UPSC Civil Services 2021 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Legal right available to any person. Since 1978 property is a constitutional right under Article 300A, and it protects every person, not only citizens. The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 deleted Article 19(1)(f) and Article 31 from Part III and added Article 300A, which says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. So the State can take property only through a valid law, and a company or a foreigner can also claim this protection. Because it is outside Part III, a person cannot go straight to the Supreme Court under Article 32 for it; the remedy is the High Court under Article 226 or an ordinary suit. Option A is wrong because the word 'person' in Article 300A covers non-citizens too. Option C is wrong because property stopped being a Fundamental Right in 1978. Option D is wrong because it is still a constitutional and legal right. Exam tip: 44th Amendment, property moved from Part III to Article 300A in Part XII.

The correct answer is C, Article 21. The Supreme Court has read privacy into the right to life and personal liberty. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), a nine-judge bench unanimously held that privacy is a fundamental right, protected mainly as part of Article 21 and also by the other freedoms in Part III. The same bench overruled the older rulings in M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962), which had said the Constitution gives no right to privacy. The case began as a challenge to the Aadhaar scheme, which makes it easy to remember. Option A is wrong because Article 15 bars discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Option B is wrong because Article 19 lists six freedoms such as speech and movement, and privacy is not one of them. Option D is wrong because Article 29 protects the language, script and culture of minorities. Exam tip: privacy, like shelter, health and a speedy trial, is a right the courts have read into Article 21.