1. Observations about Polity MCQs in Prelim-2018
  2. Prelims-2019 Strategy for Polity
  3. Answerkey for Polity MCQs in Prelim-2018
  4. Polity Answerkey assistance provided by

Observations about Polity MCQs in Prelim-2018

  • On 3rd June 2018, UPSC conducted Prelims exam for recruitment in IAS/IPS and other civil services.
  • Paper-I consisted of 100 MCQs from general studies. For that, I’ve already published answerkey for Science MCQs. Now, this article covers Polity answerkey and strategy for next year.

Tough paper bcoz Easy Polity MCQs declined

Polity Answerkey Topicwise Analysis

  • Last year (2017): 22 out of 100 MCQs in Prelims Paper-1 were from Polity, and out of those 22 Polity questions- 14 Easy, 6 Medium and 2 tough.
  • This year: 13 MCQs from Polity and out of them 6 Easy, 5 Medium and 2 tough. So, you can see while the number of medium / tough questions is almost unchanged whereas Easy MCQs from Polity have declined and the consequent vacuum has been filled by questions from History, Science and International Relations- and majority of them were not easy either.

Applied Theory about Current / Contemporary issues

After every prelims and Mains exam, everyone tries to ‘decode’ the mind of the examiner- why did he ask a particular question. So,…

  • News items: Assam’s National Register of Citizens and Aadhar related SC-judgements -> 1) Theoretical MCQ on Aadhar MCQ 2) Theoretical MCQ on right to privacy.
  • News item: President Ramnath Kovind’s election -> Theoratical MCQ on Presidential election
  • News items: Governor Kalyan Singh exempted from Babri trial, Budget-2018 raised Governor’s salary to Rs. 3.5 lakh per month -> Theoratical MCQ about Governor’s Office.
  • and so forth.

And, this is not to say that “आपको सपना आ जाना चाहिए था की this MCQ will definitely come so, I’ve to prepare this theory because of this current affairs.” Afterall, Triple Talaq was in news but there is no MCQ about Uniform civil code theory, Ahmed Patel vs Amit Shah controversy yet no MCQ on Rajya Sabha election theory! The point is, questions did not fall from sky, all of the Polity MCQs can be solved from routine books and newspapers.

Atleast nothing crazy asked

  • In some years, examiner asked अतरंगी (crazy) questions from Lok Sabha rule book. Thankfully that lunacy is over.
  • In UPSC’s CDS and CAPF exams, they ask factual questions about individual amendment number and article number. Thankfully that type of factual GK is not asked here in CSE (civil service exam).
  • Constitution / Polity consists of many sub-topics, so no point engaging in trivial comparisons like last year four MCQs from Fundamental duties and DPSP, but this year nothing… last year one MCQ from judiciary, this year nothing, no MCQ on Panchayati Raj institutes after 2016..
  • Because there are so many subtopics, you can’t expect UPSC examiner to maintain any consistency, affection or obsession for a particular topic- even if he has.
  • Yes, every year there are questions from union executive and union legislature- but you’ve to prepare it anyways. It’s a “minimum system requirement”. Ofcourse their domination within polity section has declined considerably, compared to the pre-CSAT era (before 2011).
  • While this year no Polity MCQ from ‘current bills / acts’ but they’re part of Mains GS2-Syllabus, therefore the importance of prsindia.org has not diminished. You should not base your strategy by looking at just one year’s paper.

BUT Lengthier paper due to False Pride & Gambling in Polity

Some candidates are complaining that 2018’s Prelim Paper-1 was ‘lengthy’. It’s an interesting complaint- because you’ve to only tick in the OMR sheet, there are fixed number of 100 MCQs, there are no ‘comprehension passages’ or mathematical calculation in Paper-1, then how can paper be lengthy!?
Why Guessmasters suffered in Polity section of Prelims-2018

