Question Discussion & Solution

• Under the 36th Amendment of the Indian Constitution, Sikkim become the 22^nd state of the Indian Union.
• The Prime Minister of Sikkim appealed to the Indian Parliament for making Sikkim a state of India, in the year 1975.
• A referendum was held in Sikkim and 97.5 percent of the people voted to abolish the monarchy.
• Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, on 16 May 1975.
• The 36th amendment of the Indian constitution made Sikkim a full state of India and added its name to the First Schedule of the Constitution.
• Every year, the state celebrates May 16 as Sikkim statehood day. 

Additional Information

The correct answer is Directive Principles of State Policy.

Key Points

• The provisions relating to the promotion of international peace and security are mentioned in the Indian constitution as a part of Directive Principles of State Policy.
• Article 51 of the Constitution which is a Directive Principle of State Policy directs the state to promote international peace and security and maintain just and honourable relations between nations.
  • It further directs the state to respect International law and treaty obligations and settle disputes peacefully.
• Article 51 honourable relations between nations, respect for international law and treaty obligations, as well as settlement of international disputes by arbitration.

Additional Information

• Fundamental Duties :
  • The fundamental duties of citizens were added to the constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, upon the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee that was constituted by the government.
  •  The fundamental duties were increased to eleven by the 86th Amendment in 2002, which added a duty on every parent or guardian to ensure that their child or ward was provided opportunities for education between the ages of six and fourteen years.
• Directive Principles of State Policy :
  • The Directive Principles of State Policy, embodied in Part IV of the Constitution, are directions given to the state to guide the establishment of economic and social democracy, as proposed by the Preamble.
  • The Directive Principles may be classified under the following categories: Ideals that the state ought to strive towards achieving; directions for the exercise of legislative and executive power; and rights of the citizens which the State must aim towards securing.

The Correct answer is If a party is recognized as a State Party in at least two States.

 Key Points

• For recognition as a NATIONAL PARTY, the conditions specified are:
  • A 6% vote share in the last Assembly polls in each of any four states, as well as four seats in the last Lok Sabha polls; or
  • 2% of all Lok Sabha seats in the last such election, with MPs elected from at least three states; or recognition as a state party in at least four states. Hence Option 4 is not Correct.

 Important Points

• The Election Commission lists political parties as “national party”, “state party” or “registered (unrecognized) party”.
• The conditions for being listed as a national or a state party are specified under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
• A party has to satisfy any one of a number of these conditions.

 Additional Information

• Recently a political party viz. National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya got recognition as a “national party”.
• The NPP is the eighth party to get that recognition — after INC, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI, CPI(M), and TMC — and the first from the Northeast.

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".

The correct answer is English.

• The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India.
• As per Articles 344 (1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution, the eighth schedule includes 22 languages.
• Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.

Key Points

There are 22 official languages in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution are following:-

• Bengali
• Assamese
• Kashmiri
• Gujarati
• Hindi
• Kanada
• Malayalam
• Marathi
• Punjabi
• Odia
• Sanskrit
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Sindhi
• Urdu
• Konkani
• Nepali
• Manipuri
• Bodo
• Dogri
• Santhali
• Maithili