Indian Polity Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 15

Part V is titled "The Union" and its first chapter, "The Executive", covers the President, the Vice-President, the Council of Ministers and the Attorney-General.

It gives Parliament the power to provide by law for additional courts so that laws made by Parliament, or older laws on Union List subjects, are administered better.

It says that the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India.

It empowers every High Court to issue directions, orders or writs, including habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, to any person or authority within its territory, for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights "and for any other purpose".

It gives the Supreme Court the power to review any judgment it has pronounced or any order it has made, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament and the rules made by the Court under Article 145.

The Sengol is a gold-plated silver sceptre topped by a figure of Nandi. In the Chola tradition, a new king received such a sceptre from a high priest as a symbol of the transfer of power and of the ruler's duty to govern justly.

The Estimates Committee of independent India was first constituted in 1950, on the recommendation of John Mathai, the Finance Minister.

Under Article 80, the Rajya Sabha consists of 12 members nominated by the President and not more than 238 representatives of the States and Union Territories, a maximum of 250.

It allows the President, if satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or any part of it is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion, to make a Proclamation of Emergency.

The Constitution does not fix any time limit within which the President must give or withhold assent to an ordinary bill.

Article 143 gives the Supreme Court its advisory jurisdiction: when a question of law or fact of public importance has arisen or is likely to arise, the President may refer it to the Court for its opinion.

Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute a sentence.

Article 58 lays down four qualifications for the President: the person must be a citizen of India, must have completed 35 years of age, must be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, and must not hold any office of profit under the Union, a State or…

Article 51A(h) asks every citizen "to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform". It means questioning superstition, looking for evidence before believing a claim, and being open to change.

The 86th Amendment Act, 2002 inserted clause (k) in Article 51A: "who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years." The same amendment made free and compulsory education for children…

Passed during the Emergency on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, the 42nd Amendment inserted Part IVA and Article 51A with ten Fundamental Duties.

The Constitution does not classify the Directive Principles, but scholars group them into three categories: Socialist (such as Articles 38, 39, 41, 42 and 43, aimed at a welfare state and economic justice), Gandhian (such as Article 40 on village panchayats, Article 43 on cottage industries, Article 47 on prohibition…

It says: "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." A uniform civil code would replace the separate personal laws of different religious communities on marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption with one common law for all citizens.

During a National Emergency, Article 359 lets the President suspend the right to move the courts for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 made education a Fundamental Right by inserting Article 21A, under which the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children aged six to fourteen years, in the manner it determines by law.