Kinds of Rights

Most democracies begin by drawing up a charter of political rights: rights that give citizens equality before the law and the right to take part in the political process, including the right to vote, to contest elections, and to form or join political parties. Political rights are supplemented by civil liberties, which cover the right to a free and fair trial, the right to express one's views freely, and the right to protest and voice dissent. Together, civil liberties and political rights form the backbone of a democratic system of government — political rights make the government accountable to the people by giving weight to individual concerns and by giving every person a real opportunity to influence government decisions.

But political rights only have real value once a person's basic needs are met. Someone struggling to survive on the pavement, without food, shelter, clothing, or access to healthcare, gets little practical benefit from the formal right to vote unless they also have an adequate wage and reasonable working conditions. This is exactly why democratic societies have increasingly come to recognise economic rights alongside political ones — some countries provide housing and medical facilities to low-income citizens, others guarantee unemployed persons a minimum income, and in India the government has introduced a rural employment guarantee scheme, among other measures, to help meet these basic needs. …