Fundamental Rights are certain secured and guaranteed rights, which are generally considered inherent in man and cannot be taken away by the state. The fundamental rights are also called the natural rights which command higher sanctity than other rights such as legal rights. The fundamental rights under the constitution can be classified under the following six groups:
Right to equality – Article 14 to 18
Right to freedom – Article 19 to 22
Right against exploitation – Article 23 and 24
Right to freedom of religion – Article 25 to 28
Cultural and educational rights – Article 29 and 30
Right to constitutional remedies- Article 32 to 35
Article 31 stands repealed.
The first explicit demand for the fundamental rights came in the form of the “Constitution of India Bill, 1895″ which was created under guidance of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. This bill popularly called “Swaraj Bill 1895” spoke about freedom of speech, right to privacy, right of franchise etc.
After that numerous drafts had been created. In the Madras session of 1927, a resolution was adopted to draft a “Swaraj Constitution” for India. The Motilal Nehru Report of 1928 demanded inalienable fundamental rights for the people of India. It was basically inspired by the American bill of rights, which had a great impact on the thinking of Indian Leaders. The Nehru report was discarded by Simon Commission.
The Constituent Assembly had appointed an advisory committee on fundamental rights headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on January 24, 1947. This advisory committee dealt with the rights of citizens, minorities, tribal and excluded areas.
The Sapru committee report was published in 1945. This committee recommended that the Fundamental Rights “must” be included in the Constitution of India.
This committee divided fundamental rights into two parts viz. Justifiable Rights and Non-justifiable rights. The Justifiable rights were those enforceable by a court of law. These enforceable rights were incorporated in the Part III of the Constitution. The non-justifiable rights were incorporated as Directive Principles of State Policy