Tag: #Religion

India is a land of religions and temples. The country is said to be a live example of Unity in Diversity. It has so many religions, faiths, and sects that the country may be termed as the confluence of the religions of the world. The Indian constitution protects the right to religion as a fundamental right under Article 25, whose second clause carves an exception, encouraging the government to make any law that regulates financial, economic, political, or secular activity related to religious practice or for providing social welfare. This was because India had a past of being dominated by the religion of the state mostly. This also ensured the secular structure of the Indian economy. Establishing and maintaining religious and charitable institutions is recognized by Article 26. Public morality, health, and order are exceptions shared by both articles.

The right to freedom of religion is guaranteed by Articles 25 and 26, but the Constitution does not define what is the meaning of the term “religion”. The only indication it offers is that this term is ambiguous. India is a secular state, and hence the state has to remain separated from any activity related to religion. But it has the right to make laws according to the exceptions provided under Articles 25 and 26. In Kesavananda Bharti v. State of Kerala¹, the Supreme Court declared that “religious freedom restricted by socio-economic reforms”, and “communal advancements” have both been held in check by India’s secularism.

The court determined in Venkataramana Devaru v. State of Mysore²

“Although Article 25(1) deals with the rights of individuals, Article 25(2) controls both clause (1) of Article 25 and clause (b) of Article 26, and covers more comprehensive topics, and hence refers to the rights of communities.”

 In, Sri Adi Visheshwara of Kasi Vishwanth Temple, vs. State of U.P³.,  the Supreme Court ruled as under:

“The religious freedom protected by Articles 25 and 26 is meant to serve as a blueprint for community life and supervise each religion to act in consonance with its cultural and social demands to construct an egalitarian social order. Therefore, Articles 25 and 26 guarantees the freedom of conscience to connect with one’s Creator and live a religious life while also maintaining consonance between the rigidity of the right to religious belief and faith and their intrinsic limitations in terms of religion, religious beliefs, and religious practices.”

In the same case⁴, Court also declared that

“Article 25 and 26 does not protect every aspect of the religion. The constitution also negates the insurance of each and every religious activity without being interfered with. Articles 25 and 26 are to be seen with a practical approach and every human activity cannot be protected under the shade of religion.” 

It is very challenging to define terms like “religion,” “religious beliefs or practices,” or “matters of religion.” This right is not absolute and the state is capable of making legislation about the activities related to it.

Charitable Purpose

The definition of charitable purpose includes, under Section 2 of the Charitable Institutions Act, 1890 the following matters

1. The fund for the relief of the poor.
2. The purpose of education
3. The purpose of Medical relief and 
4. Any other object of the General Public

But it does not include

1. Religious teaching or worship Purpose.

So it specifically speaks to include and exclude such matters as provided above. Whether the religious endowment is a charitable endowment? No. The religious endowment is for religious purposes and has nothing to do with charitable purposes.

Then how and why the Hindu religious institutions are managed under the control of the government? What is the debate over free Hindu temples? The history is too long but is still continuing and has its effects.

In A.V.K.V. Temple v. State of Uttar Pradesh⁵

“These Articles guarantee the freedom to follow one’s religion and to engage in ritualistic activity. The Right to manage the temple or endowments is not integral to religion or religious practice or religion as such which is amenable to statutory control.  The secular activities are practiced in accordance with the legislation enacted by the State, except the practices which are integral to the religion are protected under these Articles. The law makes it abundantly clear that running a religious institution or endowment is a secular activity, and the state has the authority to enact laws to regulate it.”

The Religious Endowment Act, 1863

The Religious Endowment Act, 1863 which was first enacted for the area of Bengal then, has been notified in most of the areas of the Country now. This Act is eminently important while sections 21, 22, and 23 of this Act are the root of this article.

But the preamble to this Act and several orders for its notification in several states are of great concern. The preamble to the Act speaks that for the use of the rents and produce of the land provided to religious institutions as a grant to maintain the public structures, the appropriation of endowments made for the maintenance of such religious institutions, and repairs and preservation of buildings connected therewith. So firstly, it was made to operate in all religious institutions. But due to the effect of Act 34 of 1964, this Act does not apply to any wakf to which The Wakf Act, 1954 applies. The Wakf Act 1954 does not have any provision as contained in Act 20 of  1863. It does not apply to the state of Madras by Act 22 of 1959. Recently, this Act came into force in Jammu and Kashmir by Act 34 of 2019. An important concern to note here is the enactment of the Hindu religious and Charitable endowments Act in the state of Tamil Nadu in 1959, which controls nearly 37000 temples in the state.

