Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Manipur is not a Union Territory.

Manipur is a full state of India; it became a state in 1972.

The other three are Union Territories. Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana, has long been one. Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir became separate Union Territories on 31 October 2019, under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, when the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised.

Answer: C

The Constitution was prepared under the leadership of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was chairman of the Drafting Committee set up by the Constituent Assembly in August 1947. He steered the draft through the Assembly, and he is called the chief architect of the Constitution, which was adopted on 26 November 1949.

Mahatma Gandhi was not a member of the Constituent Assembly. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel chaired committees on fundamental rights, minorities and the princely states, but not the drafting. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a member of the Assembly and later became President, but he did not lead the drafting.

Answer: D

Telangana was earlier part of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956 by joining the Telugu-speaking Telangana region of the former Hyderabad State with Andhra State. After a long movement for a separate state, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 created Telangana as India's 29th state on 2 June 2014, with Hyderabad as its capital.

Some Marathi- and Kannada-speaking districts of the old Hyderabad State went to Maharashtra (then Bombay) and Karnataka (then Mysore) in 1956, but the Telangana region itself was never part of them, nor of Madhya Pradesh.

Answer: A

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is provided for in Article 148 of the Constitution, which deals with his appointment, oath and conditions of service. Article 149 lists his duties and powers, Article 150 says the accounts of the Union and the States are kept in the form the President prescribes on his advice, and Article 151 deals with audit reports. The question asks about the provision for the office itself, which is Article 148.

Answer: C

Article 312 empowers Parliament, by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha supported by at least two-thirds of the members present and voting, to create one or more All India Services, including an All India Judicial Service. The service cannot include any post below that of district judge. Article 310 is about the tenure of office of persons serving the Union or a State, Article 311 protects civil servants against dismissal or reduction in rank without an inquiry, and Article 313 contains transitional provisions for services. Only Article 312 deals with the creation of All India Services.

Answer: C

The Ministry of Home Affairs conducts the census in India, through the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, which works under it. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Finance have other tasks, and there is no ministry called the Ministry of Census and Population, so only the Ministry of Home Affairs is correct.

Answer: A

There are 11 fundamental duties in the Constitution, in Article 51A. Ten were added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 on the Swaran Singh Committee's recommendation, and the eleventh, the duty of a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to a child between 6 and 14 years, was added by the 86th Amendment in 2002. The numbers 10, 14 and 15 do not match the count of duties in force in July 2023.

Fundamental duties are not enforceable by the courts, and their idea was taken from the Constitution of the former USSR.

Answer: D

The National Green Tribunal is not a constitutional body: it was set up by the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, so it is a statutory body. The Union Public Service Commission is set up by Article 315, the Election Commission of India by Article 324, and the State Election Commission by Article 243K, so those three are constitutional bodies.

Answer: C

The Constitution of India has 12 schedules. The original Constitution of 1950 had 8 schedules, and the ninth was added by the First Amendment in 1951, the tenth by the Fifty-second Amendment in 1985, the eleventh by the Seventy-third Amendment in 1992, and the twelfth by the Seventy-fourth Amendment in 1992. So the correct number is 12, and 9, 10 and 11 are counts at earlier stages of the amendments. The answer is 12, option C.

Schedule 11 lists 29 subjects for panchayats and Schedule 12 lists 18 matters for municipalities, both added in 1992.

Answer: A

Article 324 of the Constitution of India, in Part XV on elections, gives the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament, the state legislatures and the offices of the President and the Vice President. Articles 317, 318 and 319 are in the part on services and deal with the removal of a member of a Public Service Commission, the conditions of service of the members, and the bar on later employment, so they are wrong. The answer is Article 324, option A.