REVIEWS
The Constitution and
Fundamental Rights by Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar, with a
Foreword by Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar. (1955. Price Rs. 5 or
7s. 6d net. Published by the Srinivasa Sastri Institute of Politics, Mylapore,
Madras.)
It is no small thing to have had two brilliant minds applied, in close succession, to an analysis of the Constitution and its structure and contents, within about two years after its coming into operation. In March 1952, Sir Ivor Jennings delivered his lectures under the Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar Shashtiabdipoorthi Endowment of the Madras University on “Some Characteristics of the Indian Constitution.” On 13th April and 14th May of the same year, Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar gave his “Srinivasa Sastri Memorial Lectures” on the “Constitution and Fundamental Rights.” Sir Ivor approached the subject as an independent critic from outside; Dr. Alladi spoke with inside knowledge and as an architect of the Constitution. Sir Ivor’s outlook was coloured by the traditional distrust of general principles characteristic of the Britishers; Dr. Alladi on the other hand had all the passion of the forensic lawyer for factual analysis and study. In many respects, Dr. Alladi’s lectures may be taken to be an answer also to some of the points made by Sir Ivor in the course of his talks as besetting weaknesses of, or clumsy approach in, the Indian Constitution.
According
to Talleyrand, a Constitution should be short and obscure.
The golden rule for constitution-makers is said to be never to put in anything
that can be safely left out. The Indian Constitution does not
conform to such advice. It had to be long and detailed for various reasons now
well-known. It had to take into account the fact that the Constitution was not
the result of a revolution; it had to grapple with the legacy of the divide et
impera policy pursued by the British: it had to reckon
with the existence of a multiplicity of Indian States side by side with advanced
British Indian provinces; it had to take note of the existence of vast masses
of illiterate and ignorant people, most of them regarded as untouchables, and
of racial, religious, linguistic and cultural divisions.
It had also to effect a synthesis between the events of the past and the
aspirations of the future. Dr. Alladi points out how the Constitution has
adopted a realistic approach in its provisions. While rejecting the laissez
faire policies and nineteenth century liberalism as outmoded, it recognises
that a democratic government has not merely to protect the individual rights of
persons and property of a citizen but also to foster the well-being of the
community as a whole, and that freedom of the individual cannot be dissociated
from the functions of a modern Welfare State but will have to be correlated to
them. It is unique for its faith in, and adoption of, universal adult
franchise, and for its postulating a single citizenship for the whole of India,
broad-based, untainted by religious, racial or parochial considerations, with
equal and uniform rights to all citizens, believing in the rights of the common
man as the basis of democratic rule.
To
those who consider it unwise to enunciate fundamental ideas instead of leaving
it to a virile and active public opinion to ensure that liberty shall prevail,
without executive tyranny on the one hand and license on the other, Dr. Alladi
gives a fitting reply. To organise public opinion in so vast a country as India
with millions of persons yet to be educated is a formidable task. Again, call
them rights or call them liberties, the writing of the fundamental rights into
the Constitution is an invaluable safeguard for the citizen, which, as the
American example has triumphantly shown, can play a creative part in overcoming
the psychological antagonisms between disparate groups of an ethnic, linguistic
or religious character, and thereby promoting gradually the evolution of a
homogeneous nationality. Dr. Alladi with all the weight of his great authority
gives a sober and balanced presentation of the ambit and
scope of the different guaranteed rights, with a reference to their history and
the operation of similar freedoms in the United States of America. He
rightly points out how no rigid rule can be laid down as to the degree of
permissible restriction and when such restriction would be reasonable. To
state, as is sometimes done, that the exceptions strike at the foundations of
the rights is rather going too far. It is good to know that Where in his
‘Modern Constitutions’ recognises that no realistic attempt to define the rights
of citizens indeed fails to include qualifications. It is now increasingly
realised that even in America, at the present time, “due process” signifies
nothing more than that legislation must be reasonable according to the
prevailing standards of the court and the social philosophy of the Judges.
