Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: The Lok Sabha only

A no-confidence motion lies only in the Lok Sabha, because Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to that House alone. It requires the support of at least 50 members to be admitted, and no reasons need be stated in the motion itself. If it is carried, the entire Council of Ministers must resign. The Rajya Sabha, being a permanent house that is never dissolved and whose members are indirectly elected, cannot remove a government - though it can criticise it, question ministers and reject ordinary legislation. Several related motions are often confused with it. A confidence motion is moved by the government itself to demonstrate its majority. A censure motion criticises specific policies or ministers, must state its grounds, can be moved against an individual minister, and does not compel resignation if passed. An adjournment motion draws attention to an urgent matter of public importance and carries an element of censure. The first successful no-confidence motion brought down V. P. Singh’s government in 1990.

Answer: C

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy is the only Speaker of the Lok Sabha to have become president of India.

He was Speaker from 1967 to 1969 and again briefly in 1977, and president from 1977 to 1982. He was also the only president elected unopposed.

Answer: B

The right to life is not a political right - it is a civil right, guaranteed to every person by Article 21.

Political rights are those to take part in the government of the state: the right to vote, to contest an election, to hold public office and to petition. Civil rights belong to a person as a person, whether or not they are a citizen.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Constitutional body under Article 338

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is a constitutional body established under Article 338. Its counterpart for Scheduled Tribes is under Article 338-A, and the National Commission for Backward Classes under Article 338-B. It began as a Special Officer for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, provided for in the original Constitution and commonly called the Commissioner. The 65th Amendment of 1990 replaced that with a multi-member Commission for both groups, and the 89th Amendment of 2003 split it into two separate commissions. The 102nd Amendment of 2018 gave the backward classes commission constitutional status in the same way. The distinction the question tests is between constitutional bodies, created by the Constitution itself - the Election Commission, the CAG, the Finance Commission, the UPSC, the Attorney General - and statutory bodies created by ordinary legislation, such as the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women. A constitutional body can be altered only by amendment, which gives it far greater security.

Answer: B

Parliament regulates the right of citizenship, under Article 11.

Articles 5 to 10 dealt only with citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution; everything since - acquisition, termination, overseas citizenship - is governed by the Citizenship Act of 1955 and its amendments.

Answer: D

The United States permits dual citizenship.

An American may hold another nationality without losing citizenship. India does not: acquiring another citizenship terminates Indian citizenship automatically, though the Overseas Citizen of India card offers some of the benefits without the status.

Answer: D

India's prime minister is stronger than the British because the office has a constitutional basis here.

Article 75 provides for the appointment of the prime minister and of the other ministers on the prime minister's advice. In Britain the office rests on convention alone and appears in no statute.

Answer: A

Lok Sabha members are directly elected by the people, from single-member territorial constituencies on the first-past-the-post system.

Every citizen of 18 or over may vote. This direct mandate is what makes the Lok Sabha the House to which the government is answerable.

Answer: D

Articles 245 and 246 govern the distribution of legislative powers.

Article 245 defines the territorial extent - Parliament for the whole of India, a state legislature for its own territory - and Article 246 divides the subjects between the Union, State and Concurrent Lists of the Seventh Schedule.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Reduce the amount of a demand for grant

A cut motion seeks to reduce the amount of a demand for grant during the discussion of the budget. It is a device of the opposition to draw attention to a specific grievance, and if one is carried the government is taken to have lost the confidence of the House and must resign. There are three kinds. A disapproval of policy cut reduces the demand to one rupee and expresses disapproval of the underlying policy. An economy cut reduces it by a specified amount to press for savings. A token cut reduces it by exactly one hundred rupees to ventilate a specific grievance within the government’s responsibility. Cut motions can only be moved on demands that are actually voted; expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund - the salaries of the President, judges and the CAG, and debt charges - may be discussed but not voted, and is therefore beyond their reach. They are frequently moved and almost never carried, since a government with a majority will defeat them.