RAS question
How many Fundamental Duties are currently listed in Article 51A of the Indian Constitution?
Correct answer: (A) Eleven.
Article 51A of the Indian Constitution currently lists eleven Fundamental Duties.
Explanation
Article 51A contains the Fundamental Duties in Part IVA, and the official text lists them from clause (a) to clause (k), which makes the current count eleven. The amendment history matters for the count: the original ten duties were inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, while the eleventh duty was added by the 86th Amendment in 2002. That added duty concerns a parent or guardian providing opportunities for education to a child or ward between six and fourteen years. So the exam trap is the older count of ten versus the updated constitutional position: Article 51A now has eleven duties, not ten.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Twelve is wrong because Article 51A is listed only from clause (a) to clause (k), giving eleven duties, not twelve.
- (C) Nine is wrong because even the original insertion through the 42nd Amendment had ten Fundamental Duties, before the later addition of the eleventh.
- (D) Ten is wrong because it was the original count after the 42nd Amendment, but the 86th Amendment added the education-related duty as the eleventh.
Concept
This tests the Fundamental Duties under Part IVA, especially the amendment-linked count in Article 51A. It recurs in RAS because polity questions often check whether candidates remember the present constitutional position, not just the original 1976 insertion.