Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: Hindi in the Devanagari script

Article 343 declares the official language of the Union to be Hindi in the Devanagari script, with the international form of Indian numerals. It provided that English would continue for official purposes for fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, that is until 1965, after which Hindi alone would be used. Opposition in the non-Hindi-speaking states, and violent protests in Tamil Nadu in 1965, led to the Official Languages Act of 1963 and its amendment in 1967, which provide that English may continue indefinitely alongside Hindi for Union purposes. Two related points are frequently confused with this. India has no national language; the Constitution uses only the term official language. And the Eighth Schedule lists 22 languages, which is a different category again, carrying rights of representation and of use in examinations rather than official status. States choose their own official languages under Article 345.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Article 44

Article 44, among the Directive Principles, provides that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. It concerns personal law - marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance - which in India is at present governed by different laws for different religious communities. A uniform code would replace them with a single body of law applying to all citizens. Because it is a directive it is not enforceable, and the framers made it aspirational deliberately, judging the country not yet ready. The Supreme Court has referred to it approvingly on several occasions, notably in the Shah Bano case of 1985, without directing its enactment. Goa is the one state with such a code, inherited from Portuguese civil law. Uttarakhand enacted one in 2024. The tension the article sits in is real: Article 25 guarantees freedom of religion, and personal law is closely bound to religious practice, which is why the question has remained politically contested for seventy years.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Single citizenship for the whole country

India has single citizenship: every citizen is a citizen of India alone, with no separate citizenship of a state. This was borrowed from Britain, and deliberately not from the United States, where a person is a citizen both of the Union and of the state of residence. The framers chose it to promote unity and to avoid the discrimination that state citizenship can produce. Its practical effect is that a citizen enjoys the same rights anywhere in the country - to move freely, reside, acquire property and take up any profession - regardless of where they were born. The rule is not quite absolute. Article 16(3) permits Parliament to prescribe residence as a condition for certain state employment, and Article 15(4) and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules allow special provisions for particular regions and groups. Citizenship is dealt with in Part II, Articles 5 to 11, but the Constitution leaves the detailed law to Parliament, which enacted the Citizenship Act in 1955. India does not permit dual nationality; the Overseas Citizen of India scheme is not citizenship.

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: B

Correct answer: Article 243-A

Article 243-A, inserted by the 73rd Amendment in 1992, provides that a Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the state legislature may by law provide. The Gram Sabha is the body of all registered voters of a village, and it is the only directly democratic institution in the Indian constitutional structure - every other body is representative. Its powers vary by state, but typically include approving the panchayat’s plans and budgets, identifying beneficiaries of welfare schemes, and conducting social audits. Its role is considerably stronger in Scheduled Areas under PESA, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996, which gives the Gram Sabha powers over land acquisition, minor forest produce and the approval of development plans. Article 40, in the Directive Principles, is the original mandate to organise village panchayats. Article 243-G deals with the powers that may be devolved to panchayats, and Article 246 with the distribution of legislative subjects.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 22

The Eighth Schedule now lists 22 languages. It began with 14 in 1950 and has been enlarged four times: Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment in 1967; Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali by the 71st in 1992; and Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali by the 92nd in 2003. Inclusion carries practical consequences. A member of Parliament may address the House in a scheduled language; candidates may take public service examinations in one; and the Official Languages Commission must be representative of them, with the state obliged to promote their development. It is often confused with two other categories. The official languages of the Union are Hindi in Devanagari script and English, under Article 343 - and English was to have ceased in 1965 but continues under the Official Languages Act of 1963. India has no national language at all; the Constitution does not use the term. Classical language status is a separate designation conferred by the government, held by Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia and others.

Answer: D

Jana Gana Mana was adopted as the national anthem on 24 January 1950, by the Constituent Assembly, two days before the Constitution came into force.

The same sitting adopted Vande Mataram as the national song, with equal status.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram

The Sixth Schedule applies to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and provides for autonomous district councils and regional councils. These councils go considerably further than ordinary local government. They have legislative power over land, forests other than reserved forests, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance, marriage and social custom; they can constitute village courts to try cases among tribal parties; and they can levy certain taxes and receive royalties. Acts of Parliament and of the state legislature apply to their areas only if the council so decides or the Governor so directs. The Fifth Schedule takes a different approach in the other states with Scheduled Areas - Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and others - giving special responsibility to the Governor and requiring a Tribes Advisory Council, but creating no autonomous legislature. Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland fall under neither; Nagaland has its own special provision in Article 371-A.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Speak in either House of Parliament but not vote

Article 88 gives the Attorney General the right to speak in, and take part in the proceedings of, either House, any joint sitting, and any parliamentary committee of which he is named a member - but expressly no right to vote. The provision exists so that the government’s chief law officer can explain and defend the legal aspects of legislation directly to the House, without needing to be a member of it. Ministers enjoy the same right in the House they do not belong to. The Attorney General is appointed by the President under Article 76, must be qualified to be a Supreme Court judge, and holds office during the President’s pleasure. The office is unusual in another way: it is not a full-time salaried post, and the holder may take private practice, though not against the Government of India. The Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General assist but are statutory rather than constitutional offices, and have no such parliamentary right.

Answer: D

Correct answer: The 102nd Amendment

The 102nd Amendment of 2018 inserted Article 338-B, giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which had until then been a statutory body under a 1993 Act passed in the wake of the Indra Sawhney judgment. The same amendment inserted Article 342-A, providing that the President, in consultation with the Governor, would specify the socially and educationally backward classes for each state, and that Parliament alone could alter the list. That was read as removing the states’ power to identify their own backward classes, which the 105th Amendment of 2021 restored. The pattern of upgrading commissions from statutory to constitutional runs through several amendments: the 65th of 1990 created a Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in place of the Special Officer, and the 89th of 2003 split it into two separate commissions under Articles 338 and 338-A. The 93rd Amendment of 2005 is different, enabling reservation in private educational institutions.