UPSC Paper 1 Mock Test - 21 - UPSC MCQ

The functions of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes are

• To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the SCs and to evaluate their working;
• To inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the SCs; Hence statement 1 is correct.
• To participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the SCs and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union or a state;
• To present to the President, annually and at such other times as it may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
• To make recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or a state for the effective implementation of those safeguards and other measures for the protection, welfare and socio-economic development of the SCs; and
• To discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement of the SCs as the president may specify.

To determine the increase or decrease in quantum of the reservation is the function of the government. The instructions on Reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in services under the Government of India have been contained various orders issued from time to time by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Personnel and Training. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
Promotion of schedule caste employees is taken care of by the Department of personnel and training, no such list is maintained by NCSC. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
One of the functions of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes is to verify the proposed inclusion of any caste into the list of Scheduled Castes.

• Article 341(1) of the Constitution prescribes the procedure for regarding castes as “Scheduled Castes”. As per the procedure to make additions or deletions to the Schedule by amending the concerned Presidential Order for a state under Article 341(2), state governments first propose to modify the Schedule. Only proposals agreed by both the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes are introduced as a Bill in Parliament.

Statement 1 is correct: Indian constitution is a sacred document but not a static one. It allows changes if the demand is made by the society. After independence several amendments/provisions and laws were made as the needs of the society.
Statement 2 is correct: Ever since the constitution came into being, the political class and the judiciary subjected it to multiple interpretations. Judicial pronouncements/ judgements have led to establishment of several doctrine which was not mentioned in the original constitution. Eg - Basic Structure Doctrine.

Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
Statement 1 is correct: The Court of Directors of East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the Governor-General in India in 1854. Issued by Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the Company, it has come to be known as Wood’s Despatch. Outlining the educational policy that was to be followed in India, it emphasised once again the practical benefits of a system of European learning, as opposed to Oriental knowledge.
Statement 2 is correct: In 1853, Dalhousie opened the first telegraphic line from Calcutta to Agra and also introduced the postal service in India.
Statement 3 is correct: According to the doctrine of lapse, if any Indian ruler dies without leaving a male heir, his kingdom would automatically pass over to the British. Satara, Sambhalpur, Udaipur, Nagpur and Jhansi were some states which were annexed by the Company under this doctrine.

Directive Principles lists mainly three things:

• The goals and objectives that we as a society should adopt;
• Certain rights that individuals should enjoy apart from the Fundamental Rights; and
• Certain policies that the government should adopt.

The governments from time to time tried to give effect to some Directive Principles of State Policy. They passed several zamindari abolition bills, nationalised banks, enacted numerous factory laws, fixed minimum wages, cottage and small industries were promoted and provisions for reservation for the uplift of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were made. Such efforts to give effect to the Directive Principles include the right to education, formation of panchayati raj institutions all over the country, partial right to work under employment guarantee programme and the mid-day meal scheme etc.

Statement 1 is not correct: Pabna revolt was against the Zamindars and not against the British government. The unrest was caused by the efforts of the zamindars to enhance rent beyond legal limits and to prevent the tenants from acquiring occupancy rights under ‘Act X of 1859’.
Statement 2 is correct: The agrarian leagues kept within the bounds of law, used the legal machinery to fight Zamindars, and raised no anti-British demands.

1. A high court has administrative control and other powers over subordinate courts. These include the following:

• It is consulted by the governor in the matters of appointment, posting and promotion of district judges and in the appointments of persons to the judicial service of the state (other than district judges),
• It deals with the matters of posting, promotion, a grant of leave, transfers, and discipline of the members of the judicial service of the state (other than district judges),
• It can withdraw a case pending in a subordinate court if it involves a substantial question of law that requires the interpretation of the Constitution. It can then either dispose of the case itself or determine the question of law and return the case to the subordinate court with its judgment. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Its law is binding on all subordinate courts functioning within its territorial jurisdiction in the same sense as the law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all courts in India.

