Directive Principles of State Policy
The goals in Part IV that governments must aim at but courts cannot enforce: a welfare state on paper, borrowed from abroad.
What the paper can ask
- Part IV; Article 37 makes them non-justiciable but fundamental in governance; the State must apply them in making laws.
- The principles are meant to guide lawmaking and governance, while Fundamental Rights in Part III can be enforced in court.
- Later amendments added new Directive Principles and changed some existing ones, so the list today is longer than the one of 1950.
- Article 31C protects laws giving effect to certain principles from challenge under Articles 14 and 19; an attempt to widen it to all principles was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
Why exams ask
Setters ask the Article range, the country the idea came from, which Article covers panchayats or the civil code, which amendment inserted Article 31C, and the cases on rights versus principles.
The full story
Part IV of the Constitution sets out Directive Principles: instructions to the State on the kind of society to build. Article 37 says they are not enforceable by any court but are fundamental in governing the country. They cover a socialist strand (livelihood, equal pay, health), a Gandhian strand (village panchayats, cottage industries, prohibition) and a liberal strand (uniform civil code, separating judiciary from executive, world peace).
Test yourself
1.The Directive Principles of State Policy are contained in Articles
Correct. Part IV, Articles 36 to 51, lays down the Directive Principles. Article 51A (Part IVA) is the Fundamental Duties article.
Not quite. Part IV, Articles 36 to 51, lays down the Directive Principles. Article 51A (Part IVA) is the Fundamental Duties article. It goes into your error book.
2.Which Directive Principle directs the State to organise village panchayats?
Correct. Article 40 directs the State to organise village panchayats and endow them with powers of self-government; Part IX gave this constitutional form in 1992.
Not quite. Article 40 directs the State to organise village panchayats and endow them with powers of self-government; Part IX gave this constitutional form in 1992. It goes into your error book.
3.The Indian Constitution borrowed the Directive Principles of State Policy from the constitution of which country?
Correct. The Directive Principles were modelled on the Directive Principles of Social Policy in the Irish Constitution of 1937, which in turn drew on the Spanish constitution.
Not quite. The Directive Principles were modelled on the Directive Principles of Social Policy in the Irish Constitution of 1937, which in turn drew on the Spanish constitution. It goes into your error book.