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Rights and Duties of Citizens, Essay Example

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Based on readings of several authors related to modern civilization’s order the author of the current study argues that Kant provides the most comprehensive exploitations of rights and duties of citizens. Indeed, based on moral principles created, the author has grounded his theory based on universal rights and responsibilities of all people. While other authors, such as Sieyes and Rousseau focus on the distribution of power in the modern state, as well as inequality, Kant goes further by defining the universal moral law that applies to every citizen, formulating their actions in relation with their entitlements and responsibilities. Explaining universal human rights through morality and laws of action, Kant creates a foundation for universal ethical principles that led to the development of modern, democratic liberal societies. The reason why the above text was selected as the most significant work on modern western civilization’s values will be explained in detail below, comparing Kant’s work with other authors’ writings.

One of the main statements of Kant’s work “Metaphysics of Morals” is that “citizens should always be regarded as co-legislative members of the state” (Kant, 40). This universal principle of liberal democracy is the foundation of today’s modern states. As Doyle (206) explains liberal democracy, it “is a belief in the importance of moral freedom, of the right to be treated and a duty to treat others as ethical subjects, and not as objects or means only”. This statement rings familiar, when looking at the work of Kant, who explains the rights of people to be treated with respect. Indeed, while Kant does not focus on property and voting rights on an individual level, his moral explanation provides a guidance for citizens of the modern state. The responsibilities of citizens, on the other hand, are also defined by moral principles at Kant. Instead of providing exact rules and restrictions to actions, Kant’s philosophy focuses on the obligation to treat others with respect and act morally.

In Sieyes’ work, we can see that the focus is mainly on the distribution of power, the role of the government, and the obligation of citizens to comply with rules. Rules are supposed to be universal according to the author, as well, however, he focuses on the usefulness of each individual. While defining the rights of the nation as a whole Sieyes does not conclude the universal equality of citizens that is present in Kant’s work. On the other hand, Sade focuses on the restrictive functions of morality and the state, while saying that citizens need to obey their inner ethical judgment, instead of looking at guidance from the state and religion that has previously failed humanity. While describing individuals’ moral responsibilities, and duties for himself.

Rousseau’s work, the “Social Contract”, however, focuses on the roles of different classes based on the state composition. Describing natural freedom of people, he gets close to the same topic as Kant: universality, but does not expand on it enough. Rights of citizens, according to the author are defined by the social contract, while Kant states that they are of moral nature, and universal. According to Rousseau, the main determinant of social and political order is public opinion (Rousseau, 28), based on customs. The author neglects the importance of respect and moral principles. Therefore, it is evident that Kant’s explanation of the relationship between the state and citizens is more thorough and detailed than the works revealed above.

One of the main liberal ideas in Kant’s work is that the law of moral judgment applies to everyone, and there are no exceptions. This law is the foundation of liberal democracies built upon equal legal and political representation. Duties are based on general moral rules. As Kant (42) states, “the vanquished state and its subjects cannot forfeit civil freedom”. With the above statement, Kant goes beyond national borders, and expands human rights to the entire population of the Earth. This forward-thinking thought is one of the main strengths of Kant’s philosophy. Kant’s recognition of every person’s right to life, his emphasis on the freedom of choice, within the boundaries of morality is bringing forward the level of fairness that is embraced by modern democracies, such as the United States.

In recent centuries, several justifications of Kant’s universal rights and responsibilities of respect towards other human beings have been manifested. Some of the examples can be evident, such as the Declaration of Independence, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The ethics of duty might be problematic and unclear, but it includes some of the guiding principles that democratic and liberal states are built upon today. As Perreau-Saussine (2) concludes the philosophy behind Kant’s moral principles related to rights and responsibilities, “at the core of this metaphysics of morals lies a recognition of human freedom: freedom must be presupposed or “postulated” by practical reason”. This statement does not only highlight the rights of individuals, but also the duties of citizens. Based on Kant’s moral metaphysics, respect of other human beings is every person’s duty, not only towards the person, but also the state. This defines the main guidelines for the relationship between the civil society and the modern liberal democracy. In Section III, Kant also refers to the cosmopolitan rights of people, and therefore states that rights are universal, laid down in moral principles, instead of secured and provided by states themselves. Instead of war, Kant (52) proposes gradual reforms of states that are in line with “definite principles” of morality.

Based on the above review of readings and related literature analyzing Kant’s text, it is evident that instead of defining the right “world order” and social contract, like other authors, Kant focuses on principles of humanity’s universal rights and responsibilities that should guide state decisions, as well as individual ones. By defining maxims of morals that laws of humanity and states should be based on, and the principle of respect, Kant is considered to be the most humanistic thinker among all reviewed authors. Instead of focusing on individual restrictions and rights, he develops principles of acting right, for both citizens of the state, and leaders. The main thought of Kant, however, most relevant to modern liberal democracies is the universality of rights to life, freedom, and respect. This is what some of the most advanced constitutions and international principles are based on, therefore, Kant’s definition of citizens’ rights and responsibilities is the most relevant to the study of the development of democratic values and principles. The four feelings listed in the “Metaphysics of Morals” that guide actions are moral feelings, conscience, love for humans, and respect. These feelings are thought to define democratic values in present day, therefore, Kant’s work is the most relevant to modern western civilizations.

Works Cited

Doyle, Michael W. “Kant, liberal legacies, and foreign affairs.”  Philosophy & Public Affairs  (1983): 205-235.

Kant, Immanuel. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals , translated by James W. Ellington. 3rd edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1993.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.  Rousseau:’The Social Contract’and Other Later Political Writings . Cambridge University Press, 1997.

De Sade, M., Seaver, R., & Wainhouse, A. (1990). Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom and other Writings  (p. 285). New York, NY: Grove Press.

Perreau-Saussine, Amanda. “Immanuel Kant on international law.”  The Philosophy of International Law (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010)  (2010).

Sieyès, Comte Emmanuel Joseph, M. Blondel, and Samuel Edward Finer.  What is the Third Estate? . London: Pall Mall Press, 1963.

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Citizenship: The Right to Rights and Duties

“​ To celebrate citizenship is one way for society to show that it is something valuable which strengthens the community. ​ ” ~Jens Orback, 2006

The concept of citizenship dates back to ancient Greek and Roman societies. To effectively determine members of a polis , or city-state, in Greece, citizenship was established. Citizens were allowed more rights than ordinary people, such as the right to participate in democracy, own land, and hold office. In return, citizens were required to fight in defense of the polis and pay taxes [1] . The Romans continued this concept, and they defined citizenship as “the right to vote, … make legally binding contracts, and … enter into a marriage recognized as legal by the state,” [2] in conjunction with upholding duties that included “paying special taxes and serving in the military.” [3] Aristotle defined a citizen as “a person who has the right (​ exousia ​ ) to participate in deliberative or judicial office,” [4] in contrast to a subject, who has no political voice. While both citizens and subjects are obligated to follow the law, citizens have the right to decide its contents.

Culturally, citizenship takes on a meaning of inclusion and identity. According to a study on immigrants’ feelings of belonging, “citizenship is associated with increased host national belonging in countries where the host population attaches great importance to citizenship as a mark of national membership.” [5] Therefore, individuals without citizenship may feel less welcome in the country that they consider home. Citizenship is also linked to the idea of ethnicity. In countries such as Switzerland the idea of “ jus sanguinis ” [6] applies, in which people with parents of the country’s ethnicity are automatically considered citizens. There are many other factors that can qualify an individual as eligible for citizenship, such as location of birth and time spent in a country. [7]

Even within a country, not all citizens are equal. Dating back to ancient Greece, only wealthy citizens had full privileges. [8] While women were occasionally considered citizens in Athens, they did not have full citizenship rights. Today, the lines of citizenship are still blurred. In the US, citizens must be natural born to be eligible for president. In this way, natural-born citizens are considered more American than immigrants. Similarly, in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens,” [9] implying that the state grants Jewish citizens more legitimacy than Arab citizens. Such treatment creates a hierarchy of citizenship, further complicating the term.

Countries must protect, provide for, and invest in their citizens. These obligations can come in the form of military protection, social welfare, and education programs, but vary depending on the state’s values. [10] Many Western countries focus on individual rights, informed by John Locke, such as the right to freedom of speech, privacy, and independence, as emphasized by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [11] In contrast, the majority of Eastern countries tend to place more emphasis on rights to healthcare and familial protection. For example, liberties of Russian citizens include economic freedom and healthcare, [12] and liberties of Chinese citizens include the right to work and rest. [13] The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights informs many of these liberties, but the US has not ratified this treaty. 14 [14]

Citizens have obligations to their country as well. These responsibilities include paying taxes, signing up for a military draft, and participating in politics. Citizens must also demonstrate their allegiance to government bodies. While they do not have to agree with the decisions of the bodies, citizens must respect the entities and their purposes.

Legally, the UN defines citizenship as synonymous to nationality: the entitlement “to the protection of a State and to many civil and political rights.” 15 [15] While this definition should be expanded to account for the duties that citizens must uphold, it illustrates the idea that in a world where the concept of home is becoming less straightforward, everyone deserves to belong to a state that provides them with protection and welfare. Therefore, citizenship should be defined as a membership that both guarantees human rights and the ability to have a say in a country’s policies and requires the upholding of duties within a state and allegiance to its governmental bodies. Not everyone has the luxury of citizenship. While the exact number is unknown, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that ten million people are considered stateless. 16 [16] Stateless individuals are often refugees and internally displaced persons who are unable to gain legal citizenship. Countries that border states with refugee crises must determine whether new migrants will be granted citizenship. In Bangladesh, many Rohingya refugees fleeing genocide in Myanmar have sought asylum. In response, the government of Bangladesh has offered temporary refuge to the Rohingya people, registering over 250,000 refugees as citizens. [17] However, the Bangladeshi government stressed that the refuge for Rohingya people is provisional, limiting basic rights such as education to “nearly 400,000 school-age Rohingya children.” [18]

In India, a recent addition to the Citizenship Act of 1955 sought to make “illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.” [19] The amendment, however, does not include Muslims on the protected list of citizens, putting many at risk of statelessness and violating Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian constitution. [20] While the Indian government claims that it passed the amendment in order to provide asylum for refugees from neighboring countries, many take issue with the religious specifications and claim that the government created the new law to begin construction of an exclusively Hindu nation.

The recently instituted policies in Bangladesh and India are similar in that they cross into uncharted territory with respect to citizenship. Bangladesh does not afford all citizens the same rights in response to refugee surges, and India is granting citizenship differently based on religion. Ideally, citizenship should be equally available to everyone, and the principles of citizenship should be the same for every citizen. These policies demonstrate that this ideal notion is far from reality, as xenophobia and nationalism come into play. When countries amend the law as to who can become a citizen and what rights the government affords them, inequitable policies can disadvantage many individuals. Therefore, countries should take into consideration the implications of these changes and how to combat the interference of bigotry and bias within the legislation and measures of citizenship.

Works Cited

Achiron, Marilyn. ​ Nationality and Statelessness: A Handbook for Parliamentarians ​ ,2005, www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/Nationality%20and%20Statelessness.pdf.

Ahren, Raphael. “For Netanyahu, All Israelis Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal thanOthers.” The ​ Times of Israel , ​ 11 Mar. 2019,www.timesofisrael.com/for-netanyahu-all-israelis-are-equal-but-some-are-more-equal-than-others/.

“‘Are We Not Human?’: Denial of Education for Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh.” Human Rights Watch , ​ 3 Dec. 2019,www.hrw.org/report/2019/12/03/are-we-not-human/denial-education-rohingya-refugee-children-bangladesh.

Chaudhry, Suparna. “India’s New Law May Leave Millions of Muslims without Citizenship.” The Washington Post ​ ,WP Company, 13 Dec. 2019,www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/13/indias-new-law-may-leave-millions-musli ms-without-citizenship/.

“Citizenship & Nationality.” ​ International Justice Resource Center ​ ,2020, ijrcenter.org/thematic-research-guides/nationality-citizenship/.

Finnigan, Christopher. “Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh: How the Absence of Citizenship Rights Acts as a Barrier to Successful Repatriation.” ​ South Asia at LSE ​ ,The London School of Economics and Political Science, 12 June 2019, blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2019/06/12/rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh-how-a-lack-citize nship-rights-are-a-barrier-to-successful-repatriation/.

“Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Chinese Citizens.” ​ Political Science Notes​ ,18 Aug.2016,www.politicalsciencenotes.com/china/fundamental-rights-and-duties-of-the-chinese-citizens/1400.

“International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” ​ OHCHR ​ ,1966, https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx.

“International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” ​ OHCHR ​ ,1966, www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx.

“Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America.” ​ USCIS​ ,U.S. Citizenshipand Immigration Services, 8 Mar. 2010,www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america.

Miller, Fred. “Aristotle’s Political Theory.” ​ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ​ ,no. Winter, 2017, plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/aristotle-politics/.

Moulton, Carroll. ​ Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students​ .Vol. 4, 1998.

“Rights and Liberties Enjoyed by the Russian Citizens.” ​ Article Library ​ ,5 Dec. 2014, www.yourarticlelibrary.com/countries/russia/rights-and-liberties-enjoyed-by-the-russian-citizens/44255.

Scott, James Brown. “Nationality: Jus Soli or Jus Sanguinis.” ​ The American Journal of International Law ​ ,vol. 24, no. 1, 1930, pp. 58–64.​ JSTOR ​ ,www.jstor.org/stable/2189299. Accessed 8 Mar. 2020.

Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. “Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies.” Comparative migration studies vol. 5,1 (2017): 3. doi:10.1186/s40878-017-0050-6.

Slaughter, Anne-Marie. “Three Responsibilities Every Government Has towards Its Citizens.” World Economic Forum , ​ 13 Feb. 2017,www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/government-responsibility-to-citizens-anne-marie-slaughter/.

Waas, Laura Van, et al. “The World’s Stateless: A New Report on Why Size Does and Doesn’tMatter.” European ​ Network on Statelessness , ​ Institutes on Statelessness and Inclusion, 15 Dec. 2014, doesn%E2%80%99t-matter.

“Welcoming Ceremony for All New Swedes.” ​ The Local ​ ,21 Apr. 2006, www.thelocal.se/20060421/3608.

[1] Moulton​ 89

[2] Moulton 90

[3] Moulton 90

[5] Simonsen​ 1

[6] Scott​ 60

[7] International Justice Resource Center

[8] Moulton 89

[10] Slaughter

[11] Office​ of the High Commissioner

[12] Article​ Library

[13] Political​ Science Notes

[14] Office​ of the High Commissioner

[15] Achiron​ 2

[16] Waas​ et al.

[17] Finnigan

[18] Human​ Rights Watch

[19] PRS​ Legislative Research

[20] Chaudhry

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4.2: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens and Non-Citizens

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• Robert W. Maloy & Torrey Trust
• University of Massachusetts via EdTech Books

Standard 4.2: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens and Non-Citizens

Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens as compared to non-citizens. (Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for History and Social Studies) [8.T4.2]

FOCUS QUESTION: What are the rights and responsibilities of United States citizens and non-citizens?

Information from the Department of Homeland Security (public domain):

The Bill of Rights (the Constitution's first 10 amendments) set forth the rights (protections under the law) of Americans. But those rights come with responsibilities (obligations that citizens are expected to perform), such as paying taxes, serving on a jury when called, defending the country, and participating in the democratic process. Exercising one's rights and fulfilling one's responsibilities are the features of active and engaged citizenship in this country.

Non-citizens also have rights and responsibilities as members of American society, but their situations are complicated by legal rules and political pressures.

