Directive Principles of State Policy

 The Directive Principles of State Policy are enumerated in Part IV of

the Constitution from Articles 36 to 51.
 The framers of the Constitution borrowed this idea from the Irish
Constitution of 1937, which had copied it from the Spanish
Constitution.
 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar described these principles as ‘novel features’ of
the Indian Constitution.
 Granville Austin has described the Directive Principles and
Fundamental Rights as the ‘Conscience of the Constitution’.

 Features of the Directive Principles:

1. The phrase ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’ denotes the ideals that
the State should keep in mind while formulating policies and
enacting laws. These are the constitutional instructions or
recommendations to the State in legislative, executive, and
administrative matters.

2. The Directive Principles resemble the ‘Instrument of Instructions’

enumerated in the Government of India Act of 1935.

3. The Directive Principles constitute a very comprehensive economic,

social, and political program for a modern democratic State. They
aim at realizing the high ideals of justice, liberty, equality, and
fraternity as outlined in the Preamble to the Constitution.

4. They embody the concept of a ‘welfare state’ and not that of a ‘police
state’, which existed during the colonial era. In brief, they seek to
establish economic and social democracy in the country.

5. The Directive Principles are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they

are not legally enforceable by the courts for their violation. Therefore,
the government (Central, state, and local) cannot be compelled to
implement them. [Nevertheless, the Constitution (Article 37) itself
says.]

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 6. The Directive Principles, though non-justiciable in nature, help the
courts in examining and determining the constitutional validity of a
law. The Supreme Court has ruled many times that in determining the
constitutionality of any law if a court finds that the law in question
seeks to give effect to a Directive Principle, it may consider such law to
be ‘reasonable’ in relation to Article 14 (equality before law) or Article
19 (six freedoms) and thus save such law from unconstitutionality.

 Classification of the DPSP:

 The Constitution does not contain any classification of Directive

Principles. However, on the basis of their content and direction, they
can be classified into three broad categories,
1. socialistic,
2. Gandhian and
3. liberal-intellectual.

1. Socialistic Principles:

- These principles reflect the ideology of socialism. They lay down the
framework of a democratic socialist state, aim at providing social and
economic justice, and set the path towards the welfare state.
 Article 38 - State to secure a social order for the promotion of the
welfare of the people.

 Article 39 - Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State.

To secure…
(a) the right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens;
(b) the equitable distribution of material resources of the
community for the common good;
(c) prevention of concentration of wealth and means of
production;
(d) equal pay for equal work for men and women;
(e) preservation of the health and strength of workers and
children against forcible abuse; and
(f) opportunities for the healthy development of children.

 Article 39 A - To promote equal justice and to provide free legal

aid to the poor.

 Article 41 - To secure the right to work, to education, and to

public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, and
disablement.

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  Article 42 - To make provision for just and humane conditions of
work and maternity relief.

 Article 43 - To secure a living wage, a decent standard of life, and

social and cultural opportunities for all workers.

 Article 43A - To take the participation of workers in the

management of industries.

 Article 47 - To raise the level of nutrition and the standard of

living of people and to improve public health.

2. Gandhian Principles:

- These principles are based on Gandhian ideology. They represent the

program of reconstruction enunciated by Gandhi during the national
movement. In order to fulfill the dreams of Gandhi, some of his ideas
were included as Directive Principles.
-
 Article 40 - To organize village panchayats and endow them with
the necessary powers and authority to enable them to function as
units of self-government.

 Article 43 - To promote cottage industries on an individual or

cooperation basis in rural areas.

 Article 43B - Promotion of cooperative societies (voluntary

formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and
professional management of cooperative societies)

 Article 46 - To promote the educational and economic interests

of SCs, STs, and other weaker sections of society.

 Article 47 - To prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks

and drugs which are injurious to health.

 Article 48 - Organisation of Agriculture and animal husbandry.

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 3. Liberal-Intellectual Principles:

- The principles included in this category represent the ideology of

liberalism. They direct the state:

 Article 44 - To secure for all citizens a uniform civil code

throughout the country.

 Article 45 - To provide early childhood care and education for all

children until they complete the age of six years.

 Article 48A - To protect and improve the environment and to

safeguard forests and wildlife.

 Article 49 - Protection of monuments and places and objects of

national importance.

 Article 50 - Separation of judiciary from the executive

 Article 51 - Promotion of international peace and security

 New DPSPs:

 The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added four new Directive

Principles to the original list.

1. To secure opportunities for the healthy development of children

(Article 39).
2. To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor
(Article 39 A).
3. To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the
management of industries (Article 43 A). 4. To protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife (Article 48 A).

 The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 added one more Directive

Principle, which requires the State,
1. to minimize inequalities in income, status, facilities, and
opportunities (Article 38).

 The 86th Amendment Act of 2002 changed the subject matter of

Article 45 and made elementary education a fundamental right under
Article 21 A.

