FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

• Fundamental Rights are those fundamental legal protections that are provided for every citizen in India under the Indian Constitution to protect the very fabric of democracy in the country. 
• They ensure the personal liberties and dignity of individuals, protecting their rights against any type of misuse at the hands of the state-instituted arbitrary or unjust actions. 
• The purpose of these rights is to build an equal society where there is no preferential treatment and equality is upheld, hence providing social justice. 
• It is within Part III of the Indian Constitution that all these rights are residing, and thus, are presented as important for democracy to remain intact along with the right of every citizen to live with dignity and freedom.

Why do we call them “Fundamental” Rights?

• Fundamental means something that forms the essential core or basis of something. 
• Rights that are considered fundamental are those basic human rights that are necessary for citizens to freely and fully develop as human beings. 
• The framers of the Indian Constitution believed that for a democratic nation to function properly and for individual liberties to be protected, certain basic rights need to be guaranteed to all citizens by the state. 
• These rights were seen as fundamental to justice, liberty and equality in a democratic society. So in essence, the rights enshrined in Part III form the core foundations of a citizen's basic liberties and dignity. 
• Protecting these rights is crucial for justice and equality to prevail in a democratic nation. Thus they are rightly called Fundamental Rights.

Salient Features of Fundamental Rights of Indian Constitution

The salient features of Fundamental Rights provided by the Indian Constitution are so many through which one can describe how vital these rights are:

• Such rights are made enforceable by law, so that if these rights are violated, one can turn to the courts for redress. Therefore, such rights are not purely symbolic but have real and actionable content.
• The fundamental rights are not absolute and can be subjected to reasonable restriction by the authorities to maintain public order, morality, sovereignty, and integrity of India. This balanced approach ensures that there is respect for individual freedoms while maintaining harmonious living with others.
• All of these rights are universal in application to all citizens, with equal justice, whether for an individual coming from a poor, low-status background, or is somebody more rich and high status or even non-citizens, sometimes.
• Some of these Fundamental Rights are specifically designed to protect religious, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, preventing majoritarian domination and nurturing diversity.
• Article 32 contains the machinery through which individuals would be able to appeal for redress from the Supreme Court or High Courts in matters of determining their Fundamental Rights and ensuring their enforcement in such a way that their Fundamental Rights remain functional and redemptive.

Fundamental Rights of Indian Constitution

• The Indian Constitution further sub-divides these rights into several Fundamental Rights that, under the charted plan of law, are ensured with different perceptions of individual dignity and liberty. 
• The various rights include the Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right Against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights, and the Right to Constitutional Remedies. 
• Combined, all together they form a comprehensive framework which aims at protecting people from excess by the state while justice and equality are met.

Right to Equality (Articles 14 to 18)

The Right to Equality covers Articles 14 to 18 and embodies the notion of nondiscrimination, as well as equal opportunities for all, and these are:

• Article 14: Deals with providing equality before the law and equal protection of the laws within India, forbidding discrimination of any kind.

• Article 15: This article prohibits any form of discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Also, it allows special provisions for women, children and socially and educationally backward classes.

• Article 16: This article provides equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, and makes provisions for any appointment or office under the state.

• Article 17: This article abolishes untouchability making its practice in any form a punishable offence.

• Article 18: Abolishes titles, as the state cannot grant any titles; egalitarianism is more active. However, the military and academic differences are out of this prohibition.

Right to Freedom (Articles 19 to 22)

Right to Freedom is one of the most significant segments. Articles 19 to 22 in it provide several freedoms without which personal and social development cannot be complete:

• Article 19: It deals with six freedoms, including speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, and profession. Each one of them is subject to reasonable restrictions in the interests of sovereignty, safety, and public order.

• Article 20: It provides protection in respect of conviction for offenses, including protection against ex post facto laws, double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same offense), and self-incrimination.

• Article 21: Life and personal liberty, this would include the right to life and personal liberty, but the Supreme Court has also interpreted these in a very broad sense and have included several derivative rights such as the right to privacy, the right to a clean environment, and right to live with dignity.

