Efforts at times, occasional as they were, to alter the basic character of the Constitution did not succeed. This only shows the robustness of India's framework as an independent entity in the comity of nations. An amendment in the 1970s was reversed in that decade itself by a succeeding government's initiative in Parliament. The Supreme Court of India further took a unique action in the Kesavanand Bharati case and put fetters on the Government and Parliament by ruling that while they were free to amend the Constitution, they had no authority or residual power to alter its basic features. The Apex Court pointed out that the basic features denoted the parliamentary form of government, secularism, supremacy of the concept of equality before law for all citizens, single citizenship, primacy of fundamental rights under Article 19 and citizens' right to life and personal dignity and individual honour for all and sundry. These are the shining glories of the nuances of the Constitution of India arising from the considered thought of the forefathers of the Constitution sitting in the Constituent Assembly which was presided over by a great legal luminary, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who became India's first elected President when the nation proclaimed itself a republic while dispensing with the dominion Status but retaining its membership of the Commonwealth which was then known as the British Commonwealth. But ultimately the word British was dropped from it to denote the republican status of a number of member-countries led by India. Among the shining glories of the Constitution is the citizen's right to judicial review and autonomy of the Indian judiciary. Judicial review covers the right to seek review of almost all executive actions. The four pillars of the Indian nation are the legislature, executive, judiciary and the Press, popularly known as the Fourth Estate. To mark the Golden Jubilee of India's republican status and completion of its landmark Constitution, unscathed despite dramatic changes in the country and around the world, the Indian Parliament is holding a Commemorative Session on January 27 in its Central Hall. It will be addressed by the President and subsequently with the Presiding Officers of the two Houses conducting the proceedings, the leader of the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister, the leader of the Rajya Sabha and leaders of parties in the two Houses will offer their felicitations to the nation which holds its head high in the world and is racing ahead to usher in equality, justice, freedom from hunger and enabling people to meet their basic needs to live fruitfully and bring an all-round prosperity. The road in that direction may be hazardous but India is no doubt taking giant strides to reach some of the goals quite speedily. Freedom from want is the economic connotation of the basic freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the executive is enjoined by the basic structure to take all steps within its power to achieve it. At the beginning of the new millenium, there is hope and not despair that the goal is within reach and not elusive.

    It is in the light of historic changes taking place--which goes to show that very little is permanent--that the Constitution has been amended as many as 79 times already. In view of this it is felt by legal experts that it is futile for political parties to pretend that the Constitution cannot be touched, but if they mean that the basic structure cannot be interfered with, they are possibly on track. Thomas Jefferson had once remarked that no society "can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation…Nothing is unchangeable …except inherent and unalienable rights of man'. Speaking in the same vein, Jawaharlal Nehru felt no need for permanence in the Constitution and pointed out: " If you make anything rigid and permanent, you stop a nation's growth, the growth of a living vital organic people". Nehru was conversant with the law even though he dedicated his life to freedom struggle. But he was among the founding fathers of the Constitution as was one of the greatest legal brains of the world, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who is credited with being the author of this great and historic Constitution. A number of legal experts recently met and came to the conclusion that they could not but "reaffirm" their faith in the Constitution of India and its "innate good". They concluded that by and large there is nothing wrong with it as it is "one of the finest basic laws guiding the destiny of any nation of the world". They lamented that the people who work the Constitution when they are at the helm may tend to "go wrong" and dispense "discriminatory, partisan and inequitous implementation of the provisions of the Constitution."

    There has been much debate for some decades over the efficacy of the parliamentary system because of the fragmentation of the polity and defection of legislators and members of Parliament from one party to another or formation of regional or other groupings in the aftermath of defections. It was felt that a Presidential form not dependent on the goings-on in the legislative wing would insulate the nation and the States from the repeated fall of governments and successive elections within short spans of time. The Law Commission was seized of this problem and came up with the suggestion, as also articulated by some politicians and political and legal thinkers outside of the parties, that perhaps the President could ask the Lok Sabha to elect a new leader of the House when one lost confidence, as was done in Germany. This proposal has received widespread approbation. The List System of elections by which parties would contest 25 per cent of legislative or parliamentary seats and do not have to put up candidates has also been heard with great interest in the country. It is felt that these proposals, if implemented, could usher in political stability and promote more cohesive legislatures at the Centre as well as in the States.

    There is also a strong feeling that the strengthening of the panchayat system with regular elections to them and grant of some kind of legislative and taxation powers and election of representatives from them to zila parishads and other deliberative forums would promote greater democracy. It remains to be seen how these ideas will be translated into reality in the yeas to come as the nation attends to the key economic problems in the face of rapid advances in technology which are bringing the people of the world nearer, if not yet usher in what is called the global village.

*Senior Journalist