Elections, rights issues & governance

Answer: (c) Accountability

Mr. X answered for the quality of a public programme he oversaw. He escalated the provider's lapse to the vigilance authority and stopped the contract despite pressure, which is accountability: officials being answerable to citizens and acting on failures in the services they run.

• ✓ (c) He took responsibility for the programme's outcome, held the private provider answerable by reporting it and halting the contract, and put citizens' interest above vested interests.
• ✗ (b) Equity concerns fair and impartial treatment of people or groups. The case is not about how vaccines were shared among citizens but about an officer answering for a failure.
• ✗ (d) Delegation means passing authority or tasks down to subordinates. Nothing in Mr. X's actions involves handing over authority.

Remember · Accountability: public officials answer to citizens for how public duties are carried out, and they act on lapses, including by contractors, rather than overlook them.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 Democratic Politics – II, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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

Answer: (a) 1, 3 and 4 only

The task is to mediate and balance three legitimate interests, so steps that listen, bring all sides together and put shared evidence on the table help, while a decision that dismisses one side does not. Statements 1, 3 and 4 do this; statement 2 overrides the tribal community's concerns and is likely to deepen the conflict.

• ✓ 1. Starting with the tribal community's cultural and religious concerns shows respect, lowers tension and makes it possible to discuss technical alternatives afterwards.
• ✗ 2. Public health is among the State's primary duties (Article 47), but the State must equally protect the environment (Article 48A) and look to the welfare of Scheduled Tribes (Fifth Schedule); treating one group's view as automatically outweighing another's ignores the balance the task asks for.
• ✓ 3. A platform with tribal leaders, environmental experts and municipal representatives brings all interests to one table and helps reduce tension.
• ✓ 4. An independent impact assessment shared openly with both sides gives them common facts, so the decision can rest on evidence rather than on rival claims.

Remember · In conflict cases, choose steps that listen to every side, share facts openly and balance rights and needs. Reject options that override one party or rush ahead.

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

Answer: (b) 3 only

The information is confidential and unproven. Ms. X should not bury it, as Mr. Y suggests, but she should also not act on it in public. Passing it to an oversight committee keeps the process transparent to an accountable body and lets the allegations be checked before anyone is named or removed.

• ✗ 1. Telling the public at once about allegations that have not been proven can damage the contractor unfairly and may expose the confidential source, before anyone has checked the facts.
• ✗ 2. Removing a contractor from the shortlist on unproven allegations, without an inquiry or a chance to respond, would be arbitrary and could be challenged.
• ✓ 3. A limited disclosure to an oversight committee avoids concealment, lets the claims be verified and the tender decision be taken on facts, and holds back public disclosure until there is something to disclose.

Remember · With confidential, unproven allegations: do not suppress them and do not act on them alone. Refer them to the proper oversight body for verification, then decide.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Democratic Politics – II, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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

Answer: (d) 2 only

Section 173 of the BNSS allows information about a cognizable offence to be given at any police station, whatever the place of the offence, orally or electronically. A preliminary enquiry is possible only with prior permission of an officer of at least Deputy Superintendent rank. Statement 1 goes wrong by adding non-cognizable offences, and statement 3 wrongly makes electronic filing compulsory.

• ✗ 1. Section 173(1) speaks of information relating to a cognizable offence, given irrespective of the area where the offence was committed. It does not extend this to non-cognizable offences, so the statement's wording is incorrect.
• ✓ 2. Under section 173(3), for a cognizable offence punishable with three years or more but less than seven, the officer in charge may, with prior permission of an officer not below Deputy Superintendent of Police, conduct a preliminary enquiry.
• ✗ 3. Information may be given orally or by electronic communication; the informant is not obliged to file electronically.

Remember · BNSS s.173: information on a cognizable offence can be given at any police station (Zero FIR), orally or electronically; preliminary enquiry only for 3–7 year offences, with DSP-level permission.

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

Answer: (d) Four

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (d), the count the Election Commission and NCERT both give: 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002. A Delimitation Commission was also constituted on 6 March 2020 under section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, for Jammu and Kashmir (and at first four north-eastern States, dropped in 2021), which a strict reader might add as a fifth; but the official count treats the four nation-wide Commissions as 'the' Delimitation Commissions, and 'five' is not offered. In the exam, answer four, and know the 2020 Jammu and Kashmir Commission separately.

