Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 40

The correct answer is B, a constitutional amendment. The President sought the advisory opinion of the Supreme Court on whether the agreement to transfer part of the Berubari Union to Pakistan could be carried out under Article 3. The Court held that giving away Indian territory to a foreign country is not a mere diminution of the area of a State under Article 3, because it reduces the territory of India itself, and so it needs an amendment of the Constitution. Option A is wrong for exactly that reason. Option C is wrong because the views of a State legislature are advisory even in an ordinary reorganisation. Option D is wrong because the Inter-State Council has no such power. Parliament accordingly passed the Ninth Constitutional Amendment Act in 1960, and used the same route in 2015 through the Hundredth Constitutional Amendment Act for the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh.

The correct answer is B, Mandal Commission. The Second Backward Classes Commission, headed by B. P. Mandal, recommended 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in central government services and public undertakings. It was appointed in 1979 and submitted its report in 1980, listed 3,743 castes as backward and put the share of the OBCs in the population at about 52 per cent. The quota was fixed at 27 per cent so that total reservation would stay within the 50 per cent ceiling the courts had indicated. The recommendation was put into effect in 1990, and the Supreme Court upheld it in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992. A is wrong because the Sarkaria Commission of 1983 examined Centre-State relations. C is wrong because the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee of 1957 suggested the three-tier panchayati raj system. D is wrong because the Kothari Commission of 1964-66 dealt with education. Exam tip: Mandal Commission 1979, report 1980, 27 per cent OBC quota, upheld in Indra Sawhney 1992.

The correct answer is B. Article 249 provides that if the Rajya Sabha declares by a resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest, Parliament may make a law on a matter in the State List; such a law stays in force for one year and may be extended for one year at a time by a fresh resolution. Option A is wrong because a simple majority is not enough for this special power. Option C is wrong because the requirement is of members present and voting, not of the total membership, a distinction examiners test often. Option D is wrong because a three-fourths majority belongs to the GST Council under Article 279A. Note also that only the Rajya Sabha, as the House of the States, can pass this resolution.

The correct answer is B, Sarkaria Commission. The Inter-State Council was constituted in 1990 by a presidential order acting on this commission's report on centre-state relations. Article 263 empowers the President to set up such a council to inquire into disputes between states, discuss subjects of common interest and make recommendations. The Sarkaria Commission, headed by Justice R. S. Sarkaria, was appointed in 1983 and submitted its report in 1988; it asked that the council be made a permanent body. The Prime Minister chairs it, and the chief ministers of all states, the administrators of union territories and six union ministers are its members. Option A is wrong because the Punchhi Commission came much later, in 2007, and reported in 2010. Option C is wrong because the Rajamannar Committee of 1969 was set up by the Tamil Nadu government, not the Union. Option D is wrong because the Mungerilal Commission dealt with backward class reservation in Bihar. Exam tip: Article 263 plus Sarkaria Commission gives the Inter-State Council, 1990.

The correct answer is B, Fazl Ali. The States Reorganisation Commission was appointed in 1953 under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali and submitted its report in 1955. Its recommendations led to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 and the Seventh Constitutional Amendment, which gave the country fourteen States and six Union territories. Option A is wrong because S. K. Dhar headed the earlier Linguistic Provinces Commission, usually called the Dhar Commission, set up in 1948, which preferred administrative convenience to language. Options C and D are wrong because K. M. Panikkar and H. N. Kunzru were the two other members of the Fazl Ali Commission, not its chairman; a question that offers all three names together is testing exactly this. Also remember the JVP Committee of 1949, named after Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya.

The correct answer is A, Land transfers. The Fifth Schedule lets the Governor make regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area, and it names three matters such a regulation may cover: it may prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes, regulate the allotment of land to them, and regulate money-lending to them. The purpose is to stop outsiders from buying up tribal land, so land alienation is the heart of the provision. A regulation of this kind needs the assent of the President, and the Governor must also report to the President every year on the administration of these areas, advised by a Tribes Advisory Council. Option B is wrong because taxation is settled by Parliament and the state legislature, not by such a regulation. Option C is wrong because freedom of speech is a fundamental right no Governor's regulation can curtail. Option D is wrong because water use is not one of the three listed matters. Exam tip: Fifth Schedule regulations cover land transfer, land allotment and money-lending.

The correct answer is B. Article 280 requires the President to constitute a Finance Commission every fifth year, or at such earlier time as the President considers necessary, consisting of a chairman and four other members. It recommends the distribution of the net proceeds of shareable taxes between the Union and the States and among the States, the principles governing grants-in-aid out of the Consolidated Fund of India, and measures to augment the resources of panchayats and municipalities. Option A is wrong because Article 275 deals with statutory grants-in-aid to States, not with the Commission. Option C is wrong because Article 282 covers discretionary grants for any public purpose, made by the Union or a State. Option D is wrong because Article 293 is about State borrowing, which requires Union consent while a Union loan is outstanding.

The correct answer is B, State Government. Section 16 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 extends the collective-fine provision of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 to atrocities, and the power to impose and recover a collective fine on the inhabitants of an area rests with the State Government. The purpose is to make a whole locality answerable when its people abet an atrocity or shield the offenders, and the inhabitants must be given a chance to be heard before the fine is fixed and apportioned among them. A is wrong because the District Magistrate carries out such orders but is not the authority that imposes the fine. C is wrong because the Special Court tries offences under the Act and punishes individual offenders. D is wrong because the High Court hears appeals and does not levy collective fines. Exam tip: remember the pair - collective fine under Section 16, imposed by the State Government.

The correct answer is A, Andhra State. It was carved out of the Madras Presidency in 1953 for Telugu speakers, after the death of Potti Sriramulu on a fast unto death pressed the demand to a point the government could not resist. Andhra State therefore came before the general reorganisation of 1956 and is the standard answer to this question. Option B and option C are wrong because Maharashtra and Gujarat were created only in 1960, when the bilingual State of Bombay was divided after the Samyukta Maharashtra and Mahagujarat movements. Option D is wrong because Haryana was separated from Punjab in 1966 on the recommendation of the Shah Commission, which was also a language-based division but much later. A common trap is to offer Andhra Pradesh in place of Andhra State; the State formed in 1953 was Andhra State, which became Andhra Pradesh in 1956.

The correct answer is C, 1980. The Bharatiya Janata Party was founded on 6 April 1980, after the Janata Party broke up.

Its ancestor was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, started by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. In 1977 the Jana Sangh merged with other opposition groups to form the Janata Party, which came to power after the Emergency. When that coalition split in 1979, its former Jana Sangh members left and set up the BJP in 1980, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as its first president. The party's election symbol is the lotus. It first led a government in 1996 for thirteen days, and then from 1998 to 2004 under Vajpayee.

A is wrong: 1957 was the year of the second general election, not of this party's birth. B is wrong: 1934 falls deep in the colonial period, long before the BJP existed. D is wrong: 1967 was the year of the fourth general election and of the first non-Congress governments in several states.

Exam tip: Jana Sangh in 1951, Janata Party in 1977, and the BJP founded on 6 April 1980 with Vajpayee as its first president.

The correct answer is A, Article 279A. The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 inserted Article 279A, under which the President constitutes the GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, with the Union Minister of State for Finance and a minister nominated by each State as members. Option B is wrong because Article 268A, which had dealt with service tax, was omitted by the same amendment. Option C is wrong because Article 246A is also a creation of that amendment but it confers the power to make laws on goods and services tax on both Parliament and the State legislatures; it does not create the Council. Option D is wrong because Article 269A provides for the levy and apportionment of GST on inter-State supplies. All four articles belong to the same amendment, so read the question for the body being asked about.

The correct answer is B, Tenth Schedule. The anti-defection law sits in the Tenth Schedule, which sets out when a member of Parliament or of a State legislature loses the seat for defecting. It was inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985, after a decade in which governments were toppled by floor crossing. A member is disqualified for voluntarily giving up the membership of the party on whose ticket the seat was won, or for voting against the party whip. The Speaker or the Chairman of the House decides such a case, and courts can review that decision. The 91st Amendment of 2003 removed the old one third split defence, so only a merger supported by two thirds of a party’s legislators is now protected. A is wrong because the Second Schedule fixes the salaries and allowances of the President, Governors, Speakers and judges. C is wrong because the Third Schedule carries the forms of oath and affirmation. D is wrong because the Fourth Schedule allots Rajya Sabha seats to states and union territories. Exam tip: Tenth Schedule, anti-defection, 52nd Amendment of 1985.

