Coming of age in the republic of injustice
EducationWorld January 05 | EducationWorld
In anticipation of Republic Day which is traditionally celebrated by the establishment with archaic pomp and pageantry, EducationWorld investigates the cumulative impact of high-promise high-potential post-independence India’s slide into a republic of injustice, upon children coming of age in this society fashioned by the heirs of Mahatma Gandhi. Dilip Thakore reports As the populace awaits the colourful pageantry and pomp of the somewhat obsolete military parade down Rajpath, New Delhi on the nation’s 54th Republic Day, such forced celebrations apart, this is also a time of introspection and national stocktaking. is it mere imagination or is there some substance in the pervasive feeling that never has there been such low expectation and lack of public enthusiasm for republic day (January 26) ‘celebrated’ by the establishment as the anniversary of the proclamation of a national charter of rights and code of governance, aka the constitution of India? On a wintry day on November 26, 1949 newly independent India which had suffered foreign rule for several centuries, threw over the last trappings of foreign domination — nominal allegiance to King George VI as head of the Commonwealth — and gave itself a new national identity (officially celebrated on January 26, 1950) as a wholly sovereign republic with its own head of state by adopting, enacting and endowing itself an elaborate written constitution comprising 22 parts or chapters, 395 Articles and ten schedules. With French-inspired justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as its guiding principles, the extensively debated Constitution of India — perhaps the most comprehensive national charter of citizens’ rights and code of governance in global history — bestowed cast-iron, unbridgeable fundamental rights upon all citizens, and minorities in particular. Fifty four years later during which the Constitution has been amended 93 times, the idealistic dreams of the founding fathers of the Constitution lie in tatters even at the base of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue which graces the entrance to the nation’s Parliament. The ideal of social justice has been trampled almost to death in a society characterised by massive disparities of wealth and opportunities and the transformation of the republic into one of the most corrupt nation states of the world, according to the assessment of the Berlin-based investigative institute Transparency International. Simultaneously the nation’s over-hyped independent legal system has been emasculated by calculated neglect and massive case arrears. “Its a vicious circle…” Kamal Kandadai (24) is a first year business management student at the Sadhana Centre for Management and Leadership Development, Pune. What is the significance of Republic Day for you? Republic Day is more significant than Independence day because it gave the country a road map for national development in every sphere. It gave the ministers, bureaucrats, and all political parties a blueprint, a vision, a mission to wipe every tear from every eye. To what extent do you believe that India’s post-independence leaders have discharged the mandate of the Constitution? Immediately after independence great leaders like Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, and even Indira Gandhi worked hard to fulfill the mandate of the Constitution and demonstrated…