• Article 22: Guarantees protection against arbitrary arrest and detention and, therefore, procedural protection such as the right of an arrestee to know the grounds of arrest, right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner, and right to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest.

Right Against Exploitation (Articles 23 to 24)

The Right Against Exploitation, incorporated into Articles 23 and 24 is directed to eliminate various forms of exploitations found in society:

• Article 23: Prohibits human trafficking, begar (compulsory labor) and other forms of compulsory labor. According to this no compulsion or any forceful attempts of forcing any person to labor may be done.
• Article 24: Bans the employment of children under the age of fourteen years in any factory, mines, or any kind of hazardous employment which saves children from economic exploitation and gives children the right to child happiness.

Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles 25 to 28)

The Right of Freedom of Religion as Constituted through Articles 25 to 28 Emphasizes India's stand to the issue of freedom of religion and establishment of a secular society:

• Article 25: It gives the right of freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice, and propagate religion; provided that it is not inconsistent with public order, morality, or health. It leads to interfaith tolerance.

• Article 26: It gives rights to religious denominations in dealing with their internal affairs concerning religion, running institutions for religious and charitable purposes, and handling property.

• Article 27: No person shall be subject to any tax, the whole or part of the proceeds whereof directly or indirectly goes or would go in payment to any particular religion.

• Article 28: No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained by the State; neither shall any student be compelled to take any instruction in his own or any other religion unless by his parent or guardian, in that behalf, so desired.

Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29 to 30)

Articles 29 and 30 deal with Cultural and Educational Rights, which aim towards the protection of minorities' cultural and educational interests:

• Article 29: Grant[s] to any section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture the right to conserve the same. It also protects the rights of citizens to elementary education in their mother tongue.
• Article 30: Stipulates that the educational institutions of their choice may be established and managed by the minority and linguistically distinct communities; the state shall respect their educational autonomy and treat them equitably in granting aid.

Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32)

• Article 32 is viewed as being the 'heart and soul' of the Indian Constitution because it offers the Right to Constitutional Remedies. 
• This right allows individuals to approach the Supreme Court or High Courts for Fundamental Rights to be enforced. 
• The Courts have the power of issuing writs like habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari. 
• This gives an assurance that the Fundamental Rights are safeguarded properly and any infraction is judged. In such a manner, Fundamental Rights turn out to be actual assurances rather than hollow ones.

Other Important Fundamental Rights in India

The Indian Constitution lays out some important principles for how fundamental rights apply in relation to the government. 

Other Important Fundamental Rights in India (Article 12-35 of Indian Constitution)
Article	Features
Article 12	Article 12 defines what is considered the "State" in this context. It includes all levels of government - national, state and local. It also includes any authority that operates under the control of the national government. This matters because fundamental rights primarily act as restrictions on what the government can do.
Article 13	Article 13 addresses any laws that might contradict or violate fundamental rights. It establishes that if a law goes against the Constitution's guaranteed rights, it is invalid to the extent of that conflict. So if a law opposed a fundamental right, it could be challenged in court and overturned.
Article 33	Article 33 gives Parliament certain powers regarding how fundamental rights apply to the military, paramilitary and intelligence organizations. It allows restrictions or modifications to be made in the interests of maintaining order and discipline within those forces. However, this authority should be used judiciously to avoid unfairly limiting rights.
Article 34	Article 34 talks about when martial law can be declared in India. It says that the parliament has the power to pass a law to protect any government employee or other person from being sued or charged with a crime for anything they had to do to maintain or restore order in an area where martial law was declared.
Article 35	Article 35 empowers the Parliament to enact laws to give effect to the provisions of Part IV (Directive Principles of State Policy) and Part IVA (Fundamental Duties) of the Constitution. These provisions are not directly enforceable in court like fundamental rights, but they provide guidance to the government in policy-making.

Significance of Fundamental Rights

• The Basic Rights are important for the sustenance of democracy in India and the advancement of social justice. 
• They work as a barrier against the evils of state overreach and ensure that individual liberties are safeguarded. 
• They uphold and guarantee equality, eradicate evil conscience, and provide freedoms, working towards an inclusive society where everybody can live with dignity, and they represent the interest of minorities as well as more vulnerable sections and sustain a harmonious and fair society. 
• Right to Constitutional Remedies reinforces the concept that Fundamental Rights are justiciable as remedies can be available in every grievance.

