Human rights and Indian values: 

Human rights and Indian values: 

Context

Neither civilizational ethos nor the mere enshrining of constitutional morality is enough to deliver on basic rights

Hate crimes

Author begins by stating that the widely reported hate crimes committed in our country very recently, have been justified in the name of injuring the sensibilities of Hindus. They are, for all to see, unmistakably acts of hate committed against a member of a religious minority

Opinion of Vice President

On December 10, at an official ceremony at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said two noteworthy things

• He first affirmed India’s commitment to human rights emphasising the duty of governments to ensure them to individuals
• Second, he observed that human rights existed in India not due to some constitutional morality but because of the DNA of Indian civilisation. To clarify what he meant he chanted from the Upanishad “Sarve Janaha Sukhino Bhavantu”, loosely translated as “May all be happy”

Author’s contention: Government’s role is fundamental

Author contends that the constitutional provisions are inadequate by themselves and the role of government is fundamental in advancing them. In fact, it is precisely because we cannot rely on civilisational values that may or may not be enshrined in the constitution to deliver us rights that we adopt democracy as the form of government

Civilizational values: Not sufficient

Author states that mere civilizational values are not sufficient in delivering us the rights. Followers of both Hinduism and Islam suffer from arrogance, claiming inclusivity of Hinduism and egalitarianism of Islam. History has shown them to have been neither inclusive nor egalitarian

Progress only due to democracy

It is clear that Indian civilisation has not had much success in ensuring the delivery of social & economic rights. If any progress has at all been made in the desired direction, it has been after the adoption of a democratic form of governance; an arrangement that is distinctly non-Indian in its origins

Collapsing social distance

Economic inequality has steadily risen and ecological stress is written all over the country cannot take away from the fact that there has been progress of a form that has collapsed social distance

• The rise to the prime ministership of India of Mr. Narendra Modi is the best testament to this
• There is social churning in India, with some of it having come through affirmative action and some of it through economic transformation in which the more recent liberalisation of the economy has had some role

New enemies

As India has managed to shed its centuries old practices, new forces have emerged,

• We have begun to see an unimaginable rise of violence against women and Muslims
• Hardening patriarchy and Hindu chauvinism are India’s unanticipated demons

State should intervene

The efficacy of constitutional provisions is entirely dependent on the government machinery entrusted to our elected representatives. An effective protection of individuals, in this case women and minorities, from acts of violence requires the power of the state to weigh in on their side. In too many cases of violence against women, Muslims and Dalits, the Indian state is distinguished by its absence

Response to historical wrongs

In a recent paper Canada-based economist Mukesh Eswaran demonstrated that it is possible to understand “9/11” and home-grown terrorism in Western Europe as a response to the historical wrongs inflicted on Muslim societies by Western powers, notably the invasion of Iraq

Lessons for India

Transferring Eswaran’s reasoning to the Indian context, one might argue that India should contain violence against its Muslims to ensure the safety of Hindus. But such crass instrumentalism would be unworthy of a great civilisation. We want to ensure the flourishing of all the peoples of India not out of self-preservation but because we want to be civilised