NCERT lists four Delimitation Commissions in India, set up in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002, so the count is four. It also draws attention to the long interval between the third (1973) and the fourth (2002).

• ✓ (d) The four Commissions are those of 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002. The last one worked under the Delimitation Act, 2002, which repealed the earlier Delimitation Act, 1972.
• ✗ (c) Three undercounts. The 2002 Commission is the fourth, after those of 1952, 1963 and 1973.
• • note Separate from this count: a notification under section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (S.O. 1015(E), 6 March 2020) set up a Commission for Jammu and Kashmir and, at first, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland; those four States were dropped by a notification of 3 March 2021. The Election Commission's own count of four covers the nation-wide Commissions.

Remember · Delimitation Commissions: 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002, four in all; Article 82 mandates the establishment of a Delimitation Commission.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The women's reservation (Constitution 106th Amendment) Act, 2023 lapses 15 years after its commencement and sets aside one-third of the Scheduled Caste seats for SC women. Statement 1 is wrong because reservation starts only after a fresh delimitation based on the first census taken after the Act, not from the 18th Lok Sabha.

• ✗ 1. Article 334A says the reservation takes effect after delimitation is done using the first census figures published after the Act's commencement. The 18th Lok Sabha (elected in 2024) was therefore not covered.
• ✓ 2. Article 334A(1) provides that the reservation ceases to have effect on the expiry of fifteen years from commencement. Parliament may extend this by law.
• ✓ 3. Article 330A(2) reserves, as nearly as may be, one-third of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (and for Scheduled Tribes) for women of those communities.

Remember · Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Amendment, 2023): one-third seats for women, SC/ST quota sub-reserved, effective after post-census delimitation, lapses 15 years from commencement.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). The 1894 Act does not use the words 'expressly kept', but it does expressly vest prisons in the provincial (now State) government: section 3 makes a prison a place used under that government's orders and section 59 gives it the rule-making power, so Statement II is a fair description. Option (b) fails because that rule-making power is precisely why each State has its own rules (Statement I); the State List entry of 1950 added the constitutional footing. In the exam, treat a statement as 'expressly' true when the Act's sections say it, even if not in those words.

Prisons are a State subject, and each State runs its prisons under its own manual and rules. The Prisons Act, 1894 is the framework law that placed prisons under the provincial (now State) government: a prison is a place used under that government's orders, and section 59 gives it the power to make the rules. That is exactly why States have their own rules, so Statement II explains Statement I.

• ✓ Statement-I 'Prisons' is in the State List of the Seventh Schedule. The Ministry of Home Affairs says management and administration lie exclusively with State Governments, under the 1894 Act and each State's Prison Manual.
• ✓ Statement-II The Act vests prisons in the provincial government throughout: section 3 defines a prison as a place used under the orders of the (then provincial, now State) Government, and section 59 says the State Government may make rules consistent with the Act. So it kept the subject under provincial control; Entry 4 of the State List later gave this constitutional footing.
• ✓ (a) Statement-II is the legal reason for Statement-I: the 1894 Act's rule-making power is why each State has its own prison rules.
• ✗ (b) This option accepts both statements but treats Statement-II as unrelated to Statement-I. The two are directly linked.

Remember · Prisons: State List, Seventh Schedule. States run them under the Prisons Act, 1894 and their own Prison Manuals; the Centre only advises (e.g. Model Prison Manual, 2016).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Pairs 1 and 3 are correct; pair 2 is wrong. Misleading or interfering with police or armed-forces personnel on guard near a prohibited place is an offence under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, not the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which only lays down rules of evidence in court.

• ✓ 1. Section 6 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 punishes wearing, without lawful authority, any naval, military, air force, police or other official uniform for the purposes the section lists.
• ✗ 2. Section 7 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (interfering with officers of the police or members of the Armed Forces) bars anyone near a prohibited place from obstructing, knowingly misleading or otherwise interfering with them. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 has no such offence.
• ✓ 3. The Arms (Amendment) Act, 2019 added sub-section (9) to section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959: using a firearm in celebratory gunfire so as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others is punishable with up to two years' imprisonment, a fine up to rupees one lakh, or both.

