In the context of India, which one of the following is the correct relationship between Rights and Duties?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Rights are correlative with Duties.
Rights and duties go together: a right is not only a claim on the State, it also places obligations on each of us. So rights are correlative with duties, and neither can be treated as the only thing that matters.
- ✓ (a) NCERT says rights place obligations on the State and also on every citizen, for example to protect the environment for everyone's good. This pairing of rights with responsibilities is what 'correlative' means.
- ✗ (b) Rights are not purely personal. They make us think beyond our own needs and defend things that are good for all, so they cannot be separated from society or from duties.
- ✗ (c) It sets rights against duties. Both matter for personal development; the Constitution lists both Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties.
- ✗ (d) Stability of the State does not rest on duties alone; rights are what limit State power and protect citizens. The two work together.
Remember · Rights and duties are two sides of one relationship: my right places obligations on the State and on others, and citizens have duties towards society.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Political Theory, Chapter 5 “Rights not only place obligations upon the state to act in a certain way — for instance, to ensure sustainable development — but they also place obligations upon each of us.”
- NCERT Class 11 · Political Theory, Chapter 5 “they compel us to think not just of our own personal needs and interests but to defend some things as being good for all of us.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·