[DAY 1] 60 DAY RAPID REVISION (RaRe) SERIES for UPSC Prelims 2022 – POLITY, CURRENT AFFAIRS & CSAT; Test Series, Videos & Notes!

Solution (c)

Solution (d)

These were the words of the Secretary, John Wodehouse.

Two major improvements were introduced by the Indian Councils Act, 1892:

(a) The non official members of the Indian Legislative Council were henceforth to be nominated by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and the Provincial Legislative Councils, while the non-official members of the Provincial Councils were to be nominated by certain local bodies such as universities, district boards, municipalities.

(b) The Councils were to have the power of discussing the annual statement of revenue and expenditure, i.e. the Budget and of addressing questions to the Executive.

Thus this act introduced representatives from India.

Solution (c)

Solution (b)

The Montague Chelmsford reforms were also known as the Government of India Act 1919

Additional Info:

• It required that the three of the six members of the Viceroy’s executive
  Council (other than the commander-in-chief) were to be Indian.
• It granted franchise to a limited number of people on the basis of
  property, tax or education
• It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and
  transferred to him some of the functions which were earlier performed by the
  Secretary of State for India.
• It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. 
• It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to inquire into
  and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force

Solution (b)

Additional Info:

On the basis of three round table discussions, a ‘White Paper on Consitutional Reforms’ was prepared and submitted for the consideration of the Joint Select Committee of the British Parliament. 

The recommendations of this committee were incorporated (with certain changes) in the next Government of Inida Act of 1935.

The Indian National Congress called it a ‘slave constitution that attempted to strengthen and perpetuate the economic bondage of India’.

Some of the key features of the Act were:

• The creation of a ‘Federation of India’ that consisted of two levels: a central executive and parliament, and below it, provinces and princely states.
• It discarded the ‘dyarchy’ system at the provincial level and allowed for the emergence of popularly elected provincial legislatures. Dyarchy was introduced at the central level, key subjects like defence and foreign affairs were under the direct control of the Governor General.
• A federal court was established.
• The franchise was expanded to 14% of the population from 3%.

Solution (c)

Solution (c)

Solution (b)

People who go and live abroad from India can be categorised in three broad categories-NRIs, PIOs and OCIs. While NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) is essentially a term for Indians that live in another country, PIOs and OCIs are people who want to stay connected and involved with India more closely. 

Solution (b)

Note: Incorrect options have been asked. 

Solution (b)

Solution (d)

Citizenship in India:

Part II of the Constitution of India (Articles 5-11) deals with the Citizenship of India.

Article 5 speaks about citizenship of India at the commencement of the Constitution (Nov 26, 1949).

Article 11 gave powers to the Parliament of India to regulate the right of citizenship by law.

Thus Citizenship Act 1955 was enacted by the Parliament. It is an act to provide for the acquisition and termination of Indian citizenship and the same acts speaks about citizenship of India after the commencement of the Constitution.

Solution (d)

Additional Info:

The Constitution of India stands for a secular state. Hence, it doesn’t uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State.

The following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State -:

• The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976.
• The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).
• Equality of opportunity for all Citizens in matters of public employment (Article 16).
• No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution maintained by the State (Article 28).
• All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their
  choice (Article 30).

Solution (d)

Solution (b)

Hint: Use elimination method and eliminate option 5

Features of Parliamentary Government

Political Homogeneity: Usually members of the council of ministers belong to the same political party, and hence they share the same political ideology. In case of coalition government,
the ministers are bound by consensus.

Nominal and Real Executives: The President is the nominal executive (de jure executive or titular executive) while the Prime Minister is the real executive (de facto executive). Thus, the President is head of the State, while the Prime Minister is head of the government.

-Article 74 provides for a council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions. The advice so tendered is binding on the President.

Collective Responsibility: This is the bedrock principle of parliamentary government. The ministers are collectively responsible to the Parliament in general and to the Lok Sabha in particular (Article 75). They act as a team, and swim and sink together. 

– The principle of collective responsibility implies that the Lok Sabha can remove the ministry (i.e., council of ministers headed by the prime minister) from office by passing a vote of no confidence.

