Title Title Daily Vocab Capsule 29th January 2020 - wifistudy

TitleCapsule
Daily Vocab
        Title 2020
 29th January

Retrieving the Idea of Citizenship

Citizenship Amendment Act.
Drawing on the Preamble, people are occupying the ‘constitutional commons’ to reclaim rights — on freedoms,
justice
The 70th Republic Day has ushered in lyrical constitutionalism of a kind never witnessed before in the history
of independent India. It has also ushered in the full-blooded emergence of the constitutional commons as the
space for a public, shared, collectively crafted jurisprudence of citizenship. Conversations on citizenship draw
upon the rich tapestry of the Preamble and the echoes it contains, bringing people together in ways that shine a
torch on the pathways to a transformative jurisprudence for our constitutional courts.
It is not anymore that the people of this country falter in their steps towards courts to seek justice; it is courts that
even while reciting the Constitution, are unable to take definitive positions, unfettered by governmental
dispositions.
When I suggested in 2012 in Tools of Justice that transformative constitutionalism is by definition insurgent, I
had not in fact imagined that we would witness an insurgency of these proportions that carry forth rhythm, sight,
sound, musicality, tenacity, constitutional wisdom, collective action and the redefinition of leadership (in terms
of caste, religion, gender, class and age especially) in quite this manner in the face of threat, governance by fear,
and the perpetual anticipation of terror.
Just the demonstration of the possibility of this resistance is deeply transformative and moving. Will India and
Indian-ness ever be the same again?
Ways of the Right
The ways of the Hindu Right are cruel and ruthless beyond measure, disregardful of the rule of law, and utterly
anti-national, the‘national’ defined in broad inclusive terms of ‘upholding the spirit of the Constitution and
respecting its fundamental tenets.’ We have seen demonstration of that as well — especially in Kashmir and
Assam, also in Uttar Pradesh, not to speak of the violence on university campuses. Against the brutal reign of
terror, and threat of more to come, against a future that seems bleak on every score — employment, economy,
education (especially higher education), and governance — it is the public and spirited defence of the
constitutional commons that has forced accountability on the state and internationalised its depredations.
The recitations of resistance range from wresting the national anthem from its empty ritualistic performance by
military bands or the ritual flag-hoisting on Republic Day and Independence Day, to reinstalling the tricolour as

a symbol of resistance. Recitations of resistance combine Faiz with the Preamble in the voice of Chandrashekhar
Azad on the steps of Jama Masjid before he is arrested for inciting violence. The phrase ‘incitement to violence’
itself acquires a new meaning in the national space of this resistance — the recitation of the Preamble incites the
state to violence, forcing a judge to ask the state, ‘What offence? Tell me. He’ll read the Preamble?’
Extrapolating from the ideas of Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom and scholars of the commons, the
conceptualisation of the Constitution as a commons opens it out to radical, insurgent readings that redefine
belonging and ownership — it is no longer the property of state, legislatures and courts to (mis)interpret in the
service of political expediency/judicial bias/equivocation. It is the people who through collective action and civic
engagement hold institutions to account and provide the tools and experiences that must shape constitutional
interpretation. The Preamble sets out the spirit of constitutional morality (not its narrow prescription) that guides
an understanding of protections set out within. It also makes intelligible to people the legislative, judicial or
executive action that undermine the spirit of the Constitution.
For this public engagement is a justice cascade to borrow from Kathryn Sikkink, that will not (does not) stop
with the recitation — it has forced the government into courts and has forced judicial deliberation on the reach of
constitutional protections to discipline the state. Although we see a marked pushback from the spectacular
position of the right to privacy judgment in 2017 — with no effective reliefs granted in the Kashmir cases and a
deferral on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, or CAA, 2019, among others — it is institutions of justice
that are now on trial. This is the singular achievement of this historic moment: the rupture of a sequestered
‘constitutional jurisprudence’ through the articulation of an expansive, inclusive constitutional commons and the
performance of lyrical constitutionalism.
Freedoms as birthright
This insurgency also holds a unique pedagogic moment: it demonstrates a different way of imagining the
Constitution and a different understanding of citizenship. In her recent work, Birthright Citizens, African-
American legal historian Martha Jones argues that citizenship is distinct from and deeper than political rights or
voting alone, and embedded in birthright (as African Americans argued long before they belonged equally in the
Constitution). In our context, we must ask, what is birthright? Is it swaraj (freedom or azaadi that has distinct
cadences deriving from location)? Is it the elimination of untouchability (as Dr. Ambedkar observed)?
Is birthright embedded in the undisturbed right of forest dwellers to the forest commons — Maava Naate Maava
Raaj (our village, our governance), as Dr. Jaipal Singh Munda had argued for in the Constituent Assembly
deliberations? Or is birthright embedded deep within the right to dignity and self-respect of losatravesados, the
migrants, the crossers that Gloria Anzaldúa speaks of in her stunning work on borderlands? Is it all of this? For
after all, as Martha Jones observes pertinently, “sometimes citizenship was defined in constitutions and statutes,
most of the time it was not”. Certainly, citizenship by any definition is not a dole to be handed out by rulers to
compliant subjects nor is its grant an alms deed to be distributed at whim.
Since the conversation has now opened up to critical public deliberation, how would we draw constitution scapes
across the rugged terrains of azaadi? The Constitution itself recognises various levels of azaadi, lest we forget.
The late B.D. Sharma famously called the Fifth Schedule ‘a Constitution within a Constitution’; prior to August
5, 2019, the Constitution of India recognised the Constitution of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Areas under
the Sixth Schedule in northeast India similarly have constitutional guarantees of autonomy.
The guarantees of azaadi to Dalits under the Constitution are unprecedented. Although each of these is only
observed in the breach, mapping constitution scapes in their specific figurations means keeping these firmly at

