[Essays] September Week4: De-bureaucratizing the executive, Hidden Euthanasia, Gender equality

A Constitution always integrates, it never divides.
What is a Constitution? This question which seemingly deserve a pensive and thought provoking answer has been discussed widely among academic circles. It remained subjected to fearsome debates since the concept of state evolved .The ideology which went into making of a Constitution inspires many to believe in ideas of human values such as justice, liberty and freedom.

With the dawn of Industrialisation the production increased manifold and need to state intervention aroused. Classical economist like Adam Smith and other’s advocated for laissez faire economy which in turn limited the role of State. The progressive society witnessed upheaval in all walk of society which gave impetus to the more dominating role of state thus the long cherished goal of Steering role of state emerged. The never ending politico economic circle reached it’s conclusive end with the rise of Constitutionalism.
The founding ideas of constitution was inspired by the great revolutions of 18th and 19th century world. Idea of liberty was grounded in French revolution which was dominated by great thinker like Voltaire and Montesquieu.” No taxation without Representation” which was buzzword during American war for Independence emphasized the idea of Economic Justice. The fall of Autocratic Regime of Czar was motivated by the idea of republic democracy during Russian Revolution. Nonetheless, More of similar ideas was grounded in the making of Constitution.

Modern world specially post WWII has seen unanimous acceptance of Constitutionalism as the guiding principle of administration. Some like UK ,France kept is unwritten while other’s like USA, India has written constitution, while some other’s are still living in medieval age without any effective system of governance. Whatever be the mode of administration everyone subscribe to the view that there should be some guiding principle to the administration which confirms to dominating Societal values. If it is so then why Constitution is being perceived as the dividing force?

The answer needs a deeper understanding of Human psyche. Even though Constitution is seen as the Sacrosanct document which has all the goodness of world it is for us to get it implemented in action. As it is said “Constitution never fails it is us who fails”. Modern socio- political set up are the product of “collective consciousness” if I may refer it so, the prevailing societal values gets it reflection in the politico- administrative system. The ideological divide are being projected as the failure of Constitution which is never the case. To elucidate the case let’s take some recent example.

Nepal,A small Hindu Kingdom in foothills of Himalayas remained in focus on the global world stage in recent times. After the King of Nepal decided to take Nepal on the path of democracy the idea remained in the state of perpetual anarchy due to failure on the consensus of the framework of Constitution. The CPN(Maoist) who believes in the Philosophy of Mao that ‘Power flows from the barrel of Gun’are one of the main party to power sharing the other being Madhesi parties. The failure to make a constitution is classical case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object the result being dead end .The lack of consensus is more of ideological divide and less of Constitutional divide ,It is the inherent idea which CPN(Maoist) subscribe to which make other’s apprehensive of making them reliable partner in Governance.

Similar Constitutional Divide is being perceived in case of Countries which went through recent “Arab Spring”which resulted in Toppling of several monarchical and autocratic regime in Northern Africa and West Asia like Tunisia, Libya , Egypt etc and still going on in Syria. If one peeps deeper into the issue it is more of a religious and sectoral divide and less of Constitutional divide. The religious belief of one sect makes another apprehensive of their intentions ,it is fear of minoritism which dominates and guides the political discourse then why to blame Constitution as the dividing force?

Come to Ukraine and see how the ethnic identity has become the guiding force of nationalism and what one perceive as Constitutional divide is actually the Linguistic and identity divide.

There can be several other examples which confirms the above fact . Constitution always remained the binding force of Human Kind since the idea has germinated .There cannot be better example than India.

A country of 1.25 billion people ,the Geography of which extends from snow capped Himalayas to long coastal line to fertile plains. Most of the major religion took birth in India like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism , More than 200 language are spoken. The diversity of India can be established from the fact that the Indian currency has 17 languages printed on them. Such a diverse country has remained united withstanding all the divisive and secessionist tendencies since six decades after Independence . If any thing can take credit it has to be Indian Constitution which was carefully drafted by our forefathers. It not only Integrates but has also remained the guiding light whenever any confusion arises as the supreme law of the land.

There are other successful democracies in the world which is testimony to the fact that Constitution Integrates diverse ideology, religious belief ,ethnicity etc into oneness. The idea of Global Governance further emphasized on the role of constitution being the integrative force of the Global world.

Thus Constitution is the belief of Human kind in oneness .It for us to change to adopt and practice high ideals of constitution in letter and spirit. It is for us to think what makes us different from animal being. It is for us to decide what kind of world we want to live in. It is for us to act which will make our society a just and fair place. It is the time when we follow the ideals of our father of the Nation Gandhi ji who said
“ Be the Change you want to see in the World”
Let’s Try and Make our World a more beautiful , a more prosperous , a more equal place where even Gods want to live in.

Can someone tell me how good is the subscription of Paperwallah.wordpress.com. Initial impression seems kind of ok???

A Constitution always integrates, it never divides
More than 65 years ago, people in colonial countries demanded to make their own constitution. Prior to that they were living under rule imposed by the people of foreign origin. A desire to to live by their own way prepared them to fight for independence. However in some countries fault lines had been developed within those same freedom fighters struggling against colonial power regarding the nature of constitution. It led to division of a country known for its military prowess and rich cultural diversity, British India into India and Pakistan to cite an example.
Basically, a constitution is a piece of paper written to govern a particular area of land. It contains some basic principle according to which people and market functions. It reveals the idea of how the makers of the constitution wanted to proceed toward future. It shows their ideology. Government is meant to protect the life and property of its citizens. And therefore constitution provide guidelines to government to dispense their responsibility. Government have necessary tools to impose its law and order over its people. Nations having monarchy as a form of government, where government impose law at its own will without taking common people in confidence, but in democratic countries government is for people and government should garner public support before taking any action which has direct or indirect affect on interest of its people. Government should give maximum freedom to its citizen. Over the years many countries adopted different constitution for their people. For most colonial countries like India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonasia got their constitution after colonial master left them, but in countries like Mayanmar and Bangladesh right activist had to forge a battle against their own people to get their choice. In places like South Africa colonial masters had enslaved the local people living there and denied fundament rights to them. After a prolong period and long battle with government locals activist won the battle to get equal rights on par with their White people.
People derive power just like government from constitution. So both are equally empowered to exercise their rights over the each other. People choose government so what government does after electing will also be decided by people. People have wish to lead their life according to their own beliefs. So in this process some differences within people occur due to religions they practice and profess, caste they falls within, geographic territory from which they belong, and many more. This very difference in their identity which they have got after living isolated from other group from their ancestors push them to differ with other. They think differently because of their race, religion, caste, ethnicity and gender. In such a way they have interest contrasting with other group and sometimes overlapping. Therefore the idea of constitution becomes a herculean task when a large number of people are its stakeholder cutting across country. We cannot fulfill the the aspiration of all community at a given time. At some time one community may have to concede and it may gain at later period.
Despite the obvious differences we are all human being after all. We have same need. We all need drinking water, healthy food, shelter and above all dignity to lead our life. All religions teaches us some common values such as righteousness, compassion and to be good with other fellow human beings. All profess to promote peace and harmony within world. Therefore there is need for government which respects and protects all community members. Meanwhile its worth mentioning here that from past may centuries we are living together under one system. Constitution have been a binding force to help us to live together. We already have resilience and temperament. It does neither discriminates nor only serve interest of one or more particular community. A constitution which claims to be secular and commit to serve all its citizens will not work to divide them.

please suggest me how to read news paper and also what to read