Indian Polity - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The most basic condition that the candidate has to fulfill is that he should be an adult eligible to vote for which his name must figure in the voters list of the area in which he resides. 

All these different local bodies are formed as per the provisions of Article 243 and Schedules 5 & 6.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli was a former Portuguese colony and not a French colony. It was annexed by India from Portugal on 2nd August, 1954. It was made a Union Territory of India in 1961 with Silvassa as its capital. 

Entry 14 in the Union List specifically mentions the words “implementing of treaties, agreements and conventions with foreign countries” and as per Art.246, the Parliament has exclusive power to make laws on all the subjects mentioned in the Union list.

The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act,1992 added Part IX (Art.243 – Art.243O) to the Constitution of India. These provisions give constitutional status to Panchayats. It was a landmark amendment in the field of rural local governance. 

Yielding the floor is the practice of giving a part of a member’s time to speak to another member. A member is said to have crossed the floor when he passes between the member addressing the House and the Chair (Speaker). This practice is a breach of parliamentary etiquette.

Art.76 is the provision concerned with the appointment of the Attorney General of India. It provides that:
(i) the Attorney General shall be appointed by the President,
(ii) he must be qualified to become a Judge of the Supreme Court and he shall remain in office during the pleasure of the President.  
No provision for his impeachment is given in the Constitution. The Attorney General is not required to be a member of either House of the Parliament. However, as per Art.88, he has the right to attend the sessions of the Parliament but he cannot vote. Attorney General acts as a legal advisor to the Union Govt. 

As per the official table of precedence of the President’s secretariat, the Chief Justice of India is placed at the sixth position, Union cabinet ministers at the seventh, the Chief Election Commissioner at 9A and the Cabinet secretary at the eleventh position. The first three positions in India in the order of precedence are – (i) President (ii) Vice – President (iii) Prime Minister 

Art.280 provides that it is the duty of Finance Commission to make recommendations to the President as to the various financial matters mentioned therein. The role of the Commission is advisory. Art. 281 provides that the President shall cause every recommendation made by the Finance Commission to be laid before the Parliament. 

Madhya Pradesh has the largest number of people belonging to Scheduled tribes in India. As many as 46 Scheduled tribes are recognized by the State, prominent among them being the Gond, Bhil, Baiga, Korku and Sahariya tribes. Allocation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the Lok Sabha are made on the basis of proportion of Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the State concerned to that of the total population as per Article 330 of the Constitution of India, read with Section 3 of the Representation of People Act, 1950.9 seats are reserved for the Scheduled tribes of the State of M.P. in the Lok Sabha.

As per Art.109(1), a money bill shall not be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Other options are correct as per Art.109 of the Constitution. Provisions which make a bill, money bill are defined by Art. 110. Money bill is presented with prior consent of President so he cannot return it for reconsideration.

The first schedule of the Constitution lists all the States and Union Territories and the territories covered under them. Art.1 provides that the territory of India shall consist of the territories as specified in the First Schedule. Hence, in the event of creation of a new state, the First Schedule will have to be amended and the new State be added to it. Other than this, schedule 4 which lists out number of Rajya Sabha seats in all states, is also amended. 

Section 29A of The Representation of People Act, 1951 provides for the registration of political parties. An application for registration is to be made to the Election Commission for such registration. A political party gets recognition as a national political party when The party wins 2% (i.e. 11 seats in the existing House having 543 members) of seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states in the general elections. OR· In the general elections or elections to a State Legislative Assembly, the party secures 6% of the total valid votes cast in at least four states and wins 4 Lok Sabha seats also. As of now in 2015, there are 6 recognised National Parties: Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India Marxist), Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.

Composition of Legislative Assemblies is provided in Art. 170.

Art. 350A is a part of the special directives given under Part XVII of the Constitution. The article directs the State and 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.

Art.143 deals with the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and provides that the President may seek advice of the Supreme Court in the matters of public importance or a question of law. The President may also refer a dispute (on the matters specified in Article 131) to the Supreme Court for its opinion. However, the President is not bound to follow such opinion.

The CAG of India is a constitutional authority as given in Art.148-151 of the Constitution. Its powers, duties and functions are provided in the CAG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971. His main duties are related to audit and scrutiny of the Consolidated Fund of India and various public accounts maintained by the Govt. of India. He is responsible for keeping a check on the use of public money and for reporting the same. Option (d) is not one of his duties as the control and issue of public money is done by the Reserve Bank of India.

The Fourth Schedule lists all the States and Union territories and the seats allocated to them in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha). The Seventh Schedule provides three lists i.e. the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List distributing powers of legislation between the States and the Union The Eighth Schedule lists all the official languages (Total 22 as of now) recognized by the Constitution. The Sixth Schedule contains provisions related to the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The parliamentary committees are assigned works of varied nature to handle the huge amount of work of the Parliament. These committees are responsible for preparing reports, give recommendations, assess other reports and inquire into certain matters. The Parliament, in this way, exercises control over the administration. Public Account Committee, Estimate Committee etc are among the important Parliamentary Committees.

There are 24 High Courts in the Country at present. Bombay HC, Gauhati HC and Punjab & Haryana HC have jurisdiction over more than one state. Delhi which is a Union Territory (National Capital Territory to be exact) has a High Court of its own. As per Art.224(3), a Judge of a HC holds office till the age of 62 and as per article 124(2), a SC Judge retires at the age of 65.