Magna Carta, the Mahatma and India today -Governance Now

Magna Carta, the Mahatma and India today

The 800-year old charter is the cornerstone of civil liberty in India

Rahul Dass | June 15, 2017 | Delhi

#Indian Constitution #freedom #civil liberty #Mohandas Gandhi #Mahatma Gandhi #Magna Carta #King John of England

One of the four surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta

The Magna Carta, written on this day of June 15 over 800 years back in iron gall ink on parchment in medieval Latin, can be described as the cornerstone of individual liberty in India. It was relevant then and continues to be relevant today.

The medieval age document is singularly responsible for many countries to enjoy freedom today. This is particularly true for India, which imbibed the spirit of the document when the constitution was being penned.

“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.

“To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice,” said the Magna Carta that was signed in 1215 between King John of England and rebel barons.

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution is quite clear -- “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure laid by law”.

Mahatma Gandhi, who fought for racial equality in South Africa, too referred to the Magna Carta on the eve of his departure to India.

In his “A farewell letter” in the Indian Opinion, a weekly that published in Gujarati and English, Gandhi explained about the “settlement” and what it means.

“In my humble opinion it is the Magna Carta of our liberty in this land. I give it the historic name, not because it gives us rights which we have never enjoyed and which are in themselves new or striking, but because it has come to us after eight years strenuous suffering that has involved the loss of material possession and of precious lives,” said Gandhi in the letter that was published on July 29, 1914.

Magna Carta is all about equality, freedoms and rule of law. Individual liberty, which is exceedingly precious in a democracy, is safeguarded through it.

The kind of freedom we enjoy today would not have been possible without democracy evolving over the decades. There were democracies before the Magna Carta, but this singular document has spawned a generation of men and women who have ceaselessly fought for civil liberty.

India stands out as a fine model of democracy, all thanks to the Magna Carta whose letter and spirit we have imbibed.

Comments

Other News

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape:

PM Modi visits Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh in Moscow

Prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by president Vladimir Putin, visited the All Russian Exhibition Centre, VDNKh, in Moscow Tuesday. The two leaders toured the Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh. The Rosatom pavilion, inaugurated in November 2023, is one of the largest exhibitions on the histo

Let us pledge to do what we can for environment: President

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday morning spent some time at the sea beach of the holy city of Puri, a day after participating in the annual Rath Yatra. Later she penned her thoughts about the experience of being in close commune with nature. In a message posted on X, she said: