Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 46

The correct answer is B, 18. Every citizen of India who is eighteen years of age or more may vote, and the age is the same for men and women.

Article 326 of the Constitution provides for elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies on the basis of adult suffrage. The voting age was originally twenty-one; the Sixty-first Constitutional Amendment Act of 1988, which came into force in 1989, lowered it to eighteen. The qualifying date is 1 January of the year of the electoral roll, and the roll is prepared by the Election Commission of India.

Option A, 21, was the voting age before the 1988 amendment. Option C, 25, is the minimum age to contest a Lok Sabha or assembly seat, not to vote. Option D, 22, has never been the voting age. Remember that 30 is the minimum age for the Rajya Sabha and 35 for the office of President.

Exam tip: Article 326 with the 61st Amendment, 1988, brought the voting age from 21 to 18.

The correct answer is B, Article 124. Article 124(1) establishes the Supreme Court, and Article 124(2) provides that every judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with such judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as the President may deem necessary; its proviso makes consultation with the Chief Justice of India compulsory for the appointment of any judge other than the Chief Justice himself. Option A, Article 122, is wrong because it bars courts from inquiring into the proceedings of Parliament. Option C, Article 127, is wrong because it deals with the appointment of ad hoc judges to the Supreme Court by the Chief Justice of India, not with regular appointments. Option D, Article 217, is wrong because it governs the appointment of judges of a High Court, which is a different provision altogether.

The correct answer is A. Article 348(2) allows the Governor of a state, with the previous consent of the President, to authorise the use of Hindi or of any other language used for the official purposes of the state in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that state. The clause expressly saves judgments, decrees and orders, which must continue to be in English unless Parliament provides otherwise by law. Option B is wrong because the consent required is the President's, not the Chief Justice of India's. Option C repeats the right authority but ignores the saving clause, and that is exactly the distinction examiners test. Option D invents a procedure; no resolution of the state legislature is needed. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are the states that have obtained this authorisation.

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, Part III. Article 32 is the right to constitutional remedies, and it sits in Part III, the chapter of Fundamental Rights, which runs from Article 12 to Article 35. Under Article 32 a citizen may move the Supreme Court directly for the enforcement of a fundamental right, and the Court may issue the writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. Dr B. R. Ambedkar called this article the heart and soul of the Constitution. Option A is wrong because Part II covers citizenship, Articles 5 to 11. Option B is wrong because Part I deals with the Union and its territory, Articles 1 to 4, including the formation of new states. Option D is wrong because Part IV holds the Directive Principles of State Policy, Articles 36 to 51, which are not enforceable in any court and are therefore the opposite of a remedy article.

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 A, the Government of India Act, 1935. About two-thirds of the provisions of the Constitution follow that Act, which supplied the federal scheme with its lists of subjects, the office of the Governor, the structure and powers of the judiciary, the public service commissions, the emergency provisions and most of the administrative detail. The Act was already in force, so its machinery could be carried forward without disturbing a freshly partitioned administration. B introduced separate electorates and a limited elective element and contributed almost nothing to the final text. C gave the Fundamental Rights and judicial review, and D the Directive Principles, but each of those is one chapter rather than the bulk of the document. Note also that the Act of 1935 provided for a federation of provinces and princely states which never actually came into being.

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, 62 years, raised by the Fifteenth Amendment Act, 1963. Article 217(1) originally fixed the retirement age of a High Court judge at 60 years, and the Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment Act of 1963 raised it to 62. Option A is wrong because 60 was indeed the original figure but is no longer the rule. Options C and D are wrong because 65 years is the retirement age of a judge of the Supreme Court under Article 124(2), and that figure has never been changed, nor has the retirement age of a High Court judge been raised to 65 despite repeated recommendations. Candidates should remember the pair 65 and 62 together, with the Fifteenth Amendment attached to the smaller figure. A judge also holds no fixed term, may resign by writing to the President, and continues until the age of retirement unless removed under the special-majority procedure.

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 C, Sanskrit. Article 351 is a directive to the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language and to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India. The article says this is to be done by assimilating the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. Option A is wrong because Hindustani is named for forms, style and expressions, not for vocabulary. Option B is wrong because Persian and Arabic are not named at all. Option D is wrong because English finds no place in Article 351; its role comes from Article 343(3) and the Official Languages Act, 1963.

The correct answer is D, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and is counted as its founder member and first president. The party was launched at Delhi in October 1951 as a nationalist alternative to the Congress. Mookerjee had resigned from Nehru's cabinet in 1950 over the Nehru-Liaquat pact, and he had earlier led the Hindu Mahasabha and served as Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University. He died in 1953 in detention in Kashmir while agitating against the state's special status, after which Deendayal Upadhyaya built up the party's organisation; it was reorganised as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. A is wrong because K M Munshi was a Constituent Assembly member and Congress leader who later joined the Swatantra Party. B is wrong because Baldev Singh was independent India's first Defence Minister. C is wrong because Minoo Masani was a founder of the Swatantra Party. Exam tip: Bharatiya Jana Sangh 1951 with Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Swatantra Party 1959 with C Rajagopalachari and Minoo Masani.

