Reviews

The Constitution and Fundamental Rights by Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar, with a Foreword by Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar. (1955. Price Rs. 5 or 7s. 6d net. Published by the Srinivasa Sastri Institute of Politics, Mylapore, Madras.)

It is no small thing to have had two brilliant minds applied, in close succession, to an analysis of the Constitution and its structure and contents, within about two years after its coming into operation. In March 1952, Sir Ivor Jennings delivered his lectures under the Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar Shashtiabdipoorthi Endowment of the Madras University on “Some Characteristics of the Indian Constitution.” On 13th April and 14th May of the same year, Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar gave his “Srinivasa Sastri Memorial Lectures” on the “Constitution and Fundamental Rights.” Sir Ivor approached the subject as an independent critic from outside; Dr. Alladi spoke with inside knowledge and as an architect of the Constitution. Sir Ivor’s outlook was coloured by the traditional distrust of general principles characteristic of the Britishers; Dr. Alladi on the other hand had all the passion of the forensic lawyer for factual analysis and study. In many respects, Dr. Alladi’s lectures may be taken to be an answer also to some of the points made by Sir Ivor in the course of his talks as besetting weaknesses of, or clumsy approach in, the Indian Constitution.

According to Talleyrand, a Constitution should be short and obscure. The golden rule for constitution-makers is said to be never to put in anything that can be safely left out. The Indian Constitution does not conform to such advice. It had to be long and detailed for various reasons now well-known. It had to take into account the fact that the Constitution was not the result of a revolution; it had to grapple with the legacy of the divide et impera policy pursued by the British: it had to reckon with the existence of a multiplicity of Indian States side by side with advanced British Indian provinces; it had to take note of the existence of vast masses of illiterate and ignorant people, most of them regarded as untouchables, and of racial, religious, linguistic and cultural divisions. It had also to effect a synthesis between the events of the past and the aspirations of the future. Dr. Alladi points out how the Constitution has adopted a realistic approach in its provisions. While rejecting the laissez faire policies and nineteenth century liberalism as outmoded, it recognises that a democratic government has not merely to protect the individual rights of persons and property of a citizen but also to foster the well-being of the community as a whole, and that freedom of the individual cannot be dissociated from the functions of a modern Welfare State but will have to be correlated to them. It is unique for its faith in, and adoption of, universal adult franchise, and for its postulating a single citizenship for the whole of India, broad-based, untainted by religious, racial or parochial considerations, with equal and uniform rights to all citizens, believing in the rights of the common man as the basis of democratic rule.

To those who consider it unwise to enunciate fundamental ideas instead of leaving it to a virile and active public opinion to ensure that liberty shall prevail, without executive tyranny on the one hand and license on the other, Dr. Alladi gives a fitting reply. To organise public opinion in so vast a country as India with millions of persons yet to be educated is a formidable task. Again, call them rights or call them liberties, the writing of the fundamental rights into the Constitution is an invaluable safeguard for the citizen, which, as the American example has triumphantly shown, can play a creative part in overcoming the psychological antagonisms between disparate groups of an ethnic, linguistic or religious character, and thereby promoting gradually the evolution of a homogeneous nationality. Dr. Alladi with all the weight of his great authority gives a sober and balanced presentation of the ambit and scope of the different guaranteed rights, with a reference to their history and the operation of similar freedoms in the United States of America. He rightly points out how no rigid rule can be laid down as to the degree of permissible restriction and when such restriction would be reasonable. To state, as is sometimes done, that the exceptions strike at the foundations of the rights is rather going too far. It is good to know that Where in his ‘Modern Constitutions’ recognises that no realistic attempt to define the rights of citizens indeed fails to include qualifications. It is now increasingly realised that even in America, at the present time, “due process” signifies nothing more than that legislation must be reasonable according to the prevailing standards of the court and the social philosophy of the Judges.

