Lesson 2 Freedom, Emancipation, Swaraj
Freedom
A belief in the supreme importance of the individual leads
naturally to a commitment to individual freedom. Individual liberty (liberty
and freedom being interchangeable) is for liberals the supreme political value
and, in many ways, the unifying principle within liberal ideology.
Freedom (or Liberty)
The ability to think or act as one wishes, a capacity that
can be associated with the individual, a social group or a nation.
Perspectives on Freedom
Liberals give priority to freedom as the supreme
individualist value. While classical liberals support negative freedom,
understood as the absence of constraints – or freedom of choice – modern
liberalsa dvocate positive freedom in the sense of personal development and
human flourishing.
Conservatives have traditionally endorsed a weak view
of freedom as the willing recognition of duties and responsibilities, negative
freedom posing a threat to the fabric of society. The New Right, however,
endorses negative freedom in the economic sphere, freedom of choice in the
marketplace.
Socialists have generally understood freedom in
positive terms to refer to self-fulfillment achieved through either free
creative labour or cooperative social interaction. Social democrats have drawn
close to modern liberalism in treating freedom as the realization of individual
potential.
Anarchists regard freedom as an absolute value,
believing it to be irreconcilable with any form of political authority. Freedom
is understood to mean the achievement of personal autonomy, not merely being
‘left alone’ but being rationally self-willed and self-directed.
Fascists reject any form of individual liberty as a
nonsense. ‘True’ freedom, in contrast, means unquestioning submission to the
will of the leader and the absorption of the individual into the national
community.
Greens, particularly deep ecologists, treat freedom
as the achievement of oneness, selfrealization through the absorption of the
personal ego into the ecosphere or universe. In contrast with political
freedom, this is sometimes seen as ‘inner’ freedom, freedom as self
-actualization.
Islamists see freedom as essentially an inner or
spiritual quality. Freedom means conformity to the revealed will of God,
spiritual fulfillment being associated with submission to religious authority.
Never the less, liberals do not accept that individuals have an absolute entitlement
to freedom. If liberty is unlimited it can become ‘licence’, the right to abuse
others.
Early or classical liberals have believed in negative
freedom, in that freedom consists in each person being left alone, free from
interference and able to act in whatever way he or she may choose. This
conception of freedom is ‘negative’ in that it is based on the absence of
external restrictions or constraints on the individual. Modern liberals, on the
other hand, have been attracted to a more ‘positive’ conception of liberty –
positive freedom– defined by Berlin as the ability to be one’ sown master; to
be autonomous. Self-mastery requires that the individual is able to develop
skills and talents, broaden his or her understanding, and gain fulfilment.
Negative Freedom: The absence of external
restrictions or constraints on the individual, allowing freedom of choice.
Positive Freedom: Self-mastery or self-realization;
the achievement of autonomy or the development of human capacities.
Reason
The liberal case for freedom is closely linked to a faith in
reason. Liberalism is, and remains, very much part of the Enlightenment
project. The central theme of the Enlightenment was the desire to release
humankind from its bondage to superstition and ignorance, and unleash an ‘age
of reason’.
By no means do liberals believe that individuals are
infallible in this respect, but the belief in reason builds into liberalism a
strong bias against paternalism. Not only does paternalism prevent individuals
from making their own moral choices and, if necessary, from learning from their
own mistakes, but it also creates the prospect that those invested with
responsibility for others will abuse their position for their own.
Read More:- B.A. Pol Sci Hons. 2nd Semester Notes
Freedom and Indian Constitution
Article 19-22 of the Indian Constitution deal with freedom.
Article 19 guarantees to all citizens the six rights. These are:–
(a) Right to freedom of speech and expression.
(b) Right to assemble peaceably and without arms.
(c) Right to form associations or unions.
(d) Right to move freely throughout the territory of India.
(e) Right to reside and settle in any part of the territory
of India.