  • Because, for Polity, everyone reads Laxmikanth, and then everyone feels that Polity is his strong area. So, even if difficulty level of a given Polity MCQ is medium / tough, they’ll not ‘leave’ it, they’ll again come back and try to solve it in the ‘second round’, क्योकि वे उसे अपनी प्रतिष्ठा का प्रश्न बना देते है. [They make it a matter of ‘pride / ego’ that “how can I not solve a polity question after having memorized Laxmikanth by heart! I must tick it no matter what!”]
  • This year, polity MCQs are framed in such manner that Guessmaster-giriTM only helps narrowing down choices to 2 or 3 option, but doesn’t help arriving to the final answer. So candidates would have spent even more time in such MCQs, Because once you arrive at the Pre-gambling stage of “only two options left”, then there is even more temptation to gamble, because at that stage, if you tick, there is a 50% chance of gaining 2 marks and only 50% chance of losing -0.66 marks in penalty, so very difficult to walk away without ticking.
  • Thus candidates spend unnecessarily large proportion of their time in thinking & solving Polity MCQs only.
  • Further, some of them wasted additional time in “visualization” techniques prescribed by certain “Mercurial Elements” (चंचल तत्व)- e.g. Prelim-2018, one MCQ contains statement “No criminal proceeding against Governor can be done”. IF you don’t know the exact answer, then according to these चंचल तत्व, you should visualize in your head “there is one governor standing behind the jail-bars”…now, does this image seem right to you? then according to your gut-feeling you determine whether it’s a true / false statement.
  • Since Guessmaster-giriTM narrowed down choices to only two options, so, many candidates wasted precious minutes in such visualizations techniques only to arrive at the final answer. And this time pass would have happened more in the Polity section, क्योकि वे उसे अपनी प्रतिष्ठा का प्रश्न बना देते है.
  • Additionally, Last year, some of the polity questions were vaguely worded and debatable (right to vote, fundamental duties), so senior players would have become extra-conscious while reading every statements and having second thoughts after every word, comma and semi-colon. This had also reduced candidates speed, and making the paper ‘seem’ lengthy.

Did it give edge to Political Science Optional?

In recent years, a new trend has emerged within Polity section- examiner asking about abstract concepts / theory which requires some foundation in political science. Observe:

  • (2017) Democracy’s superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity: Option A, B, C, D.
  • (2017) One of the implications of equality in society is the absence of _ : Option A, B, C, D.

Same continued this year as well:

  • (2018) Which one of the following reflects the nicest, appropriate relationship between law and liberty?
  • (2018) Which of the following are regarded as the main features of the “Rule of Law” ?

But in both years, they could be solved from NCERT / NIOS. It didnot require any grand knowledge of political science optional subject thinkers / theories. So, don’t have any regrets about it.
This year, Polity (13 MCQ) plus International Relation (IR: 8 MCQ) = Total 21 out of 100 MCQs = ~1/5th of the paper. In Mains GS Paper-II syllabus again these subjects re-appear.

  • So, it’s expected (and natural) that Political science Coaching faculties will try to show-off to new aspirants how theirs is the most useful subject for both prelims and mains.
  • And same lobbying will be done by History option-wallas as well, after all there are 21 MCQs from history and culture as well.
  • Yes, they’re good subjects, but so are others. Don’t pick up optional subject with such short-sightedness on how useful it was in Prelims of a given year, because trend fluctuates every now and then e.g. in 2016, only SIX MCQs came from Polity, In 2013, ZERO MCQ came from International Relation! तो क्या उस साल क्या राजनीतीशास्त्र से कोई टोपर ही नही निकला होगा!?

Prelims-2019 Strategy for Polity

Polity questions are not falling from sky, or random books. Observe the source of my answerkey for Prelims-2018:
How to prepare polity Constitution
So, accordingly,

