Fundamental Duties In India (article-51a)

Despite the fact that citizens' rights and responsibilities are inextricably linked, the original constitution only included fundamental rights and not fundamental duties. In other words, the Constitution's framers did not believe it was necessary to include citizens' fundamental responsibilities in the document. They did, however, include the State's responsibilities in the Constitution as Directive Principles of State Polity.

 

The Constitution was amended in 1976 to include citizens' fundamental responsibilities. One more Fundamental Duty was added in 2002. The Indian Constitution's Fundamental Duties are based on the former Soviet Union's Constitution. Notably, none of the major democratic countries' constitutions, such as the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Australia, include a list of citizens' responsibilities. The Japanese Constitution is possibly the only democratic constitution in the world to include a list of citizen responsibilities.

 

On the other hand, socialist countries prioritised citizens' fundamental rights and responsibilities equally. As a result, the erstwhile USSR's Constitution declared that citizens' exercise of their rights and freedoms was inextricably linked to their performance of their duties and obligations.

 

• The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution was enacted in 1976, following the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee, which had been established by the government earlier that year.

 

• Only citizens have fundamental responsibilities; aliens do not.

 

• The concept of Fundamental Duties was borrowed by India from the Soviet Union.

 

• The addition of Fundamental Duties aligned our Constitution with article 29 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and provisions in a number of other countries' modern constitutions.

 

• Six of article 51A's ten clauses are positive duties, while the other five are negative duties.

 

Clauses (b), (d), (f), (h), (j), and (k) compel citizens to actively carry out these Fundamental Duties.

 

• It is proposed that a few more Fundamental Duties, such as the duty to vote in elections, pay taxes, and resist injustice, be added to Article 51A in Part IVA of the Constitution in the future.

 

• It is no longer true to say that the Fundamental Duties enshrined in Article 51A are merely a reminder and not enforceable to ensure their implementation. The element of compulsion in Fundamental Duties is present in terms of compliance.

 

• There are a number of judicial decisions that can be used to enforce certain clauses under Article 51A.

• For clauses (a), (c), (e), (g), and (h), comprehensive legislation is required (i). The remaining five clauses, which are exhortations of basic human values, must be developed among citizens through the educational system by creating appropriate and graded curricular input from primary to higher and professional levels of education.

 

• Legal Provisions: In 1998, the Justice Verma Committee was formed "to devise a strategy and methodology for operationalizing a countrywide programme for teaching fundamental duties in every educational institution as a measure of in-service training." The Verma Committee was well aware that any failure to operationalize Fundamental Duties might not be due to a lack of concern or the absence of legal and other enforceable provisions, but rather to a gap in the implementation strategy. As a result, it deemed it necessary to provide a brief overview of some of the legal provisions already in place for the enforcement of Fundamental Duties. The following is a list of such legal provisions:

 

• The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 was enacted to ensure that the National Flag, the Indian Constitution, and the National Anthem were not disrespected.

 

• The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act of 1950 was enacted shortly after independence to prevent the misuse of the National Flag and the National Anthem, among other things.

 

• To ensure that the proper use of the National Flag is understood, the instructions issued from time to time on the subject have been incorporated into the Flag Code of India, which has been made available to all State Governments and Union Territory Administrations (UTs).

 

• Existing criminal laws contain a number of provisions that ensure that activities that promote enmity between different groups of people on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and other factors are adequately punished. Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code prohibits writings, speeches, gestures, activities, exercises, drills, and other activities aimed at instilling fear or ill will among members of other communities (IPC).

 

• Imputations and assertions that are detrimental to national integration are punishable under Section 153 B of the Indian Penal Code.

 

• Under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, a communal organisation can be declared an unlawful association.

 

• Sections 295-298 of the IPC cover offences related to religion (Chapter XV).

 

• The Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1955 (previously known as the Untouchability (Offenses) Act of 1955).

 

• The Representation of People Act, 1951, states that soliciting votes on the basis of religion, as well as promoting or attempting to promote feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of Indian citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, community, or language, is a corrupt practise. Under Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person who engages in a corrupt practise may be disqualified from serving in Parliament or the State Legislature.

 

Every citizen of India has the duty, according to Article 51 A, to:

 

(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;

 

(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals that inspired the national struggle for freedom;

 

(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

 

(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

 

(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practises derogatory to the dignity of women;

 

(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of the country’s composite culture;

 

(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;

 

(h) to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

 

(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

 

(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement; and

 

(k) to provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the age of six and fourteen years. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002 added this duty. Of course, the constitution makes no provision for direct enforcement of any of these obligations, nor for sanctions to deter their violation. However, if a court finds that a law seeks to carry out any of these duties, it is possible that the court will consider the law to be 'reasonable' in relation to Art. 14 or 19, and thus save the law from being declared unconstitutional. It would also serve as a deterrent to irresponsible citizens who engage in anti-social behaviour such as burning the constitution or destroying public property.