ABSTRACT
The social transformation that India has aspired to achieve since independence in 1947 has been to change a society based on the principle of homo hierachicus (the title of Louis Dumont's classic work on India's caste system!) into one of homo equalis. Hindu society is a harmonic system where inequality exists and is perceived to be legitimate. The Constitution, which was brought into force in 1950, ushered in a diachronic system where inequalities persist, but are no longer regarded as lawful and legitimate. During the drafting process, India's Constituent Assembly succeeded in reaching a consensus on the need for a 'social revolution' through two main devices: the inclusion of fundamental rights, broadly corresponding to the traditional civil and political liberties, and aseparate chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy, containing social, economic, cultural and environmental rights.2 The Assembly also integrated a declaration in the Constitution stating that 'untouchability is abolished', and proclaimed it an offence for anyone to practise it in any form. The effort made to launch a 'social revolution' in India resulted in a Constitution that was oriented towards socioeconomic justice in a society characterised by sharp inequalities of status, caste and class.
