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Constitutional Mandate for Preserving Heritage in the Directive Principles

The historical monuments etc mandated to be protected under Article 49 have a historical past constituting unique cultural and civilisational antiquities of national and even universal significance. — Prof. Bhagwati Prakash Sharma

 

India is an ancient civilization endowed with rich historical, civilisational and cultural heritage. This richness is visible in the archaeological sites, monuments, landscapes, artifacts, and legends of historical value, comprising its ancient history, civilisational antiquities, languages, scripts, music, festivals, dances, social practices, customs, arts, artifacts, scriptures, epigraphs, manuscripts and advanced ancient wisdom1.

National Heritage and Duties of the State and Citizens 

Indian Constitution explicitly casts definite responsibility on the State to protect and conserve nation’s heritage under the Directive Principles of State policy.  Article 49 of the Directive Principles states Policy, “It shall be the obligation of the State to protect every monument or place or object of artistic or historic interest, (declared by or under law made by Parliament) to be of national importance, from spoliation, disfigurement, destruction, removal disposal or export, as the case may be.”2 In addition to this the Article 51 A (f) widens the responsibility and directs every citizen to contribute to heritage preservation. It states that “it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; and under 51 A (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.”3 The Directive Principles of State Policy appear to have been borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland, 4 which in turn had copied them from the Spanish Constitution.5 These Directive Principles have their immediate origin form the Sapru Committee Recommendations of 1945, which suggested two categories of individual rights: (i) justiciable and (ii) non- justiciable rights.6 The justiciable rights, as we know are the Fundamental Rights, whereas the non-justiciable ones are the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) incorporated in the Constitution.7

Directive Principles

The DPSP are ideals which are meant to be kept in view by the State when it formulates policies and enacts laws. They are an ’instrument of instructions’ which were also enumerated in the Government of India Act of 1935 as well. There are multiple objectives of the Directive Principles of State which are given blow:

  • They seek to establish economic and social democracy in the country.
  • They are ideals but not legally enforceable by the courts for their violation.
  • These are guidelines for government and based on principles of welfare of citizens
  • These are the Principles of village self Rule, mostly  inherited from ancient Hindu Scriptures of Raj –Dharm 
  • They are Liberal and intellectual Principles of governance.

Origin of Directive Principles in Sapru Committee Report 

The Sparu Committee Sapru Report incorporating mention of the Directive Principles as nonjusticiable right was published in 1945 and was set up to resolve issues pertaining to minorities that HAD PLAGUED Indian political and constitutional discourse8. It was prepared by a committee appointed by the Non-party Conference in November 1944. This group consisted of individuals who represented a variety of interests except those of the dominant political parities which were the Indian National Congress, Muslim League and the Communist Party.

The Sapru Committee and Its Background

In the early 1940s, the political scenario was marred by communal strife out of the conflict and impasse between the Congress and Muslim league over the constitutional future of India and the separatist demand of the certain sections of Indian Muslims. The Gandhi – Jinnah talks of 1944 had failed so, to overcome the communal tensions and problem, the Non- Party Conference set up a 30 member committee with Tej Bahadur Sapru as its Chairman. The Committee was assigned, among other issues to examine the whole communal and minorities question from a future constitutional and political point of view .The 343 pages Report was contained detailed expositions on various aspects of India’s constitutional future. The Report rejected the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan. The committee held that a separate Muslim state would not be advantageous to any community and felt that the division of India would ‘endanger the peace, tranquility and progress of the whole country’. It called for the setting up of a constitution –making body, in which Muslims also were recommended to be included.

