[DAY 49] 60 DAY RAPID REVISION (RaRe) SERIES for UPSC Prelims 2022 – POLITY, CURRENT AFFAIRS & CSAT; Test Series, Videos & Notes!

Solution (a)

Basic Info:

State Public Service Commission:
The Chairman and members of a State Public Service Commission, though appointed by the Governor of the state, can be removed only by the President.

The Chairman and members of the Commission hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier (in the case of UPSC, the age limit is 65 years). However, they can relinquish their offices at any time by addressing their resignation to the
Governor.

Joint State Public Service Commission (JSPSC): The Constitution makes a provision for the
establishment of a JSPSC for two or more states.

While the UPSC and the State Public Service Commission (SPSC) are created directly by the Constitution, a JSPSC can be created by an act of Parliament on the request of the state legislatures concerned. Thus, a JSPSC is a statutory and not a constitutional body.

Members of the JSPSC can be suspended or removed by the President. They can also resign from their offices at any time by submitting their resignation letters to the President.

The number of members of the JSPSC and their conditions of service is determined by the President. The JSPSC presents its annual performance report to each of the concerned state Governors. Each governor places the report before the State Legislature.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Finance Commission of India:

Article 280 of the Constitution of India provides for a Finance Commission as a quasi-judicial body. It is constituted by the President of India every fifth year or at such earlier time as he considers necessary.

The Constitution authorizes the Parliament to determine the qualifications of the members of the commission and the manner in which they should be selected.

The Finance Commission is required to make recommendations to the President of India (not Parliament) on the following matters:

• The distribution of the net proceeds of taxes to be shared between the Centre and the states, and the allocation between the states of the respective shares of such proceeds.
• The principles that should govern the grants-in-aid to the states by the Centre (i.e., out of the Consolidated Fund of India).

The measures needed to augment the consolidated fund of a state to supplement the resources of the panchayats and the municipalities in the state on the basis  of the recommendations made by the State Finance Commission.  Any other matter referred to it by the President in the  interests of sound finance.

It must be clarified here that the recommendations made by the Finance Commission are only of advisory nature and hence, not binding on the government.

State Finance Commission: A State Finance Commission examines a State’s Panchayati Raj institutions’ financial situation and makes recommendations to the Governor on the principles that should govern the distribution of tax revenues: taxes, duties, levies, and toll fees collected by the state between the state and its Panchayati Raj Institutions at all three levels village, block, and district.

It also recommends the following:

• Panchayats themselves levy or appropriate taxes, levies, and fees.
• Grants-in-aid from a state’s consolidated fund to Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• Ways to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions’ financial condition.
• Measures to enhance the finances of the Panchayat as a whole.

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is provided under Article 148.

He is the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department1. He is the guardian of the public purse and controls the entire financial system of the country at both the levels—the Centre and the state.

Comptroller and Auditor General’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 defines various provision related to the office of CAG.

Sections 10 to 12 of the Act deal with the responsibility of the Comptroller and Auditor General in relation to compilation of the accounts of the Union and the States and the Union Territories with Legislatures.

The second proviso to section 10 authorizes the Governor of a State to relieve the Comptroller and Auditor General, with the previous approval of the President and after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General, by order, from the responsibility of compiling the accounts of the State.

District Fund is constituted for each autonomous district and a Regional Fund for each autonomous region.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General shall cause the audit of accounts of the District and
Regional Councils.

Regarding powers to levy penalty for non-disclosure of information:

• At times, government departments don’t share information with CAG despite repeated reminders.
• Successive CAGs have written to the Centre seeking powers similar to what a common citizen enjoys under RTI where denial of information invites punitive measures.
• CAG wants powers under RTI Act where a penalty can be levied if the information is denied within a specified time.

Thus the CAG cannot levy penalties on the government department for not sharing the desired information within a specified time.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 provides that all the members of panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels shall be elected directly by the people. Further, the chairperson of panchayats at the intermediate and district levels shall be elected indirectly by and from amongst the elected members thereof.

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment includes the reservation of seats (both members and chairpersons) for SCs and STs as a mandatory provision, but the reservation for the backward classes is a voluntary provision.

A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as or for being a member of panchayat if he is so disqualified,

• Under any law for the time being in force for the purpose of elections to the legislature of the state concerned, or
• Under any law made by the state legislature. However, no person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than 25 years of age if he has attained the age of 21 years.
• Further, all questions of disqualifications shall be referred to such authority as the state legislature determines.

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (STs) is a constitutional body directly established by Article 338-A of the Constitution in order to safeguard the interests of the STs.

In accordance with clause 9 of Article 338A of the Constitution, the Union and every State Government shall consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting Scheduled Tribes.

The Commission is required to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of Scheduled Tribes

The Commission will also not intervene in vigilance and disciplinary cases as no safeguards have been provided to the employees belonging to Scheduled Tribes in such matters and also that the Commission is not an appellate authority in such cases.

The Commission can inquire into their service grievances only if there has been a violation of any provision of the Acts governing reservation in services and posts for Scheduled Tribes or the orders contained in the brochures relating to reservation matters issued by the Department of personnel & Training, Department of Public Enterprises in relation to the public sector undertakings, the Banking Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) with reference to the financial institutions, Ministry of Railways etc.

Composition of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST):

• The NCST consists of one chairperson, one vice-chairperson and three full-time members.
• All the members of the Commission have a tenure of 3 years.
• They are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• The Chairman shall be appointed from amongst eminent social, political workers belonging to Scheduled Tribes who inspire confidence amongst the Scheduled tribes by their vary personality and record of selfless service.
• The Vice-Chairman and all other Members out of whom at least two shall be appointed from amongst persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
• At least one other member shall be appointed from amongst women.

Solution (b) 

Basic Info:

The Constitution (Article 76) has provided for the office of the Attorney General for India. He is the highest law officer in the country.

President appoints the attorney general of India and determines his remuneration. The attorney general holds office during the pleasure of the president.

The Attorney General (AG) is appointed by the president. He must be a person who is qualified to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.

A person to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court should have the following qualifications:

• He should be a citizen of India.
• He should have been:
  • a judge of a High Court (or high courts in succession) for five years; or
  • an advocate of a High Court (or High Courts in succession) for ten years; or
  • a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the president.

The three duties that are assigned to him by the President are:

• In any legal case where the government of India is related to, the Attorney General has to appear in the Supreme Court on its behalf
• He has to represent the Union Government in any reference made by the president to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution
• He also appears in the High Court if any case is related to the Government of India

Solution (a)

Basic Info:

Delimitation means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.

The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission. As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act i.e. Delimitation Commission Act, 2002, it shall be constituted by the Central Government which shall consist of three members as follows:

• A retired judge of the Supreme Court
• The Chief Election Commissioner
• State Election Commissioners (of the respective states)

 In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times: 1952, 1963, 1973, 2002

The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.

These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President of India in this behalf.

The copies of its orders are laid before the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible therein by them.

Solution: (b)

Basic Info:

Article 243R provides that the Legislature of a State may provide for the representation of a few
persons in a Municipality without having the right to vote in the meetings of the Municipality. These are:

• Persons having special knowledge or experience in municipal administration
• The members of the House of the People and the members of the Legislative Assembly of the State representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the Municipal area the members of the Council of States and the members of the Legislative Council of the State registered as electors within the Municipal area;
• The Chairpersons of the Committees constituted under clause (5) of article 243S

Note: Persons having the knowledge or practical experience in the field of art, science, literature or social service, this criterion is required for persons represented in the legislative councils of the state through nomination by the Governor.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

A notified area committee is created for the administration of two types of areas:

• a fast developing town due to industrialization
• a town which does not yet fulfill all the conditions necessary for the constitution of a municipality, but which otherwise is considered important by the state government.

Since it is established by notification in the government gazette , it is called a notified area committee. Hence it is not a statutory body.

Though it functions within the framework of the State Municipal Act, only those provisions of the act apply to it which are notified in the government gazette by which it is created.

It may also be entrusted to exercise powers under any other act. Its powers are almost equivalent to those of a municipality.

Unlike the municipality, it is an entirely nominated body, that is, all the members of a notified area committee including the chairman are nominated by the state government.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special
Officer for Linguistic Minorities. Later, the States Reorganization Commission (1953- 55) made a recommendation in this regard.

