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Constitution of India · Part IV: Directive Principles of State Policy

Article 39: Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State

In plain words

The State must direct its policy towards certain goals.

  • An adequate means of livelihood for all citizens, men and women equally.
  • Distribution of the community's material resources to best serve the common good, and avoiding concentration of wealth to the common detriment.
  • Equal pay for equal work for men and women.
  • Protecting workers' health and children's tender age from abuse, so no one is forced by need into unsuitable work.
  • Opportunities for children to develop healthily in freedom and dignity, protected from exploitation and abandonment.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Official text

The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing—

(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.]

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 39