DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY Indian Polity Notes UPSC SSC By home Academy
DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY
The Directive Principles of State Policy are
enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution
from Articles 36 to 51.
● Dr BR Ambedkar, described these principles
as novel feature of the Constitution.
● The DPSP alongwith Fundamental Rights
contain the philosophy of the Constitution
and is the soul of the Constitution.
Features
● These are constitutional instructions to the
state in legislative, executive and
administrative matters.
● It resembles the ‘Instrument of Instructions’
enumerated in the Government of India Act
of 1935.
● They constitutes the comprehensive
economic, social and political programme for
a modern state.
● They promote social and economic
democracy. They embody the concept of a
welfare state’.
● These are fundamental in the governance of
the country.
● They are non-justiciable.
● They apply to both Union and State
Governments and all other authorities
coming under the definition of ‘State’.
Classification
● The Constitution does not contain any
classification of directive principles.
However, on the basis of their content and
direction, they can be classified into three
broad categories, viz socialistic, Gandhian
and liberal-intellectual.
Socialistic Principles
These principles reflect the ideology of
socialism. They lay down the frame-
work of a democratic socialist state,
aim at providing social and economic
justice and set the path towards welfare
state.
● Article 38 To promote the welfare of
the people by securing a social order
permeated by justice-social,
economic and political and to
minimise inequalities in income,
status, facilities and opportunities.
● Article 39 To secure (a) the right to
adequate means of livelihood for all
citizens; (b) the equitable
distribution of material resources of
the community for the common
good; (c) prevention of concentration
of wealth and means of production;
(d) equal pay for equal work for men
and women; (e) preservation of the
health and strength of workers and
children against forcible abuse; and
(f) opportunities for healthy
development of children.
● Article 39 (A) To promote equal
justice and to provide free legal aid to
the poor.
● Article 41 To secure the right to
work, education and to public
assistance in cases of
unemployment, old age, sickness
and disablement.
● Article 42 To make provision for
just and humane conditions for work
and maternity relief.
Article 43 To secure a living wage, a decent
standard of life and social and cultural
opportunities for all workers.
● Article 43 (A) To take steps to secure the
participation of workers in the management
of industries.
● Article 47 To raise the level of nutrition and
the standard of living of people and to
improve public health.
Gandhian Principles
These principles are based on Gandhian
ideology. They represent the programme of
reconstruction enunciated by Gandhi during
the National Movement. In order to fulfil the
dreams of Gandhi, some of his ideas were
included as Directive Principles.
● Article 40 To organise Village Panchayat to
function as units of self government.
● Article 43 To promote cottage industries on
an individual or co-operation basis in rural
areas.
● Article 46 To promote the educational and
economic interests of SCs, STs and other
weaker sections of the society and to protect
them from social injustice and exploitation.
● Article 47 To prohibit the consumption of
intoxicating drinks and drugs which are
injurious to health.
● Article 48 To prohibit the slaughter of cows,
calves and other milch and draught cattle and
to improve their breeds.
Liberal-Intellectual
Principles
The principles included in this
category represent the ideology of
liberalism.
● Article 44 To secure for all
citizens a uniform civil code
throughout the country.
● Article 45 To provide early
childhood care and education for all
children until they complete the age
of 6 years.
● Article 48 To organise agriculture
and animal husbandry on modern
and scientific lines.
● Article 48 (A) To protect and
improve the environment and to
safeguard forests and wildlife.
● Article 49 To protect objects,
places and monuments of historic
interest and national importance.
● Article 50 To separate the
judiciary from the executive in the
public services of the state.
● Article 51 To promote
international peace and security
and to maintain just and honourable
relations between nations; to foster
respect for international law and
treaty obligations and to encourage
settlement of international disputes
by arbitration.
New Directive Principles
● Article 39A To provide free legal aid to the
poor (42nd Amendment Act, 1976).
● Article 39(f) To secure opportunities for
healthy development of children (42nd
Amendment Act, 1976).
● Article 43A To take steps to secure the
participation of workers in the management
of industries. (42nd Amendment Act, 1976).
● Article 43 B To promote professionally run
co-operative societies added by the 97th
Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011.
● Article 48 A To protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard forests and
wild life. (42nd Amendment Act, 1976).
● Article 38(2) It added one more Directive
Principle, which requires the state to
minimise inequalities in income status,
facilities and opportunities under
Article 38. (44th Amendment Act, 1978)
● Article 45 To provide early childhood care
and education for all children they complete
the age of 6 years (The 86th Amendment
Act, 2002)
Directives Outside Part IV
● Apart from the directives included in
part IV, there are some other
Directives contained in other parts of
the Constitution.
● Claims of members of Scheduled
Castes and Scheuled Tribes will be
taken into consideration, consistent
with the maintenance of efficiency in
administration, in the appointment
to Public Services. (Article 335).
● It is the duty of every state and local
authority to provide adequate
facilities for instruction in the
mother tongue at the primary
stage of education to children
belonging to minority classes (Article
350 A).
● It shall be the duty of the Union to
promote Hindi language amongst the
people of India, so that it may serve
as a medium of expression for all the
elements of the composite culture of
India (Article 351 in part XVII).