How many Fundamental Duties are provided in the Constitution of India?

Concept

Fundamental Duties are the moral and civic obligations of citizens enshrined in Part IV-A of the Constitution of India under a single article, Article 51A. They were not part of the original Constitution of 1950 but were added later on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, drawing inspiration from the Constitution of the erstwhile USSR.

Application

The count of Fundamental Duties has changed through amendments:

1. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 first inserted Part IV-A and listed ten Fundamental Duties [clauses (a) to (j) of Article 51A].

2. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 added one more duty as clause (k) of Article 51A: the duty of every parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child or ward between the ages of six and fourteen years.

3. Adding the original ten and this one more gives a current total of 11 Fundamental Duties.

Cross-check

So the Constitution today provides 11 Fundamental Duties: ten from 1976 plus one from 2002.

• 10 is only the original number inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, before the later addition.

• 12 and 15 do not correspond to any stage in the history of Article 51A and are simply incorrect counts.