Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Jhajjar.

Key Points

• Bhagwat Dayal Sharma, also known as Panditji, was the first Chief Minister of Haryana.
  • He was born in Beri, a town in the Jhajjar district of Haryana, on 26 January 1918.
  • He was appointed first Chief Minister of Haryana on 1 November 1966 and represented the Jhajjar constituency.
  • He also took active participation in the freedom struggle from 1941–47.
  • He also served as the Governor of Odisha and Madhya Pradesh from 30 April 1980 to 14 May 1984.
  • He died on 22 February 1993 because of old age-related issues.

The correct answer is Joint session will be held in scheduled time.

Key Points

• Note that if President summons for the joint session of parliament and if in the meantime, Lok Sabha dissolved then the joint sitting takes place despite of the dissolution of the lower house.
• But also note that, if in case of Lok Sabha is dissolved before the summon of joint sitting on a bill by President then the pending bill lapses and there shall be no joint sitting.

Important Points

Joint Sitting of Parliament-

•  Article 108 of the constitution provides for the provision of Joint sessions of both the Houses of Parliament.
• A joint sitting can be summoned by President in case if a bill is passed by one House and forwarded to other house-
  • The other house rejects the bill
  • The house do not agree on the amendments made to the bill
  • More than six months elapsed with the bill being recieved by the other House withougt it being passe.

The correct answer is By indirect elections by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies established in 1935.

• The members of this assembly were elected indirectly, that is by the members of the provincial assemblies by the method of a single transferable vote of proportional representation.

Additional Information 

• Important facts about the Constituent Assembly
  • In 1934, M N Roy first proposed the idea of a constituent assembly.
  • The demand was taken up by the Congress Party in 1935 as an official demand.
  • The British accepted this in the August Offer of 1940.
  • Under the Cabinet Mission plan of 1946, elections were held for the formation of the constituent assembly.
  • The members of this assembly were elected indirectly, that is by the members of the provincial assemblies by the method of a single transferable vote of proportional representation
  • The constituent assembly was formed for the purpose of writing a constitution for independent India
  • Initially, the number of members was 389.
  • After partition, some of the members went to Pakistan and the number came down to 299.
  • Out of this, 229 were from the British provinces and 70 were nominated from the princely states.
  • Dr Sachchidananda Sinha was the first temporary chairman of the Constituent Assembly.
  • Later, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President and its Vice President was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee.
  • BN Rau was the constitutional advisor.
  • The assembly first met on 9 December 1946.
  • On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the ‘Objective Resolution’.
  • The National Flag of the Union was adopted on 22 July 1947.
  • The final document had 22 parts, 395 articles and 8 schedules.
  • The assembly had met for 11 sessions.
  • The last session was held during 14 – 26 November 1949.
  • The constitution was passed and adopted by the assembly on 26 November 1949.
  • On 24 January 1950, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was adopted as the national anthem.
  • The constitution came into force on 26 January 1950 (which is celebrated as Republic Day).

The correct answer is 122.

• The Ministry of Environment will implement National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) across 122 cities in the country to reduce air pollution.
• NCAP targets to achieve 20 to 30 % reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024 across the country.
• The number of good quality air days has increased to 218 in 2020 against 106 in 2016, and the number of poor quality air days decreased to 56 in 2020.

The correct answer is 2 and 3 only.

Key Points

• NDC is listed as an advisory body to the Planning commission. Moreover, the plans made by the Planning commission are placed before NDC for its acceptance. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Now, the National Development Council (NDC) and Planning Commission (PC) has been abolished now.
  • NDC used to advise PC on planning and included all CMs and union ministers etc.
• The Economic and Social Planning is kept in the Concurrent List in the Constitution of India.
  • Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The Constitution of India prescribes that Panchayats should be assigned the task of preparation of plans for economic development and social justice.
• The 73rd Amendment 1992 added a new Part IX to the constitution titled “The Panchayats” covering provisions from Article 243 to 243(O); and a new Eleventh Schedule covering 29 subjects within the functions of the Panchayats.
  • Hence statement 3 is correct.

​​​Additional Information

• National Development Council is an organ of the Planning Commission
  • Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution – NITI AAYYOG on January 1, 2015, with emphasis on the ‘Bottom –Up’ approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’.
  • Objectives
    • To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.
    • To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.
    • To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.
    • To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from economic progress.
    • To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.
    • To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
    • To offer a platform for the resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.
    • To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-holders.