History & Background The Fundamental Duties in the Indian Constitution are inspired by the Constitution of the erstwhile USSR. Though the rights and duties of the citizens are correlative and inseparable, the original constitution contained only the fundamental rights and not the fundamental duties. Notably, none of the Constitutions of major democratic countries specifically contain a list of duties of citizens. The Fundamental Duties were added to the constitution in 1976.

Despite her chequered history with local self-government institutions, India stands out as a pioneer in handing over the stranglehold of democracy to the very common people at grassroots levels. The concept of direct democracy is rooted in the ancient governmental constructs of federalism and republicanism. As mentioned in the Janapadas and Mahajanapadas, the idea acted as potential seeds of modern-day rural self-government through Panchayati Raj Institutions. However, with t