Section 21 of this Act makes provisions that when an endowment is made for religious and secular purposes partly, the board of revenue before transferring the property to the trustee, manager, or superintendent or to any committee appointed, shall make it clear about the portion which must remain in the authority of the said board for the secular purpose and also what amount annually shall be charged on the property which is transferred to the said transferee to the said transferor for a secular purpose. Under Section 22 the government is barred from resuming the superintendence of property granted for religious activities or from taking part in its management or apportionment of any endowment for such maintenance or from nominating or appointing any trustee, manager, or superintendent except as provided in the Act.

The phrase “except as provided in this Act” is the exception carved out for the support of government control over such institutions.

Section 23 provides that the Act will not affect the provisions and regulations made under the Act for the preservation and prevention of any injury to antique; historical; or architectural buildings except if they relate to religious institutions. 

The Charitable Endowments Act, 1890

A treasurer is appointed by the Central government for India while he is appointed by the government of the state for such state under section 3 of the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890. An agreement is made between the central government and the person making the application for the charitable purpose of the endowment.

The government and the treasurer are indemnified under the said Act of 1890 for irregularities as provided under section 14.

The Hindu Religious And Charitable Act, 1997

In the State of Karnataka, The Hindu Religious And Charitable Act, 1997 is enacted by repealing the preceding Acts prevailing in the state. This Act needs special mention here because of the reasons given in the preamble of this Act.

The reasons which need to be displayed in this article are–

1. For the regulation of the alienation of the property improperly
2. For the purpose of the grant by the government
3. For Checking the mismanagement of the institution. 
4. For maintaining the common pool arising out of the surplus funds of institutions notified by the government.
5. For maintenance of the needy institutions by an independent committee.

Also, this Act is not applicable to

1. the Matths and temples attached to the matths.

What is important to note is the nature of those needy institutions for which a common pool is made. Whether the government recognizes the Hindu religious institutions only or all the institutions irrespective of the religion.

An endowment is provided by the endower for a particular institution. The endowed wish to use his endowment for the purpose of such an institution, and if it is not possible to use it like this, then at least for Hindu religious institutions.

In fact, the supreme court in a case⁶ has noticed in Articles 25(1) and 26(b), the right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion.

In the area of managing the common pool fund, admirable objects are offered. However, a close examination of some purposes reveals that they appear to be arbitrary in nature. It is important to remember that cash is taken from the Hindu temple. Money is poured by Hindus. It might be a noble gesture to donate it to a struggling institution of another faith. But it can’t come solely from donations to the Hindu temple. The State is required to give these institutions the assistance they require. However, Hindu temples cannot be forced to help these institutions; they may do so voluntarily, but that is not sufficient under the Act’s initial provisions. Under Clause (h) of Section 19, Government has rightly chosen to say that the administration can be for the establishment and maintenance of Hindu children. However, Sections (1) and (j) do not contain those words. This Court does not, under any circumstances, advocate that underfunded institutions of other faiths not receive assistance; rather, it asks who should receive assistance and how. After all, devotees of Hindu temples donate Kanika, or cash, to that Hindu temple for use in maintaining the temple, and it cannot be used for non-Hindu purposes that have no bearing on Hindus. Even though Hinduism does not explicitly forbid such donations, it is still preferable that they only be used for Hindu institutions. Otherwise, it is very likely that Hindu institutions will request support or maintenance from other religious institutions, which could lead to unwelcome religious disputes.

Act 14 of 1920

The statement and object of most of the Acts for the control of the religious and charitable endowments provide for reducing the mismanagement of these institutions. But if this research is not in the wrong direction, there is Act number 14 of 1920 also known as – 

The charitable and religious trusts Act,1920 provides under section 3, the power to move to court with regard to the furnishing of particulars of the trust of a Charitable or religious nature and also to audit the accounts of the said trust.

The Official Trustees Act, 1913

Under the Official Trustees Act, 1913, the official trustee is barred from taking any trust of religious character for business purposes under section 3.

The Official Trustee shall not save as provided by any rules made under this Act, except any trust for a religious purpose or any trust subject to any rule made by the central government under section 30 which involves the management or carrying on of any business purpose 

Conclusion

The government has its own reasons to manage the temples and religious institutions. One such reason is the mismanagement by the religious boards of the funds or endowments they receive. But this is a general problem and it can be scrutinized every three months through a scheme prevailing in the world as auditing. The second reason which seldom gets revealed is the big amount of money collected as an endowment which is helping the government to run various projects. But religious endowments are not to run such projects.

