DAY – 42 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: B

Faiths vs Rights case:

While the five-judge bench unanimously agreed to refer religious issues to a larger bench, it gave a 3:2 split decision on petitions seeking a review of the apex court’s September 2018 decision allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala.

According to court;

• Every citizen has equal rights in religious matter, we can’t discriminate them on the basis of caste, race, gender etc, according to Article 15 of the constitution.
• Assures protection to every religious denomination to manage its own affairs.
• Can’t not stop women due to their biological cycle.

Article 26: Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs 

Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right—

• to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes;
• to manage its own affairs in matters of religion;
• to own and acquire movable and immovable property; and
• to administer such property in accordance with

Article 14 : Equality Before Law

The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

Article 25 : Freedom of Religion

The Article 25 states that every individual is “equally entitled to freedom of conscience” and has the right “to profess, practice and propagate religion” of one’s choice.

Practicing religion or the act of propagating it should not, however, affect the “public order, morality and health.”

The Article doesn’t put any restriction on the government when it comes to making any law to regulate “economic, financial, political or other secular” activities, which may be associated with religious practice.

According to Article 25, the gates of Hindu religious institutions should be opened to every section of Hindus.

Here the term ‘Hindus’ also includes individuals who profess Sikh, Jain or Buddhist religion. The same holds true for the term ‘Hindu religious institutions.

Solution: A

The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Shompen are a designated Scheduled Tribe.

Solution: B

In terms of area, Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra

Solution: B

SC was hearing a plea by NGO Common Cause to declare ‘right to die with dignity’ as a fundamental right within the fold of right to live with dignity, which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Active and passive euthanasia:

Active euthanasia, the intentional act of causing the death of a patient in great suffering, is illegal in India. It entails deliberately causing the patient’s death through injections or overdose.

But passive euthanasia, the withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten a terminally ill patient’s death is “partially” allowed.

The patient, family, friends and legal guardians can’t take the decision on their own, but need a high court’s approval bill for stopping treatment.

Euthanasia in law:

The government told the court, there was already a law on passive euthanasia and it had drafted a ‘management of patients with terminal illness-withdrawal of medical life support bill’.

The issue of euthanasia was first examined by the health ministry in consultation with the experts in 2006, based on the 196th Law Commission of India report. However, it was decided to not make any laws on euthanasia.

Aruna Shanbaug case:

In 2011, the Supreme Court, while hearing the case of Aruna Shanbaug, who was in a vegetative state for nearly 30 years, had legalised passive euthanasia partially.

A nurse at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, Shanbaug was in a vegetative state since 1973 after a brutal sodomisation and strangling with a dog-chain during a sexual assault. She died in 2015 while on a ventilator for several days after suffering from pneumonia.

SC gave patients living in a vegetative state the right to have treatment or food withdrawn, and laid down guidelines to process passive euthanasia in the case of incompetent patients. The guidelines include seeking a declaration from a high court, after getting clearance from a medical board and state government.

Solution: C

Private property is a human right: Supreme Court

Context: The Supreme Court has recently held that a citizen’s right to own private property is a human right and the state cannot take possession of it without following due procedure and authority of law.

Important observations made by the Court:

1. The state cannot trespass into the private property of a citizen and then claim ownership of the land in the name of ‘adverse possession’.
2. Grabbing private land and then claiming it as its own makes the state an encroacher.
3. In a welfare state, right to property is a human right.
4. A welfare state cannot be permitted to take the plea of adverse possession, which allows a trespasser i.e. a person guilty of a tort, or even a crime, to gain legal title over such property for over 12 years. The State cannot be permitted to perfect its title over the land by invoking the doctrine of adverse possession to grab the property of its own citizens.

What’s the issue?

The Himachal Pradesh government forcibly took over four acres of land belonging to a person at Hamipur district to build a road in 1967.

Even 52 years later, the state has failed to pay the compensation.

The appellant was wholly unaware of her rights and entitlement in law, and did not file any proceedings for compensation of the land compulsorily taken over by the state.

When her petition was turned down by the High Court, the appellant moved the Supreme Court.

Right to Property:

‘Right to private property was previously a fundamental right’ under Article 31 of the Constitution.

Property ceased to be a fundamental right with the 44th Constitution Amendment in 1978.

Nevertheless, Article 300A required the state to follow due procedure and authority of law to deprive a person of his or her private property.

The right to property is now considered to be not only a constitutional or statutory right, but also a human right.

Solution: D

Habeas Corpus

It is a Latin term which literally means ‘to have the body of’. It is an order issued by the court to a person who has detained another person, to produce the body of the latter before it. The court then examines the cause and legality of detention. It would set the detained person free, if the detention is found to be illegal. Thus, this writ is a bulwark of individual liberty against arbitrary detention.

The writ of habeas corpus can be issued against both public authorities as well as private individuals. The writ, on the other hand, is not issued where the (a) detention is lawful, (b) the proceeding is for contempt of a legislature or a court, (c) detention is by a competent court, and (d) detention is outside the jurisdiction of the court.

