Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

The question rests on the Supreme Court's Aadhaar judgment of 26 September 2018 (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India). The Court fixed the limit for keeping authentication records at six months, not three; struck down the part of Section 57 that allowed Aadhaar use under a mere contract; and upheld Section 7, which lets governments require Aadhaar for benefits paid from the Consolidated Fund of India. Insurance is not such a benefit.

• ✗ 1. The Court said authentication records may be kept for six months at most and struck down the regulation that allowed archiving for five years. The limit is six months, not three.
• ✓ 2. The Court held that Section 57, so far as it let the State or any company use Aadhaar under 'any contract to this effect', was unconstitutional and void, because a contract is not a law.
• ✗ 3. No law made Aadhaar compulsory for buying insurance, and after the judgment private bodies could not demand it on the strength of a contract. Insurance is not a subsidy or benefit funded from the Consolidated Fund of India.
• ✓ 4. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 lets the Centre or a State require Aadhaar authentication for any subsidy, benefit or service paid for from the Consolidated Fund of India; the Court upheld it.

Remember · Aadhaar judgment (2018): Section 7 (benefits from the Consolidated Fund) upheld; Aadhaar use under private contracts struck down; authentication records kept for six months at most.

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Answer: (d) Right to Equality

Article 17, which abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice in any form, sits in the group headed 'Right to Equality' (Articles 14 to 18) in Part III of the Constitution. Untouchability is treated as a denial of equal status, so it is dealt with alongside equality before law and the ban on caste discrimination.

• ✓ (d) Part III places Article 17 (Abolition of Untouchability) under the heading 'Right to Equality', together with Articles 14, 15, 16 and 18.
• ✗ (a) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23 and 24) covers trafficking, forced labour (begar) and hazardous child labour, not untouchability.
• ✗ (b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19 to 22) covers freedoms such as speech, assembly and movement and protection of life and personal liberty.

Remember · Right to Equality = Articles 14–18: equality before law, no discrimination, equal opportunity in public jobs, abolition of untouchability (Art 17), abolition of titles (Art 18).

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Answer: (b) a Directive Principle of State Policy

Article 50, in Part IV (Directive Principles of State Policy), asks the State to work towards keeping the judiciary apart from the executive in its public services. It is a directive to the State, not a Preamble ideal, a Schedule entry or a mere convention.

• ✓ (b) Article 50 ('Separation of judiciary from executive') is one of the Directive Principles in Part IV of the Constitution.
• ✗ (a) The Preamble speaks of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity; it does not mention separating the judiciary from the executive.
• ✗ (d) The separation is not left to convention; the Constitution itself states it in Article 50, although, being a Directive Principle, it cannot be enforced in court.

Remember · Article 50, a Directive Principle in Part IV, enjoins separation of the judiciary from the executive; like other DPSPs it is not enforceable in court.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948) covers dignity and brotherhood, social and economic rights, and the individual's duties to the community. These ideas appear in the Preamble, the Directive Principles and the Fundamental Duties respectively, not only in Part III.

• ✓ 1. UDHR Article 1 speaks of equal dignity and a spirit of brotherhood; the Preamble promises justice, liberty and equality and a fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual.
• ✓ 2. UDHR Article 23 gives the right to work and to equal pay for equal work; Directive Principles such as Article 39(d) (equal pay for men and women) and the right to work and education carry the same social and economic rights.
• ✓ 3. UDHR Article 29 says everyone has duties to the community; Part IVA (Article 51A) lists citizens' duties, such as promoting the spirit of common brotherhood.

Remember · UDHR (10 December 1948) echoes across the Constitution: Fundamental Rights (civil-political), DPSP (socio-economic rights), Preamble (dignity, fraternity) and Fundamental Duties (duties to community, UDHR Art 29).

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Answer: (a) Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) set out the welfare goals the State must pursue. Article 38, for instance, asks the State to build a social order in which social, economic and political justice shapes national life, with the people's welfare as the aim; that is the essence of a welfare state.

• ✓ (a) Part IV lists positive duties of the State, such as promoting people's welfare, raising the standard of living and distributing resources equitably; together they describe a welfare state.
• ✗ (c) The Preamble states the objectives of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, but the concrete welfare programme is laid down in the Directive Principles.
• ✗ (b) Fundamental Rights mainly restrain the State to protect individual liberty; they do not set out the State's welfare obligations.

Remember · Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) embody the welfare state; Article 38: State to promote welfare of the people through social, economic and political justice. Not enforceable in courts.

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Answer: (d) 2 and 3 only

Part IV contains the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 37 says they cannot be enforced by any court, yet they are fundamental in governance and the State must apply them in making laws.

• ✗ 1. The Directive Principles are non-justiciable: a citizen cannot go to court to compel the government to implement them.
• ✓ 2. Article 37 expressly states that the provisions of Part IV shall not be enforceable by any court.
• ✓ 3. The same Article makes it the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws, so they are meant to guide legislation.

Remember · Article 37: DPSPs (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are not enforceable by courts but are fundamental in governance; the State must apply them in law-making.

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