Insights Static Quiz -13, 2018

• Solutions: d)

   

  The SC made following observation in the Berubari case:

   

  There is no doubt that the declaration made by the people of India in exercise of their sovereign will in the preamble to the Constitution is, in the words of Story, “a key to open the mind of the makers” which may show the general purposes for which they made the several provisions in the Constitution; but nevertheless the preamble is not a part of the Constitution, and, as Willoughby has observed about the preamble to the American Constitution, “it has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States, or on any of its departments. Such powers embrace only those expressly granted in the body of the Constitution and such as may be implied from those so granted”.

   

  https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1120103/

Solution: c)

The preamble-page, along with other pages of the original Constitution of India, was designed and decorated by the renowned painter Beohar Rammanohar Sinha of Jabalpur who was at Shantiniketan with acharya Nandalal Bose at that time. Nandalal Bose endorsed Beohar Rammanohar Sinha’s artwork without any alteration whatsoever. As such, the page bears Beohar Rammanohar Sinha’s short signature Ram in Devanagari lower-right corner. The calligraphy was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizada.

Beohar Rammanohar Sinha was an Indian artist who is very well known for his illustrations in the original final manuscript of Constitution of India, including the complete Preamble-page, which was brought to fruition in 1949 as one of the most beautiful Constitution in the world [1][2] in addition to being the most comprehensive one. He is also known as a cultural ambassador of India who disseminated Indian art in the Far East, and brought Oriental Art to India.[3] His works are housed in numerous prestigious public and private collections throughout the world [4] and his murals still adorn the walls and gigantic dome of Jabalpur’s historic Shaheed-Smarak or Martyrs’-Memorial Auditorium even after more than half a century, though now demanding conservation. Rammanohar always signed his artworks in the cursive Devanagari-script, either in short Ram or in full Rammanohar, but rarely scribed his surname. Most of his later paintings bear a unique red seal with his surname Sinha, primarily in Devanagari-script but also sometimes in the Pinyin-script, in addition to his said signatures in ink.

Solution: d)

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this 26th day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Solution: a)

The august offer was a proposal made by the British government in 1940 promising the expansion of the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India to include more Indians, the establishment of an advisory war council, giving full weight to minority opinion, and the recognition of Indians’ right to frame their own constitution (after the end of the war). In return, it was hoped that all parties and communities in India would cooperate in Britain’s efforts in World War II.However this proposal was denied by the Congress as the minorities especially the Muslim league was assured that no constitutional scheme was acceptable to the government without their assurance. The Muslim league did not accept the offer as it did not give a clear assurance for the establishment of Pakistan

Solution: c)

The preamble has been amended only once so far. On 18 December 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Indira Gandhi government pushed through several changes in the Forty-second Amendment of the constitution. A committee under the chairmanship of Sardar Swaran Singh recommended that this amendment be enacted after being constituted to study the question of amending the constitution in the light of past experience. Through this amendment the words “socialist” and “secular” were added between the words “Sovereign” and “democratic” and the words “unity of the Nation” were changed to “unity and integrity of the Nation”