UPSC Mains 2022 GS Paper 2 Q2: model answer
“Right of movement and residence throughout the territory of India are freely available to the Indian citizens, but these rights are not absolute.” Comment.
What the question wants
Comment on the limits on citizens' freedom of movement and residence.
How to structure it
Comment: the right, its permitted limits, examples and judicial balance.
- Right
- Grounds of restriction
- Examples
- Courts' balance
How to think it through
You can travel to any state, but try entering Nagaland without an Inner Line Permit. That single example shows the limit and its purpose.
Model answer
A citizen from Delhi needs an Inner Line Permit to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram or Manipur, under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873. That shows freedom of movement has limits.
The rights
Article 19(1)(d) protects movement throughout India and 19(1)(e) the right to reside and settle anywhere. They foster national unity and single citizenship.
Grounds for restriction
Article 19(5) permits reasonable restrictions in the interests of the general public or to protect Scheduled Tribes.
Examples
- Tribal protection: Inner Line Permits; Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas; restrictions on land purchase.
- Public order and health: externment of habitual offenders; Covid-19 lockdowns (2020); quarantine of patients.
- Security: curfews; restricted border areas.
- Special provisions: Article 371 protections; domicile rules for land in Himachal Pradesh.
- Sex workers: restrictions upheld under immoral traffic laws (State of UP v Kaushaliya, 1964).
Courts' balance
Courts test restrictions for reasonableness and proportionality. In Maneka Gandhi (1978), the right to travel abroad (Article 21) was protected against arbitrary passport seizure.
These limits protect vulnerable groups and public safety; they must stay narrow so they do not erode national unity.
Draw: Map highlighting ILP states.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Article 19(1)(d), (e), 19(5), Inner Line Permit, Sixth Schedule, Kaushaliya 1964, Maneka Gandhi, proportionality.
Where most answers lose marks
- Forgetting the Scheduled Tribes ground.
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Fresh examples from current affairs
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25 Oct 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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