India


In an NDTV 'debate', a student said "This is a democratic country, these politicians are trying to make it into a socialist country". I don't think he knows this: The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic (wiki page).

"Equality" is a constitutional right in India (including reservations for 'backward' classes).

PS. Hindi is not India's 'national language'. It does not have one.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

civics class'la thoongirappan paiyyan. Illa romba American movies paakraan.

Anonymous said...

Civics class la evan thoongaama irupaan. Civics sir-e thoonguvaan. :P

Anonymous said...

*-irupaan?

user said...

is he saying democracy and socialism can't co-exist?

Escape.... Great Escape said...

The truth is that India is not democratic. secular or Socialistic. We are sovereign... and we are definitely a republic.

Some Englishman once said the Indian constitution is so unoriginal that it is at best a patched-up quilt...

Anonymous said...

Is India democratic:yes

Throw some light:people vote and elect their leaders.

And read this:"every citizen gets the government he deserves"

Anonymous said...

"every citizen gets the government he deserves"
EVERY citizen? No. I don't think so.
Like Bernard Shaw once said, "democracy is a kind of government that ensures that the majority get the government they deserve."

Anonymous said...

Oh fuck. Come to think of it, I think it was Bertrand Russell that said it. But screw the source. I think the 'quote' makes sense.

P.S. I get confused between Bertrand and Bernard Shaw all the time.

Hawkeye said...

havent checked up. but from memory. sec 343. 'hindi as it is expressed in devanagiri script is the national tongue of india'

then the susequent sections 344, 345 start with the 'not withstanding anything mentioned in 343...'

Suresh ET said...

illa Bharath,

I think even 343 defines it as an 'official language'.

If the links in this post are to be trusted, that's what it says:

http://vetri-vel.blogspot.com/2006/12/india-does-not-have-national-language.html

Hawkeye said...

Suresh,

you are correct. just checked the online version of consititution provided by GOI in nic.co.in (wikipedia provides a link to this at the end of the indian constitution page)

indigoo said...

"every citizen gets the government he deserves"

I think this is mentioned (or some version of it) in Mahabaratha itself. Suresh can confirm. :)

Also "socialist" (& secular) was added in through an amendment, and were not part of the original version. This doesn't change the ongoing argument though, just a note.

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