Indian Polity & Constitution MCQs

Notes:
Prorogation is end of a session. A prorogation puts an end to a session. The time between the Prorogation and reassembly is called Recess. Prorogation is end of session and not the dissolution of the house in case of Lok Sabha, as Rajya Sabha does not dissolve.
While adjournment is done by presiding officers (speaker / deputy speaker in Lok Sabha and Chairman / Deputy chairman in Rajya Sabha), prorogation is done by President. Dissolution of Lok Sabha is also done by president.

Notes:
The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 makes the following salient provisions:

• To provide 3-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all the States having population of over 20 Lakhs.
• To hold Panchayat Elections regularly every 5 years.
• To provide reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women (not less than 33%)
• To appoint State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards the financial powers of the Panchayats.
• To constitute District Planning Committee to prepare draft development plan for the district as a whole.

Notes:
Schedules are lists in the Constitution of India that categorize and tabulate bureaucratic activities and policy of the Government. Indian Constitution had originally eight schedules. 9th schedule was added via First Amendment Act. 10th Schedule was first added by 35th Amendment (Sikkim as Associate State) but as Sikkim became a state of India, the original 10 Schedule was repealed. Later it was added once again by 52th Amendment Act, 1985 to park the anti-defection law. Eleventh Schedule was added by 73rd amendment and has list of subjects under the Panchayat Raj institutions or rural local government. Twelfth Schedule was added by 74th amendment and enlists the subjects under Municipalities or urban local government.

Notes:
The first meeting of Council of State was held on 13 May 1952. However, The Rajya Sabha, its Hindi nomenclature was adopted in 23 August, 1954.

Notes:
English was the only language used for official purpose in the British India. In the independent India, it was declared in Article 343 (1) that Hindi will be the official Union language. It was also mentioned that over a period of fifteen years since the commencement of the Indian Constitution, Hindi will replace English as the official language. However, the Parliament can decide whether to use English as an official language or not.
The non-Hindi speaking communities across the country protested on the aspect of the change in official language from English to Hindi. This protest resulted in the enactment of the Official Language Act, 1963. According to the act, Hindi in Devanagari script has been declared the official language of the Union. However, English may also be used for official purposes even after 1965. English has been given the status of the ‘subsidiary official language’ of India. It was decided that either Hindi or English can be used for procedures of Parliament.

Notes:
The constitution of 1950 had provided for three main types of states and a class of territories:
Part A states, which were the former governors’ provinces of British India, were ruled by a governor appointed by the president and an elected state legislature. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh (formerly Central Provinces and Berar), Madras, Orissa, Punjab (formerly East Punjab), Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces), and West Bengal.
Part B states, which were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India. The eight Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin.
Part C states included both the former chief commissioners’ provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The ten Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, and Vindhya Pradesh.
The sole Part D territory was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government.

Notes:
Between 1952 and 2020, two seats were reserved in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, for members of the Anglo-Indian community. These two members were nominated by the President of India on the advice of the Government of India. In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures of India were abolished by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.

Notes:
NRIs can vote in parliamentary as well as assembly elections. An NRI is any Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian Passport.

Notes:
For the election of Lok Sabha and assemblies in India, the system of territorial representation is adopted. It aims at giving representation on the basis of territories irrespective of the population of that territory.

Notes:
Article 169 provides for abolition or creation of the legislative councils in states. Any creation or abolition of the legislative council in state will need an amendment of the constitution but it will be of first category (not deemded to be amendment under article 368) and to be passed by simple majority.