Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 32

The correct answer is D, Article 60. Article 60 lays down the form of the oath or affirmation that the President of India makes before entering office. The oath is administered by the Chief Justice of India, and in the absence of the Chief Justice by the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court available. In it the President swears to faithfully execute the office, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, and to devote himself to the service and well-being of the people of India. It is the only oath in the Constitution worded this way, because the President alone swears to protect the Constitution. Option A is wrong because Article 45 is a Directive Principle on early childhood care and education for children below six years. Option B is wrong because Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons and reprieves. Option C is wrong because Article 56 fixes the five-year term of office. Exam tip: 52 office, 53 executive power, 56 term, 60 oath, 61 impeachment, 72 pardon.

The correct answer is C, Police. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution divides subjects into three lists, and public order and police are the first two entries of the State List, so each state makes its own laws on them and runs its own force. That is why policing is called a state subject, and why central armed police forces go into a state mainly at its request or in a Union Territory. A is wrong because banking is in the Union List, which is why the Reserve Bank and the regulation of banks rest with the Centre. B is wrong because defence is the first entry of the Union List. D is wrong because forests, which were once a State List subject, were moved to the Concurrent List by the 42nd Amendment of 1976, along with education, weights and measures, and the protection of wild animals and birds. Exam tip: police and public order are State List subjects; forests and education moved to the Concurrent List in 1976.

The correct answer is D, Advocate General. Article 165 of the Constitution says the Governor shall appoint a person qualified to be a judge of a High Court as the Advocate General of the state, and he is the highest law officer of the state, the counterpart of the Attorney General at the Centre. He advises the state government on legal matters, appears for the state in the High Court and the Supreme Court, and has the right to speak in and take part in the proceedings of the state legislature, though he cannot vote in it. He holds office during the pleasure of the Governor, and the Constitution fixes neither his term nor his salary. Option A is wrong because legal adviser is a loose description and not a constitutional post. Option B is wrong because the Attorney General, under Article 76, is the highest law officer of the Union. Option C is wrong because the Law Secretary is a civil servant heading a department. Exam tip: Article 76 Attorney General for the Union, Article 165 Advocate General for a state.

The correct answer is D, Tenth Schedule. The Tenth Schedule carries the anti-defection provisions, so a legislator who deserts the party on whose ticket he or she was elected can be disqualified under it. The schedule was inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985 and applies to members of Parliament and of the state legislatures alike. A member loses the seat for voluntarily giving up party membership or for voting against the party whip, and the presiding officer of the House decides such a case. A merger escapes disqualification only when at least two-thirds of the members of that legislature party agree to it. A is wrong because the Second Schedule fixes the salaries and allowances of the President, Governors, judges and other high offices. B is wrong because the Fifth Schedule deals with the administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes. C is wrong because the Eighth Schedule lists the recognised languages of India. Exam tip: link the pair - Tenth Schedule with the 52nd Amendment of 1985.

The correct answer is C. The Constitution provides for a joint sitting of the two Houses only at the Union level, under Article 108, where the President may summon the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to sit together and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha presides. No such device exists for a State Legislature, because the Legislative Council is a purely delaying chamber: once it has held up an ordinary Bill for four months in all, the Bill is deemed passed and the will of the Legislative Assembly prevails without any joint sitting. Option A is wrong because the Governor never presides over a sitting of either House. Option B misapplies Article 108, which is confined to Parliament. Option D invents a power the Speaker does not have; summoning the Houses is the Governor's function under Article 174.

The correct answer is D, Mizoram. Mizoram is a full state, not a Union Territory. It was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory in 1972, and after the Mizo Accord of 1986 it became a state on 20 February 1987 under the 53rd Constitutional Amendment, on the same day as Arunachal Pradesh. The difference matters: a Union Territory is administered by the President through an Administrator or Lieutenant Governor under Article 239, while a state has its own Governor and its own government under Part VI of the Constitution. Option A is wrong because Ladakh has been a Union Territory since 31 October 2019 and Puducherry since 1962, and both are listed as Union Territories in the First Schedule. Option B is wrong because Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were joined into one Union Territory on 26 January 2020. Option C is wrong because Lakshadweep is a Union Territory of coral islands in the Arabian Sea, with its capital at Kavaratti. Exam tip: Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became states on 20 February 1987, Goa on 30 May 1987.

The correct answer is B, the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee. Appointed in 1957 to examine the working of the Community Development Programme, it recommended democratic decentralisation through three tiers, namely the Gram Panchayat at the village level, the Panchayat Samiti at the block level and the Zila Parishad at the district level. Rajasthan acted on it first, with Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurating Panchayati Raj at Nagaur on 2 October 1959.

