Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 41

The correct answer is B, the Thirty-sixth Amendment Act of 1975. It admitted Sikkim as the twenty-second State of the Indian Union, inserted it into the First Schedule and omitted the earlier provisions that had given it a special status. Option A is wrong because the Thirty-fifth Amendment of 1974 had only made Sikkim an associate State of India, a status created for it and given up a year later; the two amendments appear together in questions precisely because the steps were taken in quick succession. Option C is wrong because the Fortieth Amendment of 1976 dealt with the exclusive economic zone and placed certain laws in the Ninth Schedule. Option D is wrong because the Forty-second Amendment of 1976 is the wide-ranging amendment that added the Fundamental Duties and the words socialist and secular to the Preamble. Remember associate State in 1974, full State in 1975.

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 C, 29. The Eleventh Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 and lists twenty-nine subjects, from agriculture and minor irrigation to drinking water, rural housing, poverty alleviation and the public distribution system, which a State legislature may devolve on the panchayats under Article 243G. Option A is wrong because twenty-two is the number of languages in the Eighth Schedule, a figure examiners deliberately place next to this one. Option B is wrong because twenty-four matches nothing in the Schedules and is only a plausible-looking number. Option D is wrong because thirty-two is not the count of any Schedule either; the companion figure to remember is eighteen, the number of subjects in the Twelfth Schedule for municipalities added by the Seventy-fourth Amendment of the same year. Fix the pair in memory as panchayats twenty-nine and municipalities eighteen.

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 C, Article 324. Article 324 vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and of the conduct of all elections to Parliament, to the legislature of every State, and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. Because the body stands on an article, it cannot be wound up by an ordinary law of Parliament. Option A, Article 280, creates the Finance Commission, which the President constitutes every fifth year to recommend the distribution of taxes between the Union and the States. Option B, Article 315, creates the Union Public Service Commission and a Public Service Commission for each State, which conduct recruitment examinations. Option D, Article 338, creates the National Commission for Scheduled Castes; the companion commission for the Scheduled Tribes sits in Article 338A. Candidates lose this mark by confusing 324 with 325, which bars exclusion from the electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.

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, Tenth Schedule. The anti-defection law sits in the Tenth Schedule, which was inserted by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985 and is read with Articles 102(2) and 191(2). It allows the Speaker or the Chairman of the House to disqualify a member who voluntarily gives up the membership of the party on whose ticket they were elected, or who votes or abstains against the party whip. Option A is wrong because the Ninth Schedule is the list of laws protected by Article 31B. Option C is wrong because the Eleventh Schedule contains the twenty-nine subjects of the panchayats. Option D is wrong because the Twelfth Schedule contains the eighteen subjects of the municipalities. Note the trap: a Tenth Schedule on the association of Sikkim existed from 1974 to 1975 before the present one.

The correct answer is B, N.C.E.R.T. Section 29(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 says the curriculum and the evaluation procedure for elementary education shall be laid down by an academic authority notified by the appropriate government, and the Central Government notified the National Council of Educational Research and Training for the schools under it, while the states notified their own SCERTs. Section 29(2) then binds that authority to constitutional values, the all-round development of the child, learning through activity and discovery, teaching in the mother tongue as far as practicable, and continuous and comprehensive evaluation. A is wrong because the N.C.T.E. frames norms for teacher education and teacher eligibility, which the Act deals with in Section 23. C is wrong because N.I.E.P.A. works on educational planning and administration. D is wrong because N.I.O.S. runs open and distance schooling. Exam tip: in the RTE Act, Section 29 gives the academic authority, NCERT, and Section 23 the teacher qualifications through NCTE.

The correct answer is B, the National Human Rights Commission. It is a statutory body created by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and no article of the Constitution mentions it, so Parliament could alter or repeal its parent Act by an ordinary majority. Option A, the Finance Commission, is constitutional under Article 280, and the President constitutes it every fifth year or earlier if he thinks it necessary. Option C, the Comptroller and Auditor General, is constitutional under Article 148, with a removal procedure borrowed from that of a Supreme Court judge and a salary charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. Option D, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, became constitutional when the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 inserted Article 338A and separated it from the Scheduled Castes commission. The lesson to carry into the examination hall is that the three commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes are constitutional, while the commissions for human rights, women and minorities are statutory.

The correct answer is D, Members of a Trade Union. A pressure group is an organised body of people with a shared interest that tries to influence government policy without contesting elections or seeking power itself, so a trade union pressing for better wages is the classic example. Pressure groups work through petitions, strikes, lobbying, publicity and public campaigns; in India business bodies such as FICCI, farmers' organisations, caste associations and student unions act in the same way. A is wrong because members of the Lok Sabha are elected representatives who sit inside the lawmaking body itself. B is wrong because panchayat members are elected office-holders of local self-government. C is wrong because cabinet members form the executive that takes the very decisions a pressure group tries to influence. Exam tip: the line to remember is that a political party seeks power, while a pressure group seeks only influence.

