Indian polity & Governance Test 3

Answer – d

Besides the Fundamental Rights included in Part III, there are certain other rights contained in other parts of the Constitution. These rights are known as constitutional rights or legal rights or nonfundamental rights

• No tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law (Article 265 in Part XII).
• The elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly shall be on the basis of adult suffrage (Article 326 in Part XV)

In case of violation of a Fundamental Right, the aggrieved person can directly move the Supreme Court for its enforcement under Article 32, which is in itself a fundamental right. But, in case of violation of the above rights, the aggrieved person cannot avail this constitutional remedy. He can move the High Court by an ordinary suit or under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction of high court).

Answer – c

Article 31A saves five categories of laws from being challenged and invalidated on the ground of contravention of the fundamental rights conferred by Article 14 and Article 19

• Acquisition of estates17 and related rights by the State;
• Taking over the management of properties by the State;
• Amalgamation of corporations;
• Extinguishment or modification of rights of directors or shareholders of corporations; and
• Extinguishment or modification of mining leases

Answer – b

Article 31B saves the acts and regulations included in the Ninth Schedule from being challenged and invalidated on the ground of contravention of any of the fundamental rights. Thus, the scope of Article 31B is wider than Article 31A. Article 31B immunises any law included in the Ninth Schedule from all the fundamental rights whether or not the law falls under any of the five categories specified in Article 31A

Answer – c

Article 31B saves the acts and regulations included in the Ninth Schedule from being challenged and invalidated on the ground of contravention of any of the fundamental rights. However, in a significant judgement delivered in January 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that there could not be any blanket immunity from judicial review of laws included in the Ninth Schedule. The court held that judicial review is a ‘basic feature’ of the constitution and it could not be taken away by putting a law under the Ninth Schedule. It said that the laws placed under the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973, are open to challenge in court if they violated fundamentals rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 or the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution.

Answer – c

It was set up by resolution of GOI in 2000. The 11 member commission was headed by MN Venkatachaliah, former CJI of Supreme Court.

Answer – c

• A party or candidate organising a procession shall decide before hand the time and place of the starting of the procession, the route to be followed and the time and place at which the procession will terminate. There shall ordinarily be no deviation from the programme. The organisers shall give advance intimation to the local police authorities of the programme so as to enable the latter to make necessary arrangements.
• If two or more political parties or candidates propose to take processions over the same route or parts thereof at about the same time, the organisers shall establish contact well in advance and decide upon the measures to be taken to see that the processions do not clash or cause hindrance to traffic. The assistance of the local police shall be availed of for arriving at a satisfactory arrangement. For this purpose the parties shall contact the police at the earliest opportunity.

Answer – b

From the time elections are announced by the Commission, ministers and other authorities shall not
(a) Announce any financial grants in any form or promises thereof
(b) (Except civil servants) lay foundation stones etc., of projects or schemes of any kind
(c) Make any promise of construction of roads, provision of drinking water facilities, etc.
(d) Make any ad-hoc appointments in government, public undertakings, etc. which may have  the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the party in power.

Answer – a

The Election Commission appoints Observers. If the candidates or their agents have any specific complaint or problem regarding the conduct of elections, they may bring the same to the notice of the Observer.

Answer – a

No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use of any individual’s land, building, compound wall etc., without his permission for erecting flag-staffs, suspending banners, pasting notices, writing slogans, etc

Answer – c

• 2^nd ARC recommended that Official Secrets Act, 1923 should be repealed, and substituted by a chapter in the National Security Act, containing provisions relating to official secrets.
• The recommendation has not been accepted. OSA is the only law to deal with the cases of espionage, wrongful possession and communication of sensitive information detrimental to the security of the State.
• National Security Act (NSA) provides for preventive powers to deal with likely threats to maintenance of public order and security of the country, maintenance of essential services etc. It provides for preventive detention but does not define any substantive offence. On the other hand, the OSA is a substantive law.

