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Article 21A provides free and compulsory education to children of which age group?

  1. A.Birth to six years
  2. B.Six to fourteen years
  3. C.Six to eighteen years
  4. D.Fourteen to eighteen years

Correct answer

B. Six to fourteen years

Explanation

The correct answer is B, six to fourteen years. Article 21A, inserted by the 86th Amendment, 2002, says that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may by law determine, and the Right to Education Act, 2009, works out that promise through neighbourhood schools, a ban on detention and a share of seats for weaker sections in private schools. Option A is wrong because children below six years are covered by Article 45, which after the same amendment speaks of early childhood care and education and remains a directive principle, not a right. Option C is wrong because education up to eighteen years is a demand often debated but not yet part of Article 21A. Option D is wrong because the fourteen to eighteen group falls outside the article altogether, though Article 45 and the directive principles still speak to it. The figure six to fourteen is the single most asked number here.

Read the full article: Article 21: Right to Life, Case Laws and Exam Facts

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Q1.Indian PolityEasy

Which expression is actually used in Article 21 of the Constitution of India?

  1. A.Due process of law
  2. B.Procedure established by law
  3. C.Equal protection of the laws
  4. D.Reasonable restrictions imposed by law
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Procedure established by law

Article 21 says that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, an expression the Constituent Assembly borrowed from the Japanese Constitution.

Q2.Indian PolityMedium

In which case did the Supreme Court hold that the procedure under Article 21 must be fair, just and reasonable, and not arbitrary?

  1. A.A. K. Gopalan versus State of Madras
  2. B.Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India
  3. C.ADM Jabalpur versus Shivkant Shukla
  4. D.Kharak Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India

A seven-judge bench held that a procedure which takes away life or personal liberty must be fair, just and reasonable, gave personal liberty the widest amplitude, and tied Articles 14, 19 and 21 together as the golden triangle.

Q3.Indian PolityEasy

Article 21A, which makes elementary education a fundamental right, was inserted by which Constitutional Amendment?

  1. A.42nd Amendment, 1976
  2. B.44th Amendment, 1978
  3. C.86th Amendment, 2002
  4. D.93rd Amendment, 2005
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 86th Amendment, 2002

It inserted Article 21A, which directs the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years, recast Article 45 to cover early childhood care and education below six years, and added clause k to Article 51A, making it a fundamental duty…

Q5.Indian PolityMedium

The doctrine that the death sentence should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases was laid down in which case?

  1. A.Jagmohan Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh, 1973
  2. B.Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab, 1980
  3. C.Machhi Singh versus State of Punjab, 1983
  4. D.Mithu versus State of Punjab, 1983
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab, 1980

A Constitution Bench upheld the death penalty as consistent with Article 21 but held that it may be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases, where the alternative of life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed, and that courts must weigh aggravating against mitigating circumstances.