Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: Article 32

Article 32 guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court directly for the enforcement of fundamental rights, and empowers the Court to issue writs for that purpose. Dr B. R. Ambedkar called it the heart and soul of the Constitution, on the reasoning that a right without a remedy is no right at all. It is itself a fundamental right, so it cannot be taken away except by a constitutional amendment, and it cannot be suspended save during an emergency under Article 359. Five writs are available: habeas corpus to produce a detained person, mandamus to compel a public duty, prohibition to stop a lower court exceeding its jurisdiction, certiorari to quash its order, and quo warranto to question a person’s claim to public office. Article 226 gives the High Courts a wider writ power, extending beyond fundamental rights. Articles 14, 19 and 21 guarantee equality, the freedoms and life and personal liberty respectively.

Answer: B

Correct answer: The Weimar Constitution of Germany

The emergency provisions, and in particular the suspension of fundamental rights during an emergency, were drawn from the Weimar Constitution of Germany. The borrowing is a cautionary one, since Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution - the emergency power - was the instrument through which the Weimar Republic was dismantled in 1933. Members of the Constituent Assembly raised precisely this objection, and Ambedkar defended the provisions on the ground that the safeguards and the accountability of the executive to Parliament would prevent abuse. The Emergency of 1975–77 vindicated the critics to a degree, and the 44th Amendment of 1978 tightened the provisions substantially: internal disturbance was replaced by armed rebellion, written Cabinet advice was required, parliamentary approval was made harder and periodic, and Articles 20 and 21 were made non-suspendable. The other constitutions named contributed elsewhere - fundamental rights from the United States, directive principles from Ireland, and a strong centre from Canada.

Answer: B

The fundamental rights fall under six heads: equality, freedom, freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights, the right against exploitation, and the right to constitutional remedies.

There were seven until the 44th Amendment of 1978 removed the right to property from Part III and made it a constitutional legal right under Article 300A.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Statutory body created by an Act of Parliament

The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body, established by the Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993, not a constitutional one. It is chaired by a former Chief Justice or a former judge of the Supreme Court, and its members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee including the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Home Minister, the leaders of the opposition in both Houses and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The term is three years or until the age of 70. Its principal limitation is that its recommendations are not binding; it can inquire, summon witnesses and recommend compensation or prosecution, but cannot enforce. It also cannot inquire into a matter more than a year old, and its power over the armed forces is restricted to seeking a report from the government. The distinction being tested is between statutory bodies like this one and the National Commission for Women, and constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission, the CAG, the Finance Commission and the commissions for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 552

The Constitution fixes the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha at 552 - up to 530 members from the states, up to 20 from the union territories, and formerly two members of the Anglo-Indian community nominated by the President. That last provision, under Article 331, was discontinued by the 104th Amendment in 2019, so the working maximum is now 550. The present House has 543 elected members. The allocation of seats is based on the 1971 census and has been frozen since, first by the 42nd Amendment and then by the 84th until 2026, so that states which reduced their population growth would not lose representation. The Lok Sabha’s normal term is five years, extendable by one year at a time during a national emergency, though it may be dissolved earlier by the President. By contrast the Rajya Sabha has a maximum of 250 members, of whom 12 are nominated, and it is never dissolved.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 26 November 1949

The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949, and that date has been observed since 2015 as Constitution Day, or Samvidhan Divas. A few provisions came into effect at once - those on citizenship, elections and provisional Parliament, and the article on short title - while the rest waited until 26 January 1950, when the Constitution came into force and India became a republic. The three dates to keep apart are therefore: 9 December 1946, the Assembly’s first sitting; 26 November 1949, adoption; and 26 January 1950, commencement. 15 August 1947 belongs to a different sequence altogether, being independence under the Indian Independence Act. As adopted, the Constitution had a Preamble, 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules, which makes it the longest written constitution of any sovereign country. It has since grown to 12 schedules and over 100 amendments.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Article 267

Article 267 authorises Parliament to establish a Contingency Fund of India, placed at the disposal of the President, from which advances can be made to meet unforeseen expenditure pending authorisation by Parliament. The point of it is timing. All ordinary spending requires prior appropriation by law under Article 266, which takes time; the Contingency Fund allows urgent expenditure immediately, with the amount recouped once Parliament passes a supplementary appropriation. It is a revolving fund, restored to its full size after each withdrawal. It was established by the Contingency Fund of India Act of 1950, and its corpus has been raised over the years to ₹30,000 crore. Each state may establish a corresponding fund at the Governor’s disposal. The three government accounts should be kept distinct: the Consolidated Fund under Article 266(1) holds all revenues and needs appropriation; the Public Account under Article 266(2) holds money the government merely keeps as a banker and needs none; and the Contingency Fund under Article 267 is the imprest for emergencies.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Parliament, by law, under Article 312

Article 312 provides that Parliament may create an all-India service common to the Union and the states, but only if the Rajya Sabha first declares by resolution, supported by not less than two thirds of the members present and voting, that it is necessary in the national interest. The requirement gives the states, through the House that represents them, a say in the creation of services whose officers will serve within their jurisdictions. There are three such services: the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, both continued from before the Constitution, and the Indian Forest Service, created in 1966. The article also mentions an all-India judicial service, which has never been established. Their distinguishing feature is dual control: officers are recruited and their conditions of service determined by the Union, and they are allotted to state cadres where they serve, but only the Union government can dismiss or remove them - a protection that is meant to insulate them from state political pressure.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946

The Constituent Assembly was constituted under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946. Its members were elected indirectly, by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies through proportional representation, with seats allotted to each province in proportion to population and divided among Muslims, Sikhs and the general category. The princely states were to nominate their representatives. It had 389 members initially, reduced to 299 after partition when members from the areas that became Pakistan withdrew. It first met on 9 December 1946. After the Indian Independence Act 1947 it became a fully sovereign body, no longer bound by the Cabinet Mission’s limitations, and it also served as the provisional Parliament of India until 1952. The demand for a constituent assembly elected by Indians had been raised by M. N. Roy in 1934 and adopted by the Congress in 1935; the Cripps Mission of 1942 accepted the principle but its proposals were rejected.

Answer: B

Correct answer: No, they are expressly non-justiciable

Article 37 states that the Directive Principles shall not be enforceable by any court, and that is the direct answer. Unlike the Fundamental Rights, they create no cause of action, so a citizen cannot sue to compel the State to implement one. The same article adds, however, that they are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and that it is the duty of the State to apply them in making laws. They function as a moral and political mandate, enforced at the ballot box rather than in court. The practical position is subtler than the rule suggests. Courts have repeatedly used the directives to interpret the rights, reading them together rather than in opposition - most notably by expanding Article 21 to include a right to livelihood, to a clean environment and to education, drawing on directives that are themselves unenforceable. The 86th Amendment then made education a fundamental right outright under Article 21-A. So a directive cannot be enforced directly, but it can and does shape what an enforceable right is held to mean.