UPSC Prelims 2023 Analysis

Explanation

• Option A is correct: Natural Justice implies fairness, reasonableness, equity and equality. Natural Justice is a concept of Common Law, and it is the Common Law world counterpart of the American concept of ‘procedural due process’. Natural Justice represents higher procedural principles developed by judges which every administrative agency must follow in taking any decision adversely affecting the rights of a private individual.

• The principles of natural justice are firmly grounded under various Articles of the Constitution. With the introduction of the concept of substantive and procedural due process in Article – 21 of the Constitution all that fairness which is included in the principles of natural justice can be read into Article – 21 when a person is deprived of his life and personal liberty.

Explanation

• The hoisting/use/display of the Indian National Flag is governed by the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and the Flag Code of India, 2002.The flag code states that the tricolour can be of nine standard dimensions: So, the first statement is incorrect. 

• The National Flag shall be rectangular in shape and the ratio of the length to the height (width) of the Flag shall be 32. Hence Statement 2 is correct.

Explanation

• Pair 1 is correctly matched: The Official Secrets Act, 1923 prohibits a person from using or wearing, without lawful authority, any naval, military, air force, police, or other official uniform, or any uniform so nearly resembling the same as to be calculated to deceive, or falsely represents himself to be a person who is or has been entitled to use or wear any such uniform 

• Pair 2 is incorrectly matched: It is under The Official Secrets Act, 1923, that no person in the vicinity of any prohibited place shall obstruct, knowingly mislead, or otherwise interfere with or impede, any police officer, or any member of 21 [the Armed Forces of the Union] engaged on guard, sentry, patrol or other similar duty in relation to the prohibited place. 

• Pair 3 is correctly matched: The Arms Act Amendment of 2019 adds news offenses such as forcefully taking a firearm from police or armed forces and using firearms in a celebratory gunfire which endangers human life or the personal safety of others.

Explanation

The Prisons Act 1894 is one of the oldest pieces of legislation in India dealing with laws enacted in relation to prisons in India. 

• Statement 1 is correct: Prison is a State subject under List-II of the Seventh Schedule in the Constitution. States have the primary role, responsibility, and power to change the current prison laws, rules, and regulations. Hence it is true that prisons are managed by the state governments with their own rules and regulations. 

• Statement 2 is correct: The management and administration of Prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State Governments and is governed by the Prisons Act, of 1894 and the Prison Manuals of the respective State Governments. 

• Hence it is true that the Prisons Act of 1894 kept the subject of prisons in the Provincial government (State governments) and this explains why State governments have the power to frame their own rules and regulations regarding prison management.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is correct: As per Article 244(1) of the Constitution's Fifth Schedule, Scheduled Areas are areas that the President may declare to be such by order after consultation with the Governor of that State. 

• Statement 2 is correct: District is considered as the largest administrative unit which forms the Scheduled Area while the lowest administrative unit is the cluster of villages in the Block. 

• Statement 3 is incorrect: The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India states in para 3 that the Governor of each State having Scheduled Areas therein shall annually, or whenever so required by the President, make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Scheduled Areas in that State and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to the State as to the Administration of the said areas.

Explanation

• The Finance Bill is a part of the Union Budget, stipulating all the legal amendments required for the changes in taxation proposed by the finance minister. As per Article 110 of the Constitution of India, the Finance Bill is a Money Bill.

• Statement 1 is correct: Though the finance bill shares certain similarities with the money bill, it can be rejected or amended by the Rajya Sabha.

• Statement 2 is correct: It is true that Money bills cannot be amended or rejected by the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha should return the bill with or without recommendations, which may be accepted or rejected by the Lok Sabha

• Statement 3 is incorrect: In case of disagreements, a joint sitting may be summoned by the President (becomes necessary is incorrect).

Explanation

• The Constitution contains the basic principles and laws of a nation that determine the powers and duties of the government. A constitution serves multiple purposes. It provides a legitimate legal and political basis for the Government to propose and enact laws, organising public service and settling disputes. 

• Although the Constitution determines the objectives (DPSP) for the making of necessary laws and aims to promote social, economic and political democracy, its chief purpose is to limit the power of government. In fact the Constitutional government is by definition limited government.

Explanation

• The First Amendment Act, of 1951, added the fourth clause to Article 15 that empowered the government to make any law for the upliftment of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled

• Tribes. The added clause elucidates that in case such special provisions are introduced, they cannot be said to be breaching Article 15 and Article 29(2) of the Constitution.

• The need to insert this clause was felt after the decision of the Supreme Court in the State of Madras v. Srimathi Champakam (1951). According to the facts of this case, the Madras government issued an Order that provided reservation on the grounds of religion, race, and caste. This Order was contended to be in breach of Article 15(1) of the Indian Constitution. The Court also gave a literal interpretation to the constitutional provisions and held that reserving seats in public institutions for backward classes violates Articles 15(1) and 29(2). Therefore, to nullify the effect of similar judicial pronouncements, Article 15 was amended.