Remember · Uniform misuse and interference with police or armed forces near a prohibited place: Official Secrets Act, 1923 (sections 6 and 7). Celebratory gunfire: Arms Act, 1959 section 25(9), inserted in 2019.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

The Tenth Schedule works the other way round for nominated members: they may join a party within six months of taking their seat and are disqualified only if they join after that. It leaves defection cases to the Speaker or Chairman but sets no deadline for deciding them.

• ✗ 1. Paragraph 2(3) disqualifies a nominated member who joins a political party after the expiry of six months from taking the seat — so joining within the first six months is allowed.
• ✓ 2. Paragraph 6 refers disqualification questions to the Chairman or Speaker, whose decision is final, but prescribes no time limit for the decision.

Remember · Tenth Schedule: nominated member may join a party within 6 months of taking seat; independents may never join one; Speaker/Chairman decides, with no statutory deadline.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. The Department of Personnel was created on 1 August 1970 in the Cabinet Secretariat on the First Administrative Reforms Commission's advice, under the Prime Minister. The Gopalaswami Ayyangar Committee of 1949 made no proposal of a minister and secretary solely for administrative reform.

• ✗ 1. The Ayyangar Committee (1949) said a Department should be under a Secretary and a Ministry under a Minister, grouped the economic and social departments into four bureaus, and suggested an Organization and Methods machinery. It did not propose a minister and secretary meant only for administrative reform.
• ✓ 2. The First Administrative Reforms Commission (set up in 1966) recommended a separate Department of Personnel directly under the Prime Minister. The Government accepted this and the Department came into being on 1 August 1970, as part of the Cabinet Secretariat.

Remember · Department of Personnel: created 1 August 1970 in the Cabinet Secretariat, on the First ARC's advice, under the Prime Minister. Ayyangar Committee (1949): Secretary for a Department, Minister for a Ministry, and O&M machinery.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key.

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. The facts it tests: since a 1996 amendment, Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 lets a person contest from at most two constituencies in a general election, and no rule makes a candidate's party pay for the resulting bye-election.

• ✗ 1. There is a law: Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 allows a person to contest a general election from a maximum of two constituencies. It was inserted by a 1996 amendment; before that there was no limit.
• • 2. This is a point of election history, not of law, and it is left unjudged in this write-up; UPSC dropped the question from evaluation anyway.
• ✗ 3. No existing rule makes the party bear the cost. The Election Commission has only proposed that, if two-seat contests continue, the candidate (not the party) should pay for the bye-election to the seat he or she vacates.

Remember · Section 33(7), RPA 1951 (since 1996): a person may contest from a maximum of two constituencies. Under Section 70, a person winning both must leave one seat.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

The question rests on the Supreme Court's Aadhaar judgment of 26 September 2018 (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India). The Court fixed the limit for keeping authentication records at six months, not three; struck down the part of Section 57 that allowed Aadhaar use under a mere contract; and upheld Section 7, which lets governments require Aadhaar for benefits paid from the Consolidated Fund of India. Insurance is not such a benefit.

• ✗ 1. The Court said authentication records may be kept for six months at most and struck down the regulation that allowed archiving for five years. The limit is six months, not three.
• ✓ 2. The Court held that Section 57, so far as it let the State or any company use Aadhaar under 'any contract to this effect', was unconstitutional and void, because a contract is not a law.
• ✗ 3. No law made Aadhaar compulsory for buying insurance, and after the judgment private bodies could not demand it on the strength of a contract. Insurance is not a subsidy or benefit funded from the Consolidated Fund of India.
• ✓ 4. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 lets the Centre or a State require Aadhaar authentication for any subsidy, benefit or service paid for from the Consolidated Fund of India; the Court upheld it.

Remember · Aadhaar judgment (2018): Section 7 (benefits from the Consolidated Fund) upheld; Aadhaar use under private contracts struck down; authentication records kept for six months at most.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 lists who gets free legal aid: SC/ST members, women, children, persons with disability, industrial workmen, persons in custody and people below an income ceiling set by the State. Low-income persons and transgender persons within the prescribed ceilings qualify; being OBC is not a category, and senior citizens qualify only as State rules allow.

• ✓ 1. Section 12 covers anyone whose annual income is below the ceiling the State prescribes; most States' ceilings are ₹1,00,000 or higher, so a person earning less than ₹1 lakh qualifies.
• ✓ 2. Delhi's legal aid rules give transgender persons a separate, higher income ceiling (NALSA now lists ₹4,00,000 for Delhi), so a transgender person earning under ₹2 lakh is eligible.
• ✗ 3. Section 12 names Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, not Other Backward Classes. An OBC person qualifies only through another category, such as the income ceiling, not because of being OBC.
• ✗ 4. NALSA says senior citizens' eligibility depends on each State's rules; Delhi, for example, gives it only below an income ceiling. So not all senior citizens qualify.

