Fundamental Rights, DPSP & Duties

Answer: (a) Jawaharlal Nehru

The Ninth Schedule was added by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, which came into force on 18 June 1951. Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964, so it was introduced in his time.

• ✓ (a) The First Amendment, 1951, inserted Article 31B and the Ninth Schedule so that the listed laws, mainly land-reform laws, could not be declared void for clashing with Fundamental Rights. Nehru was Prime Minister then.
• ✗ (c) This is the tempting option because Indira Gandhi's period saw many later additions to the Schedule, but the Schedule itself dates from 1951.
• ✗ (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri was Prime Minister only from 1964 to 1966, long after 1951.
• ✗ (d) Morarji Desai headed the government from 1977 to 1979, well after the Ninth Schedule had been created.

Remember · Ninth Schedule and Article 31B came with the First Amendment, 1951, under Nehru; the Fourth Amendment, 1955, added entries 14 to 20.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Article 21

Article 21, the protection of life and personal liberty, safeguards this right. In Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. (2018) the Supreme Court held that an adult's freedom to choose whom to marry forms part of Article 21.

• ✓ (b) Article 21 protects life and personal liberty, and the Supreme Court reads into it the freedom of an adult to choose a life partner.
• ✗ (a) Article 19 gives the freedoms of speech, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession; the Court has named Article 21 as the one that protects the choice of a spouse.
• ✗ (c) Article 25 protects freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion; it is not the source of the right to marry.
• ✗ (d) Article 29 protects the interests of minorities, their language, script and culture, and is unrelated to choice of spouse.

Remember · An adult's freedom to choose a spouse falls under Article 21 (life and personal liberty): Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M., 2018.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Opportunity to develop oneself fully

Liberty is best understood as the chance to develop one's talents and potential to the full, within reasonable social limits. Merely having no restraint is only one side of freedom, and no one can have unlimited freedom in society.

• ✓ (d) NCERT describes freedom as the condition in which people can develop their creativity and capabilities, and a free society as one that lets all its members develop their potential with the minimum of social constraints.
• ✗ (b) Absence of restraint is what NCERT calls only one aspect of freedom (negative liberty); it leaves out the conditions needed to develop oneself.
• ✗ (c) No individual living in society can enjoy a total absence of constraints, so doing whatever one likes cannot be the definition of liberty.
• ✗ (a) Protection from rulers' tyranny is one purpose of liberty, but it is narrower than the full idea, which also covers the opportunity to develop oneself.

Remember · Liberty has two sides: freedom from unjustified constraints (negative) and freedom to develop one's potential (positive). The fullest definition stresses the opportunity to develop oneself.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error