Solution: B

Article 34 provides for the restrictions on fundamental rights while martial law is in force in any area within the territory of India. It empowers the Parliament to indemnify any government servant or any other person for any act done by him in connection with the maintenance or restoration of order in any area where martial law was in force.

The concept of martial law has been borrowed in India from the English common law. However, the expression ‘martial law’ has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution. Literally, it means ‘military rule’. It refers to a situation where civil administration is run by the military authorities according to their own rules and regulations framed outside the ordinary law.

There is also no specific or express provision in the Constitution that authorises the executive to declare martial law. However, it is implicit in Article 34 under which martial law can be declared in any area within the territory of India. The martial law is imposed under the extraordinary circumstances like war, invasion, insurrection, rebellion, riot or any violent resistance to law. Its justification is to repel force by force for maintaining or restoring order in the society.

Solution: D

The framers of the Constitution made the Directive Principles non-justiciable and legally non-enforceable because:

1. The country did not possess sufficient financial resources to implement them.
2. The presence of vast diversity and backwardness in the country would stand in the way of their implementation.
3. The newly born independent Indian State with its many preoccupations might be crushed under the burden unless it was free to decide the order, the time, the place and the mode of fulfilling them.

Solution: A

The Directive Principles of State Policy are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution from Articles 36 to 511. The framers of the Constitution borrowed this idea from the Irish Constitution of 1937, which had copied it from the Spanish Constitution. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar described these principles as ‘novel features’ of the Indian Constitution. The Directive Principles along with the Fundamental Rights contain the philosophy of the Constitution and is the soul of the Constitution. Granville Austin has described the Directive Principles and the Fundamental Rights as the ‘Conscience of the Constitution’.

The Directive Principles resemble the ‘Instrument of Instructions’ enumerated in the Government of India Act of 1935. In the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, ‘the Directive Principles are like the instrument of instructions, which were issued to the Governor-General and to the Governors of the colonies of India by the British Government under the Government of India Act of 1935.

Solution: C

Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP) is a five-year vision plan. It sets out to deliver further on principles of Access, Inclusion, Quality, Excellence and enhancing employability in Higher Education.

It aims at ushering transformation in India‘s higher education system by implementing strategic interventions in the sector over five years (2019-2024).

It is described as the implementation plan for the National Education Policy. It is meant to bridge the gap between policy and implementation.

Solution: C

Context: The first Gender Social Norms Index was recently released by the UN Development Programmme (UNDP).

About the index:

• This index measures how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education, and contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population.
• The index found new clues to the invisible barriers women face in achieving equality – potentially forging a path forward to breaking through the so-called “glass ceiling”.

Key findings:

• Despite decades of progress closing the equality gap between men and women, close to 90 percent of men and women hold some sort of bias against women.
• Almost half of those polled feel that men are superior political leaders.
• More than 40 per cent believe they make better business executives and are more entitled to jobs when the economy is lagging.
• Moreover, 28 per cent think it is justified for a man to beat his wife.
• The analysis also highlighted a bias shift in some 30 countries, revealing that while some show improvements, attitudes in others appear to have worsened in recent years – signaling that progress cannot be taken for granted.

Solution: B

North East Venture Fund (NEVF):

• Launched in September 2017.
• Set up by North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi)in association with Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M-DoNER).
• It is a close ended fund with capital commitment of Rs 100 crore.
• It is the first dedicated venture capital fund for the North Eastern Region.
• Objective: to contribute to the entrepreneurship development of the NER and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns through long term capital appreciation by way of investments in privately negotiated equity/ equity related investments.
• The investment under this schemer ranges from Rs. 25 lakh to Rs.10 crore per venture, which is long term in nature with investment horizon of 4-5 years.

Solution: A

Liberal-Intellectual Principles under Directive principles

The principles included in this category represent the ideology of liberalism. They direct the state:

1. To secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout the country (Article 44).
2. To provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years9 (Article 45).
3. To organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines (Article 48).
4. To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wild life10 (Article 48 A).

Solution: D

The Verma Committee on Fundamental Duties of the Citizens (1999) identified the existence of legal provisions for the implementation of some of the Fundamental Duties. They are mentioned below:

1. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act (1971) prevents disrespect to the Constitution of India, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
2. The various criminal laws in force provide for punishments for encouraging enmity between different sections of people on grounds of language, race, place of birth, religion and so on.
3. The Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955) provides for punishments for offences related to caste and religion.
4. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) declares the imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration as punishable offences.
5. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 provides for the declaration of a communal organisation as an unlawful association.
6. The Representation of People Act (1951) provides for the disqualification of members of the Parliament or a state legislature for indulging in corrupt practice, that is, soliciting votes on the ground of religion or promoting enmity between different sections of people on grounds of caste, race, language, religion and so on.
7. The Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 prohibits trade in rare and endangered species.
8. The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 checks indiscriminate deforestation and diversion of forest land for nonforest purposes.

Solution: D

In the Minerva Mills case (1980), the Supreme Court also held that ‘the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance between the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles. They together constitute the core of commitment to social revolution.

Solution: B

The Union Finance Ministry has launched 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2018 scheme to help citizens invest in a taxable instrument, without any monetary ceiling.

