Indian Polity Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 38

Parliament can add a law to the Ninth Schedule by a constitutional amendment, but such a law is not beyond judicial review.

The first Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was recognised in 1969, when Ram Subhag Singh of the Congress (O) was given the post.

The framers took the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, along with parliamentary government, the rule of law, single citizenship and the writs, from the British Constitution, where an officer of the same name audits public spending for Parliament.

Article 243G allows a state legislature to endow Panchayats with the powers and authority they need to work as institutions of self-government.

It provides for Autonomous District Councils in the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and is read with Article 244(2).

A dual government, one at the centre and one in the units, is the common feature of every federation, so India and the USA do not differ on this point.

Citizenship is dealt with in Part II of the Constitution, which contains Articles 5 to 11. These provisions settle who became a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution on 26 January 1950 and, through Article 11, leave all later law on citizenship to Parliament.

The 74th Amendment Act of 1992 created Part IXA for urban local bodies, of which the municipal corporation is the largest form under Article 243Q. It also made regular elections compulsory by fixing a five-year term under Article 243U and by placing the conduct of municipal elections with the State…

Article 226 gives every High Court the power to issue writs for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights. The five writs are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto.

The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution divides subjects into three lists. The Union List holds subjects only Parliament can legislate on, such as defence, foreign affairs, currency and railways.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 inserted a new Part IX-A titled The Municipalities into the Constitution, and it came into force on 1 June 1993.

Article 343 says Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union and that English was to continue for fifteen years from 1950, but it also lets Parliament provide by law for the continued use of English after that period, and such a law needs only a simple…

Article 66 lays down the manner of electing the Vice-President of India. He is chosen by an electoral college made up of the members of both Houses of Parliament, elected and nominated alike, by proportional representation through the single transferable vote and by secret ballot.

Article 13 declares that any law inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights is void, and it binds both the laws made before the Constitution and those made after it.

The Preamble describes India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic; the word federal appears nowhere in it, or indeed anywhere in the Constitution.

Article 371C makes special provision for Manipur, not Meghalaya: the President may provide for a committee of the Legislative Assembly made up of members elected from the Hill Areas, and the Governor reports to the President on the administration of those areas.

The first Backward Classes Commission, set up by the President under Article 340 in January 1953, was headed by the Gandhian writer Kaka Kalelkar.

Under Article 316, the Chairman and the other members of a State Public Service Commission are appointed by the Governor.

Part IV, Articles 36 to 51, lists the Directive Principles that guide the State in making laws for a welfare state.

The Tenth Schedule was added by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985 to curb the practice of legislators switching parties for office or money.