(f) Right to practice any profession or to carry on any
occupation, trade or business.
Right to freedom of speech and expression:– It implies that
every citizen has the right to express his views, opinions, belief, and
convictions freely by word of mouth, writing, printing, picturing or in any
other manner.
The Supreme Court held that the freedom of speech and
expression includes the following:–
i) Right to propagate one’s view as well as view of others.
ii) Freedom of the Press.
iii) Freedom of commercial advertisements.
iv) Right to telecast, that is, government has no monopoly
on electronic media.
v) Right against bundh called by a political party or
organization.
vi) Right to know about government activities.
vii) Freedom of silence.
viii) Right against imposition of pre-censorship on
newspaper.
ix) Right to demonstration or picketing but not right to
strike.
Right to assemble peaceably and without arms: Every
citizen has the right to assemble peaceably and without arms. It includes the
right to hold public meetings, demonstrations and take out processions. This
freedom can be exercised on public land and the assembly must be peaceful and
unarmed. This provision does not protect violent, disorderly, riotous,
assemblies, or one that causes breach of public peace or one that involves
arms.
Under section 141 of the Indian Penal Code, as assembly of
five or more persons becomes unlawful if the object is a) is to resist the
execution of any law or legal process; b) to forcibly occupy the property of
some person; c) to commit any mischief or criminal trespass; d) to force some
person to do an illegal act; e) to threaten the government or its officials on
exercising lawful powers.
Right to form associations or unions: All citizens
have the right to form associations and unions. It includes the right to form
political parties, companies, trade unions, or any body of persons. It not only
includes the right to start an association or union but also to continue with
the association or union as such. Further, it covers the negative right of not
to form or join an association.
However, the right to obtain recognition is not a
fundamental right. The Supreme Court held that the trade unions have no
guaranteed right to declare a lock-out. The right to strike can be controlled
by an appropriate industrial law.
Right to move freely throughout the territory of India:
This freedom entitles every citizen to move freely throughout the territory of
India. He can move freely from one state to another or from one place to
another within a state. This right underlines the idea that India is one unit
so far as the citizens are concerned. Thus, the purpose is to promote national
feeling and not parochialism.
The Supreme Court held that the freedom of movement of
prostitutes can be restricted on the ground of public health and in the
interest of public morals. The Bombay High Court validated the restrictions on
the movement of persons affected by AIDS.
Right to reside and settle in any part of the territory
of India: Every citizen has the right to reside and settle in any part of
the territory of the country. This right has two parts: (a) the right to reside
in any part of the country, which means to stay at any place temporarily, and
(b) the right to settle in any part of the country, which means to set up a
home or domicile at any place permanently.
The right of outsiders to reside and settle in tribal areas
is restricted to protect the distinctive culture, language, customs and manners
of scheduled tribes and to safeguard their traditional vocation and properties
against exploitation. In many parts of the country, the tribals have been
permitted to regulate their property rights in accordance with their property
rights in accordance with their customary rules and laws.
Right to practice any profession or to carry on any
occupation, trade or business: All citizens are given the right to practice
any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. This right is
very wide as it covers all the means of earning one’s livelihood. The State can
impose reasonable restrictions on the exercise of this right in the interest of
the general public.
Further, the State is empowered to:
(a) Prescribe professional or technical qualifications
necessary for practicing any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade or
business;
(b) Carry on by itself any trade, business, industry or
service whether to the exclusion (complete or partial) of citizens or
otherwise.
Thus, no objection can be made when the State carries on a
trade, business, industry or service either as a monopoly (complete or partial)
to the exclusion of citizens (all or some only) or in competition with any
citizen.
Protection in Respect of Conviction for Offences:
Article 20 grants protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to an
accused person, whether citizen or foreigner or legal person like a company or
a corporation. It contains three provisions in that direction:
(a) No ex-post-facto law: no person shall be convicted of
any offence except violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of
the act, nor subjected to a penalty greater than that prescribed by the law in
force at the time of the commission of the act.
