IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES‌

Since 1950, the successive governments at the Centre and in the states have made several laws and formulated various programmes for implementing the Directive Principles. These are mentioned below:

1. The Planning Commission was established in 1950 to take up the development of the country in a planned manner. The successive Five Year Plans aimed at securing socio- economic justice and reducing inequalities of income, status and opportunities. In 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by a new body called NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).

2. Almost all the states have passed land reform laws to bring changes in the agrarian society and to improve the conditions of the rural masses. These measures include (a) abolition of intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars, inamdars, etc; (b) tenancy reforms like security of tenure, fair rents, etc; (c) imposition of ceilings on land holdings; (d) distribution of surplus land among the landless labourers; and (e) cooperative farming.

3. The Minimum Wages Act (1948), the Payment of Wages Act (1936), the Payment of Bonus Act (1965), the Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition Act (1970), the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (1986), the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act (1976), the Trade Unions Act (1926), the Factories Act (1948), the Mines Act (1952), the Industrial Disputes Act (1947), the Workmen’s Compensation Act (1923) and so on have been enacted to protect the interests of the labour sections. In 2006, the government banned the child labour. In 2016, the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (1986) was renamed as the Child and Adolescent Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986.

4. The Maternity Benefit Act (1961) and the Equal Remuneration Act (1976) have been made to protect the interests of women workers.

5. Various measures have been taken to utilise the financial resources for promoting the common good.These include nationalisation of life insurance (1956), the nationalisation of fourteen leading commercial banks (1969), nationalisation of general insurance (1971), abolition of Privy Purses (1971) and so on.

6. The Legal Services Authorities Act (1987) has established a nation-wide network to provide free and competent legal aid to the poor and to organise lok adalat for promoting equal justice. Lok adalat is a statutory forum for conciliatory settlement of legal disputes. It has been given the status of a civil court. Its awards are enforceable, binding on the parties and final as no appeal lies before any court against them.

7. Khadi and Village Industries Board, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Small-Scale Industries Board, National Small Industries Corporation, Handloom Board, Handicrafts Board, Coir Board, Silk Board and so on have been set up for the development of cottage industries in rural areas.

8. The Community Development Programme (1952), Hill Area Development Programme (1960), Drought-Prone Area Programme (1973), Minimum Needs Programme (1974), Integrated Rural Development Programme (1978), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (1989), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (1999), Sampoorna Grameena Rozgar Yojana (2001), National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (2006) and so on have been launched for raising the standard of living of people.

9. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, have been enacted to safeguard the wildlife and the forests respectively. Further, the Water and Air Acts have provided for the establishment of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, which are engaged in the protection and improvement of environment. The National Forest Policy (1988) aims at the protection, conservation and development of forests.

10. Agriculture has been modernised by providing improved agricultural inputs, seeds, fertilisers and irrigation facilities.

Various steps have also been taken to organise animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines.

11. Three-tier panchayati raj system (at village, taluka and zila levels) has been introduced to translate into reality Gandhiji’s dream of every village being a republic. The 73rd Amendment Act (1992) has been enacted to provide constitutional status and protection to these panchayati raj institutions.

12. Seats are reserved for SCs, STs and other weaker sections in educational institutions, government services and representative bodies. The Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955, which was renamed as the Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, have been enacted to protect the SCs and STs from social injustice and exploitation. The 65th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1990 established the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to protect the interests of SCs and STs. Later, the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 bifurcated this combined commission into two separate bodies, namely, National Commission for Schedule Castes and National Commission for Schedule Tribes.

12a. Various national-level commissions have been established to promote and protect the social, educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the society. These include the National Commission for Backward Classes (1993), the National Commission for Minorities (1993), the National Commission for Women (1992) and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2007). Further, the 102nd Amendment Act of 2018 conferred a constitutional status on the National Commission for Backward Classes and also enlarged its functions.

12b. In 2019, the central government issued orders providing 10% reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) in admission to educational institutions and civil posts and services in the Government of India. The benefit of this reservation can be availed by the persons belonging to EWSs who are not covered under any of the existing

schemes of reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs. This reservation was facilitated by the 103rd Amendment Act of 2019.

13. The Criminal Procedure Code (1973) separated the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the state. Prior to this separation, the district authorities like the collector, the sub-divisional officer, the tehsildar and so on used to exercise judicial powers along with the traditional executive powers. After the separation, the judicial powers were taken away from these executive authorities and vested in the hands of district judicial magistrates who work under the direct control of the state high court.

14. The Ancient and Historical Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (1951) has been enacted to protect the monuments, places and objects of national importance.

15. Primary health centres and hospitals have been established throughout the country to improve the public health. Also, special programmes have been launched to eradicate widespread diseases like malaria, TB, leprosy, AIDS, cancer, filaria, kala-azar, guineaworm, yaws, Japanese encephalitis and so on.

16. Laws to prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves, and bullocks have been enacted in some states.

17. Some states have initiated the old age pension schemes for people above 65 years.

18. India has been following the policy of non-alignment and panchsheel to promote international peace and security.

In spite of the above steps by the Central and state governments, the Directive Principles have not been implemented fully and effectively due to several reasons like inadequate financial resources, unfavourable socio-economic conditions, population explosion, strained Centre-state relations and so on.