DU Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties (VAC): Most Repeated Questions from 16 PYQ Papers

Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties (UPC 6967000002) is a Value Addition Course taken by students from every programme. Colleges set their own papers, but they draw on the same small set of ideas, so the same questions keep returning.

We collected every paper we have for this code, removed duplicate scans (the same paper uploaded by several colleges), and counted what keeps coming back. That left 16 distinct question papers, from 2023 to the 2026 exams.

All of them are free on the Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties VAC PYQ page. Open a few alongside this post.

A note on the counts: "11 of 16 papers" means 11 of the 16 distinct papers asked about that topic, not 11 exam sittings. We left out the course title itself, which contains "Fundamental Duties", when counting.

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What the paper looks like

• Question 1 is short notes, "write any two", 5 marks each. It appears in all 16 papers. The first question is compulsory in the papers where the instructions say so.

• The rest are 10-mark questions, and the instructions we could read ask you to attempt two of them.

• The questions are about explaining concepts from the Constitution, not about memorising dates. A clear definition, the Article number, one example and one line of relevance is the answer.

The topic you cannot skip: Fundamental Duties

Fundamental Duties appear in 15 of the 16 papers, and as a full 10-mark question in 11 of them. The same question comes back in several forms:

Article 51A also appears as a short note ("Article 51A", 2023 and 2025).

The other topics, ranked

Short notes that repeat

These are the short-note options we could read. Pick any two of these and you will be ready for most papers:

• Rule of Law (2023, 2024 ×2, 2025 ×2)

• Fraternity (2024 ×2, 2025, 2026 ×2)

• Equality / Equality before law (2023, 2024 ×2, 2026)

• Preamble of the Indian Constitution (2024 ×3, 2026)

• Parliamentary Sovereignty (2025 ×2, 2026)

• Sarva Dharma Sambhava (2023, 2025, 2026)

• Freedom of speech and expression and Constitutional values (2025 ×2 each)

• Justice, Socialism, Separation of Power, Democracy, "We, the people of India" and Right to belief, faith and worship (each once or twice)

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Answer pointers

These are revision prompts, not full answers. Use your class notes for the full answer.

Fundamental Duties. Listed in Article 51A (Part IV-A), added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976. There were 10 at first; an 11th (the duty of a parent or guardian to provide education to a child aged 6–14) was added by the 86th Amendment, 2002, so the answer to "how many" is 11. They are non-justiciable: a court cannot directly enforce them, which is the answer to "are they justiciable?". For "which duties would you add", pick two you can defend, such as civic or environmental duties, and give a reason for each.

Fundamental Rights vs Fundamental Duties. Rights are enforceable in court (Article 32), duties are not. Rights are claims the citizen has against the State, duties are obligations the citizen owes. Rights are in Part III, duties in Part IV-A.

Social, political and economic justice. The Preamble promises all three. Social: no discrimination (Articles 15–17). Economic: reducing inequality, shown in the Directive Principles (for example Article 39). Political: equal political rights, for example universal adult franchise (Article 326). Add one example of each.

Rule of Law. Associated with A. V. Dicey: the law is supreme over everyone, everyone is equal before the law, and rights come from ordinary law and courts. In India it links to Article 14. Mention why it matters for democracy: no one, including the government, is above the law.

Equality. "Equality before law" (Article 14, a British idea) says no one is above the law. "Equal protection of the laws" (an American idea) says similar people get similar treatment. They are related but not identical, which is exactly what the 2025 question asked. Articles 15, 16 and 17 extend equality to non-discrimination, public employment and the abolition of untouchability.

Liberty. The Preamble lists liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Article 19(1)(a) gives freedom of speech and expression, with reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2). Article 21 protects life and personal liberty.

Preamble. Starts with "We, the people of India", which makes the people the source of authority. It lists the aims: justice, liberty, equality, fraternity. "Socialist", "secular" and "integrity" were added in 1976. For "is it part of the Constitution?", say yes, and mention that the Supreme Court has held so.

Separation of Powers. The idea comes from Montesquieu: legislature, executive and judiciary should work separately to avoid concentration of power. India does not follow a strict separation; it uses checks and balances, while Article 50 separates the judiciary from the executive.

Sarva Dharma Sambhava. Equal respect for all religions. Indian secularism means the State does not have an official religion and treats all faiths equally, rather than keeping religion out of public life entirely.

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How to use this for your exam

1. Write one strong 10-mark answer on Fundamental Duties. It has been in 15 of the 16 papers.

2. Prepare short notes on Rule of Law, Fraternity, Equality, Preamble and Sarva Dharma Sambhava. Q1 is always "any two", and these five cover most of the options we saw.

3. Write one answer each on justice, liberty, equality, Rule of Law and the Preamble. Each of the first four was asked in 9 of the 16 papers.

4. Add the Article number to every answer. It makes even a short answer specific and complete.

Past repetition does not guarantee what comes next. Use this list to decide what to revise first.

Get the papers: Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties VAC PYQs · all Value Addition Course papers

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