(b) No double jeopardy: No person shall be prosecuted and
punished for the same offence more than once.
(c) No self-discrimination: No person accused of any offence
shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
Protection of Life and Personal Liberty: Article 21
declares that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
except according to the procedure established by law. This right is available
to both citizens and non-citizens. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed its
judgement in the Maneka Gandhi case.
It has declared the following right as a part of Article 21:
(a) Right to live with human dignity.
(b) Right to decent environment including pollution free
water and air and protection against hazardous industries.
(c) Right to livelihood
(d) Right to privacy.
(e) Right to shelter.
(f) Right to health.
(g) Right to free education upto 14 years of age.
(h) Right to free legal aid.
(i) Right against solitary confinement.
(j) Right speedy trial.
(k) Right against handcuffing.
(l) Right against inhuman treatment.
(m)Right against delayed execution.
(n) Right to travel abroad.
(o) Right against bonded labour.
(p) Right against custodial harassment.
(q) Right to emergency medical aid.
(r) Right to timely medical treatment in government
hospital.
(s) Right not to be driven out of a state.
(t) Right to fair trial.
Protection Against Arrest and Detention: Article 22
grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained. Detention is of two
types, namely punitive and preventive. Punitive detention is to punish a person
for an offence committed by him after trial and conviction in a court.
Preventive detention means detention of a person without trial and conviction
by a court.
Article 22 has two parts-the first part deals with the cases
of ordinary law and the second part deals with the cases of preventive
detention law.
Second part of Article 22 grants protection to persons who
are arrested or detained under a preventive detention law. This protection is
available to both citizens as well as aliens and includes :- i) the detention
of a person cannot exceed three months unless an advisory board reports sufficient
cause for extended detention. The board is to consist of judges of a high
court; ii) The grounds of detention should be communicated to the detenu.
However, the facts considered to be against the public interest need not be
disclosed; iii) The detenu should be afforded an opportunity to make a
representation against the detention order.
Read More:- B.A. Pol Sci Hons. 2nd Semester Notes
Emancipation
Emancipation means empowerment or upliftment. For example
uplifting the poor and downtrodden, bringing policies and programmes to improve
their conditions, equip the people with such conditions or power which enable
them to work independently their own. Emancipation also includes prohibiting
any kind of discrimination or exploitation based on class, caste, creed,
religion, sex, place of birth Empowerment generally means to equip an
individual with power, basically the under- privileged class.
Empowerment in the era of human rights means there is
unlimited access to rights. International bodies and the State has made many
efforts through various laws to uplift the conditions of common man and enacted
necessary laws to protect and prevent the gross human rights violations among
the most vulnerable sections of the society. Empowerment is a concept that aims
to giving power to an individual at all levels, regardless of sex, class,
creed, religion or place of origin.
The various notions of empowerment clearly indicate that it
aims to uplift a person, it gives sufficient power so as to overcome all the
problems or burden, it empowers to fight against inequalities exist in the
society, it empowers to raise voice for the implementation of rights, it
enhances the confidence of people, it encourages people to participate in the
development and progress of the country, it empowers to gain access to basic
resources like food, water, health, education and other necessary things, it
empowers to overcome illiteracy and ignorance and enables one to demand their
rights.
Empowerment as a concept is very simple to define but it is
not a narrow concept. It is a broad concept, used in different scenarios and
different contexts. For instance, empowerment for a poor person will be to
reduce the economic disparity; empowerment for a wealthy person will be to have
control over the economy; empowerment for an unemployed individual will be to
get employed; empowerment for a person living in a village will be to have good
infrastructure facilities like good roads, electricity, construction of tube
wells and canals etc;
According to Naila Kabeer, empowerment is “the expansion in
people’s ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability
was previously denied to them”.3From this definition, we can say that the
underprivileged people who were first denied of basic rights and necessities
are now empowered. M .S. Lazo defines, “empowerment is a moving state; it is
continuum that varies in degree of power. It is relative, one can move from an
extreme of having absolute power”.
