Article 21 and the Expansion of Socio-Economic Rights

This article looks at how Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, originally just a narrow procedural safeguard, grew into the main source of socio-economic rights in India. Starting from the strict reading in A.K. Gopalan, it shows how Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) opened up the right to life to include fairness and human dignity. This later allowed courts to read in rights like livelihood, health, and education through cases such as Olga Tellis, Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity, and Unni Krishnan. The article also touches on criticisms of this approach, including concerns about courts overstepping their role and the gap between rights on paper and real enforcement, and argues that these gains now need stronger institutional support to actually work in practice.