Polity: Theory- How to prepare

  1. M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध But this is ‘minimum system requirement’, know that it doesn’t give you any edge over others because everyone is mugging up the same book. Do parallel study of chapters: President vs Governor, SC vs HC, PM vs CM. Do solve the past papers given at the end of his book.
  2. (When it’s published) India Yearbook 2019 by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Focus on chapter 2 (Symbols), 3 (Polity), 20 (Law and Justice), 28 (Welfare). Yearbook is important because in earlier prelims, some of the factoids were asked from here, and not given in Laxmikanth’s book. e.g. Civil service day celebrated on _ _ , Cabinet Secretary is the boss of _ _ _ Committee, Satyamev Jayate phrase is copied from _ _ _ Upanishad, NALSA’s function includes _ _ _.
  3. IF time left, then selective study of NCERT Textbooks, even NIOS Political Science PDF | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध | ગુજરાતીમાં પણ ઉપલબ્ધ. I’ve used the word “IF time left”, because these textbooks have lot of bolbachchan and overlapping with what you already prepared from Laxmikanth and IYB. The additional general / abstract / political science type of factoids to be gained- they’re spread few and far in between the chapters of these textbooks. And even after mastering them, the ‘edge’ you’ll get is 1-2 MCQs. So, you’ve to decide accordingly, how much time should be given.
  4. No need to waste time over DD Basu, MV Pylee or SC Kashyap’s Our Parliament because hardly anything additional to gain in Prelims. Laxmikanth’s book is basically a revision note prepared from above reference books. If you try to become Harry Potter’s Half Blood Prince i.e. “I’ll extract the factoids from above books, and whichever of them are not given in Laxmikanth, I’ll write down those spells on margins of Laxmikanth’s book”- again poor cost:benefit. And in mains, the GSM2 is mostly contemporary / current based polity, so these theoretical / academic textbooks have little utility, yes they provide foundation and fodder points, but for that you’ll be better served by IGNOU, Yojana, ARC Report et al. Because the Constitutional issues / crisis that above authors had raised- have been replaced by new set of issues under Modi raj.

Polity: Contemporary issues

  • In the mains exam, polity gradually evolves in to many topics that are not just “rights issues”, but simultenously, they are ‘post-indepdence Indian history” e.g. Tribals’ forest rights movement, or the quest for uniform civil code, the demand for linguistic states and so forth. For this, you may refer to IGNOU MPS-003: MPS-003 India Democracy and Development (Click for Free Download) and then you should link it with the current affairs.
  • For Mains exam, another fork of Polity contemporary issues will evolve into “local governance, administration, civil society, pressure groups and so forth”. You’ll benefit more by selective reading the original reports of 2nd Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध– good number of questions in Mains-2017 GSM2 could be solved directly from there. You may also prepare some foundation from selective study of Laxmikanth’s Governance in India book as well.
  • Government’s Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines are also useful- both for Prelims-MCQs (of economy, sustainable agriculture, right issues) as well as Mains-Descriptive questions. Read the original magazine to cultivate vocabulary and flowery language. Then go for PDF compilations for their bulleted version / mindmaps for faster revision on the exam night.
  • Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) provides in-depth coverage on “rights issues” but cost benefit = very bad. Better alternative is to go for selective reading of DrishtiIAS’s magazine which contains summary of fortnightly EPWs from Mains-perspective.

Polity: Current Affairs

  • For summary of latest bills / acts: PRSIndia.org
  • For landmark judgements by SC / HC, current happenings in the parliament, electoral reforms like simultenously elections, law commissions’ sporadic recommendations and so forth. For these topics, go for Indianexpress. or theHindu but don’t lose sleep if you can’t get theHindu because IndianExpress works just fine- you’ll see in this answerkey, how pretty much all current MCQs could be solved from IndianExpress only.
  • And whatever PDF compilation / Magazine that fills your fantasy. It’s a waste of time to make full fledged notes / compilation from newspaper yourself- no need to reinvent the wheel when others are doing it. Ofcourse these Magazines/PDF-walla are doing it with less perfectionism than you, but the amount of marks you’ll gain from such manual exercise will be negligible compared to the marks lost because you had become too tired to study theory topics because of your current-affairs-Half-Blood-Prince-diary-making hobby. It’s also true that UPSC examiner is avoiding direct questions from such PDF-compilations, but that doesn’t put you at disadvantage because everyone else is in the same boat.
  • Don’t prepare polity in Isolation e.g. “Theory NOW, Current after I’m clear Prelims”, “Objective NOW, Descriptive Later” Because UPSC has bad habit of asking 2-5 year old things in GSMains. Just because you fail in Prelims-2018, doesn’t mean entire years’ mains-oriented topics have become फूटे हुए कारतूस (spent ammunition) for the Mains-2019 and 2020.

