List of Fundamental Rights

Rights are a very powerful concept. Everyone has some rights like students have some rights in school/college, employees have some rights in office, customers have some rights, the public has some rights, the government has some rights, etc. All these rights are reserved for that particular place.

But as a citizen belongs to the country we all have some equal rights. These basic rights are called fundamental rights. Let's discuss in detail and know the meaning of fundamental rights:

What are Fundamental Rights?

After the freedom from the British Crown, the officials, the freedom fighters, and other renowned and intellectual leaders decided to make our own Constitution.

During the composition of the Indian Constitution, Motilal Nehru demands fundamental rights for the citizens of India. The concept of fundamental rights has been adopted from the Constitution of the USA.The fundamental rights are described in Part 3^rdof the Constitution.

• "The basic human rights which are enshrined by the Constitution of India and applied to all citizens are known as Fundamental Rights."
• These rights are important to provide the living with integrity and dignityof every human. Thus, we can say that Fundamental rights are the backbone of the country.
• These rights are the most integral part of the Indian Constitution and all are supreme for our country.
• Every citizen who belongs to India and its territory has these fundamental rights.
• These are called fundamental due to the reason for that they are essential for maintaining integrity and dignity of human beings.
• These rights are applied to every citizen without any discrimination on the basedon gender, caste, religion, power, and status, etc.

Special Features of the Fundamental Rights

There are some special features of the fundamental rights which are important to know for everyone. Let's know about these features in detail:

• The fundamentalrights have been adopted from the Constitution of USA.
• Fundamental rights are very different from other legal rights.
• If anyone's fundamental right is violated, he/she can directly approachthe Supreme Court of India.
• Fundamental rights are enforceable by the court. It means these rights are justifiable. Even though not the political party, lower courts, any organization and, community can't interrupt.
• Fundamental rights is likethe soul of the constitution. It means the amendment can be possible by parliament but the fundamental structure of the Constitution can't be alter.
• Supreme Court and High Courts have a right to declare any law unconstitutional if it is violated the fundamental rights.
• The fundamental rights are restricted in an area that has been placed under MilitaryRule.
• All the fundamental rights can be suspended only in case of a National Emergency which has been mentioned under Article 359.

List of Fundamental Rights

There istotal a total of six fundamental rights that are mentioned in the Indian Constitution. These rights are described below:

1. Right to Equality
2. Right to Freedom
3. Right against Exploitation
4. Right to Freedom of Religion
5. Cultural and Educational Rights
6. Right to Constitutional Remedies

All these rights are known as fundamental rights. Secular, freedom, republic, democratic and equality; are the pillars of these rights.

#1Right to Equality

This is the first and foremost rightthat is mentioned in Articles 14-18 in the constitution of India. This right guarantees equality among everyone, irrespective of their caste, religion, gender, or place of birth.

This right has been made to demolish the ridiculous concept of Untouchability which was the curse for our country.

It ensures equal resources of the country, equal employment opportunities in the government, and protests against every kind of discrimination.

#2Right to Freedom

In the earlier times, everyone didn't have even the right to speech and expression. It means if you belong to a particular group or community of people then you can't express or speak by your own choice.

At that time the only king and some of his officials had theright to take decision for the entire country and their people. King was treated as a God so no one had the right to questioning the idea or decision of the king.

Other than this, people didn't have the rights to choose any profession; they have to do their ancestors' profession. People didn't have a right to migrate and get settled anywhere in the country.

By demolishing all such concepts from the society Right to freedom is mentioned in Articles 19-22 of the constitution. As we all are aware the fact that India is a the second largest democratic country in the world. Therefore, freedom is the key ideal that is essential for every democratic society.

There are many other rights have included in Freedom Rights which are given below:

• Freedom of Expression
  It means everyone has a right to express himself in the middle of public. Although everyone has freedom of expression, yet every citizen has to express themselves responsibly. They have to maintain a certain dignity and morality.
• Freedom of Speech
  Freedom of speech is the most powerful weapon used to share your views among the crowd. Now, everyone has a right to ask questions, to share their ideas, and to criticize anyone's work or their ideology irrespective of who they are and how powerful they are!
  But most people misuse their freedom of speech. To target someone by commenting on their personal life is not a freedom of speech.
  You should be aware and differentiate between the person and their work or ideas. You can criticize anyone based on their work and their ideas.
• Freedom of Association
  This right gives the freedom to join any group. Everyone has a right to form a union and can protest peacefully for the public interest.
• Freedom of assembly without arms
  This right guarantees "to assemble peacefully and harmoniously with others."
  But the citizens should be taking care of that their interaction must be unarmed or undefended.
• Freedom to practice any profession
  Today, everyone has a right to choose and practice their profession. They can pursue any profession by their choice and take advantage of government opportunities.
• Freedom to reside and settle
  This right guarantees that every citizen of India has a right to live and settle in any part of India wherever he wants to. It allows freedom of movement and residence.

#3 Right against Exploitation

This right has been mentioned in Articles 23-24 of the Constitution.

In the earlier times, the people who belonged to high caste or powerful communities harassed the lower or scheduled caste people. The Zamindars molested the labourers and the ladies in their families due to the reason of not paying extremes taxes.

So finally M.K. Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkarraised their voice against exploitation and named the lower caste people as Dalit.

This fundamental right implies the prohibition of children in factories, traffic in human beings, beggars, women, and other labourers.

For the abolition of exploitation, our constitution prohibits employment for children who are less than 14 years.

This right also gives us the power that everyone must have raised their voice against, approach the court directly, and complain against exploitation.

#4Right to Freedom of Religion

India is a diverse nation and people of different religions live here. In 1976, the Preamble of the Constitution complies that India is a secular nation. It means all religions will always be treated equally.

The right to freedom of religion is included under Article 25 in the Indian Constitution.

This fundamental right indicates secularism in India. This right gives everyone freedom to follow and practice any religion. Everyone has a right to freedom of ideology, conscience, thoughts, practice, worship, and religion.

This right also allows every citizen to change their religion or belief either alone or in the group.

#5 Cultural and Educational Rights

The constitutional articles related to cultural and educational right is mentioned in the Article 29-30.

The cultural rights are important to conserve religions, mythologies, and culture. These rights are basically for preserving the heritage, language, tradition, and culture.

Educational Rights guarantees advanced level education for everyone without any discrimination.

In the time of the British Crown, everyone was not allowed to get educated. There was so much discrimination based on gender, caste, religion, race, and place of birth, etc.

For the abolition of this curse, educational rights came into the picture. Nor education is the right of everyone.

#6 Right to Constitutional Remedies

This fundamental right is mentioned under Article 32 in the Constitution. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said,"Article 32 is the vital soul of the Constitution."

In Indian Constitution, there is a right which complies that any person can directly move to the Supreme Court if their fundamental rights are violated. These are known as Constitutional Remedies.

The decision and hearing of the court have been done without any interference from the government.

Under this right, the Supreme Court works as a Guarantor and Defender of the Fundamental Rights of every citizen of India.

Conclusion

To know about our fundamental rights are not enough but also we have to use these rights by maintaining dignity and integrity so that the harmony of the nation won't disturb at all.