Advertisements
Advertisements
प्रश्न
One of the limitations of the Constitution of India is that it does not adequately attend to gender justice. What evidence can you give to substantiate this charge? If you were writing the Constitution today, what provisions would you recommend for remedying this limitation?
उत्तर
Any answer supported with an argument or explanation would solve the purpose. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, one sample solution has been provided for your reference:
It is true that there are inadequate provisions for gender justice in the Constitution. Though it is a fundamental right of every citizen to be treated equally there is no specification of the basis of gender but the specification is made on religion, caste, and class.
Citizens cannot be exploited or discriminated against on the basis of their caste, class, language, and religion but there is no mention of gender. Respect for women has been confined to the directive principles and women’s rights are not specified so that they can be interpreted and defended by the judiciary. The status of women within the family has also been ignored in the Constitution. Thus, it makes no special privileges for almost half of the population while there are provisions for affirmative action for other socially backward groups and minorities.
Provisions for women
- Freedom of conscience and profession irrespective of the gender of the citizen
- Right to liberty and personal freedoms especially speech and expression irrespective of the gender of the citizen
- Move freely and safely throughout the territory of India
- Right to life and liberty
- Minimum age of marriage- 21 years for both males and females
- Making education is must for girl child
- Curbing practices like female infanticide and foeticide with harsh punishment for either
- Protection from domestic violence
- Protection from any kind of sexual harassment
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Explain the difference between the Indian Constitution and western ideas in the light of
a. Understanding of secularism
b. Articles 370 and 371
c. Affirmative action
d. Universal adult franchise
Which of the following principles of secularism are adopted in the Constitution of India?
a. that state will have nothing to do with religion
b. that state will have close relation with religion
c. that state can discriminate among religions
d. that state will recognise the rights of religious groups
e. that state will have limited powers to intervene in affairs of religions
Match the following.
|
a. |
Freedom to criticise the treatment of widows |
i. |
Substantive achievement |
|
b. |
Taking decisions in the constituent assembly on the basis of reason, not self-interest |
ii. |
Procedural achievement |
|
c. |
Accepting the importance of community in an individual’s life |
iii. |
Neglect of gender justice |
|
d. |
Article 370 and 371 |
iv. |
Liberal individualism |
|
e. |
Unequal rights to women regarding family property and children |
v. |
Attention to requirements of a particular region |
This discussion was taking place in a class. Read the various arguments and state which of these do you agree with and why.
Jayesh: I still think that our Constitution is only a borrowed document.
Saba: Do you mean to say that there is nothing Indian in it? But is there such a thing as Indian and western in the case of values and ideas? Take equality between men and women. What is western about it? And even if it is, should we reject it only because it is western?
Jayesh: What I mean is that after fighting for independence from the British, did we not adopt their system of parliamentary government?
Neha: You forget that when we fought the British, we were not against the British as such, we were against the principle of colonialism. That has nothing to do with adopting a system of government that we wanted, wherever it came from.
Why is it said that the making of the Indian Constitution was unrepresentative? Does that make the Constitution unrepresentative? Give reasons for your answer.
Do you agree with the statement that “it is not clear why in a poor developing country, certain basic socio-economic rights were relegated to the section on Directive Principles rather than made an integral feature of our fundamental rights”? Give reasons for your answer. What do you think are the possible reasons for putting socio-economic rights in the section of Directive Principles?