Now let’s solve the Polity MCQs asked in the latest Prelims

Answerkey for Polity MCQs in Prelim-2018

Historic Origin

Q93. In the federation established by The Government on India Act of 1935. Residuary Power were given to the (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Federal Legislature
  2. Governor General
  3. Provincial Legislature
  4. Provincial Governors

Difficulty: Easy for those who prepared history and polity in a sincere manner.
Answer: Residuary powers were in the hands of Governor General.

Some candidates are engaged in the Hairsplittery that entire MCQ is wrong because correct word is “Viceroy” and not “Governor General”. But if you read original act uploaded on UK Government website, the word was “Governor General” only.

CITIZENSHIP

Q27. Consider the following statements : (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Aadhaar card can be used as a proof of citizenship or domicile.
  2. Once issued, Aadhaar number cannot be deactivated or omitted by the Issuing Authority.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Difficulty: Medium, because every serious player knows #1 is wrong but it all boils down to your knowledge about second statement.
Answer:

  • Statement 1- Incorrect. Even it is written on the Aadhar Card itself.
  • Statement 2- Incorrect. By August 2017, UID has deactivated close to 81 Aadhar numbers. [Ref: IndianExpress]

Guessmaster-giriTM can only help narrowing down choices: GM-Rule#1 extreme worded statements are always wrong, so #2 is wrong, your choices are narrowed down between A vs D.

Rights Issues

Q77. Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statement? (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Article 14 and the provisions under the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution
  2. Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV
  3. Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part. III
  4. Article 24 and the provisions under the 44th Amendment to the Constitution

Difficulty: Easy, frequently in news due to SC judgement in 2017-August.
Answer: The Supreme Court ruled that “the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution” so Option C is right. [Ref: IndianExpress 2017-August]
Let’s also look at the wrong options:

  • Article 14- Gives the Right to Equality. 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976, is known as mini constitution.
  • Article 17- Related to the Abolition of Untouchability. It is part of Right to Equality. Part IV- Directive Principles of State Policy, does not have any mention about the Privacy.
  • Article 24- Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc. 44th Constitution Amendment- 44th amendment of the Constitution was enacted by the Janata Government mainly to nullify some of the amendments made by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.

Q75. International Labour Organization’s Conventions 138 and 182 are related to (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Child labour
  2. Adaptation of agricultural practices to global climate change
  3. Regulation of food prices and food security
  4. Gender parity at the workplace

Difficulty: Medium- as such by GM-rule#5 “Word Association”, any one can make a guess that Labor = A (Child) or D (workplace), but you’ve to know the exact factoid. I don’t classify it as tough because answer given in routine prep-source i.e. Yojana वेसे लोग पढ़ते नही है, वो अलग बात है.
Answer: Yojana April 2017 Issue on Labour Welfare, page 31

  • ILO Convention No. 138: minimum age of entry into work shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.
  • ILO Convention No. 182: “Worst Forms of Child Labour” have to be prohibited urgently.
  • Topic was in news during March 2017, when Cabinet ratified these two conventions. [Ref: IndianExpress]

Some people might classify ILO question under Economy, but I put this one under polity, because it’s about a ‘rights issue’.

Executive: Union / State

Q87. With reference to the election of the President of India, consider the following statements: (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. The value of the vote of each MLA varies from State to State.
  2. The value of the vote of MPs of the Lok Sabha is more than the value of the vote of MPs of the Rajya Sabha.

Which of the statements given above is/are Correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 or 2

Difficulty: Tough because while everyone knows the procedure but here interpretation of the formula is asked. Second statement is vaguely worded and open to multiple interpretations.

