Post-independence India

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only the 1969 statement stands. The Communist Party of India, with 16 seats, was the largest opposition party in the first Lok Sabha, and the threshold for recognising a party (and so its leader) is one-tenth of the House, not 75 members.

• ✗ 1. In the first general election (1951–52) the CPI won 16 seats and became the largest opposition party. The Swatantra Party did not yet exist; it was founded in 1959.
• ✓ 2. Until 1969 the opposition had no formally recognised leader in the Lok Sabha. After the Congress split, Ram Subhag Singh of the Congress (O) was recognised in December 1969; the post got statutory backing in 1977.
• ✗ 3. The Speaker's Direction 121 requires a party to have at least the quorum strength, i.e. one-tenth of the House's members (about 55), not 75.

Remember · Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha: first recognised 1969 (Ram Subhag Singh); statutory since the 1977 Act; party needs one-tenth of the House (about 55 members).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta

The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) was formed in December 1948 by socialists who had broken away from the Congress and the AITUC, and Ashok Mehta, named in option (d), was one of its founders and its first General Secretary. Option (d) is the only one that names him.

• ✓ (d) Ashok Mehta, a founder-member of the Congress Socialist Party, is recorded in his Lok Sabha biography as founder and first General Secretary of the HMS. T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta are the other names in UPSC's key; no official page was found that names them.
• ✗ (a) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.
• ✗ (b) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.
• ✗ (c) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.

Remember · HMS: formed December 1948 by socialists (Ashok Mehta, first General Secretary). INTUC (1947, Congress), AITUC (1920), HMS (1948, socialists).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 – 2 – 1 – 4

The order is Air India (1953), State Bank of India (July 1955), the Kerala communist government (1957) and Goa (December 1961), so the sequence is 3-2-1-4. Fixing the years of these four landmarks of the 1950s and early 1960s settles the question.

• • 3. Air India was created under the Air Corporations Act, 1953, when the government nationalised air transport. This is the earliest event.
• • 2. The Imperial Bank of India passed into state ownership and became the State Bank of India in July 1955.
• • 1. In the March 1957 elections in Kerala the Communist Party won the most seats, and E. M. S. Namboodiripad formed a ministry. It was the first communist government to come to power through elections.
• • 4. Goa, Diu and Daman were liberated by the Indian army in December 1961, the last of the four events.

Remember · Order: Air India nationalised 1953, Imperial Bank to SBI 1955, Kerala's communist ministry 1957, Goa's liberation 1961.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error