Source – Government response to 2^nd ARC reports available on DARP website

Answer – c

• 2^nd ARC recommendation – As an affirmation of the importance of transparency in public affairs, Ministers on assumption of office may take an oath of transparency alongwith the oath of office and the requirement of administering the oath of secrecy should be dispensed with. Articles 75(4) and 164 (3), and the Third Schedule should be suitably amended.
• Government response – The recommendations were not accepted because in spite of the RTI Act, a Union Minister will be required to maintain official secrets

Answer – c

• Manual of Office Procedure has provision about treating the notes portion of a file as confidential. 2^nd ARC recommends its deletion
• The recommendation has not been accepted.
• Sections of the RTI Act to which Classification information pertains
  8(1)(a) Top Secret
  8(1)(b) Confidential
  8(1)(c) Confidential
  8(1)(d) Secret
  8(1)(e) Confidential
  8(1)(f) Secret
  8(1)(g) Top Secret/Secret
  8(1)(h) Secret/Confidential
  8(1)(i) Confidential
  8(1)(j) Confidential/restricted
  9 Confidential/restricted

Source – Government response to 2^nd ARC reports available on DARP website

Answer – a

• Open ballots are used in the Rajya Sabha elections. These elections follow a proportional representation system based on the single transferable vote, unlike the general elections to the Lok Sabha, which are conducted with secret ballots (or votes) and based on the first-past-the-post principle.
• Supreme Court refused to stay the process to allow NOTA, saying that the provision has been in place since April 2014 after a direction by the EC. In principle, the presence of the NOTA option for the legislator allows the possibility of a protest vote against the party high command for choosing candidates who are not agreeable to her, without having to choose candidates from opposing parties.
• Supreme Court has in the past held that open ballot votes in Rajya Sabha elections against the whip will not lead to disqualification as the Tenth Schedule, pertaining to anti-defection provisions, has a different purpose. The party high command can issue a whip for a Rajya Sabha candidate, but anti-defection law provisions do not apply.

Source – General

These provisions have been in news, but have not been adequately covered in Laxmikanth

Answer – a

• A member of a House belonging to any political party becomes disqualified for being a member of the House, (a) if he voluntarily gives up his membership of such political party; or (b) if he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by his political party without obtaining prior permission of such party and such act has not been condoned by the party within 15 days.
• An independent member of a House (elected without being set up as a candidate by any political party) becomes disqualified to remain a member of the House if he joins
  any political party after such election.
• Any question regarding disqualification arising out of defection is to be decided by the presiding officer of the House. Originally, the act provided that the decision of the presiding officer is final and cannot be questioned in any court. However, in Kihoto Hollohan case2 (1993), the Supreme Court declared this provision as unconstitutional on the ground that it seeks to take away the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the high courts. It held that the presiding officer, while deciding a question under the Tenth Schedule, function as a tribunal. Hence, his decision like that of any other tribunal, is subject to judicial review on the grounds of mala fides, perversity, etc

Source – Chapter 67, Laxmikanth

Solution: a

The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted to provide for the establishment of the Gram Nyayalayas at the grass roots level for the purposes of providing access to justice to the citizens at their doorsteps and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen due to social, economic or other disabilities.

The presiding officer (Nyayadhikari) shall be appointed by the State Government in consultation with the High Court.

The Gram Nyayalaya shall be a mobile court and shall exercise the powers of both Criminal and Civil Courts.

The Gram Nyayalaya shall try to settle the disputes as far as possible by bringing about conciliation between the parties and for this purpose, it shall make use of the conciliators to be appointed for this purpose.

Answer – b

• At the second tier, all countries are broadly comparable in their reliance on devolved resources, but India stands out as a country where the second tier (states) generate a very low share of its revenue from direct taxes: about 6 percent in India compared to 19 percent in Brazil in 2016 and a hefty 44 percent in Germany
• The property taxes collected at the second and third tiers of government are (a) land tax
  assessed and collected at the state level; and (b) building tax, including property/house tax, collected at the municipality (ULG) and grama panchayat (RLG) levels