  • Statement 1- Correct. Value of 1 MLA’s vote is based on total population of state to be divided by the total MLAs. Hence it ought to vary from state to state.
  • Statement 2- vaguely worded, let’s check Hindi part of the question paper, just to be sure. It reads, “लोकसभा के सदस्यों के वोट का मूल्य राज्यसभा के सदस्यों के वोट के मूल्य से अधिक होता है.” So it is right?
  • While the value of an MLA’s vote depends on the population of the state he or she belongs to, the value of an MP’s vote remains the same at 708. [Ref: IndianExpress coverage of Ramnatha Kovind’s election, 2017-July]
  • Argument #1: Given that LS has more seats than RS, the (collective) value of vote of MPs of LS > RS hence #2 is right. If statement said “value of vote of an MP of LS > an MP of RS” then it would have been wrong.
  • Argument #2: No, individual MP’s vote has same value 708, irrespective of RS / LS so #2 is wrong. If examiner wanted to make second statement right, then he’d have written “लोकसभा के सदस्यों के (कुल) वोटो का मूल्य राज्यसभा के सदस्यों के वोटो के मूल्य से अधिक होता है”, but he has not written so, therefore, statement #2 is wrong.

Official UPSC Answer –A: only first statement right.

No extreme words or figures are given so GM-Rule#1 and rule#2 prove useless.

Q96. Consider the following statements: (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. No criminal proceedings shall be instituted against the Governor of a State any court during his term of office.
  2. The emoluments and allowances of the Governor of a State shall not be diminished during his term of office.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Difficulty: Easy, given verbatim in Laxmikanth’s book.
Answer: M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध chapter on Governor

  • He enjoys personal immunity from legal liability for his official acts. During his term of office, he is immune from any criminal proceedings, even in respect of his personal acts. He cannot be arrested or imprisoned.
  • His emoluments and allowances cannot be diminished during his term of office. Thus both statements are right.

Topic in news during 2017-April, because in Babri Masjid case, SC exempted Kalyan Singh- the Governor of Rajasthan, on the ground of constitutional immunity.

Anti-GuessmasterTM question because GM-Rule#1: extreme worded statements are wrong, then you’ll think #1 is wrong, but then you’ll end up with wrong answer.

Legislature: Union / State

Q65. With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws, etc. conferred by the Constitution or delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation ? (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Committee on Government Assurances
  2. Committee on Subordinate Legislation
  3. Rules Committee
  4. Business Advisory Committee

Difficulty: Medium because as such given in the routine books but in real exam stress, candidate can get confused. Even with GM-Rule#5 “Word association”, you’ll still be confused between B or C.
Answer: M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध Chapter 22, Parliament:

  • Committee on government assurances– checks the assurances, promises and undertakings given by ministers from time to time on the floor of the House and reports on the extent to which they have been carried through. In the Lok Sabha, it consists of 15 members and in the Rajya Sabha, it consists of 10 members. It was constituted in 1953.
  • Committee on Subordinate legislation examines and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules and bye-laws delegated by the Parliament or conferred by the Constitution to the Executive are being properly exercised by it. In both the Houses, the committee consists of 15 members. It was constituted in 1953.
  • Rules committee considers the matters of procedure and conduct of business in the House and recommends necessary amendments or additions to the rules of the House. The Lok Sabha committee consists of 15 members including the Speaker as its ex-officio chairman. In the Rajya Sabha, it consists of 16 members including the Chairman as its ex-officio chairman
  • Business advisory committee regulates the programme and time table of the House. It allocates time for the transaction of legislative and other business brought before the House by the government. The Lok Sabha committee consists of 15 members including the Speaker as its chairman. In the Rajya Sabha, it has 11 members including the Chairman as its ex-officio chairman.

Q94. Consider the following statements: (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly shall vacate his/her office if he/she ceases to be a member of  the Assembly.
  2. Whenever the Legislative Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall vacate his/her immediately.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Difficulty: Medium because it rests on the interpretation of the second statement, and in real-exam stress, a candidate could have second thoughts about it.
Answer: M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध ch.33 on State Legislature

  • The Speaker is elected by the assembly itself from amongst its members. Usually, the Speaker remains in office during the life of the assembly. However, he vacates his office earlier in any of the following three cases: 1. if he ceases to be a member of the assembly….. So statement#1 is right.
  • Same book, ch.22 on Parliament- It should be noted here that, whenever the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not vacate his office and continues till the newly-elected Lok Sabha meets. So, same ought to be true for Legislative Assembly as well, but still just for crosschecking: Constitution of India, Art 179: “…Provided further that, whenever the Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution.” So, statement#2 is wrong.