If an endower wishes to endow any property for a secular purpose, why he would endow it to religious institution of his choice whether it is a Temple, Mosque, Dargah, Church, Gurudwara, or any institution of religious nature. The answer is very well clear by the court in a decision that the religious nature of these activities ends as soon as these endowments are endowed to the deity or temple. The management of endowments thereafter acquires a secular nature.⁷

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Citations

1. AIR 1973 SC 1461
2. AIR1958 SC 255
3. 1997 (4) SC 124
4. ibid
5. ibid
6. AIR 1963 SC 1636
7. Bairagi Mekap v. Shri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, AIR 1972 Orrisa 10

This article is written by Somnath Sharma, a Law Graduate.

Introduction

As per Places of Worship Act, it is “an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”

What guidelines do the 1991 Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act contain?

In 1991, against the backdrop of the Ram Mandir agitation, the Parliament of the PV Narasimha Rao government passed this law.

• This Act preserves a house of worship’s religious identity as it was on August 15, 1947.
• A religious place of worship, or a portion of a religious place of worship, may not be converted into a place of worship for a different religion or a different denomination of the same religion, according to Section 3 of the Act.
• All appeals, lawsuits, or other procedures about changing a place of worship’s religious character must come to a stop at the effective date of the Act, according to Section 4(2) of the Act. Additionally, no new appeals will be accepted.
• It is crucial to remember that legal action may be taken if the place of worship’s religious nature is changed beyond the deadline of August 15, 1947.
• The Sets of Worship Act also places a positive obligation on the State to preserve all places of worship’s religious character in the manner that it did at the time of independence.

Exceptions

The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, governs ancient and historical monuments as well as archaeological sites and remains.

• Any disagreement that has been resolved amicably between the parties, any litigation that has been definitively resolved or dismissed, and any conversion of property that occurred prior to the start of the Act.
• Additionally, the Act does not apply to the Ayodhya temple known as Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid. This law will take precedence over all other laws now in place.

Efficacy of the Act

• The Places of Worship Act is inextricably linked to a secular state’s duty.
• Equality between all faiths.
• An affirmation of the solemn obligation placed on the State to uphold and defend the equality of all faiths as a fundamental constitutional principle and a component of the Constitution.

The Act’s penalties

• According to Section 6 of the Act, it carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison as well as a fine.
• When someone attempts to conduct an offence or help carry out a crime, they are nonetheless subject to penalty under subsection (1) even though they did not take any steps to actually commit the crime.
• Anything in section 116 of the IPC (45 of 1860) will be punishable with the punishment specified for the offence if anybody aids or conspires to commit an offence under subsection (1).

How does the petition violate the ruling made in Ayodhya?

• The statute was mentioned by the Constitution Bench, which was chaired by former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, in the 2019 Ayodhya judgement, and it was noted that it expresses the secular values of the Constitution and strictly forbids retrogression.
• The statute, according to the court, protects secularism by forbidding changes to a place of worship’s status following Independence.
• “Historical wrongs cannot be righted by the people taking the law into their own hands,” the five-judge Bench warned against additional attempts to alter the character of a house of worship.
• Parliament has explicitly said that in order to preserve the nature of houses of public worship, the past and its wrongs shall not be used as tools to oppress the present and the future.
• The State is addressed by the law just as much as every other American citizen is. Its standards bind all those in charge of running the country’s activities.
• These standards put Article 51A’s Fundamental Duties into practice and as such are mandates that benefit all citizens.
• In contrast to what the Supreme Court stated in the Ayodhya Verdict, the current petition challenges the law on the grounds that it infringes secularism.

Views of the Supreme Court

• The Constitution Bench referred to the statute in the 2019 Ayodhya judgement and stated that it embodies the secular values of the Constitution and forbids retrogression.
• Thus, the legislation is a legislative tool created to safeguard the secular aspects of Indian politics, which are one of the fundamental principles of the Constitution.

Petition concerning Places of Worship Act 1991

• “The Centre has banned remedies against illegal encroachment on places of worship and pilgrimage, and now Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs cannot file a lawsuit or seek a high court under Article 226,” the plea stated. As a result, they won’t be allowed to reinstate their places of worship and pilgrimage, including temple endowments, in accordance with Articles 25 and 26, and the invaders’ illegal barbaric deeds would go on forever.
• Additionally, the petition claimed that the law was against the Constitution’s secularism principle.
• Some contend that “pilgrimage sites” or “burial grounds” are covered by the State List and that the centre was therefore powerless to enact regulations in this area. However, the centre had contended in Entry 97 that it may do so under the residuary power of the union list.

Why is the law under challenge to our cultural practices in the name of secularism?

The first religious parliament was held in Delhi in 1984, with about 558 Hindus in attendance. They planned to launch a national campaign encouraging Hindus to claim the holy sites in Varanasi, Mathura, and Ayodhya. The movement grew in power after the Ram Janma Bhumi-Babri Masjid Conflict in 1990. The Hindu religious groups concentrated on two mosques:

(1) Shahi Idgah Mosque, next to Lord Krishna Temple in Mathura

(2) Gyanvapi Mosque, next to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, despite the urge to lay claim to over 3000 mosques in the sites indicated above.

