UPSC Static Quiz, 02nd March 2023

Correct Answer: B
Explanation
• Option B is correct.
• The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of the people chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage. That is why it is called the popular chamber.
• The Indian Constitution has adopted universal adult franchise as a basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
• The article 326 defines a universal adult franchise as the basis for elections to all levels of the elected government. The universal Adult Franchise refers that all citizens who are 18 years and above irrespective of their caste or education, religion, colour, race and economic conditions are free to vote.
• Universal suffrage, also known as general suffrage or common suffrage, consists of the right to vote of all adult citizens, regardless of property ownership, income, race, or ethnicity, subject only to minor exception.
• Universal Adult Suffrage has been cornerstone of election process in India since its inception.

Correct Answer: C
Explanation
• Pair 1 is incorrectly matched. Pairs 2 and 3 are correctly matched.
• The following four are the more important cabinet committees:
1. The Political Affairs Committee deals with all policy matters pertaining to domestic and foreign affairs. Hence, pair 3 is correctly matched.
2. The Economic Affairs Committee directs and coordinates the governmental activities in the economic sphere. Hence, pair 2 is correctly matched.
3. Appointments Committee decides all higher-level appointments in the Central Secretariat, Public Enterprises, Banks and Financial Institutions. Hence, pair 1 is incorrectly matched.
4. Parliamentary Affairs Committee looks after the progress of government business in the Parliament.

Explanation
• Rukmini Laxmipathi was an Indian independence activist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. She was the first woman to be elected to the Madras Legislature and the first to serve as a minister in the Madras Presidency.
• For her participation (in 1930) in the Salt Satyagraha in Vedaranyam she was jailed for a year, becoming the first female prisoner in the Salt Satyagraha movement. Salt Satyagraha:
• On March 12, 1930, Gandhiji set out from Sabarmati with 78 followers on a 241-mile march to the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea. There, Gandhi and his supporters were to defy British policy by making salt from seawater.
• At Dandi, thousands more followed his lead, and in the coastal cities of Bombay and Karachi, Indian nationalists led crowds of citizens in making salt.
• Civil disobedience broke out all across India, soon involving millions of Indians, and British authorities arrested more than 60,000 people. Gandhiji himself was arrested on May 5, but the satyagraha continued without him.
• On May 21, the poet Sarojini Naidu led 2,500 marchers on the Dharasana Salt Works, some 150 miles north of Bombay. The incident, recorded by American journalist Webb Miller, prompted an international outcry against British policy in India.
• In January 1931, Gandhiji was released from prison. He later met with Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, and agreed to call off the satyagraha in exchange for an equal negotiating role at a London conference on India’s future.

Correct Answer: C
Explanation
• Statement 1 is correct. Statements 2 and 3 are incorrect.
• The role of the Council of Ministers:
• Article 74 provides for a council of ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions. The 42nd and 44th Constitutional Amendment Acts have made the advice binding on the President. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• According to Article 88, every minister shall have the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of either House, any joint sitting of the Houses and any Committee of Parliament of which he may be named a member. But he shall not be entitled to vote. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• In 1971, the Supreme Court held that ‘even after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, the council of ministers does not cease to hold office. Article 74 is mandatory and, therefore, the President cannot exercise the executive power without the aid and advise of the council of ministers. Any exercise of executive power without the aid and advice will be unconstitutional as being violative of Article 74’. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.