What are the rights of citizens and non-citizens? The modules for this standard explore that question by outlining specific rights and responsibilities, examining the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and considering whether Fred Korematsu or other individuals who fought for civil rights and civil liberties should have a national day of recognition.

Modules for this Standard Include:

• MEDIA LITERACY CONNECTIONS: Portrayals of Immigrants in Television and Film
• UNCOVER: The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
• ENGAGE: Should Individuals Who Fought for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Have a National Day of Recognition?

4.2.1 INVESTIGATE: The Rights of Citizens and of Non-Citizens

93% of the people living in the United States are citizens; 7% are non-citizens ( Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020 ). One recent estimate puts the number of non-citizens at 22.6 million ( CAP Immigration Team & Nicolson, 2017 ).

The rights of individuals under the Constitution apply to citizens and non-citizens alike.

Non-citizens, no matter what their immigration status, generally have the same rights as citizens when law enforcement officers stop, question, arrest, or search them or their homes. Since the Constitution uses the term "people" or "person" rather than "citizen," many of the "basic rights, such as the freedom of religion and speech, the right to due process and equal protection under the law apply to citizens and noncitizens. How those rights play out in practice is more complex" ( Frazee, 2018, para. 6-7 ). Learn more: Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities & Constitutional Rights of Non-Citizens .

Media Literacy Connections: Portrayals of Immigrant in Television and Film

Portrayals of immigrants and the immigrant experience are frequent themes in television and film.

A portrayal is how an individual or group is presented in media, but such representations may or may not be factually accurate. Sometimes these representations offer an idealized view of the immigrant experience. While the Statue of Liberty portrays a nation welcoming newcomers, the reality is that the United States was and is not a land of opportunity for many who come here.

In other instances, immigrants may be presented in harmfully stereotypical terms, often as criminals or threats. In the report Change the Narrative, Change the World: How Immigrant Representation on Television Moves Audiences to Action, researchers from the University of Southern California found viewers who saw programs with more inclusive immigration storylines had more welcoming, supportive attitudes toward immigrants than those who did not.

In these activities, you will explore whether current portrayals and representations of immigrants in television and film media are accurate or stereotypical, and while so doing, consider: "What does media representation of immigrants mean to immigrants?"

• Activity 1: Write a Letter of Praise or Protest (Persuasive Writing)
• Activity 2: Evaluate the Representation of Immigrants in the Movies

Suggested Learning Activities

• Legal Rights of Undocumented Immigrants , KQED Learning
• Know Your Rights: A Guide to the U.S. Constitution , Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of Minnesota
• Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement, American Civil Liberties Union

\(^*\)This activity is designed to demonstrate that the rights guaranteed to all Americans as citizens are not universal for all people (even legal immigrants to the country). It ask students to think critically and creatively about what rights all people should have. It is based on a learning plan developed by University of Massachusetts Amherst teaching interns Conor Morrissey and Connor Frechette-McCall in Fall 2019.

Online Resources for the Rights of Citizens and Non-Citizens

• LEARNING PLAN: When Some Students are Undocumented, and Some Are Not: Teaching Civics in Mixed-Citizenship Classrooms , Social Education (November/December 2020).
• Becoming American: Exploring Names and Identities , Facing History and Ourselves
• Rights of Non-Citizens under the Equal Protection Clause , from Exploring Constitutional Conflicts
• The Supreme Court has incorporated the numerous rights from the Bill of Rights against actions by the government.

4.2.2 UNCOVER: Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II

Following the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 , which mandated moving 120,000 Japanese-Americans from their homes to one of 10 internment camps in the western part of the United States. Most of the people relocated were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.

The internment camps , officially called "relocation centers," were located in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. Over 50% of those interned were children. To learn about the camps, view Building History 3.0: An Interactive Explorations of the Japanese American Incarceration in Minecraft .

Constitutional safeguards given to United States citizens were ignored or bypassed in the name of national defense. People were detained for up to four years, without due process of law or any factual basis, and forced to live in remote camps behind barbed wire and under the surveillance of armed guards.

Video \(\PageIndex{1}\): "Japanese Relocation", a short film released by the U.S. government in 1942 to explain the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans.

Actor George Takei, of Star Trek, and his family were imprisoned in Rowher, Arkansas, as documented in his autobiography To The Stars (1995). Takei and three co-writers have since collaborated on They Called Us Enemy , a graphic memoir about his experiences in the camp (2019).

In 1944, two years after signing Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt revoked the order. The last internment camp was closed by the end of 1945. There was no official apology from the United States government until passage of The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 . In 1991, President George H. W. Bush wrote a letter of apology to each surviving internment camp member, who also received a $20,000 check from the government ( Letter from President George Bush to Japanese Internees ).

Largely forgotten today were the experiences of Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the United States in western Europe. Many of these soldiers were Nisei (American-born children of Japanese immigrants), and former members of the Hawaii National Guard. They experienced the contradiction of fighting to liberate Europe and close down German concentration camps while other Japanese-Americans were interned in camps at home. Learn more about the hidden history of Japanese-American Soldiers in World War II from the website Re-Imagining Migration.

• Japanese Relocation is a short video from the US government explaining the decision to create internment camps
• The Internment Diary of Toyojiro Suzuki from the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
• A collection of Ansel Adams' photographs showing life in a Japanese Internment camp.
• Japanese-American woman who was forced into an internment camp at 16 recalls time in custody
• Brief Overview of the World War II Enemy Alien Control Program
• Children of the Camps is a PBS documentary (and accompanying website) about the experiences of six Japanese-Americans who were detained as children.
• Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project offers multimedia materials including a slideshow and videos as well as oral histories from Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II.
• As a model for this activity, see Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II Poster Exhibition from the Smithsonian.
• Find more information on a wiki page for Japanese Internment in World War II
• Split the class into two groups and have one group research reasons for the use of internment camps and the other group research issues and unfair treatment that resulted from the camps.
• Share findings and discuss whether or not the internment camps should have been used after hearing both sides.
• What alternatives could the U.S. government have used instead of internment camps?
• Should constitutional safeguards given to United States citizens be ignored or bypassed in the name of national defense?

Online Resources for Japanese Internment

• Lesson plan on Japanese Internment from Library of Congress
• Lesson Plans from the Mananzar National Historic Site focus on the experiences at one of the primary internment camps.
• A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans & the U.S. Constitution from the Smithsonian Museum of American History that uses images, music and text to explore the experience of citizens placed in detention camps during World War II.
• Hirabayashi v. United States (1943)
• Korematsu v. United States (1944)

4.3.3 ENGAGE: Should Individuals Who Fought for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Have a National Day of Recognition?

In 1942, a 23-year-old Japanese American named Fred Korematsu refused an order to move to one of the government's wartime internment camps. He was arrested, convicted, and jailed for his actions. Along with two other resistors, he appealed his case to the Supreme Court which upheld his conviction. That conviction was eventually overturned in 1983.

To honor his fight for civil rights and civil liberties, Fred Koresmatsu Day was enacted in California in 2010. It was the first state-wide day in the United States to be named after an Asian American. Hawaii, Virginia, and Florida have since passed laws honoring Fred Korematsu to perpetuity. Learn more at It's Fred Korematsu Day: Celebrating a Foe of U.S. Internment Camps , and Honoring a Japanese-American Who Fought Against Internment Camps .

Deciding to honor someone for their historical efforts has large political implications in the United States today. Despite its racist history, there are states and communities that continue to celebrate the Confederacy and Confederate war heroes with days of recognition ( Southern Poverty Law Center, 2019 ). At the same time, there are individuals and groups who fought for civil rights and civil liberties but who remain neglected or omitted from history books and state-level history curriculum frameworks.

Students can be effective advocates for honoring those who fought for civil rights and civil liberties . In the early 1980s, students from Oakland Tech High School class of 1981 - " The Apollos " - engaged in a four-year campaign to get the state of California to establish a day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their efforts were successful when California became the fourth state to have a MLK Day (the national holiday was established in 1986). In 2109, students at the school wrote and performed a play about the efforts of the Apollos ( California High School Students Who Lobbied for State MLK Holiday Honored in Oakland Tech Play ).

Who would you nominate for a State or National Day of Recognition for efforts to achieve civil rights and civil liberties?

• Why has the U.S. failed to fully recognize individuals like Fred Koresmatsu who stood up for American ideals?
• Select an individual and write a persuasive essay (or design a video) to send to a local or national elected official.
• For example, on August 14, 2021, Navajo Code Talkers Day became a legal state holiday in Arizona.
• Kinfolk , an app by Movers & Shakers NYC, features augmented reality monuments of famous Black historical figures with narrated text, artifacts, images, biographical information, and other materials.
• Navajo and Tlingit Code Talkers
• Benjamin Banneker, African American Author, Surveyor, and Scientis t
• Langston Hughes, Activist and Journalist
• Marian Anderson, Singer and Civil Rights Activist
• A. Philip Randolph, Black Labor Activist
• The Black Cabinet was a group of 45 African Americans who held positions in cabinet offices or New Deal agencies. Learn more at the National Women's History Museum website: Mary McLeod Bethune - Overview and Background (1875-1955) .
• There is more information at Bessie Coleman from The History Chicks podcast site and a historical biography page on the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki: Bessie Coleman, African American Aviator and Civil Rights Pioneer .

Standard 4.2 Conclusion

In the United States, every citizen has rights and responsibilities as a member of a democratic society. Non-citizens have rights too, although they differ from those of citizens. INVESTIGATE explored the specific rights of citizens and non-citizens. UNCOVER focused on the suspension of citizenship rights during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. ENGAGE asked whether days of recognition should be given to Fred Korematsu or other women and men who fought to establish and preserve civil rights and civil liberties throughout American history.

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Free English Study Materials

Essay on Rights and Duties of a Citizen

Hints: Introduction, Definition of citizen, Rights of a citizen, Duties of a citizen, Limit of rights and duties, Conclusion.

Introduction

In this modern world, a citizen needs to know his rights and duties as a citizen. To keep up peace and harmony in a society or country, every member of that country should be aware of his rights and duties to the society or country. The Constitution of each country specifies some duties and rights. Besides, there exist some unwritten rules of conduct also. To be a conscious citizen, everyone should follow these rules of conduct.

Definition of citizen

Before starting the main discussion, it is important to define the term, Citizen. “Citizen’ primarily means one who lives in a city. But the term is generally used in a wider sense to mean one belonging to a state. A person who has all rights as a member of a state, either by birth or given such rights by the state is called a citizen. A citizen has some duties to the state also.

Rights of a citizen Man is a social being. As a member of a society, one should enjoy some facilities. Due to the creation of states, now states ensure some facilities which are called basic rights of a citizen such as security, justice, freedom of speech, etc. The Constitution of Bangladesh also has given some rights to all. In Bangladesh, the Basic rights of a citizen are discussed below :

• Security: It is the right of a citizen to get the security of his life and property. The state is responsible to protect one’s life and property whether S/he stays in that country or not. If one acts rightly, he can claim the protection of his state even in a foreign country.
• Equality: According to law, all citizens are equal. The state does not make any discrimination among her citizen based on religion, sex, color, place of birth, etc. Of course, the government can take special steps to develop the less developed community.
• Justice: Every citizen has the right to get justice by an independent and neutral court. Every citizen has the right to show arguments in favor of him in court also.
• Choice of the profession: A citizen has the right to choose his own profession. One has freedom of movement to carry on any legal business.
• Expression of opinion: It is a very important right of a citizen. One can express one’s opinion independently in a democratic state.
• Movement: A citizen has the right to move anywhere within his own country without any restriction.
• Every citizen can form an association and participate in politics if it does not jeopardize the existence of the state.
• Religion: A citizen has the right to choose and perform any religion. The state ensures performing religious work safely. Besides, the state ensures some other fundamental rights such as food, cloth, housing, health, education, etc.

Duties of a citizen

Since a citizen enjoys rights in a state, he has some duties to the state. Because right implies duty. A citizen should treat his own country as his mother. The main duties of a citizen towards his country are as follow :

• a) The first and main duty of a citizen is to keep him prepared to save or protect his state from all sorts of probable threats to her (state’s) independence and sovereignty. He must keep the state’s interest above all other interests.
• b) Another important duty of a citizen is to obey the laws of the state. A citizen should not take the law into his own hands. To honor the laws is a pre-condition of peace.
• c) A citizen must work for the well-being of the state. He should not involve in any activities which may hinder the progress and development of his state.
• d) To select an appropriate leader using voting power, is another important duty of a citizen. A citizen should use his voting power honestly and intelligently.
• e) A citizen must be ready to pay government taxes due on him. Besides, to abide by unwritten rules of the state and society is not less important. A citizen should help the government if any unexpected calamity comes.

Limit of rights and duties

Basic rights, such as freedom of expression, formation of an organization, etc. do not indicate that a citizen can do everything. Because absolute right may increase the tendency to branch off law. Hence, a citizen’s rights are fixed up by the constitution. On the other hand, a citizen cannot do such types of activities without proper authorization which represents the state.

Man is a social being. So, he should try to live in peace with himself and with society. A citizen must be loyal and obedient to his state. He must not participate in any subversive activities. To live in peace, one has to know his duties and rights to the state at first. Actually, it is another and the most important duty of a citizen to know his rights and duties properly. Then and only then, he can be a good citizen.

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Essay on Human Rights: Samples in 500 and 1500

• Updated on  
• Dec 9, 2023

Essay writing is an integral part of the school curriculum and various academic and competitive exams like IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. It is designed to test your command of the English language and how well you can gather your thoughts and present them in a structure with a flow. To master your ability to write an essay, you must read as much as possible and practise on any given topic. This blog brings you a detailed guide on how to write an essay on Human Rights , with useful essay samples on Human rights.

This Blog Includes:

The basic human rights, 200 words essay on human rights, 500 words essay on human rights, 500+ words essay on human rights in india, 1500 words essay on human rights, importance of human rights, essay on human rights pdf.

Also Read: List of Human Rights Courses

Also Read: MSc Human Rights

Also Read: 1-Minute Speech on Human Rights for Students

What are Human Rights

Human rights mark everyone as free and equal, irrespective of age, gender, caste, creed, religion and nationality. The United Nations adopted human rights in light of the atrocities people faced during the Second World War. On the 10th of December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its adoption led to the recognition of human rights as the foundation for freedom, justice and peace for every individual. Although it’s not legally binding, most nations have incorporated these human rights into their constitutions and domestic legal frameworks. Human rights safeguard us from discrimination and guarantee that our most basic needs are protected.

Did you know that the 10th of December is celebrated as Human Rights Day ?

Before we move on to the essays on human rights, let’s check out the basics of what they are.

Also Read: What are Human Rights?

Also Read: 7 Impactful Human Rights Movies Everyone Must Watch!

Here is a 200-word short sample essay on basic Human Rights.

Human rights are a set of rights given to every human being regardless of their gender, caste, creed, religion, nation, location or economic status. These are said to be moral principles that illustrate certain standards of human behaviour. Protected by law , these rights are applicable everywhere and at any time. Basic human rights include the right to life, right to a fair trial, right to remedy by a competent tribunal, right to liberty and personal security, right to own property, right to education, right of peaceful assembly and association, right to marriage and family, right to nationality and freedom to change it, freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, freedom from slavery, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of movement, right of opinion and information, right to adequate living standard and freedom from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence.

Also Read: Law Courses

Check out this 500-word long essay on Human Rights.

Every person has dignity and value. One of the ways that we recognise the fundamental worth of every person is by acknowledging and respecting their human rights. Human rights are a set of principles concerned with equality and fairness. They recognise our freedom to make choices about our lives and develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment or discrimination.