2. As a court of record, a high court also has the power to review and correct its own judgment or order or decision, even though no specific power of review is conferred on it by the Constitution. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, has been specifically conferred with the power of review by the constitution. Hence statement 2 is correct.
3. Article 131 is the main provision in the constitution regarding center-state/ inter-state disputes. This article confers upon Supreme Court of India exclusive jurisdiction to deal with a dispute involving legal rights; and also disputes: between the Government of India and one or more States or between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other; or between two or more States. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

1. Article 20 of the Indian Constitution grants protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to an accused person, whether citizen or foreigner or legal person like company or a corporation. It contains three provisions-:

• No ex-post-facto law - No person shall be (i) convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act, nor (ii) subjected to a penalty greater than that prescribed by the law in force at the time of the commission of the act.
• No double jeopardy - No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once

2. No self-incrimination

• It states that no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
• The protection against self -incrimination extends to both oral evidence and documentary evidence.

3. It does not extend to

• compulsory production of material objects,
• compulsion to give thumb impression, specimen signature, blood specimens, and
• compulsory exhibition of the body.

4. Further, it extends only to criminal proceedings and not to civil proceedings or proceedings which are not of criminal nature.

Statement 1 is correct: Some Indian revolutionaries who were operating from Berlin, and who had links with the Ghadar leader Ram Chandra in America, continued, with German help, to make attempts to organize a mutiny among Indian troops stationed abroad. Raja Mahendra Pratap and Barkatullah tried to enlist with the help of the Amir of Afghanistan and even set up a Provisional Government in Kabul, but these and other attempts failed to record any significant success.
Statement 2 is correct: Madam Bhikaji Cama along with Ajit Singh operated from Paris and Geneva and brought out the journal Bande mataram.
Statement 3 is not correct: It was Shyamji KrishnaVerma who in 1905 set up the Indian Home Rule Society and India House and brought out the journal 'The Sociologist' in London. Madan Lal Dhingra in 1909 murdered Curzon Wylliee, post which London became too dangerous a place for revolutionaries.

• Article 33 empowers the Parliament to restrict or abrogate the fundamental rights of the members of armed forces, para-military forces, police forces, intelligence agencies, and analogous forces. The objective of this provision is to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them. The power to make laws under Article 33 is conferred only on Parliament and not on state legislatures. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Any such law made by Parliament cannot be challenged in any court on the ground of contravention of any of the fundamental rights. Hence statement 2 is correct. Accordingly, the Parliament has enacted the Army Act (1950), the Navy Act (1950), the Air Force Act (1950), the Police Forces (Restriction ofRights) Act, 1966, the Border Security Force Act and so on. These impose restrictions on their freedom of speech, right to form associations, right to be members of trade unions or political associations, right to communicate with the press, right to attend public meetings or demonstrations, etc.
• The expression members of the armed forces also covers such employees of the armed forces as barbers, carpenters, mechanics, cooks, chowkidars, bootmakers, tailors who are non-combatants. Hence statement 3 is not correct.

Statement 1 is correct: Haipou Jadonang (cousin of Rani Gaidinliu), who was then leading a socio-political movement called Heraka. After his death, at the age of 16, Rani Gaidinliu took the leadership.
Statement 2 is not correct: She was given the title "Rani" by Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Statement 3 is not correct: She was released from Tura Jail on October 14, 1947, after India became independent.

1. Articles 358 and 359 describe the effect of a National Emergency on the Fundamental Rights. Article 358 deals with the suspension of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Article 19, while Article 359 deals with the suspension of other Fundamental Rights (except those guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21).
2. According to Article 358, when a proclamation of national emergency is made, the six Fundamental Rights under Article 19 are automatically suspended. No separate order for their suspension is required.
3. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restricted the scope of Article 358 in two ways.

• Firstly, the six Fundamental Rights under Article 19 can be suspended only when the National Emergency is declared on the ground of war or external aggression and not on the ground of armed rebellion . Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Secondly, only those laws which are related with the Emergency are protected from being challenged and not other laws. Also, the executive action taken only under such a law is protected.

