Fundamental duties

Also called: Article 51A, Part IVA · Topic: Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 10 "The Constitution of India: An Introduction"; Class 9, Ch 6 "Democracy"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"; Class 11, Ch 9 "Constitution as a Living Document"

Meaning

Fundamental duties are eleven moral and civic duties that every Indian citizen owes to the nation, to society and to nature. They are listed in Article 51A, the only article in Part IVA. The 42nd Amendment, 1976 added ten of them on the advice of the Swaran Singh Committee, and the 86th Amendment, 2002 added the eleventh. They matter because they put the citizen's side of citizenship into the Constitution. Rights are what the citizen gets. Duties are what the citizen owes back. Courts cannot directly enforce them, and a citizen does not lose any right by failing to perform one.

Explanation

Origin: how the duties entered the Constitution

• The 1950 Constitution had no list of duties. Its makers expected the citizens of free India to do their duties willingly.
• The Swaran Singh Committee (1976) was set up by the Congress party during the Emergency (1975-77) to suggest changes to the Constitution.

• It recommended eight duties.

• The 42nd Amendment, 1976 acted on its report:

• It created Part IVA with a single article, Art. 51A.

• It added ten duties, two more than the committee had asked for.

• Two committee proposals were dropped:

• Parliament could make laws to punish citizens who ignore their duties, and courts could not strike down those laws for violating Fundamental Rights.

• Citizens have a duty to pay taxes.

• The 86th Amendment, 2002 added the eleventh duty, clause (k), on children's education [2].

• Where the idea came from:
• Foreign model: the Soviet (USSR) constitution, which listed citizens' duties next to their rights.
• International law: Article 29(1) of the UDHR, 1948 says "Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible" [4]. Article 29(2) adds that law can limit rights, but only to respect the rights of others and to meet "the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society" [4].
• Indian tradition (Class 7 NCERT): Indian thought always stressed duties. Examples are rajadharma (the king's duty to protect the people and rule justly) and Kautilya's saptanga (the "seven limbs" of the state in the Arthashastra, each with its own duties).

The eleven duties of Article 51A, grouped

Every citizen of India has a duty to:

A. Nation and Constitution

• (a) Abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
• (b) Cherish and follow the noble ideals of the national struggle for freedom.
• (c) Uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India [2].
• (d) Defend the country and do national service when called upon.

B. Society

• (e) Promote harmony and common brotherhood across religious, linguistic, regional and sectional differences, and give up practices that insult the dignity of women.
• (f) Value and preserve the heritage of our composite culture (culture built by many communities together over centuries).
• (i) Safeguard public property and abjure (give up) violence.

C. Nature and reason

• (g) "Protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life", and have compassion for living creatures [2].
• (h) Develop scientific temper (judging things by evidence and reason, not blind belief), humanism (care for human welfare and dignity) and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Nehru made "scientific temper" popular in The Discovery of India (1946).

D. Excellence and education

• (j) Strive for excellence in every field of personal and group work, so the nation keeps rising to higher levels of achievement.
• (k) A parent or guardian must give their child or ward aged 6-14 the chance to be educated. This was added by the 86th Amendment, 2002 [2].

Clause	Theme	Added by
(a)-(j)	Constitution, nation, society, environment, reason, excellence	42nd Amendment, 1976
(k)	Education of children aged 6-14	86th Amendment, 2002

Features and limits

• Citizens only. Some Fundamental Rights, such as Arts. 14 and 21, cover foreigners too. The duties apply only to citizens.
• Civic and moral. Some are civic, such as respecting the flag or protecting public property. Others are moral, such as cherishing the ideals of the freedom struggle or striving for excellence.
• Non-justiciable (a court cannot directly enforce them). The Constitution gives no enforcement mechanism for them.
• Rights do not depend on duties. A citizen keeps their Fundamental Rights even after failing to perform a duty. Class 11 NCERT says adding the duties "has not changed the status of our fundamental rights".
• They mirror the Directive Principles:
• 51A(g) (the citizen protects the environment) matches Art. 48A (the State protects the environment, forests and wildlife).
• 51A(k) (the parent sends the child to school) matches Art. 21A (right to free and compulsory education, ages 6-14) and Art. 45 (early childhood care and education). The 86th Amendment, 2002 made all three changes.
• So one goal can appear three times: as the State's duty (DPSP), as a citizen's duty (51A) and as a right (Part III).

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits: Part IVA, Article 51A. Part IVA comes after the Directive Principles in Part IV.
• Inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976.