Human rights can broadly be defined as the basic rights that people worldwide have agreed are essential. These include the right to life, the right to a fair trial, freedom from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to health, education and an adequate standard of living. These human rights are the same for all people everywhere – men and women, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of our background, where we live, what we think or believe. This basic property is what makes human rights’ universal’.

Human rights connect us all through a shared set of rights and responsibilities. People’s ability to enjoy their human rights depends on other people respecting those rights. This means that human rights involve responsibility and duties towards other people and the community. Individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they exercise their rights with consideration for the rights of others. For example, when someone uses their right to freedom of speech, they should do so without interfering with someone else’s right to privacy.

Governments have a particular responsibility to ensure that people can enjoy their rights. They must establish and maintain laws and services that enable people to enjoy a life in which their rights are respected and protected. For example, the right to education says that everyone is entitled to a good education. Therefore, governments must provide good quality education facilities and services to their people. If the government fails to respect or protect their basic human rights, people can take it into account.

Values of tolerance, equality and respect can help reduce friction within society. Putting human rights ideas into practice can help us create the kind of society we want to live in. There has been tremendous growth in how we think about and apply human rights ideas in recent decades. This growth has had many positive results – knowledge about human rights can empower individuals and offer solutions for specific problems.

Human rights are an important part of how people interact with others at all levels of society – in the family, the community, school, workplace, politics and international relations. Therefore, people everywhere must strive to understand what human rights are. When people better understand human rights, it is easier for them to promote justice and the well-being of society. 

Also Read: Important Articles in Indian Constitution

Here is a human rights essay focused on India.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It has been rightly proclaimed in the American Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Created with certain unalienable rights….” Similarly, the Indian Constitution has ensured and enshrined Fundamental rights for all citizens irrespective of caste, creed, religion, colour, sex or nationality. These basic rights, commonly known as human rights, are recognised the world over as basic rights with which every individual is born.

In recognition of human rights, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made on the 10th of December, 1948. This declaration is the basic instrument of human rights. Even though this declaration has no legal bindings and authority, it forms the basis of all laws on human rights. The necessity of formulating laws to protect human rights is now being felt all over the world. According to social thinkers, the issue of human rights became very important after World War II concluded. It is important for social stability both at the national and international levels. Wherever there is a breach of human rights, there is conflict at one level or the other.

Given the increasing importance of the subject, it becomes necessary that educational institutions recognise the subject of human rights as an independent discipline. The course contents and curriculum of the discipline of human rights may vary according to the nature and circumstances of a particular institution. Still, generally, it should include the rights of a child, rights of minorities, rights of the needy and the disabled, right to live, convention on women, trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation etc.

Since the formation of the United Nations , the promotion and protection of human rights have been its main focus. The United Nations has created a wide range of mechanisms for monitoring human rights violations. The conventional mechanisms include treaties and organisations, U.N. special reporters, representatives and experts and working groups. Asian countries like China argue in favour of collective rights. According to Chinese thinkers, European countries lay stress upon individual rights and values while Asian countries esteem collective rights and obligations to the family and society as a whole.

With the freedom movement the world over after World War II, the end of colonisation also ended the policy of apartheid and thereby the most aggressive violation of human rights. With the spread of education, women are asserting their rights. Women’s movements play an important role in spreading the message of human rights. They are fighting for their rights and supporting the struggle for human rights of other weaker and deprived sections like bonded labour, child labour, landless labour, unemployed persons, Dalits and elderly people.

Unfortunately, violation of human rights continues in most parts of the world. Ethnic cleansing and genocide can still be seen in several parts of the world. Large sections of the world population are deprived of the necessities of life i.e. food, shelter and security of life. Right to minimum basic needs viz. Work, health care, education and shelter are denied to them. These deprivations amount to the negation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Also Read: Human Rights Courses

Check out this detailed 1500-word essay on human rights.

The human right to live and exist, the right to equality, including equality before the law, non-discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, the right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, the right to practice any profession or occupation, the right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and trafficking in human beings, the right to freedom of conscience, practice and propagation of religion and the right to legal remedies for enforcement of the above are basic human rights. These rights and freedoms are the very foundations of democracy.

Obviously, in a democracy, the people enjoy the maximum number of freedoms and rights. Besides these are political rights, which include the right to contest an election and vote freely for a candidate of one’s choice. Human rights are a benchmark of a developed and civilised society. But rights cannot exist in a vacuum. They have their corresponding duties. Rights and duties are the two aspects of the same coin.

Liberty never means license. Rights presuppose the rule of law, where everyone in the society follows a code of conduct and behaviour for the good of all. It is the sense of duty and tolerance that gives meaning to rights. Rights have their basis in the ‘live and let live’ principle. For example, my right to speech and expression involves my duty to allow others to enjoy the same freedom of speech and expression. Rights and duties are inextricably interlinked and interdependent. A perfect balance is to be maintained between the two. Whenever there is an imbalance, there is chaos.

A sense of tolerance, propriety and adjustment is a must to enjoy rights and freedom. Human life sans basic freedom and rights is meaningless. Freedom is the most precious possession without which life would become intolerable, a mere abject and slavish existence. In this context, Milton’s famous and oft-quoted lines from his Paradise Lost come to mind: “To reign is worth ambition though in hell/Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.”

However, liberty cannot survive without its corresponding obligations and duties. An individual is a part of society in which he enjoys certain rights and freedom only because of the fulfilment of certain duties and obligations towards others. Thus, freedom is based on mutual respect’s rights. A fine balance must be maintained between the two, or there will be anarchy and bloodshed. Therefore, human rights can best be preserved and protected in a society steeped in morality, discipline and social order.

Violation of human rights is most common in totalitarian and despotic states. In the theocratic states, there is much persecution, and violation in the name of religion and the minorities suffer the most. Even in democracies, there is widespread violation and infringement of human rights and freedom. The women, children and the weaker sections of society are victims of these transgressions and violence.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights’ main concern is to protect and promote human rights and freedom in the world’s nations. In its various sessions held from time to time in Geneva, it adopts various measures to encourage worldwide observations of these basic human rights and freedom. It calls on its member states to furnish information regarding measures that comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whenever there is a complaint of a violation of these rights. In addition, it reviews human rights situations in various countries and initiates remedial measures when required.

The U.N. Commission was much concerned and dismayed at the apartheid being practised in South Africa till recently. The Secretary-General then declared, “The United Nations cannot tolerate apartheid. It is a legalised system of racial discrimination, violating the most basic human rights in South Africa. It contradicts the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. That is why over the last forty years, my predecessors and I have urged the Government of South Africa to dismantle it.”

Now, although apartheid is no longer practised in that country, other forms of apartheid are being blatantly practised worldwide. For example, sex apartheid is most rampant. Women are subject to abuse and exploitation. They are not treated equally and get less pay than their male counterparts for the same jobs. In employment, promotions, possession of property etc., they are most discriminated against. Similarly, the rights of children are not observed properly. They are forced to work hard in very dangerous situations, sexually assaulted and exploited, sold and bonded for labour.

The Commission found that religious persecution, torture, summary executions without judicial trials, intolerance, slavery-like practices, kidnapping, political disappearance, etc., are being practised even in the so-called advanced countries and societies. The continued acts of extreme violence, terrorism and extremism in various parts of the world like Pakistan, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Somalia, Algeria, Lebanon, Chile, China, and Myanmar, etc., by the governments, terrorists, religious fundamentalists, and mafia outfits, etc., is a matter of grave concern for the entire human race.

Violation of freedom and rights by terrorist groups backed by states is one of the most difficult problems society faces. For example, Pakistan has been openly collaborating with various terrorist groups, indulging in extreme violence in India and other countries. In this regard the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva adopted a significant resolution, which was co-sponsored by India, focusing on gross violation of human rights perpetrated by state-backed terrorist groups.

The resolution expressed its solidarity with the victims of terrorism and proposed that a U.N. Fund for victims of terrorism be established soon. The Indian delegation recalled that according to the Vienna Declaration, terrorism is nothing but the destruction of human rights. It shows total disregard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. The delegation further argued that terrorism cannot be treated as a mere crime because it is systematic and widespread in its killing of civilians.

Violation of human rights, whether by states, terrorists, separatist groups, armed fundamentalists or extremists, is condemnable. Regardless of the motivation, such acts should be condemned categorically in all forms and manifestations, wherever and by whomever they are committed, as acts of aggression aimed at destroying human rights, fundamental freedom and democracy. The Indian delegation also underlined concerns about the growing connection between terrorist groups and the consequent commission of serious crimes. These include rape, torture, arson, looting, murder, kidnappings, blasts, and extortion, etc.

Violation of human rights and freedom gives rise to alienation, dissatisfaction, frustration and acts of terrorism. Governments run by ambitious and self-seeking people often use repressive measures and find violence and terror an effective means of control. However, state terrorism, violence, and human freedom transgressions are very dangerous strategies. This has been the background of all revolutions in the world. Whenever there is systematic and widespread state persecution and violation of human rights, rebellion and revolution have taken place. The French, American, Russian and Chinese Revolutions are glowing examples of human history.

The first war of India’s Independence in 1857 resulted from long and systematic oppression of the Indian masses. The rapidly increasing discontent, frustration and alienation with British rule gave rise to strong national feelings and demand for political privileges and rights. Ultimately the Indian people, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, made the British leave India, setting the country free and independent.

Human rights and freedom ought to be preserved at all costs. Their curtailment degrades human life. The political needs of a country may reshape Human rights, but they should not be completely distorted. Tyranny, regimentation, etc., are inimical of humanity and should be resisted effectively and united. The sanctity of human values, freedom and rights must be preserved and protected. Human Rights Commissions should be established in all countries to take care of human freedom and rights. In cases of violation of human rights, affected individuals should be properly compensated, and it should be ensured that these do not take place in future.

These commissions can become effective instruments in percolating the sensitivity to human rights down to the lowest levels of governments and administrations. The formation of the National Human Rights Commission in October 1993 in India is commendable and should be followed by other countries.

Also Read: Law Courses in India

Human rights are of utmost importance to seek basic equality and human dignity. Human rights ensure that the basic needs of every human are met. They protect vulnerable groups from discrimination and abuse, allow people to stand up for themselves, and follow any religion without fear and give them the freedom to express their thoughts freely. In addition, they grant people access to basic education and equal work opportunities. Thus implementing these rights is crucial to ensure freedom, peace and safety.

Human Rights Day is annually celebrated on the 10th of December.

Human Rights Day is celebrated to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UNGA in 1948.

Some of the common Human Rights are the right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom from slavery and torture and the right to work and education.

We hope our sample essays on Human Rights have given you some great ideas. For more information on such interesting blogs, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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Background Essay: Rights, Equality, and Citizenship

Directions:

Keep these discussion questions in mind as you read the background essay, making marginal notes as desired. Respond to the reflection and analysis questions at the end of the essay.

Discussion Questions

• Is suffrage a right or a privilege?
• Is suffrage necessary for a person to be considered a citizen?
• Is legal equality necessary for liberty?
• Can a person be free if not equal under the law?

Introduction

What is equality? What is the connection between equality and citizenship? The principle of equality means that all individuals have the same status regarding their claim to natural rights and treatment before the law. Our definition of citizenship has expanded throughout American history, most often through claims to our natural equality. The story of women’s suffrage is an example of the patience, determination, and sacrifice necessary to carry out long term change within a constitutional order. The word, suffrage, meaning “the right to vote,” originated with the Latin suffragium, meaning “a vote cast in an assembly, or influence given in support of a candidate.”

The Declaration of Independence asserts as a self-evident truth that all people were created equal. Something “self-evident” is a plain truth that does not need to be proven through reasoned deduction from other principles. It is apparent immediately (or self-evident) to any reasonable observer that there are no natural differences among people which give one person or group of people (such as kings and queens) the power to rule over others without their consent. All have equal rights and dignity.

In his Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690), as part of an argument against slavery, English philosopher John Locke theorized that all people are born free: “The natural liberty of man [human beings] is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man [humans], but to have only the law of nature for his rule.”

Almost a century later, Samuel Adams quoted Locke regarding the natural liberty of man, agreeing that all people are created equally free; there are no natural rulers.

Equality and Natural Rights

Further, the Declaration asserts that it was “self-evident” that human beings were “endowed by their Creator” with certain rights. In the Founders’ view, since rights come from God, the creator of our human nature, an individual’s natural rights could be neither given nor taken away. They are, to use the Declaration’s word, unalienable

The term “natural” here refers to human nature. Natural rights are those rights humans have at birth, including life, liberty, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, and others. No person or government can “give” an individual these rights; they are part of what it means to be human. One can know natural rights are natural because they can all be exercised without requiring anything from others. Natural rights are sometimes called negative rights for this reason. They are also called inherent rights because they inhere in humanity: they are an essential characteristic of human nature.

Painting depicting Thomas Jefferson and his fellow committee members presenting their draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress. Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, 1819. United States Capitol.

“Nobody Can Give More Power Than He Has Himself”

The assertion of inherent rights remains the foundation for the principle of equality. In the same argument against slavery, Locke reasoned:

“This freedom from absolute, arbitrary power, is so necessary to, and closely joined with a man’s preservation, that he cannot part with it…for a man, not having the power of his own life, cannot, by compact, or his own consent, enslave himself to any one, nor put himself under the absolute, arbitrary power of another, to take away his life, when he pleases. Nobody can give more power than he has himself; and he that cannot take away his own life, cannot give another power over it.”

In other words, Locke maintained, individual lives and the rights that flow from human nature belong to the Creator

Again, Adams echoes Locke in The Rights of the Colonists (1772):

“It is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defense of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate [make void] such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.”

Because humans are born with inherent rights, these rights are the same under any political system. An unjust government— including a tyrannical majority—may abuse or abridge the people’s inherent rights, but can never remove them, since these rights are essential to human nature.

But not all rights are inherent. Political rights, for example, may vary through times and places, because, unlike natural rights, they are given by government. Many political rights, including voting and serving on juries, have been expanded to more groups of people throughout American history through claims to natural and inherent equality. Although people use the term “rights” to refer to them, these rights conferred by civil society could more accurately be considered privileges—abilities that can be justly given or denied by government under certain conditions. For example, a driver’s license will be granted if a person passes a driving test, but can be revoked for drunk driving or too many accidents. A person can lose the ability to serve on a jury and to vote if convicted of a felony. People have inherent rights by nature, but must have permission in order to exercise a privilege.

Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley, about 1772; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The U.S. Constitution

The Declaration asserted two more principles that were self-evident: that in order to secure our rights, “governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that when a government repeatedly abuses the peoples’ rights, the people have the power and the duty to “alter or abolish” it and create a new government that will better protect their rights and ensure their safety and happiness.

After a time under the Articles of Confederation, many observers recognized the need for a more powerful central government, giving rise to a convention of the states in 1787. The resulting new Constitution’s opening lines “We the people…ordain and establish this Constitution” outlined a government of limited powers, recognizing the sovereignty of the individual and protecting the natural right of the people to govern themselves.

With this right to self-government come many responsibilities. In fact, it could be argued that citizenship is more about responsibilities than about rights. Individuals are free to make choices about their government and direct their own lives within a system that guarantees the equal right (and responsibility) of others to do the same. The Constitution reflects the sovereignty of the individual, by limiting the national government to certain enumerated powers, leaving everything else to the states and to the people.

