Which of the following statements represents the Fundamental Duty of Indian…

Part IVA of the Constitution, inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, lays down the Fundamental Duties of every citizen in Article 51A. These are eleven specific, enumerated obligations, ten from 1976 and an eleventh (a parent's duty to educate a child) added by the 86th Amendment, 2002. Only a statement that matches one of these eleven named clauses, (a) through (k), qualifies as a Fundamental Duty; any other civic or legal obligation of a citizen, however important, does not.

1. Statement B, 'to defend the country', matches Article 51A(d) almost verbatim: 'to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.' This is one of the eleven enumerated clauses, so it qualifies as a Fundamental Duty.

2. Statement A, 'to pay income tax', does not appear among Article 51A's eleven clauses at all. The obligation to pay tax instead flows from ordinary tax legislation together with Article 265, which says no tax can be levied or collected except by authority of law, a wholly different part of the Constitution from Part IVA.

3. Since statement B matches an enumerated clause of Article 51A and statement A does not, only statement B represents a Fundamental Duty.

• 'Neither A nor B' would hold only if neither statement matched Article 51A's list, but statement B (national defence) is drawn directly from clause (d).

• 'Both A and B' would hold only if both statements matched the list, but statement A (paying income tax) has no corresponding clause in Article 51A; it is a tax-law obligation, not a Part IVA duty.

• 'Only A' would hold only if the tax statement matched a clause and the defence statement did not, which is the reverse of what Article 51A actually provides.

So among the two statements, the constitutionally enumerated Fundamental Duty is the one about national defence, statement B, alone, matching the option 'Only B'.