Chapter 5 — Rights

A right is essentially an entitlement or a justified claim. It denotes what citizens, individuals, and human beings are entitled to — something the rest of society must recognise as a legitimate claim that must be upheld. Rights are primarily those claims regarded as necessary for leading a life of respect and dignity, and they are described as universal in nature when they apply to all human beings living in society.

Not everything we want qualifies as a right. For example, wanting to wear clothes of one's choice to school rather than a prescribed uniform, or wanting to stay out late at night, does not mean one has a right to do so. Rights are only those claims collectively seen as necessary for dignity and well-being — not every personal preference. Activities injurious to health, such as taking prohibited drugs, also cannot be claimed as rights.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, political theorists argued that rights are given to us by nature or God and are therefore inalienable — no ruler or society confers them, because we are born with them. They identified three natural rights of man: the right to life, liberty, and property. All other rights were said to be derived from these three, and this conception was widely used to oppose the exercise of arbitrary power by states and governments.

The term 'human rights' is used more today because the idea of a natural law laid down by nature or God appears unacceptable to many. Rights are increasingly seen as guarantees that human beings themselves seek or arrive at in order to lead a minimally good life. The underlying assumption is that all persons are entitled to certain things simply because they are human beings — each person being unique and equally valuable, so that no one is born to serve others.

The eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that everything has either a price or a dignity, and that human beings — unlike objects — possess dignity and are valuable in themselves. For Kant, every person deserves minimum dignity by virtue of being human, regardless of whether they are educated, rich, or powerful. His moral conception of rights rests on two arguments: we should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves, and we must never treat another person merely as a means to our own ends.

Rights are primarily directed towards the state — citizens make demands upon the state through their rights. Rights place two kinds of obligations on the state: what it must do (for example, make laws that protect life and provide for education) and what it must refrain from doing (for example, it cannot arrest a person without producing an arrest warrant and defending that action before a judicial court). The state exists not for its own sake but for the sake of the individual and the well-being of its members.

The chapter identifies four kinds of rights. Political rights include the right to vote and elect representatives, contest elections, form or join political parties, and equality before law. Civil liberties include the right to a free and fair trial, free expression, protest, and dissent. Economic rights refer to an adequate wage, housing, and medical facilities — for instance, India has introduced a rural employment guarantee scheme. Cultural rights include primary education in one's mother tongue and the right to establish institutions for teaching one's language and culture.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948. It attempts to recognise those claims that the world community collectively sees as important for leading a life of dignity and self-respect. Following the adoption, the General Assembly called upon all member countries to publicise the Declaration and have it disseminated and read, principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries.

Rights place obligations not only on the state but also on individual citizens. Citizens must think of the common good — for example, protecting the ozone layer, minimising pollution, and maintaining ecological balance for future generations. They must also respect the equal rights of others (one cannot use free speech to incite a crowd to harm a neighbour). When rights conflict — for instance, freedom of expression versus the right to privacy (taking pictures of a person without consent) — they must be balanced. Citizens must also remain vigilant against unjustified restrictions governments may impose on civil liberties in the name of national security.

The chapter explains that a Bill of Rights is enshrined in the constitutions of many countries, representing the highest law of the land. In India, constitutionally recognised rights are called Fundamental Rights, and all other laws and policies are required to respect them. India also has a provision to ban untouchability, which draws attention to a traditional social practice and illustrates how rights can be shaped by a country's particular history and customs.

No. The chapter states that if an activity is injurious to health and well-being it cannot be claimed as a right. Medical research has shown that prohibited drugs are injurious to health and affect relations with others, so no one can insist on a right to take them. Smoking may be injurious to the health of people nearby, and drugs may alter behaviour and make a person dangerous to others. In terms of the chapter's definition of rights, neither smoking nor taking banned drugs qualifies as a right.

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