School teachers from various schools in Cuttack- Bhubaneswar participated in the said training programme and were trained on Fundamental Duties as enshrined in the Constitution of India. ?hey were oriented as to how they can incorporate lessons of fundamental duties in their teaching-learning process with school children.

Inaugurating the programme, Prof. (Dr.) Y P Singh, Vice Chancellor (I/c) of National Law University Odisha, stressed upon the importance of Fundamental Duties in nation building and the responsibility of citizens to perform such duties. He stated that if all the citizens of the county discharge their duties, people wouldn’t be required to fight for their rights, because the rights would then be automatically taken care of. He further emphasised on the fact that imposing sanction and penalising is not the only way of enforcing law, rather sensitising people and inculcating these duties in children from the beginning is equally important.

Prof. (Dr.) Sachidhanandam, Senior Professor, National Law University Odisha pointed out the interface of the rights and duties and how both are correlative to each other. He, further, deliberated on the fact that the human relationship and the relationship between humans and the state form the base for the fundamental duties which co-exist with the rights in a just and fair society.

Justice Panigrahi in his keynote address while quoting Mahatma Gandhi stated that the fundamental duties are equally important as the fundamental rights and form the basis of various legislation. He deliberated on the fact that the citizens are supposed to enjoy their rights and perform their duties coextensively. Further, he highlighted that even when the fundamental duties are not enforceable, the courts have often enforced the duties indirectly by reading them in conjunction with the fundamental rights, especially Article 21 which provides for the right to life and liberty.

Training programme ended with the vote of thanks proposed by Prof (Dr) A Aruna Sri Lakshmi, Chairperson of Academic Coordination at NLUO.

The event was coordinated by Dr. Owais Hasan Khan, Nodal Office UGC-MoE and Ms. Rishika Khare.