Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 55

The correct answer is C, Rights are claims of the citizens against the State. A right is a claim that the individual makes and that the State recognises and is bound to respect.

In political theory, rights mark out an area of freedom that the State must not enter and conditions it must secure. In the Indian Constitution this idea is clearest in Part III: Article 12 defines the "State" against which Fundamental Rights are available, Article 13 declares void any law that takes them away, and Article 32, which Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called the "heart and soul" of the Constitution, lets a citizen go straight to the Supreme Court when the State violates them. Rights therefore limit the power of the government over the individual.

A is wrong: claims the State makes on citizens are duties or obligations, not rights.

B is wrong: rights are not privileges granted as a favour; many rights exist even beyond those written in a constitution.

D is wrong: privileges of a few against the many are the opposite of rights, which belong equally to all.

Exam tip: right = claim of the individual against the State; duty = claim of the State on the individual.

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 A, Directive Principles of State Policy. The Directive Principles in Part IV lay down the social and economic goals that make India a welfare state.

Articles 36 to 51 direct the State to secure a social order based on social, economic and political justice (Article 38), adequate means of livelihood, fair distribution of resources and equal pay for equal work (Article 39), the right to work, education and public assistance (Article 41), and humane conditions of work and maternity relief (Article 42). They are not enforceable by courts (Article 37), but they are fundamental in the governance of the country. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called them a "novel feature" and they were inspired by the Irish Constitution.

B is wrong: Fundamental Rights in Part III aim at political democracy by limiting the State, not at welfare goals.

C is wrong: the Preamble states the objectives of justice, liberty and equality in general terms, while the welfare state ideal is spelt out in the Directive Principles.

D is wrong: the Seventh Schedule only divides subjects between the Union and the States.

Exam tip: Fundamental Rights = political democracy; Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51, from Ireland) = social and economic democracy, the welfare state.

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 D, Neither 1 nor 2. Being eligible to vote is not enough to become a minister, and the disqualification after a conviction is not permanent.

Statement 1 is wrong: Article 164(4) lets a non-member be a State minister for up to six consecutive months, but the person must be qualified to become a member of the Legislature, which needs a minimum age of 25 for the Assembly and 30 for the Council. A voter needs to be only 18, so mere eligibility to vote does not qualify someone to be a minister.

Statement 2 is wrong: Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 disqualifies a person sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more from the date of conviction and for a further six years after release. The bar ends after that period; it is not lifelong.

A is wrong: statement 1 is false.

B is wrong: statement 2 is false.

C is wrong: both statements are false.

Exam tip: a non-member minister has six months to enter the House (Articles 75(5) and 164(4)); conviction with two years or more = disqualified for the sentence plus six years.

The correct answer is C, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. A joint sitting is summoned by the President but presided over by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha; if the Speaker is absent the Deputy Speaker presides, and in the absence of both the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha takes the chair. A, the President, is wrong because the President never presides over a sitting of Parliament and only addresses it under Article 86 or 87. B, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is a deliberate distractor: the Vice-President, as Chairman, does not preside over a joint sitting even though the Rajya Sabha is one of the two Houses meeting. D is wrong because the Constitution fixes an order of precedence among presiding officers and never falls back on seniority of members for a joint sitting.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. Article 79 says that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses.

The two Houses are the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). The President is not a member of either House and does not sit in Parliament, yet is an integral part of it, because a bill passed by both Houses becomes law only with the President's assent. The President also summons and prorogues the Houses, dissolves the Lok Sabha, addresses them and can issue ordinances when they are not in session. India follows the British pattern here, where the Crown is part of Parliament.

A is wrong: the Lok Sabha alone is not Parliament.

B is wrong: it leaves out the President, who is expressly named in Article 79.

C is wrong: it leaves out the Lok Sabha, the directly elected House.

Exam tip: Parliament = President + Rajya Sabha + Lok Sabha (Article 79); Articles 79 to 122 deal with Parliament.

