Welfare state

Topic: Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 10 "The Constitution of India: An Introduction"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The State, the Government, and You"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Freedom"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Rights"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"

Meaning

A welfare state is a State that works actively for its people's well-being by providing jobs, health care, education and social security, instead of only keeping law and order. In India, the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) (guidelines to the government in Part IV, Arts. 36–51) set the goals of this welfare state. Article 38 is the main one: it asks the State to build a social order based on social, economic and political justice.

Explanation

What makes a State a "welfare state"

• An older idea of the State: the State only protects borders, keeps order and runs the courts. Beyond that, it leaves people alone.
• The welfare idea: the State also has a positive duty, meaning it must act to make people's lives better.
• It helps people earn a living and get fair wages.
• It helps them get schooling and health care.

• It supports them in old age, sickness and unemployment.

• The link to DPSP: Part IV tells the Indian State how to build a just welfare society.

Economic democracy is the aim

• Political democracy: one person, one vote. The Constitution secures this through adult franchise (every adult can vote).
• Economic democracy: Ambedkar argued that the vote alone is not enough. People also need a fair economic deal.
• This means a livelihood, fair wages and no extreme gaps in wealth.

• He said the Constitution aims at economic democracy as well as political democracy [3].

• No fixed economic path: Ambedkar said economic democracy could be reached in many ways, such as socialism or communism. So the Constitution did not fix one path and left the choice to future governments [3].

The welfare goals in Part IV

• Art. 38: the State must build a social order based on social, economic and political justice. It must also try to reduce inequalities of income, status and opportunity.
• Art. 39: the State must:
• secure enough means of livelihood for citizens;
• share the community's resources fairly;
• stop wealth from collecting in a few hands;
• give equal pay for equal work to men and women;

• protect children.

• Art. 41: right to work and to education, and public help in old age, sickness and unemployment.

• Art. 42: just and humane conditions of work, and maternity relief.
• Art. 43: a living wage for workers (a wage that covers a decent life, not just survival).
• Art. 47: better nutrition and public health.
• Most of these are in the socialistic group of DPSP.

Limits: a welfare state that no court can enforce

• Art. 37: the directives "shall not be enforceable by any court". Even so, they are "fundamental in the governance of the country", and the State has a duty to apply them when it makes laws [2].
• Non-justiciability (courts cannot enforce them) means no citizen can go to court to make the State provide work, a living wage or public help.
• Why the framers chose this (Class 11 NCERT):
• No money yet: the newly independent State could not pay for all these goals at once.
• Free hands: they wanted to give direction without tying the hands of future governments.

• Moral force and voters: they trusted the moral weight of the directives, and they expected voters to judge governments at elections.

• Soft language: many directives say "shall endeavour" (shall try) or "within the limits of its economic capacity". Critics call this vague.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits: Part IV, Arts. 36–51, mainly Arts. 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 47.

• Art. 36: "State" in Part IV has the same meaning as in Art. 12. So the duty falls on the Union, the states, local bodies and other authorities.

• Where the idea came from:

• It came from the Irish Constitution of 1937, Art. 45 ("Directive Principles of Social Policy"), which drew on the Spanish Constitution of 1931.

• The Sapru Committee (1945) and B.N. Rau suggested splitting rights into those a court can enforce and those it cannot.

• Constituent Assembly, 19 November 1948:

• Art. 37 (then Draft Art. 29) was adopted without change [2].
• One member moved an amendment to make the directives legally binding, saying they would otherwise stay "merely pious wishes". It failed [2].

• Ambedkar called the directives "more or less" an Instrument of Instructions (the written orders the British gave the Governor-General and Governors under the Government of India Act 1935). The difference is that the directives are now orders to free India's own Legislature and Executive [3].

• 42nd Amendment (1976) added more welfare duties:

• Art. 39A: equal justice and free legal aid [4];

• Art. 43A: workers' participation in the management of industries [5].

• 86th Amendment (2002) turned a welfare goal into a right:

• education for children aged 6–14 became the Fundamental Right in Art. 21A;

• the new Art. 45 now covers early childhood care and education until age six [6][7].

• In practice:

• Proof of use: many directives were later turned into laws or rights. Examples are Art. 40 leading to Panchayati Raj, Art. 45 leading to Art. 21A, and Art. 39A leading to free legal aid [4][6][7].
• Policy from Nehru to after 1991: because Ambedkar left the economic path open, each government pursued the welfare goals in its own way [3].

Don't confuse with

• Police state / law-and-order State: it only keeps order and defends the country. A welfare state also has a positive duty to provide work, health and education.
• Socialist State: a welfare state is not tied to any one economic system. Ambedkar said economic democracy could come through socialism or other routes, so the Constitution left the path open [3].
• Fundamental Rights (Part III): these mostly limit the State, and courts can enforce them (Arts. 32, 226). The welfare goals in Part IV ask the State to act, but no court can enforce them (Art. 37).
• Political democracy: this is one person, one vote. The welfare state aims at economic and social democracy, which builds on top of it.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 38: the State must secure a social order based on social, economic and political justice. It is the key "welfare state" directive and belongs to the socialistic group.
• Art. 37: DPSP are not enforceable by any court, but they are "fundamental in the governance of the country". It was Draft Art. 29, adopted on 19 November 1948 [2].
• Art. 43 is a split article. The living wage is socialistic, and cottage industries are Gandhian.
• 42nd Amendment (1976): added Art. 39A (free legal aid) and Art. 43A (workers in management) [4][5].
• 86th Amendment (2002): 6–14 education moved from a directive to a Fundamental Right (Art. 21A). The new Art. 45 covers children below six [6][7].
• Trap: the DPSP idea came from the Irish Constitution 1937, not the US. The US Bill of Rights is the source idea for Fundamental Rights.

Mains Points

• Non-justiciable welfare was a deliberate choice:
• a poor new State could not promise in court what its budget could not pay for;
• Art. 37 still puts a duty on the State to apply the directives when it makes laws [2];

• critics such as K.T. Shah called them "a cheque on a bank payable at the convenience of the bank".

• The welfare state grows by turning goals into rights:

• Art. 45 became Art. 21A (86th, 2002), and Art. 39A became the basis of free legal aid [4][6][7];

• South Africa's Constitution (1996) lets courts enforce rights to housing, health care, food and water, which raises the question of whether India should go further.

• Should welfare directives be binding? (Class 11 NCERT debate)

• For: the poor need food, work and schooling more than abstract freedoms.
• Against: courts cannot create money or jobs. Binding duties could clash with the budget and with what elected governments choose to do.
• Middle path: DPSP guide courts, set an agenda for every government and give voters a yardstick. Granville Austin called Parts III and IV together the "conscience of the Constitution".

Related concepts

• Directive Principles of State Policy
• Non-justiciability of Directive Principles
• Instrument of Instructions
• Economic democracy
• Classification of Directive Principles

Read more

• Directive Principles: origin, nature and purpose