Jo Rowlands, explains ‘empowerment’ is bringing the people
into the decision making process who were not a part of it earlier.5 Rowlands’s
definition talks about the inclusion of people in the decision making process.
That is, he favors participatory democracy, where every person has equal say in
the decision making process affecting their life. In a similar approach,
McWhirter believes ‘empowerment’ is the process through which people,
organization or groups who are powerless, become aware of power dynamics at their
work and develop the skills and capacity for gaining reasonable control over
their lives, exercising control over others without infringing the rights and
support the empowerment of the community.
Types of Empowerment
Empowerment as a socio-political concept goes beyond
political participation and conscious arousing in the people. Empowerment in
general can be classified into five major types. They are social, economic,
political, and legal and gender empowerment.
Social empowerment enhances the power of a person to
restrict oppression, exploitation or any kind of discrimination. For example,
ability to stand against discrimination based on caste, class, creed, sex,
religion or place of birth. There are various Articles of the Indian
Constitution that provide social empowerment to the people such as the
‘prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or
place of birth (Article 15); Abolition of untouchability (Article-17);
Prohibition of human trafficking and forced labor (Article- 23); Freedom of
Conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (Article-
25); Protection of the interest of the minorities (Article- 29); promotion of
educational and economic interests of Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and so
on. Some of the laws enacted in India are Abolition of untouchability Act 1955;
Political Empowerment includes right to vote, right
to participate in the decision making, right to contest in elections,
reservation of seats for SC/ST and provision of reservation for women in Union,
State, District and other local bodies.
Economic Empowerment aims to reduce the gap between
the rich and the poor and provides equal opportunities. It creates an
environment where a person can work to earn for himself and his family. Each
individual can practice their own choice of profession. Equal opportunities in
employment (Article 16); equal pay for both men and women ; right to work
(Article 41); right to just conditions of work (Article- 42); to organize trade
unions (Article 43); promotion of trade; providing compensation to people in
case of accidents or accidental death at the work place; providing insurance
and other health facilities.
Legal Empowerment is guaranteed through a good legal
system in every country. These include basic human rights of a person,
fundamental rights and other rights which the State enforces from time to time.
Legal rights are enforceable by the courts and violation of these will invite
punishment. Hence, an independent and impartial judiciary is important for
legal empowerment. Some rights are for the citizen of a particular state while
some rights are granted to each and every person despite of the geographical
boundaries. Fundamental rights granted under the Indian Constitution are Right
to equality (Article 14); Right to particular freedoms (Article 19- 22); Right
against exploitation (Article 23); Right to freedom of religion (Article 25);
Cultural and educational rights (Article 29-30); Right to constitutional
remedies (Article 32). Apart from these rights, Article 39 provides equal
justice and free legal aid to the needy people.
Gender Empowerment aims to abolish the inequality
between men and women in the society. It aims to treat women in par with men,
if women are provided with education, skill and training, they can also perform
all the work and responsibilities that men undertake in the society. If women
are denied their basic rights and respect, then the economy will not move with
a single wheel – the world cannot stand through a man’s presence and
gender-based violations and discrimination. Some laws that are already enacted
to end discrimination are; Immoral Traffic And Prevention Act 1956; Dowry
Prohibition Act 1961; Indian Divorce Act 1869; Protection of women from
Domestic Violence Act, 2005; Indecent Representation of Women’s Act, 1986.
Ways to Empower People
Imparting quality of education to the people: it will
help to ingrain good qualities and inspire them to become a resourceful person.
The people are treasured resources of a country. When people receive standard
education, it will help them to achieve their goals and improve their lives.
Education is the backbone of a society, illiteracy is a curse and a burden on
the country. The more they are educated, the more they will participate in the
process of nation building. Creating awareness about the government policies
and programmes from time to time will help the people to know the
implementation of social and economic schemes that are run by the government.