The correct answer is A, the Lok Sabha only. The adjournment motion is admitted in the Lok Sabha alone, because it carries an element of censure against the government and only the Lok Sabha can censure the Council of Ministers under the collective responsibility laid down in Article 75. It draws the attention of the House to a definite matter of urgent public importance, needs the support of fifty members, and once admitted the discussion on it must last at least two hours and thirty minutes. B is wrong because the Rajya Sabha has no adjournment motion at all; a member there raises such a matter through a special mention or a calling attention notice. C is wrong for the same reason. D is wrong because a joint sitting is summoned under Article 108 only to resolve a deadlock over a Bill, and no motion of this kind is taken there.

The correct answer is A, A candidate who wins may not get the majority of votes. Under First Past the Post, the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that is far less than half of all votes cast. This is also UPSC's official key.

India uses this system, also called the simple plurality system, for elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies. The country is divided into constituencies, each electing one member, and voters choose a candidate rather than a party. In a contest of many candidates, someone with 35% of the votes can win if no rival does better. As a result, a party's share of seats can be much larger or smaller than its share of votes.

B is wrong: First Past the Post uses single-member constituencies, so each one elects only one representative.

C is wrong: voting for a party list is a feature of proportional representation, not of First Past the Post.

D is wrong: seats in proportion to votes is exactly what proportional representation aims at.

Exam tip: India uses FPTP for Lok Sabha and Assemblies, and proportional representation by single transferable vote for Rajya Sabha and the President.

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 A, 1 only. Parliament can add a law to the Ninth Schedule by a constitutional amendment, but such a law is not beyond judicial review.

The Ninth Schedule and Article 31B were added by the First Amendment Act of 1951 to protect land reform laws from challenge on the ground that they violated Fundamental Rights. Laws are added to it only by amending the Constitution, which Parliament does under Article 368. In I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007), a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973, the date of the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, can be examined by courts and struck down if they damage the basic structure of the Constitution.

B is wrong: statement 2 is false after the Coelho judgment.

C is wrong: only statement 1 is correct.

D is wrong: statement 1 is correct, since Parliament does place laws in the Schedule.

Exam tip: Ninth Schedule = 1st Amendment 1951, Article 31B; I.R. Coelho 2007 opened post-24 April 1973 entries to basic-structure review.

The correct answer is C, 31 members. Each Departmentally Related Standing Committee has thirty-one members, of whom twenty-one are nominated by the Speaker from the Lok Sabha and ten by the Chairman from the Rajya Sabha. The system began in 1993 with seventeen such committees and was reorganised in 2004, after which twenty-four committees cover the whole of the Union Government. A minister cannot be a member, and the term is one year. These committees examine the demands for grants of their ministries, Bills referred to them, annual reports and long-term policy documents. Option A is wrong because twenty-two is the strength of the Public Accounts Committee and of the Committee on Public Undertakings. Option B is wrong because twenty-five does not correspond to any parliamentary committee and is a pure distractor. Option D is wrong because forty-five is not the size of any standing committee; the figure thirty, split twenty and ten, belongs to the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The correct answer is A, Habeas Corpus. The Latin phrase habeas corpus literally means 'you may have the body', and the writ protects personal liberty.

Under Article 32 the Supreme Court, and under Article 226 the High Courts, can issue five writs. Through habeas corpus the court orders a person who has detained someone to produce that person before it, so that the legality of the detention can be examined. If the detention has no legal basis, the person is set free. It can be issued against public authorities as well as private individuals, which makes it the strongest safeguard of the right to life and personal liberty.

B is wrong: Mandamus means 'we command' and orders a public official to perform a legal duty.

C is wrong: Prohibition stops a lower court or tribunal from going beyond its jurisdiction while a case is pending.

D is wrong: Certiorari means 'to be certified' and quashes an order already passed by a lower court without jurisdiction.

Exam tip: habeas corpus = 'have the body', mandamus = 'we command', quo warranto = 'by what authority'.

The correct answer is D, none of the statements given above is correct. Every one of the three descriptions gets a detail wrong, so the fourth option is the only one left. Lok Adalats are organised under the Legal Services Authorities Act of 1987 to settle disputes by compromise, and their award is treated as a decree of a civil court against which no appeal lies. A is wrong because a Lok Adalat takes up both a case already pending before a court and a dispute at the pre-litigation stage. B is wrong because it can settle a compoundable criminal offence as well as a civil dispute; only a non-compoundable offence is kept out. C is wrong because a Lok Adalat is made up of a serving or retired judicial officer together with other persons, usually a social worker and a member of the legal profession. Exam tip: remember the Act of 1987 and the rule that a Lok Adalat award is final, with no appeal.

The correct answer is B, the Tenth Schedule. The Tenth Schedule was added by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985, and it lays down the grounds on which a member of Parliament or of a State Legislature is disqualified for defection, the exemption for a merger, the exemption for the presiding officers and the authority who decides the question.

Option A, the Ninth Schedule, was added by the First Amendment, 1951, and holds laws, mostly land reform laws, that are placed beyond challenge on the ground of violating fundamental rights, subject to the basic structure test laid down in the I. R. Coelho case. Option C, the Eleventh Schedule, was added by the Seventy-third Amendment, 1992, and lists twenty-nine subjects for Panchayats. Option D, the Twelfth Schedule, came with the Seventy-fourth Amendment, 1992, and lists eighteen subjects for municipalities. Only the Tenth Schedule deals with defection.

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 B, Article 239. Article 239(1) provides that every Union Territory shall be administered by the President acting, to such extent as he thinks fit, through an administrator appointed by him with such designation as he may specify. This is why a Union Territory has a Lieutenant Governor or an Administrator and not a Governor of its own. Option A is wrong because Article 238, which dealt with the application of Part VI to the old Part B states, was repealed by the Seventh Amendment of 1956 and no longer operates. Option C is wrong because Article 240 is a different power altogether: it lets the President make regulations for certain named Union Territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Option D is wrong because Article 241 deals with High Courts for Union Territories and empowers Parliament to constitute a High Court for such a territory, as it did for Delhi in 1966.

The correct answer is D, Santhanam Committee. The Central Vigilance Commission was created in 1964 by a government resolution, on the advice of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption headed by K. Santhanam.

The Santhanam Committee worked from 1962 to 1964 and recommended an independent body to oversee vigilance in central government offices. The CVC began as an executive body and received statutory status first by an ordinance in 1998 and then through the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003. It has a Central Vigilance Commissioner and up to two Vigilance Commissioners, appointed by the President on the advice of a committee of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

A is wrong: the First Administrative Reforms Commission of 1966 recommended the Lokpal and Lokayukta, not the CVC.

B is wrong: the Gorwala report of 1951 dealt with public administration in general.

C is wrong: the Kripalani Committee of 1949 examined the working of the railways.

Exam tip: Santhanam Committee → CVC (1964) and also the CBI (1963).

The correct answer is B, First Amendment. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 inserted the Ninth Schedule along with Article 31B.

Courts had begun striking down zamindari abolition and other land reform laws for violating the right to property. To protect them, the First Amendment created the Ninth Schedule: laws placed in it could not be challenged for violating Fundamental Rights. It began with 13 laws and now lists well over 280. In I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007), the Supreme Court held that laws added after 24 April 1973 can be reviewed if they damage the basic structure.

A is wrong: the Fourteenth Amendment of 1962 brought Puducherry into the Union and allowed legislatures for certain Union Territories.

C is wrong: the Ninety-Third Amendment of 2005 allowed reservation in admission to private educational institutions.

D is wrong: the Ninety-Ninth Amendment of 2014 created the National Judicial Appointments Commission, later struck down.

Exam tip: First Amendment 1951 = Ninth Schedule + Article 31B, to shield land reforms.

The correct answer is B, 1 and 2 only. The NHRC can join court cases on human rights with the court's approval and can promote research, but statement 3 is wrong because it can act on its own.

The NHRC is a statutory body set up in 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. Section 12 of the Act lists its functions. It can inquire into a violation either on a petition or suo motu, that is, on its own initiative, often acting on news reports. It can intervene in any proceeding before a court that involves an allegation of a human rights violation, with that court's approval. It can visit jails, review safeguards in the Constitution and laws, and undertake and promote research in human rights.

A is wrong: it includes statement 3, but the Commission can take suo motu cognisance.

C is wrong: statement 3 is incorrect and statement 1 is left out.

D is wrong: statement 3 alone is the one incorrect statement.

Exam tip: NHRC = statutory (PHRA 1993), can act suo motu, intervenes in courts only with the court's approval.