Introduction:

India is a vast country, with people belonging to different religions living amicably for centuries together. The rich traditions of tolerance, perseverance, plurality and assimilation have kept the identity of the country intact, and civilization thriving. Declared a secular country in the constitution, India has several provisions for protection of minority communities. The State does not discriminate on the basis of any particular religion. There are constitutional provisions for equality of opportunities for all. Despite precautionary, preventive and positive measures having been envisaged in the constitution, to rule out any feeling of being left-out, communal disturbances keep recurring. The Government has, often expressed its commitment toward maintaining communal harmony in the country, and has been taking steps- statutory, legal, administrative, economic, and so on.

Body:

The Government has taken initiatives to promote communal harmony.

• The Constitution casts an important fundamental duty on its citizens in Part IVA. Article 51-A (e) of the Constitution says that “it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities.”
• It is the spirit of brotherhood that is emphasized by the use of the term ‘fraternity’ in the preamble.
• These include constitution of the National Integration Council (NIC) (1960s), setting up of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (1992) and laying down of the guidelines for the promotion of communal harmony from time to time.
• The NIC, comprising of prominent members of various sections of society, besides several union ministers and chief ministers of states, has been meeting regularly, to discuss and sort out the issues of discord.
• The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988 was enacted by the Parliament for maintaining the sanctity of religious places and to prevent their misuse for political, criminal, subversive or communal purposes.
• Under this law, it is the duty of the manager to inform the police in the event of misuse of the place of worship. The Act also prohibits the storage of arms and ammunition inside any place of worship.
• Another initiative taken by the government, The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, was passed to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947.
• Other than these initiatives, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has issued the “Guidelines On Communal Harmony, 2008” to prevent and avoid communal disturbances/riots and in the event of such disturbances occurring, action to control the same and measures to provide assistance, relief and rehabilitation to the affected persons.
• Communal Violence Prevention Bill, 2010 yet has to be passed by the Parliament which would help in controlling the menace of communal violence

However, in the present time, various untoward incidents are affecting the communal harmony in different parts of the country. Communalism is the most serious threat to our sovereign, secular, socialist and democratic polity. The number of communal incidents is increasing day by day, which is not a good sign for our democracy.

The result of communal violence is the loss of private property in the form of household articles of families, movables and loss of earning by loss of lives of bread earners. Even Communal peace and harmony gets completely shattered after any communal violence. It was observed in the recent past that the government has totally failed to control communal violence’s in the country.

The characterization by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) of India as a country of particular concern, in its annual report, is not entirely surprising, considering its dim and known views about sectarian violence and aggravating governmental measures over the last year.

Steps to check the growth of Communalism:

• Economic:
  • Poverty is one of the major factors for communal violence. Poverty alleviation measures are thus important for promoting communal harmony.
  • Eradicating the problem of unemployment among the youths, illiteracy and poverty and that too with honesty and without any discrimination.
  • Reducing educational and economic backwardness of minorities like Muslims.
  • This can uplift their socio economic status and reduce their deprivation compared to Hindus
• Social:
  • The religious leaders and preachers should promote rational and practical things through religion promoting peace and security.
  • Children in schools must be taught through textbooks and pamphlets to maintain brotherhood and respect for all religions
  • Creating awareness in the society about the ill effects of communism through mass media
• Political:
  • Political communism should be avoided recent Supreme court’s directives
  • Identification and mapping of riot prone areas. For Example, Delhi police used drones to monitor to maintain vigil during communal festivals
  • Media, movies and other cultural platforms can be influential in promoting peace and harmony.
  • Social Media should be monitored for violent and repulsive content and taken off immediately.
• Recommendations of Committee on National Integration
  • Joint celebration of community festivals
  • Observing restraint by Hindus while taking processions before the mosques
  • Formation of peace and brotherhood communities at local level to prevent anti-social elements from engaging in communal riots
  • Respect for religious customs, rituals and practices

Way forward:

Utmost care and attention requires to be given to the planning and implementation of a range of measures to alleviate the sufferings of those affected by any incidents of communal violence, including the provision of relief and rehabilitation assistance to the victims of such violence.

Conclusion:

Communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy in a country governed by the rule of law. Rule of law pervades over the entire field of administration and every organ of the state is regulated and governed by the Rule of law. It is an eternal value of constitutionalism and inherent attribute of democracy and good governance has to be maintained.