Political freedom is one of the most essential features of democracy. Freedom in political context means to live in a social system where individuals rights are upheld and citizens are able to participate in political process of a country without any coercion. Political freedom ensures the rule of law. Everyone is equal in the eye of law and law is supreme. Universal adult suffrage gives freedom to people to run the government by electing their own representatives (Article 326). Political freedom ensures fair and just elections. Everyone has the freedom to contest it in election as well. By the virtue of Article 19, freedom of speech and expression, every individual has right to criticize government schemes and policies and suggest regarding the same. Certain rights are given to citizens under the constitution of India and independent Judiciary makes it certain to take action in case of the infringement of rights. Political freedom is associated with social and economic freedom and the three areas cannot be separated.
Social freedom signifies characteristic of an individual in an open society where individual or group can feel open about their opinions and live with dignity without any discrimination on the basis of race,caste,religion,gender and place. Economic freedom is the freedom of an individual to make choice regarding his/her profession,production, investment,expenditure and maintenance of property. political freedom to and social and economic freedom go hand by hand. By choosing our representatives it is we people who decide for our future. Society and economic growth is dependent up on such representatives so it is essential to decide wisely. Political freedom helps people to decide the formulation of policy which covers current requirement of people for example, the protection of Human Rights Amendment Bill,2019 and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. In case of lawlessness and misuse of law, citizens can always act to ensure law and order in the society. Right to Information Act,2005 gives citizens power to information related to the working of government and this way individuals can know how much money is being spent on which sector for economic and social growth.
Despite having all the political freedom, there are certain instances which shows us political growth doesn’t always brings social and economic growth like it is suppose to bring.For example, there are still some practices prevalent like gender discrimination in the matter of employment,untouchability and lawful restrictions from the government’s side like limited freedom of right to speech and right to life except etc.Hence the conclusion is political freedom is a slow and gradual way to reach towards economic and social freedom but if used to its full extend can cause satisfactory results.
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