On some matters, like the compensation provisions in Article 31, one may not see eye to eye with Dr. Alladi, and it is not surprising that judicial opinion is not uniform. In regard to the position of the Judiciary under the Constitution, there cannot be two opinions. While, in the United States, the Supreme Court has come to be not merely the balance wheel of the Constitution but also a censor of legislation or a super-legislature functioning in continuous session, the Supreme Court under the Indian Constitution has been invested with far wider powers in some directions, at the same time avoiding its becoming a legislature in effect. The Supreme Court is not merely the watch-dog of the Constitution, pronouncing on the constitutionality of legislation, but is also a Court of Appeal from all the High Courts in all other matters, as well as a court of supervision over all administrative tribunals where they outstep the limits of their jurisdiction. Dr. Alladi has done well to bring out vividly how the Indian Constitution goes farther than any other in the direction of securing speedy and effective remedies to an aggrieved person through the provision of Article 32.

Dr. Alladi warmly defends the provision in the Constitution relating to its amendment and quotes the opinion of Wheare that “the Constitution of India strikes a good balance” between rigidity and flexibility. He points out how the Constitution contains within itself the necessary elements of growth, flexibility and expansion.

The book is a most valuable contribution on the basic principles of the Constitution and is sure to occupy “an honoured place in the literature of constitutional interpretation”.

S. Venkataraman

A Forbidden flight by Dr. Satyanarain Sinha, M. P. (Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay Price Rs. 1-12-0.)

It is not every Parliamentarian in India that knows so well how to spend the summer recess of Parliament as does Dr. Satyanarain Sinha who, when Delhi gets hot, finds himself “crossing the Himalayas or trying the Antarctic”. It is not that he seeks adventure or bargains for trouble but that he feels he needs must have a change, for a change of scene has often brought him a “change of luck and a new life”.

Ordinarily, even if a man of the position of Dr. Sinha made a memorable and exciting trip round the world, it would hardly have mattered to anyone, were it not that he has recorded his experiences in the form of a book, and that he is a writer of considerable charm and power, which explains why it is that Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has included it in its brilliant series. Dr. Sinha is indeed a colourful personality. It is not known what thesis he offered for his doctorate, but it must have been some subject relating to sociology, for throughout the book it is society that interests him most, and the humanitarian within the parliamentarian that we see.

The story of Dr. Sinha’s flight is indeed fascinating. At least, he has made it so by his happy power and the subtle pen he wields. He is a born traveller to whom the whole world is kin, who can make himself equally at home whether in the Orient or the Occident, and who in any critical situation can wriggle himself out with a resourcefulness and knack that would do credit to a hero in fiction. The title of the book clearly suggests the nature of the flight which takes place over forbidden areas, especially of Mecca. Taking a tramp aeroplane as a navigator, he lands after great peril in Kabul, finds himself, because of his sympathies for the Phaktoon movement, greeted in a friendly way and, thereafter, feasted almost in a royal manner. From this place he takes us through Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany, till the perusal of a sudden announcement in the papers of “Terrific Floods in North Bihar” in which his own constituency lies, compels him to rush to India.

What undoubtedly make the book irresistibly attractive are the author’s powers of observation and narration, and his social charm which is truly captivating. It is not so much the political status of a country that impresses his mind as its social and cultural development, the result being that we get glimpses of the real life of the people in the various countries that he visited. Reading through the book one cannot help feeling a certain satisfaction over the measure of comparative freedom which the women of India enjoy over their sisters in the countries of the Middle East. Somewhere, we come across, for instance, an incident that reveals the treatment rooted out to his two wives by a man who strikes their faces with his shoe, for no greater offence than that they dared to peep through the key-hole, though with their burkhas on, at two strangers who knocked at the door. “In South Arabia,” we are told, “a wife is property. She can be used and abused. The society and the law allows, the husband to beat his wives. The husbands here can have as many wives as they can. There are markets here to procure slaves as well as wives.” A Forbidden Flight indeed deals with what might well be a forbidden subject beyond India. The author himself takes an active part in the rescue of a Greek girl from a harem in Arabia.

Every reader must feel grateful to Dr. Sinha for a couple of hours of delectable reading, which has the effect of transporting him, in imagination, to many lands and making him share the author’s exciting adventure. One feels like looking forward to Dr. Sinha’s next trip, whether it be “crossing the Himalayas or trying the Antarctic”.