Source – Chapter 4, Economic Survey 1

GS 2 – Functions and responsibilities of the States

• How states failed in expanding their direct tax base – suggests low level of industrial development ( as direct tax from agriculture is not taken)
• Implications for inclusive growth as well due to reliance on indirect taxes – dominant groups remain dominant therefore – anti-thetical to social democracy

Answer – a

• 2^nd ARC recommended that the union government should draft a comprehensive model legislation covering both Trusts and Societies in lieu of the existing laws on Societies, Trusts, Endowments and Charitable Institutions for the states which regulates charity
• 2^nd ARC has also recommended that In place of the present charity administration consisting of a Charity Commissioner / Inspector General of
  Registrations as existing in the States, the proposed law should provide for a new governance structure in the form of a three member Charities Commission in each State with necessary support staff for incorporation, regulation and development of Charitable Organisations.

Source – Government report on 2^ND ARC Social Capital – A Shared Destiny available on DIRP website

GS 2 – Development processes and the development industry the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders

• Administration of charities, their role and issues

Notes

• We do not recommend that one should necessarily read 2^nd ARC from the above source, rather the intention is to integrate your prelims preparation with mains. The above source will however help you know the response from the government and the reasoning behind its rejection of certain recommendations. It is also crisp and is good one if you are lethargic to read 2^nd ARC reports.
• Having said this, also appreciate that there is no definite break between current and static portions, and therefore UPSC can ask questions in different forms. Take for example the question on National Food Security Act in prelims this year. It was not majorly in news last year and UPSC still went ahead and delved into its details. The point is that some report of the government including 2^nd ARC covers such provisions and their administration in details.

Answer – b

• SHG movement needs to be extended to urban and semi-urban areas. State Governments, NABARD and commercial Banks should join together to prepare a directory of activities and financial products relevant to such areas. Currently, the commercial Banks, on the basis of a project‟s financial viability can disburse microcredit in urban and semi urban areas on their own but such micro credit disbursements are not entitled to refinance from NABARD. 2^nd ARC recommends that if necessary, the NABARD Act, 1981 may be amended suitably to bring urban / semi-urban areas under its refinance mandate.
• 2^nd ARC recommends that since a large number of rural households in the North-Eastern States and Central Eastern parts of the country (Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) do not have adequate access to formal sources of credit, a major thrust on the expansion of the SHG movement in these areas should be facilitated. The presence of NABARD should be much more pronounced in these places.

Source – Government report on 2^ND ARC Social Capital – A Shared Destiny available on DIRP website

GS 2 – Development processes and the development industry the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders

• Why extension of SHG movement in urban areas ( growing urbanisation) and untouched regions of the country is a necessity
• Policy seeks to tap entrepreneurial spirit of the demographic dividend, and SHGs are critical to address the issue of finance constraint for the same, albeit at group level

Answer – d

• While the proclamation of national emergency (under Article 352) is in operation, the president can modify the constitutional distribution of revenues between the Centre and the states. This means that the president can either reduce or cancel the transfer of finances (both tax sharing and grants-in-aid) from the Centre to the states. Such modification continues till the end of the financial year in which the emergency ceases to operate
• While the proclamation of financial emergency (under Article 360) is in operation, the Centre can give directions to the states: (i) to observe the specified canons of financial propriety; (ii) to reduce the salaries and allowances of all class of persons serving in the state (including the high court judges); and (iii) to reserve all money bills and other financial bills for the consideration of the President.

Source – Chapter 14, Laxmikant

GS 2 – Issues and challenges pertaining to federal structure

• The role of Parliament and President in the two types of emergencies describes the nature of these two institutions in the federal structure. Ponder over the question as to why they enjoy different powers in different situations in the context of federalism.

Answer – a

Article 2 empowers the Parliament to ‘admit into the Union of India, or establish, new states on suchterms and conditions as it thinks fit’. Note that Union Territories do not form part of Union of India, only states do.
A bill contemplating thechange in name of a state can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior recommendation of the President. But, before recommending the bill, the President has to refer the same to the state legislatureconcerned for expressing its views within a specified period.
In case of a union territory, no reference need be made to the concerned legislature toascertain its views and the Parliament can itself take any action as it deems fit