Rights

Topic: Political Theory: Freedom and Rights · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Rights"

Meaning

A right is a justified claim or entitlement that society accepts as legitimate and that others are bound to respect. Society accepts it because it is needed for a life of dignity and self-respect and for well-being. A right is more than a wish, and nothing that harms you or others can be claimed as one.

Rights matter because they limit what the state and other people may do to a person. Where we think rights come from (nature, God or human agreement) decides how strong they are.

Explanation

What turns a claim into a right

• A right is a justified claim. Others are bound to respect it. A wish binds no one.
• Not every want is a right. NCERT gives two examples:
• Wanting to wear your own clothes instead of the school uniform.
• Wanting to stay out late at night.

• These are personal wants. Society does not have to treat them as rights.

• The test: people must see the claim as reasonable and good for everyone, not only for the person asking.

• NCERT's two grounds for rights:
• Dignity and self-respect. Rights are conditions that society agrees are needed for a life of dignity.
  • Livelihood gives a person economic independence, so they are not at someone else's mercy.
  • Expression lets people be creative and lets citizens take part in democratic debate.

• Well-being. Rights are conditions people need to develop their abilities.

  • Education builds reason and helps people make informed choices.

• Universal: every human needs these conditions, so these rights belong to everyone.

Limits: what cannot be a right

• Nothing that harms yourself or others can be a right.
• Taking prohibited drugs harms the user, so it is not a right.

• Smoking in public harms people nearby through second-hand smoke, so a "freedom to smoke anywhere" is not a right.

• New right-holders: people now make claims on behalf of children, the unborn and animals.

• Rights of nature: in 2017 the Uttarakhand High Court ordered that the Ganga and Yamuna be treated as legal persons (bodies the law treats like a person, with rights and duties). The Supreme Court stayed (put on hold) the order the same year.

Where rights come from (1): natural rights

• Natural law is a set of rules believed to come from nature or God, not from any human ruler. It ranks above the laws a state makes.
• Natural rights (an idea of the 17th and 18th centuries) come from natural law.
• People are born with them. Kings and governments do not grant them.

• So rulers cannot take them away.

• John Locke (Two Treatises of Government, 1689) named three natural rights: life, liberty and property.

• These rights exist before government. People set up a government so that a fair power can settle their disputes [5][6].

• People must obey a government only while it protects these rights. People can rightly overthrow a ruler who violates them [5][6].

• Used against arbitrary power (power used at the ruler's whim, without law):

• The US Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on 4 July 1776. It accused the British king of seeking "absolute Tyranny over these States" [7][8].
• Its author, Thomas Jefferson, drew on Locke. He changed "life, liberty and property" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" [7][8].

• The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) was issued during the French Revolution against royal absolutism (rule by a king with unlimited power).

• Inalienable rights are rights that cannot be taken away. A person cannot give them up, even by choice.

Where rights come from (2): human rights and Kant's idea of dignity

• Why the name changed: many people today doubt that natural law exists. So "human rights" has replaced "natural rights".
• Human rights are rights a person has simply because they are human, not because of birth, wealth or citizenship.
• They rest on human reasoning and agreement, not on nature or God.

• Three core beliefs: each person is unique, each person is equally valuable, and no one is born to serve others.

• Immanuel Kant (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785):

• Everything has either a price (it can be replaced by something of equal value, like a pen) or a dignity (it is above all price and cannot be replaced).
• Only human beings have dignity. They are valuable in themselves, not because they are useful.

• So even people who are poor, uneducated, powerless, dishonest or immoral deserve a minimum of dignity. Nobody has to earn basic respect.

• Moral conception of rights (rights come from what we owe every person as a moral being):

• Treat others as you would like to be treated.
• Never treat a person merely as a means to your own ends. Every person is an end in themselves.
• The categorical imperative is Kant's formal rule: "Act only on a rule (maxim) that you could will to become a universal law." It binds you whatever your goals.
• This idea became a rallying point against hierarchies of race, caste, religion and gender, which treat some people as tools for others.