• Amended by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, which added clause (k) [2].

• It survived a change of government. The Janata government's 44th Amendment (1978) undid many Emergency-era changes but left Part IVA in place. The 86th Amendment later extended it.

• Link to citizenship: Class 11 NCERT treats citizenship as rights plus obligations to fellow citizens and the community. Art. 51A writes those obligations down.
• Moral basis: Class 7 NCERT recalls Dr Rajendra Prasad's call for "great moral regeneration". He meant that a Constitution works only when citizens and leaders act with character and a sense of duty.
• Justice J.S. Verma Committee (1998-99): in July 1998 the government set up a committee under Justice J.S. Verma, former Chief Justice of India, to work out how to teach fundamental duties to citizens [3].
• Members: Dr L.M. Singhvi, Dr Karan Singh, Dr J.S. Rajput, Dr Subhash Kashyap and Dr A.K. Sharma. It gave an interim report in January 1999 [3].

• What it recommended [3]:

  • Spread awareness of the duties.
  • Reorient school curricula and teacher education, and bring the duties into higher and professional education.
  • Act on environmental protection and on removing gender bias.
  • Involve elected representatives at every level, from the panchayat to Parliament.
  • Involve the civil services, the justice system, business and industry, and the media.

• NCERT slips to watch:

• Class 11 NCERT still says there are ten duties. There have been eleven since 2002.
• Class 7 NCERT shows six duties lettered a-f. In Art. 51A they are clauses (a), (d), (f), (g), (j) and (k).

Don't confuse with

• Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, Arts. 36-51): DPSPs are duties of the State, taken from the Irish constitution (1937). Fundamental duties are duties of citizens, taken from the USSR constitution. Neither can be enforced in court.
• Fundamental Rights (Part III): rights are justiciable (a citizen can go to court to enforce them), and some cover foreigners too. Duties are non-justiciable, cover citizens only, and rights do not depend on them.
• Swaran Singh Committee vs Justice Verma Committee: Swaran Singh (1976) recommended the duties (eight of them). Verma (1998-99) suggested how to teach and spread them [3].
• Duty to pay taxes: the Swaran Singh Committee proposed it, but it was dropped. Paying taxes is not a fundamental duty.

Prelims Hooks

• Fundamental duties are in Part IVA, Article 51A, a single article that was not in the original 1950 Constitution.
• The Swaran Singh Committee (1976) recommended 8 duties, and the 42nd Amendment (1976) added 10. "The committee suggested ten" is a trap.
• The 11th duty, 51A(k) (parents or guardians give children aged 6-14 the chance to be educated), came through the 86th Amendment, 2002. The same amendment inserted Art. 21A and changed Art. 45.
• Source match: duties come from the USSR constitution and DPSPs from the Irish constitution (1937). MCQs often swap the two.
• Clause pairs: 51A(g) ↔ Art. 48A (environment). 51A(h) = scientific temper, humanism, spirit of inquiry and reform. UDHR Art. 29(1): "Everyone has duties to the community" [4].
• Dropped from the 42nd Amendment: penalties for not doing duties and a duty to pay taxes. Duties apply to citizens only and are non-justiciable.

Mains Points

• Emergency origin vs lasting acceptance:
• Critics: a Congress committee added the duties in 1976, while rights were suspended. To them this stressed citizens' obligations just when the State was cutting their freedoms.

• Supporters: the list itself is not controversial. The Janata government's 44th Amendment (1978) kept it, and the 86th Amendment (2002) extended it.

• Rights and duties are linked, but rights must not depend on duties:

• Rajadharma, saptanga, UDHR Art. 29 and Rajendra Prasad's "moral regeneration" all tie freedom to responsibility [4].

• But if rights depended on duties, Part III would become weaker. That is why the 1976 proposal for penal laws that courts could not review was dropped.

• Education over enforcement:

• The duties carry no penalty of their own. The Verma Committee (1998-99) chose awareness through school curricula, teacher training, the civil services, the media and elected representatives over punishment [3].
• Clauses that mirror the DPSPs (51A(g) with 48A; 51A(k) with 21A and 45) share the work between the State and the citizen. Use this in answers on environmental governance and the right to education.

Related concepts

• Swaran Singh Committee
• Duty to abide by the Constitution
• Duty to defend the country
• Duty to promote harmony
• Duty to protect the environment
• Scientific temper

Read more

• Fundamental Duties: origin and content