Access to information helps people to get information
about the day to day activities and functions of the government. In a
democracy, there is no place for secrecy. Secrecy invites corruption and
malfunctioning. Access to information enables the citizens to get the right
information at the right time. One can track the status of an application
through information law.
Access to justice is the right of every person. The
Indian constitution under Article 14 provides equality before law which clearly
means everybody is equal before law despite of any class differences, creed,
religion, status or place of birth. Impartial and speedy justice is the right
of each citizen. Law is futile if it cannot do away with the injustice. Article
39 provides free legal aid to the poor.
Imparting skills and training to the people will
boost their abilities. This will help them to stand on their feet and earn
their livelihood. The Government in India is running many programmes to impart
semi-skills and other youth training, so that people may start their small
business at home.
Access to basic services food, health, education and
shelter will improve the standard of living and conditions of the people. These
are the basic necessities of life and should not be denied to any person. First
and foremost is the necessity of food. When a person’s hunger is satiated then
only he thinks of other materialistic things. In the food sector, government of
India is running many programmes such as mid day meals scheme for the school
going students up to class eighth and Balwadi Nutrition Programme for the
children of the age group three to five.
Freedom of speech and expression ensure that each and
every person should express his or her views freely without any fear. A person
is free to criticize the government policies and programmes if it is not in
tune with the requirement of the people. Currently government has enacted
Public Grievance Redressal Bill that ensures a person grievance to be heard
orally within fifteen days of filing the complaint. Other legal philosophy is
audi alterem partem which means ‘let the other party be heard’.
Social inclusion means inclusion of the people
irrespective of their class, creed, sex, religion or place of birth. Every
person is equal partakers in democracy, exclusion of particular class will
restrict the progress and development of the country. Countries are known in
the global arena for the quality of people and the quality of work they
perform. Each class of people have separate tasks to perform.
Evaluation of Empowerment: Principles
Democratic participation implies participation of the
common people in the affairs of the government. People of the country have the
right to vote and elect their own representative, to participate in the
decision making process and the right to criticize the policies and programmes
of the government contrary to the will of the people.
Social justice basically means to do away with
discrimination and any other inequality on various grounds based on class,
creed, sex and religion. There should be absence of recognition to any
particular class or creed. Citizens of a country should be equal in all
respect, there are no low or high, everybody should be identified or
represented equally.
Accountability implies accountability to the people.
Government authority cannot wash away their hands from their duties and
responsibilities. They are responsible for the performance and non-performance
of their duty. People can question the authorities whenever there is
malfunctioning or mismanagement.
Community ownership implies common ownership by the
group of people or organizations. There are many programmes being run by the
Civil Society, NGO’s, Self Help Groups, etc. In India, sanitation programmes
have been successfully carried out by the NGO called ‘sulabh’,
Capacity building aims to build skills and gives
training to the people, so that they are able to stand their own feet.
Government along with the help of NGO runs training programmes at villages,
rural areas, semi-urban and urban areas to impart skills to the young groups.
They provide training to tailors, weavers and individuals who make homemade
goods, so that it meets the standard quality of the market.
Organizational learning basically means providing the
technical skills to people such as computer courses, electrician work, mobile
repairing, typing course, secretarial and official training, etc. The technical
course helps the youth to work with a good company as most of the time the
institutes are tied up with big companies and they place their students
accordingly.
Improvement implies rising above from the level you
come from. That is the stage of higher development from the level of lower
development. It emphasizes on continuous development of the people. An economy
or society is never constant; they keep on moving a step further.
Community knowledge implies knowledge and awareness
about the community in which they live. The people living in the society must
be aware about the problems and ongoing development around them. Awareness is
possible through newspapers, radio, and television.
Read More:- B.A. Pol Sci Hons. 2nd Semester Notes
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