speech, freedom, against exploitation, constitutional remedies, and many other rights to ensure the well-being of the people of India. Still, we have a few people who criticize our Constituent Assembly.
Let us discuss much of that criticism and how far that criticism is right or wrong.
Many critics have argued that the constituent assembly was not a representative body as the members of it were not elected by the people of India by the method of direct election or universal adult franchise. Our explanation is the situation of that time period of 1946-50 in India. At that time in India, no earlier system of elections had been presented, and no budget was present for the process of elections. Also, representatives in the Constituent Assembly were selected by members of the particular community of the representative.
Also, the number of representatives was made according to the population proportion of the community in India. This concludes that this criticism is wrong.
2. Not a sovereign body:
Many criticize it because it was created by the British government. Furthermore, they said that the Assembly held its sessions with British Government permission. This criticism is wrong as, after the Indian Independence Act of 1947, all British limitations were removed, and the Constituent Assembly became a sovereign body. this is the 2nd Criticism of our Constituent Assembly
Most people Criticise our Constituent Assembly because they think that it took a long period of time compared to other countries’ constitutions, as the U.S. Constitution was completed in less than four months. The reason is that their constitution was not perfectly bound. They did not provide many rights at the time of their constitution’s formation, but hundreds of years later, like the right to vote for women. But in the Indian Constitution, we accepted universal adult franchises. Since we tried to cover almost all necessary rights and acts, that’s why our Constitution took a long time. But the result is much bigger than the time that our Constituent Assembly invested.
4. Dominated by the Hindus and Congress:
This criticism was definitely wrong as the constituent assembly has members of each and every community according to their population. So, of course, Hindus were in majority so Hindu representatives were more than any other community. And second, Congress was the biggest party at that time and had a very big hand in the independence of the country. Almost every famous leader or fighter of Indian independence was linked to Congress at any point in time. Hence, these leaders of Congress were elected as representatives, and hence Congress has more seats than any other party.
5. Domination of Lawyers and Politicians:
We know that the leaders of the Indian freedom movement were mostly lawyers like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, etc. The trend was for law degrees at that time. Moreover, most politicians have great skills in dealing with legislative work, and so they dominate the Constituent Assembly. This resulted in the bulkiness of the Constitution, but it was necessary to explain every aspect of any act and the conditions of the rules and regulations to be implemented in a proper manner. Hence, it was good to have lawyers and politicians who worked for the upliftment of the country as their representatives in the Constituent Assembly.
Conclusion :
We can say that our Constituent Assembly was an assembly of gems of India who made the Indian Constitution is the most reliable and perspicuous Constitution among the Constitutions of developed and developing countries in the world
At the time of 1833 most part of the Indian province was under the system of the monarch. The East India Company was the ultimate power at that time due to their immense powers in the region of the army, so they proposed a system of subsidiary alliance in which rulers of these monarchies were asked to remove their independent army and were assured to be protected by the British army in the condition of attack upon them, in the exchange of it they want payment for it. This was a trick by the Britishers, as for some time the king was unable to pay the payment, and their territory would be annexed by the east India company. This was the first reason for the Revolt of 1857 the anger against the east India company among the nawabs and kings.
The second reason for the Revolt of 1857 is the anger among the public was the harsh and inhuman treatment by the Britishers towards the residents of India.
The policies of colonial rule made by the east India company appeared as the greedy policy of the Britishers. The company ruined the Indian industry with its factories. land revenue policies were also very harsh. The period from 1770 to 1857 also experience 12 major famines which created critical living conditions. As the company had not granted any relief to the people, people could not connect with their rule, as a result, grievance accumulates among people against the east Indian company’s rule.
The Third reason for the Revolt of 1857 was the sepoys
i.e. The army of the east India company was made up of peasants whose lands were annexed by the Britishers, as a result, they could not show their full loyalty to the company.
The Fourth reason for the Revolt of 1857 was the exclusion of Indians from high-paid jobs in the darbars of kings, as Britishers did not support the artisans, craftsmen, and old army of kings.
This contributed to the emergence of a new group of unemployed aggressive class of soldiers called pindars who belongs to the army of kings.
