The Constitution of India, scientific temper, and resistance to reform

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak 

The Constitution of India entrusts every citizen with the duty “to develop the scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform,” as stated in Article 51A(h) of Part IVA on Fundamental Duties. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976 gave formal recognition to these ideals, yet governments since then have not adequately fostered scientific education or created policies that encourage scientific consciousness. Religious, social, cultural, and political conservative forces, often reinforced by electoral strategies, continue to weaken these constitutional commitments.

A stagnant cultural environment helps preserve the interests of elites who benefit from regressive structures. The continued reliance on cultural relativism has allowed outdated practices to survive under the guise of protecting identity, while community-specific legal provisions have sometimes entrenched neo-traditional norms. Such contradictions within democratic and constitutional frameworks have hindered progressive reform. Electoral politics frequently exploits social, religious, linguistic, and regional identities for short-term gains, producing governance that reinforces the status quo and undermines the broader constitutional goal of cultivating inquiry and democratic citizenship.

Scientific temper involves nurturing democratic traditions of knowledge through debate, dissent, and questioning of authority. It seeks to democratise and diversify knowledge systems, challenge authoritarian tendencies, and promote scientific understanding across society. Encouraging such an ethos requires investment in education, research, and infrastructure. Yet, recent policy choices suggest otherwise. The University Grants Commission, central to higher education policy and funding, faced a budget reduction of sixty-one percent in 2024. Although India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, it spends a relatively small share of its GDP on education, science, and technology compared to both developed and developing countries, including its BRICS counterparts.

Obstructionist forces, rooted in social practices and cultural hierarchies, have long blocked critical inquiry and reform. Caste-based discrimination, patriarchy, religious fundamentalism, and socio-economic exclusion based on class, region, and gender continue to persist, all in contradiction to the constitutional ideals of humanism and scientific temper. These entrenched patterns not only preserve privileges and authority for elites but also limit the ability of citizens to exercise their constitutional duties.

While elites often attribute conservatism to the working classes, it is in fact the working population that has historically supported progressive reforms and embraced change. Resistance to reform has been stronger among elites who benefit from existing hierarchies. Moreover, processes of marketisation, commercialisation, and commodification have eroded humanistic values, reshaping labour, nature, and social relations into economic instruments. These developments further weaken the spirit of inquiry and humanism envisaged by the Constitution.

Strengthening the democratic ethos of the Constitution requires systematic opposition to regressive and status-quoist forces in all their forms. A long-term vision must include renewed investment in education and science, expansion of opportunities for critical debate, and the development of inclusive and democratic knowledge systems. Such an approach should move beyond Eurocentric frameworks while remaining globally engaged, and it should be aligned with decolonial and sustainable perspectives. Only by promoting a culture of scientific inquiry and secular humanism can India deepen its democracy and guide its people toward a future based on reform, peace, and prosperity.