President Droupadi Murmu delivered a speech at the Constitution Day celebrations organised by the Supreme Court of India. She said that When some of the leading nations in the West were still debating women's rights, in India women were participating in the framing of the Constitution.

New Delhi Jan 25 PTI As India celebrates its 73rd Republic Day on Wednesday a new book provides a comprehensive and fascinating account of the origins and evolution of the most important fundamental right - the right to life and personal liberty - as enshrined in Article 21 of the ConstitutionLiberty After Freedom A History of Article 21 Due Process and the Constitution of India by Rohan J Alva a counsel practising in the Supreme Court also traces how the evolution of Article 21 mirrors the broader history of the republic of IndiaAlva says the right to life and personal liberty is that one fundamental right which impacts the life of every single Indian and its growing salience is represented by the fact that in recent years this right has become part of our daily conversations in terms of the recognition of the right to privacy and the decriminalisation of homosexualityGiven its high importance I believe the story of how this right came to be and the women and men who shaped its destiny deserves to be told he saysAccording to the author much of what we hold precious and dear today in terms of rights is because of Article 21 and a result of not being chained to the past Article 21 has now become the prime basis for persons to become equal members in society and to enable them to fulfil their individual worth he saysThe fundamental right to life and personal liberty is not an arcane right it was a site of political contest ideological dispute and above all a struggle to realise a strong framework of rights for India This book presents that history Alva writes in the book to be released by HarperCollins India on February 10Article 21 has had the most outsized influence on the progressive development of rights in India When India gave herself the Constitution on January 26 1950 both life and liberty were thought to be in peril because the Constituent Assembly decided not to grant due process protection to themLiberty After Freedom explores the intellectual beginnings of this paramount fundamental right in order to decode and unravel the controversies which raged at the time the Constitution was being craftedAlva argues that semantics must not cloud the fact and indeed our judgment about the central importance of due process and the fact that it has now been accepted as a part of Article 21The sooner we recognise this the better it will be for the cause of constitutional justice given that it is in the nature of Article 21 to resolve emerging and vitally important questions concerning the liberty and freedom of individuals he writesAlva is also of the view that since the Constitution does not enumerate a detailed list of rights which apply to all aspects of human life the open-textured reading of Article 21 as incorporating the due process guarantee becomes the vehicle by which new rights are to be realised for the peopleIt is due process which has made Article 21 a robust fundamental right and which has today enabled the triumph of individual freedom If we can exercise individual autonomy as free agents in India it is largely because of what Article 21 has come to mean and we are fortunate for it From a promising start in 1946-1947 the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune had something entirely else in store for due process the book saysBy the time the Indian Constitution came to life in 1950 the due process guarantee was absent from the Constitutions text Nevertheless from the ashes of its unsavoury rejection by the Drafting Committee due process against all odds found its way into the Indian Constitution It had to it adds PTI ZMN RB RB RB

New Delhi : Fourteen opposition parties including Congress and Trinamool Congress skipped the constitution day event on November 26 at the Parliament. They skipped as they present a united front ahead of the start of the winter session next week. Attacking the centre, Congress’s Manickam Tagore said, “This government does not respect the Constitution.” Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to the opposition leaders after the strategy meeting yesterday. All 14 opposition parties are on board to stand united in the winter session of parliament, sources in the party said.

New Delhi : Fourteen opposition parties including Congress and Trinamool Congress skipped the constitution day event on November 26 at the Parliament. They skipped as they present a united front ahead of the start of the winter session next week. Attacking the centre, Congress’s Manickam Tagore said, “This government does not respect the Constitution.” Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to the opposition leaders after the strategy meeting yesterday. All 14 opposition parties are on board to stand united in the winter session of parliament, sources in the party said.