Question

Which of the following statement/s is/are true regarding 97^th Amendment of the Constitution?
1. It made the right to form Self Help Group as a Fundamental Right
2. It has brought a new provision into the Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principle of State Policy)
3. Both are wrong
4. Both are right

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Both are right

The correct answer is It made the right to form Self Help Group as a Fundamental Right and ​It has brought a new provision into Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principle of State Policy).

• The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2011 gave constitutional status and protection to cooperative societies.
• It aims to overcome all the problems faced by these societies and bring about an efficient way to manage them.
• It aims at encouraging the economic activities of cooperatives which in turn will help rural India progress.
• In this context, it made the following three changes in the Constitution:
  • It made the right to form cooperative societies a fundamental right (Article 19).
  • It included a new Directive Principle of State Policy on the promotion of cooperative societies (Article 43-B).
  • It added a new Part IX-B in the Constitution which is entitled “The Cooperative Societies” (Articles 243-ZH to 243-ZT).

• India borrowed the DPSP from the Irish Constitution of 1937 which itself had borrowed it from the Spanish Constitution.
• Further, the Government of India Act had some “instruments of Instructions” which became the immediate source of DPSP.
• The fundamental rights and the directive principles find the common origin in the Sapru Report of 1945, which had divided the fundamental rights into two parts viz. Justifiable and non-justifiable rights.
• While justifiable rights were incorporated in Part III; non-justifiable rights were incorporated as directive principles to the state without any guarantee to be enforced via court.
• Thus, the directive principles are guidelines by the constitution to the state as defined in article 12 (central, state, local government, and bodies).
• Basic idea is that the “state” should keep these principles while framing laws, policies, ordinances, etc.