In the Constitution and practice

• UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights): the UN General Assembly adopted it in Paris on 10 December 1948, through Resolution 217 A [2].
• Its Preamble opens with "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" [2].
• Article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." [2]
• Article 3: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." This echoes Locke, with "security" in place of "property" [2].

• Article 4: bans slavery and servitude in all forms [2].

• Indian Constitution, Part III (Fundamental Rights): the Constitution writes rights into law, and courts read them in the light of inherent dignity. So it combines both ideas: rights are written down, and they rest on dignity.

• Preamble: Fraternity aims at "assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation".
• Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The Supreme Court reads "life" as life with dignity:
• Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, UT of Delhi (1981): the right to life means the right to live with human dignity, not just animal existence.
• Common Cause v. Union of India (2018), decided by a five-judge Constitution Bench:
  • The right to live with dignity under Art. 21 includes the right to die with dignity [3][4].
  • Passive euthanasia (withdrawing or withholding treatment so that natural death follows) is legal. It rests on liberty, dignity and privacy [4].
  • Advance Medical Directives (living wills: written instructions, made in advance, refusing future treatment if you can no longer decide) are valid [4].
  • The Court laid down guidelines for carrying out living wills and for withdrawing treatment [4].
  • It allowed letting the natural process of death conclude (passive euthanasia). It did not allow extinguishing life (active euthanasia) [4].

Don't confuse with

• Want or wish: a personal desire that binds no one, like skipping the school uniform. A right is a claim society accepts as reasonable for everyone.
• Natural rights vs human rights: natural rights come from nature or God and exist before the state. Human rights come from human reasoning and agreement.
• Price vs dignity (Kant): something with a price can be replaced. Something with dignity cannot. Only humans have dignity.
• Passive vs active euthanasia: passive euthanasia (letting death happen naturally) is legal under Common Cause (2018). Active euthanasia (ending life) is not [4].

Prelims Hooks

• Locke (Two Treatises, 1689) named life, liberty and property. The US Declaration (4 July 1776) swapped property for "the pursuit of happiness" [7][8]. The French Declaration came in 1789.
• UDHR: adopted on 10 December 1948 in Paris by UNGA Resolution 217 A. Art. 1 says "born free and equal in dignity and rights". Art. 3 covers life, liberty and security of person. Art. 4 bans slavery [2].
• Kant's Groundwork (1785): price or dignity. The categorical imperative says act only on a maxim you could will as a universal law.
• Case–principle pairs: Francis Coralie Mullin (1981) → Art. 21 includes life with human dignity. Common Cause (2018) → right to die with dignity, and living wills are valid [3][4].
• Trap: the Uttarakhand HC's 2017 order making the Ganga and Yamuna legal persons was stayed by the Supreme Court. It is not the law in force.
• Trap: a harmful personal choice, such as drug use or smoking that harms others, cannot be claimed as a right.

Mains Points

• Where rights come from decides how strong they are.
• Natural-rights theory puts rights above the state. This justified the revolutions of 1776 and 1789.
• Human-rights theory grounds rights in shared agreement. That makes them universal, but critics say rights then depend on a consensus that can shift.

• India's Part III combines the two: rights are written into law, and Art. 21 is read through inherent dignity.

• Dignity as a constitutional value. The Preamble's "dignity of the individual", Francis Coralie Mullin (1981) and Common Cause (2018) turn Kant's moral idea into rights that courts enforce. This gives a moral basis for fighting caste, gender and racial hierarchies.

• Expanding right-holders vs practical limits.
• Claims for children, the unborn, animals and rivers extend protection to those who cannot speak for themselves.
• But the stay on the Ganga–Yamuna order raises hard questions. Who sues on a river's behalf? Who answers for harm the river causes?
• Rights also have to be weighed against public goals, such as public-health limits on smoking.

Related concepts

• Natural law
• Natural rights
• Inalienable rights
• Human rights
• Kant's idea of human dignity
• Moral conception of rights

Read more

• What rights are and where they come from