UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 89 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Welfare State Directive Principles
The ideal of 'Welfare State' in the Indian Constitution is enshrined in its
Show answer
Answer: B. Directive Principles of State Policy
Verdict
The answer is the Directive Principles of State Policy. The welfare State ideal is enshrined in Part IV.
Analysis
The Directive Principles direct the State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people, to minimise inequalities in income and status, to secure adequate means of livelihood, and to provide for public assistance in old age, sickness and unemployment. Together these articles constitute the welfare State ideal in the constitutional text. The Preamble declares the objectives of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity but does not itself set out welfare obligations. Fundamental Rights are largely limitations on State power. The Seventh Schedule distributes legislative subjects.
Source
M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, page 7.29.
How to crack it
Fundamental Rights are mainly negative, restraining the State, while Directive Principles are positive, requiring the State to act, and a welfare State is by definition a State under positive obligations. That single contrast places the answer without recalling any article. Keep the socialist, Gandhian and liberal intellectual grouping of the Directive Principles ready as well, because the welfare provisions cluster in the socialist group and questions often approach from that angle.