Topic: Fundamental Duties: January
Topic: Fundamental Duties: January
First and foremost, I would like to thank our tort Dr. Vagish
Upadhyay who guided us in doing this project. She provided us with
invaluable advice and helped us in difficult periods. Her motivation
and help contributed tremendously to the successful completion of
the project.
Also, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support.
Without that support we couldn’t have succeeded in completing this
project.
At last, but not in least, we would like to thank everyone who helped
and motivated us to work on this project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
NEED FOR FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
SOURCE OF FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
ENFORCEMENT OF DUTIES
PREVENTION OF INSULTS TO NATIONAL HONOUR ACT,1971
CASE LAWS
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
Introduction
Our country India has the lengthiest written constitution in the world. In this,
the rights of every person are kept in mind. However, the three organs of the
State cannot make this country self-reliant until they get the proper support
from the citizens as well. So there are certain fundamental duties which are
expected from the citizens to be carried out. In this article, we will discuss the
Fundamental Duties which are expected to be carried out by the citizens of our
country. It is a moral obligation on the citizens to maintain the feeling of
patriotism and unity among all the citizens of the country.
This was an instance of the year 2007 when I was still a child and knowing
nothing about the Fundamental Duties. However, today I can clearly say that it
was a breach of fundamental duty. Fundamental Duties are applied only to the
citizens of the country, not to any organ of the state.
Our Constitution has provided us with various rights and expects us to perform
certain duties as a return. Article 51(A) talks about these Fundamental Duties
and has 11 fundamental duties that are expected to be performed by the
citizens (there were 10 earlier and 11th was added later by the 86th
amendment). First, we will discuss these 11 fundamental duties and then we
can move on to the next topic whether it is needed or not.
• We need to follow our Constitution and should respect our national
flag and national anthem.
• Should follow the ideals of the freedom struggle.
• Protect the sovereignty and integrity of our nation.
• Protect our nation and provide national services when required.
• Should have the spirit of a common brotherhood.
• Preserve the culture of our country.
• Protect the environment of our country.
• Generate scientific rationale for every thought.
• To protect public property.
• Strive for excellence.
• It is the duty of every parent to send their children between 6-14
years to school.
From these fundamental duties, one can easily understand the need for the
fundamental duty in our constitution. It is required to protect the sovereignty
of our nation. To maintain the unity and integrity of our nation. Rights and
duties go hand in hand and cannot be separated at any cost. Fundamental
duties and fundamental rights are two sides of a coin which we know that it
can’t be separated. Also, it is found as the need of the hour to introduce
fundamental duties in our constitution.
The main purpose of this committee was to suggest the amendment in the
Constitution of India (mainly for the recommendations of fundamental duties).
This committee suggested that the citizens should know that for the
enjoyment of their rights they also have some duties and they should be
abided by those duties. This committee recommended 8 points of fundamental
duties. These were as follows:
Many countries in this world have the fundamental duty mentioned in their
constitution. For example, Articles 43-45 of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam talks about the duties of citizens towards the nation. Similarly, Article
194 of The Netherlands also mentions about the same. Japan has also
mentioned the fundamental duty of the residents of the country. The idea of
Fundamental Duties which has been mentioned in our constitution is basically
taken from the constitution of Russia (then USSR). These fundamental duties
are mentioned in Chapter 10 of the Constitution of the USSR. The concept of
Fundamental Duties have also been discussed in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
Enforcement of Duties
Directive Principle of State Policy (which is given in Chapter IV of the Indian
Constitution) and Fundamental Duties needs to be read together. Both have a
moral obligation on the state and citizens respectively.
Fundamental Duties do not have any legal devour for its violation. There are six
positive duties which are expected to be done by the citizens of our country
and there are five negative duties which are not expected to be carried out by
the citizens. There is no legal enforceability for its breach, it is because of the
nature of the Fundamental Duties. We can clearly understand that it is
practically impossible to enforce these duties.
It is important to know that Fundamental Duties are only enforceable for the
citizens holding public offices. It is possible by way of departmental rules of
conduct and by making suitable legislation. There are appropriate sanctions for
the breach of Fundamental Duties in Public Offices.
There are many places in India where a person holding public office can be
barred from departmental promotions, also their increment can be refused. An
officer who takes part in strikes and organized a rally against the institution can
be made to give up his salary for that day.
CASES
In the case of M.C. Mehta v. Union of India Article 51(g) was enforced by the
Supreme Court. In this case, 274.50 million litres of sewage water were being
discharged into the river Ganga on a daily basis. This case is about the city of
Kanpur, which is the biggest city on the bank of river Ganga. Here water
pollution was to a great extent that’s why the petitioner filed a petition in the
Supreme Court. Here Apex Court of the country found that Municipal bodies
and industries in Kanpur were the main reason for polluting the river.
Therefore, judgment was taken against Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika. In this case,
Nagar Mahapalika and Municipal Boards were held liable because it is their
responsibility to maintain and protect the environment in the areas of Kanpur.
Further here the Apex Court held that as there are many grave consequences
of water and air pollution and also as there is a need to protect and improve
the natural environment it became a moral obligation on the part of the
government to ensure the protection of the environment. Also, it is one of the
fundamental duties which is given in our constitution which makes a moral
obligation on the part of the citizens as well to ensure the protection of the
environment. The Supreme Court held that it is the duty of the Central
Government to direct all the educational institutions of our country to teach
and train citizens about the protection and improvement of the environment
for at least one hour a week.
Further Supreme Court held that the Central Government needs to get the
textbook written for the same purpose. These textbooks would be further
distributed among all educational institutions of our country. There should be
training for teachers who are going to give such educational teaching to
children.
However, the petition was cancelled as the Supreme Court did not find any
reason to cancel the framework (NCFSE). What is given in our constitution is
that students should be taught that every religion is common/ equal?
Further Article 51A (e) clearly explains this condition. According to this
fundamental duty, it is the duty of the citizen to promote harmony and
brotherhood among the people of a different religion. And in order to achieve
these universal values like truth, right conduct, love, and peace should be the
base of education.
Article 51A(j) clearly says that it is the duty of one to always strive towards
excellence in all spheres of life of an individual and it also talks about the
collective activity so that the nation keeps rising higher in an endeavour and
this cannot be achieved until the employees maintain the discipline.
Conclusion
At last, we can conclude that in this article we have come to know about every
aspect of Fundamental Duties and by reading every aspect of it we can clearly
understand the need and importance of Fundamental Duty. It was added in
our constitution as our government realized that a civil society (discussed
earlier in this article) cannot be made by the state only.
The citizens of our country need to play a vital role in achieving the basic aim
of our constitution. They can do this by following their duties towards the
nation as mentioned in Article 51A of our Constitution.
Also, one cannot ask for a right if one is not doing the duty assigned to them.
References
1. SCC Online.
2. D.D. Basu -” Constitution of India”
3. https://kjablr.kar.nic.in/sites/kjablr.kar.nic.in/files/05.%20Fundament
al%20Duties.pdf
4. https://blog.ipleaders.in/national-anthem-shyam-narayan-chouksey-
case/