The correct answer is C, the Seventh Amendment. The Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 accompanied the States Reorganisation Act, abolished the old classification of States into Parts A, B, C and D, and reorganised the country into fourteen States and six Union territories. It also allowed a common High Court for two or more States. Option A is wrong because the Fifth Amendment dealt with the time allowed to State legislatures to express their views on a Bill under Article 3. Option B is wrong because the Sixth Amendment concerned taxes on inter-State sales and purchases. Option D is wrong because the Ninth Amendment of 1960 was passed to cede part of the Berubari Union to Pakistan after the Supreme Court held that an amendment was necessary. Pair each amendment with its subject rather than its number alone.

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, Public health and sanitation, which remains an entry of the State List. The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 moved exactly five subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List: education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds, and administration of justice with the constitution and organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Option A is wrong because education is the best known of those five transfers, and it is the reason both Parliament and the State legislatures now legislate on schooling. Option B is wrong because forests moved in the same year, which is why the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 is a central law. Option D is wrong because the establishment of standards of weights and measures was already a Union entry, and the State entry on weights and measures was shifted to the Concurrent List by this amendment.

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, 2 June 2014. Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 and came into existence on 2 June 2014, which is observed as its formation day. Option A is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the formation day of Chhattisgarh, which was separated from Madhya Pradesh in the same year that Uttaranchal and Jharkhand were created. Option C is wrong because 31 October 2019 is the day the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act came into force and two Union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, came into being. Option D is wrong because 26 January 2020 is the date on which Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were merged into a single Union territory. Formation dates of recent States are asked almost every year, so learn them as a set.

The correct answer is C, Article 262. Article 262 lets Parliament provide by law for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint about the use, distribution or control of the waters of an inter-State river or river valley, and it also permits Parliament to provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in such a dispute; the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 was enacted under it, and tribunals are set up under that Act. Option A is wrong because Article 256 obliges a State to exercise its executive power so as to ensure compliance with laws made by Parliament. Option B is wrong because Article 257 deals with the Union's control over States, including directions on communications of national importance and on the protection of railways. Option D is wrong because Article 263 creates the Inter-State Council, an advisory body, not a tribunal.

The correct answer is C, the Hundredth Amendment Act of 2015. It amended the First Schedule to give effect to the acquiring of territories by India and the transfer of certain territories to Bangladesh under the Land Boundary Agreement, settling a dispute that had lasted since Partition. An amendment was needed because, as the Berubari Union opinion held, Indian territory cannot be ceded to a foreign State by an ordinary law under Article 3. Option A is wrong because the Ninth Amendment of 1960 dealt with the transfer of the Berubari Union to Pakistan. Option B is wrong because the Thirty-sixth Amendment of 1975 made Sikkim a full-fledged State of India. Option D is wrong because the Hundred and First Amendment of 2016 introduced the Goods and Services Tax. Note the pattern: boundary settlements with neighbours travel through Article 368.

The correct answer is D, India. India is the standard example of a holding together federation, because one large country chose to divide its powers among states while keeping a strong central government.

Federations are formed in two ways. In a coming together federation, independent states join hands by choice, keep roughly equal powers and stay fairly strong against the centre; the United States, Australia and Switzerland were made this way. In a holding together federation, a single big country decides to share its power with the states, and the central government usually stays the more powerful partner; India, Spain and Belgium belong to this group. Such federations often give unequal powers to different units, which is why India has special arrangements for some states and for the union territories.

A is wrong: New Zealand is a unitary state and not a federation at all. B is wrong: Australia was formed when its colonies came together in 1901. C is wrong: the USA is the textbook coming together federation, made by thirteen states in 1787.

Exam tip: coming together — USA, Australia, Switzerland; holding together — India, Spain, Belgium.