Memoranda for Submission to the Chief Ministers of the Two Telugu States.

Articles

Amendments to India’s Constitution

Dt:  12/12/19

 

Amendments to India’s Constitution

Dr T.H.Chowdary *

 

Since 2015 the  26th of Nov is observed as the Constitution Day. In his address to the nation Sri Narendra  Modi emphasized, among others the duties of citizens as enumerated in Article-51 of the Constitution -  citizens must carry out their  duties as much as exert their rights; indeed, the rights will follow only from duties.

 

2. Great men like Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr B R Ambedkar and Thomas Jefferson among others have held and preached that the constitution should be a living document to  reflect the changes in  society which arise because of science and technology being  pressed into service to achieve human happiness. In the light of these  observations the following changes,  amendments, insertions  seem to be  necessary.  Now that an intensely nationalism professing party and  forces are at  the helm of the  Union government and are in  a opposition  to effect amendments (103 times so far ) to the Constitution, the following amendments/addition must be  enacted.

 

 

Dr B.R Ambedkar on Constitution:   The workability of a constitution is not a matter of theory . It is  a matter of  sentiment. A constitution like clothes must suit as well as please….we have a constitution which runs counter  to the strong sentiments of determined  section is to court disaster if not to invite rebellion.

 

Thomas Jefferson  on Constitution : Thomas Jefferson  one of the most prominent founders of the USA and writer of that Republic’s constitution said that, “every generation can be deemed to be a nation which is entitled to write its own  constitution.

 

 

Nehru about Constitution: A Constitution must be held in respect but, if it ceases  to represent or comes in the way of the spirit of the age  or the  powerful urges of the people , then difficulties and conquests arise.  It is why therefore we have not only stability and fixity of purpose , but also a certain flexibility and pliability in a Constitution.

 

 

3. Articles 331and 333 refer to the nomination of Anglo Indians to the  Lok Sabha and to  some State Assemblies respectably. The Anglo Indian  community is more or less non-existent . Over time, most of them  have  migrated to Australia,  Canada and England and the rest are now indistinguishable from native Christians, having intermarried with them.

4. Article 51A  refers to  fundamental duties.

·         51A (F) has the words  composite culture”. This is a  figment of imagination. Muslims have repudiated  that overwhelmingly in the 1940s itself, leading to the  partition of the  country and  creation of the  Islamic state of  Pakistan.  If somebody be liger that a composite culture has developed in India,  why  is that the composite  culture  not there  in Pakistan  or Bangladesh?  Instead of the word composite  culture  we may substitute   millennial  Bharatiya  culture.

 

·         A new clause 51A (K): India has been witnessing unbridled growth of  population, especially among the sections that  can  ill afford them. India is spending increasing amounts of money on an increasing variety “welfare” schemes. This has been at the cost of  development in the economy, industry, educational and health. The new class (K) should be that “to ensure the wellbeing and prosperity of  all Indians, it is the duty of  every family to restrict children to two whether they be  boys or  girls.”

 

·         Sub clause-L : There should be a fundamental  duty of citizens to refrain from carrying on religious  propaganda  denigrating some religions and extolling others and converting people as this leads to strife and  separatism and disaffecting on the people.

 

·         Sub-clause M  should provide for the right of the state to enforce  conscription in times of emergency declared under Article-352. The sub-clause  should read” it is the duty of every citizen to accept conscription and  served in the  armed forces of the  country for  defense from external aggression or internal revolution”.

 

5. Article-30:  This gives rights and privileges to religious (and linguistic)  minorities to establish and manage educational institution of  their choice”, The gives them exemptions from to rules and regulations  that apply  to educational institutions  founded and managed by the  Union & State governments.  It means that religious minorities have more right and privileges that the majority has not. This is adverse discrimination against Hindus .Therefore discrimination must be abolished by restricting the nature of the  educational institutions  founded by minorities to subjects and  content that makes them  a religious minority. The history of the religion,  their civilization, the contents of  the  religion  maybe  the subjects taught in the minority educational institutions  and  not engineering or medicine or business management or computers  etc., all of which have no relation   to any religion. Alternatively, the communities (castes)  in the majority Dharma   (Hinduism) must also have the right to  establish, administer and manage educational institutions of their  choice

 

6. Preamble: In the Preamble of the constitution the words “socialist’ and “secular”  were introduced by an amendment during  the Emergency rule of   the late  Indira  Gandhi. There is neither  a definition nor explanation for these two words. The state-owned  corporations are being  privatized while  socialism  as universally understood requires the State to own industries and businesses, at least those which are  vital to the country’s defense and security and   those  that serve the social purpose of  alleviating  poverty .

