the last three years, a sudden surge of political interest in ‘fundamental duties’ have brought it out of cold storage. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Joint Session of Parliament on Constitution Day, emphasised the importance of fundamental duties. In distinguishing between voluntary service and mandatory duties, Prime Minister Modi stressed the importance of focusing on and performing these duties in interactions with people.2 In his Pariksha Pe Charcha programme, conducted in 2020, Prime Minister Modi also spoke about duties, stating, “There’s a fine connection between our rights and responsibilities. Our rights are directly dependent on the responsibilities performed by others. I hope this generation takes it upon themselves to act on some of the Fundamental Duties enshrined in our Constitution.”3 In his Constitution Day address in 2019, then President Ram Nath Kovind also spoke of fundamental rights, emphasising the difference between the rights and duties in the Constitution. The then President invoked Gandhian ideology of interdependence of rights and duties to suggest the priority of performing one’s duties before one may exercise rights.4 He went beyond the duties enumerated in Article 51A to highlight the spirit of humanism5 as a fundamental duty—one that requires us to serve all compassionately.6 In early 2022, the Supreme Court of India issued notice to the Government of India to respond to a petition filed before the court that sought the enforcement of fundamental duties.7 This is not the first petition to seek enforcement of fundamental duties, but is before the court at a time when there is widespread effort to reshape the historical and cultural emphasis on fundamental duties in Indian political and constitutional thought. This paper explores the place of duties in Indian political and constitutional thought. A full account must trace this history across the ancient, medieval and modern periods. Across these periods, Indian political thought responds to the questions of justice and statecraft, as well as the concept of duties. Early references to duties include Manu’s work on dharma as well as the concept of duty, specifically Rajdhamma, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Address on 70th Constitution Day https://www.narendramodi.in/pmaddresses-joint-session-of-parliament-on-70th-constitution-day-547448 (accessed 29 September 2023). 3 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, First Session of Pariksha Pe Charcha.https://www.mygov.in/campaigns/ pariksha-pe-charcha-2020/ (accessed 29 September 2023). 4 Address by the Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind at the inaugural Function of ‘Constitution Day’ https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=194988 (accessed 29 September 2023). 5 See also, Deendayal Upadhyay, Integral Humanism (Jagriti Prakashan, 1968); Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (Princeton University Press, 1999). 6 Supra note 4. 7 Durga Dutt v. UoI and Ors. WP(C) No. 67/2022. 2 22 Journal of the National Human Rights Commission, Vol. 22, 2023