World Wide Support for Article 51 of the Constitution of India

WHY DOES CITY MONTESSORI SCHOOL ORGANISEInternational Conferences of Chief Justices of the World on Article 51 of the Constitution of India?Dear Friends,Being the world’s only school to receive the '2002UNESCO Prize for Peace Education' and recipient of the'2004 Nuclear-Free Future Special Achievement Award'and listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as theworld’s largest school by pupils with a current enrollment ofover 37,000 students, CMS sees itself as the selfappointedguardian of the rights and welfare of the world’schildren and generations yet-to-be-born.SCHOOL IS THE LIGHTHOUSE OF SOCIETY: CMSbelieves that ‘School is a building with four walls withtomorrow inside’ and the ‘destiny of a man is shaped in theclassroom’. CMS, therefore, upholds that 'a school mustact as the Lighthouse of Society to provide meaningfuleducation, spiritual direction and leadership to students,parents and society — and that a modern school must beconcerned with the affairs of the age. Hence, this is a CMSinitiative on behalf of the world’s two billion children andfuture generations.CMS IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL OF‘VASUDHAIV KUTUMBAKAM’ : (The earth is but onecountry and mankind its citizens) CMS was established 50years ago, in 1959, with the vision of making childrenspiritually aware and for implanting in their tender heartsthe ideas of world unity and world peace based on theancient Indian philosophy of 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam' , thatis, the Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.Therefore, for the School's motto, we selected the words‘Jai Jagat’ (Glory be to the World) which was coined byMahatma Gandhi and propounded by his disciple SaintVinoba Bhave. Consequently, CMS strives to teach everystudent the lofty ideals of the oneness of God, unity ofhumankind, universal brotherhood, world unity and worldpeace, in addition to the teaching of the prescribed schoolsyllabus.A MODERN SCHOOL MUST CONCERN ITSELFWITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE AGE: In this age ofglobalization, no person or society can live in isolation.Events in various parts of the world affect their life, even ifsuch events like war or low intensity conflicts orenvironmental degradation, take place in far off areas orcountries. For example, deforestation in a country is boundto affect not only the climate of a neighbouring country, butwill also disturb the environmental balance of the world,resulting in climatic changes and adversely affectingrainfall. Besides, since the economies of various countriesare interdependent, especially in view of quick means oftransportation and even quicker means of communication,every person is affected by events like wars, conflicts andacts of terrorism.OVER THE YEARS THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN HAVEVISITED CMS AND EXPRESSED APPREHENSIONSABOUT THEIR FUTURE: Over the years, thousands ofchildren have been coming to CMS from different parts ofIndia and abroad to participate in the various internationaleducational events along with the children of CMS. Duringthe course of these interactions, many children havepresented their views and expressed apprehensions abouttheir future. These apprehensions of children and theiraspirations to do something about it inspired and motivatedthe CMS family to strive for international peace andsecurity in order to safeguard the future of the world's twobillion children and generations yet-to-be-born.IMPLICATIONS OF ARTICLE 51 OF THECONSTITUTION OF INDIA: Here it would be pertinent torecallArticle 51 of the Constitution of India which, inter alia,provides, “The State shall endeavour to ... foster respect forInternational Law.” It should be noted that Article 51 of theConstitution of India says “the State ‘shall’ endeavour,” . Itdoes not state that the state ‘may’ or ‘should,’ implying thatthe State has to endeavour and therefore, we have nochoice in this regard. Moreover, the word ‘State’ denotesthe government, and each and every citizen of India whoowes allegiance to the Constitution of India.THERE IS NO ENFORCEABLE INTERNATIONAL LAWTODAY: The fact is that there is no enforceableinternational law existing in the world today that is equallyapplicable to all the countries and peoples of the world.What is generally referred to as ‘International Law’ refers toconventions and treaties between two or more countriesand not to duly enacted ‘International Law’. Moreover, a lawthat does not carry a penalty for its violation cannot becalled a law at all. In this sense, there is indeed nointernational law in the world, in the absence of which thereis total lawlessness as reflected in the increased instancesof international terrorism and stockpiling of weapons ofmass destruction by various countries of the world.CHILDREN’S SITUATION IN THE WORLD TODAY: Areport of the Washington-based Population ResearchBureau states that over THREE MILLION children dieevery year due to pollution, while another study by theNational Geographic says that over 19,000 children dieEVERY DAY due to starvation. Clearly, there is an urgentneed for immediate action to safeguard the rights of theworld’s children.Now a new, more deadly threat to the safety and security ofchildren all over the world has emerged in the form ofinternational terrorism—particularly in view of the reportedattempts of terrorist groups to obtain some of the over36,000 strong nuclear stockpile of warheads and the threatof a third world war intensified by the fear psychosis.Countries are spending precious resources on arms andarmaments even as their citizens suffer from lack of cleandrinking water and health benefits.ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CANNOT BESEPARATED BY NATIONAL BOUNDARIES: Sinceecology and environment cannot be separated by nationalboundaries, we need to have an ‘Enforceable InternationalLaw’which is applicable to, and binding on, all the countriesand peoples of the world in order to ensure that cominggenerations inherit a safe and healthy ecology and apeaceful world. Children are the most powerful commondenominator of any country and of the world and theircause is most important. All need to come together to the‘Peace Table’ in the right frame of mind to reach aconsensus on the necessary agreements for ensuring apeaceful world.UNO NEEDS TO BE STRENGTHENED FOR EFFECTIVEAND CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE : The United Nations hasnot achieved objectives for which it was formed. In the lastsix decades of its existence, the UN has seen more peopledie in numerous wars all over the world than in both theWorld Wars combined. The UN also saw the nuclearcountries build up massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons,said to be over 36,000 warheads strong and over 80countries have stockpiles of chemical and biologicalweapons. Even though the UN has many achievements toits credit, in the ultimate analysis, it has fallen far short ofthe expectations of its founding fathers. The basic need of acivilized society is peaceful and safe future for its children.This can best be achieved by strengthening the U.N.O. andempowering the International Court of Justice.IDEA OF A WORLD EXECUTIVE IS TIMELY: In order tofoster respect for International Law, we first need to have‘International Law’ enacted by a duly constituted lawmakingbody like a World Parliament which alone can havethe authority to enact ‘International Law’that can be equallyapplicable to all the peoples and countries of the world. It isalso necessary to have a world executive, that is, a WorldGovernment to enforce such a law. It may be pointed outhere that many great leaders and thinkers of the 20thCentury, Albert Einstein, Jawahar Lal Nehru, WinstonChurchill, Peter Ustinov, Robert Muller, Emery Reeves andSri Aurobindo have supported the concept of a WorldGovernment.WHY CMS LAUNCHED THIS CAMPAIGN FORCHILDREN'S SAFE FUTURE: As a Guinness WorldRecord holder and UNESCO Peace Education laureate,CMS sees itself as the self-appointed advocate andcustodian of the rights and welfare of world's two billionchildren and generations yet-to-be-born. It was for thisreason that CMS students collected nearly 100,000signatures in 1999 on an appeal asking UN SecretaryGeneral Dr. Kofi Annan to initiate steps for formation of aWorld Government. Dr. Annan replied that UN waspowerless to do anything, unless its member statesdecided to do something. He advised CMS to write to allHeads of State and Governments coming to the UNMillennium Summit of September 2000 to come preparedto take tough decisions for reforming the UN and making itmore effective to tackle problems of the 21st century. CMSdid write to the world leaders but the leaders gathered atthe Millennium Summit failed to take any decisionregarding reforming of UN and instead focused only onissues related to their individual countries. The SecondMillennium Summit held in September 2005 has also failedto meet the expectations of reforming the U.N.O. and hasnot taken up important issues like giving us a nuclear-freeworld.LOOKING UP TO THE WORLD JUDICIARY: Havingfailed to elicit support from world leaders, CMS thendecided to approach the World Judiciary for supporting thechildren's appeal for peace and a safe future and startedorganizing annual conference of Chief Justices of theWorld. The first conference was attended by delegates of 8countries, the second by delegates of 14 countries, thethird by delegates of 22 countries, the fourth by delegatesof 30 countries, the fifth by delegates of 52 countries, thesixth by delegates of 64 countries and seventh bydelegates of 86 countries and the eight and ninth bydelegates of numerous countries.SUPPORT OF WORLD JUDICIARY CAN HELP CREATEA NEW ONE-WORLD ORDER: We believe that worldJudiciary is the last hope of humanity's survival. Only thesupport of the World Judiciary can create a favourableclimate for the formation of a duly constituted WorldParliament empowered to enact Enforceable Internationallaws, a World Government to implement these laws, and aWorld Judiciary to dispense justice and decide disputesunder the law. The very survival of life on our planet is underthreat. Whether the unification of humankind will happenafter unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity’sstubborn clinging to the old patterns of behaviour, or is to beembraced now by an act of consultative will is a choicebefore all.MEANINGFUL EDUCATION IS A POWERFULINSTRUMENT OF TRANSFORMATION: Danger of anuclear world war is looming large above our heads. Lowintensity civil wars in various parts of the world, everincreasing international terrorism, environmentaldegradation and economic exploitation by advancedcountries are affecting individual lives on all continents. Onthe one hand, huge resources are being squandered onresearch, development and manufacture of advancedweapons of mass destruction, and on the other hand, amajor part of humanity is living in want and hunger, poverty,disease and in insanitary conditions and misery. Childrenremain without shelter. They have no access to properclothing, food and education. They are constantly abusedand forced to work as labourers and soldiers in armedconflicts.All this needs to be changed.EDUCATION MUST ALSO ACT AS A POWERFULINSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION: CMSbelieves that at a certain moment in history, education mustalso act as a powerful instrument of profound socialtransformation.And that such a moment has now arrived inhuman history. CMS believes that a modern school mustact as a 'Lighthouse of Society' providing meaningfuleducation, spiritual direction and leadership to students,parents and the society and must concern itself with theaffairs of the age and, therefore, CMS as the self appointedcustodian of the welfare of two billion children andgenerations yet-to-be-born has taken upon itself to makean earnest effort to enlist worldwide support to safeguardthe future of world's two billion children.— Jagdish GandhiFounder- Manager, City Montessori School (CMS) Lucknow, India& Convener, International Conferences of Chief Justices of the WorldSocial responsibility of a modern school is to unite the disunited world – CMS, Laureate of 2002 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 32