Constitution of India
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IV — DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY · Article 38

State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people

Synced on 04 Jul 2026Text as per India Code

[(1)] The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.

[(2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations.]

(a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood;

(b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good;

(c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment;

(d) that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women;

(e) that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;

[(f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.]

Footnotes — as printed in the India Code

1. Art. 38 renumbered as cl. (1) by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, s. 9 (w.e.f. 20-6-1979).

Judgments on Article 38