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PM proposes commission to review Constitution

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said today that a commission is proposed to be set up to review the Constitution, as the need for stability has been felt acutely at the Centre and in the states along with the need for reorienting the development process.

Stating that the basic structure and the core ideals of the Constitution would remain inviolate, the prime minister told members of Parliament at a function to mark the Golden Jubilee of Indian Constitution that "even the mightiest fort, one has to repair the parapet from time to time, one has to clean the moat and check the banisters. The same is true about our Constitution."

The prime minister, however, said that the Constitution had stood the test that "it must deliver and it must be durable." He said the Constitution ''embodies a masterly balance between the rights of the individual and the requirements of collective life; between the States and the Union; between providing a robust structure and flexibility."

Vajpayee said: "Our Constitution has served the needs of both India's diversity and her innate unity. It has strengthened India's democratic traditions."

Five decades after the adoption of the Constitution, India is faced with a new situation, he said.

"People are impatient for faster socio-economic development. The country is also faced with a pressing challenge to quickly remove regional and social imbalances by reorienting the development process -- to benefit the poorest and the weakest,'' the prime minister said.

UNI

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