• Similarly, Article 19(1)(a) grants the right to free speech and expression to Indian citizens. This right is considered an essential feature of democracy. However, Article 19(2) specifies the restrictions that can curtail this freedom. The First Amendment to the Indian Constitution altered these restrictions by widening their ambit. The second change, via the Amendment Act of 1951, was made to Clause 6 of Article 19.Though, the UPSC deleted this question when the final answer key was issued.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: According to Article 355 of the Indian Constitution, it shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

• Statement 2 is correct: Article 22(3)(b) mentions that individuals detained under preventive detention laws are not initially entitled to consult or be defended by a legal practitioner until the grounds of detention are disclosed to them. Although the constitution allows for exceptions in preventive detention cases, it does not prohibit state governments from providing legal counsel to the detained person. The state has the discretion to offer legal assistance if it wishes.

• Statement 3 is incorrect: Section 32(1) of POTA 2002 allows confessions made to a police officer of at least Superintendent rank, overriding certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Home Guards are raised under the Home Guards Act and Rules of the States/Union Territories (not the central Government). They are recruited from all classes of people and walks of life, who give their spare time to the organisation for the betterment of the community.

• Statement 2 is correct: The role of Home Guards is to serve as an auxiliary force to the Police in the maintenance of internal security situations, help the community in any kind of emergency such as an air raid, fire, cyclone, earthquake, epidemic, etc., help in the maintenance of essential services, promote communal harmony and assist the administration in protecting weaker sections, participate in socio-economic and welfare activities and perform Civil Defence duties.

• Statement 3 is correct: Fifteen Border Wing Home Guards (BWHG) Battalions have been raised in the border States viz. Punjab (6 Bns.), Rajasthan ( 4 Bns.), Gujarat (2 Bns.), and one each Battalion for Meghalaya, Tripura, and West Bengal to serve as an auxiliary to Border Security Force for preventing infiltration on the international border/coastal areas, guarding of VA/VPs and lines of communication in the vulnerable area at the time of external aggression.

Therefore, only two statements are correct.

Explanation

• Statement I is correct: It has frequently been argued that reservation is contrary to efficiency and merit. Even the Supreme Court of India appeared to have agreed with this argument in some of its judgments, holding that Article 335 mention of the term efficiency of administration will limit the scope of Article 16(4) provision for reservation in services. 

• Statement II is incorrect: Article 335 of the Constitution of India states that the claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State. 

• Article 335 of the Indian Constitution only mentions the efficiency of administration and does not define the same.

Explanation

Let's analyse each of the organisations/bodies mentioned in the question to determine their status as constitutional bodies:

• The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC): This body is a constitutional body. It was given constitutional status by the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018, which inserted Article 338B into the Indian Constitution.

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC): This body is not a constitutional body. It is a statutory body established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

• The National Law Commission: This body is not a constitutional body. It is an executive body established by an executive order of the Government of India.

• The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): This body is not a constitutional body. It is a statutory body set up under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 (replaced by the Consumer Protection Act 2019).

Based on the analysis, only the National Commission for Backward Classes is a constitutional body.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The elected members of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament that is the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha as well as the elected Members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and Union Territories (MLAs) comprise the electoral college for the Presidential Election in India. 

• Statement 2 is incorrect: The value of the vote of each MLA depends on the ratio of the States population and the number of MLAs in its legislative Assembly. By dividing the States population by the number of MLAs in its legislative Assembly, and then further dividing the quotient achieved by 1000, one may calculate the value of each MLAs vote. Based on a calculation that takes into account each States population about the number of members in its legislative Assembly, each MLAs vote value varies from State to State. According to the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act of 2001, the population of the States is currently calculated using data from the 1971 Census. 

• Statement 3 is incorrect: The vote value of each MLA of Madhya Pradesh is less than that of the vote value of each MLA of Kerala as the ratio of total population to total elective seats in Kerala is greater relative to that in Madhya Pradesh. 

• Statement 4 is correct: The vote value of each MLA of Puducherry is higher than that of Arunachal Pradesh as the ratio of total population to total elective seats in Puducherry is greater relative to that in Arunachal Pradesh. In the 2022 Presidential election, the vote value of each MLA from Puducherry was 16 whereas the vote value of each MLA from Arunachal Pradesh came out to be 8.

Explanation

• The President is elected indirectly by the electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament, elected members of the State Legislative Assembly, and elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. 

• Statement 1 is incorrect: If the election of a person as President is declared void by the Supreme Court, acts done by him before the date of such declaration of the Supreme Court are not invalidated and continue to remain in force. 

• Statement 2 is incorrect: The Supreme Court in 1974 held that the dissolution of the state legislative assembly would not be a ground for preventing the holding of the election on the expiry of the term of the President. Nor can it be grounds to suggest that the election to the office of the President could be held only after the election to the state is held, where the Legislative Assembly of a State is dissolved. 

• Statement 3 is incorrect: The Constitution of India does not prescribe any time limit within which the President has to decide concerning a bill presented to him/her for his/her assent. Thus the President of India can simply keep the bills pending for an indefinite period.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is correct: In India, the Constitution Day is celebrated in India on 26 November every year to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India and also it was celebrated to promote constitutional values among the citizens of India.

• Statement 2 is incorrect: On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, to prepare a Draft Constitution for India. On 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950.