Criticism of the Fundamental Rights

Though it occupies a pivotal position, Fundamental Rights in India are subject to many criticisms:

• Making them subject to reasonable restrictions defeats the cause of absoluteness and reduces their effectiveness.
• There are still numerous Indians who are extremely poor and ignorant; the existence of such poverty and illiteracy heavily impedes the implementation of most rights in reality, as these rights mostly tend to be more abstract than real-life applicable for such people.
• Here, judicial procedures in India, mostly for redressing the rights referred to above, mostly tend to be too expensive and time-consuming and thus discourage several deprived individuals from approaching the judiciary.
• The balance between the rights of an individual and the interests of the state is always one that is essentially an unsolved controversy, wherein the state often imposes upon the individual excessive or unfair restrictions.

Landmark SC Judgments on Fundamental Rights

The Indian Supreme Court, through landmark judgments, has been taking very pivotal roles in interpretation and expansion of fundamental rights:

• Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973): Established the Basic Structure Doctrine that declared that it was not possible for the Constitution to be abrogated by amendments as its basic structure, which included the Fundamental Rights, could not be obliterated.
• Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India (1978): Extended the dimensions of Article 21 in the sense that the right of life and personal liberty would enfold the right to live with dignity, personal liberty, and any law had to be just, fair, and reasonable.
• Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997): Established guidelines to address issues relating to sexual harassment at the workplace, ensuring equality and dignified treatment at work.
• Naz Foundation vs. Government of NCT of Delhi (2009): Decriminalized consensual homosexual acts between consenting adults, interpreting the right to privacy and dignity, which finds expression under Article 21.

Difference Between Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties

The table below gives the difference between fundamental rights and fundamental duties in a brief manner:

Difference Between Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties
Aspect	Fundamental Rights	Fundamental Duties
Nature	Justiciable (legally enforceable)	Non-justiciable (not legally enforceable)
Purpose	Protect individual liberties and rights	Duties that citizens are expected to perform
Location in Constitution	Part III	Part IVA
Addressed to	Individuals (citizens and sometimes non-citizens)	Citizens of India
Examples	Right to Freedom of Speech, Right to Life and Personal Liberty	Respect for the National Flag, Promote harmony and brotherhood

Difference Between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles

The table below gives the difference between fundamental rights and directive principles in a brief manner:

Difference Between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
Aspect	Fundamental Rights	Directive Principles
Nature	Justiciable (legally enforceable)	Non-justiciable (not legally enforceable)
Purpose	Protect individual liberties and rights	Guide the state in policy-making for social and economic welfare
Location in Constitution	Part III	Part IV
Addressed to	Individuals (citizens and sometimes non-citizens)	State
Examples	Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation	Promotion of education, Provision of adequate means of livelihood

• Fundamental Rights are at the core of India's democratic values since they illustrate the country's respect for individual liberty, equality, and justice. 
• These rights play an instrumental role in formulating an inclusive society where each citizen can live with dignity and freedom. 
• However, despite the huge importance of these rights, there are practical obstacles toward their realization due to socio-economic factors and barriers of judicial accessibility. 
• This is where the judiciary and legislature will have to constantly work so as to protect and promote such rights ensuring that each citizen derives the benefit of protections along with freedom underlying India's democratic framework.

Key Takeaways on Fundamental Rights for UPSC Aspirants Constitutional Safety: Part III of the Indian Constitution, under the head Fundamental Rights, ensures safeguarding citizens' liberties by enforcing equality before the law and ensuring a democratically governed society. Six Key Categories: Rights are divided into six key categories - that is,  right to equality,  right to freedom,  right against exploitation,  right to freedom of religion,  cultural and educational rights and  right to constitutional remedies.  Each constitutes different dimensions of individual freedoms and societal fairness. Justiciability: These rights are also legally enforceable, meaning a person can look to the courts to seek redressal if these rights are violated. Thus, they are not merely theoretical principles but enforceable guarantees.