Directive Principles of State Policy (Articles 36–51): Notes and PYQs

The correct answer is Directive Principles of State Policy. Part IV of the Constitution, Articles 36 to 51, contains the Directive Principles: the goals the State should pursue in making laws and policies, such as a living wage, free legal aid, village panchayats and a Uniform Civil Code. Article 37 makes them non-justiciable but "fundamental in the governance of the country".

Each wrong option belongs to a different Part. The Fundamental Rights are in Part III, Articles 12 to 35. The Fundamental Duties are in Part IVA, a single Article, 51A, added in 1976. "The Union" is Part V, which begins at Article 52 with the President and covers the Union executive, Parliament and the Supreme Court. Learning the four Parts in a row makes this kind of question easy: Part III rights (12–35), Part IV directives (36–51), Part IVA duties (51A), and Part V the Union (from 52).

The correct answer is Article 37. It says two things at once: the provisions of Part IV "shall not be enforceable by any court", but the principles laid down in it are "nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws". That is why a citizen cannot sue the government for failing to bring in, say, a Uniform Civil Code, yet courts often rely on the Directive Principles when they judge whether a law is reasonable.

The other options are traps built from nearby numbers. Article 40 is itself a Directive Principle, on organising village panchayats, but it does not state the nature of the whole chapter. Article 30 gives minorities the right to run educational institutions, and Article 35 deals with Parliament's power to make laws giving effect to certain Fundamental Rights; both are in Part III. When a question quotes the words "fundamental in the governance of the country", the answer is always Article 37.

The correct answer is Article 39(d). Article 39 lists several principles the State should direct its policy towards, and clause (d) asks it to secure equal pay for equal work for both men and women. Parliament gave effect to it through the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, whose provisions are now part of the Code on Wages, 2019, and the Supreme Court has also treated equal pay for equal work as flowing from Articles 14 and 16.

The other options are real Directive Principles on related subjects, which is why they mislead. Article 39(a) is about an adequate means of livelihood for all citizens, men and women equally. Article 42 asks for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief. Article 43 is about a living wage and a decent standard of life for workers. A good way to separate them: 39(a) livelihood, 39(d) equal pay, 42 working conditions and maternity, 43 living wage.

The correct answer is 39A. Article 39A asks the State to ensure that the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity, and in particular to provide free legal aid, so that no citizen is denied justice because of economic or other disabilities. It was added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Parliament gave effect to it through the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, which set up the National Legal Services Authority and legal services bodies in the States and districts.

The other options are the three other Articles with a letter that the 42nd Amendment made famous, and one that does not belong. Article 43A, also added in 1976, is about workers' participation in the management of industries. Article 48A, again from 1976, is about protecting the environment, forests and wildlife. Article 32A was inserted in 1976 but repealed by the 43rd Amendment in 1977, so it no longer exists. A useful memory line: 39A legal aid, 43A workers, 48A environment, all from 1976.

The correct answer is Organization of village panchayats. Article 40 asks the State to take steps to organise village panchayats and to give them the powers and authority they need to function as units of self-government. It is one of the Gandhian principles, reflecting Gandhi's idea of village self-rule. For decades it remained only a direction, until the 73rd Amendment of 1992 made a three-tier Panchayati Raj system compulsory and added Part IX to the Constitution.

The wrong options borrow from other provisions. Free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen is a Fundamental Right under Article 21A, while Article 45 now covers early childhood care below six. Free housing to the poor is not a specific Directive Principle at all. Free medical aid is not named either; public health and nutrition come under Article 47. Remember the link: Article 40 was the seed, and the 73rd Amendment turned it into the Panchayati Raj institutions we have today.

The correct answer is Participation of workers in the management of industries. The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted Article 43A, which asks the State to take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings and industrial establishments. The same amendment added Article 39A (free legal aid) and Article 48A (environment) and rewrote Article 39(f) on the healthy development of children.

The three other options are Directive Principles that were in the Constitution from the start, in 1950, which is exactly what makes the question hard. Equal pay for equal work for men and women is Article 39(d). The right to work, to education and to public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement is Article 41. A living wage and humane conditions of work are Articles 43 and 42. The quickest check is the letter: the Directive Principles added later carry a letter after the number (39A, 43A, 43B, 48A), while the original ones do not.

The correct answer is Article 43 B. The 97th Amendment Act, 2011 was about co-operative societies, and it touched three Parts of the Constitution. It added "co-operative societies" to the freedom of association in Article 19(1)(c), a Fundamental Right; it inserted Article 43B, a Directive Principle asking the State to promote the voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies; and it added a new Part IXB on co-operative societies.

The other options were all added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, not by the 97th. Article 48A is about protecting the environment, forests and wildlife; Article 39A is about equal justice and free legal aid; and Article 43A is about the participation of workers in the management of industries. So there are two "43" Articles with letters: 43A for workers (1976) and 43B for co-operatives (2011). Keeping these two apart is what the question really tests.

The correct answer is Article 44. It says: "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." A uniform civil code would replace the separate personal laws of different religious communities on marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption with one common law for all citizens. Being a Directive Principle, it cannot be enforced in court, and the Supreme Court has more than once urged the government to act on it. Goa has long had a common civil code, and Uttarakhand passed its own Uniform Civil Code in 2024.

