Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 21

The correct answer is President of India. Article 75(4) says that before a minister enters office, the President shall administer to him or her the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out in the Third Schedule. The oath of office is a promise to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and to discharge duties faithfully; the oath of secrecy is a promise not to reveal matters that come before the minister, except as required by duty.

The Chief Justice of India administers the oath to the President, not to ministers. The Prime Minister, though the head of the government, does not swear in colleagues; the Prime Minister takes the oath from the President too. The Vice-President takes his or her own oath before the President and has no role in swearing in ministers. At the State level the pattern repeats: the Governor administers the oaths to the Chief Minister and the State ministers.

The correct answer is D, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. The Eighty-ninth Amendment Act, 2003 split the old joint commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies. It left the National Commission for Scheduled Castes under Article 338 and inserted a new Article 338A for the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, which began work on 19 February 2004. Each commission has a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, and each places its report before Parliament. Option A is wrong because the Competition Commission of India was set up under the Competition Act, 2002 and is a statutory, not a constitutional, body. Option B is wrong because the National Commission for Backward Classes became a constitutional body only through the 102nd Amendment, 2018, which added Article 338B. Option C is wrong because the National Commission for Women rests on an Act of 1990 and remains statutory. Exam tip: Article 338 SCs, 338A STs, 338B backward classes.

The correct answer is A Minister of State with independent charge may head a ministry without being under a Cabinet Minister. The Council of Ministers has three ranks. Cabinet Ministers head the most important ministries and sit in the Cabinet. Ministers of State come in two kinds: those with independent charge run a ministry or department on their own, just as a Cabinet Minister would, while others are attached to Cabinet Ministers and help them. Deputy Ministers assist the more senior ministers.

The distinction that matters is that a Minister of State with independent charge is not a member of the Cabinet and attends Cabinet meetings only when invited, usually for matters of his or her own ministry. That makes option A wrong, since such ministers are not regular members of Cabinet meetings. Options C and D are wrong because these ministers do exercise significant powers and do hold specific responsibilities: they are fully in charge of their ministries. Only option B captures the real difference.

The correct answer is A, JS Khehar. Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was the Chief Justice of India when the nine-judge bench delivered its verdict in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India on 24 August 2017, and he presided over it. The bench held unanimously that privacy is a fundamental right, protected mainly as part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and by the freedoms in Part III. It overruled the older rulings in M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962), which had said the Constitution gives no such right. The case grew out of a challenge to the Aadhaar scheme. Justice Khehar was also the first Sikh Chief Justice of India. Option B is wrong because Dipak Misra became Chief Justice a week later, and led the benches on Section 377 and adultery. Option C is wrong because H.J. Kania was India's first Chief Justice, in 1950. Option D is wrong because T.S. Thakur retired as Chief Justice in January 2017. Exam tip: Puttaswamy 2017, nine judges, Article 21, CJI Khehar.

The correct answer is 91st Amendment. The 91st Amendment Act, 2003 inserted Article 75(1A), which says the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Union Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha, and Article 164(1A), which applies the same limit to the States, with a minimum of 12 ministers. It also barred a member disqualified for defection from being appointed a minister, and strengthened the anti-defection law by deleting the provision that allowed "splits".

The other amendments are from around the same time but on different subjects. The 97th Amendment (2011) dealt with co-operative societies. The 87th Amendment (2003) provided for delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the 2001 census. The 90th Amendment (2003) concerned representation in the Assam Legislative Assembly from the Bodoland Territorial Areas District. The 15% cap was meant to stop jumbo ministries formed to reward supporters and hold coalitions together.

The correct answer is D, Governor of the State. Article 234 of the Constitution says that appointments of persons other than district judges to the judicial service of a state are made by the Governor, following rules framed after consulting the State Public Service Commission and the High Court of that state. District judges are covered separately by Article 233, and they too are appointed by the Governor, but in consultation with the High Court. Once these officers are in service, Article 235 places their posting, promotion and leave under the control of the High Court, which is how the subordinate judiciary is kept independent. Option A is wrong because the High Court as a body is consulted, but the Chief Justice does not make the appointment. Option B is wrong because the Prime Minister has no role at all in state judicial services. Option C is wrong because the President appoints judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts under Articles 124 and 217. Exam tip: 233 district judges, 234 other judicial officers, 235 High Court control.

The correct answer is 44th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1978. The word "Cabinet" did not appear anywhere in the original Constitution, which speaks only of the Council of Ministers. After the Emergency of 1975, which was proclaimed on the Prime Minister's advice alone, with the Cabinet told only the next morning, the 44th Amendment laid down that the President can proclaim a National Emergency under Article 352 only when the decision of the Union Cabinet is communicated in writing. That is how the word entered the Constitution, in Article 352(3), and it remains the only Article that uses it.

The 42nd Amendment (1976), passed during the Emergency, is the tempting wrong answer, but it strengthened the Centre and did not mention the Cabinet. The 43rd Amendment (1977) restored some powers of the courts that the 42nd had curtailed, and the 45th Amendment (1980) extended the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The same 44th Amendment also replaced "internal disturbance" with "armed rebellion" as a ground for emergency.

