Directive Principles of

State Policies
Sumanta S. Sharma
School of Philosophy & Culture
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra
Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, 182 320, India.
ARTICLE 36: DEFINITION

In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, “the

State” has the same meaning as in Part III.
ARTICLE 37: APPLICATION OF THE
PRINCIPLES CONTAINED IN THIS PART

The provisions contained in this Part shall not be enforced

by any court, but the principles therein laid down are
nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the
country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply
these principles in making laws.
ARTICLE 38: STATE TO SECURE A SOCIAL ORDER FOR
THE PROMOTION OF THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE

(1) The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the

people by securing and protecting as effectively as it
may a social order in which justice, social, economic, and
political, shall inform all the institutions of the national
life.
(2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimize the
inequalities in income, and endeavor to eliminate
inequalities in status, facilities, and opportunities, not
only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of
people residing in different areas or engaged in different
vocations.
ARTICLE 39: CERTAIN PRINCIPLES OF
POLICY TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE STATE

The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing –

(a) that the citizen, men, and women equally, have the right to an
adequate means of livelihood;
(b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the
community are so distributed as best to subserve the common
good;
(c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the
concentration of wealth and means of production to the common
detriment;
(d) that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women;
ARTICLE 39: CERTAIN PRINCIPLES OF
POLICY TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE STATE
(e) that the health and strength of workers, men, and
women, and the tender age of children are not abused
and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to
enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;
(f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to
develop in a healthy manner and conditions of freedom
and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected
against exploitation and moral and material
abandonment.
ARTICLE 39A: EQUAL JUSTICE
AND FREE LEGAL AID

The State shall secure that the operation of the legal

system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity,
and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable
legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure
that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to
any citizen because of economic or other disabilities.
ARTICLE 40: ORGANISATION OF
VILLAGE PANCHAYATS

The State shall take steps to organize village

panchayats and endow them with such powers and
authority as may be necessary to enable them to
function as units of self-government.
ARTICLE 41: RIGHT TO WORK,
EDUCATION, AND PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE IN CERTAIN CASES

The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity

and development, make effective provision for securing
the right to work, education, and public assistance in
cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, and
disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.
ARTICLE 42: PROVISION FOR JUST
AND HUMANE CONDITIONS OF
WORK AND MATERNITY RELIEF

The State shall make provisions for securing just and

humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.
ARTICLE 43: LIVING WAGE, ETC.,
FOR WORKERS
• The State shall endeavor to secure, by suitable legislation or economic
organization or in any other way, to all workers agricultural, industrial or
otherwise, work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of
life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities and, in
particular, the State shall endeavor to promote cottage industries on an
individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.
• ARTICLE 43A: PARTICIPATION OF WORKERS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
INDUSTRIES
• The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way, to secure
the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments
or other organizations engaged in any industry.
• ARTICLE 43B: PROMOTION OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES
• The State shall endeavor to promote voluntary formation, autonomous
functioning, democratic control, and professional management of cooperative
societies.
ARTICLE 44: UNIFORM CIVIL
CODE FOR THE CITIZEN

The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens

a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.
ARTICLE 45: PROVISION FOR FREE AND
COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN

The State shall endeavor to provide, within ten years

from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and
compulsory education for all children until they complete
the age of fourteen years.
ARTICLE 46: PROMOTION OF EDUCATIONAL
AND ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF SCHEDULED
CASTES, SCHEDULED TRIBES, AND OTHER
WEAKER SECTIONS

The State shall promote with special care the educational

and economic interests of the weaker sections of the
people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and
the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social
injustice and all forms of exploitation.
ARTICLE 47: DUTY OF THE STATE TO
RAISE THE LEVEL OF NUTRITION AND THE
STANDARD OF LIVING AND TO IMPROVE
PUBLIC HEALTH

The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition

and the standard of living of its people and the
improvement of public health as among its primary
duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to
bring about prohibition of the consumption except for
medicinal purpose of intoxicating drinks and of drugs
which are injurious to health.
ARTICLE 48: ORGANIZATION OF
AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

The State shall endeavor to organize agriculture and

animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and
shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and
improving the breeds and prohibiting the slaughter, of
cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.
ARTICLE 48A: PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT
OF ENVIRONMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF
FORESTS AND WILDLIFE

The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the

environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the
country.
ARTICLE 49: PROTECTION OF MONUMENTS
AND PLACES AND OBJECTS OF NATIONAL
IMPORTANCE

It shall be the obligation of the State to protect every

monument or place or object of artistic or historic
interest, declared by or under law made by Parliament to
be of national importance, from spoliation, disfigurement,
destruction, removal, disposal, or export, as the case
may be.
ARTICLE 50: SEPARATION OF
JUDICIARY FROM THE EXECUTIVE

The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from

the executive in the public services of the State.
ARTICLE 51: PROMOTION OF
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
The State shall endeavor to –
(a) promote international peace and security;
(b) maintain just and honorable relations between
nations;
(c) foster respect for international law and treaty
obligations in the dealings of organized people with one
another; and
(d) encourage settlement of international disputes by
arbitration.
Amendments
• 42nd Amendment 1976: It added four new directive
principles- Article 39, Article 39A, Article 43A, and Article 48A.
• 44th Amendment 1978: The 44th Amendment Act of 1978
created a new DPSP under Article 38, which mandates the
State to reduce inequalities in income, status, facilities, and
opportunities.
• 86th Amendment 2002: It altered Article 45’s subject
matter, and under Article 21A, basic education became a
fundamental right.
• 97th Amendment 2011: The 97th Amendment Act of 2011
created a new DPSP for cooperative societies under Article 43B