When the working of Part IV-A of the
Constitution, consisting of the sole article, namely article 51A, dealing with
Fundamental Duties of citizens, is taken up for review, certain crucial
questions are bound to arise. The most crucial of all questions would be: Has
article 51A served its purpose, and if not, where have the people who worked
the provision defaulted in the discharge of their democratic duties of
citizenship and failed their fellow citizens? There can be no two opinions
about the need for the
retention of the article in the Constitution, and equally there can be no
dispute on the fact that the provision requires to be known and effectuated
much better than what has been the case thus far.
Three things make a nation. First is noble ideals. Second is the citizens capable of
achieving the noble ideals. Third
is the striving for excellence by such citizens.
Noble Ideals (a)
Rich heritage (f) Excellence (j)
1.1.2 Our dream of free India was, and is
“Where the mind is without fear and the
head is held high;
where knowledge is free;
where the world has
not been broken up into fragments of narrow domestic walls; where words come
out from the depth of truth;
where tireless striving stretches its
arms towards perfection;
where the clear stream of reason has not
lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
where the mind is led forward by the
into ever widening thought and action into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
1.1.3 Mahatma
Gandhi, the father of the nation, had been dreaming Independent India to be a
place where there would be no poverty, no disease, no ignorance, no depravity.
Nahin daridra kon dukhi no deena
Nahin kou abudh no lachchan heena
1.1.4 This
dream could materialize, and shall materialize, when every citizen solemnly
resolves to discharge with all his wisdom and might, the Fundamental Duties
enshrined in article 51A of the Constitution.
1.1.5 The
Nation is what the Citizens are. The Citizen is the unit of the Nation.
God,
Merciful God;
Because a dark deepening crisis
Is engulfing this beloved land of ours,
Give us men a time like these demands.
Honest men,
Men of strong minds,
Of big hearts and true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust for power will not corrupt;
Men whom the spills of office will not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men for whom service to the nation will come
Before their selves;
Men who will not lie;
Men who will not indulge in gimmickry;
Men who will not feed us on slogans or on stunts.
Give us, O God
Men of Honour,
Of Integrity;
Men who can and will
Stand up to demons of demagogy;
Men who will not yield to treacherous flatterers;
Tall men, sun crowned
Men who liver above the fog and fluff of mock adulation,
In public duty and private thinking.
God, give us such men as
A trying and testing time like this demands.
1.1.6 Where
from will God give us SUCH MEN?
Our Constitution says : Article 51A will make all Citizens of
India, SUCH MEN.
SUCH MEN will achieve the Noble Ideals
(Clause-(a)) by striving for excellence (Clause-(j)) while also translating
into daily life the Fundamental Duties enshrined in clauses (b) to (i).
1.1.7 “The
future of India lies in acting, implementing and invigorating compliance with
Fundamental Duties enshrined in article 51A of the Constitution”.
1.2 Historical Background
1.2.1 To
achieve the above objective, a brief historical background leading to the
inclusion of article 51A in the Constitution of India, needs to be set out. The
Swaran Singh Committee appointed by the Congress Party for a review of the
Constitution had recommended that certain Fundamental Duties and obligations
which every citizen owed the nation should be included in the Constitution.
These recommendations were implemented with the incorporation of the new
article 51A in the Constitution. Incidentally, this happened during the period
of emergency aberration in our democratic history. Alongside the introduction of article
51A, several other articles of the Constitution were also amended. Some of the
amendments had the effect of crippling the powers of the High Court and the
Supreme Court. Soon after the emergency ended and a new Government assumed
office in 1977, the Constitution (44thAmendment) Act, 1978 was
passed, whereby many of the amendments brought in by the 42nd amendment were undone.
1.2.2 What
is significant to note is that 44th Amendment did not disturb these
provisions. Thus, article
51A commands the confidence of all the political parties and has remained on
the statute book for 24 years.
1.2.3 The
inclusion of Fundamental Duties brought our Constitution in line with article 29 (1) of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with provisions in several modern
Constitutions of other countries.
1.2.4 There
appear to be good reasons why the authors of the Constitution did not feel the
need of enacting the Fundamental Duties in the Constitution as given to us.
1.2.5 Firstly,
the framers of the Indian Constitution were such visionaries as had practiced
values in life, discharging their societal and national obligations and had
followed noble ideals which had inspired our national struggle for freedom and
the need to defend the country, promote harmony, secularism and preserve the
rich heritage of the composite Indian culture. To the framers of the Constitution,
these were basic and inherent values which were being practiced by each and
everyone. These were first
nurtured in the home traditionally and were subsequently supplemented by
education in schools and colleges. These were integral part of the way of life
in India and it was taken for granted that aberrations in the practice of these
will not be acceptable to the society. As
such no need was felt to incorporate the Fundamental Duties specifically in the
ConstitutionA.
