General Knowledge: Fundamental Duties of Every Indian Citizen

Originally, the Fundamental Duties were not provided in the Constitution. On the basis of the recommendations of Swarn Singh Committee, these duties were included in the Constitution under Article 51A of part IV by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976. Under these provisions, a citizen of India is expected to faithfully observe the following fundamental Duties.

It shall be the duty of every citizen of India:

1. To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideas and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;
2. To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;
3. To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
4. To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;
5. To promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood among all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities, to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;
6. To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
7. To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, river, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;
8. To develop the scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform;
9. To safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
10. To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activities so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement;
11. To provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between age of 6 and  14 years;

The 11th point was adopted by 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002.

The fundamental duties are inspired by the constitution of former former Soviet Union. Since, the fundamental duties are included in part IV of the constitution, these can not come into force automatically, neither can these duties be enforced by judicial process. The constitution, like directive principles of state policies, leaves to the goodwill of citizen to abide these provisions. According to the famous constitutional expert D D Basu, the constitution does not make any provision to enforce these duties automatically or any sanction to prevent the violation of these duties by the citizen. However, it is expected that if a law is enacted by the legislature to enforce these provisions, its shall not be declared unconstitutional on the ground of its inconsistency with the provisions of Article 14 and that of 19. According to him, these provisions would act as a warning to all those who does indulge in not paying due regard to the constitution and destroying public property. The supreme court may issue such warning to citizen to take these provisions seriously. The legislature may also enact laws to enforce these duties. In fact, there are already many laws which directly or indirectly enforce these duties. For example, there is law for the protection of public property as well as environment and animal species.

However, the Supreme Court, in Surya Vs Union of India (1992) case, ruled that fundamental duties are not enforceable through judicial remedies by court. In Vijoy Immanuel Vs State of Kerala (1987), the Supreme Court overruled the decision of Kerala High Court and decided that though to Constitution provides it to be the duty of citizen to respect the National Anthem, it does not provide that singing of the National Anthem is part of such respect. Even a person, while standing during the singing of National Anthem (without himself singing it) can show respect to the National Anthem.

June 2013 : Current Affairs Collection for IBPS/Bank Exams

Q1. Who won the French Open 2013 Women’s Singles?

Ans. Serena Williams

Note: She defeated No. 2 Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 to secure her second French Open title. It was the 31-year-old American's 16th Grand Slam title win.

Q2. Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh was on four days visit to an Asian country recently. Name the country?

Ans.  Japan.

Note: The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, visited Japan from 27-30 May 2013 for the Annual Summit of the Prime Ministers.

Q3. Name the world's largest online retailer who in Month of June 2013 entered into Indian e-commerce market with the launch of its marketplace offering books, movies and television shows for sale?

Ans. Amazon.com. It will be called Amazon.in in India

Q4. World Environment Day was observed on 5 June 2013. What was the theme this year?

Ans. Think, Eat, Save Reduce Your Foodprint.

Note: It aims at an anti-food wastage and loss campaign to encourage people to reduce their foodprint. It also calls for more awareness about the environmental impact of the food choices people make and empowers them to make informed decisions.

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Q5.  In a landmark judgment on 3 June 2013, which commission held that political parties are answerable to citizens under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act)?

Ans. Central Information Commission (CIC).

Note: Present Chief Information Commissioner is Satyananda Mishra.

Q6. Name the sports channel to whom on 7 June 2013 the High Court of Delhi directed to provide live signals of ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in England to Doordarshan without any commercials till its further orders?

Ans. ESPN

Note: ICC Champions Trophy tournament started in England on 6 June 2013 and will continue till 23 June 2013.

Q7. Who was recently re-elected as the Chairman of Indian Banks' Association (IBA)?

Ans. K R Kamath

Note: He is the chairman and managing director of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and was re-elected as the Chairman of IBA for 2013-14 tenure.

Q8. The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) recently roped in which corporation for maintenance as well as cleanliness of Taj Mahal as well as five more tourist destinations, under the Campaign Clean India?

Ans. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC)

Q9. Recently government decided to set up India's highest Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Nyoma, Leh district of which Indian State?

Ans. Jammu and Kashmir. It will be at an altitude of about 14000 feet.

Q10. The government hiked the import duty on Gold and Platinum on 05 June 2013. What is the present import duty?

Ans. 8 per cent.

