Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – November 8

In addition to the making of the Constitution and enacting of ordinary laws, the Constituent Assembly also performed the following functions:

1. It ratified the India’s membership of the Commonwealth in May 1949.

2. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.

3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.

Note: First Amendment of the Constitution of India was made in 1951, which says “state can make special provisions for advancement of any backward class”

4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950. 5. It elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January 24, 1950.

The term ‘State’ has been used in different provisions concerning the fundamental rights. Hence, Article 12 has defined the term for the purposes of Part III. According to it, the State includes the following:

(a) Government and Parliament of India, that is, executive and legislative organs of the Union government.

(b) Government and legislature of states, that is, executive and legislative organs of state government.

(c) All local authorities, that is, municipalities, panchayats, district boards, improvement trusts, etc

(d) All other authorities, that is, statutory or non-statutory authorities like LIC, ONGC, SAIL, etc.

Thus, State has been defined in a wider sense so as to include all its agencies. It is the actions of these agencies that can be challenged in the courts as violating the Fundamental Rights.

Note:  According to the Supreme Court, even a private body or an agency working as an instrument of the State falls within the meaning of the ‘State’ under Article 12.

All are correctly matched:

1.  Right to equality (Articles 14–18)

(a) Equality before law and equal protection of laws (Article 14). (b) Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15). (c) Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment (Article 16). (d) Abolition of untouchability and prohibition of its practice (Article 17). (e) Abolition of titles except military and academic (Article 18).

2. Right to freedom (Articles 19–22)

(a) Protection of six rights regarding freedom of: (i) speech and expression, (ii) assembly, (iii) association, (iv) movement, (v) residence, and (vi) profession (Article 19). (b) Protection in respect of conviction for offences (Article 20). (c) Protection of life and personal liberty (Article 21). (d) Right to elementary education (Article 21A). (e) Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases (Article 22).

3. Right against exploitation (Articles 23–24)

(a) Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour (Article 23). (b) Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc. (Article 24).

4. Right to freedom of religion (Article 25– 28)

(a) Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (Article 25). (b) Freedom to manage religious affairs (Article 26). (c) Freedom from payment of taxes for promotion of any religion (Article 27). (d) Freedom from attending religious instruction or worship in certain educational institutions (Article 28).

5. Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29–30)

(a) Protection of language, script and culture of minorities (Article 29). (b) Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions (Article 30).

6. Right to constitutional remedies (Article 32)

Right to move the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights including the writs of (i) habeas corpus, (ii) mandamus, (iii) prohibition, (iv) certiorari, and (v) quo war-rento (Article 32)

Directive Principles

1. These are positive as they require the State to do certain things.
2. These are non-justiciable, that is, they are not legally enforceable by the courts for their violation.
3. They aim at establishing social and economic democracy in the country.
4. These have moral and political sanctions.
5. They promote the welfare of the community. Hence, they are societarian and socialistic.
6. They require legislation for their implementation. They are not automatically enforced.
7. The courts cannot declare a law violative of any of the Directive Principles as unconstitutional and invalid. However, they can uphold the validity of a law on the ground that it was enacted to give effect to a directive.

A number of provisions in the Constitution can be amended by a simple majority of the two Houses of Parliament outside the scope of Article 368. Some of them are as follows:

1. Admission or establishment of new states.
2. Formation of newstates and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states.
3. Abolition or creation of legislative councils in states.
4. Second Schedule—emoluments, allowances, privileges and so on of the president, the governors, the Speakers, judges, etc.
5. Conferment of more jurisdictions to the Supreme Court.
6. Elections to Parliament and state legislatures.
7. Delimitation of constituencies.
8. Union territories.
9. Fifth Schedule—administration of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes and Sixth Schedule—administration of tribal areas. Etc

1^st Statement is Incorrect:

The proclamation of Emergency must be approved by both the Houses of Parliament within one month from the date of its issue. Originally, the period allowed for approval by the Parliament was two months, but was reduced by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978.

2^nd Statement is Incorrect:

If approved by both the Houses of Parliament, the emergency continues for six months, and can be extended to an indefinite period with an approval of the Parliament for every six months. This provision for periodical parliamentary approval was also added by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978. Before that, the emergency, once approved by the Parliament, could remain in operation as long as the Executive (cabinet) desired.

3^rd Statement is Correct:

A resolution of disapproval is different from a resolution approving the continuation of a proclamation in the following two respects:

1. The first one is required to be passed by the LokSabha only, while the second one needs to be passed by the both Houses of Parliament.
2. The first one is to be adopted by a simple majority only, while the second one needs to be adopted by a special majority.

Statement 2 is Correct:

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is the main agency for preventing corruption in the Central government. Its establishment was recommended by the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption1 (1962–64).

Statement 1 is Incorrect

It was established in 1964 by an executive resolution of the Central government.  Thus, originally the CVC was neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body. Recently, in September 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC2. In 2004, the Government of India authorised the CVC as the “Designated Agency” to receive written complaints for disclosure on any allegation of corruption or misuse of office and recommend appropriate action.

The CVC is conceived to be the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and advising various authorities in Central Government organisations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.