Fundamental rights and duties

Two sides of a coin

Abstract

The jurisprudence of law is that each right has a relating obligation. Moreover, Rights and Duties are cut out of the same cloth which cannot exist independently. A responsible citizen is a person who plays out his social and moral commitments and his ethical obligations towards the state and their compatriots. Fundamental Duties [1] are nothing but the core values for the citizens of the country to take responsibility and be accountable towards the State. All citizens fulfilling their duties, as led down in the Constitution automatically protect their Fundamental Rights, [2] which are guarded by the Constitution. On the proposals put forward by the Swaran Singh Committee and the controversial Forty-Second Amendment, [3] Fundamental duties were integrated into the Indian Constitution during the period of emergency which tried to aggravate the landmark judgment of the Keshavanand Bharati Case [4] but strengthened by the Apex court in Minerva Mills Case [5]. However regrettably, these essential obligations are not themselves enforceable in courts of law nor is their infringement. Here the question arises: Just because a standard rule is not upheld with sanctions for their noncompliance, will it mean that it has no significance?