Static Quiz 03 February 2025 (Indian Polity)

Q1.b
Explanation:
• The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added 10 Fundamental Duties to the Indian Constitution.
• The 86th Amendment Act 2002 later added the 11th Fundamental Duty to the list.
• The Fundamental Duties in the Indian Constitution are inspired by the Constitution of erstwhile USSR. Hence statement 4 is not correct.
• Unlike some of the Fundamental Rights which extend to all persons whether citizens or foreigners, the Fundamental Duties are confined to citizens only and do not extend to foreigners. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Like the Directive Principles, the fundamental duties are also non-justiciable. The Constitution does not provide for their direct enforcement by the courts. Moreover, there is no legal sanction against their violation. However, the Parliament is free to enforce them by suitable legislation. Eg. No person can disrespect the National flag, Constitution of India and the National Anthem under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• Fundamental duties help the courts in examining and determining the constitutional validity of a law. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that in determining the constitutionality of any law, if a court finds that the law in question seeks to give effect to a fundamental duty, it may consider such law to be ‘reasonable’ in relation to Article 14 (equality before law) or Article 19 (six freedoms) and thus save such law from unconstitutionality. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Q2.b
Explanation:
• The inclusion of the term ‘socialist’ in the preamble of the Indian constitution was widely debated in the Indian constituent assembly.
• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (chairman of the drafting committee) argued that it is against the very grain of democracy to decide in the Constitution what kind of society the people of India should live in.
• He further added that it is perfectly possible today, for the majority people to hold that the socialist organisation of society is better than the capitalist organisation of society. But it would be perfectly possible for thinking people to devise some other form of social organisation which might be better than the socialist organisation of today or of tomorrow.
• Therefore, it was incorrect for the Constitution to tie down the people to live in a particular form and not leave it to the people themselves to decide it for themselves. Eventually, the final text of the preamble omitted the word ‘socialist’. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Q3.c
Explanation:
• Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most important committee was the Drafting Committee set up on August 29, 1947. It was this committee that was entrusted with the task of preparing a draft of the new Constitution. It consisted of seven members. They were:
◦ Dr.B.R.Ambedkar (Chairman)
◦ N.Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
◦ Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
◦ Dr.K.M.Munshi
◦ Syed Mohammad Saadullah
◦ N. Madhava Rau (He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health)
◦ T.T. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948). Hence option (c) is the correct answer.
• The Drafting Committee, after taking into consideration the proposals of the various committees, prepared the first draft of the Constitution of India, which was published in February 1948. The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments. In the light of the public comments, criticisms and suggestions, the Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October 1948. The Drafting Committee took less than six months to prepare its draft. In all it sat only for 141 days.
• Sir B.N. Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor (Legal advisor) to the Constituent Assembly. He was not a member of the Drafting committee.

Q4.a
Explanation:
Plutocracy
It is a government-controlled exclusively by the wealthy either directly or indirectly. A plutocracy allows, either openly or by circumstance, only the wealthy to rule. This can then result in policies exclusively designed to assist the wealthy, which is reflected in its name (comes from the Greek words “Ploutos” or wealthy, and “Kratos” – power, ruling). Hence pair 1 is not correctly matched.

Kleptocracy, a government or state in which those in power loot state resources for private benefit. Hence pair 2 is not correctly matched.

Technocracy is a proposed system of governance in which decision-makers are selected on the basis of their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. Hence pair 3 is correctly matched.

Q5.b
Explanation:
• The Soft State is a term introduced by Gunnar Myrdal in his book ‘Asian Drama’.
• It describes a general societal “indiscipline” prevalent in South Asia and by extension much of the developing world – in comparison to kind of modern state that had emerged in Europe.
• A major causal factor was colonial powers’ destruction of many of the traditional centers of local power and influence and failure to create viable alternatives.
• Coupled with this was the development of an attitude of disobedience to any authority which was central to the nationalist politics resistance. This attitude persisted after independence.
• Such soft states are seen as unlikely to capable of imposing the right development policies and would be unwilling to act against corruption at all levels.
• The policy of ‘soft state’ means a lenient attitude of the state towards social deviance. Soft states do not take coercive actions, even if the situation demands.
• This soft state policy weakens the capacity of the state in enforcing the rule of law. Not taking coercive decisions increases the crime rate, violence, corruption etc. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• In India, this policy is being followed in the post-independence period. as a result of the destruction of strong local powers during the colonial period.
• Compared to soft state, soft power refers to a state which does not or posses minimal military power. Hence statement 1 is not correct.