the centre of debate and collective action. Witness its signposts: Chandrashekhar Azad, the dadis of Shaheen
Bagh, the Ghanta Ghar resisters in Lucknow, resistance as withdrawal by the people of Kashmir, campuses,
Kerala’s challenge to the constitutionality of CAA, the proxy strikes on conscientious resisters, the shutdown of
Jammu and Kashmir, incarceration in detention camps and the proliferation of camps, the deferral by
constitutional courts, the languages of rule and resistance, and indeed the languages of jurisprudence trapped in a
chokehold that defers the pronouncement of freedom as birthright.
The re-instatement of this experience and ways of knowing interwoven with a resurgent public constitutionalism,
might help us reclaim the idea of citizenship as birthright and inscribe the constitutional commons by
“occupying” them and establishing a shared, collective, inclusive ownership.
                                                                               Courtesy: The Hindu (National)
1. Full-blooded (adjective): Meaning: Involving very strong feelings or actions; done in an enthusiastic way.
(साहसी और जोशीला)
Synonyms: Intense, Hearty, Vigorous, Strenuous
Antonyms: Dull, Sluggish, Lethargic, Infirm
Example: She gave a full-blooded performance.

2. Falter (verb): Meaning: To walk or behave in a way that shows that you are not confident. (लड़खड़ाना)
Synonyms: Hesitate, Stagger, Totter, Stumble
Example: She walked up to the platform without faltering.

3. Unfettered (Adjective): Meaning: Not confined or restricted. (ननरं कुश, मुक्त)

Synonyms: Freed, Unencumbered, Unconstrained, Autonomous
Antonyms: Constrained, Fettered, Restricted, Controlled
Example: I wanted to drift like an unfettered balloon into the future.

4. Depredation (noun): Meaning: An act that cause damage to people’s property, lives, etc. (निध्वंस)
Synonyms: Destruction, Ravaging, Havoc, Devastation
Antonyms: Preservation, Restoration, Renovation
Example: The gangs are reported to have used racial taunts during their depredations.

5. Extrapolate (Verb): Meaning: Estimate or conclude (something) by extrapolating. (ननष्कर्ष ननकालना)
Synonyms: Infer, Induce, Conclude, Generalize, Deduce, Draw Conclusion
Antonyms: Misunderstand, Misconceive, Mistake
Example: It is possible to extrapolate future developments from current trends.

6. Deferral (noun): Meaning: The action of delaying something until a later time. (स्थगन)
Synonyms: Postponement, Deferment, Prorogation, Moratorium
Antonyms: Continuation, Perpetuation, Carrying On
Example: The request for a deferral of the inquiry was refused.

7. Bleak (adjective): Meaning: (of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favourable outcome.
(ननराशाजनक; प्रनिकूल)
Synonyms: Unwelcoming, Uninviting, Depressing, Dismal
Antonyms: Promising, Propitious, Optimistic, Rosy
Example: After losing the final, he thought that his future was bleak.

8. Whim (Noun): Meaning: A sudden wish or idea, especially one that cannot be reasonably explained. (सनक)
Synonyms: Impulse, Caprice, Megrim, Crotchet
Antonyms: Certainty, Stability, Normality
Example: We booked the holiday on a whim.

9. Unprecedented (adjective): Meaning: Never done or known before. (अभूिपूिष)
Synonyms: Unparalleled, Unequalled, Unrivalled, Extraordinary
Antonyms: Ordinary, Everyday, Expected, Usual
Example: The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.

10. Perpetual (adjective): Meaning: Continuing for a long period of time without interruption. (शाश्वि)
Synonyms: Everlasting, Eternal, Enduring, Ceaseless
Antonyms: Ceasing, Ending, Halting, Temporary
Example: The country is in a perpetual state of anarchy.