Centre-State Relations Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Article 371-A gives special provisions to Nagaland.

Article 371A, inserted by the 13th Amendment in 1962 when Nagaland became a state, provides that no Act of Parliament on Naga religious or social practices, Naga customary law and procedure, civil and criminal justice under customary law, or ownership and transfer of land and its resources applies to Nagaland unless its Legislative Assembly so decides.

The other states have their own articles: Assam 371B, Manipur 371C and Sikkim 371F.

Answer: D

The key's answer is that the judiciary is not assigned to any special list.

The Seventh Schedule has no single entry for 'Judiciary'. The subject is divided: the constitution and organisation of the Supreme Court and the High Courts are in the Union List (entries 77 and 78), while administration of justice and the constitution and organisation of all other courts are in the Concurrent List (entry 11A), moved there from the State List by the 42nd Amendment.

Because the judiciary as a whole spans lists, no single list (Union, State or Concurrent) is its home.

Answer: D

Sikkim's special provisions are in Article 371F.

Article 371F was inserted by the 36th Amendment of 1975, when Sikkim became a state of India. It preserves existing laws, provides for a Legislative Assembly of at least 30 members and lets Parliament reserve seats to protect the rights of different sections of Sikkim's population.

The others cover different states: 371A is Nagaland, 371C is Manipur (the Hill Areas Committee) and 371D is Andhra Pradesh (now also applied to Telangana).

Answer: B

'Local Government' is Entry 5, List II of VII Schedule.

Entry 5 of the State List covers local government, that is, the constitution and powers of municipal corporations, improvement trusts, district boards and other local authorities for local self-government or village administration. Local government is therefore a State subject.

Entry 9 of List II is relief of the disabled and unemployable. The Concurrent List entries cited are not about local government: Entry 3 deals with preventive detention, and Entry 12 with evidence and oaths.

Answer: D

'Cooperative federalism' was used of the Indian Constitution by Granville Seward Austin.

Granville Austin, the American historian of the Indian Constitution, described the federal system in The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (1966) as 'cooperative federalism': a strong centre, but with the Union and the States working together and dependent on each other rather than in watertight compartments.

K. C. Wheare's well-known description was 'quasi-federal'. B. R. Ambedkar spoke of a federation that could become unitary in emergencies. Wade and Phillips and Schwartz wrote on constitutional law, but the phrase in this sense is Austin's.

Answer: B

The correct matches are (i), (ii) and (iii).

Article 371A gives special provisions for Nagaland, Article 371B for Assam, and Article 371C for Manipur.

Article 371D deals with Andhra Pradesh (and now Telangana), not Mizoram. Mizoram's provision is Article 371G. So any option including (iv) is wrong, and (i) and (ii) alone leaves out a correct match.

Article 371 itself gives special provisions for Maharashtra and Gujarat, and the series runs on to Article 371J for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

Answer: C

The Seventh Schedule deals with the division of powers between the Union and the States.

Under Article 246, the Seventh Schedule contains three lists: the Union List, on which Parliament legislates; the State List, for state legislatures; and the Concurrent List, on which both may legislate.

The languages are in the Eighth Schedule, and the anti-defection law in the Tenth Schedule, added by the 52nd Amendment in 1985. The powers of the President are set out in the body of the Constitution, not in a schedule.

Answer: A

The Finance Commission is constituted by the President.

Article 280 of the Constitution requires the President to constitute a Finance Commission every five years, or earlier if needed. It consists of a chairman and four other members and recommends how the net proceeds of taxes are shared between the Union and the states and among the states.

The Finance Minister and Parliament act on its report but do not appoint it; Parliament only lays down the members' qualifications by law. The Governor of the Reserve Bank has no role in constituting it.

Answer: C

Panchayati Raj is in the State list.

Entry 5 of List II (the State List) of the Seventh Schedule covers local government, including municipal corporations, district boards and village panchayats, so only state legislatures can make laws on panchayats. The 73rd Amendment of 1992 gave panchayats constitutional status (Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule), but it left the subject with the states, which pass their own Panchayati Raj Acts.

It is not in the Union or Concurrent List, and residuary power under Article 248 covers only matters not listed anywhere, which local government is.

Answer: C

Panchayati Raj Institutions come under the State list.

Local government, including panchayats and municipalities, is Entry 5 of List II (the State List) of the Seventh Schedule, so states make the laws that set up and empower panchayats, within the framework added by the 73rd Amendment of 1992.

The 73rd Amendment added Part IX to the Constitution but did not move the subject to the Union or Concurrent List, so those options are wrong.