Abstract: India has strived for long years through the shackles of the British regime and has hard-earned her independence from the Britishers. She has now been a proud independent nation for 76 long years as she moves steadily towards making various achievements and accomplishments with all its grandeur. In order to honour this independence all Indians have to abide by certain fundamental duties towards their country.
Time and again, in this independent India we have always been vocal about our rights, the Rights which are conferred upon us by the Constitution under the head of Fundamental Rights. These rights give us the protection and liberty to live a dignified life as citizens of independent India. But with every right comes certain duties. What we always tend to forget as such dignified citizens is the other head of the Constitution that obliges us to fulfil certain Fundamental Duties towards our nation. Students here in Coochbehar Law Colleges need to know and later preach these Fundamental Duties in their lives and set examples for society
Under Part IV-A, Article 51-A of our Constitution talks about the Fundamental Duties to be fulfilled by every citizen of India, in order to promote the sense of harmony among the people and defend the integrity of the country. This Article was added to the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 by the recommendation from the Swarn Singh Committee. The 11 Fundamental Duties mentioned in the Constitution are-
- Abide by the Constitution and respect the national flag & National Anthem
- Follow the ideals of the freedom struggle
- Protect the sovereignty & integrity of India
- Defend the country and render national services when called upon
- Developing the spirit of common brotherhood
- Preserve the composite culture of the country
- Preserve natural environment
- Develop scientific temper and humanity
- Safeguard public property and avoid violence
- Strive for excellence in all spheres of life.
Duty of all parents/guardians to send their children in the age group of 6-14 years to school.
As it is very much evident from the listed duties, the ideology behind the insertion of this Article in the Constitution was to rekindle the feelings of nationalism in the hearts of all citizens to consider the protection of the respect and integrity of the Motherland as their foremost responsibility. This includes respecting the National Flag and the National Anthem, abiding by the Constitution of India, and keeping alive the ideologies of the struggle for freedom. Respect must be paid to the country’s composite yet diverse culture while preventing any damage to public properties and public places. It is also the duty of the citizens to spread a feeling of brotherhood amongst all and refrain from any kind of violence and destructive actions. Along with all these, we are duty-bound to preserve the environment we live in and prevent all damage and pollution of the environment.
When we fail to fulfil these duties towards our Motherland, we fail her as citizens of this great nation. Recently, we celebrated our 77th Independence Day with all pride and show, patriotic songs everywhere, flag hoisting and decorations in tricolor. But by the evening the National Flags could be seen here and there on the roads with nobody to pick them up. In other situations, we are ready to damage public amenities and public property like transport and streets in the name of protests, we are ready to choose all sorts of violence over peace and harmony. Religious crimes have increased steadily today further suppressing the feeling of brotherhood amongst the citizens. When we see children begging around on the streets and stations, we fail our motherland when we are unable to provide for the education of these young minds. Ever-growing pollution in the environment due to human activities is another failure of the citizens with no good remedy for it.
We must all always keep in mind the great sacrifices that our freedom fighters had to make in order to finally snatch this Independence from the clench of the Britishers. The proud Motherland expects all its citizens to strive hard to keep her pride untarnished and ever-glorified. The Constitution that we the citizens of India have given to ourselves also makes us responsible for protecting and defending the dignity and integrity of the country India. It is thus a very important aspect of any law student’s academic life to be taught these Fundamental Duties in their curriculum in the Coochbehar Law Colleges to build them into responsible citizens of the country.