The petition was submitted in 1991 on behalf of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar, the principal deity of the temple, by attorney Vijay Shankar Rastogi. Rastogi asserts in his petition that Maharaja Vikramaditya built the temple there about 2,050 years ago, where the current mosque now stands. He demanded that the Gyanvapi mosque be removed from the area, that Hindus be granted ownership of the entire parcel of property, and that they be granted the ability to practise their religion inside the mosque.

Petition filed for the Gyanvapi Mosque

• A request was made to the Supreme Court by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in opposition to several clauses of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
• The Act is being challenged because it forbids any community from claiming the places of worship of another community. This ban is questioned as being legitimate.
• The Places of Worship Act of 1991, according to a petition, is “arbitrary, unreasonable, and retrospective.”
• Sections of the Act dealing with the bar on legal claims were the subject of the petition, which argued that they violated secularism.
• Additionally, it is claimed that the August 15, 1947 deadline is “arbitrary, unreasonable, and retrospective” and prevents Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Hindus from petitioning the courts to “reclaim” their places of worship.
• It essentially robs people of their ability to use the legal system to seek redress and get justice.
• According to the petition, “fundamentalist barbarous invaders” “invaded” and “encroached” upon such locations.
• The petition claims that the law makes it acceptable for invaders to destroy sites of worship in the past. It is puzzling how the birthplace of Ram could be exempt from the legislation but not Krishna’s.

According to the petition, Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act:

• Violates one’s ability to worship, practise, and spread religion (Article 25),
• Right to control, maintain, and dispense with religious and pilgrimage sites (Article 26),
• The right to protect culture (Article 29)
• Antithetical to the State’s obligation to safeguard historic sites and maintain religious cultural heritage under Article 49 (Article 51A).

Conclusion

According to the Act, regardless of its past, every house of public worship that was open on the day of our independence, or 15 August 1947, will maintain its religious character on that day. The filing of lawsuits for such purposes of conversion is prohibited under Section 4, even though Section 3 prohibits the conversion of houses of worship. Thus, the Act’s purpose is evident.

The text of Section 4 of the Act provides a further basis for the dispute; another argument asserts that the clause forbids the right to judicial relief. Given that India has a long history of Muslim conquest and dominance, one key background of this Act is the claim that it discriminates against Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists.

As per the petition:

Hindus would not have received justice if the Ayodhya case had not been resolved. Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs all regularly pay respect to their houses of worship. The ‘Hindu law principle’ is also mentioned in this passage: “Temple property is never lost even if it is enjoyed by strangers for years, and even the King cannot take property away because the deity is an embodiment of God and is a juristic person, represents infinite, the timeless, and cannot be confined to the shackles of time.” Therefore, a thorough reading of the writ petition can give a good indication of the petition’s goals. The petitioner contends that they have a right to have past wrongs corrected, especially now that the nation is independent, and that they are working to redress those wrongs. The petition clearly has religious overtones, and any discussion of the legitimacy of the measure will undoubtedly bring up significant legal issues.

References

1. Places of Worship Act 1991.
2. Places of Worship Act (Special Provision Act) 1991.

This article is written by Aditi Jangid, from Delhi Metropolitan Education (Affiliated to GGSIPU).

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Introduction

Education in humanities, social sciences, and school is an important tool for making it better or easier for people to live together in a society that is diverse with harmony. School is now one of the few collectives or common arenas where these issues can be taken up. That’s one of the reasons why religious education is still important in school. Religious education in laymen’s terms could be understood as the education concerned with the study of religion and can be defined as providing knowledge and education regarding either specifically one or various religions at the school level. Religious education involves some specific type of teaching that isn’t much linked with the academic world. Religious faith is the sole ideology that religious education takes into consideration. The age group of students in schools is considered to be the age group that plays a crucial role in one’s life because in that age period child’s brain functions to its optimum level. In that age group what a child’s beliefs and principles are built up remains with him/her whole life. Religious education does various important work like encouraging young people to value themselves and the community with which they live. 

How it can be achieved

To work with how to teach and learn religion in school, you need to know something about it in a society that is changing all the time. In today’s world, we are teaching about religion and different world views and to do that, we have to know something about the changes that are happening to religion in society and try to filter that into schools as well. The pupils we meet in school are living in the same society and used to live together with people with different beliefs and religions. That has to be reflected also in the teaching and learning in school. 

