Static Quiz 09 February 2024 (Polity)   

NCSC is a constitutional body that works to safeguard the interests of the scheduled castes (SC) in India.
Article 338 of the constitution of India deals with this commission:
It provides for a National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with duties to investigate and monitor all matters relating to safeguards provided for them, to inquire into specific complaints and to participate and advise on the planning process of their socio-economic development etc. Hence statement 1 is correct.

Till 2018, the commission was also required to discharge similar functions with regard to the other backward classes (OBCs). It was relieved from this responsibility by the 102nd Amendment Act of 2018. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.

The idea of a centralized judicial service was first proposed in the Law Commission 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
• It was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of cases in the lower courts.
• In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.

Following are the features of Parliamentary System of Government:
• Nominal and Real Executive.
• Majority party rule.
• Collective responsibility of the ministers to the Parliament in general and Lok Sabha in particular.
• Political Homogeneity.
• Double membership i.e. membership of the legislature as well as the executive.
• Leadership of the Prime Minister.
• Dissolution of the Lower House.
• Secrecy of procedure about ministerial proceedings, policies and decisions.

Presidential System of Government
• There is only one executive.
• In this system, the President is both head of state and government, e.g. USA, South Korea etc.
• The executive is not responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts, and is constitutionally independent of the legislature in respect of its term of office.

All the statements are correct.

Under Article 344 of the Constitution, The President shall, at the expiration of five years from the commencement of this Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years from such
commencement, by order constitute a Commission which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule as the President may appoint, and the order shall define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.

It shall be the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the President as to
o the progressive use of the Hindi language for the official purposes of the Union
o restrictions on the use of the English language for all or any of the official purposes of the
Union;
o the language to be used for all or any of the purposes mentioned in article 348;
o the form of numerals to be used for any one or more specified purposes of the Union ;
o any other matter referred to the Commission by the President as regards the official language of the
Union and the language for
o communication between the Union and a State or between one State and another and their use.

The Constitution makes a provision for the establishment of a Joint State Public Service Commission (JSPSC) for two or more states. While the UPSC and the SPSC are created directly by the Constitution, a JSPSC can be created by an act of Parliament on the request of the state legislatures concerned. Thus, a JSPSC is a statutory and not a constitutional body.

A JSPSC presents its annual performance report to each of the concerned state governors. Each governor places the report before the state legislature.

The chairman and members of a JSPSC are appointed by the president. They hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier.