Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 2

The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting and pressed its demand for a separate Pakistan, and Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, presided as temporary President.

The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 to work out how power would be handed over, and its plan laid down how a Constituent Assembly would be formed: 389 seats in all, 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states, with the members from the provinces elected…

This is the order in which the Preamble describes India: "a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC". Socialist and secular were inserted between sovereign and democratic by the 42nd Amendment in 1976; before that the phrase read "sovereign democratic republic".

The Preamble opens with the words "We, the people of India", which name the people as the source from which the Constitution draws its authority.

When the Constitution came into force, property was protected as a Fundamental Right in two places: Article 19(1)(f), the freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property, and Article 31, protection against being deprived of property.

The Bill of Rights is the name given to the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1791, which protect freedoms such as speech and religion against the government.

It says two things at once: the provisions of Part IV "shall not be enforceable by any court", but the principles laid down in it are "nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws".

Part IV of the Constitution, Articles 36 to 51, contains the Directive Principles: the goals the State should pursue in making laws and policies, such as a living wage, free legal aid, village panchayats and a Uniform Civil Code.

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

The 42nd Amendment of 1976, passed on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, added a new Part IV-A with a single Article 51A listing ten Fundamental Duties of citizens, such as respecting the Constitution, the National Flag and the National Anthem, protecting the environment and developing the scientific temper.

It lays down the procedure for impeachment of the President, the only ground being "violation of the Constitution".

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.

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.

These two Articles create the Council of Ministers that actually runs the Union government. Article 74 says there shall be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President, and the President acts on that advice.

Article 80 lays down how the Council of States, the Rajya Sabha, is composed.

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.

These three provisions keep judges free from pressure by the other organs of government, while the oath given by the President is only a formality.

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 154 says the executive power of a State is vested in the Governor, who exercises it directly or through officers under him, exactly as Article 53 does for the President at the Centre.

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.