“HUMAN RIGHTS AND EDUCATION IN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE, ESPECIALLY RAJASTHAN

Abstract

The belief that everyone, by virtue of her or his humanity, is entitled to certain human rights is 1fairly new. However, lie in earlier tradition and documents of many cultures. It took the catalyst of World War II to propel human rights onto the global stage and into the global conscience. Throughout much of history, people acquired rights and responsibilities through their membership in a group a family, indigenous nation, religion, class, community or state. Most societies have had traditions similar to the “golden rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Hindu Vedas, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the Bible, the Quran (Koran) and the Analects of Confucius are five of the oldest written sources which address questions of people’s duties, rights, and responsibilities. In addition, the Inca and Aztec codes of conduct and justice and an Iroquois Constitution were Native American sources that existed well before the 18th century. In fact all societies, whether in oral or written tradition, have had systems of propriety and justice as well as ways of tending to the health and welfare of their members. Documents asserting individual rights, such the Magna Charta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (1791) are the written precursors to many of today’s human rights documents. Yet many of these documents, when originally translated into policy, excluded women, people of color, and members of certain social, religious, economic, and political groups. Nevertheless, oppressed people throughout the world have drawn on the principles these documents express to support revolutions that assert the right to self-determination.