Theory vs. Practice

Despite the bold proclamation, the principle of equality was not meaningfully reflected in the lives of all people during the early republic. Enslaved persons and Native Americans were unable to exercise their inherent rights and were not afforded political rights. The Constitution sanctioned slavery both explicitly and implicitly: it gave Congress the power to ban the international slave trade, but mandated a 20-year waiting period before doing so. The Constitution also allowed slave states to count three-fifths of their enslaved population toward the calculation of those states’ representation in Congress. Though this compromise prevented slave states from having even greater power (they had wanted to count their entire slave populations), the policy tolerated the practice of owning and trading in human beings. Though many of the leading Founders were convinced of the evils and injustices of slavery, they did not end it in their lifetimes.

Women also lacked legal equality. Enslaved women and Native American women were denied all of their rights. Among white women, and depending on varying state laws, widows had some political rights and could own property, but married white women had no legal status at all under the traditional doctrine of coverture. The English jurist William Blackstone explained this doctrine in 1765. Through marriage, husband and wife become one person under the law: “the  very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband; under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything.”

The Constitution left voting requirements to the states, and so states could adopt different policies. Some states did away with property requirements but still required voters to be taxpayers. Some states required a tax to vote, or a poll tax. Vermont became the first state to grant universal male suffrage in 1777. New Jersey allowed property-owning white women and free African Americans to vote for a short time before that right was revoked in 1807.

Extending Equality

The Founding generation did not perfectly live out its ideal of equality. However, it provided a foundation for greater expansion of liberty through time. Through sustained effort and commitment over time, Americans have persistently appealed to Founding documents and their root principles to insist on changes that gradually recognized and protected both natural and civil rights.

The women’s suffrage movement provides a model for implementing social and legal change to better align institutions with principles of liberty, justice, and equality. The pathway for change was long. Seventy-two years passed between the Declaration of Independence assertion of self-evident and equal natural rights and the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, where women planned to “discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman.” In most parts of America in 1848 it was considered improper—even illegal—for women to speak in public meetings. Now they were convening one. It took another seventytwo years of struggle for women to achieve a constitutional amendment—the Nineteenth in 1920—protecting their right to vote, and guaranteeing their opportunity to participate more fully in the political process.

The Constitution contains the means to institute the meaningful changes required to bring it more in line with the governing principles on which it was founded. One of these methods is the amendment process, which is slow but effective. Reformers committed to equality and justice endured hardship and sacrifice to implement the amendment process to end slavery, and to grant the vote to black men, women, and people ages 18-21. Other methods of aligning the law with these principles, particularly equality, result from the system of checks and balances. The Supreme Court in 1954 checked the power of majorities in states when it ruled segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Congress has also invoked its enumerated powers to protect legal equality with laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Appeals to equality continue today as Americans debate the meaning of the principle as it applies to undocumented immigrants, the unborn, LGBTQ community members, disabled people, and many others.

REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS QUESTIONS

• On what basis did John Locke and Samuel Adams claim that slavery was unjust?
• List four truths the Declaration of Independence asserts are self-evident.
• What is a natural right?
• Should voting be considered a right or a privilege? Explain your choice.
• Do you agree with Locke that there are limits to what we can consent to? Does consent make any action good? Explain why or why not
• Some say that natural rights do not exist because so many governments have abused them throughout history. (Indeed, the Founders argued that the British King and Parliament were abusing theirs.) They say that if a right cannot be exercised effectively, it does not exist. Evaluate this assertion.
• The Founding generation did not fully live out its ideal of equality. Which ideals do people fail to live up to in modern times?
• Principles: equality, republican/representative government, popular sovereignty, federalism,inalienable rights
• Virtues: perseverance, contribution, moderation, resourcefulness, courage, respect, justice

Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens for Students

Table of Contents

India is a democratic country where its citizens live freely however they have lots of rights and responsibilities towards their country. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of a coin and both go side to side. If we have rights we must have their corresponding responsibilities too. Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand with us where we live in whatever home, society, village, state, or country. Now-a-days, students gets assigned by their teachers to write some paragraphs or complete essay on any topic to enhance their English writing skill and knowledge as well as spread awareness. Following are some paragraphs, short essays and long essays on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens to help students in completing their related task. All the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens essay are written very simply. So, you can select any essay according to your need and requirement:

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Long and Short Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens in English

Rights and responsibilities of citizens essay 1 (100 words).

Citizen is the person who lives as an inhabitant in any village or city of the state and country. We all are citizen of our country and have various rights and responsibilities towards our village, city, society, state and country. Rights and duties of each citizen are very valuable and inter-related. Every state or country provides its citizens some fundamental civil rights such as personal rights, religious rights, social rights, moral rights, economic rights and political rights. As a citizen of the country we are morally and legally required to complete our duties always together. We should love and respect each other and live together without any difference. We are expected to sacrifice time to time in order to protect our country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 2 (150 words)

Citizens living in the country must know their rights and responsibilities. Understanding all the rules and regulation presented by the government may help every citizen in completing their responsibilities towards country. We must understand our rights for our own well being and freedom in the country as well as serve for the communities and country. The constitution of India (called as supreme law of India) came into force in 1950 on 26 January which has given democratic rights to the Indian citizen. According to the Indian constitution, people of India have various rights and responsibilities.

There are around six fundamental rights of the Indian citizens without which no one can live in the democratic manner. Means, democracy in the country can work only if its citizens have rights. Such rights prevent the government from being dictatorial and cruel. Fundamental rights help people in their moral, material and personality development. In case of rights violations of someone, courts can protect and safeguard them. There are some fundamental responsibilities too for the peace and prosperity of the country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 3 (200 words)

Fundamental rights of the Indian citizens are given to them for the basic and essential conditions of good life for their progress. Without such rights no Indian citizen can develop his/her personality and confidence. These fundamental rights are preserved in the Indian Constitution. Fundamental rights are protected and guaranteed to the citizens by supreme law while ordinary rights by the ordinary law. Fundamental rights of the citizens are not violable in ordinary situation however in some reasonable circumstances they can be suspended but temporarily.

Six fundamental rights according to the Indian constitution are Right to Equality (Article 14 – Article 18), Right to Religion (Articles 25 – Article 28), Right against Exploitation (Articles 23 – Article 24), Right to Culture and Education (Articles 29 – Article 30), Right to Freedom (Articles 19 – Article 22), and Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32). Citizens enjoy their fundamental rights living anywhere in the country. He/she can go to the court for legal assistance in case his/her rights are violated by force. There are various responsibilities too of the good citizens which everyone must follow in order to improve surroundings and get inner peace. Fulfilling responsibilities towards country gives sense of ownership for the country. Being a good citizen of the country, we should not waste electricity, water, natural resources, public property, etc. We should follow all the rules and laws as well as pay tax timely.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 4 (250 words)

Fundamental rights given to the Indian citizens are essential part of the Constitution. Such fundamental rights can be altered by the Parliament using special procedure. No person other than Indian citizen is allowed to enjoy such rights except right to liberty, life, and personal property. Other fundamental rights except right to life and personal liberty can be suspended during time of emergency. If any citizen found his/her rights violated can go to the court (Supreme Court and High Court) for enforcement. Some fundamental rights are positive or negative in nature and always become superior to the ordinary laws. Some fundamental rights like freedom of speech, assembly, cultural right and educational rights are limited to citizens only.

There were no fundamental duties preserved in the Constitution of India when it came into force in 1950. However, ten fundamental duties (covered by Article 51 A) were added in the 42 nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976. Following are the fundamental responsibilities of the Indian citizens:

• Indian citizen must respect their National Flag and the National Anthem.
• They must respect, value and follow all the noble ideals used in the national struggle for freedom.
• They must to protect the power, unity and integrity of the country.
• They guard the country and maintain the spirit of common brotherhood.
• They must protect and preserve the cultural heritage sites.
• They must protect, preserve and improve the natural environment.
• They must safeguard the public property.
• They should develop scientific temper and spirit of inquiry.
• They must work hard to get excellence in every area of individual and collective activity.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 5 (300 words)

Fundamental duties of the Indian citizens are mentioned in the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976. All the responsibilities are very important and necessary for the vital interest of country. They can be civic duties or moral duties which cannot be enforced legally upon the citizens even by the courts. One cannot be punished if he/she is not performing his/her duties as there is no legal force governing these duties. Fundamental duties (right to equality, right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and right to constitutional remedies) are the integral part of Constitution of India having moral impact and educative value upon the Indian citizens. Inclusion of such responsibilities to the Constitution is important for the progress, peace and prosperity of the country.

Some of the fundamental responsibilities mentioned in the Constitution of India are like respect to the National Flag, the National Anthem, citizens must defend their country, commit to provide National service whenever required, safeguard the public property, etc. Such rights and responsibilities are very important for National interest of the country however not forcefully enforced to the people. In order to completely enjoy the rights, people must perform their responsibilities towards country in a well manner as rights and responsibilities are related to each other. As we get rights our responsibilities increases too towards individual and social welfare. Both are not separable and vital regarding prosperity of country.

As a good citizen of the country, we need to know and learn our all the rights and duties for the welfare of our society and country. We need to understand that all of us are responsible for good or bad condition of the society. We need to change our thinking into action to bring some positive effect in our society and country. If the individual action performed by a person can change the life; why not, our collaborative actions have positive effects over the society and country. So, the duties of citizens matters a lot for the prosperity and peace of society and entire country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 6 (400 words)

As we are a social animal, we have lots of responsibilities for the development as well as bring prosperity and peace in the society and country. In order to fulfill our responsibilities we have given some rights by the Constitution of India. Rights are very necessary given to the citizens for their individual development and improve the social life. Democratic system of the country is completely based on the freedom of its citizens to enjoy their rights. Rights given by our Constitution are called as Fundamental Rights which cannot be taken back from us in normal times. Our Constitution gives us six rights such as:

• Right to Freedom: It is very important fundamental right which makes people able to express their thoughts and ideas through speech, writing or other means. According to this right, a person is free to cherish, criticize or speak against the governmental policies. He/she is free to carry on any business in any corner of the country.
• Right to Freedom of Religion: There are many states in the country where people of various religions live together. Each one of us is free to practice, propagate and follow any religion we like. No one has right to interfere with the faith of anybody.
• Right to Equality: Citizens living in India are equal and have no any difference and discrimination between rich and poor or high and low. A person of any religion, caste, creed, sex or place can get the highest position in office for which he/she has ability and required qualifications
• Right to Education and Culture: Every child has right to education and he/she can get education in any institution up to any level.
• Right against Exploitation: No one has right to force anybody to work without wages or against his/her wish or children below 14 years of age.
• Right to Constitutional Remedies: It is the most important one which protects all the fundamental rights. If someone feels that his/her rights are being harmed in any condition he/she can approach to the court seeking justice.

As we know that both, duties and rights go side by side. Our rights are meaningless without duties thus both are inseparable. We do not have right to get benefited with rights if we do not follow our duties properly for the smooth running of country. As being the citizen of the country, our responsibilities and duties are:

• We must respect the National Flag and National Anthem.
• We should respect and obey the laws of our country.
• We should enjoy rights and freedom under the limit without interfering with freedom and rights of others.
• We should be ready to protect our country whenever required.
• We should respect and protect national property and public property (such as railways, post-offices, bridges, roadways, schools, colleges, historical buildings, places, forests, etc).
• We should pay our taxes with honesty in timely manner.

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Fundamental Rights Essay

Essay on Fundamental Rights

The history of Fundamental Rights (which were lawfully enforceable) probably starts from the Magna Carta, which was a list of Rights extracted from King John by the people of England in 1214 AD. The most significant advancement in the history of Fundamental Rights occurred when through the first 10 amendments, the USA incorporated certain Fundamental Rights into its constitution in the form of the "Bill of Rights." In this Essay on Fundamental Rights, we shall talk about the various Rights provided to Indian citizens and what they stand for.

Long Fundamental Rights Essay in English  

Fundamental Rights were borrowed from the constitution of the United States of America.

The constituent assembly of India adopted the constitution of India on 26th November 1949, which came into effect on 26th January 1950. It contains 395 Articles, 22 Parts, and 12 Schedules. Part III (Articles 12 to 35) of the Constitution of India consists of Rights which are essential for the overall development of individuals, are also termed as Fundamental Rights. Fundamental Rights are universal, that is, they apply to all the citizens of India irrespective of their race, birthplace, Religion, caste, gender or gender identity. Earlier there were seven Fundamental Rights, but later on the ‘Right to Property’ was abolished. Currently, we have six Fundamental Rights.

Right to Equality

The Right to EQuality is guaranteed by the constitution of India through articles 14 to 18 (of which article 14 is the most important). Right to EQuality refers to everyone being equal in the eyes of the law. It prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, caste, creed etc by providing equal opportunity for employment. The article also abolishes untouchability and titles.

Right to Freedom

Articles 19 to 22 guarantee the Right to Freedom in the constitution of India. It guarantees all Indian citizens with Freedom of speech and expression; Freedom to assemble peacefully; Freedom for forming cooperative societies or unions or companies; Freedom to move freely in India; Freedom to reside or settle anywhere in India and the Freedom to practice any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business of their choice. Although the government has the right to impose certain restrictions on these Freedoms in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India.

Right to Information has been given the status of a Fundamental right in 2005, under article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution.

Right Against Exploitation

Articles 23 and 24 guarantees the right against Exploitation and focuses mainly on two provisions. The first being the abolition of human trafficking and Begar (Forced Labour) and secondly, the abolition of employment of children under the age of 14 in jobs with a risky environment like factories, mines etc.

Right to Freedom of Religion

Articles 25 to 28 provide religious Freedom to all Indian citizens. The main objective of this right is to sustain secularism in our country. It assures that all Religions are equal in the eyes of the state and none of them is given preference over the other. It allows the citizens to preach, practise, and propagate the Religion of their choice. It also provides religious communities to set up charitable institutions.

Cultural and Educational Rights

Articles 29 and 30 provide every Indian citizen with Rights to education and cultures. It assures that every citizen gets equal opportunities in terms of education while giving minority communities the right to admission in colleges and universities without any discrimination. It also gives minority communities the right to establish Educational institutions to preserve and develop their culture.

Right to Constitutional Remedies

Articles 32 to 35 empowers all Indian citizens to move to the court of law whenever they are denied their Fundamental Rights. Article 32 is also termed as the citizens right to protect and defend the constitution as it allows the citizens to enforce the constitution through the judiciary.

The main objective of Right to Constitutional Remedies is to enforce Fundamental Rights.

Short Fundamental Rights Essay in English

Fundamental Rights are considered the Rights that are integral to the advancement of the human race. All other Rights are derived as direct consequences or application of their principles from such Rights. Among philosophers, it is an accepted belief that these Rights are nothing but "natural human Rights" that distinguish between humans and animals. So, these have played a rather important role in bringing humans all the way from the Stone Age to the present. It was regarded that such Rights were beyond the complexities of politics. The constitution's protection meant that these Rights could not be put to the vote and were not dependent on politicians or the majority's whims.

Why do we Need Fundamental Rights?

Such Rights are a safeguard for citizens against the government as it is necessary to have the rule of law and not a government or a person. These Rights do not dare to be transgressed by authority as they are explicitly given to the people by the Constitution. The courts are fully required to uphold these Rights and the government is answerable to the courts. After living in subjugation for so long, people have forgotten what liberty means. These Rights offer people the hope and belief that their growth will not be halted. They're free from the rulers' whims. These Rights are, in that sense, the first fruits of the long struggle for Freedom and bring a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Even in Gulf countries or Communist countries, citizens are free. How is our liberty, then, different from theirs? A clear measure of how free we are in the list of Fundamental Rights. For example, every Indian citizen is free to practice a Religion of his choice, but that is not the case in Gulf countries. Our right to speech and expression enables us to criticize the government freely.

