Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties

Answer: (a) Privileges

Equality means that the treatment people get and the chances open to them are not fixed by birth or status. That requires ending special privileges reserved for a few; it does not require removing rules, rivalry or beliefs.

• ✓ (a) The first step towards equality is dismantling formal systems of inequality and privilege, such as rights, offices or entry open only to some castes, classes or sexes.
• ✗ (c) Equality of opportunity is compatible with competition; liberal thinkers in fact treat fair competition as a just way to distribute rewards once everyone starts on equal terms.
• ✗ (b) An equal society still has laws and restraints; equality asks that the same restraints apply to all, not that restraints disappear.

Remember · Equality = no special privileges by birth or status, plus equal opportunities. It sits comfortably with laws (restraints) and fair competition.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Participation of workers in the management of industries

Article 43A, which asks the State to secure workers' participation in the management of industries, was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, with effect from 3 January 1977. The other three principles were in the original Constitution of 1950.

• ✓ (b) The official text of the Constitution marks Article 43A as inserted by section 9 of the Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976.
• ✗ (a) Equal pay for equal work for men and women is Article 39(d), part of the original Directive Principles.
• ✗ (d) A living wage and decent conditions of work for workers is Article 43, also original; the 42nd Amendment only added the new Article 43A beside it.

Remember · 42nd Amendment (1976) added to DPSP: Article 39(f) (reworded), 39A free legal aid, 43A workers in management, 48A environment, forests and wildlife.

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Rights are claims of the citizens against the State.

A right is a justified claim that a person makes, and it binds the State: it limits what the State may do and obliges it to act in certain ways. So rights are claims of citizens on the State, not favours granted to some.

• ✓ (c) Political theory defines a right as an entitlement or justified claim, and rights place obligations and limits on the authority of the State.
• ✗ (b) A constitution recognises rights and makes them enforceable, but that legal endorsement is not what makes them rights; and they are entitlements, not privileges.
• ✗ (d) Rights belong equally to all; even minority rights are meant to secure equal respect, not special privileges for a few.

Remember · Right = justified claim of the individual that the State must respect and help secure. Rights limit State power; they are not privileges.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither is correct. Directive Principles are guidelines for the State that no court can enforce, so they are not legal limits on what Parliament may pass or what the executive may do. The real limits come from the Fundamental Rights, which courts do enforce.

• ✗ 1. Article 37 says the Directive Principles are not enforceable by any court. A law is therefore not struck down merely because it does not follow one; they guide law-making rather than restrict it.
• ✗ 2. They tell governments what to aim for, but they are non-justiciable: if a government does not act on a directive, citizens cannot ask a court to make it do so. They are instructions, not limitations.

Remember · Directive Principles guide the State (Article 37) but are non-justiciable; only Fundamental Rights actually limit legislative and executive action.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is true. The Constitution lists the Fundamental Duties in Article 51A but says nothing about enforcing them, and they were added to remind citizens of their responsibilities, not as legal duties tied to legal rights.

• ✗ 1. The 42nd Amendment (1976) inserted the duties, but the Constitution provides no legislative or other process to enforce them. NCERT states that it does not say anything about enforcing these duties.
• ✗ 2. The duties are framed as things a citizen should do, to remind citizens of their responsibilities. They are not the counterpart of legal duties, and the Constitution does not make enjoyment of rights depend on performing them.

Remember · Fundamental Duties (Article 51A, Part IV-A, added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976) are non-enforceable obligations; rights do not depend on performing them.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

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)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Constitutional Right

The right to vote comes from the Constitution itself: Article 326 says elections to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies rest on adult suffrage. It is therefore a constitutional right, but it is not one of the Fundamental Rights, which are listed in Part III (Articles 12 to 35).

• ✓ (c) Article 326 gives every citizen who is of the prescribed age and not otherwise disqualified the right to vote. Citizens equally have the right to stand for election, subject to age and other conditions set by law.
• ✗ (a) Article 326 sits in the part of the Constitution on elections, not in Part III on Fundamental Rights, so the right to vote cannot be enforced as a Fundamental Right.
• ✗ (b) A natural right is one a person is said to hold irrespective of any law. Here the right is created and regulated by the Constitution and election laws.
• ✗ (d) A legal (statutory) right rests on an ordinary Act. The right to vote is anchored in the Constitution, although the conditions are worked out by laws such as the Representation of the People Act.

Remember · Right to vote (Art. 326, adult suffrage): a constitutional right, not a Fundamental Right.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 4 only

The Right against Exploitation consists only of Articles 23 and 24: the ban on trafficking and forced labour, and the ban on employing children in factories, mines and other hazardous work. Untouchability and minority interests are covered by other Fundamental Rights.

• ✓ 1. Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced labour.
• ✗ 2. Abolition of untouchability is Article 17, which falls under the Right to Equality.
• ✗ 3. Protection of the interests of minorities is Article 29, under Cultural and Educational Rights.
• ✓ 4. Article 24 bars employing a child below fourteen years in any factory or mine or other hazardous employment.

Remember · Right against Exploitation = Articles 23 (trafficking, forced labour) and 24 (child labour in hazardous work). Untouchability is Article 17; minorities, Article 29.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error