Constitution Simplified | Hamara Samvidhan with Avani Bansal

Video Description

Whenever there is a great deal of information to convey, information which is messy, which moves in too many directions at once – when we attempt to civilize something wild, we tell a story. So I am going to tell you a story. The story of the Constitution of India. As a byproduct, you will hopefully learn a great deal about how India’s governance is structured, how are laws made, how do we ensure accountability of the government of India and the role of the courts therein etc. By the end of the book, I hope that you will make a little more sense of how things function in India and why they do the way they do. You will understand the world around you in ways you didn’t before and hopefully also learn to ask – “Ye likha kahan hai?” (Where is this written?) If all of us learn to do that in India – it will perhaps be the biggest revolutionary change. Why must you know your Constitution? Well, right from the social collective to individual fates – Constitution impacts everything. From how elections are fought in India, to who regulates them, to who appoints people at the helm of Election Commission, to who has the power to pull up someone for wrong behaviour, to how much money gets pumped in the elections, to what issues are legally relevant or not and which questions of national interest need to be decided by the courts in India, and which need to be fought in the political domain - all of this is regulated by what the constitution says and how it is interepreted by the highest judiciary in India. Whoever gets elected in India, has a major bearing on the scope of rights that we have as citizens of India. While the ‘basic structure’ of the Indian Constitution is protected, the parties that come to power have a difference of both – approach and vision for India. So for instance, the extent to which the governments can interefere in your personal lives and decisions – who you marry, or what rights you have when you live with someone, or what are the consequences or not if you marry outside your caste/religion, are greatly influenced by the political atmosphere of the country. Depending on which political party is in power, there may be very different answers to the questions of what constitutes legal and illegal work, what is the employment policy for gig workers and the unorganised workers, what is the overall health and education policy, whether rigths of sex workers are recognised or not etc. In essence, there is hardly any area of your life, which is not greatly influenced by politics and in turn by law and the Constitution. This series – ‘Hamara Samvidhan’ will cover every single Article/provision of the Indian Constitution and attempt to explain it in simple language along with relevant case laws. Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join