Directive Principles of State Policy

• The Directive Principles of State Policy seek to establish social and economic circumstances that allow people to have a happy life. 
• They also aim to achieve social and economic democracy via the establishment of a welfare state.
• The makers of the constitution felt that the moral force behind these guidelines would assure that the government would take them seriously.  
• They hoped that the people would similarly hold the governments responsible for executing these directives. So, a separate list of policy guidelines is involved in the Constitution. The list of these guidelines is Known as the Directive Principles of State Policy.  

Relevance of the Directive Principles of State Policy

• The fact that independent India was going to face many challenges, such as bringing about equality and the well-being of all citizens, was well-known by the makers of the constitution. 
• They supposed that a certain policy direction was needed for handling these problems. 
• They didn’t want future governments to be bound by unspecified policy decisions. 
• They find their mention in the Government of India Act, 1935 and are termed the ‘instrument of instructions’. 
• They also help formulate social and economic democracy in the country.

Directive Principles: Inclusions 

• Economic, socialistic, political, executive, justice and legal, administrative, environment, monument preservation, peace and security are the categories included with the directive principles.
• The chapter on directive principles lists mostly three things:
  • The goals and objectives that society should adopt.
  • Some rights that individuals should enjoy aside from the fundamental rights. 
  • Certain policies that the government should adopt. 

Directive Principles: Explanation 

The Directive Principles are classified into three types:

1. Socialist principles

• Promote people’s well-being by ensuring social order via justice—social, economic, and political—and reducing disparities in income, position, facilities, and opportunities.
• Encourage free legal aid to the poor and equal justice.
• Ensure that all employees get a livable wage, a good quality of life, and social and cultural opportunities.
• Take actions to ensure worker engagement in the management of industries.

2. Gandhian principles

• Create village panchayats and provide them with the necessary authorities and authority to act as self-governing bodies. 
• Encourage the establishment, autonomy, democratic control, and professional administration of cooperative societies.
• Promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs, and other vulnerable groups in society, as well as their protection against social injustice and exploitation
• Prohibit the use of intoxicating drinks and substances that are harmful to health.

3. Liberal-Intellectual principles

• Ensure a standard civil code for all people throughout the nation.
• All children should get early childhood care and education until they reach the age of fourteen.
• Modernise and scientifically organise agricultural and animal husbandry.
• Monuments, sites, and items of aesthetic or historic worth that have been designated as national treasures must be safeguarded.
• Separation of the judiciary from the executive in the state’s public services.

Examples of the implementation of the Directive Principles

• The governments passed a few zamindari annulment bills, nationalised several banks, ordered placement of various processing plant laws, fixed least wages, etc.
• Several endeavours to give impact to the Directive Principles incorporate the right to training, development of Panchayati raj establishments all around the country, and so on.

Difference Between Directive Principles And fundamental rights

We may understand the link between fundamental rights and Directive Principles of State Policy by looking into the two court judgments listed below.

1. Case of Champakam Dorairajan (1951)

In the event of a disagreement between fundamental rights and Directive Principles, the Supreme Court held that the provisions of the former would take precedence. Directive Principles were recognised as a subset of fundamental rights. The Supreme Court also declared that Parliament may change fundamental rights via a constitutional amendment act in order to enact Directive Principles.

As a result, the First Amendment Act (1951), the Fourth Amendment Act (1955), and the Seventeenth Amendment Act (1964) were enacted by Parliament to implement parts of the Directives.

2. Case of Minerva Mills (1980)

The Supreme Court ruled that the 42nd Amendment Act’s expansion of Article 31C was illegal and unlawful. It subordinated Directive Principles to fundamental rights. In addition, the Supreme Court said that ‘the Indian constitution is established on the cornerstone of the balance between fundamental rights and Directive Principles’.

Following the case, the Supreme Court issued the following decisions:

• fundamental rights and Directive Principles are crucial to the commitment to social change. 
• The harmony and balance of fundamental rights and Directive Principles of State Policy is a fundamental component of the constitution’s core construction.
• The aims of the Directive Principles must be met without jeopardising the tools afforded by the fundamental rights.

Conclusion

The divisions of Directive Principles of State Policy are divided into three main categories—socialist, Gandhian, liberal-intellectual. Hence, it can be stated that the fundamental rights now have precedence over Directive Principles. However, Directive Principles may be put into action. The Parliament may alter the fundamental rights in order to achieve the Directive Principles, as long as the modification does not harm or destroy the constitution’s core framework.