Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The resonance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be felt through the Parts III and IV of the Indian Constitution. While Part III of the Indian Constitution envisages fundamental rights, Part IV of the Indian Constitution envisages the directive principles of state policy, which have gone through a twisted journey in Indian jurisprudence. One of the early cases decided in 1951 held that the directive principles of state policy cannot outweigh the guarantee of fundamental rights. Over the years, the Supreme Court of India, being the ultimate arbiter of the constitution, has given much momentum to the understanding and development of directive principles of state policy, which has glorious underpinnings to ideals from around the world and seeks to enshrine human rights. Albeit not strictly in conformity and unbendable rigidity, the Indian courts have employed the traditional individual rights perspective to understand human rights. The slight but apparent shift to adoption of a value-oriented method most definitely posed a departure from the traditional understanding of human rights and their structural framework and implementation through the instrument of the Constitution. The radical socialist approach of the Parliament in the beginning of the journey of India, a new-born democratic state, was under checks and brakes by the Judiciary which can be derived from the earlier judgments. The gradual shift seems to be that the Judiciary didn’t mind being a humble bedfellow in supporting the Parliament with socio-economic reforms. Modern models of perceiving development seem to be increasingly leaning towards the idea that need validates entitlement. We live in an era where democratic legitimacy characterizes our institutions and understanding of human rights, but in the backdrop of a highly-globalized world and shared responsibilities towards human rights, where does our Constitution stand as a guard against the telltale test of time? Our paper is an examination of the influence that globalization has had and continues to have in shaping the approaches taken by the judiciary to ensure that the Indian Constitution is indeed a living document. Globalization has its phantom appearance in the way that the Indian Constitution is continuously inspired by the constitutions of other nations and in turn inspires approaches taken towards the constitutions of other nations. Our paper is an empirical study of sorts in order to unearth the phantom presence of globalization and its nuances in manner aforementioned in order for the phenomenon to be further much appreciated.