A critical analysis (Teaching religion in today’s classroom)

Religious education research is normative in the sense that it is trying to find a solution and suggest ways of working with teaching/learning in school. But it’s also descriptive science- researching how young people and teachers think about religion. Sometimes the teachers say that it’s difficult to get the pupils to open up. In many places there is also a situation where the secular pupils keep on dominating the classroom, sometimes this makes the pupils with religious backgrounds feel less confident coming out with their views. Then you get a discussion in the classroom that is not representing the views of the pupils and also does not represent the views of the people in the society. The plurality in society is not represented in the classroom and there is a challenge for the teacher to deal with this. Many teachers in religion don’t have sufficient subject area knowledge to enter these discussions. The pupils know more than the teachers. Another difficulty is that teachers sometimes are a bit insecure about the tensions among the pupils and therefore are reluctant to enter the discussions.

Many times, discussion suffers from that. But many teachers on the other hand are also interested in developing their teaching into a better environment in the classroom. In the world, there are various nations like Great Britain and Scotland where religious education is mandatory. 

The Judiciary and Religion in Educational Institution vis-á-vis Hijab Ban

Government restricted the Hijab in the classrooms. The matter went to the government. The following points were discussed by the court while giving its decision which was in the government’s favor.

• Hijab was found not an essential religious practice in Islam-

This very argument was brought in by the petitioner and the court looked into it and found that the hijab is not an essential religious practice. In other words, it is not that the entire community practices in India and is not something that restricts the faith in itself that if this is not done then religion will itself cease to exist, so this practice is not that essential.

• The school order was found to be under reasonable restriction-

This argument states that the whole idea of the uniform need not be what it is.

• Government order not found violative of Hijab student’s rights-

Issue of a fundamental right does not come here in the form of the uniform what was asked by the College Development Council and the college, in this case, is a reasonable restriction because an institution’s rights are also protected and that was something that was established by previous judgments.

The honourable court has rightly decided so, considering that even though people have the fundamental right to practice, profess and propagate their religion enshrined under the Indian Constitution but that is subject to some reasonable restrictions. Moreover, wearing a hijab is not an essential practice in the Islamic religion.

Should Holy books be taught in religious institutions?

India is a secular country but full of diverse religions. In such a nation, will the inclusion of holy books in the curriculum be justified? All the holy books, be it Shrimad Bhagawat Gita, Quran, The Bible or Guru Granth Sahib Ji contains spiritual lessons that make one emotionally and intellectually strong and morally right. As the youth of any country is considered to be the future of that country so its youth should get knowledge of their literature which builds and develop their moral and ethical principles. Hence, teaching lessons from these holy books to youth will help them to take the right decision in their life more accurately and will make them follow a righteous path which ultimately helps them in becoming good citizens of the nation.

National Education Policy (NEP) unveiled by the center also advocates the introduction of modern and ancient culture, tradition, and knowledge systems so that students feel proud of India’s rich and diverse culture. In the line with the same, recently, the Gujarat government announced that Bhagavad Gita will be a part of the school syllabus for classes 6 to 12 in the state. The step taken by the government is very appreciative. It would be very beneficial for the students and the nation if other state governments move in a similar direction and aspire to teach students religious books across religions.  

Why the religious education should be imparted among students?

Imparting knowledge about various religions will make children have a broad awareness of all the religions. It will help them to make an informed decision on which religion they want to profess, which is better than learning only about the religion being practiced at home¹.

Furthermore, religious education teaches children about various gods and goddesses and allows them to learn and develop their characteristics and imbibe their good qualities which make them prepared for the next level of their life called adult life. 

We know that religion is a strong weapon that can divide society. The weapon could be deadly if it is not understood well. Hence, it becomes more significant to develop a deep understanding to prevent division, ignorance, and prejudice which can be overtly seen with the increase in multi-faith societies.

Many argue that because people are not taught to be open about other religions while growing up. For some, religion is a very personal thing and if they feel attacked about their religion they take it as personally as if it is an attack on their family. So, teaching religion in schools will make children aware of the wide spectrum of religions and will help them to draw a line between their religious beliefs and who they are.

Every religion irrespective of what a person follow contains a whole lot amount of knowledge that could answer the questions related to the life of a human from birth to death and even after death questions. All questions whether related to happiness or sorrow, one’s religion is capable of answering them all.

All the above-mentioned benefits make it necessary for the nation to have religious education in schools and academic curriculum

Is teaching religious education legal in India?

Recently, the Supreme Court also allowed the teaching of religion in school but mentioned that schools should refrain from giving any kind of preference or special treatment over the other. Schools also should refrain from promoting particular religious texts as the only available truth. The ruling of the honorable Supreme Court is a step necessary to preserve the secular fabric of the nation.

