Unlike its predecessor Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2), Resource Description and Access (RDA) has incorporated principles and objectives at the beginning of the code. This article is an attempt to make a comparative study between the practical applications of the principles of RDA with that of the Normative Principles of cataloging of S. R. Ranganathan. It is found that the instructions of RDA are much more in compliance with the scientific principles of Ranganathan than the RDA principles recorded at the beginning of the code. The outcome of the study is presented in two different ways. Tabular presentation of the same is made at the beginning followed by analytical studies. © 2015, Published with license by Taylor & Francis.