Sri Sri Nityagopal by Srimat Swami Nityapadananda Abadhuta (published by Mahanirvan Math, Nabadwip, W. Bengal. Price Rs. 3-8-0. Cloth-bound Rs. 5.)

In his Foreword to this book, Dr. Mahendranath Sircar aptly describes it as “a life history of a man of mystery” and so it is. In Bengal which, since the time of Chaitanya, has given birth to a succession of great religious leaders, Sri Sri Nityagopal Dev (also known as Yogacharya Sri Srimat Abadhuta Jnanananda Deva) enjoyed a position in his time equal to that of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whose contemporary he was. By some he was looked upon and venerated as an Avatar. But whether he can be accepted as an Avatar, or only as a saint, he must be considered to have been a great spiritual force that illumined the path of Countless devotees, himself being a fervent devotee of Lord Krishna. How great was the influence of Sri Nityagopal on the Bengal of his day is evident from the fact that his devotees reckon a new era, called the Nitya Era, from the year of his birth.

As is only to be expected in the case of every superman, a great many miracles are attributed to Sri Nityagopal which have the effect of investing him with an element of divinity or semi-divinity. The one glaring defect of this otherwise good book is that it is too full of these anecdotes, and deals too little with his religious ideals and how he moulded the religious thought of his generation. But the merit of the book lies in the fact that it is based on authentic records and is written by one who was his direct disciple and who had the closest contact with him. The author has expressed the hope that the book will serve “to chalk out to seekers of truth the real path of righteousness and prove illuminating, thought-provoking and edifying to all and sundry”. Though this hope appears to be a trifle extravagant, one may, as Sir Maurice Gwyer so finely puts it, “find in the subject of this book and his life a satisfactory guide through the perplexities of this difficult modem world”.

K. K. PRASAD

TELUGU

Sita and Radhamma (Pp. 162. Price Rs. 1-8-0) and Bhama (Pp. 122. Price Rs. 1-8-0). Published by Triveni Publishers, Masulipatam.

These two volumes of short-stories, are by Sri Digumarti Rama Rao, M.A., LL. B., of Berhampore, a well-known journalist and one of the esteemed contributors to Triveni. These short stories in Telugu reveal a genuine artistic temperament and constitute an additional feather in his cap. They are a distinct contribution to the growing volume of literary work of commendable quality in modern Telugu literature in the popular form of the short-story. As pointed out in the Forewords to the two volumes respectively by Sri Chinta Dikshitulu and Sri K. Ramakotiswara Rau, the short stories in these volumes reveal several novel and welcome features. Most of these stories are mere sketches of character, or interesting situations presented with sympathy and yet objectively. They offer us arresting pictures of remarkable aspects of middle-class life, social and domestic, in modern Andhra. The two sketches in the first volume are specially characteristic. Here the author presents, with admirable delicacy and restraint and yet with shrewd insight and daring frankness, the psychology of youth and sex. The first of these gives us a picture of the excitement of youth in the first flush of the bliss of happy married life, and the second, a rather detailed analysis of the psychology of adolescent youth brought under the influence of the attraction of sex in the normal circumstances of life, and how the influence is capable of contributing to the healthy development of personality and character.

The title story and several other stories in the second volume also deal with delicate problems of sex and youth, but the treatment of them by the author is characterised uniformly by a rare restraint and good taste. We are not left in any doubt with regard to the sympathies of the author, but they are not obtruded upon us; on the other hand, we feel we see a convincing picture of the situation and we are free to draw our own conclusions on the problems raised.

The stories are introduced by the author to the public as ‘juvenile attempts of his youth’ in the literary field, left in manuscript form for over a quarter of a century but resuscitated and published now, in view of the encouraging opinions of competent judges. The favourable reception of these publications, of which we have every reason to be certain, will, we hope, lead to the publication, very soon, of other such works of the same kind, as well as fresh attempts at literary work in the same direction from the maturer mind and more practised pen of the author.

M. SIVAKAMAYYA