In conclusion, we can say that the Indian constitution was framed after a thorough analysis of all the constitutions in the world, and successfully incorporates all the good things existing in them.

Though the above content provided information about Fundamental Rights, it also gave you an outline of how an Essay should be written. 

The Essay on Fundamental Rights contained some information about the topic and talked about long and short Essays.

Students might find it difficult to understand how they shall proceed whenever asked to write on any topic. 

Since writing is a free form of expression and requires limited skills, there are no rules to it. But, in these times, when everything is advancing, you're expected to be able to deliver the best content. 

To equip them with the relevant points, there are some tips listed below. 

Go through them and master the skill of writing, thereafter! 

Read and Understand the Prompt Before you can start writing, it is important for you to understand the prompt that you're offered. Without comprehending what you've asked to do, your content would never be impactful. The best way to understand it is to dissect it into parts. You might also consider making a small flowchart that clearly defines the flow of ideas in your head. Students shall understand that it is better to spend the first few minutes planning and organising things than to present an unorganised and unclear content. This in no way means that you have to adopt a formulaic approach to it but just try to deliver the best that they can. 

Plan the Flow The next important thing for you to do is pen down the flow of points, as specific as the alphabet. Each point should have a ‘what next’ factor attached to it and that is how you can expect yourself to deliver higher Quality content. The importance of working in a planned and organised way is not unknown to any of us and that is what can help us move ahead with the ideas in our heads. Preparing a web with all the details is a great way to do it. 

Make a Rough Draft Brainstorming and organising all that you have inside your head related to a particular topic is a good way before you deliver. Students are advised to prepare a small, concise, rough draft of their topics. Drafts are often regarded as crappy stuff but the truth is that it makes you analyse and rethink whatever you've thought till then. And there's where the new flow of ideas comes from. Make sure that your content is answering and giving the information of the prompt. 

Follow a Simple Format Students often think that complicating the format or using too many fancy words in a piece of content impresses the reader and that fetches you more marks. However, it doesn't work this way. For good content, words must be easy to understand and they should always have a relatability factor attached so that it becomes easier for the audience to connect and understand whatever you are trying to convey. 

Proofread your Content Last but not least, the most important step to do before finalising the content is to proofread it. When we try to pen down things, we often make mistakes. However, reading it once again allows you to study it again and check for mistakes. In case that you've missed anything important, you can further review and add that piece of information too. It may take a little more time of yours but the results would be worth it.

FAQs on Fundamental Rights Essay

1. What do we Conclude from this Essay on Fundamental Rights?

We can conclude that the Fundamental Rights embodied in the Indian Constitution act as a guarantee that as long as they live in Indian democracy, all Indian citizens can and will lead their lives in peace. Such civil liberties prevail over any other law of the land. Fundamental rights protect the citizen’s freedom, rights and liberties from any state invasion, and prevent the establishment of authoritarian and dictatorial rule in the country. They are very essential for the all-round progress of the people and the nation.

2. Which is the most important Fundamental Right?

The most important fundamental right is considered to be the Right to Constitutional Remedies because it ensures the protection of our fundamental rights. In the event of a violation of their fundamental rights, it helps citizens move to court. It also finds that the government does not violate or disrespect citizens' fundamental rights.

3. Can I use and cite resources while writing an Essay? 

Of course, you can. In fact, resources make the content more interesting and engaging. Another advantage of using them is that it promotes research. However, you shall make sure the content should be rephrased and not plagiarized. For better clarity and understanding, you can go through some of the sample Essays available online. But, remember, the more you write, the more you learn. Hence, you need to practice writing on as many topics as possible and that way, you can upraise your skills.

4. How should an Essay be written? What should be its format? 

The best way to write it is using a simpler format. It shall start with an introduction, have the body in between and should necessarily end with a conclusion. Make sure that whatever ideas you are putting forth to your readers should make absolute sense. Students can consider checking the prompts given on the website of Vedantu and practice writing about them to get better at it. 

5. Can the body of the Essay be divided into small paragraphs? 

Absolutely! In fact, it is the best way to present any piece of content. It makes your work look more organised and neat. Apart from this, if we consider the viewpoint of humans, they would prefer reading short paragraphs rather than big stories and that’s how you shall proceed. To understand it better, review the sample Essays available on the Vedantu website and their App.

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Insights into Editorial: Importance of Citizens Duties

Introduction:

According to Mahatma Gandhi the very performance of a duty secures us our right. Rights cannot be divorced from duties.

Mahatama Gandhi held that “Satyagraha was born, for I was always striving to decide what my duty was.”

Swami Vivekananda observed, “it is the duty of every person to contribute in the development and progress of India”.

According to Indira Gandhi, “the moral value of fundamental duties would not be to smother rights but to establish a democratic balance by making people conscious of their duties equally as they are conscious of their rights”.

Constitution of India:

The Samvidhan or the Indian Constitution is the supreme law in India and it lays down the framework to uphold the structures, duties, political codes, procedures and powers to be followed by various bodies and institutions in the country.

The Constitution also dictates the directive principles, fundamental rights and duties of Indian citizens.

The Indian Constitution drafted by a Constituent Assembly and not a Parliamentary Assembly is the longest written constitution in the world.

The Chairman of the Constitution drafting committee Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is also referred to as its chief architect. 

About National Constitution Day or Constitution Day of India:

26 November has its own importance in the history of independent India because on this day in 1949, the Constitution of India was adopted and it came in to effect on 26 January, 1950 .

Therefore, marking the dawn of a new era. To acknowledge the contribution of the framers of the Constitution and to aggravate the people regarding the prominent values, 26 November is celebrated as the ‘Constitution Day’.

Drafting an inclusive Constitution for a diverse India:

The Constitution is not a mere lawyer’s document; it is a vehicle of life and its spirit is always the spirit of age.

A very significant feature of our Constitution is that it balances citizens’ rights and duties. These are social concepts that have grown through time, tradition and usage.

The citizens’ duties as enshrined in the Constitution are essentially a codification of tasks integral to the Indian way of life they focus on tolerance, peace and communal harmony.

A close scrutiny of the clauses of Article 51A of the Constitution, indicate that a number of them refer to values, which have been part of Indian tradition, mythology, religion and practices.

Importance of Following Fundamental Duties:

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 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”.

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.

Fundamental Duties in Indian Constitution:

• The idea of Fundamental Duties has been borrowed from the Constitution of erstwhile USSR. Till then, Japan was only the democratic state that contains the duties of the citizen.
• Fundamental Duties are embedded in Part IV of the Indian Constitution under Article 51A . originally the duties were ten in number, later on by 86th Amendment in 2002, they levelled up to eleven.
• Fundamental duty enshrined under Article 51A(e) seeks to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood, transcending the barriers of religion, language, etc.
• There is a duty under Article 51A(g) to protect and improve the environment, but India has been severely affected by air & water pollution and the impact of climate change.
• India has a composite culture (under Article 51A(f)) , “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” sums up that perspective.
• However, presently there is growing intolerance in Indian society, reflected by cases of cow vigilantism, mob lynching, etc.
• Democracy cannot establish deep roots in society until the citizens don’t complement fundamental rights with their fundamental duties. For a polity to survive, citizens should have a high sense of duty .
• Universally, great emphasis has been laid on citizens’ duties.
• Article 29(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

It states that “ Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible .”

Conclusion:

A constitutional expert, BR Ambedkar had studied the constitutions of about 60 countries .

The text prepared by him provided constitutional guarantees and a wide range of civil liberties for citizens including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability, and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination.

Recently, Prime Minister of India has rightly said that our children should be taught the Constitution.

Incorporating the essential aspects of fundamental duties in all oaths and pledges.

The Supreme Court has said that since duties are obligatory for citizens, the state should strive to achieve the same goal.

Rights and duties have to exist together. Rights without duties will lead to anarchy.

In this context, the Fundamental Duties serve as a constant reminder of national goals as well as inculcate a profound sense of social responsibility.

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• Fundamental Rights and Duties

As a citizen of India , we are entitled to certain rights as well as obliged to certain duties. It is our duty as responsible citizens that we abide by these laws and carry out our duties. Similarly, knowledge of our fundamental rights is important so as to prevent injustice. Let us update ourselves about the Fundamental Rights and Duties laid down by the constitution of India .

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Introduction to Fundamental Rights and Duties

During the period of 1947 to 1949, Constitution of India developed and prescribed the fundamental obligations of the State to its citizens and the duties and the rights of the citizens. These were developed under the following sections which constitute the vital elements of the constitution.

• Fundamental Rights

Directive Principles of State Policy

• Fundamental Duties

The Constitution of India ( Source: Wikipedia)

These sections consist of a constitutional bill of rights for government policy-making and lay down a foundation for the appropriate the behaviour and conduct of citizens.

The Fundamental Rights of an Indian Citizen

The fundamental rights definition says that these are the basic human rights of all citizens, defined in Part III of the Constitution . These are applicable irrespective of race, place of birth, religion , caste, creed, or gender . They are enforceable by the courts , subject to specific restrictions. Following are some of the important rights of the citizens of India in accordance with the Constitution.

• Right to Equality
• Right to freedom
• Right against exploitation
• Right to freedom of religion
• Cultural and Educational Rights
• Right to Constitutional Remedies

These are included in Part IV of the Constitution. For the framing of certain Laws, the Government requires certain guidelines. These are included in the Directive Principles of State Policy. According to Article 37, they are not enforceable by the courts under their respective jurisdiction. It just lays down the fundamental principles and guidelines on which they are based are fundamental guidelines for governance. The State needs to follow these principles while designing the laws. Emphasis is on the Welfare of State Model.

The establishment of Directive Principles of State Policy is in accordance with certain articles of the Constitution of India. Let us explore more about the importance of these articles.

The Fundamental Duties in the Life of an Indian

These are defined as the moral obligations of all citizens to help promote a spirit of patriotism and to uphold the unity of India and concern the individuals and the nation. Included in Part IVA of the Constitution, like the Directive Principles, they are not enforceable by the law. According to the constitution, the let us have a look at the following information on duties to be followed by every citizen of India

• To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
• To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.
• To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.
• To defend the country and render national service for the nation’s security when called upon to do so.
• To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic, social and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
• To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
• To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.
• To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
• To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.
• To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity, so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement.
• Who is a parent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education to his child, or as the case may be, ward between the age of six to fourteen years.
• According to the 86th constitutional amendment in 2002, it is the duty of the people of India to adapt to make India a safer place to live, to be clean and make the surrounding clean and not to hurt anybody physically and mentally.

The Relationship Between the Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties

Directive Principles have been used to uphold the Constitutional validity of legislation in case of conflict with Fundamental Rights. According to the amendment of 1971, any law that even though it deviates from the Fundamental Rights, but has been made to give effect to the Directive Principles in Article 39(b)(c) would not be deemed invalid. The Fundamental Duties will be held obligatory for all citizens subject to the State enforcing the same by means of a valid law.

Solved Questions For You

Que: Which of these is not a Fundamental Right according to The Constitution of India?

• Right to a Luxurious Life

Ans: The correct answer is Option d. Right to a luxurious life. It is not a fundamental right according to the Consitution of India.

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Indian Constitution and Fundamental Concepts

• The Union Executive and Legislature

6 responses to “Fundamental Rights and Duties”

There were 11 fundamental Duties but above mentioned are 12 how it could be?

11 fundamental duties Fundamental Duties of the Citizens of India. The fundamental duties were incorporated in Part IV-A of our constitution by 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976. Presently we have 11 fundamental duties in our constitution under article 51-A, which are statutory duties and are enforceable by law.

Fundamental duties for Indians only or both Indian and foreigners????

all the duties are only have to be fulfilled when a person enjoys the rights foreigners only have fulfill international duties

Why does the government function at two levels in a federation?

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Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens for Students and Children | PDF Download

Herewith, We have provided an Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens for Students and Children, So not only the students and children but also everyone has to refer to this complete article because as a citizen of India we must have a complete awareness of our rights and responsibilities.

Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens

Citizen: A native member of a state or nation or a participatory member of a country. Citizenship is gained by a person by meeting the legal requirements of a nation, state, or local government. If the citizen meets the laws of the country then it is granted certain rights and privileges.

Rights and Responsibilities of a Citizen Essay: Every citizen of India are expected to perform some responsibilities, We must respect our National Flag and National Anthem by obeying the laws of the Country. The Fundamental Rights are considered as the basic rights of all citizens and it is embodied under Part 3 from Article 12 to 35 of the Indian constitution irrespective of caste, creed, color, gender, religion, etc., The six Rights of Indian Citizen depicted in the Indian Constitution were borrowed from the constitution of USA. Likewise, Indian citizens are also expected to perform some duties towards the country, Fundamental duties of  Indian citizens were added by the 42nd amendment under Article 51A, Part 4A of the Indian Constitution.

Fundamental Rights of Indian Citizens:

Six fundamental rights are granted to Citizens in India. They are Right to Equality,  Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights, and Right to Constitutional Remedies.

1. Right to Equality (Article 14-18): All are equal before the law. Right to equality ensures, Equality before the law and equal protection of laws, and it prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. It also ensures Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment and abolishes untouchability. There is no discrimination against anyone in matters of employment on the grounds of caste, creed, color, religion, gender, place of birth, etc.

2. Right to Freedom (Article 19-22): Right to Freedom provides six protection rights that are (i) freedom of speech and expression (ii) freedom assemble peacefully and without arms, (iii) freedom to form associations or unions (iv) freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India, (v) freedom to reside or settle in any part of the country, (vi) freedom to practice any profession or to carry any trade or business

3. Right against Exploitation (Article 23 and 24): Trafficking, child labor, forced labor are abolished under this right by making it an offense and punishable by law. It ensures Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.No child below the age of 14 years can be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.

4. Right to Freedom of Religion (Article 25 to 28): Freedom of Religion grants religious freedom and ensures secular states in India. As per the Indian Constitution, there is no official religion in the state and states should treat all regions equally and impartially. It ensures freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, Freedom from payment of taxes for promotion of any religion, Freedom from attending religious instruction or worship in certain educational institutions, and the state can not compel any citizen to pay any taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious institutions.

5. Cultural and Educational Rights (Article 29 and 30): Cultural Rights ensures the protection of language, script, and culture of minorities, Where a religious community is in the minority, the constitution enables it to preserve its culture and religious interests. Educational rights ensure education for everyone irrespective of their caste, creed, color, religion, gender, place of birth, etc., and the minority community has the right to establish educational institutions of its choice and the state shall not discriminate against such educational institutions maintained by a minority community.

6. Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32): Article 32 ensures that every citizen can go to the supreme court to ask for the enforcement, protection, and violations of their fundamental rights. Supreme Court has been entitled with the powers to issue orders against any person or Government within the territory of India for the enforcement of fundamental duties.

Fundamental Duties or Responsibilities of an Indian Citizen:

The following fundamental duties of the 42nd amendment under Article 51A,  Part 4A of the Indian Constitution must be obeyed by the Indian citizen

a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem. b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom. c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India. d) To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so. e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic, and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women. f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture. g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. i) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence; j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement. k) Who is a parent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education to his child, or as the case may be, ward between the age of six to fourteen years. The duty was included in the list of fundamental duties by the 86th Amendment to the constitution of India in the year 2002.

Rights and Responsibilities: Images

Conclusion: We can conclude this Essay on the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens for Students and Children in English that to enjoy the rights granted by the Indian Constitution, every Indian citizen must obey and perform the responsibilities embodied in the Indian Constitution. We must perform our responsibilities towards our fellow citizens, society, and the nation which are enforced by law.

We hope that the above-composed Essay on the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens for Students and Children in English will be useful for you.

