Which section of the Constitution has often been referred as its conscience?

Option 1 : Fundamental rights

The correct answer is Fundamental rights.

• The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework.
• That demarcates the fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens.

1.  Fundamental Rights: The section on Fundamental Rights has often been referred to as the ‘conscience’ of the Indian Constitution.
2. Colonial rule had created a certain suspicion of the State in the minds of the nationalists and they wanted to ensure that a set of written rights would guard against the misuse of State power in independent India.
3. Fundamental Rights, therefore, protect citizens against the arbitrary and absolute exercise of power by the State. The Constitution, thus, guarantees the rights of individuals against the State as well as against other individuals.
4. Moreover, the various minority communities also expressed the need for the Constitution to include rights that would protect their groups. The Constitution, therefore, also guarantees the rights of minorities against the majority.

1. Dr. Ambedkar has said about these Fundamental Rights, their objects are twofold. The first objective is that every citizen must be in a position to claim those rights.
2.  Secondly, these rights must be binding upon every authority that has got the power to make laws.

Hence, Fundamental rights are often called the conscience of the Indian constitution.