Chennai: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and State Commissions are functioning effectively serving the cause of the government of India, NHRC chairperson Arun Mishra said here on Saturday.
The issue of human rights, concern for the environment and thought for others' wellbeing including the deprived sections, is age-old practice in the country and these values are embedded in India's ethos and culture, the chairperson said while speaking at the silver jubilee of the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission here.
For equal protection of human rights it is necessary that every human respects the rights of all beings, and biodiversity on earth because without that human existence is not possible, he said.
Pointing out that humans are dependent on each other, Mishra said there is space also for taking care of the environment. We have to care of the environment and take care of the system, take care of each other and live with dignity, love and affection, he said. Human rights has been embedded in the Indian ethos and culture from the beginning, at least 5,000 years ago.
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"Even globalisation that we now talk of is a concept, which is also 5,000 years old and we can find it in the Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family) concept in our scriptures, he said. Mishra further said that the Hindu culture has the power to assimilate all religions, cultures and languages and this is the power, spirit and culture of India.
When we go back to the Mahabharat days, we find that the civil liberties in a political system have to be protected by the rulers, he said. Mahabharat is a salutary example of human rights. During the great war, the battle was fought during the day and in the evening, the warring groups visited each other's camps, even enemy camps, looked after the injured, held talks for compromise or solutions. "That is our culture," Mishra said.
In the Ramayana, Ram restrained Lakshmana from using weapon of mass destruction stating that one should not use them ordinarily but very sparingly. He stops Lakshmana from destroying the masses. That is the culmination of India's policy of no first use of atomic energy. Our entire system is embedded with human rights and even food security, which we can see in the form of Langar established by the Sikh gurus, where food is given for free," he said.
Further, the concept of sustainable development, earlier measured in terms of GDP, is now progressive and inclusive. Qualitative improvement of human is aimed at developing; and sustainable development has to take care of not only today's needs but also of posterity. We should ensure this planet with its natural resources remains intact for future generations, the NHRC Chairperson said. Giving awards to best performing district collectors and police commissioner, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin reiterated his demand for establishing a bench of the Supreme Court in Chennai and making Tamil the official language of the Madras High Court in addition to English.
He assured to take steps to fill up the vacancies in the State HRC and to increase the staff strength. Increasing the police representation in enquiry panel will also be decided soon, the CM said. Tamil version of the state HRC website will be created and all information on NHRC will be disseminated through Tamil, said Stalin who earlier released a souvenir to commemorate the silver jubilee of the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission.
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Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari stressed the need for providing better living conditions for the children in observation home and said if the conditions are not improved, then the children may tend to run away to involve in crimes again. I urge all the State HRCs to involve entrepreneurs to adopt the houses because we can't look up at the government every time. This is one area which needs to be addressed at national level, he said.
The HRC in his view should be provided more teeth and empowered for an effective mechanism to implement their recommendations. Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul unfurled the silver jubilee inscription and justice Arun Mishra, chairperson, NHRC released the silver jubilee journal, edited by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ibrahim Kalifullah, and updated version of the human rights aspects book.
A special postal cover to commemorate the silver jubilee of TN SHRC was handed to Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari by K Somasundaram, director of Postal Services, Chennai city region. Awards for best performing collectors in TN were received by Gayathri Krishnan (Tiruvarur district), K Senthilraj (Thoothukudi) and M Aravind (Kanyakumari district) from the CM.
Best performing police Commissioner award to Madurai Commissioner D Senthil Kumar, best performing awards to Superintendents of police were given to V Badrinarayanan, Coimbatore, and Saroj Kumar Thakur of Krishnagiri, by the Chief Minister.
State Law Minister S Regupathy, Justice S Baskaran, chairperson of State HRC and D Jayachandran, member of State HRC were among those who spoke. (PTI)