Dear Students and Children, you can download the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay in the Hand Written Format by Clicking the Below Click Here Link.

Values, Rights, Duties And Responsibilities Of Indian Citizens

• Author(s): Journal of Legal Studies and Research
• Publication Date: September 16, 2020

Contents of this Post

Written by Neetu Jain

Advocate, Supreme Court of India

INTRODUCTION

The Preamble of our Constitution says, WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a  [SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC] and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the [unity and integrity of the Nation].

The preamble can be referred to as the preface which highlights the entire Constitution , makes it very clear that the ideals of the Constitution have to percolate to every citizen of India.

India has a glorious history of democracy since ancient times. Eminent historian, Shri K P Jayaswal stated that the concept of the republic system in ancient India is older than the Roman or Greek republican system. The ancient republics or Janpadas such as Vaishali, Kapilavastu and Mithila etc. and their constitutions are older than 600 BC, and are the foundation of constitutional democracy of India.

Since ancient times, people in India have followed the tradition of performing their duties without questioning about 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 emphasized. Describing the role of a king, at one place the greatest King Chandra Gupta Maurya’s Guru Chanakya, had stated that “It is a king’s utmost duty to look after the progress and welfare of the people of his country”.

Since time immemorial people in India has believed in the concept that Work is worship, thus emphasizing on one’s duty which means that if every individual performs their duties with sincerity, then it amounts to a worship mechanism. Here it is important to mention that Rig Veda talks about fundamental values which include harmony, tolerance, righteousness, respect for nature, and respect for the (unseen) supreme.

Bhagwad Gita and Ramayana also speak that an individual should perform their duties. In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna said that everyone should do their duties without expecting anything. Mahatma Gandhi once said that “I have learnt my duties in my mother’s lap, she was an illiterate woman but knew what was my dharma”. The beauty of this ancient thought is that the performance of duty protects our right and rights cannot be divorced from duties. Swami Vivekananda once rightly said, “it is the duty of every citizen to contribute and participate in the development and progress of India”.

RIGHTS OF PERSONS

In accordance with the ideals of the Preamble, the Fundamental Rights of Person have been ensured in Part III (Article 14- 32) of the constitution. These rights are applied irrespective of race, place of birth, religion, caste, creed, or gender. They are enforceable by the courts, subject to specific restrictions. They can broadly be classified as:

-Right to Equality (Article 14 – Article 18)

-Right to Freedom (Articles 19 – Article 22)

-Right to Education (Article 21A).

-Right against Exploitation (Articles 23 – Article 24)

-Right to Religion (Articles 25 – Article 28)

-Right to Culture and Education (Articles 29 – Article 30)

-Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32): In order to ensure that the Rights of Persons are protected, any person who believes that his rights have been affected by the actions of State has the right to move to the Supreme Court or High Court for enforcement of his rights and the Supreme Court and High Courts have the power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF INDIAN CITIZEN

PART IVA FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES 51A. It shall be the duty of every citizen of India— (a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem; (b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so; (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence; (j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement; (k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

If we minutely study all the provisions of our Constitution, we find that very significant feature of our Constitution is that it balances citizens’ rights and duties. These are some social factors which have been grown with time, tradition and usage. The citizen’s duties as are enshrined with Constitution are important as a codification of such duties are an integral part of every citizen of India, which focus on tolerance, peace and communal harmony. A close look of the provision of Article 51A of the Constitution, indicate that a number of provisions refer to human values, which have been part of Indian tradition, mythology, religion and practices.

The chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Constitution itself recognizes the essence of duties. If we look at Article 19 which pertains to freedom of speech, we find that Clause 2 to 6 of the same article put some reasonable restrictions on the exercise of such rights in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, and the security of the state, public order, decency and morality. Similarly, w.r.t other articles of part III of our Constitution. This implies that while exercising rights one must remember one’s duties towards these constitutional Rights.

No democratic polity can ever succeed where the citizens are concerned only about their rights and are not willing to actively participate in the process of assuming responsibilities, discharging their duties and strive to give their best in the interest of their nation. There are three things which build a nation. The first is noble ideals. The second is the capability of the citizens for achieving these ideals. The third and very important is that the constant and intense effort made by each and every Indian citizen to strive for excellence and take his country forward and foremost and make proud in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi, while commenting on the performance of duties had once said that the true source of right is a duty. While emphasizing on duties he meant that if we perform our duties than rights will not be far, however, If we leave the duty unperformed, and run after rights, we will not be able to get the rights.

It can be undoubtedly stated that the rights flow from duties when well performed. Harold Laski, the great political philosopher once said that the rights are related to functions and are given only in return for some duties to be performed. Rights are conferred on the individuals not for their individual up-liftmen but also for social and collective good.

Citizen is one of the foundations of the country. They are entitled to enjoy all the legal rights and privileges granted by a state to the people encompassing its constituency and are obligated to obey its laws and to attain his or her duties as called upon.

A responsible citizen abides by all the laws of the country, in return they get rights. However, rights come with duties such as casting a vote, paying government taxes and protecting the country from any foreign invasion. Being a good and responsible citizen of the country, one must engage in activities or assist in tackling issues such as keeping the environment clean, raising money for charities, conserving electricity, water, and natural resources, or protecting public properties, etc.

CAN THE LEGISLATION AMEND/ ALTER THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL PROVIDED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.?

Here it is important to sum-up by mentioning three important Judgments of the Supreme Court on the issue of Fundamental Rights and power of Parliament to amend the Constitution. They are Golaknath Vs State of Punjab (1967AIR 1643) , Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla (1976 2 SCC 521 , and   Kesavananda Bharati State of Kerala (1973 4 SCC 225).

  The Golaknath Case (1967AIR 1643) pertained to challenging acquisition of farmlands in Punjab under land ceiling laws and the petitioner therein contended attachment of lands denied them equality and equal protection as constitutionally guaranteed.  In this matter, the 11-judge bench examined its own five-judge verdict in a previous case ( Sankari Prasad vs Union of India ) when the court ruled that parliament has the right to amend any part of the constitution.

The Hon’ble Apex court in Golaknath Case reversed its previous verdict of Sankari Prasad vs Union of India, however with the rider of the doctrine of “prospective overruling”, and declared that parliament did not have the power to amend fundamental rights, in part or in whole. The court also ruled that despite it being the parliament’s duty to enforce the directive principles of state policy, this could not be done by altering fundamental rights.

In Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla(1976 2 SCC 521) , popularly known as the Habeas Corpus case, which was decided by the  Supreme Court on April 28, 1976, by a bench of five judges, wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court by majority held that  “In view of the Presidential Order dated 27 th June 1975 no person has any locus to move any writ petition under Article 226 before a High Court for habeas corpus or any other writ or order or direction to challenge the legality of an order of detention on the ground that the order is not under or in compliance with the Act or is illegal or is vitiated by mala fides factual or legal or is based on extraneous considerations.” The presidential order referred to in the conclusion of the judgment had declared that any right under Article 14,21, & 22 of the constitution of any person and all proceedings pending in any court for the enforcement of those rights would remain suspended during the Emergency was in force.

However, Justice Khanna, (one of the Judges of the Bench) in his dissent, held that  “ Article 21  cannot be considered to be the sole repository of the right to life and personal liberty. Sanctity of life and liberty was not something new when the constitution was drafted, and the principle that no one shall be deprived of his life and liberty without the authority of law was not the gift of the constitution, Justice Khanna declared.” Therefore, he reasoned that even in the absence of Article 21 in the constitution, the state has got no power to deprive a person of his life or liberty without the authority of law. It is important to note here that the later pronouncements of Supreme Court, on Article 21, of makes it clear that the dissenting opinion of the minority Judge, Justice Khanna is the way forward.

Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala ( 1973 4 SCC 225 ) , Judgment wherein one main question: was the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution unlimited? In other words, could Parliament alter, amend, abrogate any part of the Constitution even to the extent of taking away all fundamental rights?

On April 24, 1973, Chief Justice Sikri and 12 judges of the Supreme Court assembled to deliver the most important judgment in its history. Article 368(pertaining to the power of the Parliament to amend provisions of Constitution), on a plain reading, did not contain any limitation on the power of Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. There was nothing that prevented the Parliament from taking away a citizen’s right to freedom of speech or his religious freedom. However, on account of Article 32, Supreme Court of India rose to the occasion and though 703-page judgment revealed a sharply divided court and, by a wafer-thin majority of 7:6, overruled the Golaknath  verdict and gave back to the parliament the right to amend the Constitution.  It was held that Parliament could amend any part of the Constitution so long as it did not alter or amend “the basic structure or essential features of the Constitution.” This was the inherent and implied limitation on the amending power of Parliament. Thus, the Judgment ensured that the Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution or impose any reasonable restriction on the rights of the people so long as it does not alter or amend the basic structure or essential feature of the Construction.

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Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay

India is a democratic country where its citizens live freely however they have lots of rights and responsibilities towards their country. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of a coin and both go side to side. If we have rights we must have their corresponding responsibilities too. Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand with us where we live in whatever home, society, village, state, or country. Now-a-days, students gets assigned by their teachers to write some paragraphs or complete essay on any topic to enhance their English writing skill and knowledge as well as spread awareness. Following are some paragraphs, short essays and long essays on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens to help students in completing their related task. All the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens essay are written very simply. So, you can select any essay according to your need and requirement:

Long and Short Essay on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens in English

Rights and responsibilities of citizens essay 1 (100 words).

Citizen is the person who lives as an inhabitant in any village or city of the state and country. We all are citizen of our country and have various rights and responsibilities towards our village, city, society, state and country. Rights and duties of each citizen are very valuable and inter-related. Every state or country provides its citizens some fundamental civil rights such as personal rights, religious rights, social rights, moral rights, economic rights and political rights. As a citizen of the country we are morally and legally required to complete our duties always together. We should love and respect each other and live together without any difference. We are expected to sacrifice time to time in order to protect our country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 2 (150 words)

Citizens living in the country must know their rights and responsibilities. Understanding all the rules and regulation presented by the government may help every citizen in completing their responsibilities towards country. We must understand our rights for our own well being and freedom in the country as well as serve for the communities and country. The constitution of India (called as supreme law of India) came into force in 1950 on 26 January which has given democratic rights to the Indian citizen. According to the Indian constitution, people of India have various rights and responsibilities.

There are around six fundamental rights of the Indian citizens without which no one can live in the democratic manner. Means, democracy in the country can work only if its citizens have rights. Such rights prevent the government from being dictatorial and cruel. Fundamental rights help people in their moral, material and personality development. In case of rights violations of someone, courts can protect and safeguard them. There are some fundamental responsibilities too for the peace and prosperity of the country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 3 (200 words)

Fundamental rights of the Indian citizens are given to them for the basic and essential conditions of good life for their progress. Without such rights no Indian citizen can develop his/her personality and confidence. These fundamental rights are preserved in the Indian Constitution. Fundamental rights are protected and guaranteed to the citizens by supreme law while ordinary rights by the ordinary law. Fundamental rights of the citizens are not violable in ordinary situation however in some reasonable circumstances they can be suspended but temporarily.

Six fundamental rights according to the Indian constitution are Right to Equality (Article 14 – Article 18), Right to Religion (Articles 25 – Article 28), Right against Exploitation (Articles 23 – Article 24), Right to Culture and Education (Articles 29 – Article 30), Right to Freedom (Articles 19 – Article 22), and Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32). Citizens enjoy their fundamental rights living anywhere in the country. He/she can go to the court for legal assistance in case his/her rights are violated by force. There are various responsibilities too of the good citizens which everyone must follow in order to improve surroundings and get inner peace. Fulfilling responsibilities towards country gives sense of ownership for the country. Being a good citizen of the country, we should not waste electricity, water, natural resources, public property, etc. We should follow all the rules and laws as well as pay tax timely.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 4 (250 words)

Fundamental rights given to the Indian citizens are essential part of the Constitution. Such fundamental rights can be altered by the Parliament using special procedure. No person other than Indian citizen is allowed to enjoy such rights except right to liberty, life, and personal property. Other fundamental rights except right to life and personal liberty can be suspended during time of emergency. If any citizen found his/her rights violated can go to the court (Supreme Court and High Court) for enforcement. Some fundamental rights are positive or negative in nature and always become superior to the ordinary laws. Some fundamental rights like freedom of speech, assembly, cultural right and educational rights are limited to citizens only.

There were no fundamental duties preserved in the Constitution of India when it came into force in 1950. However, ten fundamental duties (covered by Article 51 A) were added in the 42 nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976. Following are the fundamental responsibilities of the Indian citizens:

• Indian citizen must respect their National Flag and the National Anthem.
• They must respect, value and follow all the noble ideals used in the national struggle for freedom.
• They must to protect the power, unity and integrity of the country.
• They guard the country and maintain the spirit of common brotherhood.
• They must protect and preserve the cultural heritage sites.
• They must protect, preserve and improve the natural environment.
• They must safeguard the public property.
• They should develop scientific temper and spirit of inquiry.
• They must work hard to get excellence in every area of individual and collective activity.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 5 (300 words)

Fundamental duties of the Indian citizens are mentioned in the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976. All the responsibilities are very important and necessary for the vital interest of country. They can be civic duties or moral duties which cannot be enforced legally upon the citizens even by the courts. One cannot be punished if he/she is not performing his/her duties as there is no legal force governing these duties. Fundamental duties (right to equality, right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and right to constitutional remedies) are the integral part of Constitution of India having moral impact and educative value upon the Indian citizens. Inclusion of such responsibilities to the Constitution is important for the progress, peace and prosperity of the country.

Some of the fundamental responsibilities mentioned in the Constitution of India are like respect to the National Flag, the National Anthem, citizens must defend their country, commit to provide National service whenever required, safeguard the public property, etc. Such rights and responsibilities are very important for National interest of the country however not forcefully enforced to the people. In order to completely enjoy the rights, people must perform their responsibilities towards country in a well manner as rights and responsibilities are related to each other. As we get rights our responsibilities increases too towards individual and social welfare. Both are not separable and vital regarding prosperity of country.

As a good citizen of the country, we need to know and learn our all the rights and duties for the welfare of our society and country. We need to understand that all of us are responsible for good or bad condition of the society. We need to change our thinking into action to bring some positive effect in our society and country. If the individual action performed by a person can change the life; why not, our collaborative actions have positive effects over the society and country. So, the duties of citizens matters a lot for the prosperity and peace of society and entire country.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Essay 6 (400 words)

As we are a social animal, we have lots of responsibilities for the development as well as bring prosperity and peace in the society and country. In order to fulfill our responsibilities we have given some rights by the Constitution of India. Rights are very necessary given to the citizens for their individual development and improve the social life. Democratic system of the country is completely based on the freedom of its citizens to enjoy their rights. Rights given by our Constitution are called as Fundamental Rights which cannot be taken back from us in normal times. Our Constitution gives us six rights such as:

• Right to Freedom: It is very important fundamental right which makes people able to express their thoughts and ideas through speech, writing or other means. According to this right, a person is free to cherish, criticize or speak against the governmental policies. He/she is free to carry on any business in any corner of the country.
• Right to Freedom of Religion: There are many states in the country where people of various religions live together. Each one of us is free to practice, propagate and follow any religion we like. No one has right to interfere with the faith of anybody.
• Right to Equality: Citizens living in India are equal and have no any difference and discrimination between rich and poor or high and low. A person of any religion, caste, creed, sex or place can get the highest position in office for which he/she has ability and required qualifications
• Right to Education and Culture: Every child has right to education and he/she can get education in any institution up to any level.
• Right against Exploitation: No one has right to force anybody to work without wages or against his/her wish or children below 14 years of age.
• Right to Constitutional Remedies: It is the most important one which protects all the fundamental rights. If someone feels that his/her rights are being harmed in any condition he/she can approach to the court seeking justice.

