Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The election that began in April 2014 elected the 16th Lok Sabha.

The 2014 general election was held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014, and the results were declared on 16 May. It produced the 16th Lok Sabha, in which the BJP won a majority of its own.

The 14th Lok Sabha was elected in 2004 and the 15th in 2009. The 17th was elected in 2019, after the next general election, so neither neighbouring number fits the 2014 poll.

Answer: D

The other two states were Manipur and Meghalaya.

Under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya all became full-fledged states on 21 January 1972, a date celebrated in all three as Statehood Day. Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became Union Territories at the same time.

Nagaland had become a state earlier, in 1963, and Sikkim joined India as a state in 1975. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states only in 1987.

Answer: A

Agartala Municipality was formed during the reign of Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya.

The municipality was set up in 1871, under Bir Chandra Manikya, who ruled Tripura from 1862 to 1896. He is remembered as a moderniser of the state's administration and a patron of the arts, including the young Rabindranath Tagore.

Radha Kishore Manikya ruled from 1896, after the municipality already existed, and Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya from 1923, so neither was on the throne in 1871, and 'None of them' is wrong.

Answer: A

The answer is Nripen Chakraborty.

Nripen Chakraborty of the CPI(M) led the Left Front government for two consecutive terms, from 1978 to 1988, after the Left Front won the 1978 and 1983 assembly elections.

The others served a single term. Sukhamoy Sengupta was Chief Minister from 1972 to 1977, Sudhir Ranjan Majumder from 1988 to 1992, and Dasarath Deb from 1993 to 1998. Dasarath Deb was the state's first tribal Chief Minister.

Answer: A

Assam's Legislative Assembly has 126 seats.

All 126 members are directly elected from single-member constituencies; Assam also sends 14 members to the Lok Sabha and 7 to the Rajya Sabha.

The other figures do not match: 140 is the strength of the Kerala assembly, and 107 and 121 match no north-eastern assembly. Tripura, for comparison, has 60 seats.

Answer: D

The three-tier panchayat system was first introduced in Tripura in 1993.

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment, in force from April 1993, made a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj compulsory for states of Tripura's size: gram panchayats at the village level, panchayat samitis at the block level and zilla parishads at the district level. Tripura gave effect to it through the Tripura Panchayats Act, 1993.

1976, 1983 and 1990 all come before the 73rd Amendment, which is what made the three tiers mandatory and uniform across the states, so the year the paper expects is the year of the Act that implemented it.

Answer: C

The Prime Minister who never faced Parliament was Ch. Charan Singh.

Charan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister in July 1979 after the Janata government of Morarji Desai fell. He was to prove his majority in the Lok Sabha, but the Congress withdrew its support before the vote, and he resigned without ever facing the House. He remained caretaker Prime Minister until January 1980.

Morarji Desai did face Parliament during his term. Gulzarilal Nanda (printed 'Guzarilal') was twice acting Prime Minister, and Dr. Zakir Hussain was President of India, never Prime Minister.

Answer: C

The Chief Minister was Gopinath Bordoloi.

Gopinath Bordoloi became Premier (Chief Minister) of Assam in 1946 and led the state at independence in 1947, serving until his death in 1950. He is remembered for resisting the Cabinet Mission plan's grouping that would have placed Assam with Bengal, and he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1999.

Muhammad Saadulla was Premier before him, in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Bishnuram Medhi succeeded Bordoloi in 1950, and Bimal Prasad Chaliha was Chief Minister from 1957.

Answer: A

The Tripura Legislative Assembly has 60 seats.

All 60 members are directly elected from single-member constituencies, some of which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. Tripura also sends two members to the Lok Sabha and one to the Rajya Sabha.

65, 42 and 56 are not the strength of the House; a party needs 31 seats for a majority in it.

Tripura's Legislative Assembly is unicameral; there is no Legislative Council in the state.

Answer: C

It was created in September, 2001.

The Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) was set up by the Government of India in September 2001 to coordinate development work in the eight north-eastern states. It was raised to a full Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region in May 2004.

June 2004 is the near miss: it falls just after the upgrade to a ministry, not at the creation of the body. October 1999 and September 2000 are before it existed.