Duty plays a significant role in a democracy. Duties are just certain laws or regulations a citizen must follow, although these duties may or may not be enforceable by law. Duties are nothing but correlative of rights. So, if a citizen wants to enjoy the rights as granted and sanctioned by the state, he is obliged to pay back by performing certain duties. Thus, the enjoyment of the rights warrants the fulfillment of some duties and obligations.
Also Read: Rights – Different Theories of Rights
Democracy – Different Forms of Democracy
Democracy – Historical Background, and Justification
Significance of Duty
Duties are not merely obligations but essential conditions of rights, and that can be understood by an example: suppose an individual wants to enjoy the right of freedom of expression. Then, it is our duty to allow him to enjoy these rights; only then shall we be able to enjoy the right for ourselves. There are numerous types of duties that citizen needs to perform to enjoy their rights like respecting the National flag.
In the words of Barker, ‘The state is the immediate source of rights and the rights in any full sense of the word, are never rights unless they proceed immediately from that source. A citizen owes a debt of gratitude to the state for providing him with certain privileges that are essential for the growth of his personality. Hence, he is obliged to perform some duties to the state’. These duties are to stand by the state in the hour’s crisis, to obey the laws of the land, to pay taxes, and to give respect to the various symbols of the state and participate in the activities.
Rights and Duties
As we discussed earlier, rights and duties are correlated to each other. The rights and duties are two sides of the same coin and hence, if one wants to avail some rights, he/she has to perform duties, otherwise there would be no right. Another logic put forward in support of duties is that if we are enjoying certain rights, it is our obligation that we should also reciprocate. If a state is providing some rights, we should also contribute to it by doing our duty.
This is the reason that Fundamental Duties have been added to the Indian Constitution by amending the Constitution through the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act. The Constitution of Soviet Russia has enlisted a score of the duties that the citizens are expected to follow. Moreover, the enjoyment of rights entails some duties, as the citizen is obliged to pay back by fulfilling some obligations. It is like human beings that are social animals. It is the very basis of the group life that modern man has come to terms with.
Lipson also maintained that “the nature of group organization embodies the principle of reciprocity. He who gives, takes, and he who takes, gives”. The Functional Theory of Rights also maintained that “we are given powers that we may so act as to add to the richness of our social heritage. We have rights, not that we may receive, but that we may do”.
Thus, we can conclude the argument with the words of Hobhouse that rights are “what we may expect from others, and others from us, and all genuine rights are conditions of social welfare. Thus, the rights anyone may claim are partly those, which are essential to every man to be a rational human person and partly those which are necessary for the fulfillment of the function that society expects from him. They are conditioned by, correlative to, his responsibilities”.