4. Article 359 authorises the president to suspend the right to move any court for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights during a National Emergency . (Hence statement 2 is correct). This means that under Article 359, the Fundamental Rights as such are not suspended, but only their enforcement. The said rights are theoretically alive but the right to seek remedy is suspended. The suspension of enforcement relates to only those Fundamental Rights that are specified in the Presidential Order. Further, the suspension could be for the period during the operation of emergency or for a shorter period as mentioned in the order, and the suspension order may extend to the whole or any part of the country. It should be laid before each House of Parliament for approval.
5. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restricted the scope of Article 359 in two ways.

• Firstly, the President cannot suspend the right to move the Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 20 to 21 . In other words, the right to protection in respect of conviction for offences (Article 20) and the right to life and personal liberty (Article 21) remain enforceable even during an emergency. Hence statement 3 is not correct,
• Secondly, only those laws which are related with the emergency are protected from being challenged and not other laws and the executive action taken only under such a law, is protected.

• The Central administrative tribunals(CAT) exercises original jurisdiction in relation to recruitment and all service matters of public servants covered by it. Its jurisdiction extends to the all-India services, the Central civil services, civil posts under the Centre and civilian employees of defense services. However, the members of the defense forces, officers and servants of the Supreme Court and the secretarial staff of the Parliament are not covered by it.
• Originally, appeals against the orders of the CAT could be made only in the Supreme Court and not in the high courts. However, in the Chandra Kumar case (1997), the Supreme Court declared this restriction on the jurisdiction of the high courts as unconstitutional, holding that judicial review is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. It laid down that appeals against the orders of the CAT shall lie before the division bench of the concerned high court.

Statement 1 is correct: The Second World War was instrumental in the formation of a specific collective consciousness both in the RIN as well as among the Madras working classes. The most obvious economic impact of war on Madras city was a steep rise in prices of commodities. The price of paddy and rice continued to advance and the rise was more marked in the case of paddy.
Statement 2 is not correct: The civilians of Madras became involved in the RIN demonstrations. The reports in the newspapers from February 19 onwards were avidly read by the civilians in Madras. On 21st, they watched the Madras ratings driving trucks, shouting slogans, marching around the city and chasing all Europeans out of sight. The stimulation of popular involvement began on that day and general tension mounted in the city.
Statement 3 is correct: The Communist Party of India was directly involved in the hartal and strikes. M. R. Venkata Raman, Secretary of Tamil Nadu Committee of CPI, on behalf of the Communist party, appealed to the leaders of the Congress to come forward to help and build up the growing unity sentiment amongst the masses.

• Our Constitution entitles every citizen to elect her/his representative and to be elected as a representative. It has to be remembered that right to contest an election, a right to vote and a right to object to an ineligible person exercising right to vote are all rights and obligations created by statute.
• The Supreme Court while examining the constitutional validity of certain provisions of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 in Javed & Others v. State of Haryana & Others, (2003), also has held that right to contest an election is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right. It is a right conferred by a statute. At the most, in view of Part IX having been added in the Constitution, a right to contest election for an office in Panchayat may be said to be a constitutional right."

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: Vernacular Press Act 1878, was designed for better control of the vernacular press and effectively punish and repress seditious writing.
Other provisions of this act were:
(i) The District Magistrate was empowered to call upon the printer and publisher of any vernacular newspaper to enter into a bond with Government Undertaking
(ii) The Magistrate action was final and no appeal could be made in a court of law. The Act came to be nicknamed as the Gagging Act and the worst features of this act were discrimination between English and Vernacular and no right of appeal.
Statement 3 is not correct: There was strong opposition to this and the Act was repealed in December 1881 under the regime of Lord Rippon.

The Constitution has sought to safeguard and ensure the independence and impartiality of the Election Commission. However,

• The Constitution has not prescribed the qualifications (legal, educational, administrative or judicial) of the members of the Election Commission. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• The Constitution has not specified the term of the members of the Election Commission,
• The Constitution has not debarred the retiring election commissioners from any further appointment by the government. Hence statement 2 is not correct .

