Directive Principles of State Policy

(Part IV – Art 36 – 51)

Directive Principles of State Policy

Directive Principles of State Policy

Influences w.r.t. Part IV

• Irish Constitution
• GOI Act 1935 – Instruments of Instructions
• Sapru committee
• Socialistic, Gandhian & Liberal principles

Definition of State

• Same as under Art 12 of Part III

Article 37

The provisions contained in this Part shall not be
enforceable by any court, but the principles therein laid
down are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of
the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply
these principles in making laws

Classification of Principles

• Art 38
• Art 39
• Art 39A
• Art 41
• Art 42
• Art 43
• Art 43A
• Art 43B
• Art 46
• Art 47
• Art 48
  GANDHIAN• Art 40
• Art 43
• Art 46
• Art 47
• Art 48
  LIBERAL• Art 44
• Art 45
• Art 48A
• Art 49
• Art 50
• Art 51

Article 38 – State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people

(1) The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the
people by securing and protecting as effectively as it
may a social order in which justice, social, economic
and political, shall inform all the institutions of the
national life.
(2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the
inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate
inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not
only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of
people residing in different areas or engaged in
different vocations.

Article 39

Certain principles of policy to be followed
by the State

The State shall, in particular direct its policy towards securing—

(a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the
right to an adequate means of livelihood;
(b) that the ownership and control of the material
resources of the community are so distributed as
best to sub serve the common good;
(c) that the operation of the economic system does not
result in the concentration of wealth and means of
production to the common detriment;

(d) that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and
women;
(e) that the health and strength of workers, men and
women, and the tender age of children are not abused and
that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter
avocations unsuited to their age or strength;
(f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to
develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom
and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected
against exploitation and against moral and material
abandonment.

Art 39A – Equal justice and free legal aid

The State shall secure that the operation of the
legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal
opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free
legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in
any other way, to ensure that opportunities for
securing justice are not denied to any citizen by
reason of economic or other disabilities.

Art 40 – Organisation of village panchayats

The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats
and endow them with such powers and authority as may
be necessary to enable them to function as units of selfgovernment.

Art 41 – Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases

The State shall, within the limits of its economic
capacity and development, make effective
provision for securing the right to work, to
education and to public assistance in cases of
unemployment, old age, sickness and
disablement, and in other cases of undeserved
want.

Art 42 – Provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief

The State shall make provision for securing just and
humane conditions of work and for maternity relief

Art 43 – Living wage, etc., for workers

The State shall endeavour to secure, by
suitable legislation or economic organisation
or in any other way, to all workers,
agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a
living wage, conditions of work ensuring a
decent standard of life and full enjoyment of
leisure and social and cultural opportunities
and, in particular, the State shall endeavour
to promote cottage industries on an individual
or co-operative basis in rural areas.

Art 43A – Participation of workers in management of industries

The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation or in
any other way, to secure the participation of workers in
the management of undertakings, establishments or
other organisations engaged in any industry.

Art 43B – Promotion of co-operative societies

The State shall endeavour to promote voluntary
formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control
and professional management of cooperative societies.

Art 44 – Uniform civil code for the citizens

The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a
uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.

Present Situation

• Hindus:
  -Hindu Marriage Act 1955
  -Hindu Succession Act 1956
  -Hindu Minority & Guardianship Act 1956
  -Hindu Adoption & Maintenance Act 1956
• Muslims:
  -Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937
  -Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939
• Christians:
  -Indian Christian Marriage Act 1872
• Parsis:
  -Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1936
• Sikhs:
• -Anand Marriage Act 1909

Need for UCC

Foster national and social integration

• Ensure equal rights for marginalized
• Securing gender equality
• Prevents sub-national identities
• Easing the task of judiciary

Challenges

• Diversity
• Guarantee & promise of Art 25 & 26
• Framing a UCC
• May alienate minority communities

Way Forward

• Weed out practices violating dignity of individuals
• Raise awareness
• Promote Special Marriage Act
• Strive for an optional UCC

Art 45 – Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years

The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care
and education for all children until they complete the age
of six years.

Art 46 – Promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs & STs and other weaker sections

The State shall promote with special care the
educational and economic interests of the weaker
sections of the people, and, in particular, of the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and
shall protect them from social injustice and all
forms of exploitation.

Art 47 – Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health

The State shall regard the raising of the level of
nutrition and the standard of living of its people and
the improvement of public health as among its
primary duties and, in particular, the State shall
endeavour to bring about prohibition of the
consumption except for medicinal purposes of
intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious
to health.

Art 48 – Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry

The State shall endeavour to organize agriculture
and animal husbandry on modern and scientific
lines and shall, in particular, take steps for
preserving and improving the breeds, and
prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and
other milch and draught cattle

Art 48A – Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wildlife

The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife
of the country

Art 49 – Protection of monuments and places and objects of national importance

It shall be the obligation of the State to protect every
monument or place or object of artistic or historic interest,
declared by or under law made by Parliament to be of
national importance, from spoliation, disfigurement,
destruction, removal, disposal or export, as the case may
be

Art 50 – Separation of judiciary from executive

The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from
the executive in the public services of the State.

Promotion of international peace and security

The State shall endeavour to—
(a) promote international peace and security;
(b) maintain just and honourable relations between nations;
(c) foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in
the dealings of organised peoples with one another; and
(d) encourage settlement of international disputes by
arbitration

Amendments to DPSP

• 42nd Amendment Act 1976
• 44th Amendment Act 1978
• 86th Amendment Act 2002
• 97th Amendment Act 2011
  
  42nd Amendment Act 1976
  -Art 39: To secure opportunities for healthy development of children.
  -Art 39A: To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor
  -Art 43A: To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of
  industries
  -Art 48A: To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife
  44th Amendment Act 1978
  -Art 38: State to minimise inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities
  86th Amendment Act 2002
  -Art 45: changed the subject-matter
  97th Amendment Act 2011
  -Art 43B: state to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic
  control and professional management of co-operative societies

Nature of DPSP

Fundamental principles
Nonjusticiable
Non-selfexecutory

Fundamental Rights vs. DPSP

• No inherent conflict between III & IV; they supplement
  and complement each other.
  Part III & Part IV are Conscience of the Constitution

Criticism of DPSP

• Non-justiciable
• Ambiguity w.r.t. nature of duty
• Lack of clarity
• Unsystematic enumeration & lot of repetitions
• Combines modern rational principles with those
  based on purely sentiments
• Some recommendations are concrete, others
  abstract.