Significance of Fundamental Duties
- They help in reminding the citizens of India of their duties towards the society, nation, and other fellow beings.
- They keep the citizens away from anti-national and anti-social activities by warning them.
- They encourage citizens and inspire them to be disciplined and committed.
- The constitutional validity of the law is determined with the help of duties by keeping them in mind while making judgments.
At present how many Fundamental Duties are in the Constitution of India?
Fundamental duties are enshrined in Part IVA of the Indian Constitution under Article 51(A). When the Constitution was drafted, fundamental duties were not part of the Constitution. They were added on the recommendations given by the Swaran Singh Committee. These duties were taken from the Constitution of Russia. 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 added 10 fundamental duties in the Constitution. Later on, with the passing of the 86th Amendment in 2002 one more duty was added to the list which makes them 11 in total. These duties are non-justiciable in nature and no legal sanction can be imposed on their violation. They are confined to Indian citizens only.
As human beings enjoy fundamental rights that are listed in Part-III of the Constitution, similarly fundamental duties are moral obligations of the citizens. Both rights and duties go hand in hand. Moral obligations need to be fulfilled if a citizen wants to enjoy his rights to the fullest.