The Fundamental Rights

The Fundamental Rights.

The Fundamental Rights are defined as basic human freedoms that every Indian citizen has the right to enjoy for a proper and harmonious development of personality. These rights universally apply to all citizens, irrespective of race, place of birth, religion, caste or gender. Aliens (persons who are not citizens) are also considered in matters like equality before law. They are enforceable by the courts, subject to certain restrictions. The eight fundamental rights recognised by the Indian constitution to its citizens are:-

1. Right to equality: Which includes equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, abolition of untouchability and abolition of titles.
2.Right to freedom: Which includes speech and expression, assembly, association or union or cooperatives, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality), right to life and liberty, right to education, protection in respect to conviction in offences and protection against arrest and detention in certain cases.
3. Right against exploitation: Which prohibits all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic of human beings
Right to freedom of religion: Which includes freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, freedom from certain taxes and freedom from religious instructions in certain educational institutes.
4.Cultural and Educational rights: Preserve the right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
5. Right to constitutional remedies: Which is present for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.
6.Right to life: Which gives the right to live with human dignity. This includes rights such as right to education, health, shelter and basic amenities that the state shall provide.
7. Right to education: It is the latest addition to the fundamentals rights.
Right to Information:RTI stands for Right To Information and has been given the status of a fundamental right under Article 19(1) of the Constitution.
Fundamental rights for Indians have also been aimed at overturning the inequalities of per-independence social practices. Specifically, they have also been used to abolish untouchability and thus prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. They also forbid trafficking of human beings and forced labour. They also protect cultural and educational rights of ethnic and religious minorities by allowing them to preserve their languages and also establish and administer their own education institutions.

Fundamental Duties of the Citizens of India!

Facing the inadequacies in the implementation of social justice provisions due to non-justiciability of Directive Principles, commentators have also pointed out that our constitution is em­battled and imperilled because we have failed to impregnate our social and political process with patriotic zeal and fulfill the aspirations.

To overcome this reality Article 51-A and Part IV-A were introduced by 42nd amendment in 1976.

The Duties:

Part IV-A was added by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. It encompasses Part IV, Article 51A enu­merating Ten Fundamental Duties of the Citizens of India.
Under this Article, it shall be the duty of every citizen of India-
(i) To abide by the Constitution and respect the National Flag and the National Anthem;
(ii) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;
(iii) To protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
(iv) To defend the country and receive national services;
(v) To promote the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India;
(vi) To preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
(vii) To protect and improve the natural environment;
(viii) To develop the scientific temper and spirit of inquiry;
(ix) To safeguard public property;
(x) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity.
Of course, there is no provision in the Constitution for direct enforcement of any of these Duties nor for any sanction to prevent their violation.
But it may be expected that in determining the Consti­tutionality of any law, if a Court finds that it seeks to give effect to any of these duties, it may consider such law to ‘be reasonable’ in relation to Article 14 or 19, and thus save such law from unconstitutionality.
It would also serve as a warning to reckless citizens against anti-social activities such as burning the Constitution, destroying public property and the like.

Utility and Significance:

This part was added to the Constitution of India with the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. This part was added in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. It is meant to bring our Constitution in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitutions of Japan, China, and USSR.
In one respect, the legal utility of the Fundamental Duties is similar to that of the Directives as they stood in the Constitution of 1949; while the Directives were addressed to the State, without any sanction, so are the Duties addressed to the citizen, without any legal sanction for their violation.
The citizen, it is expected, should be his own monitor while exercising and enforcing his fundamental rights, remembering that he owes the duties specified in Art. 51A to the State and that if he does not care for the duties he should not deserve the rights.
For instance, a person who burns the Constitution, in violation of the duty in Art. 51 A, cannot assert that the meeting or assembly at which it was burnt by way of demonstration against the Government should be protected by the freedom of expression or assembly guaranteed by Art. 19.
Of course, the duty as such is not legally enforceable in the Courts; but if the State makes a law to prohibit any act or conduct in violation of any of the duties, the courts would uphold that as a reasonable restriction on the relevant fundamental right.
The Fundamental Duties inscribed in the Constitution are a mixed bag of expectations and exhortations. Quite a good number of these items are those which are enforceable today even without their being specifically incorporated in the Constitution.
In this category fall the items to abide by the Constitution, respect the National Flag and the National Anthem, to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so and safeguard public property.
To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India draws sustenance from the same moral source from which the Constitution’s Sixteenth or anti-secessionist amendment itself stems.
The three most important items in the list of Fundamental Duties are those requiring the citizens to respect the ideals of the Constitution and the institutions it establishes, to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India professing different religions, speaking different languages, practicing different customs and inhabiting different parts of the country, and to safeguard the public property and to abjure violence. These are clearly intended to meet certain specific political threats that democracy in India has to contend with.
The Indian Charter of Fundamental Duties is unique to include the duty to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. It has been incorporated to eradicate superstitions in which India is deeply soaked and to remove the ban of religious fanaticism, regional chauvinism and linguistic frenzy which have ever plagued India and retarded her unification into a cohesive society.
The duty to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women and to preserve the rich heritage of India’s composite culture is two other moral codes to ennoble the society. These are, in fact, homilies to be taught in schools and colleges, rather than to be incorporated in the Constitution as Fundamental Duties.