Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).

Key Points

• India is a federal (or quasi-federal) democratic republic with a parliamentary system of government largely based on the UK model.
• Parliament is the “supreme legislative body of India” comprised of the President and the two Houses – Rajya Sabha (the Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (the House of the People).
  • ​It is not necessary for a democratic country to have a constitution.

Additional Information

• After independence, pursuant to the Indian Independence Act, the Constituent Assembly became India’s first sovereign legislature. 
• The Assembly was formed under a plan recommended by the Cabinet Mission that called for the framing of the Constitution of India. 
• A drafting committee under the chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was set up by the Constituent Assembly.  
• It took the drafting committee two years and eleven months to complete the drafting of the Constitution.
• Full democracies are nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are not only respected but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles.

The correct answer is 2 and 3 only.

Key Points

• The Council of Ministers in the Centre shall be collectively responsible to Lok Sabha, not parliament.
  • ​Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The Union Ministers shall hold the office during the pleasure of the President of India.
  • Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The Prime Minister shall communicate to the President about the proposals for legislation.
  • Hence statement 3 is correct.

​​​Additional Information

• Special Powers of Rajya Sabha
  • The Upper House also has some special powers, such as:
    • Power to transfer a subject from the State List to Union List for a specified period (Article 249).
    • To create additional All-India Services (Article 312).
    • To endorse Emergency under Article 352 for a limited period when the Lok Sabha remains dissolved.

The correct answer is Jawaharlal Nehru.

Key Points

• Jawaharlal Nehru was the chairman of the Union Power Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India.
• An idea for a Constituent Assembly of India was proposed in 1934 by M. N. Roy.
• The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making.
• The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946, and its last session was held on 24 January 1950.

Additional Information

• Important Committees of Constituent Assembly and their chairperson -
  • Union Constitution Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
  • State Power Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
  • Provincial Committee - Sardar Patel
  • Drafting Committee - BR Ambedkar
  • Minority Committee - Sardar Patel
  • Steering Committee - Rajendra Prasad. 

The Correct answer is Justice Fazl Ali.

Key Points

• The creation of the Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for the creation of states on a linguistic basis.
• This forced the Government of India to appoint (in December 1953) a three-member States Reorganisation Commission under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali to re-examine the whole question. Its other two members were K M Panikkar and H N Kunzru.
• It submitted its report in September 1955 and broadly accepted language as the basis of the reorganisation of states. But, it rejected the theory of ‘one language-one state’. Its view was that the unity of India should be regarded as the primary consideration in any redrawing of the country’s political units. It identified four major factors that can be taken into account in any scheme of the reorganisation of states:

1. Preservation and strengthening of the unity and security of the country.
2.  Linguistic and cultural homogeneity.
3. Financial, economic and administrative considerations.
4. Planning and promotion of the welfare of the people in each state as well as of the nation as a whole.

• The commission suggested the abolition of the four-fold classification of states under the original Constitution and the creation of 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories. The Government of India accepted these recommendations with certain minor modifications.
• By the States Reorganisation Act (1956) and the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act (1956), the distinction between Part-A and Part-B states was done away with and Part-C states were abolished. Some of them were merged with adjacent states and some others were designated as union territories. As a result, 14 states and 6 union territories were created on November 1, 1956.
• The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 established the new state of Kerala by merging the Travancore- Cochin State with the Malabar District of Madras state and Kasargode of South Canara (Dakshina Kannada).
• It merged the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad state with the Andhra state to create the Andhra Pradesh state. Further, it merged the Madya Bharat state, Vindya Pradesh state and Bhopal state into the Madya Pradesh state. Similarly, it merged the Saurashtra state and Kutch state into that of the Bombay state.

The correct answer is 42nd Amendment.

Key Points

• The term "Secular" was added to the Preamble by Indira Gandhi Government in the 42nd amendment.
• Secular means the relationship between the government and the religious groups is defined by constitution and law.
• Under the 42nd Amendment Act, three words were added: Socialist, Secular, and Integrity.
• The Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism, all the religions in our country have the same status and support from the state.
• However, as the Supreme Court said in 1974, although the words ‘secular state’ was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, there can be no doubt that Constitution-makers wanted to establish such a state, and accordingly, Articles 25 to 28 (guaranteeing the fundamental right to freedom of religion) have been included in the constitution.
• On 18 December 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Indira Gandhi government pushed through several changes in the Forty-second Amendment of the constitution.
• Through this amendment, the words "socialist" and "secular" were added between the words "sovereign" and "democratic" and the words "unity of the Nation" were changed to "unity and integrity of the Nation".