Bibek Debroy article for new Constitution: PM panel says not our view

A message to Debroy seeking his comments remained unanswered. However, he told news agency ANI that these were his personal views.

In the August 15 article titled “There’s a case for ‘we the people’ to embrace a new Constitution” in the Mint newspaper, Debroy wrote, “We no  longer possess the one we  inherited in 1950. It has been amended, not always for the better, though since 1973 we have been told its ‘basic structure’ cannot be altered, irrespective of what democracy desires through Parliament; whether there is a violation will be interpreted by courts. To the extent I understand it, the 1973 judgement applies to amendments to the existing Constitution, not a fresh one.”

Debroy quoted a study to show that the lifespan of written constitutions is just 17 years. Terming the present Constitution of India as a colonial legacy, he wrote, “Our current Constitution is largely based on the Government of India Act of 1935. In that sense, it is also a colonial legacy.”

“Much of what we debate begins and ends with the Constitution. A few amendments won’t do. We should go back to the drawing board and start from first principles, asking what these words in the Preamble mean now: socialist, secular, democratic, justice, liberty and equality. We the People have to give ourselves a new Constitution,” he said in the piece.

On Thursday evening, Debroy told ANI, “The first thing is that whenever one writes a column, every column always carries the caveat that this column reflects the author’s personal views. It does not reflect the views of the organization that the individual is associated with… Unfortunately, in this particular case, one has ascribed these views… to the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Whenever the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister comes out with views in the public domain, it puts them on the EAC-PM website and tweets it from the handle. In this particular case, nothing of the sort had happened,” Debroy said.

He also said this was not the first time he had written on such an issue. “I’ve written on such an issue in the past also articulating similar kinds of views. I have spoken about this, on the same kind of issue,” he said.

“The issue is very simple. I happen to think that we should take a relook at the Constitution. I don’t think that this is controversial because every once in a while, every country in the world takes a relook at the Constitution. We have also done it through amendments. There was a commission set up to look at the working of the Indian Constitution. In fact, Dr. [BR] Ambedkar was also very clear in various statements made before the Constituent Assembly, and in Rajya Sabha on September 2, 1953 that one should take a relook at the Constitution. Now, this is a matter of intellectual debate. I have not said as some people have tended to suggest that one should junk the Constitution. Certainly, it is not the case that these are views of either the Economic Advisory Council or the Government,” Debroy said.

Besides Debroy, the EAC-PM includes two full members — Sanyal and Shamika Ravi — and five part time members — Rakesh Mohan, Sajjid Chinoy, Neelkant Mishra, Poonam Gupta, Nilesh Shah, and TT Ram Mohan.