The Fourth reason for the Revolt of 1857 was the “doctrine of lapse”
policy by lord Dalhousie under which no rulers were allowed to transfer the power of ruler to their adopted son and the kingdom will ultimately come under British administration. This shocked the Indian kings and queens. And find no way except either to accept their administration and pension or to fight a war with them.
The immediate cause of the revolt was the introduction of the Enfield Rifle in which greased cartridges were used.
Rumors soon spread among the native troops that the grease in the cartridges contained cow and pig fat. And this hurts the feelings of soldiers of both religions i.e. Hindus and Muslims in the army (Sepoy).
On 29 march 1857 revolt started as Sepoy “Mangal Pandey” of 34 native infantry in Barrackpore, Bengal, refused to use these cartridges and fired on his superior. And on 6 April he was hanged to death by the Britishers. This situation gained fire and on 24 April 1857 the main revolt began at Meerut near Delhi where many sepoys refused to use these bullets, in averse of this 5 sepoys of the 3rd cavalry were hanged, and 85 were imprisoned. On 10 May the rebellious soldiers of Meerut killed their superiors and marched to Delhi. Soldiers marched to the red fort and there they made Bahadur Shah the leader of their revolt.
Bakht Khan the commander-in-chief of Bahadur Shah lead the revolt in real. Following this, the sepoys captured Delhi city and Simon Fraser of east India company with many other officers was killed. from Meerut, this revolt spread to another part of central India. In June 1857 revolt spread in Kanpur, Lucknow, Benaras, Bareilly, Jagdishpur, and Jhansi.
In Kanpur Nana Saheb 2 became the leader of the revolt with their 2 lieutenants as Tatya Tope and Azimullah Khan. They annexed Kanpur fully from the grip of the Britishers. This incident was followed by brutal violence from the rebels killing many Britishers this was known as the Massacre of Satichura ghat, Bibighat Massacre. The East India Company used this as a propaganda tool, back in London for gaining support for them.
Many British troops regiments arrived in India, and they first siege Delhi again in the month of September Bahadur Shah was arrested and his two sons and grandson were shot by British agent William Hodson.
Just after capturing Kanpur, Tatya Tope with 20000 men went to help Rani Laxmibai (Manikarnika) of Jhansi. Dalhousie refused to allow her adopted son to succeed to the throne, after her husband’s death. Both Tatya Tope and Laxmibai fought and were defeated by british forces and went to Gwalior and captured Gwalior fort but loses Jhansi fort to Sir Huge Rose. On 6 December Colin Campbell defeated Nana Saheb 2 and retook Kanpur. Nana Saheb escaped to Nepal and Tatya Tope was hanged to death. Mass rapes and killings of women and children, by the british soldiers, to avenge Bibighat and Satichur massacre. In June 1858 Rani Laxmibai was martyred in the battle of Gwalior.
Begum Hazrat Mahal led the revolt in Lucknow and was later suppressed by Colen Campbell.
Many other important leaders of the mutiny are Kunwar Singh of Bihar, Liyaqat Ali of Allahabad, Kadam Singh of Meerut, Maulvi Mohammed Ullah of Faizabad, and Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly.
As Delhi was under siege again, the intensity of the revolt declined rapidly. As the revolt failed, Bahadur Shah Jafar was exiled to Rangoon, Burma. Begum Hazrat Mahal escaped to Nepal. Many brutal punishments were given to sepoys who participated in mutiny.
The causes of failure are as many as in the revolt there is a lack of leadership in the revolts. the revolt was confined only to north and central India, and not the whole of India participated in it. Many Indian rulers give active support to Britishers like Scindias of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, Nawab of Bhopal, Maharaj of Kashmir, Raja of Jodhpur, and many other Rajput rulers.
Another reason is modern educated Indians did not support the revolt as they think this would lead to a monarchy system against democracy in the few emerging countries like France and USA.
Lack of communication and planning also cause failure. In opposite of it, the Britishers have telegrams, railways, and post support which help them in a fast faction against revolt.
With the fall of Delhi on 20 Sept 1857 after a bitter fight, the nerve point of revolt disappeared.
By the end of 1858, British rule over India was fully re-established. After this Government Of India Act of 1858 passes in the british parliament after which by Queen’s proclamation, the administrative control of India was transferred from the East India Company to the British crown
