Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 53

The correct answer is B. The special majority of Article 368 has two parts that must be satisfied together: a majority of the total membership of the House, and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. A is wrong because a simple majority of those present suffices only for ordinary Bills and for a few constitutional matters such as the creation of new States under Article 3. C is wrong because the two-thirds requirement is counted on the members present and voting, not on the total membership, which is a very common error. D is wrong because the two Houses never sit together for a Constitution Amendment Bill; Article 108 does not apply to it, so each House must muster the special majority separately, and certain amendments also need ratification by half the State legislatures.

The correct answer is B, Article 112. Article 112 requires the President to cause a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India for every financial year to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and the Constitution calls that statement the Annual Financial Statement; in ordinary speech it is the Budget. A is wrong because Article 110 only defines what a money bill is and lists the six matters a money bill may deal with; it says nothing about the Budget being laid before the Houses. C is wrong because Article 114 deals with the Appropriation Bill, the law by which money is actually withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India after the grants have been voted. D is wrong because Article 117 carries the special provisions for financial bills, chiefly that they are introduced in the Lok Sabha on the recommendation of the President.

The correct answer is A, a policy cut. A policy cut motion asks that the amount of the demand be reduced to one rupee, which amounts to a complete rejection of the policy underlying the demand, and the member who moves it may propose an alternative policy. B, an economy cut, is wrong because it asks for the demand to be reduced by a specified amount, representing the economy that can be effected without disowning the policy. C, a token cut, is wrong because it asks for a reduction of exactly one hundred rupees and is moved only to air a specific grievance within the sphere of the Government of India. D, the guillotine, is wrong because it is not a cut motion at all: it is the device by which the Speaker, when the time allotted to the demands for grants expires, puts all the outstanding demands to the vote together, discussed or not.

The correct answer is B, State Human Rights Commission. A State Human Rights Commission is created by Chapter V of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, an ordinary law of Parliament, so it is a statutory and not a constitutional body; Parliament could abolish it by amending that Act alone. Option A is wrong because the Finance Commission is set up under Article 280, which the President must act upon every fifth year. Option C is wrong because the Union Public Service Commission is created by Article 315, and the conditions of service of its members are protected by Articles 316 to 323. Option D is wrong because the Election Commission of India owes its existence to Article 324, which vests in it the superintendence, direction and control of elections. The trap in this question is that all four are called commissions; only the source of each body's authority separates them.

The correct answer is B, 14 days. Under Article 109 a money bill passed by the Lok Sabha goes to the Rajya Sabha, which must return it within fourteen days with or without recommendations; if it is not returned in that period the bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form in which the Lok Sabha passed it. The Lok Sabha is free to accept or reject any recommendation the Rajya Sabha makes. A is wrong because no financial stage of a bill is fixed at seven days. C is wrong because twenty-one days has nothing to do with a money bill; it is the period often confused with the time limits in other legislative provisions. D is wrong because thirty days is not a constitutional period for a money bill either; candidates sometimes mix it up with the six months the Rajya Sabha may hold an ordinary bill before a deadlock arises.

The correct answer is B, it is answered orally and supplementary questions are allowed. A starred question is distinguished by an asterisk, is answered on the floor of the House by the minister, and because the answer is oral, members may follow it with supplementary questions. The daily limit is twenty starred questions in the Lok Sabha. A is wrong because a written answer with no supplementaries describes an unstarred question, whose daily limit in the Lok Sabha is two hundred and thirty. C is wrong because a question to a private member is a separate category, admitted only when the subject is a Bill or a matter for which that member is responsible. D is wrong because the requirement of fifty members' support belongs to the adjournment motion and the no-confidence motion, not to any kind of question.

The correct answer is B, the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. The Act began life as an ordinance in September 1993, and the Commission was constituted on 12 October 1993 with Justice Ranganath Misra, a former Chief Justice of India, as its first Chairperson. Option A is wrong because there is no Human Rights Commission Act of 1991; that year is remembered only for the Paris workshop that drew up the Paris Principles. Option C is wrong because the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 is the renamed Untouchability (Offences) Act and punishes the practice of untouchability; it creates no commission. Option D is wrong because the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 is the law under which the government appoints a one-off commission of inquiry into a definite matter of public importance, such as a riot or a disaster.

The correct answer is B, 14 days. Under Article 109 a Money Bill passed by the Lok Sabha is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha, which may only make recommendations and must return the Bill within fourteen days. The Lok Sabha is free to accept or reject those recommendations, and if the Rajya Sabha fails to return the Bill within the period, the Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form in which the Lok Sabha passed it. A, 7 days, is wrong; no stage of the procedure uses that period. C, 21 days, is wrong, though candidates confuse it with other constitutional periods. D, 30 days, is wrong; it is sometimes mixed up with the six-week limit for approving an ordinance after Parliament reassembles. The fourteen-day rule is the single most tested fact in this chapter.

The correct answer is D, Neither 1 nor 2. A private member's bill is one introduced by any MP who is not a minister, whether elected or nominated, and such bills have become law in the past.

Statement 1 is wrong: the test is not election or nomination but whether the member is a minister. A bill moved by a minister is a government bill; a bill moved by any other member is a private member's bill, and it needs a month's notice before introduction. Statement 2 is wrong: fourteen private members' bills have been passed by both Houses and received assent, the last of them in 1970. The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2015, was notable only as the first such bill passed by that House in decades; it never became law in that form.