Accordingly, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 inserted a new Article 350-B in Part XVII of the Constitution.

Article 350-B (1) states “there shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President”.

Article 350-B (2) states” it shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the president may direct, and the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned”.

The Constitution does not specify the qualifications, tenure, salaries and allowances, service conditions and procedure for removal of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.

In pursuance of the provision of Article 350-B of the Constitution, the office of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities was created in 1957. He is designated as the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities.

Solution (a)

Basic Info:

The Government enacted the 42^nd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1976. This amendment added a new part, namely, Part IVA to the Constitution. This new part consists of only one Article, that is, Article 51A which for the first time specified a code of fundamental duties of the citizens.

The Fundamental Duties in the Indian Constitution are inspired by the Constitution of erstwhile USSR.

Notably, none of the Constitutions of major democratic countries like USA, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and so on specifically contain a list of duties of citizens. Japanese Constitution is, perhaps, the only democratic Constitution in the world which contains a list of duties of citizens. The socialist countries, on the contrary, gave equal importance to the fundamental rights and duties of their citizens.

In 2002, one more Fundamental Duty was added to the Indian Constitution by the 86^th Constitutional Amendment Act i.e. to provide opportunities for education to his child or ward
between the age of six and fourteen years

The 44^th  Constitutional Amendment Act made no changes to Part IV-A of the Indian Constitution.

The 91^st Constitutional Amendment Act is related to Anti-Defection.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Gram Nyayalayas are mobile village courts in India established under Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 for speedy and easy access to justice system in the rural areas of India. They are aimed at providing inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their doorsteps. The Act came into force on October 2, 2009 i.e. the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Gram Nyayalaya are courts of Judicial Magistrate of the first class and its presiding officer
(Nyayadhikari) is appointed by the State Government in consultation with the High Court of the State concerned.

Gram Nyayalaya exercises the powers of both Criminal and Civil Courts; i.e., it can try criminal
cases, civil suits, claims or disputes which are specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to the Gram Nyayalaya Act and the scope of these cases can be amended by the Central as well as the State Governments, as per their respective legislative competence.

The Gram Nyayalayas are not bound by the rules of evidence provided in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 . They are guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to any rule made by the High Court.

Appeal in criminal cases shall lie to the Court of Session, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of such appeal. Appeal in civil cases shall lie to the District Court, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of the appeal.

It is a mobile court. The seat of the Gram Nyayalaya will be located at the headquarters of the
intermediate Panchayat, but they will go to villages, work there and dispose of the cases. The Gram Nyayalaya can follow summary procedure for its execution.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Our Constitution provides a clear mandate for democratic decentralisation not only through the Directive Principles of State Policy which exhorts the State to promote Panchayati Raj Institutions but more specifically now through the 73^rd  and 74^th  Amendments of the Constitution which seek to create an institutional framework for ushering in grass roots democracy through the medium of genuinely self governing local bodies in both urban and rural areas of the country.

Thus, the Constitution through 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 aims to provide for :

• Gram Sabha in a village or group of villages;
• Constitution of Panchayats at village and other level or levels;
• Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population for membership of Panchayats and office of Chairpersons in Panchayats at each level;
• Reservation of not less than one-third of the seats for women;
• Fixing tenure of 5 years for Panchayats and holding elections within a period of 6 months in the event of supersession of any Panchayat;
• Devolution by the State Legislature of powers and responsibilities upon the Panchayats with respect to the preparation of plans for economic developments and social justice and for the implementation of development schemes;
• Sound finance of the Panchayats by securing authorisation from State Legislatures for grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the State, as also assignment to, or appropriation by, the Panchayats of the revenues of designated taxes, duties, tolls and fees, etc

Political accountability of state executive is not a novel feature introduced through the insertion of Part IX but was already been ensured through various mechanisms since the adoption of the Constitution e.g. removal of Chief Minister, state council of ministers, appointment and removal of Governor, etc.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

The Constitution refers to two types of minorities, namely, religious minorities and linguistic minorities. However, the term ‘minority’ has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution.

The central government recognizes and notifies the religious minorities at the national level and not on the state level.

At present six communities, viz., Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Zoroastrians
(Parsis) are notified as religious minorities at the national level.

