The Constitution of India constitutes India as a Union of States. Having given all the governing powers to the combine of the legislature and executive, it carves out certain basic rights for the individual against the state power, as the Fundamental Rights. The rights include the right of equality, freedom and protection of life. The rights, however, are available only against the ‘state’ as defined in Article 12. The courts have come to include a body which is an instrumentality or agency of the government in the folds of the state. The article introduces the subject of state and the Fundamental Rights