Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties of India

About Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties of India in brief

The Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties are sections of the Constitution of India. They prescribe the fundamental obligations of the states to its citizens and the duties and the rights of the citizens to the State. These sections comprise a constitutional bill of rights for government policy-making and the behaviour and conduct of citizens. The Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles had their origins in the Indian independence movement, which strove to achieve the values of liberty and social welfare as the goals of an independent Indian state. The development of constitutional rights in India was inspired by historical documents such as England’s Bill of Rights, the United States Bill of rights and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man. The demand for civil liberties formed an important part of the Indian Independence movement, with one of the objectives being to end discrimination between the British rulers and their Indian subjects. The demands articulated in these resolutions included granting to Indians the rights to equality before the law, free speech, trial by juries composed at least half of Indian members, political power, and equal terms for bearing arms as British citizens. In 1927, the INC resolved to set up a committee to draft a \”Swaraj Constitution\” for India based on a declaration of rights that would provide safeguards against oppression. The 11-member committee, led by Motilal Nehru, was constituted in 1928. Its report made a number of recommendations, including proposing guaranteed fundamental rights to all Indians. These rights resembled those of the American Constitution and those adopted by post-war European countries, and several of them were adopted from the 1925 Bill.

The final phase of the Independence movement saw a reiteration of the socialist principles, with an increased focus on minority rights, which had become an issue of political concern by the Sapru Report in 1945. The report, apart from stressing on protecting rights of minorities, also sought to prescribe a standard of conduct for the conduct of legislatures, courts and the government. According to the Cabinet Mission to India, the Constituent Assembly of India was indirectly elected to advise it on an Advisory Committee on the Mission. The Mission plan was to have the Assembly draft a Constitution for the transfer of power from the British Raj to India. The Constituents Assembly completed its proceedings in December 1946 and completed drafting the Constitution by November 1949. The mission plan was an indirect advisory committee on the nature of the Mission, with the aim of putting an end to exploitation, providing social security and implementing land reforms. It was also intended to have an advisory committee to advise the Cabinet on an indirectly elected committee on how to implement the Mission plan. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the British government decided to transfer power to the Indian National Congress, which was directly elected by the British Princely states. This led to the creation of the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha was the first parliament to be directly elected, composed of elected representatives from British and Indian provinces, and began its proceedings from 1946 to 1949. In 1949, it was elected indirectly by the Princely States, and the first session was held from November to December.