In the good old tradition of Bharatbarsha, the focus was always on performing one’s duty rather than wresting one’s rights. In fact, the word Dharma (which is often wrongly translated as religion) is almost equivalent to duty. Duty for all segments of society - from teachers to rulers (raj dharma) to warriors, businessmen, farmers, and workers. In family, the emphasis was always on the duty of all members, father, mother, husband, wife and children.
I grew up in one such tradition and noticed how that emphasis promoted harmony and best efforts in the family. One person’s rights are another person’s duties. In 1976, the section on fundamental duties of citizens were added to the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment. Originally ten in number, the fundamental duties were increased to eleven by the 86th Amendment in 2002, which added a duty on every parent or guardian to ensure that their ward was provided opportunities for education between the ages of six and fourteen years.
In his statement in Lok Sabha on conclusion of the debate on commitment to the Constitution as a part of 125th birth anniversary celebration of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on November 2, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “There is a need to ignite the spirit of duty….Today, capitalists and landlords talk about their rights. While on the other hand, labourers talk about their interests, royals talk about their domination and farmers talk about the violation of their rights. If everyone talks about their rights and turns away from their duties, then it would result only in disorder and chaos. If everyone talks about their duties in place of rights, then the Rule of Order would automatically get established in humanity…when we discuss the Constitution, then an important discussion is: How can we focus on our duties? Can we play any role in performing our duties diligently and taking the society forward? I feel that we should do it.”
More recently, other highly placed officials have spoken up for duties. In his article in The Indian Express (November 26, 2019), the central law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Since ancient times, people in India have had a tradition of performing their duties — even in partial disregard of their rights and privileges.”
Since time immemorial, an individual’s ‘kartavya’ — the performance of one’s duties towards society, his/her country and his/her parents — was emphasised. Describing the role of a king, Chanakya had stated, “It is a king’s utmost duty to look after the progress and welfare of the people of his country.” Modern civilisations, sadly, do not offer many inducements for the performance of duties — they certainly don’t teach people that the real reward for responsible citizenship is the preservation of a free society.
Traditionally, the fundamental impulse to accept responsibilities and perform duties, in every society, has been religious. Performing one’s duties with sincerity, is in fact, a worship mechanism. As a line from the Rig Veda notes,” O, citizens of Bharat! As our ancient saints and seers, leaders and preceptors have performed their duties righteously, similarly, you shall not falter to execute your duties.” (Rig.10.191.2)
The Bhagwad Gita and Ramayana also ask people to perform their duties. In the Gita, Lord Krishna ordains, “One should do one’s duties without expectation of any fruits.” Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I learnt my duties on my mother’s lap. She was an unlettered village woman… She knew my dharma. Thus, if from my childhood we learn what our dharma is and try to follow it our rights look after themselves… The beauty of it is that the very performance of a duty secures us our right. Rights cannot be divorced from duties. This is how satyagraha was born, for I was always striving to decide what my duty was.”
Gandhiji further said that the true source of right is duty. He said, “If we all discharge our duties, rights will not be far to seek.” Swami Vivekananda rightly observed, “It is the duty of every person to contribute in the development and progress of India.”
What has been missing so far is proposal for modalities for focusing on duties. We believe that time has come to set up an institutional structure that allows due consideration to monitoring the performance of duties by various sections of the society. We need to set up a ‘Duties Commission’ on the lines of what we have for rights. In this commission, each section of society, executive, legislature, judiciary, civil service, police, business community, farmers, workers, teachers, students, majority community and minorities will define a self-imposed code of conduct. The commission with involvement of the “community” as well as independent members will publish regular reports on compliance with these self-imposed codes of conduct. These reports will not have, at least at the beginning, any coercive powers but will serve the objective of ‘naming and shaming’, much like what Amnesty International does.
In connection with discussions of development, a lot of emphasis is put on improving governance. This is entirely appropriate. We certainly need to improve governance. In the new environment, particularly after Covid-19, we need equal emphasis on how both the government and the business world can do their duties better. The government will give to business all the support it needs in terms of providing finance, basic R&D, protection from unfair competition from internal and external sources etc. but in return, the business world must comply with laws of the land, pay its taxes, and be mindful of the interest of all the stakeholders and not just shareholders. Similarly, workers must become responsible participants in the management of firms similar to the practice in Germany and many Nordic countries. Teachers and students must absorb the best in existing knowledge and produce tangible evidence of contribution to advancement of science and knowledge in general. Farmers must demonstrate how to improve yields and become competitive in global markets while ensuring ecological health of their farmlands. Teachers must do research to advance their sciences. As an erstwhile teacher of economics, I feel ashamed of myself and my profession that in spite of having hundreds of thousands of teachers of economics in India largely supported by public funds, we have not been able to contribute to understanding of how our own economy functions and incorporate the findings of our research into our economics textbooks that we want our students to absorb.
To make the twenty-first century India’s century, we must increase our income by at least 7-8% per year for the next three decades and celebrate the centenary of our republic as a developed country surpassing the economic might of the current or prospective hegemons like the US and China. For that purpose, we must focus on doing our duties.
- The author is Chairman of Pahle India Foundation and a
former Distinguished Fellow of NITI Aayog. He is a former
Senior Advisor of World Bank.
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