Constitutional Safeguards: Individual Interest vs. Majority Interest

India is a democratic country and the constitution is the highest authority in our country. Also the preamble of the constitution starts with ‘we the people of India’. So it becomes more important to safeguard the interest of all the people of India.

Furthermore, India adopted a secular structure of democracy. So it becomes equally important to ensure interest of both minority and majority.

The protection or safeguards is given to all within the constitution itself. ‍

Constitutional Safeguards-

The Indian Constitution provides mainly two kinds of safeguards. One is specific safeguards and the other is general safeguards.

These safeguards are provided on the basis of minority and general interest. The minorities in India are recognized on the basis of religion and language spoken. The former one is of great importance as India is a secular state.

In this the general safeguards protect the interest of all. And the specific safeguards provides to minority interest.

 Majority Interest-

The constitution takes due care of majority interest. These are the safeguards provided to all people of India.  These are basically those interest or rights without which one cannot live full meaning of life. Thus it is important to protect them.

There are many majority interest which are protected under the Indian constitution, however some of them are-

o  Right to freedom

o  Right against exploitation

o  Cultural and educational rights

o  Right to constitutional remedies etc.

 Individual Interest-

India being a country of many religions and languages, that’s why it is important to protect individual interest too.

The individual interest recognized by the constitution are-

· Article 15- Prohibition of discrimination on ground of religion

· Article 26- Right to manage religious institution

· Article 25- Right to freely express religion

· Article 350 A- It directs states to provide education in mother tongue

· Article 164(1)- In Bihar, MP, Orissa there will be minister of tribal affair

· Article 330- Reservation of seats for SC/ST in Lok sabha etc.

 Individual Interest vs. Majority Interest-

India is a multi ethnic country. It does not promote any individual religion or language. The diversity is the truth of Indian nation. It all depends on us how we take it, either as an advantage or a disadvantage to our self.  

So, our founding father adopted many different approaches to overcome the problems faced by the minority.

It is true that majority interests apply on all in the same way and they promote equality among all. However we should also have to consider that India is the land where the people of this country,specifically the minority faced various kinds of issues and discriminatory behavior. We have to ensure that they should not also suffer.

The practice of untouchability, the lack of education of poor people, the deprivation women etc., all is the reasons why we need a serious view over individual interest.

So our democratic system makes a balance between the individual and majority interest. It tries to uplift the deprived one so that they can compete with others on the same level.

Equality is treatment of equality among equals and not all. That is why these provisions of individual interest try to push all underprivileged persons of India to make them equal as that of privileged ones.

If one say which is more important individual interest or majority interest? Then the answer is both of than are equally important and it all depends on the history of the particular country. And in India protecting minority interest is the essential need.

 Conclusion-

Indian constitution is the perfect example of balance between these two kinds of interest. It not only protects the majority interest but also provides individual rights too.

What one needs to understand is the need of individual interest is essential to Indian state but we also should ensure that if that particular interest is fulfilled, then we should omit it from the constitution.

The perfect example for this is the reservation on base of caste. It is a debatable individual interest. It was formed for a society of 1947 India.

The need for individual interest is inalienable but it should be reviewed time to time

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