The Bonds are open to investment by individuals (including Joint Holdings) and HUFs. Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are not eligible for making investments in these bonds.

The Bonds are not transferable and also are not tradable in secondary market. They are also not eligible as collateral for loans from banking institutions, non-banking financial companies or financial institutions.

Solution: C

Nilgiri Tahr:

Recently, Nilgiri tahr’s population has increased from 568 in 2018 to 612 in 2019 in the Mukurthi National Park, Tamil Nadu.

• Nilgiri Tahr is also known as Nilgiri Ibex.
• State animal of Tamil Nadu
• Only species of Caprine ungulate that is found south of the Himalayas in India
• Habitat: Open montane grassland habitat of the South Western Ghats montane rain forests Eco region. Endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in Southern India (ex: Anamalai Hills, Palni Hills)
• It has been listed as “Endangered” by IUCN.
• It has been listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which provides absolute protection and offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties
• The Adult males of Nilgiri Tahr species develop a light grey area or “saddle” on their backs and are hence called “Saddlebacks”

Solution: D

Forty-Second Amendment Act, 1976 (The most comprehensive amendment made so far to the Constitution; it is known as “Mini- Constitution’; it gave effect to the recommendations of Swaran Singh Committee.)

1. Added three new words (i.e., socialist, secular and integrity) in the Preamble.
2. Added Fundamental Duties by the citizens (new Part IV A).
3. Made the president bound by the advise of the cabinet.
4. Provided for administrative tribunals and tribunals for other matters (Added Part XIV A).
5. Froze the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies on the basis of 1971 census till 2001.
6. Made the constitutional amendments beyond judicial scrutiny.
7. Curtailed the power of judicial review and writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts.
8. Raised the tenure of Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies from 5 to 6 years.
9. Provided that the laws made for the implementation of Directive Principles cannot be declared invalid by the courts on the ground of violation of some Fundamental Rights.
10. Empowered the Parliament to make laws to deal with anti-national activities and such laws are to take precedence over Fundamental Rights.
11. Added three new Directive Principles viz., equal justice and free-legal aid, participation of workers in the management of industries and protection of environment, forests and wild life.
12. Facilitated the proclamation of national emergency in a part of territory of India.

Solution: A

Sixty-Fifth Amendment Act, 1990

Provided for the establishment of a multimember National Commission for SCs and STs in the place of a Special Officer for SCs and STs.

Eighty-Ninth Amendment Act, 2003

Bifurcated the erstwhile combined National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies, namely, National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Both the Commissions consist of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and three other members. They are appointed by the President.

Solution: A

Sixty-Ninth Amendment Act, 1991

Accorded a special status to the Union Territory of Delhi by designing it as the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The amendment also provided for the creation of a 70-member legislative assembly and a 7-member council of ministers for Delhi.

Seventieth Amendment Act, 1992

Provided for the inclusion of the members of the Legislative Assemblies of National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry in the electoral college for the election of the president.

Solution: C

Ninety-First Amendment Act, 2003

Made the following provisions to limit the size of Council of Ministers, to debar defectors from holding public offices, and to strengthen the anti-defection law:

1. The total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the

Central Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.

2. A member of either house of Parliament belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a minister.
3. The total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the

Council of Ministers in a state shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the legislative Assembly of that state. But, the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in a state shall not be less than 12.

4. A member of either House of a state legislature belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a minister.
5. A member of either House of Parliament or either House of a State Legislature belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to hold any remunerative political post. The expression “remunerative political post” means

(i) any office under the central government or a state government

where the salary or remuneration for such office is paid out of the public revenue of the concerned government; or

(ii) any office under a body, whether incorporated or not, which is wholly or partially owned by the central government or a state government and the salary or remuneration for such office is paid by such body, except where such salary or remuneration paid is compensatory in nature.

6. The provision of the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) pertaining to exemption from disqualification in case of split by one-third members of legislature party has been deleted. It means that the defectors have no more protection on grounds of splits.

Solution: A

One Hundred and Third Amendment Act, 2019

1. Empowered the state to make any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens.
2. Allowed the state to make a provision for the reservation of upto 10% of seats for such sections in admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the state, expect the minority educational institutions. This reservation of upto 10% would be in addition to the existing reservations.
3. Permitted the state to make a provision for the reservation of upto 10% of appointments or posts in favour of such sections. This reservation of upto 10 % would be in addition to the existing reservation.

Solution: A

Solution: D

The anti-defection law in India, technically the Tenth Schedule to the Indian Constitution, was enacted to address the perceived problem of instability caused by democratically elected legislators in India’s Parliamentary System of Government shifting allegiance from the parties they supported at the time of election

Solution: B

The present study focuses on 173 species of invasive alien plants in India. These include the most serious invasives, such as Alternanthera philoxeroides, Cassia uniflora, Chromolaena odorata, Eichhornia crassipes, Lantana camara, Parthenium hysterophorus, Prosopis juliflora, Papaya Mealy bug, snowflake coral and others.

Nilgai is native species to India.