Majority Party Rule: The political party which secures majority seats in the Lok Sabha forms the government. The leader of that party is appointed as the Prime Minister by the President;
other ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the prime minister. 

– However, when no single party gets the majority, a coalition of parties may be invited by the President to form the government.

Double Membership: The ministers are members of both the legislature and the executive. This means that a person cannot be a minister without being a member of the Parliament. The
Constitution stipulates that a minister who is not a member of the Parliament for a period of six consecutive months ceases to be a minister.

 Leadership of the Prime Minister: The Prime Minister plays the leadership role in this system of government. He is the leader of council of ministers, leader of the Parliament and leader of the party in power. In these capacities, he plays a significant and highly crucial role in the
functioning of the government.

 Dissolution of the Lower House: The lower house of the Parliament (Lok Sabha) can be dissolved by the President on recommendation of the Prime Minister. In other words, the prime
minister can advise the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha before the expiry of its term and hold fresh elections. This means that the executive enjoys the right to get the legislature dissolved in a parliamentary system.

Secrecy: The ministers operate on the principle of secrecy of procedure and cannot divulge information about their proceedings, policies and decisions. They take the oath of secrecy before entering their office. The oath of secrecy to the ministers is administered by the
President.

Solution (a)

Additional Info:

Union, State and Concurrent Lists

• -List I or the Union list includes 100 subjects over which the Union shall have exclusive power of legislation. The matters of national importance and the matters which require uniformity of legislation nationwide like defense, foreign affairs, banking, insurance, currency and coinage etc. are included in this list
• -List II or the State List comprises 61 items or entries over which the State Legislature shall have exclusive power of legislation. The matters of regional and local importance and the matters
  which permit diversity of interest such as public order and police, local government, public health and sanitation, agriculture, forests, fisheries, state taxes and duties etc. are included in this list.

• -List III or the Concurrent List gives concurrent powers to the Union and the State Legislatures over 52 items. The matters on which uniformity of legislation throughout the country is desirable but not essential such as criminal law and procedure, civil procedure, marriage, contracts, torts, trusts, welfare of labour, economic and social planning and education etc. are enumerated in this list.
• -The Constitution expressly secures the predominance of the Union List over the State List and the Concurrent List and that of the Concurrent List over the State List. Thus, in case of overlapping between the Union List and the State List, the former should prevail. In case of overlapping between the Union List and the Concurrent List, it is again the former which should prevail. Where there is a conflict between the Concurrent List and the State List, it is the former that should prevail.

Solution (c)

Additional Info:

States Re-organisation Commission was setup in 1953 under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali to re-examine the whole question of creation of states. 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 re-organisation of states.

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 re-organisation of states:

• Preservation and strengthening of the unity and security of the country.
  Linguistic and cultural homogeneity.
• Financial, economic and administrative considerations.
• 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 creation of 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories. Special safeguards were recommended for linguistic minorities

Solution (b)

Hint: Use elimination method and eliminate 1 and 2.

Single Citizenship and integrated judiciary are unitary and not federal features of the Indian Constitution.

Additional Info:

 A Federal government, is one in which powers are divided between the National government and the Regional governments by the constitution itself and both operate in their respective jurisdictions independently.

Features:

Bicameralism: A bicameral system is considered essential in a federation because it is in the upper house alone that the units can be given equal representation. The Constitution of India also provides for a bicameral Legislature at the Centre consisting of Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha. 

Written Constitution: The Indian Constitution is a written document containing 395 Articles and 12 schedules, and therefore, fulfils this basic requirement of a federal government.

Supremacy of Constitution: India’s Constitution is supreme and not the hand-made of either the Centre or of the States. If for any reason any organ of the State dares to violate any provision of the Constitution, the court of laws are there to ensure that dignity of the Constitution is upheld at all costs.

Independent Judiciary: The Constitution establishes an independent judiciary headed by the
Supreme Court for two purposes: 

One, to protect the supremacy of the Constitution by exercising the power of judicial review; and two, to settle the disputes between the Centre and the states or between the states.

Division of powers between Centre and State: In a federation, there should be clear
division of powers so that the units and the centre are required to enact and legislate
within their sphere of activity and none of them violates its limits and tries to encroach
upon the functions of others. This requisite is evident in the Indian Constitution in Schedule 7.

