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 upload 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 wildlife 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 endeavor and achievement;

(k) Who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

COMMENTS

Rights and duties are two sides of a coin. According to Gandhiji, “The 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, they will escape us.”

The Constitution of India has provided fundamental rights to all citizen-persons in India, i.e. right to equality, right to freedom including free speech and expression, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational right, right to constitutional remedies. The Supreme Court has added few more rights through interpretation in various judgments like right to life ,right to fair and speedy trial ,right to health, right to livelihood, right to work and even right to development. Other rights can make the life more meaningful and worth living, like prisoner’s right to have necessities of life, right to women to be treated with decency and dignity, right of privacy, right to go abroad, right against custodial violence, right to health and medical aid of workers, right to reputation, right to freedom from noise pollution, right of hearing, etc. However, there are corresponding eleven fundamental duties in the new Article 51(A). The first and foremost duty assigned to every citizen of Indian is to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institution, the National Flag and the National Anthem. we are all governed and guided by this constitution irrespective of caste, religion, race ,sex, etc .Each citizen must ,therefore , not only refrain from any such activity but also do his best to prevent any miscreant trying to show disrespect to our national symbols. Every nation is proud of its citizens of India, have to be equally proud of our nation, our constitution, our Flag and our Anthem.

We must put the nation above our narrow personal interest, and then only we will be able to protect our hard-earned freedom and sovereignty. Secondly, the citizen of India must cherish and follow the noble ideals, which inspired the national struggle for freedom. Thirdly, we should protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India is a pre-eminent national obligation of all citizens of India. In a democratic system of governance, sovereignty lied with the people, To defend our sovereignty is our own responsibility.

Fourthly, citizen at large play the most vital role in a variety of ways .Civilians may be required also to take up arms in defence of the country, if the situation warrants it . By fighting to defend the country, the citizens are fighting only to defend their own liberty and that of their posterity. The citizens will have to come forward if required by the State. Fifthly, the citizens should 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. Thus, the constitution advice not to indulge in conflicts based on religion, caste and to abhor fissiparous tendencies.

Spirit of brotherhood should come very normally among the citizens of a country like India where the norm has been to consider the entire world as one family. The Constitution also casts upon us the fundamental duty of ensuring that all practices derogatory to the dignity of women are renounced. Sixthly, we should preserve the rich heritage of our composite. Culture and preserve communal harmony as our fundamentals duty. It becomes the ardent duty of every citizen to ensure that our rich monuments, scratched or subjected to vandalism or greed of unscrupulous traders and smugglers.

In the face of menace of the increasing pollution and environmental degradation, it is the duty of every citizen to protect and improve natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have noise pollution and large-scale denudation of forest under check which is causing immense harm to all human life on earth. The mindless and wanton deforestation in the name of the needs of development is causing havoc in the form of natural calamities and imbalances. By protecting our forest cover, planting new trees , cleaning rivers , conserving water resources, reforesting wastelands, hills and mountains and controlling pollution in cities, villages and industrial units, we can help save the future of our fellow citizens and of planet earth itself. What is needed is a concerted effort through voluntary citizen initiatives. one of our great founding fathers, Jawaharlal Nehru always laid great emphasis on the need for Indian citizens developing a scientific temper and a spirit of inquiry- an inquisitiveness for learning from development around the world .It is the bounded duty of every citizen to preserve and promote a scientific temper and spirit of inquiry – an inquisitiveness a scientific temper and a spirit of inquiry to keep pace with the fast- changing world. Also, science and technology should be mixed with a sense of humanism because ultimately the end of all progress is the human being and the quality of life and relationships that is developed. It is most unfortunate that in a country which preaches non- violence To the rest of the world, we see from time to time spectacles of senseless violence and destruction of public property indulges in by a few of its citizens. This is why it became necessary to prescribe the responsibility “to safeguard public property and abjure violence” as a fundamental citizenship duty.

The tenth duty is the drive for excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity. It is the demand of times and a basic requirement in a highly competitive world. Nothing but the best would have survival potential in tomorrow’s world.

This would include respect for professional obligations and excellence. Whatever work we take up wither as individual citizens or as groups, our effort should be directed to achieving the goal of excellence. Also special emphasis is called for in the area of collective activity. Right to education is declared as a fundamental right. The eleventh duty is of the parents who do not send their wards to schools. They are not responsible citizens. Every parent or guardian is to help to provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the ages of 6 to 14 years. This has been included as the Eleventh duty in the Constitution in the year 2002.

Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court held that each religion made its contribution to enrich the composite Indian culture as a happy blend or synthesis. Our religious tolerance received reflection in our Constitutional creed.

The Supreme Court suggested that since the duties are obligatory on citizens, the state should also observe them. In Vishaka case (1997), the Supreme Court held that in appropriate cases, if mon-observance of duty by one citizen can be established as violation of the right of another, appropriate remedy may be provided by courts inspite the fundamental duties are not enforceable generally in courts.

The purpose of incorporating the fundamental duties in the Constitution is to make the citizens aware of their social and economic obligations and to warn them to do and not to do certain things in the interest of their country, their fellow citizens and themselves. Even duty to vote should be included as a fundamental duty. This will make our government truly representative. A man who does not think it worthwhile to exercise this is strangely ignorant of the real basis of all prosperity that he has or hopes for and the real duty which rests upon him as a man of elementary morals.

A man who will not take the trouble to vote is a poor spirited fellow willing to live on the labours of others and to shirk honorable obligations, to do his share in return. The ‘Swachh Bharath’ movement launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to remind all citizens their duty to preserve and keep the environment clean around them. However, a country specially of size of India cannot be progress only by government efforts. A country progresses by the due awareness and performance of duties its citizens.