As we know that both, duties and rights go side by side. Our rights are meaningless without duties thus both are inseparable. We do not have right to get benefited with rights if we do not follow our duties properly for the smooth running of country. As being the citizen of the country, our responsibilities and duties are:

• We must respect the National Flag and National Anthem.
• We should respect and obey the laws of our country.
• We should enjoy rights and freedom under the limit without interfering with freedom and rights of others.
• We should be ready to protect our country whenever required.
• We should respect and protect national property and public property (such as railways, post-offices, bridges, roadways, schools, colleges, historical buildings, places, forests, etc).
• We should pay our taxes with honesty in timely manner.

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Is Guyana’s Oil a Blessing or a Curse?

More than any single country, Guyana demonstrates the struggle between the consequences of climate change and the lure of the oil economy.

With the discovery of offshore oil, Guyana is now building a natural gas pipeline to bring the byproducts of oil production to a planned energy plant. Credit...

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By Gaiutra Bahadur

Photographs by Keisha Scarville

• March 30, 2024

Basjit Mahabir won’t let me in.

I’m trying to persuade Mr. Mahabir to open the padlocked gate of the Wales Estate, where he guards the ramshackle remains of a factory surrounded by miles of fallow sugar cane fields. The growing and grinding of sugar on this plantation about 10 miles from Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, ended seven years ago, and parts of the complex, its weathered zinc walls the color of rust, have been sold for scrap.

I plead my case. “I lived here when I was a little girl,” I say. “My father used to manage the field lab.” Mr. Mahabir is friendly, but firm. I’m not getting in.

The ruins are the vestiges of a sugar industry that, after enriching British colonizers for centuries, was the measure of the nation’s wealth when it achieved independence.

Now the estate is slated to become part of Guyana’s latest boom, an oil rush that is reshaping the country’s future. This nation that lies off the beaten track, population 800,000, is at the forefront of a global paradox: Even as the world pledges to transition away from fossil fuels , developing countries have many short-term incentives to double down on them.

Before oil, outsiders mostly came to Guyana for eco-tourism, lured by rainforests that cover 87 percent of its land. In 2009, the effort to combat global warming turned this into a new kind of currency when Guyana sold carbon credits totaling $250 million, essentially promising to keep that carbon stored in trees. Guyana’s leadership was praised for this planet-saving effort.

Six years later, Exxon Mobil discovered a bounty of oil under Guyana’s coastal waters. Soon the company and its consortium partners, Hess and the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, began drilling with uncommon speed. The oil, now burned mostly in Europe, is enabling more global emissions — and producing colossal wealth.

The find is projected to become Exxon Mobil’s biggest revenue source by decade’s end. The deal that made it possible — and which gave Exxon Mobil the bulk of the proceeds — has been a point of public outcry and even a lawsuit, with a seeming consensus that Guyana got the short end of the stick. But the deal has nonetheless generated $3.5 billion so far for the country, more money than it has ever seen, significantly more than it gained from conserving trees. It’s enough to chart a new destiny.

The government has decided to pursue that destiny by investing even further in fossil fuels. Most of the oil windfall available in its treasury is going to construct roads and other infrastructure, most notably a 152-mile pipeline to carry ashore natural gas, released while extracting oil from Exxon Mobil’s fields, to generate electricity.

The pipeline will snake across the Wales Estate, carrying the gas to a proposed power plant and to a second plant that will use the byproducts to potentially produce cooking gas and fertilizer. With a price tag of more than $2 billion, it’s the most expensive public infrastructure project in the country’s history. The hope is that with a predictable, plentiful supply of cheap energy, the country can develop economically.

At the same time, climate change laps at Guyana’s shores; much of Georgetown is projected to be underwater by 2030.

Countries like Guyana are caught in a perfect storm where the consequences for extracting fossil fuels collide with the incentives to do so. Unlike wealthy countries, they aren’t responsible for most of the carbon emissions that now threaten the planet. “We’re obviously talking about developing countries here, and if there’s so much social and economic development that still needs to happen, then it’s hard to actually demand a complete ban on fossil fuels,” says Maria Antonia Tigre, a director at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Still, she insists, “we’re in a moment in the climate crisis where no one can get a pass.”

This struggle between the existential threats of climate change and the material gains dangled by fossil fuels bedevils rich countries, too. The International Energy Agency predicts that oil demand will peak in five years as big economies transition to renewable sources. But it is a transition of indeterminate length, and in the meantime, the Biden administration approved drilling in the Alaska wilderness just last year, and the United States is producing more oil than ever in its history. A country like Guyana, with an emerging economy, has even more reason to jump at temptation.

The country has already been transformed. Next to its famously elegant but decaying colonial architecture, new houses, hotels, malls, gyms and offices of concrete and glass crop up constantly. Trucks carrying quartz sand for all this construction judder along the highways. While nearly half of Guyanese still live below the poverty line, the country is bustling with possibility, and newcomers arrive from around the world. During a five-month stay there, I met a logistics manager from Sri Lanka, a nightclub singer from Cuba, a Briton developing a shrimp farm and a Nigerian security guard who joked that a sure sign that Guyana had become a hustler’s paradise was that he was there.

As I survey the stranded assets of the sugar works on the Wales Estate, imagining the steel pipes to come, the gleaming future Guyana’s government promises feels haunted by its past as a colony cursed by its resources. The potential for the petroleum boom to implode is in plain sight next door, where Venezuela — which has recently resurrected old claims to much of Guyana’s territory — is a mess of corruption, authoritarian rule and economic volatility.

For centuries, foreign powers set the terms for this sliver of South America on the Atlantic Ocean. The British, who first took possession in 1796, treated the colony as a vast sugar factory. They trafficked enslaved Africans to labor on the plantations and then, after abolition, found a brutally effective substitute by contracting indentured servants, mainly from India. Mr. Mahabir, who worked cutting cane for most of his life, is descended from those indentured workers, as am I.

Fifty-seven years ago, the country shook off its imperial shackles, but genuine democracy took more time. On the eve of independence, foreign meddling installed a leader who swiftly became a dictator. Tensions between citizens of African and Indian descent, encouraged under colonialism, turned violent at independence and set off a bitter contest for governing supremacy that continues to this day. Indigenous groups have been courted by both sides in this political and ethnic rivalry.

It wasn’t until the early 1990s that Guyana held its first free and fair elections. The moment was full of possibility. The institutions of democracy, such as an independent judiciary, began to emerge. And the legislature passed a series of robust environmental laws.

Now that Exxon Mobil has arrived to extract a new resource, some supporters of democracy and the environment see those protections as endangered. They criticize the fossil-fuel giant, with global revenue 10 times the size of Guyana’s gross domestic product, as a new kind of colonizer and have sued their government to press it to enforce its laws and regulations. The judge in one of those cases has rebuked the country’s Environmental Protection Agency as being “submissive” toward the oil industry.

Addressing some of these activists at a recent public hearing, Vickram Bharrat, the minister of natural resources, defended the government’s oversight of oil and gas. “There’s no evidence of bias toward any multinational corporations,” he said. Exxon Mobil, in an emailed statement, said its work on the natural gas project would “help provide lower-emissions, reliable, gas-powered electricity to Guyanese consumers.”

The world is at a critical juncture, and Guyana sits at the intersection. The country of my birth is a tiny speck on the planet, but the discovery of oil there has cracked open questions of giant significance. How can wealthy countries be held to account for their promises to move away from fossil fuels? Can the institutions of a fragile democracy keep large corporations in check? And what kind of future is Guyana promising its citizens as it places bets on commodities that much of the world is vowing to make obsolete?

A land of new possibilities

Oil has created a Guyana with pumpkin spice lattes. The first Starbucks store appeared outside the capital last year; it was such a big deal that the president and the American ambassador attended the opening. People still “lime” — hang out — with local Carib beer and boomboxes on the storied sea wall, but those with the cash can now go for karaoke and fancy cocktails at a new Hard Rock Cafe.

The influx of wealth has introduced new tensions along economic lines in an already racially divided country. Hyperinflation has made fish, vegetables and other staples costlier, and many Guyanese feel priced out of pleasures in their own country. A new rooftop restaurant, described to me as “pizza for Guyana’s 1 percent” by its consultant chef from Brooklyn, set off a backlash on social media for serving a cut of beef that costs $335, as much as a security guard in the capital earns in a month.

This aspirational consumerist playground is grafted onto a ragged infrastructure. Lexus S.U.V.s cruise new highways but must still gingerly wade through knee-deep floods in Georgetown when it rains, thanks to bad drainage. Electricity, the subject of much teeth-sucking and dark humor, is expensive and erratic. It’s also dirty, powered by heavy fuel, a tarlike residue from refining oil. In 2023, 96 blackouts halted activity across the country for an average of one hour each. A growing number of air-conditioners taxing aging generators are partly to blame, but the system has been tripped up by weeds entangling transmission lines, backhoes hitting power poles and once, infamously, a rat.

The country’s larger companies — makers of El Dorado rum, timber producers — generate their own electricity outside the power grid. Small companies, however, don’t have that option. This year, the Inter-American Development Bank cited electrical outages as a major obstacle to doing business in Guyana.

The government’s investment in a natural gas pipeline and power plant offers the prospect of steady and affordable power. The gas, a byproduct of Exxon Mobil’s drilling, tends not to be commercialized and is often flared off as waste, emitting greenhouse gases in the process. But at the government’s request, Exxon Mobil and its consortium partners agreed to send some of the natural gas to the Wales site. The consortium is supposed to supply it without cost, but no official sales agreement has been made public yet.

At international conferences, rich countries have pledged to help poorer, lower-emitting ones to raise their living standards sustainably with renewable energy, but the money has fallen short . Natural gas is cleaner than the heavy fuel Guyana now uses, and the country’s leaders claim that it will serve as an eventual bridge to renewable energy. The fact that it’s not as clean as solar or other renewable sources seems, to some local manufacturers, beside the point because the status quo is so challenging.

During blackouts, Upasna Mudlier, who runs Denmor Garments, a textile company that makes uniforms, fire safety jackets and lingerie, has to send home the two dozen seamstresses she employs. That means a big hit in productivity. A chemist in her late 30s, she inherited the company from her father. Ms. Mudlier was nervous about networking in the burly crush of the male-dominated local business elite, but she nonetheless attended an event hosted by a business development center funded by Exxon Mobil. She leaned in, and it paid off: She won a contract to make a thousand coveralls for workers building an oil production vessel headed for Guyana’s waters.

It was a bright spot nonetheless dimmed by her electric bill. An astounding 40 percent of her operating budget goes to paying for power. Ms. Mudlier is eager for the natural gas plant. Cheaper, reliable energy could allow her to price her products to compete internationally.

Textiles are a tiny niche in Guyana, but hers is the kind of manufacturing that experts say Guyana needs to avoid becoming a petroleum state. Ms. Mudlier agrees with the government’s messaging on the gas project. “It will create more jobs for people and bring more investments into our country and more diversity to our economy,” she said.

Widespread anxiety that the best new jobs would go to foreigners led to a law that sets quotas for oil and gas companies to hire and contract with locals. Komal Singh, a construction magnate in his mid-50s, has benefited from the law. Mr. Singh, who directs an influential government advisory body on business policy, works as a joint partner with international companies building the Wales pipeline and treating toxic waste from offshore oil production.

“We say to them, ‘It’s you, me and Guyanese,’” he told me. “If Guyanese are not part of the show, end of conversation.”

Guyana has lost a greater share of its people than any other country, with two in five people born there living abroad. So the oil boom and the local partner requirement have set off something of a frenzy for passports and have fueled debate over who, exactly, is Guyanese. I met a British private equity manager with a Guyanese mother who obtained citizenship shortly after his second visit to the country. One local partner’s contested citizenship became a matter for the High Court.

With the value of land and housing skyrocketing, some local property owners have profited by becoming landlords to expats or by selling abandoned fields at Manhattan prices for commercial real estate. But to many Guyanese, it has seemed as if “comebackees,” the term for returning members of the diaspora, or the politically connected elite are the most poised to benefit from the boom.

Sharia Bacchus returned to Guyana after two decades living in Florida. Ms. Bacchus, who has family connections in the government and private sector, started her own real estate brokerage. She rents apartments and houses to expats for as much as $6,000 a month.

I shadowed her as she showed a prospective buyer — a retired U.S. Marine of Guyanese descent — a duplex condo in a coveted new gated community. She eagerly pointed out amenities that comebackees want: air-conditioning, a pool and, of course, an automatic backup generator.

“If you lose power at any time, you don’t have to worry about that,” she said, reassuringly.

The ghosts of the past

As glimpses of this new Guyana emerge, the ghosts of the past linger. A year ago, a Georgetown hotel, hustling like so many to take advantage of the new oil money, staged a $170-a-head rum-tasting event called “Night at the Estate House.” I’d been trying, unsuccessfully, to interview Exxon Mobil’s top brass in Guyana. When I heard rumors that its country manager would attend, I bought a ticket and, though he was a no-show, I found a seat with his inner circle.

As we sipped El Dorado rum in the garden of a colonial-style mansion, one of the event’s hosts gave a speech that invoked a time when “B.G.,” the insider’s shorthand for British Guiana, the country’s colonial name, also stood for Booker’s Guiana. Now, the speaker observed matter-of-factly, “it’s Exxon’s Guyana.”

Booker McConnell was a British multinational originally founded by two brothers who became rich on sugar and enslaved people. At one point, the company owned 80 percent of the sugar plantations in British Guiana, including the Wales Estate. The Exxon Mobil executive sitting next to me didn’t know any of this. His face reddened when I told him that the speaker had just placed his employer in a long line of corporate colonialism.

Independence came in 1966, but the U.S. and British governments engineered into power Guyana’s first leader, Forbes Burnham, a Black lawyer whom they deemed more pliable than Cheddi Jagan, a radical son of Indian plantation laborers, who was seen as a Marxist peril. But Burnham grew increasingly dictatorial as well as, in a twist of geopolitical fate, socialist.

Booker, which would later give its name to the Booker Prize in literature, still owned Wales at independence. But in the mid-1970s, Burnham took control of the country’s resources, nationalizing sugar production as well as bauxite mining. Like other former colonies, Guyana wanted to make its break with imperialism economic as well as political.

Burnham pushed the idea of economic independence to the breaking point, banning all imports. Staples from abroad, such as cooking oil, potatoes, wheat flour and split peas, had to be replaced with local substitutes. But Guyana didn’t have the farms and factories to meet the demand, so people turned to the black market, waited in ration lines and went hungry.

Guyana was 15 years free when my family arrived on the Wales Estate, by then part of the nationalized Guyana Sugar Company; my parents, then in their 20s, were young, too. My father, the son of plantation laborers, had just earned a natural sciences degree from the University of Guyana, founded at independence to educate the people who would build the new nation. As field lab manager, he tested sucrose in the cane to determine harvest time and oversaw the trapping of rats and snakes in the fields.

We lived in a former overseer’s house two doors from the estate’s main gate, where Mr. Mahabir now stands sentinel, and my mother taught high school in the guard’s village. My parents had only ever studied by kerosene lamp or gas lantern — but this house had electricity, generated on the estate by burning sugar cane trash.

I can remember at age 6 the cold delicacy of a refrigerated apple, a Christmas present from American aunts. It wouldn’t be long before we joined them.

