UPSC Prelims 2017 GS Paper I · Q47 of 100 Polity & Governance easy

In the context of India, which one of the following is the correct relationship between Rights and Duties ?

  1. (a) Rights are correlative with Duties. ✓ UPSC's answer
  2. (b) Rights are personal and hence independent of society and Duties.
  3. (c) Rights, not Duties, are important for the advancement of the personality of the citizen.
  4. (d) Duties, not Rights, are important for the stability of the State.

Why the answer is (a)

• Rights and duties are two sides of one coin: my right implies a duty on others to respect it, and my rights carry a duty to use them for the common good — they are correlative (Laski, Gandhi) — option (a).

• The Constitution embodies this by pairing Fundamental Rights (Part III) with Fundamental Duties (Article 51A); the Supreme Court has read them together (AIIMS Students' Union case, 2001).

• Option (b) treats rights as pre-social, option (c) dismisses duties, and option (d) dismisses rights — all one-sided.

• Hence option (a).

Why the other options are wrong

(b) Rights are personal and hence independent of society and Duties.
Rights exist in society and entail duties.
(c) Rights, not Duties, are important for the advancement of the personality of the citizen.
Duties are equally important for personality development.
(d) Duties, not Rights, are important for the stability of the State.
Rights are equally important for State stability.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2017, held on 18 June 2017. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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