Principles and Amendments of Directive Principle of State Policy

The Sapru Committee recommended two types of individual rights in 1945 – justiciable and non-justiciable. The Fundamental Rights fall under justiciable rights, while the Directive Principle of State Policy under the non-justiciable rights.

Directive Principles of State have multiple characteristics, which are listed below:

• They are an enumerated ‘instrument of instructions’ under the 1935 Government of India Act
• They desire social and economic democracy in the country
• If they are breached, DPSPs are something the courts do not have the authority to enforce.

Disposition of Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP)

The Directive Principles of State Policy are not expressly defined in the Indian Constitution. However, they can be divided into the following three categories for better understanding and direction:

1- Socialistic Principles

2- Gandhian Principles

3- Liberal-Intellectual Principles

Socialistic Principles

These principles address the concept of socialism and lay the groundwork for a democratic socialist state. The idea is to ensure social and economic equality so that the state can fulfil the welfare state’s ideal norms. Articles directing the state are as follows:

1- Article 38: To improve people’s well-being by establishing and protecting a social order in which justice, social, economic, and political factors are successfully integrated into all elements of national life.

2- Article 39: To Secure

(a) Every citizen has the right to adequate living conditions

(b) A just and equitable distribution of the community’s material resources for the common good

(c) The functioning of an economic system to avoid wealth and production method concentration

(d) Equal pay for equal work should be paid to men and women

(e) Workers’ and children’s health and well-being are protected from exploitation and abuse

(f)  Possibilities for the healthy development of youngsters.

3- Article 39 A: To encourage equal justice and provide free legal assistance to the underprivileged.

4- Article 41: To guarantee the right to work, education, and government assistance in the programme of unemployment, old age, sickness, or handicap.

5- Article 42: To ensure that working conditions are fair and humane, as well as maternity leave.

6- Article 43: To ensure that all workers are paid a livable wage, have a decent quality of living, and have access to social and cultural opportunities. The state will support individual or cooperative cottage businesses in rural areas.

7- Article 43 A: To act in measured steps to guarantee that workers are involved in the management of the industry.

8- Article 47: Improve people’s diets and lifestyles to improve public health.

Gandhian Principles 

These ideas are based on Gandhi’s national-reconstruction plan, which he stated during the civil war. Some of Gandhi’s ideas were included in DPSP to help realise his dreams, and they direct the state through the mentioned articles:

1- Article 40: Establishing village panchayats and granting them the essential powers and authority to serve as self-governing bodies.

2- Article 43: To foster individual or cooperative cottage businesses in rural areas.

3- Article 43 B: To encourage the voluntary formation, democratic governance, autonomous functioning, and professional management of cooperative groups.

4- Article 46: To encourage Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other socially disadvantaged groups to achieve their educational and economic goals, as well as to protect them from social injustice and exploitation.

5- Article 47: To make it a felony to use intoxicating beverages and medicines dangerous to one’s health.

6- Article 48: Makes slaughtering cows, calves, and other milch and draught livestock, as well as developing their breeds, unlawful.

Liberal-Intellectual Principles

These principles lean toward liberalism’s ideology, and they guide the state through the following articles:

1- Article 44: To guarantee that all citizens in the country have access to a unified civil code.

2- Article 45: Ensure that all children under six get education and care.

3- Article 48: To modernise and organise agriculture and cattle breeding in a scientific manner.

4- Article 48 A: To develop and maintain the environment and safeguard woods and wildlife.

5- Article 49: Protect national treasures, such as monuments, sites, and objects of aesthetic or historical significance.

6- Article 50: The judicial and the executive must be separated in the state’s public services.

7- Article 51: Support international peace, security, and just and honourable relations between nations; promote respect for international law and treaty obligations; and encourage arbitration proceedings to resolve international disputes.

Facts About Directive Principles of State Policy

• Under Article 38 in 1978, 44th Amendment Act, the State is required to decrease inequalities in income, status, facilities, and opportunities
• According to the updated law after the 86th Amendment Act of 2002, under Article 45, all children should receive education along with care till they are fourteen years old
• Article 43B of the 97th Amendment Act of 2011 established a new DPSP for cooperative groups. It is necessary for the state to foster the voluntary establishment, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and professional management of cooperative groups
• Article 37 of the Indian Constitution states, “DPSPs are fundamental government within the country, and it shall be the responsibility of the state to follow these principles in creating legislation”

Critics of Directive Principles of State Policy

The following are a few reasons for the criticism of the Directive Principles of State Policy:

• It doesn’t have any legal validity
• It is arranged in an unreasonable manner
• It’s conservative, and it might lead to a constitutional conflict between the federal government and the states.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the Directive Principles of State Policy refer to the principles that the government should keep in mind when drafting policies. They are non-justiciable, which means that they cannot be challenged in court if they are not implemented, but they can be used by the Supreme Court to determine if a policy is unconstitutional.