NHRC Marks 33rd Foundation Day With Right to Water Meet

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India marked its 33rd Foundation Day with a function and a national conference at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The Commission came into being on 12 October 1993, which is why the date is observed every year as its foundation day.

Theme of the conference

The national conference held alongside the celebration carried the theme Water as the Elixir of Life: Advancing Human Dignity through the Right to Water. It was built around two technical sessions, the first on protecting and restoring water bodies and the second on safeguarding sources of drinking water so that safe and sustainable supply reaches everyone.

The Chief Justice of India as chief guest

The chief guest was the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant. He said the Constitution promises every citizen dignity, equality, liberty and justice, and that these promises of the Preamble have to be kept in the lock-up, in the hospital ward and in the farthest village. Answering the familiar criticism that the Commission can recommend but not command, he compared a human rights commission to a lighthouse that cannot still the waves of injustice but can light the way for those lost in the dark.

He placed particular weight on State Human Rights Commissions, which sit closer to the places where violations happen, can hear a complaint in the language in which it is made and can read the local circumstances behind it. On the conference theme, he said the right to water is owed to the future as much as to the present, and that the test of progress is not only the tap but whether the water is safe, dependable and there when a family needs it. He also welcomed the launch of the NHRC, India mobile application and the move to digitise the Commission's records.

What the Chairperson said

NHRC Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian said human rights bodies across the world must reinvent themselves to stay relevant, because today's challenges are more complex than ever even though the world is a better place to live in than a century ago. He noted that the poorest half of humanity accounts for only 14 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions while the richest 10 per cent account for half of them, and argued that climate and wealth share a common origin. He also pointed out that human rights disputes are no longer only between the citizen and the State, since non-State actors and the digital world can now shape opinion and monitor behaviour.

Others present

NHRC Member Justice (Dr) Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi and Member Vijaya Bharathi Sayani also spoke, as did Secretary General Piyush Goyal, who outlined the Commission's work and named the two technical sessions. Chairpersons and members of State Human Rights Commissions, judges, diplomats, officials of UN bodies, academics and human rights defenders attended.