CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 66 of 120

Correct — C, To value and preserve a unitary national culture. Article 51A(f) makes it the duty of every citizen to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture. Composite is the operative word, and unitary is close to its opposite: the drafters chose a word that describes a culture assembled out of many strands, not one standard culture the citizen is asked to uphold. The Constitution repeats that choice elsewhere — Article 29 protects the right of any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture to conserve it, and Article 30 gives religious and linguistic minorities the right to run their own educational institutions. A duty to preserve a unitary national culture would cut against both, which is why it is nowhere in Part IVA. The other three options are quotations, near enough, from Article 51A.

• (a)To render national service when called upon to do so — This is genuine. Article 51A(d) makes it a duty to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.
• (b)To renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women — Also genuine, and part of the same clause. Article 51A(e) asks citizens to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood, and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
• (d)To develop the spirit of inquiry and reform — Genuine too. Article 51A(h) sets the duty to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

Part IVA of the Constitution contains a single article, 51A, listing the Fundamental Duties of citizens. It was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, with ten duties lettered (a) to (j); an eleventh, clause (k), requiring a parent or guardian to provide educational opportunities to a child between six and fourteen, was added by the Eighty-sixth Amendment in 2002. The duties are not enforceable by any court on their own, but Parliament may legislate to give effect to them, and the courts use them to read the scope of a fundamental right.

Three of the four options can be recited from the article; the fourth has been altered by a single adjective, which is the standard way this topic is set. The defence is to hold the exact phrasing of the culture duty, because the neighbouring formulations sound alike. Article 51A(f) says composite culture, Article 49 makes it the State's duty — not the citizen's — to protect monuments and places of national importance, and Article 29 protects a section's own distinct culture. Substituting unitary for composite, national heritage for our composite culture, or citizen for State is enough to turn any of these into a wrong option. Where an item asks which duty is not in the list, look first for the word that changes the meaning rather than for a wholly unfamiliar idea.

• Article 51A(f): to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
• Part IVA and Article 51A were inserted by the Forty-second Amendment, 1976, on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation.
• The original list had ten duties; the eleventh, on providing education to a child aged six to fourteen, was added by the Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002.
• Fundamental Duties are not directly enforceable in court, though a law may be made to enforce any of them.
• Protecting monuments and places of national importance is a Directive Principle addressed to the State under Article 49, not a citizen's duty.

• Reading composite culture as unitary or as national culture.
• Attributing the protection of monuments to citizens; Article 49 addresses the State.
• Counting ten duties in the present list; the Eighty-sixth Amendment made it eleven in 2002.

Almost always as a which-one-is-not item with one duty subtly reworded, or as which amendment inserted Part IVA.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The eleventh Fundamental Duty, requiring a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child between six and fourteen years, was added by

  • (a)the Forty-second Amendment, 1976
  • (b)the Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978
  • (c)the Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002
  • (d)the Ninety-seventh Amendment, 2011

  Answer(c) the Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002 — the same amendment that inserted Article 21A on free and compulsory education.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The duty of the State to protect monuments and places of national importance is contained in

  • (a)Article 49
  • (b)Article 51A(f)
  • (c)Article 29
  • (d)Article 30

  Answer(a) Article 49 — a Directive Principle addressed to the State, distinct from the citizen's duty in Article 51A(f).