 

Secularism as universally understood requires the State  to have no concern with religions in shaping government policies ; equal treatment of all religions  if the state wants  to concern with them . However, in India the state’s revenues are being used to subsidise  the pilgrimages of Muslims and Christians  to Mecca and to Jerusalem respectively;  construction of Haj Houses and  churches;  funding  religious schools like  madrasas and giving  special  rights and privileges to “minority religions” Islam & Christianity to found and manage  educational institutions of their  choice including engineering & medical colleges, computer and business management schools…which have nothing to do with any religion and denial of this right and privilege to the Hindus in which there are about  5000 castes    each of which  is much smaller than Muslims  or Christians .

 

Therefore, these two words  socialism and secular should be deleted from the  Preamble  as they are interpreted by the High Court and Supreme Court judges according to their own concept of these words. 

 

Supreme Court  has been now and then laying down that the “Basic Features” of the  Constitution cannot be amended.  These basic features have not been spelt out; much less explained unambiguously in any schedule of the  Constitution. The judges  will  invoke, “basic  futures” doctrine which is not in the Constitution but which they are  invoking without defining. The doctrine of “basic features” must be given up or spelt out through an amendment of the  constitution.

 

7. Article  25  as it stands every citizen is  free to profess, practice  and propagate his religion. Hindus traditionally and Buddhists’ and Jains for the last several centuries have not been propagating their religion. Propagation  has  no meaning  if its aim is not to convert others. And with this  understanding although the  Supreme Court  held that right to propagate does not give right to convert Christian missionaries and  Muslims tablighi movements are engaged in propagating their religions with the firm aim of getting converts from Hindus, especially from the less informed and indigent  sections of Hindus . Hinduism does not engage in converting persons of Islam  of Christianity or Judaism to Hinduism . It may welcome the  misguided converts to revert to the Hindu fold.  So the right to propagate as impalement in  India  by evangelizing  missions is aggression on Hindus   who don’t indulge in retaliatory  practices, that is missionary activity to  convert Muslims and   Christians to their  dharma, Hinduism. So this word  “propagate”  must be  removed and conversion of Hindus  must be banned . Conversion should  be confined from and to evangelizing religions between themselves.

 

8. Article 26:  This gives the right to establish and  manage  religious affairs to   different communities. Yet, inspite of  secularism in the Preamble  several state governments   are taking over the places of worship of  Hindus, namely temples and administering and managing them through government’s endowment  department.  This is  an invidious  discrimination because those  very governments  don’t take over, manage and administer Churches of Christians or Mosques of Muslims . Therefore there should be an explicit sub-clause to the effect, “ no government either of the Union or of the  states shall make any law authorizing it to take over places of worship of the followers of any religion and  dharma, that is Hinduism.  The states which have taken over the Hindus places of worship (temples)  should be  immediately disengage from them and make a suitable  law just like the  Gurudwara  Prabhandhak Committee Act to enable the followers of dharma i.e Hinduism to establish  proper management  and administration of temples.

 

9. Article  27 &28  prohibit the imposition of taxes specifically raised through specific taxes in support of any particular religion . However, several governments of  States and  the Union  have been using  funds raised through general, taxes and loans support religious activities like  Muslims’ Haj pilgrimage and Christians pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; construction of Mosques  and  Churches, paying Imams and Muezzins of Mosques of Muslims and Pastors  of  Churches of Christianity and this while not a rupee from the government funds  is spent for the  pilgrimages of  Hindus or for the construction  of temples  or paying the Priests. Therefore the Article-27 must be amended to the effect that  State governments  and Union shall not use  their  finances  in support of religious  activity of any community  – Muslims, Christians,   Sikhs  and Hindus which include Buddhist and Jains .

 

10. Article-28  must be changed to the effect that Governments of States and the Union shall not fund religious schools like madrasas or  seminaries and missionary schools and  Vedapatasalas where  attendance for  religious instruction is compulsory and cultural  norms of respective  religions are  imposed. The degrees and certificates of these  educational  institutions should not  be equated with examinations conducted by government  bodies and Universities recognized  by the University Grants Commission and AICTE for employment in government  or Public Sector Undertakings.  (1,671 words)

 

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