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TNPSC Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties practice questions

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties are small chapters, but they produce steady marks in the polity unit because their Parts, Articles and sources are easy to test. Students lose them by mixing them up with Fundamental Rights. The five questions below force you to separate the three. The full subject guide is TNPSC Indian Polity.

What this topic covers

• Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, Articles 36 to 51): guidelines for the State to build a welfare society. They are borrowed from the Irish constitution.
• Their legal status: Article 37 says they cannot be enforced by any court, but they are fundamental in the governance of the country.
• Fundamental Duties (Part IV-A, Article 51A): added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 and now numbering eleven after the 86th Amendment (2002) added the duty of parents and guardians to provide opportunities for education to children aged 6 to 14.

Three groups of directives are worth separating, because questions often ask which group an Article belongs to.

Sample questions

Question 1

The Directive Principles of State Policy are contained in:

• A. Part III
• B. Part IV
• C. Part IV-A
• D. Part V

Question 2

The idea of Directive Principles of State Policy was borrowed from the constitution of:

• A. the United States
• B. Canada
• C. Ireland
• D. Australia

Question 3

Which Article directs the State to organise village panchayats?

• A. Article 40
• B. Article 39
• C. Article 44
• D. Article 51

Question 4

Which of the following is a Fundamental Duty of every citizen?

• A. To vote in every election
• B. To pay income tax
• C. To safeguard public property and abjure violence
• D. To serve in the armed forces for two years

Question 5

Which statement about the Directive Principles is correct?

• A. They can be enforced through writs issued by High Courts
• B. They are enforceable only against private persons
• C. They form part of the Preamble
• D. They cannot be enforced by courts but are fundamental in the governance of the country

Answers and explanations

1. B. Directive Principles are in Part IV (Articles 36 to 51). Part III is Fundamental Rights, Part IV-A is Fundamental Duties, and Part V deals with the Union.
2. C. The Irish constitution is the source of the Directive Principles. The United States gave Fundamental Rights, and Canada the federal structure.
3. A. Article 40 asks the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers of self-government. Article 44 is the uniform civil code, and Article 39 is about fair distribution of resources.
4. C. Article 51A(i) makes it a duty to safeguard public property and abjure violence. Voting and paying tax are civic responsibilities but are not listed as Fundamental Duties.
5. D. Article 37 states exactly this. A court cannot compel the State to carry out a directive, which is the main difference from Fundamental Rights.

How to prepare Directive Principles and Duties

Build one comparison sheet with three columns: Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, Fundamental Duties. Put the Part, the Articles, the source country, whether courts can enforce it, and the amendment that shaped it. Rewrite it from memory twice. Most mistakes in this chapter come from swapping Part III and Part IV.

Use a short test for any new question. If the sentence says "the State shall endeavour", it is a directive. If it says "no person shall be denied", it is a right. If it says "it shall be the duty of every citizen", it is Article 51A.

Learn the Gandhian directives by their Article numbers, since they link directly to Tamil Nadu: Article 40 (panchayats) is the basis of the local-government unit covered in TNPSC local government practice. The Preamble and rights chapter is in TNPSC Preamble and Fundamental Rights practice.

Take the full topic test on PrepMatic

Once you can score 4 out of 5 here, move to a timed polity topic test on PrepMatic (about 15 questions, 30 minutes). Your results break down accuracy by subject, so you can see whether Polity or General Studies as a whole is costing you marks. The Basic plan is free and includes 5 topic tests and 2 mock tests a month.

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