Conclusion & Way forward

Religion is the most diligent topic in any nation which can easily attract the hatred of people belonging to the minority class. Loyalty to one may become an obstruction to loyalty to another religion. These limitations obstruct the development of students into ethical citizens of a free and democratic society. Government should be cautious to keep all religions and their values and practices balanced. Government should not perform and even should not get portrayed preferencing any specific religion in any way or treating any specific religion with less attention. The same could be seen in India where the constitution itself preserves the secular character of the nation. Moreover, the government of our nation can not follow any religion. Government should perform various pieces of research to amend national education policy and should introduce compulsory academic related to religious education in schools. If public grants are distributed on a non-preference basis to all religious communities, then little is left of the claims that the partial funding of educational institutions run by religious communities places an unfair burden on other members of society. It is possible that an element of unfairness still exists if some religious communities receive grants while others do not.

It may be claimed that this issue can be solved if kids from various religious backgrounds interact with one another, as they do in state-run schools, and discover that there are other ways of thinking and being than the ones their parents have taught them. They may even come to respect other people’s opinions and ways of thinking. Additionally, this variety need not just be seen in public schools. If religiously linked institutions are also available to students of different faiths, as they are in India, it may be promoted there. Even if it is smaller than at entirely state-run schools, this variety may be sufficient to promote inter-religious toleration, which may, in turn, foster civic camaraderie and uphold civic principles. Schools with a religious affiliation may also promote communication between individuals via negotiation and compromise. But up until now, a school has simply served as a casual setting for religious tolerance. The subject of interreligious education, or effectively understanding different religions, is not addressed.

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References

1. The Hindu Bureau, ‘Gujarat schools to teach Bhagvad Gita’ (The Hindu, 17 March 2022), https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/gujarat-to-introduce-bhagavad-gita-for-classes-6-to-12/article65235296.ece
2. Rajeev Bhargava, ‘Religious Education in a Secular State’ (2013) 40(3) IIC Quarterly, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24394393

This article is written by Vedwrat Arya, 3^rd year law student pursuing BA.LLB Hons. from Dr. BR Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat.

–Report by Rhea Mistry

In C. Soman v. Secretary of Hindu Religious and Charitable Department and others, Mr. C. Soman filed the petition under Article 226 of the constitution stating to issue a ‘writ of mandamus’ asserting that the respondents shall not permit Non-Hindu entry in the temples.

The petitioner brought to court’s notice an invitation sent to a minister who is a Christian for conducting the Kumbabishegam festival. The petitioner is of the opinion that during this festival a Non-Hindu should not be permitted to enter the temple as this is a Hindu festival, celebrated in the Arulmighu Adikesava Perumal Thirukovil at Thiruvattar which is in Kanyakumari District.

In the order, the court said:

“In our considered opinion, when a public festival like the Kumababishegam of a temple is performed, it will be impossible for the authorities to check the religious identity of every devotee for the purpose of permitting his entry into the temple. That apart, if a person belonging to another religion, has faith in a particular Hindu deity, that cannot be prevented nor can his entry into a temple be prohibited. It is common knowledge that the devotional songs of Dr.K.J.Yesudas, a Christian by birth, rendered on various Hindu Gods are played without any demur in temples. In fact, in Nagore Dargah and Vailankanni Church, scores of Hindus worship.”

The Madras High Court said that the authorities can’t check whether the person is a Hindu and who is not a Hindu as an ample of people visit to attend the Hindu festival Kumbabishegam. The court also claimed that if a Christian has faith and belief in the Hindu religion and adheres to the religion, then they cannot be prohibited to enter the temple.

The court stated that if a person who is not a Hindu has faith in any religion and adheres to it, they cannot to stopped to enter and offering their prayers. It is not in the court matter to identify the faith of the people in the religion. It will hurt the sentiments of the people if the court starts determining the faith in the religion and restricting Non-Hindus entry into the temple.

In this case, the court on 4th July 2022, passed the judgment that any person who is a Non- Hindu cannot be restricted entry into the Hindu Temple if they believe and have faith in the deity. The court decided to take a “parochial view” and prefers to approach it from a broader perspective. The Hon’ble Madras High Court dismissed this writ petition for reason that it “being devoid of merits” with no charges or costs.

Introduction

India, a country with many ideologies, religions, dialects, castes, and topography, represents unity and integrity. However, when it comes to the Varna System, which divides Indians into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras, there is no such unity displayed (Scheduled Casts, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Communities, the most oppressed ones). As a result, the founders of the Indian Constitution established the principle of the reservation to ensure that every citizen’s social, political, educational, and economic rights and dignity be protected equally.

