Article 350B of the Indian Constitution provides for the appointment of which of the following?

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 B, Advocate General. The Advocate General is the highest law officer of a state and advises the state government on legal matters. Article 165 provides for the office: the Governor appoints a person qualified to be a judge of a High Court, the Advocate General holds office during the pleasure of the Governor, and the Governor fixes the remuneration. The duties are to advise the state government on the legal questions referred to the office, to discharge the legal duties assigned by the Governor and to appear for the state in the High Court. A is wrong because the Attorney General, under Article 76, is the first law officer of the Union and not of a state. C is wrong because the Solicitor General assists the Attorney General at the Union level and is not a constitutional post. D is wrong because the Chief Justice of a High Court decides cases and does not advise the government. Exam tip: Article 76 for the Attorney General of India, Article 165 for the Advocate General of a state.

The correct answer is D, The Attorney General of India. Article 88 gives the Attorney General the right to speak in and otherwise take part in the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, any joint sitting and any committee of which the office holder is named a member, but without the right to vote. The Attorney General is appointed by the President under Article 76, must be qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court, is the chief legal adviser to the Government of India and is not a member of either House. Ministers enjoy the same right under Article 88. Option A is wrong because the Solicitor General is only a statutory law officer who assists the Attorney General and has no such constitutional right. Option B is wrong because the Vice-President presides over the Rajya Sabha alone, as its ex officio Chairman. Option C is wrong because the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General reach Parliament through the President. Exam tip: Article 76 for appointment and Article 88 for the right to speak without a vote.

The correct answer is C, 2004. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes began work as a separate body in 2004. The 89th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 divided the earlier joint National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two commissions, leaving Article 338 for the Scheduled Castes and inserting Article 338A for the Scheduled Tribes. The new commission has a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, inquires into complaints about the safeguards given to tribes, advises on their development and sends its reports to the President, who places them before Parliament. Option A is wrong because in 2000 the joint commission was still functioning. Option B is wrong because by 2006 the commission had already been at work for two years. Option D is wrong because the amendment that created it was passed only in 2003. Exam tip: 89th Amendment of 2003 brought Article 338A, and the commission started in 2004.

The correct answer is B, 1998. The post of National Security Adviser was created in November 1998, when the Vajpayee government set up the National Security Council. Brajesh Mishra was the first National Security Adviser and held the post along with that of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The Adviser is the Prime Minister's chief counsellor on national security and strategic affairs, heads the National Security Council Secretariat and receives the intelligence agencies' assessments. The Council works through three limbs, the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and the Secretariat. Option A is wrong because by 2000 the office was already two years old. Option C is wrong because 2003 falls towards the end of the first Adviser's long tenure, not at its start. Option D is wrong because 1999, the year of the Kargil conflict, is often confused with it, but the Council and the Adviser had been announced a few months earlier. Exam tip: National Security Council and National Security Adviser, November 1998, first holder Brajesh Mishra.