When they debated India’s Constitution, members of the Constituent Assembly did not just concern themselves with the matters of their time -- they were also shaping the nation’s future. Not just the immediate future but also far into it. Long before Star Trek was a glint in Gene Roddenberry’s eyes and science fiction taken seriously, a member of the Constituent Assembly sought a debate to make laws to regulate interplanetary space travel!
The topic was kicked off in unexpected circumstances. As the entries to List I of the Seventh Schedule (which lists out the topics on which Parliament alone could make laws) were being debated, an amendment was proposed by H V Kamath suggesting that among the topics, Parliament should also be specifically empowered to make laws regulating “interplanetary travel.” T T Krishnamachari, eminent industrialist and future finance minister of independent India, objected. He fumed that discussing such a topic would render the proceedings of the Assembly an “absurdity”.
Kamath was not deterred.
He first berated TTK for his lack of knowledge of the latest developments in science. Then he pleaded with the President of the House for an opportunity to make good his claim why legislation on this matter was needed. Perhaps Rajendra Prasad, who was presiding over the Assembly, was genuinely curious. He allowed Kamath to proceed. When Kamath read out the proposed amendment, the Assembly burst into laughter.
Kamath was not deterred.
He launched into an impassioned discussion on the march of science and technology in the modern world that, in 50 years, had made the radio, television and air travel almost ubiquitous and even referred to a company in the US that was promising rocket travel to the moon. Prasad confessed (probably in jest) that he thought people travelled to the moon only once they died, hoping to conclude this discussion as the day’s session was coming to a close.
Kamath was not deterred.
Instead, taking a cue from Prasad, he referred to an appropriate line in the Gita to show how even our ancestors had thought about it. He then launched into a discourse on how the notion of travel to the moon would not be considered farfetched even within the lifetimes of the members of the Assembly and such travel could, in fact, become commonplace soon.
But Kamath was not the only one who wanted the Assembly to discuss interplanetary travel. Naziruddin Ali Ahmad (a name regular readers of this column will be familiar with) also moved an amendment along similar lines, proposing that Parliament have powers to regulate “travel between the planets and the satellites and between the satellites.” The main purpose of his amendment, Ahmad claimed, was to address a defect in Kamath’s proposal -- that it didn’t account for travel from the earth to the moon since the moon was a satellite and not a planet. Like Kamath, Ahmad was deadly serious about his proposal -- he wanted the amendments to be put to vote.
Prasad invited Babasaheb Ambedkar to comment on the proposed amendment. Coming at the end of a long day, perhaps Ambedkar didn’t want to prolong the discussion. He simply pointed out that the draft Constitution already had provisions that gave power to Parliament to make laws on subjects which were not mentioned in the list and there was no need to specifically mention space travel as such.
Regrettably, the members voted against Kamath’s and Ahmad’s amendments.
While we all know how visionary members of the Constituent Assembly were on matters of Indian society and state, Kamath and Ahmad showed how visionary they were even on matters of science and technology. The Soviets launched the first man-made satellite into space eight years later; Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961; and Neil Armstrong took “one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind”, setting foot on the moon a little less than 20 years from the date of this debate. While no Indian has set foot on the moon yet, it would have been an amazing achievement had India’s Constitution reflected Kamath and Ahmad’s farsightedness in its text.
If at this point you, the reader, believe that you have just been subjected to a belated April Fools’ Day joke, let me assure you otherwise. The debate I just described did indeed take place on August 31, 1949. Those of you who would like to trust your own eyes on this matter may visit Indian Kanoon, which has a digitised version of the Constituent Assembly debates. This one is at https://indiankanoon.org/doc/787953/.
You will not be disappointed.
(Alok Prasanna Kumar is co-founder of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, uses his legal training to make the case that Harry Potter is science fiction and Star Wars is fantasy)