The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM) has distanced itself from its Chairman Bibek Debroy’s recent opinion article in a newspaper calling for a new Constitution for India.

The Advisory Panel has now said that Debroy’s opinion article does not reflect the views of EAC-PM or the Central Government. 

“The recent article by Dr @bibekdebroy was in his personal capacity. In no way do they reflect the views of EAC-PM or the Government of India”, the EAC-PM said in a post in ‘X’, which was earlier known as Twitter. 

In the August 15 article, Debroy had opined that there is a case for ‘we the people’ to embrace a new Constitution. 

“We no longer possess the one we inherited in 1950. It has been amended, not always for the better, though since 1973 we have been told its ‘basic structure’ cannot be altered, irrespective of what democracy desires through Parliament; whether there is a violation will be interpreted by Courts. To the extent I understand it, the 1973 judgement applies to amendments to the existing Constitution, not a fresh one,” wrote Debroy in the piece.

Describing the present Constitution of India as a colonial legacy, Debroy wrote: “Our current Constitution is largely based on the Government of India Act of 1935. In that sense, it is also a colonial legacy”.

“Much of what we debate begins and ends with the Constitution. A few amendments won’t do. We should go back to the drawing board and start from first principles, asking what these words in the Preamble mean now: socialist, secular, democratic, justice, liberty and equality. We the people have to give ourselves a new Constitution”, Debroy wrote in that article.

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