DUTIES OF CITIZENS IN A WELFARE STATE-- AN ESSAY
DUTIES
OF CITIZENS IN A WELFARE STATE
Introduction
“There are two principles of justice : not to harm anybody and serve the
society’s welfare.”
-
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Welfare State
It is a concept in which the state plays a key role in the protection
and promotion of the social and economic well-being of its citizens. It is
based on the principles of ‘equality of opportunity’ and ‘equitable distribution
of wealth’. Sociologist T.H. Marshall described the modern welfare state as a
distinctive combination of ‘democracy, welfare and capitalism’.
It is said that welfare state is a state of elites. All the policies and
programmes are framed keeping the bureaucracy in mind. But if we look at this
facet reasonably it is discernible that the focal point of welfare state is
blossoming of the society by an effective administration. The administrators in
any state develop the society by implementing laws, rules and regulations to
maintain discipline and efficiency.
Today, in Germany the social protection of all its citizens is
considered a central pillar of German national policy. It focuses on embracing
the system of health, pension and longterm care.
In respect to this, certain
initiatives are being taken by India to prove itself to be a welfare state as
in a bid to overcome the gap between rich and poor, men and women and to remove
casteism. For this seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and women in government jobs, educational institutions and the Parliament.
Numerous laws have been passed and the fundamental right to abolish
untouchability has been provided.
Duties
Each citizen of a welfare state is endowed with definite duties to be
fulfilled by him. Keeping this in mind Indian Parliament brought into force.
Article 51A encompassed in Part IVA of the Constitution of India which
deals with the ‘fundamental duties’ of a citizen. These duties were added by
forty-second (42nd) and eighty-sixth (86th)
Constitutional Amendment Acts. As of now, there are eleven (11) Fundamental
Duties which the citizens are obligated to perform.
The duties prescribed in this Article are to abide by the Constitution,
national flag and national anthem; uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity
and integrity of India; defend the country; promote harmony and brotherhood;
protect dignity of women; value and preserve rich heritage of our culture;
safeguard public property, etc.
Rights
and Duties
There exist two pillars in a welfare state. These are : Rights and
Duties. Rights refer to the privileges or benefits provided by a nation to its
citizens and duties are the moral and legal obligations that the citizens of a
nation need to perform sincerely.
Usually what happens is that
people tend to forget their duties for their rights. Everyone’s acquisitiveness
to obtain privileges is more than responsibility towards the nation. Nobody
wants to perform duties but everybody craves to avail rights. Hence, the
fore-most duty of a citizen is:
“to
perform his duty”.
Protection
of Women’s Rights
Each day when I go through the newspaper, the first topic that catches
my sight is ‘Crime’. Crime, be it in the form of theft, acid-attack, rape,
murder and the list is endless. So being a citizen of a welfare state it is the
duty of every person to curb this away by promoting humanity and maintaining
law and order in the nation. We must protect women and stop such heinous crimes
against them. The criminals should be put on trial and the designated authority
should take stringent actions against them so that thousands of Nirbhaya’s
could get justice.
We exist in a society in which humanity and harmony should be
maintained. One of the main prospects for maintenance of humanity is justice.
It is a myth that justice is safeguarded by laws. In fact the truth is, the
more laws we formulated, the less justice we gain.
Environment
Protection
“ In the Indian Constitution it
is clearly stated that it is the duty of the state ‘to protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country’. Hence,
flora and fauna should be protected and conserved.
Environment Protection Act came into force in 1986 soon after the Bhopal
Gas Tragedy. Some landmark cases have raised the issue of environment
protection more significantly.
- M.C. Mehta Vs. Union of India (Ground
water Case, 1987)
- Massachusetts Vs. Environmental
Protection Agency, USA (2007)
To promote the care of the environment, World Environment Day is
celebrated every year on June 5.
Cleanliness
‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ initiated by Honourable Prime Minister of India
Mr. Narendra Modi acts a s a stepping stone towards the advancement of the
nation. The Abhiyaan was launched on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 145th
birth anniversary. It is executed to fullfil the dream of a ‘Clean India’ once
seen by Bapu. The programme addresses the health problems that Indian families
have to deal with due to lack of proper sanitation in their homes.
Being a part of this, it is the duty of the citizens to cooperate with
the government and make aware everyone of it so that cleanliness and hygiene
could be preserved which could further lead to reduction in health problems.
Protecting
Heritage Sites
. As responsible citizens of a welfare state, it is our duty and
responsibility to protect these sites, keep them unblemished and even make
other citizens aware and the youth of its worth.
Duties
Towards the Nation
In today’s scenario the threats such as terrorism, cyber attack, nuclear
bomb attacks, etc. have gained much momentum. The defence department of every
nation is sincerely devoted towards safeguarding the unity and integrity of a
nation.
A movie released in 2002 in Hollywood was ‘We Were Soldiers’, based on
the story of first battle between United States and Vietnam forces. Such inspiring
movies are created so that the citizens understand the importance to protect
sovereignty of the nation. Therefore we should abide by our Constitution and
respect national flag and national anthem.
Conclusion
“Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of
itself.” – Andrew Carnegie
It is a matter of regret that most of the people are unaware of their
duties towards their nation. Every person in a welfare state has to perform
certain duties which leads to the battlement of their nation but we have a
tendency to ignore our onus and fight for our rights. So let’s make a promise
to ourselves that being a citizen of a welfare state we will contribute cent
percent to the nation’s welfare.
Hence, it was said by Swami Vivekanand that
‘Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of
God.”
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