BJ0063
BJ0063
BJ0063
view is held by most people and this is a very frequently invoked definition in the rhetoric of human
rights.
Since most societies see humans as above the other animals just because we have the capacity to
improve the quality of our life, this concept of promoting human dignity has gained an universal appeal in
todays world.
The approach of promoting universal moral standards based on promotion of human dignity might not be
very stable as identification of the nature of this dignity would pose a problem. This is revealed, though
unintentionally, by Donnelly when he says Human rights represent a social choice of a particular moral
vision of human potentiality, which rests on a particular substantive account of the minimum
requirements of a life of dignity while elaborating on the disadvantages of deliberate human action
resulting in the creation of human rights. When we think in terms of dignity it is mostly a matter of moral
choice and it is a very elastic concept which is why the conception of dignity becomes important. Though
freak assertions (like a dignified life includes 100 doting love slaves) might be generally rejected with
contempt, there might not be any conclusive agreement on the very core of dignity. So, disapproval might
not mean that a universal component of dignity has been agreed upon. Though everybody agrees that all
humans are equal, we find that Hindu, Confucian and roman catholic societies have a significant view on
social divisions. Here, dignity is usually achieved by filling a particular role in a graded set of vocations.
There should be some consensus about inherent dignity if human rights are to be universal standards and
if there is no commonality of vision, dignity as the ultimate goal of human rights has hardly any meaning.
influenced heavily by western thinking and philosophy. And most such movements had very successful
beginnings in the country.
The civil rights movement in the colonial days was the intellectual product of nationalist ideas and had
the privilege of having nationalism as a strong, supporting force. But their present day standard-bearers
have to reckon, not with foreign rule, but with their own elected sovereign government as the other, the
latter having the advantage of using nationalist discourse against the civil rights activists, branding them
as subversive and anti-national. The civil libertarians movement was influenced by the Manga Carta, the
American Bill of Rights or the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and yet remains nationalists.
In the initial phase, the consciousness about the civil liberties was manifested in the demands for equal
opportunity in employment, freedom of the press and the abolition of racial discrimination in legal
proceedings. One of the many causes which led to the organization of the Indian National Congress in
1885 was the failure of Indians to get the Ilbert Bill passed in its original form, proposing to give Indian
magistrates the power to try British subjects in criminal cases. By the turn of the century, this
consciousness crystallized in a new generation with new thoughts and new ideas, impatient of its
dependent position and claiming its rights as free citizens of the British Empire. As the colonial State
regularly crushed human rights and civil autonomy of the people, the Indian National Movement
continually struggled to protect and sustain these values. In reality, bringing down British imperialism
was perceived by the leader of national movement as a prerequisite to the progress of India along the lines
of democracy and civil liberties. Here, people would have the power to defend their fundamental rights.
Obviously, the human rights that the people of India enjoy, in however restricted degree, is a legacy of our
national movement. The significance that was accorded to the subject of civil liberties and human rights
by our national movement can be effortlessly comprehended by the following statement of Mahatma
Gandhi in 1922:
We must make good the rights of free speech and free association. We must defend these elementary
rights with our lives. Liberty of speech means that it is unassailed even when the speech hurts, Liberty of
press can be said to be truly respected when the press can comment in the severest term upon and even
misrepresent matters. Freedom of association is truly respected when assemblies of people can discuss
even revolutionary projects.
In 1939, Gandhiji stated, Civil liberty consistent with the observance of non-violence is the first step
towards Swaraj. It is the foundation of freedom.
There is no room there for dilution or compromise. It is the water of life. I have never heard of water
being diluted.
punish those people who are found guilty of detaining children, majors and minors for prostitution. This
practice can only be stopped if our society and government join hands to fight this menace.