Part IV-A of the Constitution of India deals with which one of the following areas ?

Correct — B, Fundamental Duties. Part IV-A holds exactly one article, Article 51A, and it lists the Fundamental Duties of the citizen. The Part was inserted by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, and it was deliberately slotted after Part IV so that the duties would sit next to the Directive Principles rather than next to the rights — the drafters wanted them read as obligations that accompany the Directive Principles, not as conditions attached to Fundamental Rights. Article 51A originally carried ten duties; an eleventh was added by the Eighty-sixth Amendment in 2002, requiring a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child between six and fourteen. Nothing else lives in this Part. The three wrong options all point to places the Constitution deals with elsewhere: the appointment of members of the Public Service Commissions is Article 316 and their functions Article 320, both inside Part XIV, which covers services under the Union and the States; and the working of State Governments belongs to Part VI, the long Part running from Article 152 that sets out the Governor, the State executive, the State legislature and the High Courts. The lettered Parts are worth learning as a group because they are all later insertions — IV-A is the Fundamental Duties, IX-A the Municipalities, IX-B the Co-operative Societies and XIV-A the Tribunals.

• (a)Appointment of Members to Public Service Commissions — That is Article 316, in Part XIV — the Part on services under the Union and the States, not Part IV-A.
• (c)Functions of Public Service Commissions — Article 320, also in Part XIV. Both Public Service Commission options are drawn from the same Part, which is the item's way of using up two slots.
• (d)Provisions for the functioning of the State Governments — That is Part VI, from Article 152 onwards — the Governor, the Council of Ministers of the State, the State legislature and the High Courts.

The Constitution is organised into Parts, each covering one field, and knowing the map is worth as much as knowing individual articles. Part III is Fundamental Rights, Part IV the Directive Principles of State Policy, Part IV-A the Fundamental Duties, Part V the Union, Part VI the States, Part IX the Panchayats, Part IX-A the Municipalities, Part XI Union-State relations and Part XIV services under the Union and the States. Part IV-A was added in 1976 and consists of Article 51A alone.

A Part-identification question is answered fastest by remembering that the lettered Parts are insertions and that each was inserted next to the Part it belongs with. Fundamental Duties follow the Directive Principles because the Swaran Singh Committee conceived of them as the citizen's counterpart to the State's obligations. It also helps to know what the duties are and are not: they are not enforceable by any court on their own, though a court may read them alongside a right or a statute, and several of them are easy to confuse with Directive Principles. Protecting monuments and places of national importance, for instance, is a Directive Principle under Article 49 and not a duty, while valuing and preserving the rich heritage of our composite culture is a duty under Article 51A(f). Two options here name the Public Service Commissions, which is a hint in itself — a question rarely offers two variations on the same wrong Part unless it is padding.

• Part IV-A of the Constitution consists of Article 51A alone and lists the Fundamental Duties.
• It was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee.
• Ten duties were listed in 1976; the eleventh — a parent's or guardian's duty to provide education opportunities to a child aged six to fourteen — was added by the Eighty-sixth Amendment in 2002.
• The Public Service Commissions are dealt with in Part XIV, appointment under Article 316 and functions under Article 320.
• Part VI of the Constitution, beginning at Article 152, covers the Governor, the State executive and legislature and the High Courts.

• Placing Fundamental Duties in Part III alongside Fundamental Rights; they sit after the Directive Principles, in Part IV-A.
• Counting ten duties. There have been eleven since 2002.
• Treating the duty to preserve our composite culture as covering monuments; monument protection is Article 49, a Directive Principle addressed to the State.

As a Part-identification question like this one, as 'which of the following is not a Fundamental Duty', or as a question on which amendment inserted Article 51A.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Article 51A of the Constitution of India was inserted by which one of the following amendments?

  • (a)The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976
  • (b)The Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978
  • (c)The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992
  • (d)The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002

  Answer(a) The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 — the Eighty-sixth Amendment of 2002 later added the eleventh duty but did not create the Part.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT a Fundamental Duty under the Constitution of India?

  • (a)To develop the scientific temper and the spirit of inquiry
  • (b)To safeguard public property and to abjure violence
  • (c)To protect monuments and places of national importance
  • (d)To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture

  Answer(c) To protect monuments and places of national importance — that is Article 49, a Directive Principle addressed to the State, not a duty of the citizen.