The Report had a section on fundamental rights like: freedom of speech, freedom of press, religious freedom and equality. In the explanatory sections the Committee asserted for dividing the rights into justifiable and non- justifiable. This Report was a prelude for setting up of the Constituent Assembly and had an indirect influence on the constitution- making process as eight members of Sapru Committee went on to become the members of the Constituent Assembly as well. These included: M. R. Jayakar, Gopalaswami Ayyagar, John Mathai, Frank Anthony and Sachidananda Sinha- who become the first (provisional) chairman of the Constituent Assembly. However the Constituent Assembly continued with same legacy of minorities, when the country was partitioned and the constitution should not have been at all plagued by minorityism. In light of the above discussions and mandate under article 49 and 51(f) the heritage and cultural history of the country should be protected with getting plagued from minority’s m and psnedo- secularist propaganda. 

Judicial Directive

Supreme Court has also held on several occasions that preservation of rich heritage and culture of the country in several cases. On 3 February, 2015 a bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justice TS Thakur and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel emphatically held that preservation of rich heritage and culture of the country is a constitutional mandate.  Hearing a writ petition filed by Subhas Datta as a public interest litigation under Article 32 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court took a serious note of the submissions made by the petitioner about the concerned agencies, which are running and managing museums, to the effect that the security and maintenance of historic artifacts requires serious and continuous efforts by technically trained persons. The court also noted the challenges  pointed out in this regard, such as space constraints, manpower shortage and lack of other resources, that need to be looked into by the Ministry of Culture and other concerned authorities, and also the appropriate monitoring mechanism that ought to have been put in place. The court also took note of the fact that requisite funds have to be allocated for the purpose. The petition had been field in the year 2004 on the issue of protection of historical objects preserved at different places in the country 9.

History and Culture Integral to the Monuments 

The historical monuments etc mandated to be protected under Article 49 have a historical past constituting unique cultural and civilisational antiquities of national and even universal significance. For instance, the Hampi, protected by the “Hampi, World Heritage Area Management Authority Act 2002” represents Ramayan era heritage, which has vivid and live historical and cultural links with Ram Janmbhoomi in Ayodhya, Ram Setu and Rameshwarm in Tamil nadu and Several other places mentioned in Ramayan, including Chitrakoot. The Scriptural descriptions in the epic Ramayan also become equally important. The mention of 4 tusked elephants10 in Valmiki Ramayan corroborates the belief that the Ramayan period falls in the Treta Yug, elapsed almost a million years ago (exactly 8,69,124 years).  According to archeologists the 4 tasked elephants had become extinct a million year ago. Likewise ‘the heritage of  the archeological remains of the ancient Dwarika  found under the sea water, also  goes back to five millennia as per radio carbon dating and Mahabharat era  antiquity of Dwarika has links with hundreds of places of Mahabharat, including the Mathura, Kurukshetra, Dankore, Gurugarm, Jagannath Puri and so on. So, resurrecting their historical account along with the physical structure and their historical as well as cultural legends, described in their epical descriptions is equally important. There are several thousand places and their epical legends which need to be resurrected and preserved, documented and be taught along with this monuments in the educational institutions. It is a clear constitutional mandate, to preserve the heritage and historical monuments with their scriptural description and it should not be ignored in the name of psuedo secularism.              

References                    

1.    City heritage and flawed strategies| ORF
    www.orfoniline .org http://www.orfonline.org/expert -speak/city -   heritage -and-flawed-strategies/
2.    National Portal of India - Article 49, Constitution of India, https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india   
3.     National Portal of India - Article 51 A, Constitution of India, https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india 
4.    Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) Under the Indian Constitution, https://blog.ipleaders.in/directive-principles-of-state-policy-dpsp-under-the-indian-constitution
5.    ibid 4
6.    Constitution of India https://www.constitutionofindia.net/
    historical_constitutions/sapru_committee_ report_sir_tej_bahadur_ sapru_1945_1st/20December/201945 
7.    ibid 4
8.    ibid 6
9.    Preservation of rich heritage and culture is a constitutional mandate, says…, https://tilamarg.com/news/preservation-of-rich-hiritage-and-culture-is-a-constitutional-mandate-says-supreme-court/
10.    Valmiki Ramayan, Sunder Kand-4.27.12; 5.4.26-28; 5.9, 4-5

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