On the 101st birth anniversary of my father, Late Justice Y V Chandrachud, I am honored to speak at the Shikshan Prasarak Mandali's webinar today. Shikshan Prasarak Mandali was a place near and dear to my father's heart, and it was there that he spent his retirement years as Chairman of its Governing Council. Its multiplicity of institutions, which range from elementary schools to outstanding post-graduate education, reflects its profound dedication to the noble objective of educating future generations. "Education is the lighting of a flame, not filling of a vessel," said Socrates, one of the earliest thinkers in recorded history. Any discussion of the Indian Constitution must begin with a tribute to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the Chairperson of the Drafting Committee, who is revered as the Constitution's architect and one of India's most renowned anti-caste activists. His education left its marks in the Indian Constitution's foresight, complexity, and transformational potential, not merely as a tool for his self-advancement. It also equipped some oppressed caste members with the necessary words and desire to combat caste and patriarchy's dehumanizing systems. Being a lawyer, and now a judge may be a lifelong learning experience. Trying to do my job every day necessitates a lot of reading on a wide range of topics. The Constitution, like technology, could not have predicted the current level of globalization and privatization.

Our newly independent state was envisioned in the Constitution as the primary actor, employer, and creator of our society. Naturally, some of our fundamental rights and protections attempt to protect us from governmental tyranny in their literal meaning. We are in the middle of a rapidly worsening climate emergency. Ecological disturbances increase existing disparities, as the Covid-19 epidemic has demonstrated. To tackle this catastrophe, we may need collective and global action on a scale we haven't seen before. An active population, particularly its students, may face a number of material interests that must be subordinated to the survival of our species.

To sum up, "It would be disastrous to create a country of technically proficient individuals who have lost the capacity to think critically, to look at themselves, and to appreciate the humanity and diversity of others," stated Martha Nussbaum, a famous legal academician.