Article 51 of the Constitution

It is 1950. India is only a few years free. The world has just come through a terrible war. A young country writes its rulebook and adds a short promise about how it will treat other nations. That promise is Article 51. It asks India to seek peace, honour its treaties and settle quarrels without force. You cannot sue anyone over it. Yet one day a court used it to protect working women. How did that happen?

1What Does Article 51 Ask the State to Do?

• Think of Article 51 as India’s promise to the rest of the world. It sits in Part IV, among the Directive Principles, as its last Article.
• It lists four goals. The State shall endeavour to promote international peace and security. Endeavour means try.
• Second, it should keep just and honourable relations between nations. That means dealing fairly and keeping one’s word.
• Third, it should foster respect for international law and treaty obligations. A treaty is a formal agreement between countries.
• Fourth, it should encourage the settlement of international disputes by arbitration. Arbitration means asking neutral judges, agreed by both sides, to decide.
• India has seen arbitration at work. After the 1965 clash in the Rann of Kutch, both sides agreed to a tribunal. In February 1968 it gave about 90 per cent of the disputed land to India and the rest to Pakistan. Both accepted the award.
• This shows the idea behind clause (d). Neutral judges can end a quarrel that guns could not.
• Note what the fourth clause does not say. It does not say every dispute must go to arbitration. It only says the State should encourage it.
• Article 37 adds a rule for all Directive Principles. Courts cannot enforce them by themselves. But the State must keep them in mind when making laws.

2What Is Panchsheel, and How Does It Connect to Article 51?

• Four years after the Constitution began, India made a famous attempt to put Article 51 into practice.
• On 29 April 1954, India and China signed an agreement on trade and travel between India and the Tibet region of China. It was signed in Beijing.
• Its preamble set out five ideas that came to be called Panchsheel. The word means the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
• Why did these ideas matter? Both countries had just come out of colonial rule or civil war. They wanted a way to live side by side without fear.
• The five are mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territory, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
• Two months later, in June 1954, China’s Premier Zhou Enlai visited India. He and Prime Minister Nehru issued a joint statement. They said these ideas should guide relations with other countries too.
• The idea then travelled. In April 1955, the Bandung Conference of Asian and African nations included Panchsheel among its ten principles of peace and cooperation.
• Panchsheel fits Article 51’s call for peaceful and honourable relations. But it is a separate agreement. It is not part of Article 51’s text.

3What Happened in the Vishaka Case?

• The story begins in a village in Rajasthan in 1992. Bhanwari Devi was a social worker in a government programme. She tried to stop a child marriage.
• Soon after, she was gang-raped. She sought justice, and the case moved slowly.
• Women’s groups were shocked. They filed a public interest petition in the Supreme Court. One of the groups was called Vishaka. The case took its name from it.
• They pointed to a gap. India had no law that protected women from sexual harassment at work.
• The Court heard the petition. It began with the Fundamental Rights to equality, dignity and a safe working life.
• Then it looked beyond India’s borders. It turned to CEDAW, a United Nations treaty against discrimination of women. India had ratified it in 1993.
• Here Article 51(c) helped. It asks the State to respect international law and treaty obligations. So the Court said such standards could help read Fundamental Rights where Indian law was silent.
• On 13 August 1997, the Court gave its judgment. It laid down binding guidelines for every workplace, using its powers under Articles 32 and 141.
• The guidelines were to hold until Parliament made a proper law. That law came in 2013, as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act. It took effect on 9 December 2013.

4Can You Take Article 51 to Court?

• Suppose a citizen says, “The government broke Article 51, so I will sue.” That claim will fail. Directive Principles are not enforceable on their own.
• Does that make Article 51 useless? No. Vishaka shows its quiet power. A court may use it as a guide while reading a right that is enforceable.
• Notice what carried the Vishaka guidelines. It was the Fundamental Rights and the Court’s own powers. Article 51(c) was support, not the legal engine.
• Another point is easy to miss. A treaty does not become Indian law just because Article 51(c) exists.
• For that, Parliament must pass a law. Article 253 gives Parliament the power to make laws to carry out international agreements.
• Two cases show how careful the courts are. In Jolly George Varghese (1980), the Supreme Court said a treaty promise makes lawmakers act at home. It does not by itself become enforceable law.
• A debtor in that case argued that a United Nations covenant barred jail for failing to pay a contract debt. The Court agreed with the ideal. But it said Parliament had not yet made it law.
• The Vishaka rule then travelled. In 1999, in Apparel Export Promotion Council v. A. K. Chopra, the Court applied the Vishaka principles. It upheld the removal of an employee who had harassed a woman colleague.
• So hold two ideas together. There is no direct claim under Article 51. But there can be real influence on how courts read the law.

5How Is Article 51 Different From Article 51A?

• The two numbers look alike, but they do different jobs.
• Article 51 is about the State and its dealings with other nations. It is a Directive Principle in Part IV.
• Article 51A is about citizens. It lists the Fundamental Duties in Part IVA, from clause (a) to (k). That is eleven duties.
• One more mix-up appears in exams. India has sent soldiers on United Nations peacekeeping missions. That is a policy choice. It is not one of the four goals written in Article 51.
• So a question that lists “UN peacekeeping force” as a part of Article 51 is a trap. The text mentions peace and security, but not a peacekeeping force.
• Memory aid: 51 is for the State and the world. 51A is for you and the nation.

6What Should You Remember for Exams?

Must Know

• Article 51 is a Directive Principle with four goals: peace and security, honourable relations, respect for international law and treaties, and arbitration.
• Courts do not enforce it by itself.

Good to Know

• Panchsheel was signed on 29 April 1954 and reflects Article 51.
• In Vishaka (1997) the Court used CEDAW and Article 51(c) to read Fundamental Rights.
• The 2013 Act replaced the guidelines.

Great to Know

• A UN peacekeeping force is not in Article 51 (Trap).
• Article 51 is not Article 51A (Trap).
• A treaty needs a law from Parliament under Article 253 (Trap).
• Not enforceable does not mean useless (Trap).

7How Has This Been Asked in Exams?