Promote constitutional literacy

An interesting development in India lately is that the Constitution has become a site of engagement for people from all walks of life. However, these engagements are restricted to non-State actors. Constitutional literacy plays an important role in cultivating a democratic spirit.

The democratic spirit is the faith of common people in democracy. Belief in democracy is inextricably linked to belief in the Constitution. Democracy and the Constitution share an indispensable relationship with each other. The democratic spirit among common individuals gets strengthened when they come to know and understand more about the Constitution and its spirit. Therefore, the State, as the core of the framework of democracy, plays a significant role in developing or depreciating the democratic spirit.

Scholar K Anthony Appiah argues that citizens are worthy of respect because they contribute to the practices that serve the republic. According to political scientist Benedict Anderson, nation-States capture the attention of ordinary people all over the world by allowing them to think of themselves as participants through shared identities. The Constitution is one such common identity shared by the citizens. The role of the State in such a scenario becomes critical in shaping and reshaping citizens and their relationship to the Constitution and its spirit.

Read | We need to introspect

Nick Barber, Professor of Constitutional Law and Theory at Trinity College, London, argues that the State has responsibility not only to protect the rights of citizens but also the responsibility to create a positive environment for exercising such rights.

In reaffirming this viewpoint, the current Chief Justice of India, Justice D Y Chandrachud, had in his dissenting opinion in the Aadhaar case emphasised the importance of both positive and negative government actions in a liberal constitutional republic. Therefore, the role of the State is not only limited to the protection of certain principles and values of the Constitution but also the enhancement of those values.

The efforts to cultivate constitutional values among citizens and impart constitutional literacy to them can only be sustained with State support. Besides, State support is important to formalise the work on the values of the Constitution, which is currently scattered.

Since the inception of the Constitution, there has been no concerted effort by the State to bring it to the people. However, we have recently seen some efforts by various state governments to popularise the values of the Constitution. The Delhi government, for example, launched the “Constitution at 70” campaign to instil the values enshrined in the Preamble – Justice, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Earlier, in 2020, the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan mandated schools’ participation in learning about the Preamble. The State’s role in these efforts is at a nascent stage. Concerted efforts from the State towards realising the values of the Constitution would require an inclusive approach – among other things, reaching out to diverse sections, from schools and universities to larger communities, and providing support to public organisations working on constitutional values. It also requires intervention from the central government.

The Centre currently lacks a dedicated scheme for constitutional literacy. The work of the Ministry of
Law and Justice in this respect is limited to the social media, where it discusses the articles
and provisions of the
Constitution.

These efforts by a few states are not sufficient. They, and the Centre, must adopt multidimensional approaches for developing a conscious citizenry and cultivating constitutional values among citizens. It ranges from providing support to public organisations, media organisations, and research organisations working on it to using State machinery to promote constitutional values. State support for promoting constitutional literacy can also be strengthened by engaging the panchayat at the grassroots level. In this regard, the case study of the village Somthane Nalawade in Maharashtra is interesting. The village panchayat allocates a special fund for constitutional engagement and organises various
activities to instil constitutional values.

In a democracy, the State is entrusted with all the powers to act in the interests of the people. As the faith of the people in public institutions is deteriorating, it has become imperative for the State to restore such faith, and there is no better way to do so than to invest in cultivating the values of the Constitution among ordinary citizens.

(The writer is a Samta Fellow and co-convenor of the legal aid and awareness committee at National Law University, Jodhpur)