BRIEF ON “INDIAN SECULARISM”

BRIEF ON “INDIAN SECULARISM”

ð Secular state designates the kind of relationship which separates state and religion.

ð According to D. E. Smith, Indian secularism is not rooted in Marxist active hostility to religion.

ð In a small sense, Smith tracks some U.S. indluences in the development of this idea in India.

ð The biggest root of India Secularism, however, lays at the Sambhana Dharma, which is the vedantic principle of equal respect to all faiths.

ð The core of Indian secularism is the separation of state from religion, of religion from education and the adherence to rationalism and scientific temper.

ð D. E. Smith points that Indian secularism guarantees individual and corporate freedom of religion, deals with the individual as a citizen irrespective of his religion, and is not constitutionally connected to a particular religion, nor seems either to promote an interference with religion.

ð He also offers an analytical tool to understand Indian secularism based on three principles:

1. The relation between religion and individuals ought to allow freedom of religion

o Mean the individuals must be free do deliberate and take religious choices without interference from the state.

o Is guaranteed individually and collectively, as in the right or association for common beliefs, practices and disciplines. As in the Article 25 of the constitution, which follows:

§ “Subject to public order, morality and to health and to other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion”.

· This guarantee is not confined to citizens, but extended to all persons, including aliens.

o The definition of religion plays a major role in the application of this article.

§ The Bombay High Court has several decisions given a very narrow interpretation of religion and it’s constitutionally warranties of freedom.

§ In Ratilal vs State of Mumbay the definition of religion was restricted to moral and ethical percept.

· In this case the state regulated some secular economic activities lead by some religious organizations.

o The constitutional article 26 deals more specific with rights of collective religious organizations.

§ It was also mentioned in the Ratial vs State of Mumbay.

§ This way, the juridic tradition recognizes religion strictly in terms of faith and belief, and the authority apparatus is regarded as secular management of a religion.

2. The relation between state and individuals ought to assure irrespective citizenship

o Citizenship in India mean that the individual rights and duties are not affected by individual religious belief.

o D. E. Smith points that this concept is based in the idea that the individual,, not the group, is the basic unit of the State.

3. The relation between state and religion ought to assure the separation of state and religion

o Article 14 of the Constitution says that there is right to protection before the law and equal protection under law.

o On article 15 it goes beyond and states that “the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”.

§ This article is contradicted in the Constitution itself when it prescribe positive discrimination measures to deal with the caste problems.

§ According to Alexandrowicz; “in its special provision for the SC’s and ST’s and OBC’s the Constitution introduced “protective discrimination in favour of those sections of the community which requires urgent support”.

o The article 326 disposes that “there shall be elections on the basis of adult suffrage”, what warrants the non-discrimination due to religion among citizens in the area of voting and representation in the legislatures.

o The current Constitution abolishes the system of Communal electorate, which was first established in 1909.

ð In Smith view, state and religion are different areas of human activity, each with its own objectivities and methods, so, they shall not interfere in each other because there would be a lack of legitimation.

ð According to him, separation of state and religion preserves also the integrity of the other two relationships mentioned before – Freedom of religion and citizenship.

ð Broadly, Smith highlight 3 main points in the India Constitution which help to separate State and Religion:

1. There is no provision regarding an official state religion.

2. There can be no religious institutions in state schools.

3. There can be no taxes to support any particular religion.

REFERENCES:

· C. H. ALEXANDROWICZ. “Constitutional developments in India”.

· D. E. SMITH. “India as a secular state”.

· HARDGRAVE AND KOCHANEK. “India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation”.