Minimalist IAS
Polity & governance

Prelims · Polity & governance · 38 questions

Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties questions per year: 2016: 0, 2017: 6, 2018: 1, 2019: 2, 2020: 5, 2021: 4, 2022: 0, 2023: 3, 2024: 1, 2025: 1, 2026: 2 Asked in 9 of 11 years · most in 2017 (6)

Practising Polity & governance? Take it as timed sets of 25 →

UPSC syllabus: “Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.” Sub-topics in the detailed syllabus →

निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार कीजिए :

  1. 1.भारत की संसद किसी क़ानून विशेष को भारत के संविधान की नौवीं अनुसूची में डाल सकती है ।
  2. 2.नौवीं अनुसूची में डाले गए किसी क़ानून की वैधता का परीक्षण किसी न्यायालय द्वारा नहीं किया जा सकता एवं उसके ऊपर कोई निर्णय भी नहीं किया जा सकता है ।

उपर्युक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं ?

Read this question in English

Consider the following statements:

1. The Parliament of India can place a particular law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

2. The validity of a law placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be examined by any court and no judgement can be made on it.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only · (b) 2 only · (c) Both 1 and 2 · (d) Neither 1 nor 2

उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English

Answer: (a) केवल 1

Parliament adds laws to the Ninth Schedule through constitutional amendments, and Article 31B shields them from challenge for violating Fundamental Rights. But the shield is not absolute: laws added on or after 24 April 1973 (the Kesavananda Bharati judgment) can be tested against the basic structure.

  • ✓ 1. The Ninth Schedule was created by the First Amendment (1951), and Parliament has added many Acts to it by later constitutional amendments.
  • ✗ 2. Following Waman Rao (1981) and I.R. Coelho (2007), courts can review a law inserted into the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 if it damages the basic structure of the Constitution.

Remember · Ninth Schedule (Art. 31B, First Amendment 1951) protects listed laws from Part III challenges, but post-24 April 1973 additions remain open to basic-structure review (I.R. Coelho, 2007).

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

विधि और स्वाधीनता के बीच सबसे उपयुक्त संबंध को, निम्नलिखित में से कौन प्रतिबिम्बित करता है ?

Read this question in English

Which one of the following reflects the most appropriate relationship between law and liberty?

(a) If there are more laws, there is less liberty. · (b) If there are no laws, there is no liberty. · (c) If there is liberty, laws have to be made by the people. · (d) If laws are changed too often, liberty is in danger.

उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English

Answer: (b) यदि विधि नहीं हैं तो स्वाधीनता भी नहीं है ।

Law and liberty go together: without laws, nobody's freedom is protected from the coercion of others, so there is no real liberty. Law restrains harmful acts and thereby secures the freedom of everyone.

  • ✓ (b) Political theory treats law as a support for freedom: legal restraints are needed so that one group cannot coercively impose its views on another, and law protects each person's freedom.
  • ✗ (a) This treats law as the enemy of liberty. Only unnecessary or unjustified constraints reduce freedom; the test is whether a restriction is necessary and justified, not how many laws exist.
  • ✗ (c) Laws being made by the people is a feature of democratic government and positive liberty, but it does not describe the basic relationship between law and liberty.

Remember · Law and liberty are not opposites: laws protect liberty. Where there is no law, the strong dominate and there is no liberty for others.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

निजता के अधिकार को जीवन एवं व्यक्तिगत स्वतन्त्रता के अधिकार के अंतर्भूत भाग के रूप में संरक्षित किया जाता है । भारत के संविधान में निम्नलिखित में से किससे उपर्युक्त कथन सही एवं समुचित ढंग से अर्थित होता है ?

Read this question in English

Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statement?

(a) Article 14 and the provisions under the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution · (b) Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV · (c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III · (d) Article 24 and the provisions under the 44th Amendment to the Constitution

उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English

Answer: (c) अनुच्छेद 21 एवं भाग III में गारंटी की गई स्वतंत्रताएँ

In Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (24 August 2017), a nine-judge Supreme Court bench held privacy to be a Fundamental Right. It flows from Article 21, which protects life and personal liberty, and from the freedoms in Part III taken together. Only option (c) names both.

  • ✓ (c) Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except by procedure established by law. In Puttaswamy the Court read privacy into this Article and into the wider Part III freedoms.
  • ✗ (a) Article 14 is equality before law, and the 42nd Amendment (1976) has no provision on privacy; neither is the source of the right.
  • ✗ (b) Article 17 abolishes untouchability, and Directive Principles in Part IV are not enforceable rights; privacy was held to be a Fundamental Right.
  • ✗ (d) Article 24 bars employment of children in factories and similar hazardous work; the 44th Amendment (1978) does not create the right to privacy.

Remember · Privacy is a Fundamental Right, grounded in Article 21 and the Part III freedoms (Puttaswamy, 2017, nine judges).

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

The Syllabus X-Ray of this topic

1 of its 11 sub-topics is Core

1 Core · 3 High · 5 Steady · 2 Rare

  • Core #32Directive Principles of State Policy · 8 questions
  • HighFreedoms & Article 21: life, liberty, privacy · 5 questions
  • HighRight to equality (Articles 14–18) · 4 questions
  • HighNature of rights, Article 13 & right to property · 4 questions

The X-Ray ranks all 928 sub-topics of the UPSC syllabus by what UPSC has asked since 2016. The 60 Prelims Core sub-topics are behind 51% of Prelims questions.

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The same topic in Mains

Read it in NCERT