What is a political safeguard?

A political safeguard or constitutional guarantees is the protection provided by the government to the people they govern. The function of the state is to essentially protect the rights of the individuals. For this purpose, certain provisions have been enshrined in the constitution that is judicially enforceable. If we take the case of India, protecting the rights of the minorities has been a pressing issue that was confronted by the constituent assembly while drafting the constitution. Tackling the minority issue was made one of the objectives while creating the constitution for future reference. Jawaharlal Nehru state that the constitution will guarantee equality of opportunities, social, economic and political justice, freedom of speech, belief, faith etc. and safeguards for backward and tribal classes who were oppressed. This resolution was later reflected in the preamble of the constitution.

Who are the beneficiaries of this?

The beneficiaries of different political safeguards or guarantees would depend on the objective of each legislation. Lawmakers intend to protect the rights of certain sections of the society when they come up with legislation. However, political safeguards are for the benefit of the public at large and for the greater good. The “Scheduled cast and tribes (prevention of atrocities) act”, 1989 which is now popularly known as the SC/ST Act was enacted to prevent the atrocities that were committed against the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. Here the people belonging to this caste will be the beneficiary to this act. Going back to the example of minorities in India, the problem can be traced back to the advent of colonialism and partition. The Muslim minority were under greater threat after the formation of Pakistan. But there were other minorities as well, like the Parsis, Anglo-Indians, Sikhs, Scheduled castes etc. These minorities along with their representatives exerted pressure to attain categorical constitutional safeguards.

The beneficiaries of political safeguards can be both the citizens in general and a certain section of society. For example, the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Indian constitution from article 12 to 35 are the rights guaranteed to all the citizens. On the other hand, there are legislations such as the “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012” is aimed at protecting children and for giving them a remedy against sexual abuse.

How far is such a safeguard justified?

Even though the constitution provides everybody with equal rights, not everybody gets the opportunity to enjoy them. Ergo, political safeguards are basically for providing equality of opportunities. There are certain sections of the society who need that extra support from the government to be at par with the rest of society. Only then will they get equal life chances. For example, somebody from a backward community without sufficient resources cannot be out on equal footing as somebody from an affluent section of the society. In such a situation provisions like reservation would help them. Political safeguards can be seen as a differential treatment but for the ultimate goal of providing equality.

Political safeguard means safeguard giving by the government to the people of India like reservation.

The beneficiarie of this policy are the people who were using this policy and the people's are schedule castes/ schedule tribe / other backward classes and minorities groups like Shikha ,muslim, christans, etc .

Such a safeguard is justified as when the people of India know the importance of sc/ St/OBC and minorities groups and when the people of India know the meaning of equality the safeguard justified will end.

Hope this helps you.

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