Making of the Constitution, Preamble & features

Answer: (a) Privileges

Equality means that the treatment people get and the chances open to them are not fixed by birth or status. That requires ending special privileges reserved for a few; it does not require removing rules, rivalry or beliefs.

• ✓ (a) The first step towards equality is dismantling formal systems of inequality and privilege, such as rights, offices or entry open only to some castes, classes or sexes.
• ✗ (c) Equality of opportunity is compatible with competition; liberal thinkers in fact treat fair competition as a just way to distribute rewards once everyone starts on equal terms.
• ✗ (b) An equal society still has laws and restraints; equality asks that the same restraints apply to all, not that restraints disappear.

Remember · Equality = no special privileges by birth or status, plus equal opportunities. It sits comfortably with laws (restraints) and fair competition.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Economic liberty

The Preamble secures liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, but it does not mention economic liberty. The word 'economic' appears in the Preamble only with justice: 'social, economic and political' justice.

• ✓ (a) 'Liberty of thought' is the first liberty listed in the Preamble, so it is embodied there.
• ✗ (b) The Preamble has no 'economic liberty'. Its economic goal is economic justice, a different idea. This is the option that is not embodied.
• ✓ (c) 'Expression' is named in the Preamble's list of liberties.
• ✓ (d) 'Belief' is named in the same list, along with faith and worship.

Remember · Preamble liberty = thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. 'Economic' occurs only in 'justice, social, economic and political'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) the intelligence and character of ordinary men and women.

Democracy's special strength is that it draws ordinary citizens into public life and makes use of their judgement and character. Its quality depends on how widely people take part, not on a leader, a party cadre or a stronger executive.

• ✓ (a) Democracy rests on participation by ordinary people. NCERT says the quality of democracy depends on the degree of public participation.
• ✗ (b) Strengthening executive leadership is about how a government is run. It is not what makes democracy special, and democracy also stresses accountability of the executive.
• ✗ (c) Relying on a single superior individual is the opposite of democratic participation by many.
• ✗ (d) Party workers are only one part of political life. Democracy's virtue is that it involves all citizens, not a small dedicated band.

Remember · The virtue of democracy is participation: it draws on the intelligence and character of ordinary men and women, not on one leader or a small group.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Democratic Politics – II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) the executive remains responsible to the legislature.

The defining advantage of the parliamentary system is that the executive stays answerable to the legislature. In India the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, so a government that loses the House's confidence cannot continue.

• ✓ (c) Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the House of the People. NCERT says the parliamentary form has many mechanisms that keep the executive answerable to and controlled by the legislature.
• ✗ (a) Independent working is a feature of the presidential system. In the parliamentary system the two organs are interdependent.
• ✗ (d) The government must have a majority in the legislature, so a Prime Minister can be replaced when that support is lost, without a fresh election.
• ✗ (b) Continuity and efficiency are not guaranteed, since a government can fall when it loses its majority. Accountability to the legislature is the main advantage.

Remember · Parliamentary system: the executive is drawn from, and answerable to, the legislature. Article 75(3): the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The Preamble

The Preamble sums up the vision and philosophy of the Constitution's makers: the objectives they set for the country and the statement that it was adopted by 'We, the people of India'. The other three are specific parts of the Constitution, and the Fundamental Duties were added only in 1976.

• ✓ (a) NCERT says the best summary of the Constitution's vision or philosophy is found in the Preamble. It names the objectives of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity and states that the Constitution was adopted by the people.
• ✗ (b) Fundamental Rights are one part of the Constitution, listing enforceable rights of individuals. They do not sum up the whole design.
• ✗ (c) The Directive Principles are goals for governments to work towards; like the Rights, they are a single part of the whole.
• ✗ (d) The Fundamental Duties were inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, so they were not part of what the original makers wrote in 1949.

Remember · The Preamble is the summary of the Constitution's philosophy and the makers' vision. Fundamental Duties were added later, in 1976.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 10 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) A mechanism of parliamentary democracy for ensuring collective responsibility of the Government to the people.

The principle behind the Cabinet form of government is collective responsibility: the whole Council of Ministers answers to the elected House, and through it to the people. Article 75(3) states this for the Union: the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

• ✓ (c) Collective responsibility means the ministers sink or swim together, and the ministry must resign if the Lok Sabha withdraws its confidence. That is how a parliamentary democracy holds the government accountable to the people.
• ✗ (a) The Cabinet system does not exist to reduce criticism; it exposes the government to questions and debate in the legislature.
• ✗ (b) Speed of decision-making is a side benefit at most; accountability to the legislature is the defining principle.
• ✗ (d) The Cabinet system is meant to make the executive answerable, not to strengthen a leader whose support has weakened.

Remember · Cabinet (parliamentary) government rests on collective responsibility: the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Article 75(3)).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) It is the result of an agreement among the federating units.

Indian federalism is not the result of an agreement among the States. India is a "holding together" federation, where a large country divides power between the Centre and the States, unlike the USA, where independent States came together. The Constitution calls India a Union of States, and the other three options are real features.

• ✓ (d) This is the odd one out. The Constitution begins with "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States"; the units did not sign a compact to form it. NCERT classes India with the "holding together" federations, not the "coming together" ones like the USA.
• ✗ (b) Powers are divided by the Seventh Schedule; for example, Article 246 gives Parliament exclusive power over the Union List. So this is a federal feature.
• ✗ (c) Seats in the Rajya Sabha are allocated State-wise under the Fourth Schedule (Article 80(2)), so States are not equally represented. This unequal representation is a real feature of Indian federalism.
• ✗ (a) An independent judiciary that settles Centre-State disputes is a standard feature of a federation and is present in India.

Remember · India is a "holding together" federation created by the Constitution (a Union of States), not by an agreement among States.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Democratic Politics – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error