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 - The amended directive requires the State to provide early childhood
care and education for all children until they complete the age of six
years.

 The 97th Amendment Act of 2011 added a new Directive Principle

relating to cooperative societies. (Article 43B).

 The framers of the Constitution made the Directive Principles non-

justiciable and legally non-enforceable because:
1. The country did not possess sufficient financial resources to
implement them.
2. The presence of vast diversity and backwardness in the country would
stand in the way of their implementation.
3. The newly born independent Indian State with its many preoccupations
might be crushed under the burden unless it was free to decide the
order, the time, the place, and the mode of fulfilling them.
- ‘The Constitution makers, therefore, taking a pragmatic view, refrained
from giving teeth to these principles. They believed more in an awakened
public opinion rather than in court procedures as the ultimate sanction
for the fulfilment of these principles

 Cases related to Directive Principles:

- The justiciability of Fundamental Rights and non-justiciability of

Directive Principles, on the one hand, and the moral obligation of the
State to implement Directive Principles (Article 37) on the other hand
have led to a conflict between the two, since the commencement of the
Constitution.

- In the Champakam Dorairajan case (1951), the Supreme Court ruled

that in case of any conflict between the Fundamental Rights and the
Directive Principles, the former would prevail.

- Supreme Court’s judgment in the Golaknath case (1967), In that

case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Parliament cannot take away
or abridge any of the Fundamental Rights, which are ‘sacrosanct’ in
nature. In other words, the Court held that the Fundamental Rights
cannot be amended for the implementation of the Directive
Principles.

- Supreme Court in the Minerva Mills case (1980), that the Directive
Principles were once again made subordinate to the Fundamental
Rights. But the Fundamental Rights conferred by Article 14 and
Article 19 were accepted as subordinate to the Directive Principles
specified in Article 39 (b) and (c).

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 - In the Minerva Mills case (1980), the Supreme Court also held that
‘the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance
between the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles.

- They together constitute the core of the commitment to social

revolution. They are like two wheels of a chariot, one no less than the
other. To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the
harmony of the Constitution.

 Implementation of Directive Principles:

- Since 1950, the successive governments at the Centre and in the

states have made several laws and formulated various programs for
implementing the Directive Principles.
These are mentioned below:

1. The Planning Commission was established in 1950 to take up the

development of the country in a planned manner. The successive Five-
Year Plans aimed at securing socioeconomic justice and reducing
inequalities of income, status, and opportunities.
- In 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by a new body called
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).

2. Almost all the states have passed land reform laws to bring changes
in the agrarian society and to improve the conditions of the rural
masses.

3. The Minimum Wages Act (1948), the Payment of Wages Act (1936),
the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (1986), the Trade
Unions Act (1926), the Factories Act (1948), the Mines Act (1952),
and so on have been enacted to protect the interests of the labor

4. Various measures have been taken to utilize financial resources for

promoting the common good. These include the nationalization of life
insurance (1956), the nationalization of fourteen leading commercial
banks (1969), the nationalization of general insurance (1971), the
abolition of Privy Purses (1971), and so on.
5. The Legal Services Authorities Act (1987) has established a nationwide
network to provide free and competent legal aid to the poor and to
organize lok adalat for promoting equal justice. Lok Adalat is a
statutory forum for the conciliatory settlement of legal disputes. It has
been given the status of a civil court. Its awards are enforceable,

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 binding on the parties, and final as no appeal lies before any court
against them.

6. Khadi and Village Industries Board, Khadi and Village Industries

Commission, Small-Scale Industries Board, Handloom Board, and so
on have been set up for the development of cottage industries in rural
areas.

7. The Community Development Programme (1952), Hill Area

Development Programme (1960), Drought-Prone Area Programme
(1973), Minimum Needs Programme (1974), Integrated Rural
Development Programme (1978), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (1989),
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (1999), Sampoorna Grameen
Rozgar Yojana (2001), National Rural Employment Guarantee
Programme (2006) and so on have been launched for raising the
standard of living of people.

8. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, of 1972 and the Forest (Conservation)

Act, of 1980, have been enacted to safeguard wildlife and forests
respectively.

9. Agriculture has been modernized by providing improved agricultural

inputs, seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation facilities.

10. Three-tier Panchayati raj system (at the village, block, and zila levels)
has been introduced to translate into reality Gandhiji’s dream of every
village being a republic

 Directives Outside of Part IV:

1. Claims of SCs and STs to Services

2. Instruction in the mother tongue, It shall be the endeavor of every
state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother
tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to
linguistic minority groups (Article 350-A in Part XVII).
3. Development of the Hindi Language, so that it may serve as a
medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of
India (Article 351 in Part XVII).

- The above Directives are also non-justiciable in nature. However,

they are also given equal importance and attention by the judiciary on
the ground that all parts of the constitution must be read together.

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