Prime Minister’s Call to Uphold Fundamental Duties and Their Constitutional-Ethical Significance

• On Constitution Day, the Prime Minister urged citizens to uphold their Fundamental Duties.
• Constitution Day is celebrated on 26 November to mark the adoption of the Indian Constitution.
• The Prime Minister also encouraged citizens to contribute actively to strengthening India’s democratic framework.

Constitutional Status of Fundamental Duties

• Fundamental Duties are enshrined in Article 51A of the Constitution.
• Article 51A is located in Part IVA, which deals specifically with citizens’ duties.
  • Part IVA was inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976.
    • A Constitutional Amendment is a formal change made to the Constitution by the Parliament.
  • The inclusion of Fundamental Duties was recommended by the Swaran Singh Committee (1976).
  • The original list of Fundamental Duties consisted of ten duties.
  • The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 added the eleventh duty.
    • The eleventh duty requires parents or guardians to provide opportunities for education to children aged 6–14 years.
• The purpose of Fundamental Duties is to outline the moral obligations of citizens.
• These duties aim to promote patriotism, which means love and devotion towards the nation.
  • These duties also aim to foster unity and integrity within the country.
• Fundamental Duties are non-justiciable, meaning courts cannot legally enforce them.
• Although non-enforceable, they remain essential for governance and responsible citizenship.

Relationship Between Rights and Duties

• Rights and duties are complementary because each sustains the other.
• Rights cannot be exercised meaningfully without the fulfilment of corresponding duties.
• Duties help maintain balance in a democracy by ensuring responsible use of rights.
• Duties prevent misuse of rights that may violate the rights of others.
• Duties also prevent actions that may harm social harmony.
• The relationship between rights and duties reflects moral linkage rooted in discipline.
• This moral linkage promotes respect for institutions such as Parliament, Judiciary, and Executive.
• It also reinforces constitutional values like justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity.
• Duties help build the ethical framework within which rights are exercised.
• Sustainable rights depend on citizens fulfilling their duties consistently.
• Duties create the foundation necessary for the long-term survival of rights.

Philosophical Support for Duty-Centric Ethics

• Mahatma Gandhi emphasized that the true source of rights is duty.
  • Gandhi believed that rights naturally arise when citizens sincerely perform their obligations.
  • He also argued that only those rights are genuine that emerge from the faithful performance of duties.
• Plato, the Greek philosopher, argued that a just state is built upon individuals performing their assigned duties.
  • Plato believed that social harmony emerges when each class and citizen fulfils their specific obligations.
  • He held that duty-based functioning leads to a well-ordered society.
• Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, grounded morality in the idea of duty.
  • Kant explained duty through the Categorical Imperative, which commands actions based on moral obligation.
  • The Categorical Imperative means one should act only according to principles that can be universally accepted.
  • Kant believed that ethical conduct must be guided by obligation, not by pursuit of personal rights or outcomes.