Question Discussion & Solution

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 1, 2, 4

Key Points

• Schedule 3 enriched Forms of oaths and Affirmations of offices for elected officials including judges.
• It contains the forms of oath and affirmation for:
  • Union Ministers of India
  • Parliament Election Candidates
  • Members of Parliament (MPs)
  • Supreme Court Judges
  • Comptroller and Auditor General
  • State Ministers
  • State Legislature Elections Candidates
  • State Legislature Members
  • High Court Judges

Additional Information

• First Schedule contains the Lists of the states and territories of India (also about their changes).
• The second Schedule lists the salaries of officials holding public office, Presidents, judges, and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
• The fourth Schedule contains the Allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of Parliament) per State or Union Territory.
• The fifth Schedule includes the Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes.
• The sixth Schedule includes the Provisions as to the Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
• The seventh Schedule contains The Union (central government), state, and concurrent lists of responsibilities.
• 8^th, 9^th, 11^th and 12^th Schedule contains the Languages, Validation of certain Acts and Regulations, Panchayat Raj (rural local government), and Municipalities (urban local government) respectively.
• The tenth Schedule enriched "Anti-defection" provisions for the Members of Parliament and the Members of the State Legislatures.

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".

The Correct answer is ​42nd Amendment.

 Key Points

• The 42nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution is the most comprehensive amendment to the Constitution and carried out major changes.
• It is also known as “mini-constitution”.
•  Amendments:
  • Added three new words (i.e., socialist, secular, and integrity) in the Preamble.
  • Added Fundamental Duties by the citizens (new Part IV A).
  • Made the president bound by the advice of the cabinet.
  • Provided for administrative tribunals and tribunals for other matters (Added Part XIV A).
  • Froze the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies on the basis of 1971 census till 2001 - Population Controlling Measure
  • Made the constitutional amendments beyond judicial scrutiny.
  • Curtailed the power of judicial review and writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts.
  • Raised the tenure of Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies from 5 to 6 years.
  • Provided that the laws made for the implementation of Directive Principles cannot be declared invalid by the courts on the ground of violation of some Fundamental Rights.
  • Added three new Directive Principles viz., equal justice and free legal aid, the participation of workers in the management of industries and protection of the environment, forests, and wildlife.
  • Provided for the creation of the All-India Judicial Service.
  • Shortened the procedure for disciplinary action by taking away the right of a civil servant to make representation at the second stage after the inquiry (i.e., on the penalty proposed).

 Important Points

• The 24th Amendment had re-established Parliament's authority to amend the Fundamental Rights in the Constitution.
• The 25th Amendment was intended to strip the Supreme Court of the power to go into the quantum of compensation for the takeover of property for public use.
• 44th Amendment Act nullified this unjustified power to the government.
• Right to Property was removed from the list of fundamental rights (Article 31) and was made a legal right under Article 300A.
• 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December 1992.
• Through these amendments, local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.