On
some matters, like the compensation provisions in Article 31, one may not see
eye to eye with Dr. Alladi, and it is not surprising that judicial opinion is
not uniform. In regard to the position of the Judiciary under the Constitution,
there cannot be two opinions. While, in the United States, the Supreme Court
has come to be not merely the balance wheel of the Constitution but also a
censor of legislation or a super-legislature functioning in continuous session,
the Supreme Court under the Indian Constitution has been invested with far
wider powers in some directions, at the same time avoiding its becoming a
legislature in effect. The Supreme Court is not merely the watch-dog of the
Constitution, pronouncing on the constitutionality of legislation, but is also
a Court of Appeal from all the High Courts in all other matters, as well as a
court of supervision over all administrative tribunals where they outstep the
limits of their jurisdiction. Dr. Alladi has done well to bring out vividly how
the Indian Constitution goes farther than any other in the direction of
securing speedy and effective remedies to an aggrieved person through the
provision of Article 32.
Dr.
Alladi warmly defends the provision in the Constitution relating to its
amendment and quotes the opinion of Wheare that “the Constitution of India
strikes a good balance” between rigidity and flexibility. He points out how the
Constitution contains within itself the necessary elements of growth, flexibility
and expansion.
The
book is a most valuable contribution on the basic principles of the
Constitution and is sure to occupy “an honoured place in the literature of
constitutional interpretation”.
A Forbidden flight by
Dr. Satyanarain Sinha, M. P. (Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay Price
Rs. 1-12-0.)
It
is not every Parliamentarian in India that knows so well how to spend the
summer recess of Parliament as does Dr. Satyanarain Sinha who, when Delhi gets
hot, finds himself “crossing the Himalayas or trying the Antarctic”. It is not
that he seeks adventure or bargains for trouble but that he feels he needs must
have a change, for a change of scene has often brought him a “change of luck
and a new life”.
Ordinarily,
even if a man of the position of Dr. Sinha made a memorable and exciting trip
round the world, it would hardly have mattered to anyone, were it not that he
has recorded his experiences in the form of a book, and that he is a writer of
considerable charm and power, which explains why it is that Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan has included it in its brilliant series. Dr. Sinha is indeed a colourful
personality. It is not known what thesis he offered for his doctorate, but it
must have been some subject relating to sociology, for
throughout the book it is society that interests him most, and the humanitarian
within the parliamentarian that we see.
The
story of Dr. Sinha’s flight is indeed fascinating. At least, he has made it so
by his happy power and the subtle pen he wields. He is a born traveller to whom
the whole world is kin, who can make himself equally at home whether in the
Orient or the Occident, and who in any critical situation can wriggle himself
out with a resourcefulness and knack that would do credit to a hero in fiction.
The title of the book clearly suggests the nature of the flight which takes
place over forbidden areas, especially of Mecca. Taking a tramp aeroplane as a
navigator, he lands after great peril in Kabul, finds himself, because of his
sympathies for the Phaktoon movement, greeted in a friendly way and,
thereafter, feasted almost in a royal manner. From this place he takes us
through Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany, till the perusal of
a sudden announcement in the papers of “Terrific Floods in North Bihar” in
which his own constituency lies, compels him to rush back to India.
What
undoubtedly make the book irresistibly attractive are the
author’s powers of observation and narration, and his social charm which is
truly captivating. It is not so much the political status of a country that
impresses his mind as its social and cultural development, the result being
that we get glimpses of the real life of the people in the various
countries that he visited. Reading through the book one cannot help feeling a
certain satisfaction over the measure of comparative
freedom which the women of India enjoy over their sisters in the countries of
the Middle East. Somewhere, we come across, for instance, an incident that
reveals the treatment rooted out to his two wives by a man who strikes their
faces with his shoe, for no greater offence than that they dared to peep
through the key-hole, though with their burkhas on, at two strangers who
knocked at the door. “In South Arabia,” we are told, “a wife is property. She
can be used and abused. The society and the law allows, the husband to beat his
wives. The husbands here can have as many wives as they can. There are markets
here to procure slaves as well as wives.” A Forbidden Flight indeed
deals with what might well be a forbidden subject beyond India. The author
himself takes an active part in the rescue of a Greek girl from a harem in
Arabia.
Every
reader must feel grateful to Dr. Sinha for a couple of hours of delectable
reading, which has the effect of transporting him, in imagination, to many
lands and making him share the author’s exciting adventure. One feels like
looking forward to Dr. Sinha’s next trip, whether it be “crossing the Himalayas
or trying the Antarctic”.