The other options are Directive Principles on different subjects: Article 39 is about livelihood, the distribution of resources and equal pay; Article 40 is about village panchayats; and Article 50 is about separating the judiciary from the executive. Remember too that the Uniform Civil Code is usually classed as a liberal-intellectual principle, not a Gandhian one, a point examiners also test.

The correct answer is Eighty-sixth Amendment Act, 2002. Originally Article 45 asked the State to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they reached fourteen, within ten years. The 86th Amendment moved that promise into the Fundamental Rights as Article 21A, covering children aged six to fourteen, and rewrote Article 45 so that it now asks the State to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete six years. The same amendment added the Fundamental Duty in Article 51A(k), asking parents to educate their children.

The 42nd Amendment (1976) added Articles 39A, 43A and 48A but did not touch Article 45. The 74th Amendment (1992) created the constitutional framework for municipalities. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed the right to property and added Article 38(2). So when a question pairs "below six years" with an amendment, the answer is the 86th; when it pairs "six to fourteen" with a Fundamental Right, the answer is Article 21A.

The correct answer is 44th. The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 added clause (2) to Article 38, which asks the State in particular to strive to minimise inequalities in income, and to endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only among individuals but also among groups of people living in different areas or engaged in different vocations. Clause (1) of Article 38, on securing a social order based on social, economic and political justice, was there from the beginning.

The 42nd Amendment is the tempting wrong answer, because it added several Directive Principles (Articles 39A, 43A and 48A), but not this one. The 52nd Amendment (1985) brought in the anti-defection law through the Tenth Schedule, and the 47th Amendment (1984) added more land reform laws to the Ninth Schedule. Remember the 44th Amendment as the one that undid much of the 42nd: it also removed the right to property and protected Articles 20 and 21 during an emergency.

The correct answer is Article 48A. Added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, it says the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. The same amendment added a matching Fundamental Duty in Article 51A(g), asking every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife. Laws such as the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 give effect to this goal.

The other options are the Articles right next to it. Article 48 asks the State to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern lines and to prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle. Article 47 is about nutrition, public health and the prohibition of intoxicating drinks. Article 49 is about protecting monuments of national importance. Remember the pair: the State's duty to the environment is Article 48A, and the citizen's duty is Article 51A(g).

The correct answer is separation of judiciary from executive. Article 50 says the State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State. Before independence, district magistrates, who were executive officers, also tried criminal cases. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 gave effect to Article 50 by creating separate judicial magistrates, so that the officers who run the administration no longer sit in judgment over the cases it brings.

The other options come from elsewhere in the Constitution. Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies is in Articles 330 and 332. The right to elementary education is a Fundamental Right under Article 21A. The appointment of a Governor by the President is under Article 155. Article 50 sits among the liberal-intellectual Directive Principles, and it is often asked alongside Article 51 on international peace, the last Article of Part IV.

The correct answer is Nehruvian. The Constitution does not classify the Directive Principles, but scholars group them into three categories: Socialist (such as Articles 38, 39, 41, 42 and 43, aimed at a welfare state and economic justice), Gandhian (such as Article 40 on village panchayats, Article 43 on cottage industries, Article 47 on prohibition and Article 48 on protecting cattle) and Liberal-intellectual (such as Article 44 on a Uniform Civil Code, Article 48A on the environment, Article 50 on separating the judiciary and Article 51 on international peace).

There is no "Nehruvian" category, even though Jawaharlal Nehru's ideas of planning and a mixed economy influenced the socialist principles. That is exactly why the option sounds believable. When the options list three of the recognised categories and one name that sounds historical, the odd one out is the answer. A quick check: the three real groups are Socialist, Gandhian and Liberal-intellectual; no category is named after any leader other than Gandhi.

The correct answer is Champakam Dorairajan Case, 1951. In State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan, the Supreme Court struck down a Madras government order that reserved college seats by community. The State defended it as carrying out Article 46, a Directive Principle, but the Court held that the Directive Principles must conform to and run subsidiary to the chapter on Fundamental Rights, so in any conflict the Fundamental Rights prevail. The judgment also led directly to the 1st Amendment of 1951, which added Article 15(4) to permit special provisions for backward classes.

The other cases came later and went further. Golaknath (1967) held that Parliament cannot amend Fundamental Rights at all, even to implement Directive Principles. Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held that Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution but not its basic structure. Minerva Mills (1980) held that the balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles is itself part of the basic structure. Read in order, the four cases show how the Court moved from "rights first" to "rights and directives in balance".

The correct answer is B. R. Ambedkar. Dr Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, described the Directive Principles as a "novel feature" of the Constitution. He also compared them to the Instrument of Instructions that the Government of India Act, 1935 issued to the Governor-General and the Governors, with one difference: under the Constitution the instructions are addressed to the government by the people, not by a colonial power.

Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution and shaped the Preamble, but this description is not his. Dr Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Constituent Assembly. S.N. Mukherjee was the Chief Draftsman of the Constitution in the Assembly, the official who put its provisions into legal language, which makes him a clever distractor. Other famous descriptions are worth pairing with their authors: K.T. Shah called the Directive Principles "a cheque on a bank, payable at the convenience of the bank", and T.T. Krishnamachari called them "a veritable dustbin of sentiments".