Statement 1 is correct: The number of elected member in the Imperial Legislative Council and Provincial Legislative council were increased. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60 whereas the number of members in the Provincial Legislative council was not uniform.
Statement 2 is correct: The Act gave the Muslims representation disproportionate to their population. This was done on the excuse of the political importance of the Muslim community. Separate representation was also given to Presidency Corporations, Universities, Chambers of Commerce, and the Land-holders.
Statement 3 is correct: Satyendra Nath Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy's Executive council. He was appointed as the Law Member.

• Under Article 28, no religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State funds. However, this provision shall not apply to an educational institution administered by the State but established under any endowment or trust, requiring imparting of religious instruction in such institution. Further, no person attending any educational institution recognized by the State or receiving aid out of State funds shall be required to attend any religious instruction or worship in that institution without his consent. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Article 27 lays down that no person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination. This provision prohibits the only levy of a tax and not a fee. This is because the purpose of a fee is to control secular administration of religious institutions and not to promote or maintain the religion. Thus, a fee can be levied on pilgrims to provide them some special service or safety measures. Similarly, a fee can be levied on religious endowments for meeting the regulation expenditure. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

•  According to Article 1, the territory of India can be classified into three categories: 1. Territories of the states 2. Union territories 3. Territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any time.
• The Territory of India is a wider expression than the ‘Union of India’ because the latter includes only states while the former includes not only the states but also union territories and territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any future time. Hence, only option 1 is correct.
• The states are the members of the federal system and share a distribution of powers with the Centre. The union territories and the acquired territories, on the other hand, are directly administered by the Central government.

Statement 1 is not correct: Dominion status (and not Self-government) for India was one of the proposals under the August offer.
Statements 2 and 4 are correct: Setting up of a Constituent Assembly after the war in which mainly Indians would decide the Constitution according to their social, economic and political conceptions subject to fulfillment of the obligation of the government regarding defence, minority rights, treaties with states and All India Services.
Statement 3 is correct: Also one of the proposals made in the offer was that 'No future Constitution to be adopted without the consent of minorities'. The Congress rejected the offer. The muslim League welcomed the Veto assurance given to the league and reiterated its position that partition was the only solution to the deadlock.

• A democratic polity, as stipulated in the Preamble, is based on the doctrine of popular sovereignty, that is, possession of supreme power by the people. The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions. However, the term ‘democratic’ is used in the Preamble in the broader sense embracing not only political democracy but also social and economic democracy.
• Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean ? It means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity. The principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy.
• Liberty cannot be divorced from equality, equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty, would kill individual initiative. Hence, both statement 1 and statement 2 are correct.

1. A bill contemplating the changes under Article 3 has to satisfy two conditions:

• Such a bill can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior recommendation of the President;
• Before recommending the bill, the President has to refer the same to the state legislature concerned for expressing its views within a specified period.

2. The President is not bound by the views of the state legislature and may either accept or reject them, even if the views are received in time. Moreover, the Constitution (Article 4) itself declares that laws made for admission or establishment of new states (under Article 2) and formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states (under Articles 3) are not to be considered as amendments of the Constitution under Article 368. This means that such laws can be passed by a simple majority and by the ordinary legislative process.

Statement 1 is correct: The rotation of Earth around its axis affects the direction of winds. This force is called Coriolis force. The wind gets deflected to the right direction in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. The deflection is more when the wind velocity is high.
Statement 2 is not correct: The Coriolis force acts perpendicular to the pressure gradient force. The pressure gradient force is perpendicular to the Isobar. The higher the pressure gradient force, the more is the velocity of wind and higher will be the deflection in the direction of wind.
Statement 3 is not correct: The Coriolis force is directly proportional to the angle of latitude. It is maximum at the poles and absent at the equator.

1. The creation of Andhra state in Oct 1953 intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on 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. Hence, statement 1 is not correct and statement 2 is correct.
2. It submitted its report in September 1955 and broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation of states. But, it rejected the theory of ‘one language-one state’ . Hence, statement 3 is correct.
3. It identified four major factors that can be taken into account in any scheme of reorganisation 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.

