Directive Principles of State Policy

The Sapru Committee in 1945 suggested two categories of individual rights: one justiciable and the other non-justiciable. The justiciable rights are the Fundamental Rights, which a citizen can defend in court. The non-justiciable ones are the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), which set out goals the State should work towards but which a court cannot directly enforce.

Articles 36 to 51 under Part IV of the Indian Constitution deal with the Directive Principles. They are borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland. They are also called instruments of instruction, because the government is expected to use them as guiding principles while framing policy. Article 37 makes clear that, although the courts cannot enforce them, they are fundamental in the governance of the country and it is the duty of the State to apply them when making laws. This topic sits within our Indian Polity study notes.

Key features of the DPSP

• They are non-justiciable: a citizen cannot go to court simply to demand that a Directive Principle be carried out.
• They are borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland, which had in turn drawn the idea from Spain.
• They aim to build a welfare state and a just social and economic order, not only a political one.
• They have been expanded over time. The 42nd Amendment (1976) added Articles 39A, 43A and 48A, and the 97th Amendment (2011) added Article 43B on cooperative societies.

Classification of the DPSP

The Directives are usually grouped into three broad categories based on the ideals behind them.

Directives based on socialist principles

• Article 38: The State shall promote the welfare of the people by securing a social order based on social, economic and political justice, and by minimising inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities.
• Article 39: The State shall direct its policy towards securing an adequate means of livelihood for all citizens, ownership and control of material resources organised to serve the common good, prevention of the concentration of wealth in a few hands, equal pay for equal work for men and women, protection of the strength and health of workers, and protection of childhood and youth against exploitation.
• Article 41: To secure the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disability.
• Article 42: To make provision for just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.
• Article 43 and 43A: To secure a living wage and a decent standard of life for all workers, and to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries.
• Article 47: To raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of the people and to improve public health.

Directives based on Gandhian principles

• Article 40: The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats as units of self government.
• Article 43 and 43B: To promote cottage industries on an individual or cooperative basis in rural areas, and to promote the voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative societies.
• Article 46: To promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, particularly the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections.
• Article 47: To improve public health and to prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs that are injurious to health.
• Article 48: To prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle, and to improve their breeds.

Directives based on liberal and intellectual principles

• Article 44: The State shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
• Article 45: To provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
• Article 48 and 48A: To organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines, and to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.
• Article 49: To protect every monument or place of artistic or historic interest.
• Article 50: To separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.
• Article 51: To promote international peace and security by maintaining just and honourable relations between nations, fostering respect for international law and treaty obligations, and encouraging the settlement of international disputes by arbitration.

The conflict between Fundamental Rights and the DPSP

The tension between Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles comes from the fact that one is enforceable in court and the other is not. Over the years the Supreme Court has shaped the relationship through a series of landmark judgments.

• Champakam Dorairajan (1951): In case of a conflict, Fundamental Rights would prevail over the Directive Principles. However, Parliament could amend the Fundamental Rights to give effect to the Directives.
• Golaknath (1967): The Court held that Fundamental Rights were sacrosanct and could not be amended, even to implement the Directive Principles.
• Kesavananda Bharati (1973): The Court laid down the basic structure doctrine and struck down the part of Article 31C that had tried to place laws made to implement certain Directives beyond the reach of judicial review. You can read more in our notes on the Basic Structure Doctrine.
• Minerva Mills (1980): The Court ruled that the Constitution rests on a balance between Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles, and called for a harmonious construction of the two.

At present the Fundamental Rights enjoy supremacy over the Directive Principles. This does not mean the Directives cannot be achieved. The goal is not a tug of war between the two: it is the prosperity of the State, and the responsibility of policy framers is to move towards it with pragmatism, without giving undue primacy to one over the other.

Significance

The primary goal of the Constitution is to establish political democracy. For a democracy to prosper, political democracy alone is not enough, so its sustaining forces must be carefully built up. A socio-economic democracy is the most effective force that keeps a political democracy alive. Where there is no socio-economic democracy, political democracy quickly weakens.

If Fundamental Rights secure political democracy in India, the Directive Principles secure the socio-economic democracy that supports it. That is why the Directive Principles are one of the strongest guarantees of a genuine democracy. It would be unwise to dismiss them as a mere political manifesto without legal value, or to treat them as vague, or to read them as a simple moral lesson.

The Directive Principles are significant because they set out the State's positive commitments to its citizens. They point towards a welfare state and help the Indian Constitution avoid two extremes: a dictatorship that crushes individual liberty, and an unchecked concentration of wealth that puts the economic security of the majority at risk.

Why it still matters

Because the Directive Principles cannot be demanded in court, students often ask whether they matter at all. They matter because they quietly shape real laws, and a clear recent example is Article 44, the call for a Uniform Civil Code. A Uniform Civil Code means one common set of rules on matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession that applies to all citizens, whatever their religion. For more than seventy years this stayed a directive that no state had acted on.

That changed on 27 January 2025, when Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to bring a Uniform Civil Code into force. The law covers marriage, divorce, succession and live in relationships, and applies to residents of the state, with Scheduled Tribes exempted. Whatever one thinks of the law itself, it shows exactly how a Directive Principle works in practice: it cannot be enforced through a courtroom, yet it can guide a government that chooses to act on it. The same logic already sits behind laws you know, such as the push for free and compulsory education linked to Article 45 and support for workers and the unemployed linked to Article 41. If you want to see how constitutions turn ideals like these into working rules, explore the ideas in the Learnacy Hub.

Sources

1. DD News, Uttarakhand becomes first state to implement Uniform Civil Code, 27 January 2025
2. JURIST, India Uttarakhand becomes first state to implement the Uniform Civil Code, January 2025

Key takeaways

• The Sapru Committee in 1945 proposed two categories of rights: Fundamental Rights (justiciable) and Directive Principles of State Policy (non-justiciable).
• DPSP are contained in Articles 36-51 under Part IV of the Indian Constitution, borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland.
• DPSP are non-justiciable, meaning citizens cannot demand their enforcement in court, but they guide the State toward building a welfare state and just social order.
• DPSP are classified into three categories: directives based on socialist principles, Gandhian principles, and liberal-intellectual principles.
• The Supreme Court has shaped the relationship between Fundamental Rights and DPSP through landmark judgments, with Fundamental Rights currently enjoying supremacy.

Test yourself

From which country's constitution were the Directive Principles borrowed?

Ireland

What is the main difference between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles?

Fundamental Rights are justiciable and can be enforced in court, while Directive Principles are non-justiciable and cannot be directly enforced by courts.

Which amendment added Articles 39A, 43A and 48A to the DPSP?

The 42nd Amendment (1976)