Understanding Fundamental Duties and the 11th Duty Amendment

The Fundamental Duties of citizens were incorporated into the Indian Constitution based on the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. These duties were added by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976.

Initially, the 42nd Amendment added 10 Fundamental Duties to the Constitution, listed under Article 51A in Part IVA.

Later, another Fundamental Duty was added to this list. This eleventh duty, specified under clause (k) of Article 51A, concerns education.

The eleventh (k) Fundamental Duty states: "to provide opportunities for education by the parent or guardian to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years."

This significant addition was made by the 86th Amendment Act of 2002. This amendment also introduced Article 21A, making elementary education a Fundamental Right, and changed the subject matter of Article 45 in the Directive Principles of State Policy.

Therefore, the eleventh fundamental duty was added by the 86th Amendment.

Let's look at the options provided:

• 44^th Amendment: This amendment primarily reversed many changes made by the 42nd Amendment, especially concerning emergency provisions and property rights.
• 86^th Amendment: This amendment added the 11th Fundamental Duty, made education a Fundamental Right (Article 21A), and amended Article 45.
• 89^th Amendment: This amendment created the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) by bifurcating the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• 92^nd Amendment: This amendment added four languages (Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santhali) to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Comparing the actions of these amendments with the question, the 86th Amendment Act is the one that added the eleventh fundamental duty.