(a) Elucidate why the absolute nature of sovereignty was rejected by Laski. (20 marks) (b) Do you agree that duty and…

(a) Why Laski rejected the absolute nature of sovereignty

The monist theory of Bodin, Hobbes and Austin makes sovereignty supreme, indivisible and unlimited, a legal power that gives orders without being commanded by any other. In Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty (1917), Authority in the Modern State (1919), Foundations of Sovereignty (1921) and A Grammar of Politics (1925), Laski, a leading pluralist, rejected it on several grounds. Factual. Society is a federation of associations, churches, trade unions, professions and local bodies, each with its own purpose and loyalty. The state is one association among them, with a coordinating role. Cases such as the Free Church of Scotland case (1904) and the Taff Vale judgment (1901) showed groups claiming rights against the state. Austin's "habitual obedience" does not describe real obedience, which is often given to other bodies. Moral. A state has a claim to obedience only so far as it serves the common good and rights; an individual with a conscience may resist unjust commands, and Laski spoke of a right to resist. Power is therefore conditional, not original and unlimited. Functional. Authority should follow function and be distributed among bodies that perform it; concentration of power in one body ends in tyranny, and individuals have plural loyalties. International. An absolute sovereign state would make international law and peace impossible, as interdependent states need limits on sovereignty. Evaluation. Laski corrected the legalism of monism and widened the study of groups, but pluralism leaves open who finally decides conflicts of jurisdiction; Laski himself conceded in later work that the state must remain the coordinating authority. In practice federal constitutions, judicial review and international commitments show that sovereignty is limited.

(b) Priority of duty and accountability over rights

The claim has force as well as limits. Reasons for priority. A state works only when citizens comply with laws, pay taxes and respect the rights of others; rights are costly and rest on duties. Gandhi held that rights flow from duty well done. Officials in particular must be accountable, because power without accountability defeats rights, and accountability tools (RTI Act 2005, courts, legislative committees, collective responsibility under Article 75(3)) make government work. Duties were added to the Constitution as Article 51A (42nd Amendment, 1976, on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation, with a further duty in 2002). Why not priority. Rights and duties are correlative: a duty owed by the state is what gives a right content. Making rights depend on prior duty invites authoritarianism, and the Fundamental Duties are not enforceable against the citizen directly. Ambedkar's constitutional morality, and Rawls's priority of liberty, hold that rights are the basis of legitimate authority; Kant sees duties themselves arising from respect for persons. Judgment. Better functioning needs both, with accountability of the state and its officials given first claim; reciprocity, not priority, is the principle. Rights are the ends, and duty and accountability are the means that keep them real.

(c) Skill education and development

Criteria: employment outcomes, productivity and growth, and human capabilities. For. India's demographic dividend needs employable youth. The Skill India Mission (2015), NSDC and PMKVY, and NEP 2020, which seeks vocational exposure for at least half of learners by 2025, aim to link education to jobs. Human capital theory and the German dual-system experience show that training raises productivity and wages, and sectors like electronics and care need trained workers. Against. The ILO-IHD India Employment Report 2024 found that youth were about 83 per cent of the unemployed in 2022, and that educated youth have higher unemployment, a gap of jobs rather than of skills alone. Most employment is informal, so training does not lead to quality work; placement and certification quality of short courses is weak. Sen's capability approach says development is the expansion of freedoms, including health and reasoning, and so needs foundational literacy and health along with vocation. Judgment. Skill education is necessary but not sufficient: it enhances development when combined with labour-intensive industrial and service growth, apprenticeships linked with employers, strong foundational learning, and social security. Alone it risks producing trained but unemployed youth.