National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act (2004) provides additional safeguards to the minority educational institutions. It contains provisions for the following:

• Establishment of a National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions
• Right to establish a minority educational institution
• Right of a minority educational institution to seek affiliation to any university of its choice.

National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions (NCMEI) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development gives the minority status to the educational institutions on the basis of six religious communities notified by the Ministry of HRD under the NCMEI Act, 2004, viz., Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains only. Linguistic Minorities do not come under the ambit of the NCMEI Act, 2004.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

PART III of Representation of People Act, 1950 describes the provisions related to Electoral Rolls. It contains the following provisions:

• Every Indian citizen who has attained the age of 18 years is eligible to be registered as a voter in the roll of the part/polling area of the constituency where he is ordinarily resident.
• A person cannot be enrolled as a voter at more than one place in view of the provisions contained in Sections 17 and 18 of Representation of People Act, 1950. For example, if one is working in Delhi and residing there, he is an ordinary resident of Delhi in terms of Sec 19 (b) of RPA, 1951. Therefore one can be enrolled in Delhi only and not in his/her native place.

Overseas (NRI) elector

• An overseas elector is a person who is a citizen of India and who has not acquired citizenship of any other country and is otherwise eligible to be registered as a voter and who is absenting from his place of ordinary residence in India owing to his employment, education or otherwise is eligible to be registered as a voter in the constituency in which his place of residence in India as mentioned in his passport is located.
• According to the provisions of Section 20A of the Representation of People Act, 1950, an NRI settled in a foreign land can become an elector in the electoral roll in India.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:

All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc. This category of urban units is known as Statutory Towns.

These towns are notified under law by the concerned State/UT Government and have local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc., irrespective of their demographic characteristics as reckoned on 31st December 2009. Examples: Vadodara Muncipal Corporation, Shimla Municipal Corporation etc.

Census Towns: All other places which satisfied the following criteria:

• A minimum population of 5,000;
• At least 75 per cent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits;
• A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Under Article 350A – It shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may
issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.

Under Article 350B – There shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned.

The Constitution specifies that Hindi written in Devanagari script is to be the official language of the Union. But, the form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union has to be the international form of Indian numerals and not the Devanagari form of numerals.

The Constitution does not specify the official language of different states. It specifies that the legislature of a state may adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the state or Hindi as the official language of that state and it does not need the approval of Rajya sabha.

Until that is done, English is to continue as official language of that state. Under this provision, most of the states have adopted the major regional language as their official language.

The constitutional provisions dealing with the language of the courts and legislation are as follows:

Until Parliament provides otherwise, the following are to be in the English language only:
(a) All proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every high court.
(b) The authoritative texts of all bills, acts, ordinances, orders, rules, regulations and bye-laws at the Central and state levels

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Municipal corporations are created for the administration of big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and others. They are established in the states by the acts of the concerned state legislatures, and in the union territories by the acts of the Parliament of India.

There may be one common act for all the municipal corporations in a state or a separate act for each municipal corporation.

A municipal corporation has three authorities, namely, the council, the standing committees, and the commissioner.

The Council is the deliberative and legislative wing of the corporation. It consists of the Councilors directly elected by the people, as well as a few nominated persons having knowledge or experience of municipal administration.

In brief, the composition of the Council including the reservation of seats for SCs, STs, and women is governed by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.

The Council is headed by a Mayor. He is assisted by a Deputy Mayor. He is elected in a majority of the states for a one-year renewable term. He is basically an ornamental figure and a formal head of the corporation. His main function is to preside over the meetings of the Council.

The standing committees are created to facilitate the working of the council, which is too large in size. They deal with public works, education, health, taxation, finance and so on. They take decisions in their fields.

The municipal commissioner is responsible for the implementation of the decisions taken by the council and its standing committees. Thus, he is the chief executive authority of the corporation. He is appointed by the state government.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Goods & Services Tax Council is a constitutional body for making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax. It has been constituted by the President of India under Article 279A of the Indian Constitution.

The GST Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and other members are the Union Minister of State in charge of Revenue or Finance and Ministers in-charge of Finance or Taxation of all the States.

