Article 18 of Indian Constitution and Abolition of Titles

Article 18: Abolition of titles

• Article 18(1): No title, not being a military or academic distinction, shall be conferred by the State.
• Article 18 (2): No citizen of India shall accept any title from any foreign State.
• Article 18(3): No person who is not a citizen of India shall, while he holds any office of profit or trust under the State, accept without the consent of the President any title from any foreign State.
• Article 18(4): No person holding any office of profit or trust under the State shall, without the consent of the President, accept any present, emolument, or office of any kind from or under any foreign State.

GKToday Explains Article 18

Article 18 prevents the state from confirming any title except military and academic distinction. Article 18 prohibits the Indian citizens from receiving titles from any foreign state. The foreign nationals holding the office of profit under the state may accept titles from the foreign government with the consent of President. In a true democracy, there is no space for artificial distinctions among the same society. Titles such as Rai Bahadur, Sawai, Rai Sahab, Zamindar, taluqdar etc were prevalent in medieval and British India. All these titles were abolished by article 18 of the constitution.