1.2.6 Secondly,
the duties were spelt out by the Preamble to the Constitution which contains
the ideals and aspirations of the people of India and the dedication of
Constitution for fulfilling such ideals and aspirations. We have solemnly resolved to secure to
all the citizens of India justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Whatever is needed to achieve these
goals, is our obvious duty to perform – is a dictate of the
Preamble.
1.2.7 Thirdly,
all the rights enshrined in Part III on Fundamental Rights have inbuilt
obligations therein. The
need is to read them so as to spell out and understand the duties flowing
therefrom.
{(2) & (3) – Mr. Justice R C Lahoti – Rastogi Memorial
Lecture}
1.2.8 However,
“with the lapse of time, degradation of values, particularly values in public
life became blatantly evident and the nation felt the need to amend the
Constitution and incorporate these values specifically as the Fundamental Duties
of every citizens”.
1.2.9 Article
51A, which constitutes Part IVA of the Constitution, reads as under:
“Article 51A. Fundamental Duties – It shall be the duty of every
citizen of India –
(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
which inspired our 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; to renounce practices
derogatory to the dignity of women;
(f) to value and preserve the rich
heritage of our composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have
compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the 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.”.
1.2.10 This article has the potential to
regenerate and reconstruct the nation. It has been on the statute book for the
last 24 years. It commands that – “it shall be the duty of every citizen of
India” – but it is an irony that more than 99 per cent of the citizens of India
do not even know about the existence of this article in the Constitution, much
less its provisions. The
awakening letter of Mr. Justice Rangnath Mishra, Former Chief Justice of India,
addressed to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, (who took congnizance of it
and it was registered as a Writ Petition) said : -
“All of us are experiencing to our horror degrading human
behaviour in society every day. The
deterioration is gradually becoming sharper and unless this fall is immediately
arrested and a remedial measure found out and enforced, the situation would not
improve. Fundamental Duties
have remained in the Constitution Book and have not come out to reach even the
class of people who handle the Constitution.”.
“If society becomes duty based, every one in India should turn
attention on performance of duties and through such performance ensure and be
entitled to the rights of a citizen.”.
“…..as a nation-building measure, teaching Fundamental Duties in
every educational institution and as a measure of in-service training
everywhere was necessary as these cannot be inculcated in our citizens unless
these are brought into their minds and living process through teaching and
education”.
“….. it is the obligation of the State to educate the citizens in
the matter of Fundamental Duties so that a right balance between Rights and
Duties may emerge”.
1.3 Concept of Duty
1.3.1 There
has been some rather disproportionate emphasis on the rights of citizens as
against their duties even though the traditions and temper of Indian thought
through the ages laid greater emphasis on duties. Actually, rights and duties are the
two sides of the same coin. For
every right, there is a corresponding duty. Rights flow only from duties well
performed. Duty is an
inalienable part of right : What is duty for one is another person’s right and
respect human life and not to injure another person. If everyone performs his/her duty,
everybody’s rights would be automatically protected. Gandhiji while emphasizing the
economic and social responsibilities of all citizens said:
“The true source of right is
duty. If we all discharge
our duties, rights will not be far to seek. If leaving duties unperformed we run
after rights, they will escape us like will-o-the-wist, the more we pursue
them, the farther they will fly”.
“I learned from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to
be deserved and preserved come from my duty well done. Thus the very right to live accrues to
us when we do the duty of citizenship of the world. From this one fundamental statement,
perhaps it is easy enough to define duties of man and women and correlate every
right to some corresponding duty to be first performed. Every other right can be shown to be a
usurpation hardly worth fighting for”.
Harold Laski has also said that rights
are related to functions and are given only in return for some duties to be
performed. Rights are
conferred on individual citizens not only for their own development but also
for social good. As the
universal declaration of Human Rights put it : “Everyone has duties to the
community in which alone the free and full development of the personality is
possible [Article 29 (1)].
1.3.2 When
the leaders and the rulers talk of citizenship values, they tend to talk in the
language of “you, the people should”. They
forget that they are not outside the people, they are also first and foremost
the citizens of India and it is as much for them as for others to respect the
citizenship values. In
fact, in the discharge of their functional responsibilities and duties, they
have an additional responsibility to protect and promote citizenship duties and
fulfill the oaths they take. Ideally,
a proper balance and harmony can be achieved if the State – high functionaries
of the Government and the leadership generally – cease to lecture the citizens
on their duties and devote their energies and attention to protecting their
rights, and the citizens themselves lay greater emphasis on discharging their
responsibilities and duties instead of all the time demanding fulfillment of
their rights.
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