Indian Politics Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: Examine the constitutionality of legislative and executive actions

Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court and the High Courts to examine the constitutionality of legislation and of executive action, and to declare void anything that contravenes the Constitution. It rests on Articles 13, 32 and 226 among others: Article 13 declares that any law inconsistent with the Fundamental Rights is void to that extent. The Supreme Court has held judicial review to be part of the basic structure, so it cannot be removed even by amendment. The concept came from the United States, where it was established in Marbury v. Madison. India’s version is narrower in one respect: the Constitution uses the phrase procedure established by law rather than the American due process, though the distinction has largely dissolved since Maneka Gandhi in 1978, in which the Court held that any such procedure must itself be fair, just and reasonable. The contrast is with Britain, where Parliament is sovereign and no court can strike down an Act.

Answer: A

The Constituent Assembly initially had 389 members - 292 from the provinces, 93 from the princely states and 4 from the chief commissioners' provinces.

After partition the number fell to 299, since the members from areas that became Pakistan withdrew to form their own assembly.

Answer: B

Maharashtra approved a one per cent reservation for orphans in government jobs, within the general category.

It was the first state to do so, recognising that orphans have no caste certificate and so fall outside the existing reservations altogether.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 29 subjects that may be devolved to panchayats

The Eleventh Schedule, inserted by the 73rd Amendment in 1992, lists 29 subjects that state legislatures may devolve to panchayats - among them agriculture, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, rural housing, drinking water, roads, education, health, poverty alleviation and the public distribution system. The wording is permissive rather than mandatory: Article 243-G says the legislature may endow panchayats with such powers. That is why devolution has been so uneven, with Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal transferring substantial functions and funds while others transferred little. The distinction between devolving functions, funds and functionaries - the three Fs - is the usual measure of how real the transfer has been. Its urban counterpart is the Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment, listing 18 subjects for municipalities. The Eighth Schedule lists languages and the Ninth holds laws shielded from judicial review, though that shield is no longer absolute.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Language

The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 redrew India’s internal boundaries chiefly on linguistic lines, creating 14 states and 6 union territories. The pressure for it had built through the early 1950s and came to a head with the death of Potti Sriramulu after a 58-day fast for a Telugu-speaking state; Andhra was created in 1953, the first state formed on language, and a commission under Fazl Ali was then appointed to consider the question generally. Nehru and others had resisted the principle, fearing it would encourage separatism, but the outcome is generally judged to have strengthened the union by removing a source of grievance. The process continued afterwards: Bombay was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960, Punjab into Punjab and Haryana in 1966, and several northeastern states were carved out in the 1970s. Later creations - Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand in 2000, and Telangana in 2014 - turned on administrative and developmental grounds rather than language.

Answer: A

The right to privacy is not enumerated in the Constitution but was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in Puttaswamy in August 2017.

A nine-judge bench held unanimously that it is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. Certiorari, the abolition of untouchability and the right to form associations are all written into Part III.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala

The basic structure doctrine was laid down in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1973, decided by a bench of thirteen judges - the largest ever constituted - by a majority of seven to six. The Court held that Parliament may amend any part of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights, but may not alter its basic structure. That structure has never been exhaustively defined, but the elements identified over time include the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, judicial review, separation of powers, federalism, secularism, free and fair elections, and the independence of the judiciary. It reversed the position in Golaknath (1967), which had held that the Fundamental Rights could not be amended at all, and it has since been used to strike down the 39th Amendment, parts of the 42nd in Minerva Mills, and the 99th Amendment establishing a judicial appointments commission. Maneka Gandhi (1978) is the other landmark of the era, transforming the reading of Article 21.

Answer: B

The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, now observed as Constitution Day.

A few articles - on citizenship, elections and provisional Parliament - came into force at once; the rest took effect on 26 January 1950, the date India became a republic.

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.