The correct answer is A, 1st Amendment. It was passed in 1951 to undo court rulings that had used Fundamental Rights to strike down land reform and other laws. Courts had set aside zamindari abolition laws under the right to property, and in Romesh Thappar (1950) had read free speech very widely. The First Amendment Act, 1951 added the Ninth Schedule and Articles 31A and 31B to shield land reform laws, added 'public order', 'friendly relations with foreign States' and 'incitement to an offence' to Article 19(2), and added Article 15(4) for backward classes after the Champakam Dorairajan case. It was passed by the Provisional Parliament under Nehru. Option B is wrong because the 42nd Amendment of 1976 is known for 'socialist', 'secular' and the Fundamental Duties. Option C is wrong because the 44th Amendment of 1978 mainly undid Emergency excesses and removed property from Part III. Option D is wrong because the 86th Amendment of 2002 added Article 21A, the right to education. Exam tip: 1st Amendment, 1951, Ninth Schedule and Article 15(4).

The correct answer is 75(3). Article 75(3) says the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People, the Lok Sabha. Collective responsibility means ministers stand or fall together: a Cabinet decision binds every minister, even one who disagreed in private, and if the Lok Sabha passes a no-confidence motion the entire Council of Ministers, including ministers who are members of the Rajya Sabha, must resign.

The other options are real clauses with different content. Article 74(1) provides the Council of Ministers to aid and advise the President. Article 72(1) is the President's power to grant pardons. Article 73 deals with the extent of the executive power of the Union, the subjects on which the Union government can act. Notice that the responsibility runs to the Lok Sabha alone, not to the Rajya Sabha or to Parliament as a whole, because only the directly elected House can make or unmake a government.

The correct answer is D, UK. India took the idea of a single citizenship for the whole country from the British constitution. Part II of the Constitution, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship. Every person here is a citizen of India alone; there is no separate citizenship of a state, just as the United Kingdom has one common citizenship. Article 11 lets Parliament make law on the subject, and it did so through the Citizenship Act, 1955. Other features taken from Britain are the parliamentary system, the rule of law, the office of Speaker, the cabinet system and the writ procedure. Option A is wrong because France gave the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble. Option B is wrong because the USA gave Fundamental Rights, judicial review, the independent judiciary and the impeachment procedure. Option C is wrong because Australia gave the Concurrent List and freedom of trade and commerce. Exam tip: single citizenship, rule of law and the Speaker come from Britain; dual citizenship is the American feature India did not take.

The correct answer is The Council of Ministers. A no-confidence motion tests whether the government still has the support of the Lok Sabha, and because the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to that House under Article 75(3), the motion is moved against the Council as a whole, never against a single minister. It can be moved only in the Lok Sabha, needs the support of at least 50 members to be admitted and does not have to state reasons. If it is passed, the whole Council must resign.

An individual minister cannot be targeted by a no-confidence motion; Parliament can express disapproval of a minister's policy through a censure motion, which must give reasons. The Prime Minister is not singled out either: the motion is against the government the Prime Minister leads. A political party is not answerable to the House at all. The first no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha was moved in 1963 against Jawaharlal Nehru's government by Acharya J.B. Kripalani, and it was defeated.

The correct answer is A, Admission or establishment of new states. Article 2 lets Parliament admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit. Article 2 deals with territory that is outside India, for example Sikkim, which was admitted as a full State by the 36th Amendment in 1975. Article 3, by contrast, works inside India: it lets Parliament form a new State from existing ones, and change their areas, boundaries or names, as happened with Telangana in 2014. Both sit in Part I, Articles 1 to 4, headed 'The Union and its Territory'. Option B is wrong because altering the area of an existing State is a power under Article 3. Option C is wrong because changing the name of an existing State is also Article 3. Option D is wrong because the name and territory of the Union, 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States', is Article 1. Exam tip: Article 2 = new States from outside, Article 3 = reorganising States inside.

The correct answer is Prime Minister. NITI Aayog, the National Institution for Transforming India, was set up on 1 January 2015 by a resolution of the Union Cabinet to replace the Planning Commission, which had existed since 1950. The Prime Minister is its ex officio Chairperson, just as the Prime Minister chaired the Planning Commission. It also has a Vice-Chairperson appointed by the Prime Minister, a Chief Executive Officer, and a Governing Council that includes the Chief Ministers of all States and the Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories.

The President has no role in NITI Aayog. Senior Union ministers, usually including the Home Minister and the Finance Minister, are its ex officio members, which makes them tempting options, but neither chairs it. Note that NITI Aayog is neither a constitutional nor a statutory body: it was created by an executive resolution, like the Planning Commission before it. The Prime Minister also chairs other bodies, such as the National Disaster Management Authority, the Inter-State Council and the National Integration Council.

