Churachandpur College observes Constitution Day
Source: Chronicle News Service / Kaimuanthang Mangte

Churachandpur, November 26 2022: Constitution Day, 2022 was observed on Saturday at Churachandpur Government College's Internal Quality Assurance Cell hall (IQAC), during which reading of the preamble to the Indian Constitution was led by college principal Dr Siamkhum.

During the observance organised by Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK), Churachandpur and Churachandpur College IQAC, NYK OSD H Doungel delivered the keynote address while host College's assistant professor (political science) Thangkhanlal Ngaihte spoke on the challenges facing India at the time of independence, the unique features of the constitution, the challenges of conducting election in the initial years and the challenges of the present times, as the resource person.

The destruction brought by World War II, cold war, partition and wars between India and Pakistan, communal riots, reluctance of some princely states to accede to India and the assassination of Gandhi, all made things very difficult.

Not only that, at the time of independence, only around 17 percent of the Indian population were literate and more than half of them live in abject poverty.

However, despite all odds, India's founders chose democracy based on the constitution.

India was the first country to introduce universal adult franchise in one go, Thangkhanlal elaborated.

While observing that due to low level of income, social inequality and ethnic diversity, many scholars thought Indian democracy would not survive, he said that the challenges were so enormous that the first general election in 1951-52 lasted for more than four months.

About 81 million citizens, about 46 percent of the electorate voted in the first election, he continued Indian democracy has been thriving from then till today, except for two years in the 1970s, when India experienced internal emergency.

The challenge today lies in ensuring that India remains both electoral democracy and constitutional or liberal democracy, the resource person pointed out.

Regular elections are important, but not enough.

The supremacy of the constitution, protection of individual and minority rights and independent judiciary are crucial for India to be a vibrant democracy, Thangkhanlal stressed.

He then concluded that it was the Narendra Modi government in 2015 that notified for observing November 26, the day in 1949 when the constitution was adopted, as Constitution Day.

Comment