“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.”—Ulysses S. Grant.
“England expects every man to do his duty”.—Abraham Lincoln.
Whate’er race or speech, thou art the same;—Lord Nelson (Signal at Trafalgar,1805)
Why, O man, do you vituperate the world ? The world is most beautiful, framed by the best and most perfect reason, though to you indeed it may be unclean and evil, because you are unclean and evil in a good world.The Ode of Life
So many great thoughts of great men came to my mind when I decided to conclude. In the legal sense, there are various kinds of duties. The duties may be legal, moral negative, perfect, positive, relative etc. The Hindu jurisprudence has laid a greater emphasis on duties than on rights. The Manusmruti also refers to the duties of the kind in Chapter VII (Verses : 36-44).Marsilius Ficinus.
The Manusmruti
states :-
“The King
should humbly try to study about all kinds of knowledge and economics.
Such kings are never defeated. Many kings are defeated because of their
arrogance; but kings those are humble, though required to suffer ‘Vanvas’
(punishment) while on throne, were respected, king should learn economics
from the experts in economics and learn logic from experts in logic. King
should not find the pleasure in richness and unhappiness in poverty. The
king should try to learn the practical experience from the common man.”
It must be
noted that now the days have changed. The people of the country are kings.
Sovereignty lies with the people. The representatives of the people therefore,
should be humble, should not be arrogant, should try to understand the
problems of the common man and do good for the people and for the mankind.
It must be noted that there
are several kinds of duties that are required to be performed although
all of them are not incorporated in the Constitution. It will not be possible
for any Constitution to include all kinds of duties in a Constitution.
The concept of duty also goes on changing sometimes according to times
and therefore, it will be necessary for us to remember that we are also
bound to perform the duties which cannot be included in the constitution.
The fundamental and greater duties that we will be required to perform
in course of time.
Some people try to criticize the duties embodied in the Ten Commandments, or in Quran and in the Hindu literature consisting of Mahabharata or Ramayana as platitudes or impracticable. One has, however, to bear in mind that those duties were only some broad principles of duties which it will be necessary to add or modify or change according to changing times.
It must, however, be remembered that if one tries to study the lives of great men in any country, their lives are nothing but history of duties they have performed towards the welfare of the nation or the welfare of the mankind. The duties towards the nation and the mankind are universally recognised. All religions, cultures, civilizations basically talk of duties, and rights if any, one is entitled to have is only the result of consequence of the duties to be performed. Duties are always first, rights are subsequent benefits of those duties. If there are no duties, there can be no rights. If the duties are performed, then only one will have some dividend arising out of the duties. If duties are neglected, there will only be liabilities.
With the changing science and technology with the help of satellite television the world has become a small global village. The technology is required to be used for both welfare and development . The nations disagree on national or international issues, they cannot afford to have wars or frequent elections. The stabilty is going to be the foundation of socio-economic development. The growth of population and limited resources has become a new challenge which people all over the world have to face with new outlook and challenges. Recent international disturbances in South Korea , Thailand , Sri Lanka are a result of problems arising from unemployment and poverty. The International conflict due to inspection of weapons in Iraq resulted in war was uncalled for . The attack on Kosavo by NATO has become a new dispute in the Internation Court of Justice . The world is at the threshold of a new millenium , so we the people of this planet have to give preference to the fundamental duties based spiritualism against fundamental right based on unwarranted comforts and unwanted property rights.
It can be seen from the speeches delivered bby His Excellency Shri K.R.Narayanan , the President Of India, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, The Prime Minister Of India, on 15th August 1999, That being the citizens of this country you are reminded about your duties for defending the soverignity of India and also building a strong and secular India. The Prime Minister Of India said that the speciality of Indian life lies in the unity and diversity . The Chief Justice Of India has reminded the people about their duties to protect Human Rights.Let us hope that the citizens will keep in mind the messages given by the President , Prime Minister and Chief Justice Of India .
There can, in fact be no opposition to the concept of the fundamental duties. Those who oppose the fundamental duties can be persons who do not believe in truth. Such persons can only be the enemies of the nation and the mankind. We as citizens, in reality, are the soldiers of the great battalion of the country. When the interests of the nation and of the mankind are greater, we must always obey the orders issued by our leaders and not to question them why but to do and die. I cannot conclude in a better way than to quote from Tennyson from “The charge of the Light Brigade”.
Theirs not
to make reply,
Theirs not
to reason why,
Theirs but
to do and die”.