Remember · Free legal aid (Section 12, Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987): SC/ST, women, children, disabled, trafficking victims, industrial workmen, persons in custody, disaster victims, and persons below a State-set income ceiling.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) An agency for the implementation of public policy

The bureaucracy is the permanent executive: trained, merit-selected officers who help ministers frame policy and then carry it out. Its defining job is implementing public policy, whichever party is in power.

• ✓ (d) Civil servants assist ministers in formulating policies and implementing them, and must faithfully implement a new government's policies too.
• ✗ (c) Continuity of administration may help stability, but political stability and growth are outcomes of policy choices made by elected governments, not the defining role of the bureaucracy.
• ✗ (a) Widening parliamentary democracy is a political task of legislators and parties; the bureaucracy is non-partisan and works under ministerial control.

Remember · Bureaucracy = permanent executive (civil service), recruited on merit through UPSC/State PSCs, politically neutral, and tasked with implementing the policies of the political executive.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

A non-member can be a State minister for up to six months, but only if qualified to become a member, which needs an age of at least 25 for the Assembly, not merely voting age (18). And the Representation of the People Act, 1951 bars a convict sentenced to two years or more only for the period of sentence plus six years after release, not permanently.

• ✗ 1. Article 164(4) lets a non-member serve as minister for six consecutive months, but the person must be able to win a seat within that time; Article 173 requires a minimum age of 25 for the Legislative Assembly, so a mere voter (18+) does not qualify.
• ✗ 2. Section 8(3) of the Act disqualifies a person sentenced to imprisonment for at least two years from the date of conviction until six years after release; the bar is not permanent.

Remember · Non-member minister: six-month limit (Articles 75(5), 164(4)). Conviction with 2+ years' sentence: disqualified from conviction until six years after release (RPA 1951, Section 8(3)).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). Statement 3 is wrong — Article 102 uses 'office of profit' without defining it — and (a) is the only option without statement 3, so the answer is fixed. Statement 2's count is loose: the Act's own footnotes record changes made by Acts of 1960, 1962, 1977, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2013, several of them consequential amendments by other Acts, so 'five' depends on what one counts; UPSC's key takes the statement as broadly correct, the Act having been amended repeatedly. In the exam, let the clearly wrong statement decide the option.

The 1959 Act lists offices whose holders are not disqualified from Parliament for holding an office of profit, and Parliament has amended it repeatedly since. The Constitution, however, uses 'office of profit' in Article 102 without defining it, so statement 3 is wrong — and (a) is the only option that leaves statement 3 out.

• ✓ 1. The Act declares that the offices it lists (in section 3 and its Schedule) shall not disqualify their holders from being chosen as, or being, members of Parliament.
• ✓ 2. Correct in UPSC's key: the Act has been amended repeatedly to add exempted offices, most recently in 2013, when the chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes were covered after the two commissions were separated.
• ✗ 3. Article 102(1)(a) disqualifies the holder of an 'office of profit' but does not define the term. The Supreme Court has noted that the expression is defined neither in the Constitution nor in the Representation of the People Act.

Remember · 'Office of profit' is not defined in the Constitution; Parliament exempts listed offices through the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

The amended Act (in force from 1 November 2016) expressly counts a deal as benami even when the recorded owner is unaware of it, lets the Government confiscate benami property, and provides an appeal route through an Adjudicating Authority and an Appellate Tribunal. Only statement 2 is correct.

• ✗ 1. The definition of a benami transaction includes an arrangement where the owner of the property is not aware of, or denies knowledge of, the ownership. Lack of awareness makes it benami; it does not exempt it.
• ✓ 2. Property held benami can be provisionally attached and then confiscated by the Government, without payment of compensation.
• ✗ 3. Income-tax officers act as Initiating Officer, Approving Authority and Administrator, and there is an Adjudicating Authority too; appeals lie to the Appellate Tribunal, so an appellate mechanism does exist.

Remember · PBPT Act (amended 2016, effective 1 Nov 2016): 'owner unaware' still counts as benami; benami property confiscated without compensation; appeals via Adjudicating Authority and Appellate Tribunal.