Option A is wrong because the Ashok Mehta Committee of 1977 recommended the opposite, a two-tier system of Zila Parishad and Mandal Panchayat. Option C is wrong because the L. M. Singhvi Committee of 1986 is remembered for demanding constitutional status for panchayats and recognition of the Gram Sabha. Option D is wrong because the G. V. K. Rao Committee of 1985 dealt with administrative arrangements for rural development and poverty alleviation.

The correct answer is B, Article 161. Article 161 lets the Governor grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishment, and suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of an offence against a law on a matter to which the executive power of the state extends. His power is narrower than the President's under Article 72 in two ways: the Governor cannot pardon a death sentence and has no say in a sentence passed by a court martial, while the President can act in both cases. Like the President, the Governor exercises this power on the advice of the state Council of Ministers. Option A is wrong because Article 163 provides for the Council of Ministers to aid and advise the Governor. Option C is wrong because Article 55 lays down the manner of election of the President. Option D is wrong because Article 145 lets the Supreme Court frame rules of procedure. Exam tip: Article 72 for the President's pardon and Article 161 for the Governor's; only the President can pardon a death sentence or a court-martial sentence.

The correct answer is C, Article 368. It is titled Power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure therefor, and it sets out both the special majority needed in each House and the cases in which the legislatures of the states must also ratify the change.

Option A is wrong because Article 356 provides for President's rule in a state on the failure of constitutional machinery. Option B is wrong because Article 360 deals with a financial emergency. Option D is wrong because Article 370 contained the temporary provisions with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The four numbers are close enough that candidates mark the wrong one in a hurry, so link 368 with amendment, 352 with national emergency, 356 with President's rule and 360 with financial emergency before the examination.

The correct answer is A, 297. The Constitution (Fortieth Amendment) Act, 1976 rewrote Article 297 so that all lands, minerals and other things of value lying in the territorial waters, the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of India vest in the Union and are held for the purposes of the Union. The same amendment empowered Parliament to fix the limits of these maritime zones from time to time, and it also added a large number of state land-ceiling laws to the Ninth Schedule to protect them from court challenge. B is wrong because Article 248 deals with the residuary powers of legislation, which rest with Parliament. C is wrong because Article 245 sets out the extent of the laws made by Parliament and by State legislatures. D is wrong because Article 226 gives every High Court the power to issue writs. Exam tip: Article 297 – things of value in the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone vest in the Union; widened by the 40th Amendment, 1976.

The correct answer is D, Dual Government. 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. Both countries divide powers between a national government and state governments through a written constitution, and both let courts settle disputes about that division. The other three features are exactly where the two systems part company, because India has a federation with a strong unitary bias. Option A is wrong because every American state sends two members to the Senate regardless of size, while seats in the Rajya Sabha are allotted according to a state’s population, so representation is unequal. Option B is wrong because an American citizen is a citizen of both the Union and a state, while India gives only single citizenship. Option C is wrong because the USA has separate federal and state courts, while India has one integrated judiciary headed by the Supreme Court. Exam tip: India — single citizenship, integrated judiciary, unequal Rajya Sabha seats.

The correct answer is C, Taxes on lands and buildings. Taxes on lands and buildings is entry 49 of the State List, so it is not in the Concurrent List. The Seventh Schedule divides law-making power into three lists: the Union List for Parliament alone, the State List for the state legislatures, and the Concurrent List on which both may legislate, with the Union law prevailing in a clash under Article 254. Option B is wrong because forests is in the Concurrent List — it was moved there from the State List by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976, along with education, weights and measures, administration of justice and the protection of wild animals and birds. Option A is wrong because industrial and labour disputes is entry 22 of the Concurrent List. Option D is wrong because economic and social planning is entry 20 of the same list. Exam tip: taxation entries sit almost entirely in the Union or State List; stamp duties is the one notable tax entry in the Concurrent List.

The correct answer is C, First Amendment Act. The Ninth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, to shield land reform laws from being struck down by the courts. The same amendment added Article 31B, which says that a law placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be questioned for taking away a fundamental right. The Schedule started with 13 entries, mostly the zamindari abolition laws of the states, and has grown far beyond that. The protection is no longer absolute: in I. R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007) the Supreme Court held that laws added after 24 April 1973 can still be tested against the basic structure of the Constitution. Option A is wrong because the Third Amendment of 1954 reworked the Concurrent List entry on essential commodities. Option B is wrong because the Fourth Amendment of 1955 only put more laws into a Schedule that already existed. Option D is wrong because the Sixth Amendment of 1956 dealt with taxes on the inter-State sale of goods. Exam tip: First Amendment, 1951 — Ninth Schedule along with Article 31B.