The correct answer is D, Certiorari. Certiorari means 'to be certified' or 'to be informed'. By this writ a higher court orders a lower court or tribunal to send up a case pending before it, or quashes an order it has already passed, when there is lack of jurisdiction, excess of jurisdiction or an error of law. The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226. Prohibition and certiorari look alike, so note the timing: prohibition stops a case while it is still going on, while certiorari can also cancel a decision already made. Option A is wrong because prohibition only forbids a lower court from going beyond its jurisdiction; it does not transfer the case. Option B is wrong because mandamus, 'we command', orders a public official or body to do a duty it has failed to do. Option C is wrong because quo warranto, 'by what authority', asks a person to show his right to hold a public office. Exam tip: Certiorari = send up or quash; Prohibition = stop; Mandamus = do your duty.

The correct answer is Gulzarilal Nanda. When Jawaharlal Nehru died on 27 May 1964, Gulzarilal Nanda, the senior-most minister, was sworn in as acting Prime Minister and held office for about two weeks until the Congress party chose Lal Bahadur Shastri. When Shastri died at Tashkent in January 1966, Nanda again served as acting Prime Minister until Indira Gandhi took over. He is the only person to have been acting Prime Minister twice, and he received the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister only in 1966, after Shastri's death, not after Nehru's. Morarji Desai was a contender for the post in 1964 and 1966 but became Prime Minister only in 1977, as the first non-Congress Prime Minister. Zakir Husain was Vice-President in 1964 and later became President; he never held the office of Prime Minister. The Constitution has no post of acting Prime Minister; the President simply appoints a Prime Minister to fill the gap.

The correct answer is D, Part XIV. Part XIV of the Constitution, titled Services under the Union and the States, covers Articles 308 to 323, and the public service commissions sit in it. Article 315 provides for a Union Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each state. Article 316 deals with the appointment and term of members, Article 317 with their removal, Article 320 with the functions of the commissions, mainly conducting examinations for appointment to services, and Article 323 with their annual reports. The UPSC is a constitutional body and its chairman and members are appointed by the President. Option A is wrong because Part XVII deals with official language. Option B is wrong because Part XV deals with elections and the Election Commission. Option C is wrong because Part XVI covers special provisions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indians. Exam tip: Part XIV services and UPSC, Part XV elections, Part XVI special provisions, Part XVII language.

The correct answer is Morarji Desai. Pakistan conferred its highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, on Morarji Desai in 1990, and India awarded him the Bharat Ratna in 1991. He is the only Prime Minister to have received the highest civilian honours of both countries. As Prime Minister from 1977 to 1979, heading the Janata Party government, he was India's first non-Congress Prime Minister, and at 81 the oldest person to take the office.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee received the Bharat Ratna in 2015 and is remembered for the Lahore bus journey of 1999, but he was not given the Nishan-e-Pakistan. P.V. Narasimha Rao received the Bharat Ratna in 2024. Lal Bahadur Shastri received it posthumously in 1966, the year he signed the Tashkent Declaration with Pakistan. The pairing of a peace gesture with Pakistan and a national award is what makes the distractors plausible, but only Morarji Desai holds both awards.

The correct answer is A, a simple majority of its members. 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 majority of the members present and voting. The Official Languages Act of 1963 was passed in exactly this way and allowed English to go on alongside Hindi. So this change is made outside the special procedure of Article 368. Option B is wrong because a two-thirds majority of members present and voting, with a majority of the total membership, is the requirement for a constitutional amendment under Article 368. Option C is wrong because no amendment needs a three-fourths majority; half the state legislatures are what a federal amendment adds. Option D is wrong because one-third support is only a quorum-like number and passes nothing. Exam tip: Article 343, Official Languages Act 1963, simple majority.

The correct answer is Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, from 1947 until his death in 1950. He is remembered above all for integrating more than 500 princely states into the Indian Union, which earned him the title "Iron Man of India"; the 182-metre Statue of Unity in Gujarat honours him. The post of Deputy Prime Minister is not mentioned in the Constitution; it is a political arrangement, and the holder is sworn in simply as a minister.

The other three options also served as Deputy Prime Minister later, which is exactly why the question asks for the first. Morarji Desai was Deputy Prime Minister under Indira Gandhi from 1967 to 1969. Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram both became Deputy Prime Ministers in 1979 in Morarji Desai's Janata government. Charan Singh then went on to become Prime Minister himself later that year.

The correct answer is C, Chandra Shekhar. Of the four leaders listed, Chandra Shekhar had the shortest run, from 10 November 1990 to 21 June 1991, a little over seven months. He led a breakaway Samajwadi Janata Party with only a small group of MPs and governed with Congress support from outside; when that support was withdrawn he resigned, and the 1991 general election followed. Option A is wrong because HD Deve Gowda was Prime Minister for about ten months, from June 1996 to April 1997. Option B is wrong because VP Singh headed the National Front government for close to a year, from December 1989 to November 1990. Option D is wrong because IK Gujral, remembered for the Gujral Doctrine on neighbourly ties, served about eleven months from April 1997 to March 1998. Exam tip: the shortest tenure overall belongs to Gulzarilal Nanda, acting Prime Minister for 13 days on two occasions.