The Goods and Services Tax Council shall recommend the date on which the goods and services tax be levied on petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas and aviation turbine fuel.

One-half of the total number of Members of the Goods and Services Tax Council shall constitute the quorum at its meetings.

Every decision of the Goods and Services Tax Council shall be taken at a meeting, by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting, in accordance with the following principles, namely: —

• the vote of the Central Government shall have a weightage of one-third of the total votes cast,
• the votes of all the State Governments taken together shall have a weightage of two-thirds of the total votes cast, in that meeting

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Xaxa Committee on Tribal Communities of India: The Committee was mandated to examine the socio-economic, educational and health status of tribal communities and recommend appropriate interventional measures to improve the same.

The Bhuria Committee (1991) recommendations paved the way for the enactment of the PESA Act, 1996.

Elwin Committee (1959) was constituted to examine the functioning of Multi-Purpose Development Blocks, the basic administrative unit for all tribal development programmes.

Bandopadhyay Committee (2006) looked at development and governance in Left-Wing Extremist areas.

Solution (d)

Statement Analysis:

 Context – It was seen in news.

Solution (b)

Statement Analysis:

 Context – The scheme was recently approved.

Solution (c)

Vanniyars are one of the largest and most consolidated backward communities in Tamil Nadu.

Context – The Supreme Court held that Tamil Nadu’s reservation for Vanniyars in education and employment within the Most Backward Classes category was unconstitutional.

Solution (d)

Slag is one of the promising materials in various applications such as in transportation industry, construction, cement production, waste water and water treatment. Also because of the slowly released phosphate content in phosphorus-containing slag, and because of its liming effect, it is valued as fertilizer in gardens and farms in steel making areas.

Context – Surat has become the first city in the country to get a processed steel slag (industrial waste) road.

Solution (b)

Statement Analysis:

 Context – The bill was passed by Lok Sabha

Solution (c)

Formula for simple interest is I = Prt (P= Principal, R = rate of interest, T = time period )

Substitute P = 6000, t = 4, r = 6%.

I = 6000 * 6/100 * 4

I = 1440

Accumulated value = Principal + Interest = 6000 + 1440 = 7440

Solution (b)

Let x be the amount invested at 6% rate.

Then, the amount invested in 7.5% account is = 16500 – x

Given : After two years, total interest earned in both the accounts is $2,442.

Interest at 6% rate + Interest at 7.5% rate = 2442

Interest at 6% rate + Interest at 7.5% rate = 2442

x * 6/100 * 2 + (16500 – x) *7.5/100 *2 = 2442

x * 0.06 * 2 + (16500 – x) *0.075 * 2 = 2442

0.12x + (16500 – x) ⋅ 0.15 = 2442

0.12x + 2475 – 0.15x = 2442

2475 – 0.03x = 2442

2475 – 2442 = 0.03x

33 = 0.03x

Divide both sides by 0.03.

33/0.03 = x

3300/3 = x

x=1100

Solution (a)

Formula for C.I = P(1 + r/n)^nt

Where P = initial principal balance

r = interest rate

n=number of times interest rate has been applied

t= number of time periods elapsed.

Amount = [ 1600 * ( 1 + 5/(2 * 100))² + 1600 * ( 1 + 5/2*100 )]

= [ 1600 * 41/40 * 41/40 + 1600 * 41/40 ]

= [ 1600 * 41/40(41/40 + 1)]

= [ 1600 * 41 * 81/(40 * 40)]

= 3321

Therefore, compound interest = 3321 – 3200 = 121.

Solution (d)

Let the sum be Rs. x.

1 gives, S.I. = Rs. 7000 and T = 7 years.

2 gives, Sum + S.I. for 5 years = 2 x Sum

From 2, Sum = S.I. for 5 years.

Now, S.I. for 7 years = Rs. 7000.

S.I. for 1 year = Rs.7000/7= Rs. 1000.

Thus, 1 and 2 both are needed to get the answer.

Solution (c)

Refer to, “There are good reasons why the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference, part of a 14-nation process begun in 2011 to facilitate the development and security of Afghanistan, is so named.” The Heart of Asia process thus remains critical to forging cooperation to realise Afghanistan’s potential to be a vibrant Asian “hub”.

Hence, option c is correct.