Current Position

In India, the caste system is profoundly founded in certain theological and social views that are highly conservative, and it has eventually estranged countrymen while categorizing ethnic and minority groups. This socioeconomic marginalization stems from the nebulous and nonsensical Principle of Purity and Pollution, which states that the lower castes are mostly linked with harmful vocations and are hence stigmatized by the society’s mainstream population. The Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes now make up more than half of the country’s population (OBC). Since the dawn of time, the Indian civilization has recognized significant social, educational, and economic disparities among its citizens. Though there was no caste-based divide in Vedic civilization, the rise of Brahminical culture in the Indian subcontinent brought with it the active form of class and caste structure.

The Constitutional provision of reservation

Article 14
Article 14 emphasizes two points: equality before the law and equal protection under the law. Article 14 imposes a duty on the state for the benefit of all people living in India’s territory. As a result, residents are not the only ones who gain from Article 14. Every natural or artificial person, whether a citizen or an immigrant, is entitled to the protections afforded by this article. The reality, on the other hand, frequently paints a different picture.

Article 15(4)
“Nothing in this article or clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the state from making any provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizen or the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe.” Such “special provision” as are permissible under clause (4) of Article 15 must, However, those specific provisions are for the progress of persons who fall into those categories, and thus they are not for the advancement of those who are not covered by this clause. Even clause (4) of Articles 15 and 16 cannot be applied to all the vague purposes of the reservation. In the State of M.P v Mohan Singh the Supreme Court verdict that though prisoners were from the backward class they will be equally liable for punishment as of other prisoners as they have broken the law.

Article 16(4B)
“Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of the year which is reserved for being filled up in that year following any provision for reservation made under clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not be considered
together with the vacancies of the year in which they are being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty percent reservation on the total number of vacancies of that year”.

The 50% Rule
In Indra Sawhney vs Union Of India, 1992, the court covered caste-based reservation, ruling that “No reservation or preference provision may be sought with such eagerness as to demolish the fundamental notion of equality.” The Janata Party administration established the Second Backward Groups Commission, or Mandal Commission, in 1979 to identify India’s socially and educationally backward classes. Its chairman is Bihar MP Bindheshwar Mandal. At the time, India had established reservations for Dalits and Adivasis. The Mandal Commission’s report, published in 1980, proposed that quotas be provided to the Other Backward Classes, a large group of castes that fundamentally fulfill the caste system’s “shudra” label. The report was kept in cold storage after Congress regained power shortly after it was filed. Another non-Congress administration, this time led by VP Singh, took a decade to implement the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, sparking widespread protests and the Indra Sawhney case in the Supreme Court.

The concept of ‘Creamy Layer’:
The Supreme Court of India gave birth to the concept of a “Creamy Layer” because the Indian Constitution does not provide for it. It generally refers to that backward caste be it SC, ST, OBC, or even any unreserved one who may be regarded as untouchables or not got enough land, money to live a healthy life and their children will not be able to get the reservation. For the first time, the term creamy layer got introduced by the Sattanathan Commission in 1971 which reported that the “creamy layer” should be exempted from the OBC reservation of civil services, and with that, the “creamy layer” principle has been laid down by Supreme Court for the exclusion of the advanced sections of the backward class groups for reservation. However, it ultimately divided society into backward and forward classes.

Concluding Remarks & Suggestions:

The constitution’s framers aspired to create a casteless and classless society. They wanted to uplift the underprivileged and provide them with a decent existence by concentrating on their job, education, and social standing. In a nutshell, the principle of the reserve was ingrained in the foundations of Equity and Justice. However, over time, the whole thing went off the rails. As a result of evaluating different aspects of the government’s reserve policy covered under Articles 15 and 16, certain flaws in reservation policies have been identified. The authors’ humble proposals for eliminating such shortcomings and achieving the desired aims of reservation policy is as follows:

Despite the government’s haste in implementing the 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections in the unreserved category, it is past time for it to rethink its strategy on defining poverty levels and ensure that all poor and needy individuals are included.

Above all, the authors argue that it is past time to focus on the fundamental difficulty that the Reservation Laws face, which is nothing more than a defective system for implementing or enforcing the laws or policies that have been enacted. The true beneficiary is poor in information, which is a major worry right now.

Written by Hemant Bohra student at School of Law, Lovely Professional University, Punjab.

Introduction

The word ‘Secular’ means that a person is separate from religion and has no religious basis. Secularism means that religion is kept unconnected with the social, political, cultural, and economic spheres of life. Religion is open to everyone and gives an individual his personal choice to accept and follow any religion without any discrimination.

Philosophy of Indian Secularism

The term ‘secularism’ is like the Vedic concept of ‘Dharma nirapekshata’ which means the State’s indifference to religion. It has two principles: 

1) Religion should not interfere in the administration and policy-making of the state. 

2) People of all religions are equal before the law, constitution, and government policy.