Note: Earlier it was 6 per cent. The hike is aimed at curbing import of gold, which is mainly responsible for the rise in Current Account Deficit (CAD) impacting on the country's foreign exchange reserves as well as the rupee value.

Q11.  Where was the first all-women police station started functioning from 4 June 2013?

Ans.  Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh

http://currentaffairs4examz.blogspot.in/

Q12. Who appointed as the new National Security Adviser of US President Barack Obama on 5 June 2013?

Ans. Susan Elizabeth Rice

Note: Presently she was the American ambassador to the United Nations. She replaced Tom Donilon.

Q13. Nawaz Sharif on 5 June 2013 took oath to the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan for his third term after formally being elected as the Prime Minister by the National Assembly. He returned back to power almost after how many years?

Ans. 14

Note: He was forced to leave the office in a military coup and went into exile. He was sworn-in by the President Asif Ali Zardari at a function in an ornate hall at the Presidency.

Q14. Name the operating system launched by Windows recently as the updated version of its Windows 8?

Ans. Windows 8.1

Q15. Name the bullet train series successful tested by Japan recently, which are designed to travel at speeds of about 311-500 mph?

Ans. L0 Series Trains (maglev bullet trains)

Q16. Coca-Cola, the largest soft-drink maker of the world, opened its bottling plant in which country on 4 June 2013 as part of its planned five-year 200 million US dollar investment?

Ans. Myanmar

Q17. SBI reduced interest rate on fixed deposits of maturity up to one year by...................... percent to 7.25 percent?

Ans. 0.25

Q18. Who became the first woman to be elected to the FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) for a full term of four years at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius held on 30 May 2013?

Ans. Burundi's Lydia Nsekera

http://currentaffairs4examz.blogspot.in/

Q19. Who was, on 3 June 2013, elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan?

Ans. Ayaz Sadiq, he was a Leader of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N)

Q20. Under the provisions of which act did Sreesanth and 25 others arrested in connection with IPL spot-fixing scandal denied bail recently?

Ans. Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Note: MCOCA was formulated in 1994 to tackle organized crime which abetted narco-terrorism and raised huge amount of illegal money.

Q21. Indian Skipper MS Dhoni received the ICC ODI Championship Shield and a cheque of 175000 US dollars. State the reason for it?

Ans. for leading the number One ODI team on the annual 1 April cut-off date.

Note: Indian team claimed the number-one spot from England after winning the series 3-2 in January 2013. India won eight out of 13 ODIs while losing five in the 12-month period between 1 April 2012 and 1 April 2013.

Q22. Who became the youngest Indian to scale the Mount Everest on 21 May 2013?

Ans. Raghav Joneja

Note: He broke the record set by Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba  of Manipur's, who climed the everest at the age 16 years seven months and 11 days.

Q23. RBI extended Time for opening up of New Banks by.................... Months recently?

Ans. Six

Q24. Name the young Bollywood actress who committed suicide on 3 June 2013 at her Juhu residence in Mumbai?

Ans.  Jiah Khan.

Note: She debuted in Ram Gopal Varma's Nishabd, opposite veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan in the year 2007.

Q25. Who was recently named as the New Prime Minister of Palestine?

Ans. Rami Hamdallah

Q26. Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme Launched in 18 Districts of India from 01 June 2013. Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, M. Veerappa Moily launched the scheme from which district of Karnataka?

Ans. Tumkur near Bangalore

http://currentaffairs4examz.blogspot.in/

Q27. Who resigned as Chairman of IPL on 1 June 2013 in the wake of the raging spot-fixing scandal?

Ans. Rajeev Shukla

Q28. World Ocean Day was celebrated across the world on 8 June 2013. What was the theme this year?

Ans. Together, we have the Power to Protect the Oceans is the theme for 2013.

Note: For the first time, World Ocean day was introduced in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro with a motive of raising awareness of people towards the crucial role that sea plays in our lives.

Q29. Name the book released by Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari on 6 June 2013, which is authored by Rukhsar Amrohvi?

Ans. Dard-e-Dil Likhun Kab Tak” (in Urdu and Hindi)

Note: Rukhsar Amrohvi is the daughter of the legendary film director and writer Kamal Amrohvi. The book, Dard-E-Dil Likhun Kab Tak is a compilation of poems composed by poetess Rukhsar Amrohvi and some rare pictures of the historic moments of Indian Cinema.

Q30. Who won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2013?

Ans. Kevin Barry. Irish author for his novel City of Bohane