---
title: "Directive Principles & Fundamental Duties | Model Diplomat"
description: "Understand Part IV Directive Principles (Arts 36-51) and Part IVA Fundamental Duties (Art 51A): their classification, justiciability and the FR-DPSP"
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/upsc-indian-polity-directive-principles-fundamental-duties"
---

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Directive Principles & Fundamental Duties

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# Directive Principles & Fundamental Duties

Part IV (DPSPs, Arts 36-51) and Part IVA (Fundamental Duties, Art 51A): classification, justiciability, FR-DPSP conflict and the constitutional balance.

## The constitutional design of Part IV

The Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs) occupy **Part IV (Articles 36-51)** of the Constitution and were borrowed from the **Irish Constitution of 1937**, which had in turn drawn on the Spanish Republican Constitution. The Drafting Committee, under **Dr. B.R. Ambedkar**, conceived them as 'instruments of instructions' to the State - the same phrase used in the Government of India Act, 1935. **Article 37** is the operative clause: the Directives are **not enforceable by any court**, yet they are 'fundamental in the governance of the country' and it is the duty of the State to apply them in making laws. Ambedkar, in the Constituent Assembly on 19 November 1948, called them a 'novel feature' that would compel every government, whatever its party, to answer for them at the polls.

## A working classification

The DPSPs are conventionally grouped into three strands.

- **Socialistic principles:** Article 38 (welfare State, minimising inequalities of income and status - the second clause was inserted by the 44th Amendment, 1978); Article 39 (adequate means of livelihood, equitable distribution of material resources, equal pay for equal work, protection of children); Article 39A (free legal aid, added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976); Articles 41, 42, 43, 43A (right to work, just conditions, living wage, worker participation).
- **Gandhian principles:** Article 40 (village panchayats); Article 43 (cottage industries); Article 46 (promotion of SC/ST and weaker sections); Article 47 (prohibition of intoxicating drinks); Article 48 (organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry, cow-slaughter ban).
- **Liberal-intellectual principles:** Article 44 (Uniform Civil Code); Article 45 (early childhood care, recast by the 86th Amendment, 2002); Article 48A (environment and forests, added by the 42nd Amendment); Article 50 (separation of judiciary from executive); Article 51 (promotion of international peace).

## Amendments that deepened Part IV

The **42nd Amendment, 1976** added Articles 39A, 43A and 48A and, critically, amended **Article 31C** to give precedence to laws implementing *any* DPSP over Articles 14 and 19. The **44th Amendment, 1978** strengthened Article 38(2). The **86th Amendment, 2002** transformed Article 45 and created **Article 21A** (right to education as a Fundamental Right), illustrating how a Directive (old Article 45) can mature into an enforceable right. Candidates should note that **Article 335** (claims of SC/ST in services), **Article 350A** (mother-tongue instruction) and **Article 351** (development of Hindi) function as directives outside Part IV but echo its spirit. The judiciary has repeatedly read DPSPs into Article 21 - **Unni Krishnan v. State of A.P. (1993)** derived the right to education from Articles 41 and 45 before its codification.

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