{"id":3498,"date":"2026-08-11T22:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/directive-principles\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T02:57:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:27:56","slug":"directive-principles","status":"publish","type":"psir_note","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/directive-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"Directive Principles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PSIR Notes<\/a>\u203a<\/span>I-B Indian Government and Politics<\/a>\u203a<\/span>Directive Principles<\/span><\/div>\n
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Paper I \u00b7 Indian Government and Politics<\/div>\n

Directive Principles<\/h1>\n
Syllabus \u00b7 Paper I-B \u00b7 3<\/b> \u2014 Salient Features of the Indian Constitution : The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles<\/span>; Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Directive Principles of State Policy<\/h3>\n

The DPSPs sit in Part IV, Articles 36\u201351<\/span><\/span>. They are non-justiciable, yet Article 37<\/span><\/span> declares them “fundamental in the governance of the country”, guiding the state in building a welfare order. The model was borrowed from the Irish Constitution, which in turn drew on Spanish constitutional tradition.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Strand<\/th>\nKey articles<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Socialistic<\/td>\nArt 38 (just social order), 39 (livelihood, equitable distribution, equal pay), 41 (work, education, assistance), 42 (humane conditions, maternity relief), 43 (living wage)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gandhian<\/td>\nArt 40 (village panchayats), 43 (cottage industries), 46 (SC\/ST and weaker sections), 47 (nutrition, standard of living)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Liberal-Intellectual<\/td>\nArt 44 (UCC), 45 (early-childhood care), 48 & 48A (agriculture; environment), 49 (monuments), 50 (separation of judiciary from executive), 51 (international peace)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

The DPSPs are called the “kernel of the Constitution”<\/span>; Ambedkar<\/span> read Fundamental Rights as political democracy and DPSPs as the foundation of economic democracy. L.M. Singhvi<\/span> called them the “life-giving provisions of the Constitution”.<\/p>\n

Criticism<\/h4>\n

Their non-justiciability and vague language draw fire; socio-economic laws may restrict individual rights. B.N. Rau<\/span> argued the Constitution is not the place for moral precepts; Ivor Jennings<\/span> dismissed them as “pious aspirations”; K.T. Shah<\/span> thought the document too political and insufficiently social.<\/p>\n

Uniform Civil Code \u2014 Article 44<\/span><\/h3>\n

Article 44<\/span> places a Uniform Civil Code among the Directive Principles \u2014 a common set of personal laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession, to replace religion-based personal laws. The debate is old: the Rukhmabai case (1884\u201388)<\/em><\/span> exposed the tension between custom and modern individual rights, and the Hindu Code reforms<\/span> of the 1950s recast Hindu marriage and inheritance.<\/p>\n

The argument, both ways<\/h4>\n