The correct answer is B, Kaka Saheb Kalelkar. The first Backward Classes Commission, set up by the President under Article 340 in January 1953, was headed by the Gandhian writer Kaka Kalelkar. It submitted its report in 1955, but the Centre did not accept its main recommendations. The second Backward Classes Commission was set up in 1979 under B. P. Mandal, a former Chief Minister of Bihar, and its 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in central jobs was implemented in 1990. The 102nd Amendment of 2018 later gave the National Commission for Backward Classes constitutional status under Article 338B. Option A is wrong because Jagjivan Ram, also from Bihar, was a Dalit leader and Deputy Prime Minister, not the head of this commission. Option C is wrong because B. D. Sharma was an IAS officer known for his work on tribal rights. Option D is wrong because the first commission had only one chairman, Kalelkar. Exam tip: first commission Kalelkar 1953, second Mandal 1979, NCBC made constitutional in 2018.

The correct answer is B, The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Article 338A was inserted by the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, which split the earlier joint commission into two separate bodies and gave the Scheduled Tribes a commission of their own from 2004. It has a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, and it investigates complaints about tribal safeguards, advises on planning for tribal development and reports to the President, who places the report before Parliament. Option A is wrong because the National Commission for Scheduled Castes rests on Article 338, the article as it stood before the split. Option C is wrong because the National Commission for Backward Classes became a constitutional body only in 2018, under Article 338B, through the 102nd Amendment. Option D is wrong because the National Commission for Women is a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 and has no article of its own. Exam tip: 338 for SCs, 338A for STs, 338B for OBCs.

The correct answer is C, 6 years or the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier. Article 316 of the Constitution fixes this term for the chairman and members of a State Public Service Commission. The same article gives members of the Union Public Service Commission six years or the age of 65, so the six years is common and only the retiring age differs. The Governor appoints the chairman and members of a State Commission, but they can be removed only by the President, on a report of the Supreme Court, which protects their independence. At least half the members must be persons who have held office under the government for ten years or more. Option A is wrong because it mixes the state term with the Union retiring age of 65. Option B is wrong because the age for a State Commission is 62, not 60. Option D is wrong on both counts, as the term is six years and the age is 62. Exam tip: UPSC 6 years or 65, State PSC 6 years or 62.

The correct answer is C, the Supreme Court and High Courts only, because the Constitution gives writ jurisdiction to these two courts alone. The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32, which is itself a fundamental right and can be used only to enforce fundamental rights. A High Court issues them under Article 226, and its power is wider: it covers fundamental rights and any other legal right as well. The five writs are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. Option A is wrong because the High Courts have this power too, and under a broader article. Option B is wrong because Article 32 lets a person go straight to the Supreme Court. Option D is wrong because district and subordinate courts have no writ jurisdiction at all; they can grant other remedies, but not writs. Exam tip: Article 32 for the Supreme Court and Article 226 for High Courts, with Article 226 the wider of the two.

The correct answer is C, President of India after an address in both Houses of Parliament. Under Article 148 the Comptroller and Auditor-General is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, but can be removed only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. That means each House must pass an address by a special majority on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, and only then does the President remove him. This difficult procedure, along with a fixed term of six years or age 65, a salary charged on the Consolidated Fund of India and a bar on holding any further office of profit, is what keeps the CAG independent while he audits the accounts of the Union and the states. Option A is wrong because the Council of Ministers cannot advise his removal. Option B is wrong because the Chief Justice has no power to remove him. Option D is wrong because the advice of the Chief Justice is not the route either. Exam tip: Article 148 — CAG is removed exactly like a Supreme Court judge.

The correct answer is D, only 3. The chairman of the Union Public Service Commission is removed by the President under Article 317, and for misbehaviour only after the Supreme Court has held an inquiry on the President's reference and reported against him. No resolution of either House is needed at any stage, so Parliament has no role at all. Judges of the High Courts and of the Supreme Court, listed at 1 and 2, are removed by the President only after an address supported by a special majority of each House, so Parliament is central there. The Comptroller and Auditor General at 4 is removed in the same manner as a judge of the Supreme Court, which again requires an address by both Houses. Options A, B and C are wrong because each of them leaves out the UPSC chairman or wrongly brings in the judges or the CAG.

The correct answer is A, Article 350-B. The Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted this article on the recommendation of the States Reorganisation Commission and created the office of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, known in practice as the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities. The President appoints the Commissioner, whose duty is to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards the Constitution provides for linguistic minorities and to report to the President, who has the report laid before each House of Parliament and sent to the state governments concerned. The office works under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Article 350-A, added by the same amendment, asks states to provide primary education in the mother tongue. Option B is wrong because there is no Article 315-B; Article 315 deals with public service commissions. Option C is wrong because Article 338-A set up the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Option D is wrong because Article 348 deals with the language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Exam tip: 350-A mother tongue teaching and 350-B Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, both from the Seventh Amendment, 1956.