Universal Origin of Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution

Abstract

Indian constitution has been referred to as “a bag of borrowings” since its first draft back in 1948. However, “slavish imitation” is an accusation that Dr. Ambedkar denied in the constitutional debate on 4 Nov 1948. Indeed, with the fine mix of features from multiple constitutions across the globe, taken with judicious discretion as fits our nation best, is more a borrowing in spirit, as the mixture of these features results in a very original composition. Among such ‘borrowed features’, the USA Constitution is considered the source of Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution. It needs to be considered, however, that a shift of such magnitude, of the conception of fundamental rights in such a form that lasts almost unaltered for centuries, requires a long gestation period of rising awareness and shift in mindset of the society marked by outliers whose work influences this shift over centuries, like that of John Locke, whose work can be directly attributed to the rise of Fundamental Rights across the world. It is to this process that the origin of Fundamental Rights can be traced.