Indian Polity GK Questions with Answers – Page 63

The 91st Amendment Act, 2003 capped the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister, at 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha or the state Legislative Assembly.

Under Article 199(3), if a question arises whether a bill is a Money Bill, the decision of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is final.

Article 279A creates the GST Council, and the 101st Amendment of 2016 added it to the proviso to Article 368(2), so changing it needs a special majority of Parliament plus ratification by at least half of the state legislatures.

Article 3 lets Parliament, by an ordinary law, form a new state by separating territory from a state, join states, and change the area, boundaries or name of any state.

Article 263 allows the President to set up an Inter-State Council to discuss disputes and common subjects among states; the council was first formed in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission's advice.

Nagaland became a state on 1 December 1963, carved out of Assam. Haryana followed on 1 November 1966, when the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 divided Punjab on the basis of the Shah Commission's report.

Even during a national emergency, the enforcement of Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended. Article 21 protects life and personal liberty, and Article 20 protects a person from retrospective criminal laws, from being punished twice for the same offence and from being forced to be a witness against himself.

Article 395, the last article of the Constitution, repeals the Indian Independence Act, 1947 and the Government of India Act, 1935, along with the laws that amended or added to the 1935 Act.

Article 40 directs the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers they need to work as units of self-government.

The Third Schedule of the Constitution gives the forms of oaths or affirmations for important constitutional posts.

Article 74 says there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President, who shall act according to that advice.

Article 24 says that no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or in any other hazardous employment.

Article 84 lists who can become a Member of Parliament. A candidate must be a citizen of India, must make an oath or affirmation in the form set out in the Third Schedule before a person authorised by the Election Commission, must be at least 30 years old for the…

The 7th Amendment of 1956 allowed Parliament to set up a common High Court for two or more states, or for states and a union territory, a power now found in Article 231.

Article 20 gives protection in respect of conviction for offences, and it contains exactly these three safeguards.

Members of the State Legislative Councils have no vote in the presidential election. Under Article 54, the President is chosen by an electoral college of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States.

The Attorney-General is not a full-time government servant and may keep a private practice. He is appointed by the President under Article 76 and holds office during the pleasure of the President, with no term fixed by the Constitution.

These words form clause (b) of Article 51A, the list of duties every citizen owes the nation.

The CAG of India is an auditor who checks spending after it happens; he has no say over money leaving the treasury.

The 42nd Amendment made that advice binding on the President. Before 1976, Article 74(1) only said there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at its head to aid and advise the President.