Sixty-three years later, it is but natural that Independence Day should be symbolic. After all, we enjoy the fruits of our successful struggle for independence not just on August 15, but on the days we vote to choose our government, and all the other days as well.
But then, political independence was only one of the objectives of those who fought for it. Freedom fighters and activists strove for independence from gender prejudice, the caste system, poverty, and illiteracy, among many other social ills.
Post-1977, the struggle of independent India, as of every nation that emerged from the shadow of colonial oppression, has been to make political or nominal freedom a substantive one for every citizen.
To make that happen, over the past 63 years, successive governments have adopted a range of laws and policies that have, at least on paper, aimed to make the freedoms promised in the Constitution realisable in our daily lives. The Mag looks at six spheres where independent India has taken positive steps to make its citizens’ freedom more meaningful.
Women’s rights
‘Voting rights came to women rather easily’
The struggle for women’s rights began much before India got independence — think Jyotirao Phule and his efforts to ensure education for women in the 1800s. In independent India, the movement caught more steam, with the addition of a number of laws to safeguard the interests
of women.
“There have been acts like the one about domestic violence, against dowry deaths, rape, etc. But something like voting rights, which has been truly empowering, surprisingly came to us pretty easily, without being questioned,” says Madhushree Dutta, filmmaker and women’s rights activist.
Another crucial legislation, the Women’s Reservation Bill, currently pending in Parliament, will reserve one-third seats for women in the Parliament and state legislative assemblies. Lalitha Dhara, an active member of YMCA and professor at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar College, believes that although the Women’s Reservation Bill is a welcome move, like other Acts, it is the implementation that might be found lacking.
Dutta believes that real freedom for women will be possible only when they become financially independent. “Most bills are about violence against women, there’s nothing about their economic dependence. It’s like women have to be ‘protected’. They’d rather protect themselves, if economic facilities are made available to them,” she says.
People with disabilities
A late start, but major strides since then
When Javed Abidi, who suffers from a spinal malady, went to the US for studies in the 1980s, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he could access every nook and corner of the campus on his wheel chair. But back home in Delhi, most public places were not disabled-friendly, remembers Abidi. Not that it was surprising. There was no law governing the rights of people with disabilities.
The tide started turning when people with different kinds of disabilities came together in the early 1990s to put pressure on the government to formulate a new law. In 1995, the government finally passed the Disability Act. “In retrospect, we now see that the law lacks teeth. But in itself it was a huge step forward. People with disabilities could demand their rights and go to the court if they were denied,” says Abidi.
In the first five years since the passing of the law, there were only seven cases and three PILs filed, says Abidi. But as information about the law trickled down, the situation improved — by 2005, hundreds of cases were being filed.
Today, apart from the Disability Act, the Rehabilitation Council of India Act and the National Trust Act governs the rights of people with disabilities. But the most important victory after 1995 came in 2007, when India became the seventh nation to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. “We are looking at disability with new eyes. For example, even private industry is being made accountable and forced to stop discrimination (against people with disabilities).”
The results are already being felt. “The election last year was the first one that was made accessible to people with disabilities,” says Shilpi Kapoor, managing director, Barrier Break Technologies, who also campaigns for the rights of disabled people.
“There were ramps for people on wheel-chairs. And there was Braille script on the voting machines,” which means that people with disabilities can on their own go and vote today.
Going forward, the National Policy on Universal Electronic
Accessibility will push companies to build products and interfaces (for example, websites) that are accessible to the disabled. The Disability Act is also being revamped to bring it up to date with current realities.
Looking back at the struggle, Abidi says, “When I am in an activist frame of mind, I see the glass as half empty since we have had to fight to get even basic rights. But when I am in a positive frame of mind, I do see the glass as half full.”
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