Tag: understanding secularism

In all the nations India stands out as the only secular state having no state religion and no single officially patronized religion. Religion-State relations in this country are in fact unique in every sense of the term.

Freedom of religion- All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

Group Rights- Every religious denomination or any section thereof has the right to manage its religious affairs; establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes; and own, acquire and administer properties of all kinds.

Secularism means an ideology that does not favor any religion or in other words that fosters respect for all religions equally. A secular state means a state that does not have any official religion and which remains neutral in the matters of religion like India.

The term Socialist was added by 42nd Amendment 1976. It means equal distribution of resources in the society.

Secularism in India means equal treatment of all religions by the state. With the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However, neither India's constitution nor its laws define the relationship between religion and state. The laws implicitly require the state and its institutions to recognize and accept all religions, enforce parliamentary laws instead of religious laws, and respect pluralism.

The constitution makes arrangement for the Joint Sitting of the two Houses of Parliament if there occurs deadlock between two houses regarding the passage of any bill which must be passed by both the Houses in order to become a lawyer and either of House is either not passing it, delaying it or rejecting it or any question pertaining to the dispute of agreement between both the Houses. The President is empowered to call a joint sitting of both the Houses which is to be headed by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Secularism is a philosophy that provides for embracing and tolerance of all religions. A secular state is one that remains neutral towards the religion and does not favor any religion thus the state has no religion and it gives equal respect to all religions while favoring none like India.

Secularism in India meant equal respect for all religions and cultures and non-interference of religion in the government affairs. Also, according to the Indian Constitution no discrimination will be made on the basis of caste, creed, gender and class. Similarly all citizens of India irrespective of one’s religion, caste or gender have right to vote. According to articles 14 to 21 all will enjoy same rights without any discrimination on any ground.

The official language of Jammu and Kashmir is Urdu. However, Kashmiri is the local language of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmiri, which is an Indo-Aryan language, is also known as Koshur. People living in Kashmir Valley speak Kashmiri.

India is a secular country. It simply means the Stae does not promote, support or go against any particular religion. Every individual is given the freedom to practice and profess any religion of his or her choice. We have minorities in our country. The Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, etc. constitute the minority population in the country. They are given special protection under the Indian constitution. 

Secularism in India means equal treatment of all religions by the state. With the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However, neither India's constitution nor its laws define the relationship between religion and state. The laws implicitly require the state and its institutions to recognize and accept all religions, enforce parliamentary laws instead of religious laws, and respect pluralism.