Parliament & the Union executive

Answer: (b) amending the Constitution

A constitutional amendment must be passed separately by each House with a special majority, and there is no joint sitting to override a House that refuses. So on amendments the Rajya Sabha stands level with the Lok Sabha. The other three options are either special to the Rajya Sabha or reserved for the Lok Sabha.

• ✓ (b) Under Article 368 each House must pass an amendment bill by a special majority, so the constituent powers of the two Houses are the same.
• ✗ (a) Creating a new All India Service needs a resolution of the Rajya Sabha alone, backed by two-thirds of members present and voting (Article 312). This is a special power of the Rajya Sabha, not an equal one.
• ✗ (c) The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha only (Article 75(3)), so only the Lok Sabha can remove the government.
• ✗ (d) Demands for grants are voted only by the Lok Sabha (Article 113(2)), so cut motions, which propose reducing a demand, can be moved only there.

Remember · Equal powers of the two Houses: constitutional amendments, non-money bills, impeaching the President, removing the Vice President. Lok Sabha alone: money bills, grants, no-confidence.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 5 (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) 1, 2 and 4 only

Only statement 3 is wrong. MPLADS money is non-lapsable: whatever is left with the district, or not released by the Centre in a year, is carried forward. The scheme's other rules are as stated — durable community assets, a fixed share for SC and ST areas, and inspection of at least 10% of works by the district authority.

• ✓ 1. The scheme lets MPs recommend developmental works with the emphasis on creating durable community assets such as drinking water, education, health and sanitation infrastructure.
• ✓ 2. The guidelines earmark at least 15% of each MP's annual fund for works in areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribes.
• ✗ 3. MPLADS funds are non-lapsable. Money left with the district is carried forward to later years, and funds not released by the Centre in a year are released in subsequent years.
• ✓ 4. The district authority supervises the works and must inspect at least 10% of the works under implementation every year, involving MPs where feasible.

Remember · MPLADS (1993, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation): durable community assets; funds non-lapsable; 15% SC areas, 7.5% ST areas; district authority inspects at least 10% of works a year.

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: (b) the Government is responsible to the Parliament and can be removed by it

The defining feature of a parliamentary system is that the executive survives only while it keeps the confidence of the legislature. In India the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, which can remove it at any time.

• ✓ (b) The Council of Ministers depends on majority support in the legislature and can be removed whenever it loses that support, for example through a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
• ✗ (d) A government with a fixed term that the legislature cannot remove is a feature of the presidential system, as in the USA, not the parliamentary one.
• ✗ (c) Voters elect the legislature, not the government directly; the government is formed from the majority in the legislature and answers to it.

Remember · Parliamentary system: executive drawn from and responsible to the legislature, removable any time by loss of confidence. Presidential system: fixed-term executive not removable by the legislature (except impeachment).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 5 (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) 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: (c) 1 and 3 only

Article 85(1) lets the President summon each House to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, with the only rule being that six months must not pass between sessions. The three-session pattern (Budget, Monsoon, Winter) is a convention, not a constitutional provision, and no minimum number of sitting days is prescribed.

• ✓ 1. Article 85(1) expressly allows the President to summon Parliament at such time and place as he thinks fit.
• ✗ 2. The Constitution does not provide for three sessions; it only requires that the gap between two sessions be less than six months. Three sessions a year is a practice.
• ✓ 3. Neither the Constitution nor any law fixes a minimum number of sitting days for Parliament in a year.

Remember · Article 85: President summons Parliament at a time and place he thinks fit; gap between sessions must be under six months. Three sessions a year is only a convention.

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