Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The Article is Article 64.

Article 64 says that the Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of States and shall not hold any other office of profit. Article 61 deals with impeachment of the President, Article 66 with the election of the Vice-President and Article 68 with the time of elections.

So Articles 61, 66 and 68 are wrong.

The text of Article 64 reads that the Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of States and shall not hold any other office of profit. If he acts as President, he does not perform the duties of Chairman, as laid down in the same Article.

Answer: B

The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 defined a juvenile as a boy below 16 years of age and a girl below 18 years of age. The difference was removed by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which made 18 years the age for both. The pairs 20 and 14, 12 and 15, and 14 and 16 are not the ages in the 1986 Act, so '16 years, 18 years' is the answer. The 2000 Act raised the age of a juvenile girl to 18 and made boys and girls equal, and the 2015 Act kept 18.

Answer: A

The Chief Justice of India acts as President.

Under the President (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969, when the offices of both the President and the Vice-President are vacant, the Chief Justice of India discharges the President's functions, and in his absence the senior-most available judge of the Supreme Court. This happened in 1969, when Chief Justice M. Hidayatullah acted as President.

The Speaker presides over the Lok Sabha and has no role in this succession; nor does the Attorney General or any senior member of Parliament.

Answer: B

Such a question is an Unstarred question.

In Parliament, an unstarred question receives a written answer laid on the table of the House, so no supplementary questions can follow. A starred question (marked with an asterisk) is answered orally, and supplementary questions may be asked.

A short notice question concerns a matter of urgent public importance and can be asked with less than the usual notice; it is answered orally. Questions to private members are about bills or matters for which a private member is responsible.

Answer: C

The justiciable feature is the Fundamental Rights.

Fundamental Rights (Part III) are enforceable by the courts: Article 32 lets a person move the Supreme Court directly, and Article 226 the High Courts, for their enforcement.

The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) are expressly non-justiciable under Article 37, though fundamental to governance. The Fundamental Duties (Article 51A) are likewise not directly enforceable in court. So 'All of these' is wrong.

Answer: B

The state without Panchayati Raj institutions is Nagaland.

Under Article 243M, Part IX of the Constitution (Panchayats) does not apply to Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, or to certain scheduled and tribal areas, which govern themselves through traditional village councils and district councils. Nagaland has village councils and development boards under its own law instead.

West Bengal, Tripura and Jharkhand all have three-tier Panchayati Raj systems (Tripura's tribal areas are governed by an autonomous district council, but the rest of the state has panchayats).

Answer: B

The ratio of width to length of the National Flag is 2:3.

The Flag Code of India prescribes that the flag shall be rectangular, with its length and height (width) in the ratio 3 : 2, so width : length is 2 : 3. The three horizontal bands are of equal width, with the 24-spoke Ashoka Chakra in navy blue at the centre.

3 : 5 is the wrong proportion, 4 : 2 would make the flag taller than it is long, and 5 : 2.5 equals 2 : 1.

Answer: A

The provision is the Directive Principles of State Policy.

Part IV of the Constitution sets out the Directive Principles, which direct the State to secure social and economic justice: adequate livelihood, equitable distribution of resources, equal pay for equal work, public health, education and welfare. They are not enforceable in court, but they are fundamental in the governance of the country and guide legislation for social and economic reform.

Fundamental Rights chiefly protect individuals against the State rather than direct it to pursue reforms. 'Judiciary rights' and 'executive rights' are not parts of the Constitution.

Answer: D

The first state to declare internet access a right was Kerala.

In its 2017 budget, the Kerala government declared internet access a basic right of every citizen and announced the K-FON project to give free or low-cost internet to poor households. In 2019 the Kerala High Court also held, in the Faheema Shirin case, that the right to internet access is part of the right to education and privacy.

West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu did not make such a declaration first.

Answer: A

The year given is 1972.

Madhya Pradesh set up its state planning body, the State Planning Board (Rajya Yojana Mandal), in 1972. It advised the state government on preparing its five-year and annual plans, in the same way the Planning Commission did for the Union. The paper calls it the Planning Commission of the state.

The state itself was formed in 1956, so 1960 is too early for this body, while 1980 and 2000 are well after it began work. The year 2000 is the year Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, which is a common confusion.