Indian Polity Quiz: Day: 98

Answer: (a)

• Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, 49thChief Justice of India (CJI),assured there will be at least one Constitution Bench functioning throughout the year in the Supreme Court.

What is the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court?

• A Constitution Bench is a bench of the Supreme Court having five or more judges on it.
• These benches are not a routine phenomenon.

Article 145:

• Article 145(3) provides, “The minimum number of Judges who are to sit for the purpose of deciding any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution or for the purpose of hearing any reference under Article 143 shall be five.”

Article 143:

• When the President seeks the Supreme Court’s opinion under law under Article 143 of the Constitution.

Answer: (c)

• Berubari Union Case(1960): Preamble is not a part of the Constitution
• Kesavanada Bharati Case(1973): Preamble of the Constitution will now be considered as part of the Constitution.
• Union Government Vs LIC of India (1995): Preamble is the integral part of the Constitution but is not directly enforceable in a court of justice in India.
• The Constituent Assembly debated the Preamble on 17th October 1949. The debates around the Preamble revolved around the name of India and inclusion of ‘God’ and ‘Gandhi’.

Answer: (c)

• Recently, the 23rd Central Zonal Council Meetingchaired by the UnionHome Minister in Bhopal concluded.

The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh;

The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh;

The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal;

The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli;

The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

North Eastern Council (NEC) is a statutory advisory body constituted under the Northeastern Council Act 1971 and came into being on 7 November 1972 at Shillong. The eight States of Northeast India viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, are members of the council.

Answer: (d)

• The Fundamental rights can be suspended during National emergency except Article 20(right against conviction and self-incrimination) and Article 21(Right to life) while Article 19 can only be suspended on the ground of war and external aggression. (Article 359 and Article 358).
• The application of these rights to armed forces can only be restricted by the Parliament. (Article 33)
• The Fundamental Rights are not permanent they can be amended by Parliament without affecting ‘Basic Structure‘ of the Constitution.

Answer: (d)

• KT Shah(Khushal Talaksi Shah) states that the Directive Principles of state policy is a cheque that is paid at the convenience of the bank. He was a critique of the DPSPs and had called them “a needless fraud“.
• He was the main rival candidate in the first presidential election of Independent India, losing to Dr. Rajendra Prasad after securing 15.3% of votes.
• Shah made two attempts to get the word “secular” included in the Constitution but failed on both the occasion.
• Shah was in favor of the adoption of Presidential system of government.

Answer: (d)

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

• The UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act 2016”) on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• The Aadhaar Act 2016has been amended by the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019 (14 of 2019) w.e.f. 25.07.2019.
• UIDAI was created to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as “Aadhaar”, to all residents of India. The UID had to be –

orobust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and

overifiable and authenticable in an easy, cost-effective way.

• As on 31st October 2021, the Authority has issued 131.68 crore Aadhaar numbers to the residents of India.

Answer: (d)

• In 1971, the union territory of Himachal Pradesh was elevated to the status of a state (18th state of the Indian Union).
• Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya: In 1972, the political map of Northeast India underwent a major change. Thus, the two Union Territories of Manipur and Tripura and the Sub-State of Meghalaya got statehood and the two union territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh (originally known as North-East Frontier Agency—NEFA) came into being.
• With this, the number of states of the Indian Union increased to 21 (Manipur 19th, Tripura 20th and Meghalaya 21st).

Answer: (c)

• Zakir Husain died of a heart attack on 3 May 1969, the first Indian President to die in office. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the second Indian president to die in office, on 11 February 1977.

Answer: (b)

• H.V.R. Iyengar was the Secretary to the Constituent Assembly.
• S.N. Mukerjee was the chief draftsman of the constitution in the Constituent Assembly.
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada was the calligrapher of the Indian Constitution. The original constitution was handwritten by him in a flowing italic style.
• The original version was beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Nand Lal Bose and Beohar Rammanohar Sinha.
• Beohar Rammanohar Sinha illuminated, beautified and ornamented the original Preamble calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Raizada.
• The calligraphy of the Hindi version of the original constitution was done by Vasant Krishan Vaidya and elegantly decorated and illuminated by Nand Lal Bose.

Answer: (c)

The Supreme Court has decided to reconsider a 2013 judgment on Poll Promises, which held that promises in the election manifesto do not constitute a “corrupt practice” under the law.

What is the news?

• A Bench led by the CJI, Ramana, ordered a three-judge Bench to be set up to review the court’s earlier position.

Subramaniam Balaji Judgment: Invalidating certain Poll Promises

• It was held that pre-poll promises made by political parties to entice voters do not fall within the ambit of Section 123 (corrupt practices) under the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
• The judgment, delivered by a two-judge Bench, had observed that although the law is obvious that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be construed as ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of RP Act.
• The reality cannot be ruled out that distribution of freebies of any kind, undoubtedly, influences all people.
• Background: in between 2006 and 2011, Few political parties released their election manifesto announcing a scheme of free distribution of colour television sets (CTVs) grinders, mixies, electric fans, laptop computers, four gram gold thalis, etc. Balaji, a resident of Tamil Nadu, challenged the schemes in the Madras High Court stating that the expenditure to be incurred by the State from the exchequer was “unauthorised, impermissible and ultra vires the constitutional mandates”.