Two Freedom from Discrimination 2.1 The demand for Fundamental Rightsthat would bejusticiable and non-derogable,and inscribed in a Constitudon written by the representadves ofan IndependentIndia,wascentral to the fight for fi^edom.Such a Consdtution was adopted on 26 November 1949,and the fifdeth anniversary ofits commencement was celebrated during the period covered by this report, on 26 January 2000, at the threshold of a new millennium. 2.2 Parts III and IV ofthat Constitution,which have been described as its heart and soul, and which comprise the Fundamental Rights and Direcdve Principles of State Poli^, incorporate the major provisions ofthe Universal Declaradon ofHuman Rights,which was itselfadopted on 10 December 1948.The similar vision ofboth is not surprising. Eminent Indians were closely associated with the writing ofthe latter,just as the provisions ofthefuture Consdtution were being debated and the process of drafting it was beginning. 2.3 The nation is thus deeply dedicated to the cause ofhuman rights and the promotion and protection ofsuch rights is, and must remain,central to the national purpose.Indeed, in the years since Independence,and acting in a manner that is true to this purpose,India has participated in the drafting and adoption ofsome 70 international instruments relating to human rights under the aegis of the United Nations,and it is a State party to 17 human rights treaties that have been elaborated by the World Organization. 2.4 In earlier Annual Reports, this Commission has commented on the special namre of the challenges and difficulties facing the country in protecting civil and political rights, particularly ata time when it is feeing insurgency and terrorism.Those reports have also dwelt on the factors inhibiting the proper observance ofeconomic and social rights in a situation in which widespread disparities persist, disparities which themselves often stem from unacceptable and ancientsocietal attitudes that discriminate between oneIndian and another and render some of the people of this country less equal than others. 2.5 It was sobering to recall this even as the nation observed the Golden Jubilee of the Republic—for the Constitution by which India is to be governed expressly proclaims equality before law in its Article 14,and Article 15 unequivocally prohibits discrimination on grounds ofreligion,race,caste,sex or place ofbirth, both provisions being crucial to the furtherance of human rights and to human development itself.