This day Pledge to undo the amendments made to Art-74 in 1976 and 1978 to strengthen safeguards for Protecting, Preserving & Defending COI
DAYA SAGAR
Indians have already celebrated 77th anniversary of Independence (78th Independence Day 15-08-2024) & 75th anniversary of Constitution (26-11-2024) and are now to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Republic (76th Republic Day) on this 26th January. On this day Indians should first take a look at the good done by our elders for us in giving the generations to come a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic, the tasks they slated to be done , the tasks accomplished so far and must pledge for the accomplishment of leftovers without , at places, any more undue extensions in time.
Not only that we need to introspect what more needs to be done by us , may be even for securing / strengthening the provisions of the constitution which were incorporated as the basic spirits / basic structure of the constitution like the Institution of President of India ( Art 52 to 63, Art-74) on oath as protector, preserver and defender of the Constitution who will devote self to the service and well-being of the people of India.
It will be most appropriate to mention here that those who framed the Constitution had said “in our Constituent Assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution” and so is observed 26th November as Constitution Day and take notice of Art- 394 which says that Art-394 and articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 & 393 shall come into force at once, and the remaining provisions of this Constitution shall come into force on the twenty-sixth day of January, 1950, which day is referred to in this Constitution as the commencement of this Constitution so that is why 26th January is celebrated/ observed as Republic Day of India. Attention is particularly drawn here to the Art-60 ( affirmation of oath of office of President ) which became effective w.e.f 26-11-1949 i.e the constitution day itself in terms of Art-394.Over 105 amendments ( even omitting some articles like Art -379 to Art-391 ) have been so far made to the constitution of India using Art-368 after 26-01-1950 for facilitating applications of various existing provisions or for better execution of the spirits underlying the constitution, some of the amendments done by Parliament have been reviewed by the Supreme Court of India and have been also held ( Minerva Mills case in 1980 ) void being against the doctrine of basic structure of constitution of like amendment made to Art-368 to add Section-4 in Art-368 by 42nd Constitution amendment Act of 1976. So there is scope for review of some more amendments and in my opinion the amendments made to Art-74 ( There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President ) vide relevant sections of *42nd Constitution amendment Act or 1976 and **44rth Constitution amendment Act of 1978 ( amended Art-74 < There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President *who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice: **Provided that the President may require the Council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.>) which put absolute restrictions on President of India for performing duty as per oath taken in terms of Art-60 of the constitution are against the doctrine of basic structure of COI . On this republic day the political leadership must pledge to undo these amendments even through the parliamentary process. Even the amendments could be taken for judicial review by supreme court of India.
Similarly Those who drafted constitution of India though did not have majority members from socially & educationally backward sects/ castes / religious minorities/remotely located communities/ women but the constitution drafted and adopted in Constituency Assembly on 26th November 1949 had not only intimately & concernedly secured & supported the interests of tall the citizens in terms of educational, administrative , political and economic requirements of weaker sections in the India Independent republic but had also laid down provisions and directions { principles} in constitution to materially & intellectually support the weaker sections / sects (Art- 46. Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections ,Art- 41. Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases; Art- 39. Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State;. Art – 339. Control of the Union over the administration of Scheduled Areas and the welfare of Scheduled Tribes, Art 340. Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes, Art-341Scheduled Castes, Art-342 Scheduled Tribes ) so that they too not only become self sufficient but also capable supporting others . Target was set to minimize the needs for providing special props / supports to categories like socially and educationally backward classes as well as the administratively & politically backward Indian people with in a period of a decade or two { Art- 334.Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after 10 years ( now amended as after certain period ; Art -335. Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts.) in the legislature, Government services, education institutions ( Art- 330 :. Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People; Art- 332.: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States; ).
Similarly WE need to pledge this day to truthfully evaluate and test the status on ground as regards the Indian communities / sects that had been identified as Schedule Caste ( Who had socially and educationally fallen back over the centuries since they had suffered under the curse of even social discards like untouchability in view of the trades /jobs they were to do for survival &and also had very low income from such jobs. The social discrimination was attributed to more to Hindu society only and only “Hindu ” (and Sikh” ) were included in SC in 1950 where as others like Christians/ Muslims did not accept any social discrimination in their society. No any backwardness worth providing support on the basis of mere economic weakness was identified although the economically very poor people were also there in other castes / religious communities .
To be Continued
(The writer is a Sr Journalist, analyst J&K affairs and Social Activist)