Question Discussion & Solution

The Correct answer is ​President has refused to give his assent to the Bill.

Key Points

• Joint sitting is not summoned when the president has refused to give his assent to the Bill. Hence it is not a sufficient ground to call joint sitting.

Occasions when Joint Session of Parliament is summoned:

• To resolve deadlock when any house of the Parliament passes a bill and:
• The other House rejects this bill, or
• The Houses do not agree on the amendments made to the bill, or
• More than six months elapsed with the bill being received by the other House without it being passed. Hence Option 1, 2, and 3 are sufficient grounds for join sitting.

​Important Points

• Article 108 of the Indian Constitution provides for a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament.
• The joint session is summoned by the President.
• It is presided over by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
• The joint sitting is governed by the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha and not of Rajya Sabha.
• The quorum to constitute a joint sitting: 1/10th of the total number of members of the House.
• The Bill is passed by a simple majority of the total number of members of both the Houses present and voting in the joint sitting.

The correct answer is 86th Amendment.

Key Points

• The Right to Education was inserted in the Indian Constitution by 86th Amendment.
  • The 86th amendment to the constitution of India in 2002, provided the Right to Education as a fundamental right in part-III of the Constitution.
  • The same amendment inserted Article 21A which made the Right to Education a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years.
  • The first official document on the Right to Education was Ramamurti Committee Report in 1990.

Additional Information

• 44th Amendment : 
  • 44th Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as the Constitution 1978, was enacted by the Janata Party.
    • It was introduced into the constitution by 45th Amendment Bill in the year 1978.
    • In 1976, with the introduction of the 42nd Amendment Act, there were various provisions that were amended against the will of the citizens hence, to reverse those changes and safeguard the interests of the nation, 44th Amendment Act was called into action.
    • The 44th Amendment of 1978 removed the right to property from the list of fundamental rights.
• 91st Amendment :
  • The maximum number of members in the council of Ministers has been capped at less than one-sixth of the total members of the primary house of the Union and the State Legislatures according to the 91st Amendment Act, 2003.
  • The total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Central Council of Ministers, shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.
  • The provision of the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) pertaining to an exemption from disqualification in case of split by one-third of members of the legislature party has been deleted. It means that the defectors have no more protection on grounds of splits.
• 31st Amendment:
  • The 31st Amendment of the Indian Constitution was all about changing the number of seats in Parliament.
  • This Amendment Act of 1972 increased the number of Lok Sabha seats from 525 to 545. 

The correct answer is The Canadian System.

Key Points

• By vesting the residuary powers in the Union, the Indian Constitution has followed the Canadian System.
• The provisions of a Federation with a strong center, Residuary powers of the Centre, the appointment of State governors by the Centre, and the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, are all borrowed from the Canadian constitution.

Additional Information

Important borrowed features of the constitution:

The correct answer is The Supreme Court.

Key Points 

• The Supreme Court of India is called the custodian of the Constitution in India.
• The highest court in India, the Supreme Court is considered as the guardian of the Constitution.
• The conflicts or quarrels of jurisdiction between the central government and the state governments or between the legislature and the executive are decided by the court.
• It upholds and uplifts the rule of law and also ensures and protects citizens’ rights and liberties as given in the Constitution.
• Therefore, the Supreme Court is also known as the Guardian of the Constitution.​

Additional Information 

• The Indian constitution provides for a provision of the Supreme Court under Part V (The Union) and Chapter 6 (The Union Judiciary).
• The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial court and the final court of appeal under the Constitution of India, the highest constitutional court, with the power of judicial review.
• India is a federal state and has a single and unified judicial system with a three-tier structure, i.e. Supreme Court, High Courts, and Subordinate Courts.

The correct answer is N. K. Singh.

• N. K. Singh is the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission.

Additional Information

• 15th Finance Commission
  • The Finance Commission (FC) is a constitutional body, that determines the method and formula for distributing the tax proceeds between the Centre and states, and among the states as per the constitutional arrangement and present requirements.
  • Under Article 280 of the Constitution, the President of India is required to constitute a Finance Commission at an interval of five years or earlier.
  • The 15th Finance Commission was constituted by the President of India, under the chairmanship of NK Singh.
  • Its recommendations will cover a period of five years from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
  • Grants Devolution Criteria
    • Population:
      • The population of a State represents the needs of the State to undertake expenditure for providing services to its residents.
      • It is also a simple and transparent indicator that has a significant equalising impact.
    • Area:
      • The larger the area, the greater is the expenditure requirement for providing comparable services.
    • Forest and Ecology:
      • By taking into account the share of the dense forest of each state in the aggregate dense forest of all the states, the share on these criteria is determined.
    • Income Distance:
      • Income distance is the distance of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of a particular state from the state with the highest GSDP.
      • To maintain interstate equity, the states with lower per capita income would be given a higher share.
    • Demographic Performance:
      • It rewards efforts made by states in controlling their population.
      • This criterion has been computed by using the reciprocal of the total fertility ratio of each state, scaled by 1971 population data.
    • Tax Effort:
      • This criterion has been used to reward states with higher tax collection efficiency.