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Liberty in India

India gained independence from British colonial rule 71 years ago after a 200-year struggle. While India's constitution aims to protect citizens' fundamental rights and liberties, some question if true freedom means being free from government influence as well. The document examines definitions of freedom, analyzes examples of freedoms in India like freedom of speech and religion, and acknowledges some issues like attacks on minorities but ultimately concludes that India safeguards individual freedoms and qualifies as a free country despite room for improvement in law enforcement.

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Gary Flemming
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82 views8 pages

Liberty in India

India gained independence from British colonial rule 71 years ago after a 200-year struggle. While India's constitution aims to protect citizens' fundamental rights and liberties, some question if true freedom means being free from government influence as well. The document examines definitions of freedom, analyzes examples of freedoms in India like freedom of speech and religion, and acknowledges some issues like attacks on minorities but ultimately concludes that India safeguards individual freedoms and qualifies as a free country despite room for improvement in law enforcement.

Uploaded by

Gary Flemming
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IS INDIA REALLY FREE?

1
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• 200 years ago, a struggle was initiated, aimed at making the country free from the colonial rule.

• 71 years ago, the struggle finally resulted in India breaking the colonial chains and finally
attaining freedom

• It is that freedom we won that day, which enables us to question one of the core values which is a
fundamental pillar of the country- Freedom itself.

2
DEFINITIONS OF FREEDOM

• Absence of constraints (Thomas Hobbes)


• Protection of the Right to life, Right to liberty and Right to property (John Locke)
• Following general will over individual will (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
• Quantity of happiness is freedom (Jeremy Bentham)
• Quality of happiness is freedom (John Stuart Mill)

3
WHEN IS A COUNTRY FREE?

• A country is said to be free when its citizns are not denied their fundamental rights, basic rights
or natural rights.

• The Indian constitution safeguards and provides us liberty to practice our rights and enhance
theme

• A big question arises: Doesn't being free also mean being free from the will of the government?

4
WHY CONSTITUTION ISN’T A CONSTRAINT

• It is the citizens of our democratic country who elect the people forming the rules for
implementation of the states power.
• Since the constitution was made by representatives of the people, the statements of the
constitution are a representation of collective freewill
• So the rules of the constitution are not constraints imposed on us, rather they are rules that we
ourselves have chosen to abide by
• We are free and are restricted by nothing but our choices

5
EXAMPLES OF FREEDOM IN INDIA

• Every individual, from rich industrialists to beggars, can criticize the Prime Ministers actions.
• All citizens have the right vote and also the right to pick NOTA while voting in any election.
• Any individual can get information about working and progress of government by the Right to
Information act.
• Any individual can drive a change in governance/administration via Public Interest Litigation.
• An individual is free to worship a god from any religion.

6
CONSIDERING THE OTHER POINT OF VIEW

• Opponents may argue that women are unsafe in our country, so are minorities with a surge in
incidents such as mob lynching.
• While we agree that such problems exist in the country, we would like our opponents to view
these incidents are more of a failure of law enforcement rather than a deliberate attack on
individual freedom.
• With laws already in place, improvement in law enforcement would ensure such incidents do not
occur as frequently.

7
CONCLUSION

• So, is present day India a free country?


• Although some flaws exist in the system, we find no deliberate attack on individual or group
freedom in the country.
• India safeguards the rights of its citizens and ensures the highest form of individual freedom as
well as press freedom.
• So we would like to conclude by claiming that present India is truly a free country.

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