What Is Fraternity, and Why Did Ambedkar Care?

The Preamble to the Constitution of India promises its citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Most debates focus on liberty, what you are free to do, and equality, whether everyone is treated the same. Fraternity, a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood among citizens, is mentioned far less.

B. R. Ambedkar, who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution, thought that was a mistake. He argued that the three ideals hold each other up. Liberty without equality lets the strong dominate the weak. Equality without liberty crushes the individual. And without fraternity, the feeling that other citizens are your own people, neither liberty nor equality would last, because nobody would defend them for others.

Professor Sarukkai's argument is that today's technologies are very good at serving individuals and not designed to build fraternity. A feed shaped around you, an assistant that answers only you, and a playlist tuned to your mood all make life smoother for one person. None of them asks you to spend time with someone different from you.

Over years, he suggests, that shifts what feels normal. If every experience is personalised, shared experiences become rare, and so does the habit of caring about people outside your own circle.