Guessmaster-giriTM can only help narrowing down the choices: GM-Rule#1: extreme worded statements are wrong, so, #2 ought to be wrong, thus narrowing down choice to A vs D.

Emergency & Amendment

Q38. If the President of India exercises his power as provided under Article 356 of the Constitution in respect of a particular State, then (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. the Assembly of the State is automatically dissolved.
  2. the powers of the Legislature of that State shall be exercisable by or under the authority of the Parliament.
  3. Article 19 is suspended in that State.
  4. the President can make laws relating to that State.

Difficulty: Easy given verbatim in routine books / study material for polity.
Answer: M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध Chapter 14, Centre-State Relations and Chapter 16, Emergency Provisions:
The President’s Rule can be proclaimed under Article 356… He can declare that the powers of the state legislature are to be exercised by the Parliament. So “B” is the right answer.

Guessmaster-giriTM can only help narrowing down choices: GM-Rule#1 extreme worded statements are always wrong, so #1 is wrong, your choices are narrowed down between B, C, D. Further gm-rule#2 figures are wrong, then C is wrong, still you’ve to pick between B and D.

Q20. Consider the following statements : (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. The Parliament of India can place a particular law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
  2. The validity of a law placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be examined by any court and no judgement can be made on it.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Difficulty: Easy, given verbatim in routine books / study material for polity.
Answer:

  • First statement is correct. the 1st Amendment to the constitution (1951) had inserted new Articles 31A and 31B and the Ninth Schedule, thus securing the constitutional validity of zamindari abolition laws by, among other things, specifying that they could not be challenged on the grounds that they violated the Fundamental Rights. Subsequent governments have added other progressive laws in the same, to give them immunity from litigation. Government add the acts in the 9th schedule, ‘via parliament’ so first statement is right, no need for hairsplittery.
  • In I.R. Coelho case(2007), the Supreme Court ruled that there could not be any blanket immunity from judicial review of laws included in the Ninth Schedule. So statement#2 is WRONG [M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध ch. 27 Judicial Review.]

Guessmaster-giriTM can only help narrowing down choices: GM-Rule#1 extreme worded statements are always wrong, so #2 is wrong, your choices are narrowed down between A vs D.

Election

Q16. Consider the following statements : (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. In the first Lok Sabha, the single largest party in the opposition was the Swatantra Party.
  2. In the Lok Sabha, a “Leader of the Opposition” was recognized for the first time in1969.
  3. In the Lok Sabha, if a party does not have a minimum of 75 members, its leader cannot be recognized as the Leader of the Opposition.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 and 3 only
  2. 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3

Difficulty: Medium, because multiple factoids asked, although I’m not classifying it as tough, since these factoids were available in routine books.
Answer: Answer: (b) 2 only

  • The results of the first general election did not surprise anyone…Congress party won 364 of the 489 seats in the first Lok Sabha and finished way ahead of any other challenger. The Communist Party of India that came next in terms of seats won only 16 seats. [NCERT Class12: Politics in India since Independence, p30]. Besides, The Swatantra Party came into being in early August 1959. (Bipan Chandra, India Since Independence. p270) So, statement#1 is wrong, because at the time of first General Election, Swatantra Party तो पैदा भी नही हुई थी. This eliminates Option A and D.
  • In the remaining options B and C, both contain statement#2, so as such we’ve to accept it as true, and no need to waste time finding proofs, Nonetheless, to satiate the curiosity: It was Ram Subhag Singh- who became the first leader of opposition in Lok Sabha in 1969. Ref: Indian Express
  • In each House of Parliament, there is the ‘Leader of the Opposition’. The leader of the largest Opposition party having not less than one-tenth seats of the total strength of the House is recognised as the leader of the Opposition in that House. maximum strength of the Lok Sabha is fixed at 552 so minimum 10% doesn’t translate to 75 in any case. [M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध ch22 on Parliament.] Hence statement#3 is wrong, by elimination, we get Answer B.