The correct answer is A, the First Amendment, 1951. The very first amendment to the Constitution added Article 31B along with the Ninth Schedule, so that the zamindari abolition and land ceiling laws of the new State governments could not be struck down for violating the fundamental right to property. Option B is wrong because the Seventh Amendment of 1956 carried out the reorganisation of States and rewrote the First and Fourth Schedules, but created no new Schedule. Option C is wrong because the Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978 removed the right to property from the list of fundamental rights and made it a legal right under Article 300A. Option D is wrong because the Fifty-second Amendment of 1985 added the Tenth Schedule on defection. Remember also that after the I. R. Coelho judgment of 2007, laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 remain open to a basic structure challenge.

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 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003. Until that amendment a single National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes worked under Article 338. The 89th Amendment divided the work, keeping the Scheduled Castes commission in Article 338 and inserting a new Article 338A for a separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, each with its own chairperson, vice-chairperson and members. Option A, the 73rd Amendment of 1992, added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule and gave constitutional standing to the panchayats. Option B, the 86th Amendment of 2002, inserted Article 21A making elementary education a fundamental right, along with Article 51A(k) and a change to Article 45. Option D, the 102nd Amendment of 2018, inserted Article 338B and gave the National Commission for Backward Classes its constitutional status. Learning the three commission amendments as a set, 338 with no amendment, 338A with the 89th and 338B with the 102nd, settles a whole family of questions.

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 C, the Ninety-second Amendment. Passed in 2003, it added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the Eighth Schedule, taking the number of languages listed there to twenty-two. Option A is wrong because the Twenty-first Amendment of 1967 added only Sindhi, making the list fifteen languages. Option B is wrong because the Seventy-first Amendment of 1992 added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali, taking the list to eighteen. Option D is wrong because the Eighty-sixth Amendment of 2002 has nothing to do with languages: it inserted Article 21A, making free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen a fundamental right. Keep the ladder in order, fourteen at the start, then fifteen, then eighteen, then twenty-two, and remember that a language in the Eighth Schedule is not for that reason an official language of the Union.

The correct answer is December 1946. 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. Two days later, on 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the permanent President of the Assembly.

The other options are dates from before or after the Assembly's work. August 1945 is more than a year before the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 created the Assembly. July 1948 falls in the middle of its work, after the Draft Constitution had been published in February 1948. January 1950 is the very end: the last session was held on 24 January 1950 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. Remember the pair that is asked most often: first meeting on 9 December 1946, and Rajendra Prasad elected on 11 December 1946.

The correct answer is B, Article 279A. The article was inserted by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, the amendment that introduced the goods and services tax, and it requires the President to constitute a Council of the Union Finance Minister, the Union Minister of State in charge of revenue or finance, and the Minister in charge of finance or taxation of each State. The Council recommends the rates, the exemptions, the threshold limits and the model laws. Option A, Article 263, empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council to inquire into and advise upon disputes between States. Option C, Article 280, is the Finance Commission, which deals with the sharing of tax revenue and grants-in-aid, a different subject altogether. Option D, Article 282, allows the Union or a State to make any grant for a public purpose even outside its own legislative competence, and is the article behind many centrally sponsored schemes. Note the number: 279A, not 279.

The correct answer is C, Fourth Schedule. The Fourth Schedule, read with Article 80 and Article 4, is the table of seats allotted to each State and Union Territory in the Council of States. Because Article 4 lets Parliament amend the First and Fourth Schedules by an ordinary law, the table is revised whenever a State is created, divided or renamed, without recourse to Article 368. Option A is wrong because the Second Schedule deals with the emoluments, allowances and privileges of the President, the Governors, the Speakers and Chairmen of the Houses, the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and the Comptroller and Auditor General. Option B is wrong because the Third Schedule gives the forms of oath and affirmation. Option D is wrong because the Fifth Schedule deals with the administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes.

The correct answer is C, the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003. The Commission was first set up in 1964 by a resolution of the Government of India on the recommendation of the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption, and for nearly four decades it worked as an executive body. The Act of 2003 turned it into a statutory, multi-member body with a Central Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioners. Option A, the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, defines the offences of bribery and criminal misconduct by public servants but creates no commission. Option B, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, is the law from which the Central Bureau of Investigation draws its powers of investigation; the CBI itself was created by a Home Ministry resolution in 1963. Option D, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, created the Lokpal at the Union level and required States to set up Lokayuktas. The examiner likes this question because the body has two dates, 1964 and 2003.

The correct answer is A, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule, read with Article 244(2) and Article 275(1), provides autonomous district councils and regional councils with powers to make laws on land, forests, village administration, inheritance and social custom in the tribal areas of these four States. Option B is wrong because Nagaland and Manipur are not Sixth Schedule States; Nagaland has its own special provision in Article 371A. Option C is wrong for the same reason, as Arunachal Pradesh is covered by Article 371H and not by the Sixth Schedule. Option D is wrong because the tribal areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh are Scheduled Areas governed by the Fifth Schedule, where the instrument is the Tribes Advisory Council and the Governor's report to the President.