Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties

Answer: (c) Article 21

The Supreme Court held in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (24 August 2017) that the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. It also forms part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.

• ✓ (c) Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The nine-judge bench read privacy into this right, overruling earlier decisions (M.P. Sharma and Kharak Singh) to the extent they denied it.
• ✗ (a) Article 15 is the equality guarantee against discrimination by the State on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or birthplace. Privacy is not derived from it.
• ✗ (b) Article 19 protects freedoms such as speech and movement. The Court said privacy also draws on the Part III freedoms, but its main anchor is Article 21, which is the answer sought.
• ✗ (d) Article 29 protects the interests of minorities in their language, script and culture; it has nothing to do with privacy.

Remember · Right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 (Puttaswamy, 2017), and is subject to reasonable restrictions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 1 is wrong because a person in judicial custody is kept in prison (jail) on the Magistrate's order, while a police-station lock-up is police custody. Statement 2 is the one UPSC treats as correct: a person in judicial custody is under the court's control, so the police need the court's approval to question him.

• ✗ 1. The law separates the two: detention is either in a police station under police custody, or in prison under judicial custody. Judicial custody is therefore not a lock-up in a police station.
• ✓ 2. Police custody is granted by the Magistrate only for a limited period. Once the accused is remanded to judicial custody, he is in prison under the court's control, and the MHA Model Prison Manual allows only police officers authorised by the Judge or Magistrate to interrogate an undertrial prisoner there.
• • Since then The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 167) has since been replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the same remand rules appear in Section 187.

Remember · Police custody means the police station; judicial custody means prison under the Magistrate's order. Questioning in judicial custody needs the court's approval.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Article 14

Article 14, the guarantee of equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, is violated by a law that gives officials unguided and uncontrolled discretion. Such a power can be used arbitrarily, and the Supreme Court has held that arbitrariness and equality cannot go together.

• ✓ (a) With no guidelines to control the discretion, the authority can treat similar persons differently at will. The Supreme Court has held that a statute vesting unguided and unrestricted power in an authority is vitiated by discrimination, and so violates Article 14.
• ✗ (b) Article 28 is about religious instruction and worship in educational institutions, not administrative discretion.
• ✗ (c) Article 32 gives the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcing Fundamental Rights. It is a remedy, not a right that such a law would breach.
• ✗ (d) Article 44 is a Directive Principle on a uniform civil code, which is not enforceable in court and is unrelated to discretionary powers.

Remember · Arbitrary or unguided discretion in a law offends Article 14: equality is the enemy of arbitrariness.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) the Directive Principles of State Policy

Concentration of wealth violates the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 39(c) directs the State to steer the economy so that wealth and the means of production do not pile up in a few hands to the public's harm.

• ✗ (a) The Right to Equality (Articles 14-18) covers equality before law, non-discrimination and equal opportunity in public employment; it does not deal with how wealth is distributed.
• ✓ (b) Article 39(c), a Directive Principle, directs the State to see that the working of the economy does not gather wealth and the means of production into a few hands to the common detriment.
• ✗ (c) The Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22) protects freedoms such as speech, movement and profession; it says nothing about limiting concentration of wealth.
• ✗ (d) 'Welfare' is a general goal, not a specific constitutional provision; the specific direction on wealth is Article 39(c).

Remember · Article 39(c), a Directive Principle: the State must prevent wealth and the means of production from concentrating in a few hands, to the common detriment.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Legal right available to any person

The Right to Property is an ordinary legal (constitutional) right under Article 300A, and it is available to any person, not only citizens. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed it from the list of Fundamental Rights.

• ✗ (a) It is a legal right, but Article 300A begins 'No person', so it protects everyone, citizen or not.
• ✓ (b) Article 300A says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. It is a right recognised by the Constitution, but it is not a Fundamental Right.
• ✗ (c) The 44th Amendment (1978) removed the right to property from the list of Fundamental Rights, so it is no longer one.
• ✗ (d) It is not a Fundamental Right, but it is still a right: Article 300A gives it constitutional protection against deprivation without authority of law.

Remember · Right to Property: no longer a Fundamental Right after the 44th Amendment (1978); now a legal right under Article 300A ('No person...'), available to every person.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are wrong, so the answer is 1, 2 and 3. The awards are not 'titles' (they cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to the name), the Padma Awards were interrupted twice (1978-79 and 1993-97), and Bharat Ratna is limited to three a year, not five.

• ✗ 1. Article 18(1) bars the State from conferring titles. The Ministry of Home Affairs states that the Padma award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the awardee's name; Bharat Ratna is treated the same way.
• ✗ 2. The Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 but were interrupted in 1978-79 and again from 1993 to 1997, so they were suspended twice, not once.
• ✗ 3. The number of Bharat Ratna awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year, not five.

Remember · Bharat Ratna: maximum three a year. Padma Awards (1954) were interrupted in 1978-79 and 1993-97. Neither is a 'title' under Article 18(1); neither may be a name prefix or suffix.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error