After watching the Result Day Live show, I was gazing at the green vegetation of Chandaka Elephant Reserve and was about take a sip of my evening of Coffee. Suddenly,I recollected that during their psephological analysis, many times the channels were quoting “caste – a social group” and then a question has popped up .
“Is India Secular?”
As citizens of this India we proudly say, India is a secular country. (Guys, don’t misunderstand me, but frankly, I feel the proud adjective is used as an exaggreration for Indians.)
To recall our memory, we have been introduced to this word, “Secularism” during our primary or upper primary social sciences classes. I believe it was not the right age to study it in depth and to understand its pros and cons.
Further, as the time passes, we are least bothered about the same as we are not from the Arts steam. Although, it was flushed out of our minds, once in a while, it flashes into our memory when the media flashes a breaking news about some riots or electoral process or on National Festivals(Independence day & Republic Day).
I believe that, the first and foremost responsibility of any citizen of any country is to understand, his/her country's constitution. Unfortunately, none of the Indians dare to do so. It is a waste of time for them. This helps to understand their stand towards Patriotism.
Sorry,Perhaps I am deviating from the base point. Before, finding out whether India is really secular or not? We should try to understand the terms “Secularism”, “Secularization” , “Secular State”
Wikipedia defines these terms as follows:
Secularism is the principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism
Secularization or secularisation is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward nonreligious (or irreligious) values and secular institutions Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization
A Secular State is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion.[1] A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion/nonreligion over other religions/nonreligion. Secular states do not have a state religion (established religion) or equivalent, although the absence of a state religion does not necessarily mean that a state is fully secular; however, a true secular state should steadfastly maintain national governance without influence from religious factions. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_State
As an idealogy, Secularism means the separation of government and its functionaries from the religious values/ faiths. In other words, in the secular society religion and the religious faiths are insignificant both in theory and practice.
To your knowledge, The words "socialist" and "secular" were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment . India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day.
It is very pity to say that, we Indians hrap about overselves as Originators of great civilizations. But, we were lack of knowledge to create own Constitution. It is fact that many concepts such as Praliamentary Democracy, Separation of Powers amont the major branches of Government, Distribution of powers between Central and State Governments, Establishment of Supreme Court, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, Judicial Review etc., have been adopted from various constituitons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India#Adoptions_from_other_constitutions)
Now, we should ask the following questions to ourself.
If India is declared as secular? Why the reservations?
At first, the answer is “India is a Socialist”. We will discuss it on some other day or some other time.
But, Why the reservations of Caste based rather that Poverty or Social Status based?
I don’t how many of you agree with me. However, as per my understanding, Caste is religiously evolved social section/group of people. It could be any sub-sections of Hinduism, Christianity, Shikism, Buddhism, Jainism or Islam. Everything is a part of religious faith.
So, I keep this question open to you “Is India Secular?”.
I would request you all to read the Wikipedia article “Secularism in India -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism_in_India” and let me know your views.
“Is India Secular?”
As citizens of this India we proudly say, India is a secular country. (Guys, don’t misunderstand me, but frankly, I feel the proud adjective is used as an exaggreration for Indians.)
To recall our memory, we have been introduced to this word, “Secularism” during our primary or upper primary social sciences classes. I believe it was not the right age to study it in depth and to understand its pros and cons.
Further, as the time passes, we are least bothered about the same as we are not from the Arts steam. Although, it was flushed out of our minds, once in a while, it flashes into our memory when the media flashes a breaking news about some riots or electoral process or on National Festivals(Independence day & Republic Day).
I believe that, the first and foremost responsibility of any citizen of any country is to understand, his/her country's constitution. Unfortunately, none of the Indians dare to do so. It is a waste of time for them. This helps to understand their stand towards Patriotism.
Sorry,Perhaps I am deviating from the base point. Before, finding out whether India is really secular or not? We should try to understand the terms “Secularism”, “Secularization” , “Secular State”
Wikipedia defines these terms as follows:
Secularism is the principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism
Secularization or secularisation is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward nonreligious (or irreligious) values and secular institutions Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization
A Secular State is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion.[1] A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion/nonreligion over other religions/nonreligion. Secular states do not have a state religion (established religion) or equivalent, although the absence of a state religion does not necessarily mean that a state is fully secular; however, a true secular state should steadfastly maintain national governance without influence from religious factions. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_State
As an idealogy, Secularism means the separation of government and its functionaries from the religious values/ faiths. In other words, in the secular society religion and the religious faiths are insignificant both in theory and practice.
To your knowledge, The words "socialist" and "secular" were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment . India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day.
It is very pity to say that, we Indians hrap about overselves as Originators of great civilizations. But, we were lack of knowledge to create own Constitution. It is fact that many concepts such as Praliamentary Democracy, Separation of Powers amont the major branches of Government, Distribution of powers between Central and State Governments, Establishment of Supreme Court, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, Judicial Review etc., have been adopted from various constituitons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India#Adoptions_from_other_constitutions)
Now, we should ask the following questions to ourself.
If India is declared as secular? Why the reservations?
At first, the answer is “India is a Socialist”. We will discuss it on some other day or some other time.
But, Why the reservations of Caste based rather that Poverty or Social Status based?
I don’t how many of you agree with me. However, as per my understanding, Caste is religiously evolved social section/group of people. It could be any sub-sections of Hinduism, Christianity, Shikism, Buddhism, Jainism or Islam. Everything is a part of religious faith.
So, I keep this question open to you “Is India Secular?”.
I would request you all to read the Wikipedia article “Secularism in India -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism_in_India” and let me know your views.
