Individual freedom and social justice: Indian liberalism

Detail

1. Individual freedom came from more than a century of struggle

• India's freedoms were not a gift from the framers. Indians demanded them for more than 100 years before 1950.
• Early 19th century: Rammohan Roy and the press
• Rammohan Roy protested when the British put limits on the press.
• His argument: a state that answers to people's needs must allow "unlimited liberty of publication".
• 4 December 1821: he started Sambad Kaumudi, a Bengali weekly. It was one of India's earliest Indian-run newspapers [5].
• 1823: the acting Governor-General, John Adam, issued the Press Ordinance (Licensing Regulations). Every newspaper now needed a government licence, and the government could cancel it at any time [5].

• Roy closed his Persian weekly Mirat-ul-Akhbar rather than publish under these rules. He called freedom of speech and freedom of religion natural rights (rights every person has from birth, which no government grants) [5].

• Throughout British rule: Indians kept asking for a free press.

• 1919: the Rowlatt Act
• The law let the government arrest and detain people without trial. The national movement fought it.
• 18 March 1919: the Imperial Legislative Council passed it. Every Indian member voted against it [4].
• Under the Act, anyone suspected of sedition could be arrested, searched and detained without a warrant. Special tribunals heard cases in secret, with no jury, no lawyer for the accused and no right of appeal [4].

• Gandhi led the protests against it. This was a turning point in his rise as the leader of the national movement [4].

• What the Constitution did with these memories:

Colonial wrong	Constitutional answer
Press licensing and censorship (1823 onwards)	Art. 19(1)(a): freedom of speech and expression
Detention without trial (Rowlatt Act, 1919)	Art. 21: no one can lose life or personal liberty except by procedure established by law
Arrest with no lawyer and no hearing	Art. 22: protection against arbitrary arrest and detention

• 40 years of rights demands before 1950:
• From about 1910 to 1950, every Congress resolution, scheme, bill and report treated individual rights as non-negotiable (not open to bargaining).
• Nehru Report, 1928 (drafting committee chaired by Motilal Nehru): this was the first constitution drafted by Indian leaders themselves. It promised free expression of opinion, the right to assemble peacefully without arms, and the right to form associations or unions [6].
• It also gave the vote to every person of either sex aged 21 or above who was not disqualified by law [6].
• Karachi Resolution, 1931 ("Fundamental Rights and Economic and Social Change"): it listed civil rights such as free speech, equality and religious freedom [7].
• The Karachi Resolution also made socio-economic rights (rights to basic economic and social conditions, such as fair wages) central to India's political goals. The Nehru Report had included them earlier, but less centrally [7].

• Result: NCERT says the Constitution has a "pretty strong liberal character".

• Check-your-progress classification (NCERT):

• Individual freedoms: freedom of expression; freedom of religion.
• Other values (community rights or social justice): the right of minorities to run their own educational institutions; equal access to public places.

2. Liberal individualism: what the Constitution "reinforces and reinvents"

• Liberal individualism means two things:
• Individual autonomy: each person is free to run their own life and make their own choices.

• Individual rights: the state must protect each person's rights, even against the group they belong to.

• The Indian setting: community values in Indian society were often indifferent or even hostile to individual freedom. Caste, religious and family customs often decided a person's life.

• What the Constitution did: it "reinforces and reinvents" liberal individualism.
• It reinforces it by guaranteeing rights to each individual (Arts. 19, 21, 22).

• It reinvents it by placing those rights in a society organised around communities, so that individual freedom sits alongside community rights.

• NCERT example (exercise 6): the freedom to criticise how widows are treated. A person can speak against a harmful custom of their own community, and the Constitution protects that person.

3. Indian liberalism: different from classical liberalism

• Classical liberalism (the Western form): it puts individual rights above social justice and community values. The state mainly stays out of people's lives.
• Indian liberalism: from the start it was joined to social justice and community rights. The state actively helps groups that suffered past injustice.
• Why the framers chose this: they believed formal equality (the same law for everyone, on paper) could not:
• undo injustice that had gone on for centuries; or

• give real meaning to the vote for people kept down by caste.

