SSC CGL Previous Year GK Questions

The correct answer is Article 32. Speaking in the Constituent Assembly, Dr B.R. Ambedkar said that if he were asked to name the most important Article, one without which the Constitution would be a nullity, he could not refer to any other; it was "the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it". His reasoning was simple: a right without a remedy is only words on paper. Article 32 gives every person the right to go directly to the Supreme Court to enforce a Fundamental Right, and this right to a remedy is itself a Fundamental Right. The Supreme Court has held Article 32 to be part of the basic structure, so it cannot be taken away even by an amendment.

The wrong options are Article 4, which says that laws forming or changing States under Articles 2 and 3 are not amendments of the Constitution; Article 28, which bars religious instruction in fully State-funded institutions; and Article 30, on minority educational institutions. Keep this description apart from others: the Preamble is the "identity card" of the Constitution, according to N.A. Palkhivala.

The correct answer is Article 25 to Article 28. The Right to Freedom of Religion has four Articles: Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion; Article 26 lets every religious denomination manage its own religious affairs; Article 27 says no one can be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion of a particular religion; and Article 28 bars religious instruction in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds.

Each wrong option is another group of Fundamental Rights: Articles 14 to 18 are the Right to Equality, Articles 19 to 22 the Right to Freedom, and Articles 29 and 30 the Cultural and Educational Rights. So this question really tests whether you know where each group begins and ends. If you remember the six starting points, 14, 19, 23, 25, 29 and 32, you can answer every question of this kind. Note too that these Articles were in the Constitution from 1950, long before the word "secular" was added to the Preamble in 1976.

The correct answer is 14. Article 24 says that no child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. Together with Article 23, which bans human trafficking and forced labour, it forms the Right against Exploitation.

The number 14 links several parts of the Constitution, so it is worth tying them together. Article 21A guarantees free and compulsory education from six to fourteen, Article 45 now covers early childhood care below six, and Article 51A(k) makes it a duty of parents to educate children between six and fourteen. Parliament has gone further than Article 24 through the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986: after its 2016 amendment it bars children below 14 from almost all work, with narrow exceptions such as helping a family business after school hours, and bars adolescents aged 14 to 18 from hazardous work. Of the wrong options, 18 tempts the most because it is the age of majority and, since the 61st Amendment of 1988, the voting age.

The correct answer is 6. Article 19(1) gives every citizen six freedoms: speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations, unions or co-operative societies; to move freely throughout India; to reside and settle in any part of India; and to practise any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business. There were seven when the Constitution began. The seventh, clause (f), the freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property, was deleted by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978.

The 97th Amendment Act, 2011 added the words "co-operative societies" to clause (c), but that widened an existing freedom rather than creating a new one, so the count is still six. These freedoms belong only to citizens, and none of them is absolute: clauses (2) to (6) of Article 19 let the State impose reasonable restrictions. The wrong options are borrowed from nearby numbers in this topic, Article 13, Article 30 and the 44th Amendment, which is exactly why they look familiar and tempt you.

The correct answer is Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. These are the exact words the Preamble uses for liberty, and they appear in it just as written here.

Each of the other options changes one word of the real text, which is exactly how this question catches people. The Preamble speaks of fraternity "assuring the dignity of the individual" and the unity and integrity of the Nation, not "human dignity". It promises equality "of status and of opportunity", not of status and employment. And justice in the Preamble is "social, economic and political"; the word "administrative" does not appear. When an option looks almost right, compare it word for word with the text: justice (social, economic, political), liberty (thought, expression, belief, faith, worship), equality (status, opportunity) and fraternity (dignity of the individual, unity and integrity of the Nation).

The correct answer is Ireland. The Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV of the Constitution were modelled on the Irish Constitution. India also took two other features from Ireland: the nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha and the method of electing the President.

The other countries gave different features. The USSR is the source of the Fundamental Duties and of the ideal of social, economic and political justice in the Preamble. The United States gave the Fundamental Rights, judicial review, the independence of the judiciary and the impeachment of the President. China is not counted among the sources of the Indian Constitution at all. The pair most often confused is Rights and Principles: Fundamental Rights come from the USA, while the Directive Principles come from Ireland. A simple memory hook is "Rights from America, Directions from Ireland".

The correct answer is Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946, and the Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947. The resolution set out what the Constitution was meant to achieve: an independent, sovereign republic in which all people would have justice, equality and freedom, with safeguards for minorities and backward classes. Those ideas were later shaped into the Preamble.

Dr Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Assembly and presided over its debates; he did not move this resolution. J.B. Kripalani chaired the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee. Dr B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee, which was set up only on 29 August 1947, months after the resolution had been adopted. A tidy way to remember the order: Nehru stated the objectives first, and Ambedkar's committee turned them into a draft later.