CDS (I) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 73 of 120

Correct — B, To provide opportunities for education to one's child between the age of 6 and 14 years. The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 did three connected things: it inserted Article 21A making free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen a fundamental right, it substituted Article 45 so that the State now aims at early childhood care and education below the age of six, and it added a new clause (k) to Article 51A imposing on a parent or guardian the duty to provide opportunities for education to a child or ward between six and fourteen years. That last clause is the eleventh Fundamental Duty and the only one not added in 1976. The other three options are all genuine Fundamental Duties, but every one of them belongs to the original ten inserted by the 42nd Amendment on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee. The question is not asking which items are duties; it is asking which duty arrived with this particular amendment.

• (a)To strive towards excellence in individual and collective activity — A real duty — Article 51A(j) — but part of the original set added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, not by the 86th Amendment.
• (c)To work for the welfare of women and children — Not a Fundamental Duty in this form at all. Article 51A(e) asks citizens to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; the welfare of women and children is a Directive Principle matter, handled in Articles 39 and 42.
• (d)To promote peace and harmony — Close to Article 51A(e), which asks citizens to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood, but that too came in 1976 with the 42nd Amendment.

Part IVA of the Constitution contains a single article, 51A, listing the Fundamental Duties of citizens. Ten duties were inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation; an eleventh was added by the 86th Amendment in 2002. The duties are not directly enforceable by a court, but they are used in interpreting statutes and in reading the scope of fundamental rights.

The item works because all four options sound like duties, and three of them very nearly are. Two anchors settle it quickly. First, the 86th Amendment is the education amendment — everything it did concerns schooling, so the option about education is the one that belongs to it. Second, the eleventh duty is the only one added after 1976, and it is deliberately worded as an obligation on the parent or guardian rather than on the citizen at large. Note the tidy architecture the amendment created: a right for the child under Article 21A, a State obligation under Article 45 for the under-sixes, and a parental duty under Article 51A(k) — the same object approached three ways. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act followed in 2009 and came into force in April 2010.

• The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21A, substituted Article 45 and added Article 51A(k).
• Article 51A(k) places the duty on a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child or ward between six and fourteen years.
• The original ten Fundamental Duties were inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976, on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation.
• Fundamental Duties are not directly enforceable in court, but courts use them when interpreting laws and rights.
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 gave Article 21A its operating law.

• Answering the question 'which of these is a Fundamental Duty' when the question asks which one this amendment added.
• Attributing the education right to the 93rd Amendment Bill number rather than to the 86th Amendment Act.
• Assuming the welfare of women and children is a duty; the duty is to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

By amendment number, by the odd-one-out among duties, or by asking which article carries a stated obligation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Article 21A of the Constitution of India, inserted by the 86th Amendment, guarantees

  • (a)free legal aid to the poor
  • (b)free and compulsory education to children aged six to fourteen
  • (c)the right to work
  • (d)protection of the environment

  Answer(b) free and compulsory education to children aged six to fourteen — the right the same amendment supported with a parental duty under Article 51A(k).

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The original set of Fundamental Duties was added to the Constitution of India by which one of the following amendments?

  • (a)The 42nd Amendment, 1976
  • (b)The 44th Amendment, 1978
  • (c)The 73rd Amendment, 1992
  • (d)The 86th Amendment, 2002

  Answer(a) The 42nd Amendment, 1976 — it inserted Part IVA and Article 51A with ten duties; the eleventh came in 2002.