Centre-State Relations Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The entry is in List II - State List.

Entry 45 of the State List reads 'Land revenue, including the assessment and collection of revenue, the maintenance of land records, survey for revenue purposes and records of rights, and alienation of revenues'. Land and land revenue have always been state subjects in India.

The Union List deals with taxes such as income tax other than on agricultural income and customs, and the Concurrent List has no entry on land revenue.

Answer: D

The concurrent item is Economic and Social Planning.

Economic and social planning is Entry 20 of List III (Concurrent List) of the Seventh Schedule, so both Parliament and state legislatures may legislate on it.

The other three are not concurrent. The United Nations Organization (Entry 12) and foreign loans (Entry 37) are in List I, the Union List. Fisheries is Entry 21 of List II, the State List.

Answer: A

The Inter-State Council is appointed by the President of India.

Article 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council if it appears that the public interest would be served by it, and to define its duties, organisation and procedure. The Council was set up in 1990 on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission.

Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister do not appoint it, though the Prime Minister chairs the Council once it is set up.

Answer: A

The correct matching is A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV.

The pairs follow the Constitution's scheme for sharing taxes as it stood before the 80th (2000) and 101st (2016) Amendments. Stamp duties and duties on medicinal and toilet preparations were levied by the Union but collected and kept by the states under Article 268 (A-I). Duties on succession to non-agricultural property were levied and collected by the Union but assigned wholly to the states under Article 269 (B-II).

Taxes on non-agricultural income other than corporation tax were levied and collected by the Union and distributed between the Union and states under Article 270 (C-III). Union excise duties other than on medicinal and toilet preparations could be shared with the states under Article 272 (D-IV). Each other option swaps at least two of these articles.

Answer: B

The description is K.C. Wheare's.

K.C. Wheare, the authority on federal government, described the Indian Constitution as quasi-federal, a unitary state with subsidiary federal features rather than a federal state with unitary features, because of the strong powers it gives the Centre.

Ivor Jennings called it a federation with a strong centralising tendency, and W.H. Morris-Jones described Indian federalism as bargaining federalism. Dr B. R. Ambedkar argued that it was federal but flexible enough to work as unitary in an emergency.

Answer: C

The GST Council is provided for in Article 279A.

Article 279A, inserted by the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016, requires the President to constitute the Goods and Services Tax Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister with the state finance ministers as members, to recommend GST rates and rules.

Article 246A gives Parliament and the states power to make GST laws, and Article 269A deals with GST on inter-state supplies. Article 268A, on service tax, was omitted by the same amendment.

Answer: C

The pair not correctly matched is 371 C : Meghalaya.

Article 371C, inserted in 1971, makes special provision for Manipur: the President may provide for a committee of the Legislative Assembly made up of members elected from the Hill Areas. Meghalaya has no special article of its own in the 371 series.

The other pairs are correct. Article 371A gives Nagaland special protection for Naga religious and social practices, customary law and ownership of land and resources. Article 371B allows a committee of the Assam Legislative Assembly for members from its tribal areas. Article 371D provides for equitable opportunities in public employment and education in Andhra Pradesh, and now also covers Telangana.

Answer: C

The Chairman of the Inter-State Council is the Prime Minister.

The Inter-State Council was set up in 1990 under Article 263, on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission, to discuss subjects of common interest between the Union and the States and to recommend better coordination of policy. Its members are the Prime Minister as Chairman, the Chief Ministers of all States, the Chief Ministers of Union Territories with legislatures, Administrators of other Union Territories, and six Union Cabinet Ministers including the Home Minister.

The President creates the Council by order but does not preside over it. The Union Home Minister is a member and chairs its Standing Committee, not the Council itself, and the Union Cabinet is not a person who can chair a body.

Answer: C

Both statements are correct, so the answer is Both 1 and 2.

The Sixth Schedule governs the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through autonomous District Councils. Paragraph 4 empowers a District Council to constitute village councils or courts to try suits and cases between parties who all belong to Scheduled Tribes within its area (1).

Paragraph 8 empowers District Councils to assess and collect land revenue and to levy specified taxes, such as taxes on professions, trades and employment, on animals and vehicles, and on entry of goods into a market (2). So 'Only 1', 'Only 2' and 'Neither' are all wrong.

Answer: A

Only statement 1 is correct, so the answer is Only 1.

Entry 22 of the Concurrent List (List III of the Seventh Schedule) covers trade unions and industrial and labour disputes, so statement 1 is right.

Statement 2 is wrong because welfare of labour, including conditions of work, provident funds, employers' liability, workmen's compensation, invalidity and old age pensions and maternity benefits, is Entry 24 of the Concurrent List, not a State List subject. Both Parliament and the State legislatures can therefore make laws on it, which is why labour codes are central laws that States also legislate around.