Indian Secularism: Key Features and Exclusions
The Indian constitution adopts a unique approach to secularism, ensuring freedom of religion while maintaining state neutrality. The question asks to identify a practice that contradicts these principles.
Understanding Indian Secularism
Indian secularism emphasizes:
- Freedom of Religion: Guarantees the right to practice, profess, and propagate any religion, individually or collectively.
- State Neutrality: The state does not endorse or discriminate against any particular religion. It treats all religions equally.
- Non-discrimination: Public employment and state-funded education are open to all citizens irrespective of their religion.
Analyzing the Options
- Option 1 (Guarantee of individual and collective freedom of religion) aligns with Indian secularism.
- Option 2 (No state discrimination in public employment and education based on religion) is a core principle.
- Option 3 (State must be neutral to religious goals) is fundamental to the concept.
- Option 4 (Reservation of seats in occupational and educational institutions on the basis of religion) contradicts the principle of non-discrimination and equal opportunity based solely on religious identity. While reservations exist in India, they are primarily based on social and educational backwardness, not religion itself. Basing them directly on religion would violate the secular fabric.
Conclusion
Therefore, reservation of seats solely on the basis of religion is not a feature of secularism as adopted by the Indian constitution.
Important Questions from Changes and Development in India
According to new ideas in the industry:
Given Below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and other as Reason (R).
Assertion (A) : Regionalism in India has been consistently on the rise since independence.
Reason (R) : All regions big or small want to safeguard their regional interests with a narrow approach. Select the correct answer from the code given below :
Codes :
- Which of the following was not a component of modernization as introduced in India during and after the British rule ?
- ‘Janani Suraksha Yojana’ is the Government of India scheme launched with which objective ?
- Assertion (A): Women empowerment resulted in rural India during the last two decade.
Reason (R): 73rd constitution amendment empowered rural Indian women.
Codes :
