Directive Principles on State Policy

SUBMITTED TO
Dr.Avinash Samal

SUBMITTED BY
Shivanshu Pandey
Section-A
Semester-III
Submitted on

Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur

Declaration

I hereby declare that this project Directive Principles of state policy which is submitted
to HidayatullahNational LawUiniversity,Raipur is a record of an original work done by me
under the guidance of Dr. Avinash Samal,faculty of Indian Polity, Hidayatullah National Law
University, Raipur and this project work has not performed the basis for the award of any Degree
or diploma fellowship and similar project if any.

Shivanshu Pandey
Section-A
Semester-III
Roll no-154

Acknowledgements

I feel highly elated to work on the topic Directive principal of state policy.I expresses
my deepest regard and gratitude for our Faculty of Political Science. Her consistent supervision,
constant inspiration and invaluable guidance have been of immense help in understanding and
carrying out the importance of the project report.
I also want to thank the University for providing free and unlimited use of internet and the well
stocked library which played a very important role in completion of this project. I want to thank
the Respected Vice Chancellor of the University for giving us the opportunity of being a part of
this institution.

Contents

Introduction
.

The Directive Principles of State Policy are guidelines/principles given to the central and
state governments of India, to be kept in mind while framing laws and policies. These provisions,
contained in Part IV of the Constitution of India, are not enforceable by any court, but the
principles laid down therein are considered fundamental in the governance of the country,
making it the duty of the State1 to apply these principles in making laws to establish a just
society in the country. The principles have been inspired by the Directive Principles given in the
Constitution of Ireland and also by the principles of Gandhism and relate to social
justice, economic welfare, foreign policy, and legal and administrative matters.
Directive Principles are classified under the following categories: Gandhian, economic and
socialistic, political and administrative, justice and legal, environmental, protection of
monuments and peace and security

1The term "State" includes all authorities within the territory of India. It includes the Government of India
the Parliament of India, the Government and legislature of the states of India. It also includes all local or other
authorities such as Municipal Corporations, Municipal Boards, District Boards, Panchayats etc. To avoid
confusion with the term states and territories of India, State (encompassing all the authorities in India) has been
capitalized and the term state is in lowercase.

Objective

To study about history of Directives principles of state policy in context to Indian

Constitution.

Top study about the distinction between fundamental rights and DPSP.

To study the reason of non enforceability of DPSP.

To study why DPSP is not guaranteed right.

To study about implementation of DPSP in India.

Article 40.
Article 44.
Article 48 and49.

To analyze the link between welfare notion and DPSP.

Research and Methodology

This research is descriptive and analytical in nature. The project has been made with the help of
secondary sources of data. Secondary as well as electronic sources of data have been used to a
large extent to make up this research methodology.
The secondary sources which have been used to give this project a firm structure are various
books, dictionaries, and websites.
Chapter-1

The concept of Directive Principles of State Policy was borrowed from the Irish Constitution.
The makers of the Constitution of India were influenced by the Irish nationalist movement.
Hence, the Directive Principles of the Indian constitution have been greatly influenced by
the Directive Principles of State Policy.2
The idea of such policies "can be traced to the Declaration of the Rights of Man proclaimed
by Revolutionary France and the Declaration of Independence by the American Colonies." 3 The
Indian constitution was also influenced by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
The fundamental rights and the directive principles of state policy are of common origin. The
Nehru Report of 1928 had contained a Swaraj Constitution of India which incorporated some
fundamental rights. These also included some rights as right to education. The directive
principles ensure that the State4shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by promoting a
social order in which social, economic and political justice is informed in all institutions of life.
Also, the State shall work towards reducing economic inequality as well as inequalities in status
and opportunities, not only among individuals, but also among groups of people residing in
different areas or engaged in different vocations. 5] The State shall aim for securing right to an
adequate means of livelihood for all citizens, both men and women as well as equal pay for equal
work for both men and women. The State should work to prevent concentration of wealth and
means of production in a few hands, and try to ensure that ownership and control of the material
2

Tayal, B.B. & Jacob, A. (2005), Indian History, World Developments and Civics, pg. A-39

Pylee, M.V. (1999). India's Constitution. New Delhi: S. Chand and Company. ISBN 81-219-1907-X

4 The term "State" includes all authorities within the territory of India. It includes theGovernment of India,
the Parliament of India, the Government and legislature of the states of India. It also includes all local or other
authorities such as Municipal Corporations, Municipal Boards, District Boards, Panchayats etc. To avoid
confusion with the term states and territories of India, State (encompassing all the authorities in India) has been
capitalized and the term state is in lowercase.

