Farmers Movement Archive

State advances Constitution Day observance due to strike

Thiruvananthapuram: State government has decided to prepone the observance of Constitution Day, which falls on Thursday (November 26), to Wednesday in support of the nation-wide strike called by trade unions against policies of the Centre, including privatization of PSUs and new labour and farm laws. “All district collectors, heads of departments, state legal services authority, district legal services authority, chief executives of public undertakings, autonomous bodies and local self-government institutions are directed to arrange programmes on Wednesday, on account of nation-wide general strike called by some organizations,” said the circular issued to all the government bodies by principal secretary (general administration) K R Jyothilal on Tuesday. The Centre had notified November 26 as Constitution Day in the country, which is also called National Law Day, to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution. It was on November 26, 1949, that the Constituent Assembly of the country had adopted the Constitution. The Union cabinet secretary had instructed all the states to conduct programmes to celebrate the day in all the government offices across the states. It has been asked to read out the Preamble of the Constitution at 11am in all the offices, and to pay tributes to Babasaheb Ambedkar and other founding fathers of the Constitution on that day. According to the letter by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on November 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would read the Preamble of the Constitution at 11am on November 26 at the All-India Presiding Officers’ Conference at Kevadia, Gujarat. However, the state has now chosen conduct the celebrations on Wednesday, which is in apparent support to the strike called by the trade unions. “November 26 was chosen to spread awareness on the importance of the Constitution and to spread thoughts and ideas of B R Ambedkar. Even though in the state, the general trend seen is lesser attendance in the government offices during striking days, the state government’s circular amounts to promoting trade unionism at the expense of a day of national importance. It would be interesting to know if the government would dare to shift Gandhi Jayanti or Mannam Jayanti celebrations to another date to suit their political convenience,” said a senior IAS official on conditions of anonymity. The state has also forwarded a copy of its decision to prepone the celebrations by a day to the ministry of social justice and empowerment, which is the nodal ministry that is organizing the celebrations across the country.

The Times of India

2020-11-25

Thiruvananthapuram