The correct answer is D, Article 110. Article 110 defines a Money Bill as a bill dealing only with matters such as the imposition or abolition of a tax, borrowing by the Government of India, the custody of the Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund, and the appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund. A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and only on the recommendation of the President, and the Speaker's certificate on whether a bill is a Money Bill is final. Option A is wrong because Article 114 deals with Appropriation Bills, which authorise withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund. Option B is wrong because Article 112 provides for the annual financial statement, the Budget. Option C is wrong because Article 116 covers votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants.

The correct answer is C, Mizoram. Article 371G sits in Part XXI of the Constitution, which holds temporary, transitional and special provisions, and was inserted by the 53rd Amendment Act, 1986, when Mizoram was made a full state. It protects Mizo customary law and practice, social and religious usage, and the administration of civil and criminal justice based on that customary law: a law of Parliament on these subjects applies to Mizoram only if the Legislative Assembly of the state decides by resolution that it should. The Assembly is also fixed at a minimum of forty members. Option A is wrong because the special provision for Jammu and Kashmir was Article 370, whose operation was withdrawn in August 2019. Option B is wrong because Jharkhand has no such article; it was carved out of Bihar in 2000 by an ordinary reorganisation Act. Option D is wrong because Nagaland is covered by Article 371A, added by the 13th Amendment of 1962. Exam tip: 371A Nagaland, 371B Assam, 371C Manipur, 371F Sikkim, 371G Mizoram, 371H Arunachal Pradesh.

The correct answer is B, Ireland. The Irish constitution of 1937 carried a chapter of directive principles of social policy, non-justiciable goals addressed to the legislature, and the Constituent Assembly adopted that device as Part IV of our Constitution, along with the nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha and the method of electing the President. A supplied the justiciable Fundamental Rights and judicial review, and it is the commonest wrong answer here because candidates group all rights and principles together. C supplied a federation with a strong Centre and residuary powers with the Centre. D supplied the Concurrent List, the freedom of trade and commerce, and the joint sitting of the two Houses. Article 37 states that the principles are not enforceable by any court but are fundamental in the governance of the country.

The correct answer is B, the Government is responsible to the Parliament and can be removed by it. A parliamentary system rests on the executive answering to the legislature, so the council of ministers stays in office only while it keeps the confidence of the House. India took this form from Britain: the ministers are drawn from the legislature, they are collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha under Article 75, and a no-confidence motion carried against them brings the whole ministry down. The President is the nominal head while the Prime Minister is the real head of the executive. A is wrong because a government of all parties is a national or coalition arrangement, not a feature of the system itself. C is wrong because the people elect the legislature, and it is the legislature that makes and unmakes the government; direct removal by voters belongs to no Indian office. D is wrong because a fixed term the House cannot cut short describes the presidential system. Exam tip: parliamentary means responsible government, presidential means fixed tenure.

The correct answer is C, five years as a judge of a High Court. Article 124(3) requires a citizen of India who either has been a judge of a High Court for at least five years, or has been an advocate of a High Court for at least ten years, or is in the opinion of the President a distinguished jurist. Option A is wrong because the period of practice required is ten years, not five; the two figures are deliberately swapped in examinations. Option B is wrong for the same reason in reverse, since ten years is the advocate's requirement while five years is the judge's. Option D is wrong because the Constitution prescribes no minimum age for a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court, although a maximum, the age of retirement, does exist.

The correct answer is B, Article 371A. It was inserted by the Thirteenth Amendment Act, 1962, when Nagaland was created as a state, and it protects Naga customary law and procedure, the ownership and transfer of land and its resources, and gives the Governor a special responsibility for law and order in the state. Option A is wrong because Article 370 was the temporary provision for Jammu and Kashmir, made inoperative in August 2019. Option C is wrong because Article 371F, inserted by the Thirty-sixth Amendment of 1975, carries the provisions for Sikkim on its becoming a state. Option D is wrong because Article 371G, inserted by the Fifty-third Amendment of 1986, is the parallel provision for Mizoram, protecting Mizo customary law and social and religious practice. Nagaland and Mizoram are the pair most often interchanged in the options.

The correct answer is C, Article 44. Article 44 is a Directive Principle in Part IV and says that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. Like every directive principle it is not enforceable by any court, though the Supreme Court has referred to it in several judgments on personal law. Option A is wrong because Article 42 directs the State to provide for just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief. Option B is wrong because Article 43 asks for a living wage and decent conditions of work for workers, including cottage industry in rural areas. Option D is wrong because Article 45, after the Eighty-sixth Amendment, directs the State to provide early childhood care and education for children below the age of six years; before that amendment it covered free and compulsory education up to the age of fourteen.

The correct answer is A, the Soviet Union, whose constitution listed the duties of citizens alongside their rights. India had no such chapter at first; ten Fundamental Duties were added in 1976 by the Forty-second Amendment on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee, and an eleventh, the duty of a parent to provide education to a child, was added later. Like the Directive Principles, the duties are not enforceable by a court. B contributed the expression procedure established by law in Article 21. C contributed the republic and the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. D contributed the amendment procedure and the election of members of the Rajya Sabha. An easy way to hold the pair is that the rights came from the West and the duties from the socialist bloc.