4. 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.

Moving from South to North BhubaneswarRaipur-Kolkata-Ranchi.

1. The Constitution does not contain any classification of Directive Principles. However, on the basis of their content and direction, they can be classified into three broad categories, viz, socialistic, Gandhian and liberal-intellectual.
2. Socialistic Principles: These principles reflect the ideology of socialism. They lay down the framework of a democratic socialist state, aim at providing social and economic justice, and set the path towards welfare state. They direct the state:

• To promote the welfare of the people by securing a social order permeated by justice social, economic and political and to minimise inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities (Article 38).
• To secure (a) the right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens; (b) the equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common good; (c) prevention of concentration of wealth and means of production; (d) equal pay for equal work for men and women; (e) preservation of the health and strength of workers and children against forcible abuse; and (f ) opportunities for healthy development of children (Article 39).

3. To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor (Article 39 A).

• To secure the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement (Article 41).
• To make provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief (Article 42).
• To secure a living wage, a decent standard of life and social and cultural opportunities for all workers (Article 43).
• To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries (Article 43 A),
• To raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of people and to improve public health (Article 47).

4. Gandhian Principles: These principles are based on Gandhian ideology. They represent the programme of reconstruction enunciated by Gandhi during the national movement. In order to fulfil the dreams of Gandhi, some of his ideas were included as Directive Principles. They require the State:

• To organise village panchayats and endow them with necessary powers and authority to enable them to function as units of self-government (Article 40).
• To promote cottage industries on an individual or co-operation basis in rural areas (Article 43) .
• To promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies (Article 43B).
• To promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs, and other weaker sections of the society and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation (Article 46).
• To prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health (Article 47).
• To prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle and to improve their breeds (Article 48).

5. Liberal-Intellectual Principles: The principles included in this category represent the ideology of liberalism. They direct the state:

• To secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout the country (Article 44).
• To provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years (Article 45).
• To organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines (Article 48).
• To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wild life (Article 48 A),
• To protect monuments, places and objects of artistic or historic interest which are declared to be of national importance (Article 49).
• To separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State (Article 50).
• To promote international peace and security and maintain just and honorable relations between nations; to foster respect for international law and treaty obligations, and to encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration (Article 51).

Chicken’s Neck refers to the Siliguri Corridor, a narrow strip of land, which has several vital installations around it. It is narrow strip of land connecting Sikkim and West Bengal states of India.

NITI Aayog houses a number of specialised wings, including:
(i) Research Wing: It develops in-house sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank of top notch domain experts, specialists and scholars.
(ii) Consultancy Wing: It provides a market-place of whetted panels of expertise and funding, for the Central and State Governments to tap into matching their requirements with solution providers, public and private, national and international. By playing match-maker instead of providing the entire service itself , NITI Aayog is able to focus its resources on priority matters, providing guidance and an overall quality check to the rest.
(iii) Team India Wing: It comprises of the representatives from every State and Ministry and serves as a permanent platform for national collaboration. Each representative:

• Ensures that every State/Ministry has a continuous voice and stake in the NITI Aayog.
• Establishes a direct communication channel between the State/Ministry and NITI Aayog for all development related matters, as the dedicated liaison interface.

Article 49 directs the state to protect monuments, places and objects of artistic or historic interest which are declared to be of national importance. It is a Directive Principle of State Policy, included in the category that represents the ideology of liberalism.

The transformation of water vapour into water is called condensation. After condensation the water vapour or moisture in the air takes one of the following forms- Dew, Frost, Fog, Mist and Clouds. The process of continuous condensation in the free air helps the condensed particles to grow. When the resistance of the air fails to hold them against the force of gravity, they fall on the earth’s surface. So after condensation of water vapour the release of moisture is known as precipitation. Different forms of precipitation are- Rain, Snow, Hail, Sleet and Drizzle.