Which of the following is NOT a fundamental duty ?
- (a)To protect and improve the natural environment
- (b)To respect the National Anthem
- (c)To protect monuments and places of national importance
- (d)To safeguard public property
Correct — C, To protect monuments and places of national importance. This is not a duty of the citizen at all; it is an obligation laid on the State. Article 49 of the Constitution, a Directive Principle in Part IV, provides that it shall be the obligation of the State to protect every monument or place or object of artistic or historic interest declared by or under law made by Parliament to be of national importance, from spoliation, disfigurement, destruction, removal, disposal or export. The Fundamental Duties are a different list in a different Part — Article 51A in Part IVA — and none of them mentions monuments. The near-miss that makes the option feel right is Article 51A(f), the duty to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; that is about heritage in the abstract, not about protecting declared monuments, which is the State's job. The three other options are all genuine clauses of Article 51A: (a) is 51A(g), (b) is part of 51A(a), and (d) is 51A(i).
- (a)To protect and improve the natural environment — This is a Fundamental Duty — Article 51A(g), to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures. It is also the one duty with a Directive Principle twin, Article 48A, which asks the State to do the same thing; both were inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
- (b)To respect the National Anthem — This is a Fundamental Duty. Article 51A(a) requires every citizen to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem. It is the first clause of the list, which makes it one of the easier options to eliminate.
- (d)To safeguard public property — This too is a Fundamental Duty — Article 51A(i), to safeguard public property and to abjure violence. The two halves sit in a single clause, which is worth remembering, because questions sometimes quote only one half and ask whether it is a duty.
The Fundamental Duties were not in the Constitution as adopted. They were added in 1976 by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, as a new Part IVA containing a single article, 51A, with ten clauses. An eleventh clause, 51A(k), was added by the 86th Amendment in 2002, requiring a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child between six and fourteen years — the counterpart of the new fundamental right to education. Like the Directive Principles, the Duties are non-justiciable: no court will enforce them directly against a citizen, though Parliament may and does legislate to give particular duties teeth, as with the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. What the question turns on is the division of labour built into the Constitution: Part IVA addresses the citizen, while Part IV, the Directive Principles, addresses the State. Article 49 is squarely in Part IV, so protecting declared monuments is a State obligation.
Every 'which is NOT a Fundamental Duty' question is built the same way. The wrong option is never absurd — it is always something a good citizen plausibly ought to do, drawn either from the Directive Principles or from ordinary civic sense. UPSC's version of this question in 2011 used 'to vote in public elections', which is a statutory right rather than a constitutional duty; UPPSC reused that exact framing in 2021; and here the plant is drawn from Article 49. So the discipline is to ask, of the odd-looking option, not 'is this a good thing?' but 'whom does the Constitution address it to — the citizen or the State?' If the answer is the State, it is a Directive Principle and not a Duty. Keep one exception in mind: environment is addressed to both, under Article 48A for the State and 51A(g) for the citizen, which is why UPPSC asked in 2023 which provision belongs to both lists.
- Protecting monuments and places and objects of national importance is Article 49, a Directive Principle in Part IV binding on the State — not a Fundamental Duty.
- The Fundamental Duties are in Part IVA, Article 51A. Option (a) is 51A(g) natural environment; option (b) is part of 51A(a) respect for the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem; option (d) is 51A(i) safeguarding public property and abjuring violence.
- Part IVA was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, with ten duties; an eleventh, 51A(k) on a parent's duty to provide education to a child of six to fourteen, was added by the 86th Amendment in 2002.
- The nearest duty to option (c) is Article 51A(f) — to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture — which is why the option feels plausible.
- Protection of the environment appears in both lists: Article 48A among the Directive Principles and Article 51A(g) among the Fundamental Duties.
The odd one out is not the implausible option but the one addressed to the wrong actor. Article 49 tells the State to protect declared monuments; the citizen's nearest duty, 51A(f), is to value and preserve our composite culture.
- Judging an option by whether it sounds like a civic virtue rather than by which Part of the Constitution it sits in, and whom that Part addresses
- Confusing Article 49 (State to protect declared monuments) with Article 51A(f) (citizen to value and preserve our composite culture)
- Forgetting that environment appears twice — Article 48A for the State and Article 51A(g) for the citizen — so it can be the answer to 'which belongs to both lists'
Both papers ask this as a single-line elimination — 'which of the following is NOT a Fundamental Duty' — with the plant drawn from the Directive Principles or from a statutory right such as voting. UPPSC additionally asks the overlap directly ('which provision is part of both the DPSPs and the Fundamental Duties'), and asks the amendment history, so learn the list along with the 42nd and 86th Amendments.
Under the Constitution of India, which one of the following is not a fundamental duty?
- (a) To vote in public elections
- (b) To develop the scientific temper
- (c) To safeguard public property
- (d) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals
Answer(a) To vote in public elections
The same question with a different plant. Voting is a statutory right under the Representation of the People Acts, not a duty in Article 51A — just as protecting monuments is a State obligation under Article 49. Note that two of the options here, safeguarding public property and abiding by the Constitution, are the same clauses that appear in the UPPSC item.
“To uphold and protect the Sovereignty, Unity and Integrity of India” is a provision made in the
- (a) Preamble of the Constitution
- (b) Directive Principles of State Policy
- (c) Fundamental Rights
- (d) Fundamental Duties
Answer(d) Fundamental Duties
The reverse of this question — a clause is quoted and the candidate must place it in the right Part. That is exactly the skill the UPPSC item rewards: knowing which basket a provision belongs to matters more than being able to recite the list, because both papers test the boundary between Article 51A and the Directive Principles.
Under the Constitution of India which of the following is NOT a Fundamental Duty ?
- (a) To vote in General Election
- (b) To develop the scientific temper
- (c) To safeguard public property
- (d) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideas
Answer(a) To vote in General Election
UPPSC asked the identical question one year earlier, with voting as the plant — and it is almost word for word the UPSC 2011 item. That repetition is the practical point: this single question has now been set at least three times in the two papers, so the eleven clauses of Article 51A are worth memorising outright.
Which of the following Provision is a part of both Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties?
- (a) Participation of workers in management of industries
- (b) Protection of environment
- (c) Guardians to provide opportunity for education to children
- (d) Uniform Civil Code
Answer(b) Protection of environment
The boundary between the two Parts tested from the other side. Environment is the one subject that appears in both, as Article 48A for the State and Article 51A(g) for the citizen. Holding that overlap in mind is what stops a candidate from assuming that anything phrased as a public good must automatically be a Duty.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The duty of a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child between the ages of six and fourteen years was added to Article 51A by which amendment?
- (a)The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976
- (b)The 44th Amendment Act, 1978
- (c)The 86th Amendment Act, 2002
- (d)The 97th Amendment Act, 2011
Answer(c) The 86th Amendment Act, 2002 — it inserted Article 21A making education a fundamental right and added the eleventh Fundamental Duty, Article 51A(k), as its counterpart.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?
- (a)Article 48A — Fundamental Duty of the citizen to protect the environment
- (b)Article 49 — Obligation of the State to protect monuments of national importance
- (c)Article 51A(i) — Directive Principle on free legal aid
- (d)Article 45 — Fundamental Duty to develop scientific temper
Answer(b) Article 49 — Obligation of the State to protect monuments of national importance. Article 48A is the Directive Principle on the environment, Article 51A(i) is the Duty to safeguard public property, and Article 45 is the Directive Principle on early childhood care and education.