• Where you see it in the Constitution:

Provision	What it does
Art. 330	Seats reserved for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha
Art. 332	Seats reserved for SCs and STs in state Legislative Assemblies
Art. 334	Sets the time limit on these reserved seats; Parliament has extended it again and again
Art. 16(4)	Lets the state reserve government jobs for any backward class that is not adequately represented in state services
Art. 17	"Untouchability" is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden; enforcing any disability arising from it is a punishable offence
Art. 46 (Directive Principle)	The state must promote "with special care" the educational and economic interests of weaker sections, especially SCs and STs, and protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation [3]
Other Directive Principles (Part IV)	Guidelines the state must follow when making laws for social and economic justice. Courts cannot enforce them.

• Reserved seats extended to 2030: 104th Amendment, 2019
• The Constitution first gave SC/ST reserved seats for 70 years. That period was due to end on 25 January 2020 [2].
• The bill was introduced as the Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha on 9 December 2019 by the Law Minister [2].
• It amended Art. 334 to extend SC/ST reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by 10 years, to 25 January 2030 [2].
• It was enacted as the 104th Amendment, 2019. It did not extend the nomination of Anglo-Indian members, so that provision ended in January 2020 [2].

4. Two streams of Indian liberalism (K.M. Panikkar, In Defence of Liberalism, 1962)

Stream	Leaders	Focus
Individual-rights stream	Rammohan Roy	Individual rights, especially women's rights
Social-justice stream	Keshab Chandra (K.C.) Sen, Justice M.G. Ranade, Swami Vivekananda	Bringing social justice into orthodox Hinduism

• The Constitution joins both streams: it gives rights to individuals (Part III) and pursues justice for groups (reservations, Art. 17, Art. 46).

5. Two achievements of this philosophy (NCERT)

• Achievement 1: it reinforced and reinvented liberal individualism in a society that often did not value individual autonomy (see section 2).
• Achievement 2: it upheld social justice without giving up individual liberty.
• Caste-based affirmative action (special help, such as reservations, for groups that faced past discrimination) was written into India's Constitution in 1950.

• The USA started similar programmes only after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, almost two decades later (NCERT exercise 4(c)).

• Case law on reservations is covered in the note on safeguards for vulnerable sections.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 19(1)(a), Art. 21 and Art. 22 trace back to the fights against press curbs and against the Rowlatt Act (1919).
• Rammohan Roy opposed the Press Ordinance of 1823 (acting Governor-General John Adam) and closed Mirat-ul-Akhbar rather than publish under licence [5].
• Rowlatt Act: passed 18 March 1919. It allowed detention without trial and trials by special tribunals with no jury and no appeal [4].
• Nehru Report (1928): the first Indian-drafted constitution. It promised free expression and adult suffrage at age 21 [6].
• 104th Amendment (2019) amended Art. 334: SC/ST reserved seats extended to 25 January 2030; Anglo-Indian nomination not extended [2].
• Art. 330 = Lok Sabha SC/ST seats; Art. 332 = state assembly SC/ST seats; Art. 16(4) = job reservation for backward classes; Art. 46 = a Directive Principle (Part IV), not a Fundamental Right.
• K.M. Panikkar, In Defence of Liberalism (1962): two streams. Rammohan Roy = individual and women's rights. K.C. Sen, Ranade, Vivekananda = social justice within Hinduism.
• Trap: freedom of expression and freedom of religion are individual freedoms; minority educational rights and equal access to public places reflect community rights or social justice.
• Trap: India's caste-based affirmative action (1950) came before US programmes that followed the Civil Rights Act, 1964.

Mains Points

• Indian liberalism vs classical liberalism: classical liberalism keeps the state out. India's version asks the state to act (Arts. 16(4), 17, 46, 330, 332). The framers held that formal equality alone could not undo centuries of caste injustice or make the vote meaningful. Useful for questions on the "philosophy" or "liberal character" of the Constitution.
• Rights born from struggle: Arts. 19, 21 and 22 answer specific colonial wrongs: press licensing in 1823 and the Rowlatt Act in 1919. The line runs through the Nehru Report (1928) and the Karachi Resolution (1931) [4][5][6][7]. This shows Part III is home-grown, not just borrowed from abroad.
• Individual vs community tension: the Constitution protects a person who criticises their own community's customs, such as the treatment of widows. It also protects community rights, such as minority institutions. Balancing the two is its key achievement, and still a live debate.
• Debate on how long reservation should last: reserved seats were meant to last 10 years, yet Art. 334 has been extended many times, most recently to 2030 by the 104th Amendment (2019) [2]. Arguments for: caste injustice continues. Arguments against: there should be a time-bound exit and a review of who benefits.