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) any citizen of India whose name appears in the electoral roll of a constituency.

To contest a Lok Sabha election a person must be a citizen of India and also a registered voter (an elector) in some parliamentary constituency. The constituency need not be the one he or she contests from, and mere residence or citizenship is not enough.

• ✓ (c) Article 84(a) requires Indian citizenship, and Section 4(d) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires the person to be an elector in any parliamentary constituency.
• ✗ (d) Citizenship alone is not enough. A citizen who is not on any electoral roll cannot be a candidate.
• ✗ (a) Residence is irrelevant, and a resident who is not a citizen (a foreigner) is barred by Article 84(a).
• ✗ (b) There is no rule that a candidate must live in, or be a voter of, the constituency contested. A voter registered in Delhi may contest from another State, apart from the exceptions in Section 4 for Assam, Lakshadweep and Sikkim.

Remember · Lok Sabha candidate: an Indian citizen aged 25 or more who is a registered voter in any parliamentary constituency of the country.

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) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. Lok Sabha and Assembly seats are won by plurality, the most votes, and not by a 50 per cent majority. The Constitution only says the House elects its Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among its members; it does not reserve either post for a party.

• ✗ 1. India uses the First Past the Post system: the candidate with more votes than every other candidate wins, and need not secure a majority of the votes polled.
• ✗ 2. Article 93 says the House of the People chooses two of its members as Speaker and Deputy Speaker. It says nothing about the majority party or the Opposition; any such sharing is only a convention, not a constitutional provision.

Remember · Lok Sabha seats are won by plurality (First Past the Post), not a 50 per cent majority. Article 93: the House elects its own Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, 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: (c) Constitutional Right

The right to vote comes from the Constitution itself: Article 326 says elections to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies rest on adult suffrage. It is therefore a constitutional right, but it is not one of the Fundamental Rights, which are listed in Part III (Articles 12 to 35).

• ✓ (c) Article 326 gives every citizen who is of the prescribed age and not otherwise disqualified the right to vote. Citizens equally have the right to stand for election, subject to age and other conditions set by law.
• ✗ (a) Article 326 sits in the part of the Constitution on elections, not in Part III on Fundamental Rights, so the right to vote cannot be enforced as a Fundamental Right.
• ✗ (b) A natural right is one a person is said to hold irrespective of any law. Here the right is created and regulated by the Constitution and election laws.
• ✗ (d) A legal (statutory) right rests on an ordinary Act. The right to vote is anchored in the Constitution, although the conditions are worked out by laws such as the Representation of the People Act.

Remember · Right to vote (Art. 326, adult suffrage): a constitutional right, not a Fundamental Right.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, 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: (d) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. The Election Commission itself, not the Home Ministry, fixes election schedules, it is not a five-member body, and the Symbols Order gives it the power to decide disputes over splits and mergers of recognised parties.

• ✗ 1. Article 324 provides for a Chief Election Commissioner and such other Election Commissioners as the President fixes. In practice the Commission is a three-member body, the CEC and two Election Commissioners, with equal powers.
• ✗ 2. The Election Commission determines the timing of elections and prepares the election schedule. The Home Ministry does not decide it.
• ✓ 3. Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 lets the Commission decide which rival group of a recognised party is that party, and paragraph 16 deals with amalgamation of parties. Its decision on rival groups is binding.

Remember · The Election Commission fixes election schedules, is a three-member body (CEC plus two ECs), and settles party-split disputes under para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, 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: (c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers

Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan ('national campaign for dignity') is a civil-society campaign to end manual scavenging and rehabilitate the people, mostly Dalit women, pushed into it. The Government of India itself named it among the NGOs associated with identifying and rehabilitating manual scavengers. 'Garima' means dignity, which is exactly what manual scavenging denies.

• ✓ (c) The campaign targets manual scavenging, the carrying of human excreta from dry latrines, which the 1993 Act prohibited and the 2013 Act (in force from 6 December 2013) outlawed together with a duty to rehabilitate.
• ✗ (d) Release of bonded labourers is governed by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and is not the aim of this campaign.
• ✗ (a) Livelihoods for the homeless and destitute are addressed by government shelter and livelihood schemes, not by the Garima Abhiyan.

Remember · Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan = campaign against manual scavenging (dignity for safai workers). Law: Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error