Any invention big or small, scientific or unscientific what ever it is, if it makes a development that changes our social life in an optimistic way then it has that much worthiness, that it should get appreciation from us because it is somehow contributing to our most important line written in our Constitution that our country is existing today in a good state just because our Constitution has been made by the people who are the representatives of all Indians chosen by us for our development as a whole.
This description of our constitution’s importance will definitely give rise to a question in our mind i.e how this line will make a contribution to any invention? But dear readers, is it not true that our constitution is the most valuable invention in our history? And being a responsible citizen of the Democratic Republic and Socialist India the answer must be “Yes”.
December 13, 1600 was the dark day when the East India company entered India to have trade of spices with East and South East Asia and India with their motive of exploitation. India was at that time unaware of what exploitation is and with the happiness to get uplifted in trade as well as somehow in lifestyle, Indians with wholeheartedly welcome this East India company .But unfortunately later some people of our India realized that these Britishers are really exploiting the poor peoples of India and planning to continue this until they bring down our Golden Eagle ,India, down to earth fastened with the chains of slavery.
India remained in this deadlock situation for about 200 years . Within this time many freedom fighters sacrificed their lives to give freedom to their nation but the real fruit of their sacrifices came when in 1858, when British company agreed to grant the sovereignty of India from the hands of East India company because British company realised that it is better to compromise with Indian leaders who put on an offer to form its own Indian constitution under the framework of British Constitution. And thus on August 2 ,1858, after Lord Canning proclaim the victory of British arms, parliament passed the Government of India Act, 1858 transferring the British power over India from the East India companies whose lack of eptitude was primarily blamed for open rebellion to the crown.
Thus in 1934 ,M.N Roy ,a pioneer of the communist movement in India and an advocate of radical democracy was the first man who put forth the idea of Indian Constituent Assembly for framing a Constitution for India for and according to the Indians.in 1947 on 29th August the constituent assembly was set up by drafting committee.The chairman of this drafting committee was Dr B. R Ambedkar to whom it was told to form the draught constitution for India.But it was actually written by Prem Behari Narain raizada in italic style with beautiful calligraphy. it was published in Dehradun and photographed by Survey of India. Finally the constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950. From this day onwards everything of India changed . Where the tears of our farmers which was just soaking their pillows at night with silence is now absorbed by the soil of our golden land to cultivate for their own people that is ,for Indian .
Our lengthy written Constitution was having 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules at the time of its commencement changed our social life totally. Where before Constitution was made we Indians were being suppressed by the Britishers, have to cultivate what the Britishers wanted ,had to face the racial discrimination ,lower caste were treated as slaves, it was as if being Indian was a curse for us. But seriously ,it is so? Is being born in India is a curse now? The answer is definitely “No”. This strong Constitution help us to come out from that devastating dark past and brought forth a new India where we are proud to say that we are the citizens of India. At that moment for us our Constitution was:
“constitution is not a mere lawyers document,
It is it is a vehicle of life and its spirit is always the spirit of age”
—B R Ambedkar
One of the renowned person of this world,Abraham Lincoln in favour of the Constitution said that we should not interfere in the constitution as it is only to safeguard our liberties. This mentioned line cleared all our doubts about the enforcement of the rights ,duties and powers given to the citizen of any country. And it is also applicable in India. Our Constitution gave us many liberties ,duties and powers but also at the same time restricted us from misusing those. The most important Article of our constitution are those which are still now dealing with the Fundamental rights, Directive principles of State policy and Fundamental duties.
• Part III (Article 12 to Article 35)—Our Indian constitution guarantees six fundamental rights to the Indian citizens . (I) right to equality. (II) right to freedom. (III) right against exploitation. (IV) right to freedom of religion. (V) the cultural and educational right (VI) the right to constitutional remedies.
• Part IV (Article 36 to Article 51)–The Directive Principles laid down that the state shall strive to promote welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it’s may be a social order,in which the social justice economic justice and political justice shall form in all institutions of National life.
• Part IV A (Article 51A)–This part of the Constitution defined as the moral obligations of all the citizen to help and promote a spirit of patriotism . It helps in upholding the unity of India .These duties concern individuals and the nation.
One of the finest leader Mahatma Gandhi told that still now everyone wants to know what his/her rights are, but Gandhiji believed that if a person learn to discharge his/her duties, rights from childhood and studies the sacred books of his/his faith he/ she will automatically will exercise his/ her rights too.
But having powers rights will somehow or the other may exploit people because we are humans, there is no end of our expectations and desire .Thus it is essential to make modifications in the Constitution according to the changing conditions and changing society because it is essential for us, the people to move or to behave in the same way as a society wants so that to maintain peace and security .These modifications made through a procedure called amendments in the in the previous laws in the constitution through Acts. Even new articles and schedules are also been added to secure our rights, duties and powers. So now we have 448 articles in 25 parts and 12 schedules.This procedure of amendment was first started on 10thMay 1951, which inserted Article 31A and 31 B and schedule 9 to add special provisions for the advancement of backward classes or SCs and STs and also protecting against laws that are contrary to the constitution guaranteed Fundamental rights. And till date in 2020 amendments has been going on i.e. amendment of article 334 on 25th January 2020 which is been done to extend the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in Lok sabha and State Assemblies from 70 years to 80 years. It also removed the reserved seats for the Anglo Indian community in Lok sabha and State Assemblies .
So,this Indian Constitution has made our social life peaceful after its invention which was previously drowned in the ocean of slavery and exploitation. Thus invention of our Constitution is suitable under the title of “One invention/ development that changed…”because it is the one which is still now binding all of us with the strong thread of unity. In favour of this mentality Sardar Patel said that every Indian should forget that he or she is a Rajput or a Sikh or a Jaat ,they must remember that they all are Indians and he or she has every right in their country but with certain duties. He also said that with common effort we can raise our country to a new greatness ,while just a simple lack of unity will expose our country to fresh calamities. Thus at last we should agree that yes it is our constitution which is a great invention and a great asset for us, the Indians which not only helped us to come out from the bad situation of past but also changed our social life which was very essential and will also safeguard our future.
