FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Meaning of Rights:

Rights are conditions that are laid down universally by either legal authorities of states or by
nature, often termed as human rights. These conditions are then exercised by the individuals
for their survival in the society. While rights are bestowed upon individuals by legal authorities,
there are Human Rights, that every human has and no authority, no state, no society can take
away from him, like Right to Life, Right to liberty, Right to be treated equally. These rights
are inherent from birth until death.

Meanwhile, every state has a Constitution or a document that gives certain specific rights to
the individuals residing in that particular state so there could prevail some peace and order in
society. Similarly, in India, the Constitution of India specifies certain rights that the citizens of
India have and they can exercise those rights peacefully, as far as the peace and harmony of
the country are maintained.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Apart from the human rights that nature grants all of us equally, India has certain Fundamental
Rights that it considers important for an individual staying in India. Certain rights even apply
on foreigners staying in India, and they can exercise fundamental rights to their peaceful co-
existence in the country.

Fundamental Rights consists in Part III of the Constitution of India, and are very important
conditions that we are free to exercise for a harmonious survival in the society. A country
cannot develop without its citizens. The citizens need to be empowered in their way for their
personal growth and these fundamental rights aim at empowering an individual’s mind and
morals. This way, when people exercise these fundamental rights, they are in par with the
country’s growth and the country can flourish.

THE SIX FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

The Constitution of India gives its citizens six fundamental rights that they are free to exercise
at any course of time and also gives the power to the citizens to file a complaint in the court if
their fundamental rights are infringed. They are :
1) Right to Equality – This Fundamental Right in the Constitution is under Articles 14 to 18,
which connotes the idea of equality. It says that every citizen of India shall be treated
equally and no discrimination will be made in terms of race, color, gender, religion, caste,
etc. The basic idea behind incorporating this right as the fundamental right was that, each
individual will be treated equally and will receive equal treatment in opportunities of the
government. Public places are open to all without any discrimination. The reason why this
right is considered important is that prior independence, a lot of discrimination was faced
by the lower class people due to the caste system. This attempts at ending that injustice and
hence vouches to give every citizen, the right to equality.

2) Right to Freedom – Freedom is the power of a person to act without a constraint. Keeping
this mind, the citizens are provided 6 rights under Right to Freedom and is covered under
Articles 19 to 22. The six rights are–
 Freedom of Speech and Expression
 Freedom of Assembly
 Freedom to form associations
 Freedom of movement
 Freedom to reside and settle
 Freedom of profession, occupation, trade or business.

Article 21 which is Protection to life and personal liberty is a right that is considered vital as
this is the only right that exists even during an emergency. This right follows the basic principle
of human rights where every individual has the right to life and has liberty, that does not
empower any authority to take away this right, even in case of an emergency.

Article 21 A was inserted by the Eighty-sixth Amendment Act, 2002 that provided free and
compulsory education to all children aged between six to fourteen, thereby making the Right
to Education, also a part of the fundamental rights.

3) Right against exploitation – It is a right that prohibits, discourages and disregards the
trafficking of human beings or forced labor that goes against human dignity. It is covered
in Articles 23 and 24 and focuses upon curbing situations that attempt at confining humans
against using their basic human rights.
4) Right to Freedom of Religion – India is a secular country that aims at not promoting a
particular religion and welcomes people to practice their religion and respects all religions.
Articles 25 to 28 grants people the right to practice, profess, propagate their religions which
do not disrupt the harmony and peace in the country. This right attempts at spreading
brotherhood amongst people.

5) Right to Minorities (cultural and educational rights) – Articles 29 and 30 state that the
citizens of the minority community have the right to conserve their culture, customs,
language by or through an educational institution. This way the interest of those
communities which are in the minority, can safeguard and protect themselves.

By the 44th Amendment, Article 31 of the Constitution was abolished and the Right to Property
as a Fundamental Right was eliminated. Instead, this is now a legal right under Article 300-A
of the Constitution.

6) Right to Constitutional Remedies – This right guarantees the citizens to move directly to
the Supreme Court in case their fundamental rights are violated. Articles 32 to 35 deal with
this remedy and this certain right also deals with the Supreme Court’s power to issue writs
for restoring the fundamental rights of the aggrieved citizen. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, called
Article 32 as the Heart and Soul of the Constitution because it was this particular right that
provided the proper functioning of other rights. Else, other fundamental rights would have
become meaningless if there was no machinery to keep a check on violations of it.

CONCLUSION :

Before India got independence, the citizens of India didn’t have all the rights and very often
they were exploited based on caste, religion, color, gender, etc. However, with these
Fundamental Rights into enforcement, the Constitution of India thus aims to put an end to the
exploitation where it empowers every citizen with certain important rights. It is, therefore, these
fundamental rights that hold a citizen responsible for its actions and brings peace in the state.
Without these Fundamental Rights, the state would be in a condition of chaos and certainly, no
growth would have been possible.