The Constitution of India guarantees certain basic human rights (known as fundamental rights) like the rights to life, liberty, equality, freedom of speech and expression to the people. A liberal and purposive interpretation of the various articles of the Constitution has widened the scope of rights available to the common man.

Right to dignity has not been specifically provided in the Constitution of India as a fundamental right, but the Supreme Court while construing the scope of Article 21 has included the Right to dignity as a part of the Right to life.

By the term ‘life’ as here used something more is meant than mere animal existence. We think that Right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing, shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms, freely moving and mingling with fellow human beings.

Right to earn livelihood is included in the Right to life under Article 21. An equally important facet of Right to life is the Right of livelihood, because no person can live without the means of living, that is, the means of livelihood. The Right of people in hilly areas for a suitable approach road is also a Right to life.

It is the professional duty of doctors to extend medical aid to an injured person so as to preserve his life without waiting for the legal formalities to be complied with by the police under the code of criminal procedure.

Right to health and medical care is a fundamental right during service and after retirement right to health of a worker is integral to Right to life.

The sexual harassment at place of work results in violation of the fundamental Right to gender equality and the Right to life and liberty.

Article 41 of the Constitution provides the State shall, within the limits of economic capacity, make effective provision, for securing right to work and education. Article 45 of the Constitution states the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of 10 years, from commencement of constitution, free and compulsory education for children until they complete age of 14 years.

By the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, Article 21-A has been inserted which makes education for 6 to 14 years old, a fundamental right within the meaning of Chapter-III of the Constitution.

An individual cannot be expected to attain his best self, when he is not even aware of the fact that certain rights, which seek to provide for his welfare, actually exist. The Supreme Court has done so by its path-breaking judgments and has expanded the scope of Article 21, 14, 19 etc. by including those rights which have not been explicitly mentioned therein. But, how many people in India are even aware of the fact that our Constitution, the fountain head of all rights, makes available to all its citizens enforceable rights.

Thus, in spite of being guaranteed a large number of rights, we have in India, a vast section of the population which is neither aware nor cognizant of several rights available to it under the Constitution and the statutory enactments. Thus, awareness of rights, which is a necessary precondition for the exercise of such rights, is grossly lacking in India.

It is said that ignorance of law is no excuse. This casts a duty upon the appropriate bodies, including the State, to make sure that no person is ignorant of the basic law of the land.

A Chinese proverb says that it is better to light a candle rather than cursing the darkness. Therefore, instead of merely lamenting about the ignorance of rights among common men, the following suggestions would go to some extent to improve their awareness levels.

* First and foremost, it is necessary that the students beginning from the primary level are made aware about the rights available under the Constitution in a simple and effective manner.

* All the students at 10+2 level (whether belonging to science, commerce or humanities streams) should be taught about their rights. The present tend confines teaching of rights to only the humanities students.

* A legal awareness training kit should be formulated which would include legal literature, comprising of laws, in simplified and modified form (preferably in local language), manuals, posters and pamphlets etc.

* Media has immense capacity to reach out to countless number of people (A radio programme called SONAl DIDI was prepared and broadcasted by MARG (multiple action research group), a NGO to highlight the legal issues relating to police, dowry, divorce etc, which was a great success.)

* legal literacy should be made a part of the National literacy Mission Programme.

* At the village level a respected and renowned person should be identified, such as the headmaster of the local school, who would in the local language make people conversant about the rights available and the manner and methods of their redressal.

(Dr Maharana is a senior faculty member, Jeypore law College, Koraput, Mob:9438170563)