Dual Polity: The Constitution establishes a dual polity consisting the Union at the centre and the states at the periphery. Each is endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised in the field assigned to them respectively by the Constitution.

Rigidity of Constitution: The division of powers established by the Constitution as well as the supremacy of the Constitution can be maintained only if the method of its amendment is rigid. Hence, the Constitution is rigid to the extent that those provisions which are concerned with the federal structure can be amended only by the joint action of the Central and state governments.

Solution (d)

Indian Independence Act of 1947 has the provisions mentioned above.

Additional Info:

Indian Independence Act, 1947:

• It ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state from August 15,1947.
• It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of
  India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.
• It abolished the office of viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor-general, who
  was to be appointed by the British King on the advice of the dominion cabinet.
• It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of the two dominions to frame and adopt any
  constitution for their respective nations and to repeal any act of the British Parliament,
  including the Independence act itself.
• It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions to legislate for their respective territories till the new constitutions were drafted and enforced. 
• No Act of the British Parliament passed after August 15, 1947 was to extend to either of
  the new dominions unless it was extended thereto by a law of the legislature of the
  dominion.
• It abolished the office of the Secretary of State for India and transferred his functions to the secretary of state for Commonwealth Affairs.
• It proclaimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and treaty relations with tribal areas from August 15,1947.
• It granted freedom to the Indian princely states either to join the Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent.
• It provided for the governance of each of the dominions and the provinces by the Government of India Act of 1935, till the new Constitutions were framed. 

• It designated the Governor-General of India and the provincial governors to act on the advice of the respective Council of Ministers in all matters.
• It discontinued the appointment to civil services and reservation of posts by the Secretary of State for India.

Solution (d) 

Solution (d)

Solution(c)

Statement Analysis:

Source: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1738864

Context: This temple is in news as it received UNESCO world heritage site status and the 39th such site in India.

Solution(b)

Statement Analysis:

Context: Phosphorous was in news as the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers told the Parliament that steps were being taken to explore Indigenous Deposits of Phosphatic rock

Solution(a)

Fazil, Khirsapatin , Zardalu are GI certified varities of mangoes. While Fazil and Khirsapatin are grown in West Bengal, Zardalu is grown in Bihar.

Context- A week long Indian mango promotion programme was organized in Bahrain

Solution(d)

Statement Analysis:

Context- The Department of School Education and Literacy had launched the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy, NIPUN Bharat Mission on 5th July, 2021 with the aim to achieve the goal of universal proficiency in foundational literacy and numeracy for every child by grade 3, as envisaged by National Education Policy 2020

Solution(c)

Satpura, Panna and Kanha Tiger Reserves are located in Madhya Pradesh in Central India. Dudhwa Tiger Reserve is located in Uttar Pradesh that stretches mainly across the Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts and shares the north-eastern boundary with Nepal.

Context- 14 Tiger Reserves in India received the accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured|Tiger Standards (CA|TS)

Solution(c) 

For a number to be divisible by 8, the last three digits must be divisible by 8. Here, 6X2 must be divisible by 8. For X = 3, 632 is divisible by 8. Therefore, 3 is the smallest possible whole number for Y.

Solution(b)

Given numeral = 726943

So, place value of 6 = position of 6 in given number = thousands place = 6 * 1000 = 6000

and, face value of 6 = value of digit itself = 6 .then, place value of 6 – Face value of 6 = 6000 – 6 which is equal to 5994 

Solution(a)

We know that largest four digit number is 9999. So, when we divide 9999 by 88, we get 55 as a remainder. So, If we subtract that remainder from the largest number, we get the number exactly divisible by 88 = 9999−55=9944

Solution(b)

Let’s assume the number to be 56 + 29 = 85 

85 = 56×1 + 29 

When it is divided by 8, 85/8 = 8×10 + 5 we get 5 as the remainder.

So, the answer is 5.

Solution (c)

“However, if one considers the amount of time academics require to prepare to lectures of good quality as well as the time they need to spend doing research, it is clear that most conscientious teachers work more than 40 hours a week.”

The above lines from the passage make it amply clear that option c is the correct answer.