There Is No Doubt That The Indian Constitution Has Been Hijacked, But Not By The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, according to retired High Court judge RS Sodhi, has taken over the Indian Constitution. Kiren Rijiju, minister of union law, concurs.
Regarding the selection of judges, the judge and the minister discussed this hijacking in their conversation. For several weeks, the Supreme Court and the Union administration have been at odds over the issue.
But after reading their exchange, it became clear that the Indian billionaire class, not the Supreme Court, had taken control of the Constitution.
Just compare the possessions of the wealthy: homes, not just in Mumbai but also in Dubai, London, and possibly elsewhere, crore-dollar automobiles, watches, shoes, and designer clothing, and some even own airports.
What do regular Indians possess? Their possessions are probably limited to a few items of furniture, a few kitchen utensils, and a few articles of clothing.
For millions of Indian citizens, what do the right to justice, equality, and liberty mean? They do not ask for such expensive material stuff. They only want the rights that are legitimately theirs, as granted by the Indian Constitution.
Right to livelihood
Six sanitation workers tried suicide on September 9 of last year, only weeks after India celebrated Independence Day on August 15; three of them ingested poison, while the others doused themselves in gasoline and set themselves on fire. They were opposing not being given a permanent position.
Why did the six safai karamcharis who had been hired on a contract basis by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation—Daksha Hathiwala, Parshottam Vala, Hira Kabira, Moti Vaghela, Ashok Vaghela, and Leela Vaghela—decide to end their lives?
It’s because they were denied their right to subsistence.
These six names were mentioned in news articles. The majority of contract employees who committed suicide, however, are just statistics.
The number of suicide deaths among temporary employees is rising. Daily wage employees committed more suicide in Gujarat than in any other state in 2018, up 50.44 percent from 2017. Every day, about nine daily wagers commit suicide.
According to data presented in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai in December of last year, Gujarat recorded 2,131 incidents of suicide deaths among daily wage workers in 2017 or roughly six per day. It climbed to 2,522 in 2018, a significant rise of 18.34% in just one year. By 2021, the number had increased to 3,206.
In response, Rai cited statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau, stating that 42,004 daily wage laborers committed suicide in 2021 across India.
Fundamental rights that have no significance?
Every type of worker, including contract workers, migrant workers, daily wage earners, app-based transport workers, gig workers, and platform workers, lacks the ability to enforce their constitutionally guaranteed rights or even the rights granted by specific laws like the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008.
All of these workers receive pay that is much below the minimum wage. Rarely can they afford nutritious meals or decent, comfortable housing? Both paying for healthcare and sending their kids to school are pricey. For millions of these laborers, the constitutionally protected right to life and liberty has no value.
By organizing themselves into unions, these employees are the only ones who can defend their legal or constitutional rights. The right to organize into groups or unions is guaranteed to all Indian citizens by Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution under the Right to Freedom.
However, by encouraging scab unions—which are submissive to the management—large firms have, with the assistance of the government, ensured that this right is weakened. Additionally, businesses have come up with several strategies to weaken the labor movement. In the labor tribunals, thousands of people who were fired unfairly rarely receive justice.
Despite this, the employees have managed to set up unions and defend their rights. They have devised clever strategies to maintain their relationships and endure.
There has been a particularly strong tradition of cooperation between contract and permanent employees in Haryana. The karmachari union of Bellsonica Auto Components is involved in the most recent case. On August 14, the union admitted Keshav Raj, a contract employee, as a member.
In the Gurugram-Manesar-Bawal automotive belt in Haryana, this action was taken to reduce the gap between permanent employees and contract workers. However, the labor administration threatened to deregister the union in September if it permitted a contract worker to join.
What does the Constitution mean to people like Keshav Raj and the hundreds of people who work in modern auto hubs where businesses purposefully hire contract workers to forgo paying them the salary paid to permanent employees?
Through their endeavors, permanent employees have been able to enhance their pay; some now receive salaries ranging from 60,000 to 80,000 rupees. However, the pay for contract workers ranges, at best, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000.
Routine exploitation
Workers are split into a variety of categories, including temporary, casual, and trainees (who frequently remain trainees for a very long time despite performing the duties of a permanent employee). The National Employment Enhancement Mission also pays workers wages that are much below the minimum in exchange for a certificate. More than 100 National Employment Enhancement Mission employees work in several factories in Goa, providing the business with free labor.
The author is aware of refugees who reside in and around Vikaspuri in New Delhi and work in factories where male refugees are paid Rs 7,000 per month for eight hours of labor and female workers are paid Rs 5,000. Rent for a single room is Rs 5,000, with additional costs for power, leaving the children of such employees and their families with little to no money for food, medicine, or education.
Every person living inside India’s boundaries, including citizens, is guaranteed the right to life and equal protection under the law. Thus, the Constitution also denies rights to refugees.
Rising billionaires
What does the right to equality imply in a nation where just 3% of the poorest 50% of Indian residents own more than 60% of the nation’s wealth?
A one-time 20% tax on a billionaire’s unrealized gains from 2017 to 21 might raise as much as Rs 1.8 lakh crore, according to Oxfam India’s report “Survival of the Richest: The India tale,” which was published on January 16. This would provide more than five million primary school teachers in the nation with a full year of employment.
The number of billionaires in India climbed from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022, despite the fact that the poor are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic and the lockdown. The aggregate fortune of India’s top 100 wealthiest individuals has surpassed $660 billion, or Rs 54.12 lakh crore, which is enough money to cover the whole Union Budget for more than 18 months.
There have been no protests or outcries since none of these reports or data have startled the large middle class. The law minister has stated that a retired High Court judge is correct in his assertion that the Supreme Court has misappropriated the Constitution in the middle of this mounting disaster.
The Supreme Court has not hijacked the Constitution; rather, wealthy and powerful Indians have done so, stripping the great majority of our fellow citizens of the fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
They have taken over the people’s rights and denied them their freedom, equality, and right to social, economic, and political justice. Citizens who are wealthy have essentially been stripped of their rights.
