A look into our past.
You might have learnt about the slave trade.There was a time when colonial powers from Europe kidnapped African people from their homelands and carried them away on ships to different parts of the world where they were used as cheap labour. Slaves worked hard for little to no pay. They were considered property and not people for their ‘owners’ were allowed to sell them just like they sold sheep or cows. Fortunately, slavery was abolished and all governments in the world now agree that nobody’s life should be bought or sold.
Life is precious and therefore must be protected and given the opportunity to bloom. That is why people are said to have certain basic rights. Like the right not to be bought or sold as slaves, to be treated equally, or to speak their mind without fear of being jailed. If citizens do not have these basic or fundamental rights, then they may as well be slaves.
What Are Fundamental Rights? After independence India laid down some fundamental rights that every citizen of India is guaranteed by the law. It is important to know what they are so that no one can deprive you of them.
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
PART III FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Universal Declaration of human rights
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.