Sri Sri Nityagopal by
Srimat Swami Nityapadananda Abadhuta (published by Mahanirvan Math, Nabadwip,
W. Bengal. Price Rs. 3-8-0. Cloth-bound Rs. 5.)
In his
Foreword to this book, Dr. Mahendranath Sircar aptly describes it as “a life
history of a man of mystery” and so it is. In Bengal which, since the time of
Chaitanya, has given birth to a succession of great religious leaders, Sri Sri
Nityagopal Dev (also known as Yogacharya Sri Srimat Abadhuta Jnanananda Deva)
enjoyed a position in his time equal to that of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whose
contemporary he was. By some he was looked upon and venerated as an Avatar. But
whether he can be accepted as an Avatar, or only as a saint, he must be
considered to have been a great spiritual force that illumined the path of
Countless devotees, himself being a fervent devotee of Lord Krishna. How great
was the influence of Sri Nityagopal on the Bengal of his day is evident from
the fact that his devotees reckon a new era, called the Nitya Era, from the
year of his birth.
As is only to be expected in the case of every
superman, a great many miracles are attributed to Sri Nityagopal which have the
effect of investing him with an element of divinity or semi-divinity. The one
glaring defect of this otherwise good book is that it is too full of these anecdotes,
and deals too little with his religious ideals and how he moulded the religious
thought of his generation. But the merit of the book lies in the fact that it
is based on authentic records and is written by one who was his direct disciple
and who had the closest contact with him. The author has expressed the hope
that the book will serve “to chalk out to seekers of truth the real path of
righteousness and prove illuminating, thought-provoking and edifying to all and
sundry”. Though this hope appears to be
a trifle extravagant, one may, as Sir Maurice Gwyer so finely puts it, “find in
the subject of this book and his life a satisfactory guide through the
perplexities of this difficult modem world”.
K. K. PRASAD
Sita and Radhamma (Pp.
162. Price Rs. 1-8-0) and Bhama (Pp. 122. Price Rs. 1-8-0). Published by
Triveni Publishers, Masulipatam.
These
two volumes of short-stories, are by Sri Digumarti Rama Rao, M.A., LL. B., of
Berhampore, a well-known journalist and one of the esteemed
contributors to Triveni. These short stories in Telugu reveal a genuine
artistic temperament and constitute an additional feather in his cap. They are
a distinct contribution to the growing volume of literary work of commendable
quality in modern Telugu literature in the popular form of the short-story. As
pointed out in the Forewords to the two volumes respectively by Sri Chinta
Dikshitulu and Sri K. Ramakotiswara Rau, the short stories in these volumes
reveal several novel and welcome features. Most of these stories are mere
sketches of character, or interesting situations presented with sympathy and
yet objectively. They offer us arresting pictures of remarkable aspects
of middle-class life, social and domestic, in modern Andhra. The two sketches
in the first volume are specially characteristic. Here the author presents,
with admirable delicacy and restraint and yet with shrewd
insight and daring frankness, the psychology of youth and sex. The first of
these gives us a picture of the excitement of youth in the first flush of the
bliss of happy married life, and the second, a rather detailed analysis of the
psychology of adolescent youth brought under the influence of the attraction of
sex in the normal circumstances of life, and how the influence is capable of
contributing to the healthy development of personality and character.
The
title story and several other stories in the second volume also deal with
delicate problems of sex and youth, but the treatment of them by the author is
characterised uniformly by a rare restraint and good taste. We are not left in
any doubt with regard to the sympathies of the author, but they are not
obtruded upon us; on the other hand, we feel we see a convincing picture of the
situation and we are free to draw our own conclusions on the problems raised.
The
stories are introduced by the author to the public as ‘juvenile attempts of his
youth’ in the literary field, left in manuscript form for over a quarter of a
century but resuscitated and published now, in view of the encouraging opinions
of competent judges. The favourable reception of these publications, of which
we have every reason to be certain, will, we hope, lead to the publication,
very soon, of other such works of the same kind, as well as fresh attempts at
literary work in the same direction from the maturer mind and more practised
pen of the
author.
M. SIVAKAMAYYA