5 Constitution of India-Part IV Article 38 Directive Principles of State Policy. Constitution of India-Part IV

Article 38 Directive Principles of State Policy

resources is distributed to best serve the common good. Child abuse and exploitation of works
should be prevented. Children should be allowed to develop in a healthy manner and should be
protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. 6The State shall
provide free legal aid to ensure that equal opportunities for securing justice is ensured to all, and
is not denied by reason of economic or other disabilities. 7 The State shall also work for
organization of village panchayats and help enable them to function as units of self-government.
The State shall Endeavour to provide the right to work, to education and to public assistance in
cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, within the limits of economic
capacity8 as well as provide for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.9

DPSP And Fundamental Rights

However, during the drafting of the constitution, the following questions needed answers before
a chapter was to be added to the constitution:
What rights should be fundamental? The question was if the right to life, liberty and property
were fundamental, then what about employment and education? Are they going to be
individualistic focused? Are they going to be justifiable or not justifiable? To what extent, the
state of India is capable to provide justification to those rights?
It was almost agreeable that at that point of time, it was not the capability of the Indian State to
guarantee right to employment and education to all. This means that it was not the lack of will
but was the lack of resources that the state could not guarantee of kinds of rights. The Sapru
Report of 1945 divided the fundamental rights into two parts justifiable right and non justifiable
rights.
6 Constitution of India-Part IV Article 39 Directive Principles of State Policy
7 Constitution of India-Part IV Article 39A Directive Principles of State Policy.
8 Constitution of India-Part IV Article 41 Directive Principles of State Policy.
9 Constitution of India-Part IV Article 42 Directive Principles of State Policy

The Justifiable rights were those enforceable by a court of law. These enforceable rights
were incorporated in the Part III of the Constitution. The non-justifiable rights were incorporated
as a directive to the state to take all measures to provide those rights to individuals without any
guarantee. They were incorporated in the part IV of the constitution and were called Directive
Principles of State Policy.

DPSP in Constitutions

The State, who is directed, is defined in Article 12 (Article 36)

Directive principles are not enforceable by any court. However, Constitution mandates
that it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in the governance. This is
because the implementation of these principles would require resources which the state

may not have. (Article 37)

State has to secure a social order with economic, political and social justice for the
promotion and welfare of the people. The state shall strive to minimize the inequalities of

income, status, facilities, opportunities etc. (Article 38)

Article 39 says that state shall secure
That all citizens (men & women) have equal right to means of livelihood.

That the ownership and control of the material resources are so distributed that
That the operations of the economic system dont result in the concentration of wealth

for some.
There is equal pay for equal work for men and women.
The health and strength of the workers (men & women) and children are not abused.
Children are given opportunities to develop in healthy manner and they are protected
against exploitation.

Equal Justice and Free legal aid (Article 39A) was inserted by Constitution 42nd
amendment act 1976 (w.e.f. 3.1.1977). This article says that 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.

Article 40 says that the state shall take steps to organize Panchayats and endow them
with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as

units of self government

Article 41 says that state shall (within its limits of economic capacity & development)
will make effective provisions for securing right to work, education etc. and to Public
Assistance in case of unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement or any other case
of undeserved want.

Article 42 says that state shall make provisions for securing just and humane
conditions for work and for maternity relief

Article 43 says that the state will Endeavour to secure by suitable legislations or
economic organizations or in 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 & social cultural opportunities and in particular promote cottage

industries on an individual or cooperative basis in rural areas.

Article 44 says that the State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code

throughout the territory of India.

Article 45 says that State shall Endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from
the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all

children until they complete the age of fourteen years. This article remains substituted by
the 86thamendment act 2002 and it says:
-Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years. The
State shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they
complete the age of six years.

Article 46 says 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.
Article 47 says that 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 endeavor to bring about prohibition of the
consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are

injurious to health.
Article 48 says that the State shall endeavor 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.

Article 48A was added in the constitution by 42ndamendment act 1976. The State shall
endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild

life of the country.

Article 49 says that 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.

Article 50 says that State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in

the public services of the State.

Article 51 says that The State shall endeavor to promote international peace and security,
maintain just and honorable relations between nations, foster respect for international law
and treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another; and
encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration.

Implementation of DPSP

The Government of India and Various state governments have done many efforts to
implement the Directive Principles of State policy and create a welfare state. It may be
stated that the state has not been able to make the country a welfare state in the last 6
decades yet, the pace of the development, when we compare it with the pace of
development in the British Era, is satisfactory. Following are some of the programmes &

legislations which have inspired the state to achieve the objective enshrined in the DPSP:
The efforts of translating the directive principles into reality are first of all evident in the
five year plans. The first five year plan was initiated soon after commencement of the
constitution and the basic objective of the public policy has been promotion of rapid &

balanced economic development.

The objective of generalization of the elementary education was in the development
programmers. And after the 86th amendment act which inserted Article 21A in the
constitution, the state seeks to provide free and compulsory education to all children

between 6-14 years.

A lot of land reform programmers have been launched to lift the social and economic
status of the poor and landless farmers of the country. The Panchayats have been

established in the remotest areas of the country and there is a separate ministry of
Panchayati Raj which seeks to bring back the lost glory of the Panchayats.