Rigged elections kept Burnham in power for two decades of hardship and insecurity, both ethnic and economic. As soon as our long-awaited green cards allowing entry to the United States were approved, we left, participating in an exodus that created a “barrel economy,” with many communities sustained by money and care packages sent in barrels from relatives abroad. That exodus gutted Guyana: Today, less than 3 percent of the population is college educated.

Burnham’s death in 1985 touched off a series of events that began to change the country. Within seven years, Guyana held its first free and fair elections. Jagan, by then an old man, was elected president. Soon, a younger generation of his party took office and wholeheartedly embraced capitalism. Private companies could once again bid for Guyana’s vast resources. Corruption, endemic in the Burnham era, took new forms.

Then came proof of the dangers of unchecked extraction. In 1995, a dam at a Canadian-owned gold mine gave way. The 400 million gallons of cyanide-laced waste it had held back fouled two major rivers. Simone Mangal-Joly, now an environmental and international development specialist, was among the scientists on the ground testing cyanide levels in the river. The waters had turned red, and Indigenous villagers covered themselves in plastic to protect their skin. “It’s where they bathed,” Ms. Mangal-Joly recalled. “It was their drinking water, their cooking water, their transportation.”

The tragedy led to action. The next year, the government passed its first environmental protection law. Seven years later, the right to a healthy environment was added to the Constitution. Guyana managed to enshrine what the United States and Canada, for instance, have not.

For a moment, Guyana’s natural capital — the vast tropical rainforests that make it one of the very few countries that is a net carbon sink — was among its most prized assets. Bharrat Jagdeo, then president, sold the carbon stored in its forests to Norway to offset pollution from that country’s own petroleum production in 2009. Indigenous groups received $20 million from that deal to develop their villages and gain title to their ancestral lands, though some protested that they had little input. Mr. Jagdeo was hailed as a United Nations “Champion of the Earth.”

And then Exxon Mobil struck oil.

The vision of a green Guyana now vies with its fast-rising status as one of the largest new sources of oil in the world. The country’s sharply divided political parties stand in rare accord on drilling. Mr. Jagdeo, who is now Guyana’s vice president but still dictates much government policy, is a fervent supporter of the Wales project.

But a small, steadfast, multiracial movement of citizens is testing the power of the environmental laws. David Boyd, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, describes the country as a front line for litigation using innovative rights arguments to fight climate change. It includes the first constitutional climate change case in the region, brought by an Indigenous tour guide and a university lecturer.

Not all critics of the petroleum development are environmentalists. What unites them is the belief that the nation’s hard-won constitutional protections should be stronger than any corporation.

‘The rule of law is the rule of law.’

Liz Deane-Hughes comes from a prominent family. Her father founded one of Georgetown’s most respected law firms, and in the 1980s, back in Burnham’s time, he fought against repressive changes to the constitution. She remembers her parents taking her to rousing rallies led by a multiracial party battling Burnham’s rule. When she was 13, she came home one day to find police officers searching their home. “I lived through the 1980s in Guyana,” says Ms. Deane-Hughes, who practiced at the family firm before quitting the law. “So I do not want to go back there on any level.”

I talked to Ms. Deane-Hughes, now an artist and jewelry designer, on the sprawling veranda of a colonial-style house built on land that has been in her family for five generations. The government has claimed part of it for the natural gas pipeline, which crosses private property as well as the Wales Estate. But the issue, she told me, is bigger than her backyard.

Last month, Ms. Deane-Hughes joined other activists, virtually, at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, making the argument that oil companies have compromised environmental governance in Guyana. This coterie of activists have spoken out and filed suits to bring the corporation under the scrutiny of the country’s laws and regulations.

Ms. Mangal-Joly, who responded to the cyanide disaster that prompted those environmental laws, says the government has failed to fulfill its oversight duties. As part of her doctoral research at University College London, she found that Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency had waived the environmental assessments for every facility treating toxic waste or storing radioactive materials produced by offshore oil production.

The gas plant, too, has been given a pass. In January, the E.P.A. waived the environmental assessment for the proposed Wales plant because Exxon Mobil, although it isn’t building the plant, had done one for the pipeline.

The E.P.A. defended the decision. “It is good and common practice” to rely on existing environmental assessments “even when done by other project developers,” wrote an agency spokeswoman on behalf of its executive director. The agency asserted its right to waive assessments as it sees fit and noted that the courts hadn’t overturned its exemptions, saying, “This no doubt speaks to the E.P.A.’s high degree of technical competence and culture of compliance within the laws of Guyana.”

Ms. Mangal-Joly notes that the power plant sits above an aquifer that supplies drinking water to most of the country. “Our water table is shallow,” she says. “There’s a generation, and generations to come, that will not inherit clean water. We are despoiling a resource far more valuable than oil.”

The waiver infuriated Ms. Deane-Hughes. And the independence of the board that hears citizen concerns struck her as a sham. Its chairman, Mahender Sharma, heads Guyana’s energy agency, and his wife directs the new government company created to manage the power plant. At a hearing of the board, Ms. Deane-Hughes cited the mandate against conflicts of interest in the Environmental Protection Act and asked Mr. Sharma to recuse himself. “I would like you not to make a decision,” she told him.

Six weeks later, the board did make a decision: It allowed the power company to keep its environmental permit without doing an impact statement.

Mr. Sharma, the energy director, dismissed the critics as a privileged intellectual elite sheltered from the deprivations that have led many Guyanese to welcome the oil industry.

At the Inter-American commission meeting, Mr. Bharrat, the minister of natural resources, argued that it is his government’s right as well as its responsibility to balance economic growth with sustainability. “Our country’s development and environmental protection are not irreconcilable aims,” he told them. And he reminded them that they can turn to the courts with their complaints.

Guyana’s highest court has dealt the activists both setbacks and victories. In one of the more consequential cases, activists have thus far prevailed. Frederick Collins, who heads the local anti-corruption group Transparency Institute of Guyana, sued the E.P.A. for not requiring Exxon Mobil’s local subsidiaries to carry a more substantial insurance policy. Mr. Collins argued that the existing $600 million policy was inadequate in the extreme. Major oil spills aren’t rare — two happen worldwide every year. The biggest blowout ever, at BP’s Deepwater Horizon, cost that company $64 billion. The deepwater drilling in Guyana is the riskiest kind.

A retired insurance executive and Methodist preacher, Mr. Collins had been feeling pessimistic about the case ever since the judge allowed Exxon Mobil, with its daunting resources, to join the E.P.A. as a defendant a year ago. In legal filings, the defendants had dismissed him as a “meddlesome busybody” without legal standing to bring the suit.

But in May, the judge, Sandil Kissoon, pilloried the E.P.A. as “a derelict, pliant” agency whose “state of inertia and slumber” had “placed the nation, its citizens and the environment in grave peril.” He found that the insurance held by Exxon Mobil’s local subsidiary failed to meet international standards and ordered the parent company to guarantee its unlimited liability for all disaster costs — or stop drilling. The case is being appealed.

An Exxon Mobil spokesperson said by email that the company’s insurance is “adequate and appropriate” and that a $2 billion guarantee it recently provided, at the order of the court considering the appeal, “exceeds industry precedent and the estimate of potential liability.”

At a news conference, Mr. Jagdeo, the vice president, criticized the ruling and called on Guyana’s courts to make “predictable” decisions. “We are playing in the big leagues now,” he said. “We are not a backwater country where you can do whatever you want and get away with it.”

To Melinda Janki, the lawyer handling most of the activists’ suits and one of the few local lawyers willing to take on the oil companies, the question is whether Exxon Mobil can get away with doing whatever it wants. She helped shape some of Guyana’s strongest environmental laws. “Even though this is a massive oil company,” she said, “they still have to obey the law. The rule of law is the rule of law.”

The dissidents are deploying the law in their fight against the oil giant and the government, but with billions on the line, they’re also combating the currents of public opinion.

A fossil fuel economy in a changing world

For all the misery wrought by sugar during the colonial era, its legacy as an economic powerhouse lingers in local memory.

In Patentia, the village closest to Wales, where I attended first grade, laid-off sugar workers remember the estate as the center of the community. When its 1,000 workers lost their jobs, thousands more were sent reeling, as businesses from rum shops to mom-and-pop groceries folded.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation, then the country’s largest employer, eliminated a third of its work force, leaving about a fifth of the population coping with the effects of unemployment.

The timing of the closures, a year after the oil discovery, raised hopes that the petroleum industry might somehow fill the void. Seven years after the closures, however, most sugar workers haven’t found new jobs. Certainly, very few are employed by the petroleum industry.

Their struggle raises a crucial question for Guyana as it wrestles with the transition from the old economy to the new: How can Guyanese without the skills or education for petroleum jobs benefit? Nested within that quandary ticks another: What if the new economy isn’t so new? What if its petroleum-driven vision of progress is actually already outdated?

Thomas Singh, a behavioral economist who founded the University of Guyana’s Green Institute, has argued for transforming the still-active sugar industry’s waste into cellulosic ethanol, a cutting-edge biofuel. But Mr. Sharma, the energy agency head, says the industry is too small for its cane husks to power very much. Some of the jackpot from Norway for carbon offsets has been earmarked for eight small solar farms, but Mr. Sharma, who drives an electric car and has solar panels at his house, maintains that solar energy is too expensive to be a primary power source, despite arguments to the contrary . The giant hydroelectric project the Norway deal was supposed to fund, powered by a waterfall, has long been stalled.

What dominates the local imagination now is oil and gas. During my stay in Guyana, I kept hearing the calypso song “ Not a Blade of Grass ” on the radio. Written in the 1970s as a patriotic rallying cry and a stand against Venezuela, which threatened to annex two-thirds of Guyana, it has made a comeback with a new cover version. (So, too, have Venezuela’s threats .) The lyrics, to an outsider’s ear, sound like an anthem against Exxon Mobil: “When outside faces from foreign places talk about takin’ over, we ain’t backin’ down.” But in Guyana, it has been invoked recently to assert the nation’s right to pump its own oil. The voices against drilling, however outspoken, remain isolated; the more passionate debate is over whether Guyana should renegotiate its contract to get a bigger take of the oil proceeds.

Oil is seen as such a boon that even questioning how it’s regulated can be branded unpatriotic. Journalists, academics, lawyers, workers at nongovernmental organizations and even former E.P.A. employees confided their fear of being ostracized if they spoke against petroleum.

Since becoming an adult, I’ve returned to Guyana every few years to research the country’s past and its legacies. During this recent trip, an elder statesman I interviewed told me that it was time I moved back permanently. The thought points to a hope, reawakened by oil, that Guyana can reclaim its lost people. But from my recent trips back to the country, it’s hard to tell now what Guyana is becoming, and who will thrive there as it evolves.

The house my family lived in on the Wales Estate still stands. It has been freshly painted and refurbished, with a daunting sign outside threatening trespassers with closed-circuit television, dogs and drone surveillance. It has passed into private hands. Exactly who owns it is a matter of speculation. The rumor in Patentia? A former sugar worker from Wales repeated it to me: “Exxon owns that house.”

Do you have a connection to Guyana?

It’s still early days in Guyana’s transformation, and the events unfolding in Guyana will have a notable impact worldwide. We’d like to hear your perspectives on where the country is heading. We especially want to engage Guyanese people and those with family or ancestral connections to the country.

The Headway initiative is funded through grants from the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serving as a fiscal sponsor. The Woodcock Foundation is a funder of Headway’s public square. Funders have no control over the selection, focus of stories or the editing process and do not review stories before publication. The Times retains full editorial control of the Headway initiative.

Gaiutra Bahadur is the author of “Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture.” She teaches English and journalism as an associate professor at Rutgers University in Newark.

A Guide to Sugar and Other Sweeteners

One of the best things you can do for your health is to cut back on foods with added sugar . Here’s how to get started .

A W.H.O. agency  has classified aspartame as a possible carcinogen . If the announcement has you worried, consider these alternatives to diet soda .

A narrative that sugar feeds cancer has been making the rounds for decades. But while a healthy diet is important, you can’t “starve a tumor.”

Sugar alcohols are in many sugar-free foods. What are they, and are they better than regular sugar ?

Many parents blame sugar for their children’s hyperactive behavior . But the myth has been debunked .

Are artificial sweeteners a healthy alternative to sugar? The W.H.O. warned against using them , saying that long-term use could pose health risks.

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King Charles shakes hands, chats with crowd at most significant public outing since cancer diagnosis

UK’s King Charles arrives for Easter Sunday service in rare public appearance since cancer diagnosis

Britain’s King Charles III waves as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

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Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla greet people after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s King Charles III, center, and Queen Camilla arrive to attend the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s King Charles III, left, and Queen Camilla arrive to attend the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s King Charles III, right, and Queen Camilla leave after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Hollie Adams/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III shook hands and chatted with onlookers after attending an Easter service at Windsor Castle on Sunday in his most significant public outing since being diagnosed with cancer last month.

The king, dressed in a dark overcoat and shiny blue tie, smiled as he made his way along a rope line outside St. George’s Chapel for about five minutes, reaching into the crowd to greet supporters who waved get-well cards and snapped photos on a chilly early spring day. “You’re very brave to stand out here in the cold,” Charles told them.

“Keep going strong,” one member of the crowd shouted as Charles and Queen Camilla walked by.

The 75-year-old monarch’s appearance was seen as an effort to reassure the public after Charles stepped back from public duties in early February following an announcement by Buckingham Palace that he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified type of cancer.

The king has continued fulfilling his state duties , such as reviewing government papers and meeting with the prime minister. But his attendance at a traditional royal event like the Easter service is seen as a sign that he is beginning a managed return to public life. British media reported last week that Charles would slowly increase his public appearances after Easter.

The service itself was smaller than usual as Kate, the Princess of Wales , is also being treated for cancer and has paused public duties. The princess, her husband Prince William, and their children did not attend.

Kate’s shock announcement that she, too, had cancer was made on March 22, after weeks of speculation about her health and whereabouts following major abdominal surgery in February.

Charles’ enforced absence from public life has been a setback for a man who is eager to put his stamp on the monarchy after waiting almost 74 years — longer than any previous heir — to become king.

When he succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II , Charles faced the daunting task of demonstrating that the 1,000-year-old monarchy remains relevant in a modern nation whose citizens come from all corners of the globe. After less than two years on the throne, the king is still defining himself with the public as he tries to persuade young people and members of minority communities that the royal family can represent them.

“He knows that being seen by the public and having public goodwill is really what’s at the core of a successful monarchy,’' royal commentator Jennie Bond told the BBC. ”He needs to have that interaction and I think he quite enjoys it, actually.’'

Some members of the public seemed reassured. Anne Daley, 65, from Cardiff, Wales, held up a Welsh flag to the former Prince of Wales.

“Did you see the smile (Charles) gave me? He pointed at my flag,” she said. “He had a lovely smile. He looked well. I think he was happy that we’ve all come.”

Although the duties of a constitutional monarch are largely ceremonial, the job of being a royal can be exhausting.

Besides the occasional procession in full royal regalia, there are meetings with political leaders, dedication ceremonies and events honoring the accomplishments of British citizens. That added up to 161 days of royal engagements during Charles’s first year on the throne.

The palace has worked hard to keep the king in the public eye — even as he sought to limit contacts to reduce his risk of infection while receiving treatment. Videos of the king reading get-well cards and an audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were released. He also attended a session of the Privy Council, an assembly of senior advisers.

While he skipped a pre-Easter service on Thursday, Charles released a prerecorded audio message in which he expressed his regret at missing an occasion traditionally attended by the monarch.

The king also reaffirmed his coronation pledge “not to be served, but to serve.”

“That I have always tried to do and continue to do, with my whole heart,” he said.