{"id":14227,"date":"2023-02-07T10:54:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T05:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?p=14227"},"modified":"2023-06-26T05:56:50","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:26:50","slug":"the-freedom-of-speech-and-an-adolescent-india","status":"publish","type":"editorial-analysis","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/the-freedom-of-speech-and-an-adolescent-india","title":{"rendered":"The Freedom of Speech and An \u2018adolescent India\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s journey to maturity as a nation is still ongoing and will continue to be tested through its handling of the freedom of speech and its response to social changes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Article 19 of the Constitution:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one\u2019s own opinions freely through speech, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In India, under <\/span><b>Article 19(1)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, this freedom is not absolute and under Article 19(2) reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the exercise of this right for certain purposes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Significance of Freedom of Speech:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Societal Good:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Liberty to express opinions and ideas without hindrance, and especially without fear of punishment plays a significant role in the development of a particular society.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Self-development:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Free speech is an integral aspect of each individual\u2019s right to self-development and fulfilment. Restrictions inhibit our personality and its growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Democratic value:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Freedom of speech is essential for the proper functioning of the democratic process as it allows people to criticise the government.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Ensure pluralism: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It reflects and reinforces pluralism, ensuring that diversity is validated and promotes the self-esteem of those who follow a particular life-style.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Origins of Free Speech:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concept of freedom of speech is a<\/span><b> western notion.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The real freedom of speech, as we understand it today, was propounded by <\/span><b>Voltaire and Rousseau.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is nothing in our soil that suggests that this freedom took root here.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Ambedkar has noted that the freedom of speech exists in India only for those who are in favour of the social order.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This freedom is not the freedom of liberalism which was expressed by Voltaire when he said \u2018I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.&#8217;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The right to not just think freely but also to criticise the state is very fundamental to western notions of democracy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Recent Judgment of the Supreme Court:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court of India in its judgment in <\/span><b>Kaushal Kishore\u2019s case<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> declared that the fundamental rights of Indians are exercisable<\/span><b> not only vertically but also horizontally.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court concluded that such fundamental rights can be enforced even against persons other than the state and its instrumentalities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Failure to protect free speech will result in us becoming an obedient and bovine citizenry which implicitly obeys the false credo that nothing can be done unless expressly permitted.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>News Source: The Hindu<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context:\u00a0 India&#8217;s journey to maturity as a nation is still ongoing and will continue to be tested through its handling of the freedom of speech and its response to social changes. Article 19 of the Constitution: Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one\u2019s own opinions freely through speech, writing, printing, pictures&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/the-freedom-of-speech-and-an-adolescent-india\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Freedom of Speech and An \u2018adolescent India\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[382,381,383],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/14227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/editorial-analysis"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/14227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14227"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=14227"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=14227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}