The state owned factories, industries and corporations are expanding and more and more
people have been given employment. Various legislations such as The Employees State
Insurance Act, Workmen Compensation Act, The Minimum Wages Act etc. some of the
efforts which try to establish a just order taking guidelines from the DPSP. Government
enacted Equal Remuneration Act in 1976which provides equal pay for equal work for
both men and women.

The government has launched National Social Assistance Programme for the poor and
old age people, which involves Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi
National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension
Scheme (IGNDPS), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) was

introduced in 2005 as NREGA to enforce the directive principle embodied in the article
39 41.To enhance the nutritional level of the children and adolescent girls a lot of
programmes have been launched such as Mid-day meal scheme, ICDS, SABLA ET

In respect to the article 48 application there is mixture of implementation and non

implementation of this article in response. To bring out the justifiability issue of the
DPSP as different from Fundamental rights I found article 48 as most conspicuous in
DPSP. Cattle slaughter in India is a historically taboo subject because of the cow's
traditional status as a respected creature of God in Hinduism. Dairy products are
extensively used in Hindu culture and are one of the most essential nutritional
components of Hindu meals. Article 49 of the Constitution of India mandates the state
to prohibit the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle. On

October 26, 2005, the Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgement upheld the
constitutional validity of anti-cow slaughter laws enacted by different state
governments in India. 24 out of 29 states in India currently have various regulations
prohibiting either the slaughter or sale of cows. Kerala, West Bengal, Arunachal
Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim are the states where
there are no restrictions on cow slaughter.The laws governing cattle slaughter vary
greatly from State to State. The "Preservation,

protection and improvement of stock

and prevention of animal diseases, veterinary training and practice" is Entry 15 of

the State Litst of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, meaning that State
legislatures have exclusive powers to legislate the prevention of slaughter and
preservation of cattle. Some States allow the slaughter of cattle with restrictions like a
"fit-for-slaughter" certificate which may be issued depending on factors like age and
gender of cattle, continued economic viability etc. Others completely ban cattle
slaughter, while there is no restriction in a few states. Prohibition of cow slaughter is
a Directive Principles of State Policy contained in Article 48 of the Constitution. It
reads, "The State shall endeavor to organise 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."

Uniform civil code is the proposal to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures
and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set governing
every citizen. These laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage,
divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. Article 44 of the Directive Principles
in India sets its implementation as duty of the State. Goa has a common family law
.thus being the only Indian state to have a uniform civil code. The Special Marriage
Act, 1954 permits any citizen to have a civil marriage outside the realm of any specific
religious personal law.

Effect of 42nd Amendment on DPSP

The Forty-second Amendment, which came into force in January 1977, attempted to raise the
status of the Directive Principles by stating that no law implementing any of the Directive
Principles could be declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated any of the
Fundamental Rights. The amendment simultaneously stated that laws prohibiting "antinational
activities" or the formation of "antinational associations" could not be invalidated because they
infringed on any of the Fundamental Rights. It added a new section to the constitution on
"Fundamental Duties"10that enjoined citizens "to promote harmony and the spirit of common
brotherhood among all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic and regional or
sectional diversities." However, the amendment reflected a new emphasis in governing circles on
order and discipline to counteract what some leaders had come to perceive as the excessively
freewheeling style of Indian democracy. After the March 1977 general election ended the control
of the Congress (Congress (R) from 1969) over the executive and legislature for the first time
since independence in 1947, the new Janata-dominated Parliament passed the Forty-third
Amendment (1977) and Forty-fourth Amendment (1978). These amendments revoked the Fortysecond Amendment's provision that Directive Principles take precedence over Fundamental
Rights11 and also curbed Parliament's power to legislate against "antinational activities.

10The fundamental duties are given in part IV A of Indian constitution in Article

51A
11The fundamental rights are given in part III of constitution of india from article 12
to 35 .

Conclusion

The Directive Principles commit the State to promote the welfare of the people by affirming
social, economic a d political justice, aswell as to fight economic implemented by the state
inequality. If directive is not obeyed its obedience or implementation cannot be secured through

judicial proceedings. Directive Principles mean that they will not be binding on the State; in any
case, they would not be enforceable in a court of law. It was the intention Assembly of the
Constituent Assembly that in future both legislature and executives should not merely pay lip
service to these principles enacted but they should be made the basis of all executive and
legislative action that may be taken in the matter of governance of the country. The Directive
Principles commit the State to raise the standard of living and improve public health. It should
also organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines by improving
breeds and prohibiting slaughter of cows, calves, and draught cattle. The State must safeguard
the environment and wildlife of the country. The Directive Principles exhort the state to ensure
that citizens have an adequate means of livelihood, that the operation of the economic system
and the ownership and control of the material resources of the country sub serve the common
good, that the health of the workers, including children is not abused the special consideration be
given to pregnant women thus directive principal of state policy is sole of the objective of the
constitution

Reference

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPSP
academia.edu.com
Lucents general knowledge lucent publication Patna
gk today.com/DPSP