Fundamental Duties

One Sunday, the families of Green Park Colony cleaned their park, cleared drains, planted saplings, and put out water for street dogs. A reporter asked a little girl why. She said: "It's our duty to care for our neighbourhood."

The Constitution does not only give rights. It also lists what citizens should do: the Fundamental Duties.

They were not there at the start. The Constitution began in 1950 with no duties.

Ten duties were added in 1976, by an amendment, in Article 51A.

An eleventh was added in 2002: parents or guardians must give children aged 6 to 14 the chance to be educated.

The eleven Fundamental Duties:

• respect the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem;
• follow the ideals of the freedom struggle;
• protect India's unity, integrity and sovereignty;
• defend the nation and help in emergencies;
• promote harmony and respect women;
• preserve our culture and heritage;
• protect the environment and be kind to animals;
• develop a scientific temper and a spirit of inquiry;
• protect public property and avoid violence;
• strive for excellence;
• make sure children get an education.

Then the chapter asks: are these ideas new? It looks at three old Indian words.

Dharma is often translated as 'duty', but it means much more, including what is good for people and for society.

Ṛiṇa means 'debt'. The old idea is that, just by being born, we owe debts to devatās, ancestors and parents, gurus (teachers), fellow humans and Nature.

Repaying those debts comes naturally. It is more than a duty in today's sense, because it builds deep connections with family, society and nature.

Adhikāra is the word for 'rights' in many Indian languages. But in old texts, adhikāra meant capacity, competence or authority: if you were able to do a task, you had the right to do it.

So in those times, rights were not guaranteed to everyone, as our Constitution guarantees them. They depended on what you could do.

With one exception: dharma gave everyone the right to justice, at least in theory.