Speaking at an event, former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka today expressed that India is in need of building a scientific temper to fight prevailing superstitions but anyone who proposes religious reforms gets targeted by religious groups.
"Though our Constitution has existed for 76 years now, our society has not generally supported great people who have consistently promoted the development of scientific temper and reforms. Unfortunately, in our society, anyone who proposes reforms in religious practices based on science or with help of science gets targeted by people belonging to religious groups. This applies squarely to all religions. In a country like India, we desperately need scientific temper as in our society, superstitions prevail. We don't understand the difference between faith and superstitions. The moment the social reformers speak against superstitions, it is projected as if they are interfering with rights conferred under Article 25 of the Constitution", he said.
Justice Oka was speaking at the 16th V.M. Tarkunde Memorial Lecture organized by the Tarkunde Memorial Foundation at the India International Centre, New Delhi. His address was centred on the theme “Our Constitution and the Fundamental Duty to Develop a Scientific Temper". The VM Tarkunde Memorial Lecture is held annually to honor the legacy of Justice V.M. Tarkunde, renowned for his contributions to civil liberties, constitutionalism, and public interest lawyering in India.
Justice Oka's lecture highlighted that fundamental duties (in Part IV of the Constitution) compliment fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III. He particularly spoke about clauses (g) and (h) of Article 51A, which cast a fundamental duty on every citizen,
"(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform"
Justice Oka further said that the precautionary principle in environmental jurisprudence can be traced to Article 51A. However, he refrained from commenting on whether the Supreme Court has departed from the said principle. Notably, the Supreme Court, by 2:1 majority, recently recalled its judgment in Vanashakti judgment, which barred the Union from granting post-facto environmental clearances.
Explaining how fundamental rights and duties compliment each other, Justice Oka said that as there exists a right to freedom of speech and expression [under Article 19(1)(a)] and the state and individual have duty to abide by the Constitution [under Article 51A(a)], it becomes duty of every citizen to ensure that the fundamental right to speech and expression of other citizen is protected and this becomes collective duty of the state.
Likewise, he gave the example of right to live a dignified life under Article 21. "the right to live dignified life is within compass of Article 21 and by virtue of clause g of Article 51A, it becomes fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and preserve the environment so that right of other citizen to enjoy fundamental right under Article 21 to live in pollution free environment is protected. In this context, clause h becomes very important. It casts duty on every citizen to develop scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform...I believe that a person can live a dignified life only if we have developed a scientific temper."
Justice Oka further opined that developing scientific temper involves rational thinking and spirit of reform. Unless we have the integrity to accept data and results even when they are inconvenient to popular beliefs, we can't have a scientific temper, he said.
Pointing to prevailing superstitions in Indian society, Justice Oka stressed that proposed reforms are often met with hostility even though the reforms can actually help the cause of the religion. The former judge also observed that using technology does not necessarily mean we have developed scientific temper. He further alleged failure on the part of the state to perform its collective duty, pointing to a proposal to cut 100-year-old trees for Kumbh Mela in 2027.
"if we had perfectly performed our duty of developing scientific temper and state of reforms, we would not have allowed killing and sacrificing of animals for celebrating religious festivals, we would not have allowed the indiscriminate use of loudspeakers during our festivals", Justice Oka said.
He also claimed that the political class appeases the populace in the name of religion and is therefore unwilling to carry out reforms. In closing, Justice Oka advocated for the need to make certain fundamental duties [clauses (a), (g) and (h)] part of the academic curriculum to sensitise the future generations.
https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/justice-abhay-oka-vm-tarkunde-lecture-india-needs-scientific-temper-but-anyone-proposing-religious-reform-gets-targeted-by-religious-groups-312402
