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 2 and 3 only.

Key Points

• The Public Accounts Committee consists of not more than 22 members comprising 15 members elected by Lok Sabha every year from amongst its members.
  • Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The Public Account Committee carries out the examination of the Appropriation Accounts relating to the Railways, Defence Services, P&T Department and other Civil Ministries of the Government of India and Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India thereon as also the Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on Revenue Receipts mainly form the basis of the deliberation of the Committee.
  • ​Hence statements 2 and 3 are correct.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General is the “friend, philosopher and guide” of the Committee.
• He attends the sittings of the Committee and assists it in its deliberations.
• Hence option 2 is correct.

​​Additional Information 

• Types of Parliamentary Committees:
  • India’s Parliament has multiple types of committees.
    • They can be differentiated on the basis of their work, their membership and the length of their tenure.
  • However, broadly there are two types of Parliamentary Committees– Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees.
  • The Standing Committees are permanent (constituted every year or periodically) and work on a continuous basis.
  • Standing Committees can be classified into the following six categories:
    • Financial Committees
    • Departmental Standing Committees
    • Committees to Enquire
    • Committees to Scrutinise and Control
    • Committees Relating to the Day-to-Day Business of the House
    • House-Keeping Committees or Service Committees
  • While the Ad Hoc Committees are temporary and cease to exist on completion of the task assigned to them.
  • They are further subdivided into Inquiry Committees and Advisory Committees.

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 Neither 1 nor 2.

Key Points

• Role of the commission:
  • From the above, it is clear that the functions of the commission are mainly recommendatory in nature.
  • It has no power to punish the violators of human rights, nor to award any relief including monetary relief to the victim. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • Notably, its recommendations are not binding on the concerned government or authority. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • But, it should be informed about the action taken on its recommendations within one month.
  • In this context, a former member of the Commission observed: 
    • The government cannot wash away the recommendations made by the Commission.
    • The commission’s role may be recommendatory, advisory, yet the Government considers the cases forwarded by it.
    • It is, therefore, improper to say that the commission is powerless.
    • It enjoys great material authority and no government can ignore its recommendation’.
    • Moreover, the commission has a limited role, powers and jurisdiction with respect to the violation of human rights by the members of the armed forces.
    • In this sphere, the commission may seek a report from the Central government and make its recommendations.
    • The Central government should inform the Commission of the action taken on the recommendations within three months.
    • The commission submits its annual or special reports to the Central government and to the state government concerned.
    • These reports are laid before the respective legislatures, along with a memorandum of action taken on the recommendations of the commission and the reasons for non-acceptance of any of such recommendations.

• There are 22 languages that have been recognized in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution.
• Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages of India from articles 343 to 351.
• Originally, only 14 languages were mentioned and later, after several amendments, the other languages were added. 
• Sindhi language was added in the 8th schedule by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
• Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992
• Bodo, Dongri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.
• In all the 22 official languages the Hindi language is spoken by most of the Indians.