4

15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.—(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. (2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to—

29. Protection of interests of minorities. (1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same. (2) No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Why are "sex" and "place of birth" omitted in some of the clauses? Article 15 explicitly mentions "sex" and "place of birth" which is missing in article 29. When I go through many of the articles I see "sex" is explicitly mentioned but not here.

Improve this question
1
  • Is there any case where a single sex would have a distinct language, script or culture (by that definition of culture)? Why would they need protection, if not?
    – Stuart F
    Commented Sep 7, 2023 at 13:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
9

Article 29(1) does not include a citizen's sex or place of birth because they do not determine what language is spoken. Because:

  • The sex of someone born outside of Indian does not prevent them acquiring citizenship (if certain criteria are met: here for example.)

  • The place of birth does not, necessarily, determine what language one speaks. (For example, someone born in Rhodesia could speak any combination of Shona, Afrikaans or English.)

Article 29(2) is to allow:

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    Why did you choose Rhodesia as an example? It has not existed for over 40 years (nearly 60 since it was widely recognized in the form of South Rhodesia), having been replaced by Zimbabwe, which is still multilingual.
    – Obie 2.0
    Commented Sep 4, 2023 at 22:21
  • 1
    @Obie2.0 Just because a country no longer exists, it doesn't mean that someone's place of birth is erased from history. Or that they forget the languages they spoke as a child.
    – user35069
    Commented Sep 5, 2023 at 9:21
  • ^ Also: I wasn't born, nor never lived, in Zimbabwe.
    – user35069
    Commented Sep 5, 2023 at 9:25

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .