What is Fraternity?
- The term fraternity is provided in the Preamble of the Indian constitution. In the words of Dr Ambedkar, it means a sense of common brotherhood of all Indians — if Indians are one people. It is the principle that gives unity and solidarity to social life.
- The idea of fraternity is based on the view that people have responsibilities to each other.
- It was defined after the French Revolution in the following terms: ‘Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you; do constantly to others the good which you would wish to receive from them.
- It is generally seen as an emotion rather than a principle because it denotes a feeling of attachment to nationals.
Why do we need Fraternity?
- India is a land of Diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, caste and culture. To ensure unity and integrity of the nation we need to follow the concept of fraternity.
- It is the Fundamental duty of every citizen of India ‘to promote harmony and the spirit of commonality among all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities.
- In the words of Ambedkar, these principles of liberty equality and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy.
- Fraternity assures the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
Challenges before Fraternity
- Social inequalities: There are widespread inequalities in our society based on caste, gender, religion race and culture etc.
- Political inequalities: Political inequalities are visible in the fact that only 10.5% of MPs are female in our parliament.
- Economic inequalities: top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth and 73% of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1% while 670 million Indians who compromise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth.
- Regional inequalities: it can be seen in the case of South Indian states vis a vis North Indian states specially BIMARU states (Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, UP)
- Communalism: Communalism is growing in India it can be seen in the communisation of religious festivals like recent Ramanavami processions, Cow vigilantism, Love Jihad etc.
Way forward:
- Every citizen should follow their constitutional duty of harmony.
- State agencies should follow the principle of secularism while implementing the law.
- Religious and political leaders should avoid divisive politics.
- Civil society can play a crucial role in resistance against state-sponsored discrimination.
- Institutions’ autonomy should be promoted so that they can perform their duty effectively.