Children Must Be Introduced To Constitution In An Interesting Way : President Droupadi Murmu Bats For Children's Edition

Children must grow up feeling connected to the Constitution, President Droupadi Murmu said on Wednesday at the Constitution Day function organised by the Supreme Court. She stressed that interesting information about the Constitution should reach students through their political science textbooks.

“Children should be given interesting information about the Constitution so that the future generation feels connected with the Constitution. They should be educated about the Constitution via their political science books”, she said.

She suggested publishing a children's edition of the Constitution to generate awareness and said, and emphasised that constitutional values and duties should be introduced to children at the stage when their point of view is developing so that they become good citizens.

“A children's edition of the Constitution should be made in order to generate interest and awareness about the Constitution in them. This can be achieved through collaboration of constitutional experts, writers of children literature, experts in various languages. Constitutional values and duties should be introduced to children at the age at which their point of view is developing, in order to create good citizens”, she said.

The President said the state must ensure equal access to the justice system. She stressed that free legal aid should be easily available and effective for deprived sections of society.

During her speech, the President shared that her father would remind her that moving ahead was not a bad thing, but real courage lay in helping those who had been left behind move forward too.

She quoted her father's words, “पता नहीं तुम क्या करोगी, क्या बनोगी? जो भी बनोगी, जब आगे बढ़ोगी, बीच बीच में पीछे देखना। आगे बढ़ना बहुत अच्छी बात है, बुरी बात नहीं है। जब पीछे देखोगी, तुम देखोगी तुम्हारे पीछे कितने लोग खड़े हैं, कितने लोग पीछे रहे हैं। आगे बढ़ना बहादुरी नहीं है, पीछे रहने वालों को आगे बढ़ना बहादुरी है।”

Calling the 106th Amendment to the Constitution – the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, that provides for reservation of 33% seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for women – a historical step towards social and political justice for women, she described it as a true tribute to the 15 women members of the Constituent Assembly.

She said, however, that the country remained behind on this front and needed to move forward by increasing women's participation in the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. She added that this would be achieved only when mindsets changed. She also said that from the Constituent Assembly to today's Parliament, representatives of women, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and backward classes had taken the nation forward in the direction of social justice.

“But even today, we are behind on this aspect. We will have to move forward. Participation of women in the Executive, Legislature as well as Judiciary must be increased. We will only achieve this if our mindset is changed. From Constituent Assembly to today's Parliament, the representation of women, Scheduled Tribes, Schedule Castes as well as Backward Classes have moved the nation forward in the direction of social justice”, she said.

She said the chapters in the Constitution relating to Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes were notable examples of its inclusivity and transformative capacity. She added that faith in the Constitution had remained strong among common citizens as well as experts and noted that the question “what has been said about a particular subject in the Constitution?” had now become the yardstick to determine whether any act or system was valid.

She said it was a national duty to operate institutions and conduct personal lives in accordance with constitutional values. She said that in the context of the Constitution, the Supreme Court's motto “यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः” meant that where constitutional values exist, victory follows.

Reflecting on November 26, 1949, when the Constitution was conferred by the Constituent Assembly, she said that after 24 years the country would be marking 100 years of the Constitution. She asked whether in the next 24 years values of equality, fraternity and other constitutional commitments would reach the sections that have not benefited so far. She said that it was easy to celebrate Constitution Day by inviting people but questioned who such celebrations were really for.

She recalled that on the day the Constitution was adopted, the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, had highlighted how deeply common citizens followed the constitutional process. She said Dr. Prasad had noted that 53,000 people watched the Constituent Assembly sessions from the visitors' gallery. She asked how many people sat in the visitors' gallery today. She said speeches were now broadcast online and on television, but it was important to know how many people actually listened.

The President welcomed the judiciary's emphasis on alternate dispute resolution and described it as a huge step. She said that before independence, mediation was the method that worked and that disputes were resolved in villages rather than courts. She said the mindset needed to return so that the least number of cases reached courts and humorously remarked, “the Advocate sitting here will curse me for saying this.”

According to her, there was no need for infrastructure to bring people to courts when disputes could be settled in villages. She recalled that in her village, the Chief of the Rajgharana held court, and her father attend the Darbar. When she expressed her wish to accompany him, she was told that it was not a place for women. She emphasised that this was not the case today and that everyone could discuss, participate and resolve disputes.

Concluding her address, she expressed confidence that the executive, legislature and judiciary will function in harmony and strengthen the constitutional system so that the country moves faster towards becoming a developed nation.