NEW DELHI, March 27 -- December 10, 1948 was a significant day for the world. On that day nearly all the democracies and other peace-nations came together to sign the historic and path-breaking Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). India, which attained independence about sixteen months earlier, was also a signatory. The UDHR would in fact inspire the Constitution of the new-born nation which was promulgated a few months later, on 26 November 1949.

After a long, brutal, bloody war everybody desperately wanted peace. The overwhelming chorus of the world was 'Never Again' - but for all sustainable peace would be achieved only if the human rights of every person was respected and guaranteed. Signing the UDHR clearly meant that the ...