Established 1946 1 Pages 20 Price : Rupees Five Vol. 74 No. 11 Current Threats to the Constitution April 7, 2019 Prashant Bhushan Modinomics = Falsonomics: Part II Sixty nine years ago, we framed a Our constitution also guarantees Neeraj Jain constitution and founded a republic. various fundamental rights to all Islamophobia, Theirs and Ours The foundations of this republic are citizens and some to even non Apoorvanand a democratically governed society citizens. The most important of these And Now, It's Lohia's Turn! with various fundamental rights is the right to life and liberty which Prem Singh guaranteed to every citizen and the is guaranteed to citizens and non The People of Palestine Are establishment of institutions which citizens alike which has been held on the March will preserve democracy and the by the Supreme Court to include Vijay Prashad rights of citizens. not just the right to a bare life and Tosepan: Resistance and Though we founded a bare liberty but also a life of dignity Renewal in Mexico representative democracy where and thus having all those amenities Alex Jensen people do not have a direct say in and facilities which allow for a life Aurat March Still Faces government decision making or of dignity such as food, shelter, Never-Ending Backlash and law making, but it is implicit that education, healthcare, a healthy Threats of Violence in Pakistan for democracy to be meaningful, environment, a corruption free Raghuram Rajan Says Capitalism the people must have adequate society, etc. is ‘Under Serious Threat’ information about what is happening The right to liberty also requires in society, how the country is being a freedom from oppressive and Editor : G. G. Parikh governed, what kind of law and draconian laws which jeopardise policies are being proposed, so that the liberty of citizens. In the other Associate Editor : Neeraj Jain they can discuss all these issues and civil rights guaranteed by the Managing Editor : Guddi express their opinion about them. constitution is the freedom of speech It is also necessary in the and expression which has been held Editorial Board : functioning of democracy that power to include the right to a free media as B. Vivekanandan, Qurban Ali and in particular financial power is well as the right to information and Anil Nauriya, Sonal Shah not so unevenly distributed, so that therefore the right to be informed Amarendra Dhaneshwar, a few people will be able to in Noam about the functioning of all public Sandeep Pandey Chomsky’s words “manufacture authorities and institutions. We have consent” by using their power also been guaranteed the right to D-15, Ganesh Prasad, to advertise and influence public equality and therefore the protection Naushir Bharucha Marg, opinion. of minorities from an assault on their Mumbai - 400 007. Email : [email protected] This is the text of the Krishna Bharadwaj Memorial Lecture, delivered Website:www.janataweekly.org by Prashant Bhushan at Jawaharlal Nehru University on March 14, 2019. 2 JANATA, April 7, 2019 rights by a communal majority. In the first 64 years of our to privacy, etc). Various institutions have been republic, our representative There was also some created by the constitution and democracy made some progress improvement in the protection the laws to guard the functioning and some regress as well. The breath of Dalits and minorities with the of democracy and also to protect and depth of education did improve creation of a Minorities Commission fundamental rights of citizens. These overall during the first 64 years, and an SC/ST Commission. Several include an independent judiciary, thereby making way for a more rights based legislations have also which has been tasked to protect educated citizenry. been enacted especially in the first fundamental rights and to ensure The advent of the Right to decade of the 21st century, such as that the executive and the legislature Information Act in 2005, also led to the Food Security Act, the Forest remain within the bounds of the a substantial advance in the progress Rights Act, the Rural Employment powers laid out for them by the of democracy as people got greater Guarantee Act, and the new Land constitution. access to information about the Acquisition Act of 2013. These went An Election Commission has functioning of public authorities. a long way to expand and strengthen been created to ensure free and fair A robust right to information the rights of poor and marginalised elections and all that is necessary campaign ensured that the RTI sections of society. for that. A Comptroller and Auditor Act was used substantially leading The first 64 years also saw a General has been set up to do to greater transparency of public strengthening of several institutions, financial and performance audits of institutions and authorities. The including the judiciary, which every part of the government which Election Commission also became become more independent and uses public funds. Special laws have more independent and robust, which robust in general, despite other been made to set up an independent led to freer and fair elections. institutional failures of being Central Vigilance Commission However, economic inequality inaccessible to the majority of the which is supposed to not only of our society grew particularly people, being lethargic and also accord vigilance clearance to public after economic liberalisation, unaccountable and corrupt. Despite servants, but also to supervise the with policies focussing on GDP all these problems, its independence functioning of the CBI and act as the growth at any cost. This increasing improved as the selection of judges nodal agency to receive complaints economic inequality led to more was withdrawn from the government from whistle blowers. and more wealth in the hands of and vested with the judiciary itself. The Lokpal Act was brought in fewer people at the top who could Though that led to slightly more to set up the apex anti corruption then use it to influence elections independent judges being appointed, ombudsman and the CBI Act to create and thus our polity came to be it did not necessarily lead to more an anti corruption investigating controlled increasingly by large honest or more competent judges agency. There are also various corporates and policies were tailored being appointed. laws and institutions to protect the for the economic interests of large The first 64 years also saw, freedom of the press. A Salutary corporates rather than the people. strengthening of the independence Whistle Blower Law was also This also led to the phenomenon of as well as institutional depth of the passed. manufacturing consent as Chomsky Election Commission as well as of If we do an audit of the called it. the CAG. Despite both these bodies functioning of our democracy, the On the front of fundamental being appointed by the government, health of fundamental rights of rights, the first 64 years also saw this happened because of the growth citizens and the health of institutions some expansion of rights particularly of these institutions themselves and created to protect all of this, it might by the Supreme Court through an the breath and depth that was added be useful to divide all that into what expansive and creative interpretation to them, as well as an institutional happened in the first 64 years and of the right to life (which was held to embedding of their functional what has happened in the last five include a right to live with dignity) independence, which gradually years since Independence—since as and the freedom of speech (which seeped into the consciousness of we will see the last five years have was held to include the right to the individuals who came to man been a watershed in many ways. information, a free press, the right these institutions, especially in the JANATA, April 7, 2019 3 last 30 years. to be partisan and decided by the and not making laws to ensure that The Supreme Court also chipped government. parties and candidates receive and in to order changes in the method Officers from Gujarat who are spend money only through banking of selection of the Director, CBI, said to have been close to the channels (cashless transactions the Central Vigilance Commission Prime Minster and Amit Shah have which the PM wanted to impose on and the Police Chiefs in order to been appointed to the Election the country through demonetisation), make them more independent. The Commission, with the present Chief three retrograde changes in the law of institutional changes directed by Election Commissioner not only election funding have increased the the court in the police organisations being from Gujarat but also one who role of money power and corporate were such that if they had been figures in the Radia tapes where he hijacking of elections. properly implemented it would led talks to her about an acquaintance The Foreign Contribution to a sea change in the functioning who claimed that he had paid 9 crores Regulation Act, brought primarily of the police, at least with regard to to obtain a favourable judgement to prevent parties, candidates and its independence from the political from the then Chief Justice of the public servants from getting and executive. Punjab and Haryana High Court. being influenced by foreign funds, Unfortunately, however, many He was at that time perhaps heading has now been amended to allow of those salutary changes ordered Air India. receipt of foreign funds through which included the establishment That such a senior officer did subsidiaries of foreign companies. of a Police Establishment Board not bother to report this serious The limits on corporate donations for transfers and postings of corruption of justice to any authority, to parties and candidates which police officers, the creation of but quietly mentioned it in gossip was earlier 7.5% of their profits has Police Complaints Authorities for with a corporate lobbyist Nira Radia, been removed to allow unlimited entertaining complaints against speaks volumes about his character.