Since, some people are engaged in Hairsplittery over statement #3, So here is additional references

  • from thehindu -2014: A party needs 10 per cent of the strength of the House (55 in the Lok Sabha) to stake claim to leader of opposition. The Congress, with 44 seats is way short of that number. Although the UPA has 60 members, this is of no relevance in appointing Leader of the Opposition, as the post of Leader of the Opposition can go only to the leader of a political party and not to the leader of an alliance- according to Subhash C. Kashyap, former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha.
  • from thePioneer-2014: Under rules formulated by GV Mavalankar, the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha and followed since then, a party must have at least 10 per cent of the strength in order to qualify to be designated as a parliamentary party and the leader of the largest such parliamentary party in the opposition ranks is designated as the Leader of the Opposition.

Guessmaster-giriTM can only help narrowing down choices: By GM-Rule#1 extreme worded statement 1 has to be wrong, so we only have B and C left. But then, gm-rule#2= dates and figures are always wrong, then by that rule statement#2 and #3 should also be wrong but there is no option which says “none of the above”, so ultimately, between B and C, you can’t pick right answer by mere Guessmaster-giriTM.

Political Science / Abstract type

Q95. Which one of the following reflects the nicest, appropriate relationship between law and liberty? (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. if there are more laws, there is less liberty.
  2. If there are no laws, there is no liberty.
  3. If there is liberty, laws have to be made by the people.
  4. If laws are changed too often, liberty is in danger.

Difficulty: Tough for candidate without political science optional, because he’d feel equally attracted by A and D.
Answer: NCERT Class11 Political Science ch.3 on Equality- it talks about negative and positive library on page26 onwards. But it’s given in a lofty manner without helping directly. Better we look at NIOS Political Science Page 7 onwards, because it has a more crispier explanation than NCERT:

  • Concept of Negative Liberty: Historically speaking, the term liberty was initially defined as absence of all restraints on an individual. John Stuart Mill, the nineteenth century English political philosopher, described, “Restraint as an evil”. Mill was especially worried about the restraints coming from the state and society.

    From above passage, we can infer A: if there are more laws, there is less liberty.

  • Concept of Positive Liberty: Since individuals live together in a society, complete absence of restraints would be neither possible nor desirable. It has been very aptly said that your liberty to swing your arm ends there where my nose begins. For liberty to be enjoyed by everyone, it should have reasonable restraints. The freedom of many requires restraint of law on the freedom of some. Later liberals supported the positive liberty.

    From above passage, we can infer B: if there are no laws, there is no liberty.

So, as such, both A and B (and even D) seem “appropriate”, but question also asks which one reflects both “appropriate” and “nicest”- OptionB is the nicest of them three.
Q100. Which of the following are regarded as the main features of the “Rule of Law” ? (Pre18 Set-D)

  1. Limitation of powers
  2. Equality before law
  3. People’s responsibility to the Government
  4. Liberty and civil rights

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. 1 and 3 only
  2. 2 and 4 only
  3. 1, 2 and 4 only
  4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Difficulty: Easy because covered in the routine books / study material on polity.
Answer: NCERT Political Science Class 11 ch.6 Judiciary, page 125

  • This idea of rule of law implies that all individuals — rich and poor, men or women, forward or backward castes — are subjected to the same law. So, #2 is right. (Equality before the law)
  • The principal role of the judiciary is to protect rule of law and ensure supremacy of law. It safeguards rights of the individual…and ensures that democracy does not give way to individual or group dictatorship. So, it also means #1 and #4 are right.
  • Statement #3 is irrelevant, so by elimination we are left with Option C.
  • Another source id M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity | हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध Ch. 7 on Fundamental rights.

This concludes the Polity answerkey. Money bill question, I’ve counted under Economy / Budgeting.

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