Why are rights important?
A right is a claim that people make, that society accepts, and that the law protects. Rights let each person live with dignity and grow to their full ability.
A bill of rights is a list of rights written into the Constitution. It protects people from others, and even from the government. In India, the Constitution calls the most basic ones fundamental rights: they are special because the government cannot take them away by an ordinary law, and courts protect them. Ordinary legal rights, by contrast, can be changed by an ordinary law.
Fundamental rights are not absolute: the government can put reasonable restrictions on them, for example for public order or security.
The six fundamental rights
- Right to Equality: everyone is equal before the law; no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, sex or place of birth; equal chance in government jobs; untouchability is abolished; titles are abolished. Reservation for weaker groups is allowed as a way to reach real equality.
- Right to Freedom: freedom of speech, to meet peacefully, to form groups, to move and live anywhere in India, and to do any work. Also protection of life and personal liberty (Article 21), which courts have widened to include a life with dignity, the right to education (6 to 14 years), and protection from unfair arrest.
- Right against Exploitation: no human trafficking, no forced or bonded labour, no child labour in dangerous work (under 14).
- Right to Freedom of Religion: each person may follow, practise and spread their religion. The state has no official religion.
- Cultural and Educational Rights: minorities (religious or language) can protect their culture and set up their own schools and colleges.
- Right to Constitutional Remedies: the right to go to court to get the other rights back (Articles 32 and 226).
The right to property was a fundamental right until 1978 (44th Amendment). It is now only a legal right.
Constitutional remedies and writs
A right is only useful if you can enforce it. Dr Ambedkar called the right to constitutional remedies the heart and soul of the Constitution. A person can go straight to the Supreme Court or a High Court, which can issue writs (special court orders):
- Habeas corpus: bring an arrested person before the court to check the arrest is lawful.
- Mandamus: order an official to do a duty they are not doing.
- Prohibition: a higher court stops a lower court from going beyond its powers.
- Quo warranto: ask a person by what right they hold a public office.
- Certiorari: a higher court moves a case from a lower court to itself.
Bodies like the National Human Rights Commission (1993) also look into rights violations.
Directive Principles of State Policy
Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) are goals and guidelines for the government. They are not justiciable: a court cannot force the government to follow them. But they are 'fundamental in governing the country'.
- Goals: welfare of the people, social and economic justice, less inequality.
- Policies: a living wage and decent working conditions, equal pay for equal work for men and women, free legal aid, village panchayats, a uniform civil code, protection of the environment, forests and wildlife, protection of cows and farm animals.
Many laws came from them: the Right to Education, panchayat reform, the MGNREGA job scheme and the midday meal. Fundamental Duties (added in 1976) list duties of citizens, such as respecting the Constitution and protecting the environment. They too are not enforced by courts.
How fundamental rights and directive principles are linked
Fundamental rights protect the individual and limit what the government can do. Directive Principles ask the government to do things for society. Rights are enforced by courts; Directive Principles are not.
Sometimes they clashed. To carry out land reform (a Directive Principle goal), governments limited the right to property, and cases went to court. Finally the right to property was removed from the list of fundamental rights in 1978. In the Minerva Mills case (1980) the Supreme Court said the Constitution rests on a balance between the two. Today courts read them together: Directive Principles help explain what rights mean (for example, education became a right in 2002).
Try it: rights around you
Look through one day's newspaper or news app. Find three stories about rights: for example a child labour rescue, a protest, or a school admission. For each, write which fundamental right or Directive Principle is involved, and whether a court could enforce it. Then play the sorting game in the last 3D step and see your score.
Key formulas and definitions
- Right = claim + accepted by society + protected by law
- Six fundamental rights: Equality, Freedom, Against exploitation, Religion, Cultural and educational, Constitutional remedies
- Article 32: go to the Supreme Court; Article 226: go to a High Court
- Five writs: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto, certiorari
- Fundamental rights = justiciable (court can enforce); DPSP = not justiciable
- Right to property: removed from fundamental rights in 1978 (44th Amendment)
Worked examples
1. The police arrest a man and do not produce him before a magistrate within 24 hours. What can his family do?
They can ask the High Court or Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The court will order the police to bring him and check whether the arrest is lawful.
2. A state makes a law that only people of one religion can get a government job. Which right does it break?
The Right to Equality: equal opportunity in public employment and no discrimination on grounds of religion. A court can cancel the law.
3. A worker says the government is not paying a living wage in her state. Can she go to court under DPSP?
No. A living wage is a Directive Principle, which is not justiciable. She can press the government through elections, protests or petitions. But if a specific labour law exists, she can use that law.
4. Why was the right to property removed from fundamental rights?
It kept blocking land reforms that aimed to give land to the landless. After many court cases, the 44th Amendment (1978) made it only a legal right (Article 300A).
Common mistakes
- Counting seven fundamental rights. Since 1978 there are six; property is now a legal right.
- Thinking Directive Principles can be enforced in court. They cannot.
- Thinking fundamental rights are unlimited. The government can put reasonable restrictions on them.
- Mixing up writs: habeas corpus is about unlawful detention; mandamus is an order to do a duty.