Everyone grows up with (or into) individual traits such as gender and intelligence, but also different group identities – you can be a Hindu or a Muslim, a Dalit or a Kayasth, a Bengali or a Malayali, and so on. How should the Indian state see the individual – as primarily defined by their individuality or by a group identity? The choice matters for it determines what we hold the state responsible for. It also affects how we see each other in society.
Our early leaders chose to focus on the individual. “I am glad,” Dr Ambedkar said, “that the Draft Constitution has discarded the village and adopted the individual as its unit.” However, the Constitution and subsequent policies also recognised the importance of traditional groups such as those formed around religion, language, or caste…
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