This model of secularism is adopted by some western societies where the govt. is completely unconnected with religion.

Indian philosophy of secularism is connected to “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” (it means to treat all the religions with the same emotions, same zeal and zest irrespective of the religion a person follows and more than that it gives the idea of mankind and humanity) which suggests the same context for all religions. 

This concept was embraced and promoted by great personalities like Swami Vivekananda and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and they called it ‘Positive secularism’ that reflects the dominant ethos of Indian culture.

India has no official state religion. However, different personal laws are there on matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance, alimony, etc. which vary with a person’s religion.

Indian secularism isn’t an end in itself but a way to deal with religious plurality and to achieve the peaceful coexistence of various religions.

Secularism and the Indian Constitution

The core ethos of India has been a synthesis of fundamental unity, tolerance, and even faith. It’s an undebatable fact that thousands of Indians belonging to diverse religions lived together through the ages, marred through sometimes by religious revolts, economic exploitation, and social suppression being often at the rock bottom of it all.

India is the birthplace of 4 major world religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Yet, India is one among the foremost diverse nation in terms of faith and religion. India is a country that is built on the foundations of a civilization that’s fundamentally non-religious.

The purpose of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution is to make India a Sovereign, Socialist, Democratic Republic. The 42^nd Amendment Act of the constitution added the terms such as socialist and secular. The entire constitution is summarized within the preamble. This mirrors the spirit of the Constitution. The arrangement of words in the preamble is also very important. Indian society is a multi-religious society, it is having different caste, religions alongside several religious diversifications. So, all of these are divisive features somehow and if not handled carefully then it can cause a threat to the unity and integrity of the state.

All the basic principles of secularism are included in the various provisions of the Constitution. The word ‘Secular’ was added to the preamble by the 42^nd Constitution Amendment Act of 1976. The Constitution emphasizes the fact that constitutionally, India is a secular country with no state religion and that the State shall recognize and accept all religions, shall not favor or protect any particular religion.

• Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws to everyone, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Article 16 (1) guarantees equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters of public employment and appointment and that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth and residence.
• Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and of practicing any profession or religion.
• Article 26 gives every religious group or individual the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes and to manage its own affairs in matters of religion.
• Article 27 says that no citizen shall be compelled by the state to pay any kind of taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious institution.
• Article 28 allows educational institutions maintained by different religious groups to impart religious instruction.
• Article 29 talks about the protection of minorities’ interests. 
• Article 30 provides rights to minorities to administer and establish educational institutions.
• Article 51A talks about Fundamental Duties that obliges all the citizens of India to abide by the constitution and respect its institutions, ideals, national anthem and the national flag and to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood and therefore to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.

Threats to Secularism

Even though the Indian Constitution declares India to be absolutely neutral to all religions, our society is submerged in religion.

The union of religion and politics has threatened Indian secularism, which seeks to mobilize voters on the basis of fundamental identities such as religion, caste, and ethnicity.

Communal politics operates through the communalization of social space by spreading myths and stereotypes against minorities, attacking rational values, and practicing divisive ideological propaganda and politics.

The politicization of any one religious group leads to the competitive politicization of other groups, thereby leading to inter-religious conflict.

One of the manifestations of communalism is communal riots. In recent times also, communalism has proved to be a major threat to the secular fabric of Indian politics.

The rise of Hindu nationalism in recent years has resulted in mob lynchings simply because they suspect people of killing cows and eating beef.

In addition, forced closure of slaughterhouses, campaigns against ‘love jihad’, conversions or Ghar-wapsi (forcing Muslims to convert to Hinduism), etc. reinforces the communal tendency in the society.

Islamic fundamentalism or revivalism emphasizes the establishment of an Islamic State based on Sharia law which directly contradicts the notions of a secular and democratic state.

In recent years there have been sporadic incidents of Muslim youth being inspired and radicalized by groups like ISIS which is very unfortunate for both India and the world.

Conclusion

It needs to be understood that just by writing the term ‘secularism’ in the books, any state cannot be truly secular. Thus, the whole ideology should be recognized with grace and should be applied equally to all people. And there should be a check on the governmental bodies for propagating any unfair practice of religious groups to acquire power.

Bibliography

1. Dr. J. N. Pandey, Constitutional Law of India.
2. Secularism, https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/secularism/.
3. Secularism and Constitution of India: Unity in Diversity, http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1964/Secularism-and-Constitution-of-India.html. 
4. Secularism, https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper1/secularism-1.
5. What is secularism, https://www.secularism.org.uk/what-is-secularism.html.

This article is written by Priyanka Choudhary, currently pursuing BALLB from Mody University of Science and Technology, Lakshmangarh, Rajasthan.

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