A is wrong because nominated status has nothing to do with it.

B is wrong because private members' bills had become law long before.

C is wrong because both statements are false.

Exam tip: private member = any MP who is not a minister; 14 such bills have become law, the last in 1970.

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, one-tenth of the total number of members of the House. Article 100(3) of the Constitution lays down that the quorum to constitute a sitting of either House shall be one-tenth of the total number of members of that House, and the presiding officer is counted in that one-tenth. If there is no quorum, it is the duty of the presiding officer to adjourn the House or suspend the sitting until there is a quorum. A, one-fourth, and C, one-third, are wrong because no provision fixes the quorum at either fraction; one-third is associated with other matters, such as the strength of the Rajya Sabha retiring every second year. D, fifty members, is wrong because fifty is the support needed to admit an adjournment motion or a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, not the quorum of a sitting.

The correct answer is B. The Public Accounts Committee has twenty-two members, fifteen elected by the Lok Sabha and seven by the Rajya Sabha, each by proportional representation through the single transferable vote, for a term of one year. Its chairperson is appointed by the Speaker from among its Lok Sabha members, and since 1967 the convention has been to appoint a member of the Opposition. The committee examines the appropriation accounts and the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Option A is wrong because fifteen is only the Lok Sabha share of the committee, not its total strength. Option C is wrong because thirty, all drawn from the Lok Sabha, is the Estimates Committee, which has no Rajya Sabha representation at all. Option D is wrong because thirty-one, split twenty-one and ten, is the size of each Departmentally Related Standing Committee. The Committee on Public Undertakings, like the Public Accounts Committee, has twenty-two members.

The correct answer is B, reduced by one hundred rupees. A token cut is moved to ventilate a specific grievance within the sphere of responsibility of the Government of India, and its form is that the amount of the demand be reduced by one hundred rupees; the sum is symbolic and the purpose is the discussion it forces. A is wrong because reducing the demand to one rupee is a policy cut, which expresses disapproval of the policy underlying the demand itself. C is wrong because a reduction by a specified amount for the sake of economy is an economy cut, where the member suggests that the same work can be done more cheaply. D is wrong because no cut motion asks for a demand to be withdrawn; the Lok Sabha can of course refuse a demand outright by voting it down, but that is a refusal of the demand, not a cut motion.

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, 12 October, the date on which the Commission was constituted in 1993. Option A, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, which marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948; students confuse the two dates constantly, so fix the pair in memory. Option C, 26 November, is Constitution Day, the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution in 1949. Option D, 28 September, is close to the date of the ordinance that preceded the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, but it is not the day the Commission came into being. The safe way to hold this fact is the chain: Declaration in 1948 on 10 December, Paris Principles in 1991, Act and Commission in 1993 on 12 October.

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 B, 1 and 2 only. A short notice question is an urgent oral question taken up only with the Minister's consent, and it is answered after Question Hour, not during it.

Under the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha, a member may ask a question on a matter of urgent public importance with less than the usual ten clear days' notice, stating the reason for urgency. It is admitted only if the Minister concerned agrees to answer it at short notice. Such a question is taken up for oral answer immediately after the questions for oral answer of that day have been disposed of, that is, after Question Hour.

A is wrong: it includes statement 3, but these questions come after Question Hour.

C is wrong: it drops the true statement 1 and keeps the false statement 3.

D is wrong: it keeps statement 3 and leaves out the true statement 2.

Exam tip: starred = oral, unstarred = written, short notice = urgent, under ten days, needs the Minister's consent, taken after Question Hour.

The correct answer is C, the President of India. Article 267(1) allows Parliament by law to establish a Contingency Fund of India in the nature of an imprest, placed at the disposal of the President, out of which he may make advances to meet unforeseen expenditure pending authorisation by Parliament; the fund is held on his behalf by the Finance Secretary and is recouped once Parliament votes the money. A is wrong because the Prime Minister has no separate constitutional custody of any fund of India. B is wrong because the Speaker presides over the Lok Sabha and certifies money bills but holds no fund. D is wrong because the Comptroller and Auditor General audits spending after it happens and is deliberately kept out of the custody and sanction of money, since an auditor cannot audit his own payments.

The correct answer is C, the Prime Minister. The selection committee has six members: the Prime Minister as its head, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and the Union Home Minister; the President then makes the appointment on its recommendation. Option A is wrong, though the Chief Justice of India must be consulted when a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a sitting Chief Justice of a High Court is to be appointed. Option B is wrong because the President appoints but does not recommend; the same pattern appears in the appointment of the Lokpal and the Central Information Commissioner. Option D is wrong because the Union Home Minister is only a member of the committee, not its head.

The correct answer is B, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Article 110(3) provides that if a question arises whether a bill is a money bill, the decision of the Speaker of the House of the People is final, and the Speaker certifies the bill as such when it is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha and when it is presented to the President. A is wrong because the President's recommendation is needed to introduce a money bill, but he does not classify it. C is wrong because the Finance Minister introduces financial legislation and defends it, yet the character of the bill is not his to settle. D is wrong because the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha presides over the House that has the least say in a money bill; giving him the certifying power would defeat the very purpose of the Lok Sabha's financial supremacy.